Orchidism

Orchidism is a religion founded by player bYonath and is the main religion in Hagusaki(Shakumagu).

Creation
Orchidists believe that the planet we live on today was once just a barren rocky wasteland with no life on the surface. The core of the planet however was home to the realm of spirits and ghosts called The Core. The spirits residing within the core were being neutral in nature, meaning they were neither inherently good nor evil. Eventually The Core gave birth to 2 spirits known as Shito or Dirt and Shoui or Water. Together Shito and Shoui broke out of the The Core and escaped to the surface where they began turning the rocky landscape into lush jungles, rolling hills , freezing tundras and deep oceans. Along with shaping the evironment and landmasses they also created the many creatures inhabiting the world today. Special among these being the Orchids which they bestowed special powers upon, what exactly these powers and what their extents were remains unknown. Shito and Shoui breaking out of The Core however also caused the many other spirits inhabiting it to break free. These spirits would wander this new world and observe the many creatures inhabiting it.

Tribes and Spirits
Eventually the many groups created by Shito and Shoui would start settling down in tribes and small towns. One of these being the ancient Swamp Tribes and Jungle Tribes. These two groups of tribes would settle in the swamps and jungles of what is today Hagusaki. In the beginning the two groups had relatively good relations. That is until some jungle tribe members started acting overly aggressive and started attacking others including the swamp tribe. These attacks started started becoming more and more frequent and noone knew the cause behind them. Eventually some swamp tribe members decided to plant the naturally growing orchids around the village. When the next attack came swamp tribe members noticed that the jungle tribe members actively avoided the orchids and would seemingly stop their rampage when coming into contact with one for a long enough period of time. Seeing this the swamp tribe members started worshipping the orchids and tieing them to their weapons to ward of the jungle tribe. This seemed to work well for the swamp tribe as they were able to defend themsleves against their attackers more effectively. The swamp tribe would eventually build a temple to honour the orchids with worship rituals and sacrafices which still stands to this day.

Saken
Somtime after these events a person known as Sakizu (later referred to as "Saken" after her death) would be born in the swamp tribe. Growing up Sakizu was like any other child. She enjoyed watching the soldiers train and became skilled at swordsmanship when she grew older. At this time she would participate in battles and skirmishes against the jungle tribe where she would feel something preculiar withing herself. One day when returning from one of these battles Sakizu would sit under a tree with orchids planted around it. While sitting she saw that the orchids would glow with a golden hue when she was near them. This would be noticed by other villagers who assumed this meant Sakizu was a chosen one and was blessed witht the Orchids favour. The villagers would take her to the orchid temple where she would recieve a message from the orchids explaining to her that the jungle tribe members were possesed by evil spirits created who were neutral spirits from The Core that had been corrupted by peoples bad actions and misdeeds. Some of thse spirits had possesed the jungle tribe and or tempted them into attacking their neighbours. The only to cast away the evil spirits was with orchids. So Sakizu rallied the swamp tribe members and launched an attack on the jungle tribe using orchids to defeat them. This all out attack would result in heavy losses on both sides and even Saken herself being slain in battle. The attack didnt end in a victory for the swamp tribe however and it would eventually be defeaten and wiped out by the jungle tribe. Befoe this happened however the swamp tribe held a ceremony honouring Sakizu in the orchid temple. They also locked away all their religious texts and tablets they had written about the orchids in a safe room so the jungle tribe couldnt destroy them. After their village had been destroyed most of the swamp tribe members died out or migrated else where. As for Sakizu, some people told tales of her being reincarnated as an a golden orchid in the swamp while others say her spirit wanders Hagusaki with the wind watching over the place she once called home.

General Beliefs
Orchidists believe that a dirt spirit named Shito and a water spirit named Shoui shaped our created the Wolrd we know today aswell as the many creatures inhabiting it. Shito and Shoui came from a place known as The Core at the center of our planet which is inhabited by spirits and ghosts. Some of these spirits and ghosts break out of The Core and come to our world on the surface. According to Orchidists these spirits are neutral beings neither good nor bad. However some spirits can become corrupted by the growing misdeeds and corruption of people. These evil spirits exist in many forms some cannot interact with people others can however. Those that can posses and corrupt the minds of people leading them to commit more crime and spread more hate. Orchids on the other hand are believed to be blessed by Shito and Shoui with special powers to ward of these spirits. That is why orchidists will sacrafice orchids and other items in order to stop the spread of and cast away evil spirits. Some of these include burning orchids in large fires to spread the smoke and ward away spirits or burn orchid insence in ones home.

The Afterlife
In Orchidism it is believed that if you do enough good in the world you will be reincarnated as a Orchid in the afterlife. This is only possible for especially pious indeviduals and those deemed worthy by the orchids. For someone who has neither been very pious nor commited much evil, they will be reincarnated as a wandering or wind spirit that drift along in the world and observe. These types of spirits are one of the many that cannot be coorrupted into evil spirits as the orchids believe in fairness, so one person must not bare the punishment of sins that are not their own. And finally the last group are those that have spread much evil and corruption in the world. They will be cast as evil spirits of different kinds depending on the severity of their misdeeds. Some only bare minimal punishment while others are tormented for all eternity. These evil spirits however are known as [name here] who cannot spread further corruption in the world as they have already done that in their previous lives.

Rituals
Personal rituals (For use in small orchidite shrines such as ones found in Hagusaki houses and certain Shakumagi trade vessels)

The Ritual of Fortune (Kapalaran) This ritual tells the follower what their fortune is using banners to tell different outcomes, the image to the right is how the shrine area is to be set up.

When doing this ritual, the candles on either side of the shrine are to be lit up and the practitioner sit on the cushion in front of the orchid. They are then to say this phrase: "Bring upon me this blessing, Spirits of the Orchids and grant me a blessing of good fortune" which is translated from Maharlikan (Shakumagi script) as "Dalhin mo sa akin ang pagpapalang ito, mga Espiritu ng mga Orchids at bigyan mo ako ng pagpapala ng magandang kapalaran"

'Outcomes, their meanings and how they appear. ￼'

When doing the ritual, the banners will change their color or even their shape depending on how Saken, Shoui, and Shitou view the practitioner.

The Golden banner

If both banners turn gold, the practitioner is blessed by Saken, Shoui, and Shitou and the Orchid in front of the practitioner is said to glow with their blessing. This outcome is very rare and has only occurred a few times in old Shakumagi texts. ￼