Vareism

Vareism was the primary state-mandated philosophy and ideology of the Regnum Drakaes. Unlike many of Eldham's and Rathnir's religions such as the Soleannean Faith and the Twin Dragon religion, Vareism is a ideological philosophy that fully rejects the concept of traditional deities and instead devotes its belief towards the goal of a Final Society, built upon reason and logic and the ideals of Anthropocentrism. While the most widespread version of Vareism is the Drakaen-mandated Vareist Thought, there are several other variations located in Drakaes, some more radical than others.

History
Vareist philosophy was created two centuries ago by the early Drakaen philosopher Dhanir fi Varas, a member of the first generation of Drakaens born in the first two decades of the Drakesland Autarchy. During this period, anticlerical and anti-religious sentiment was high, as many of the Drakaen population that had come to the world of Drysjian (called Eldham by its native inhabitants) had fled as refugees escaping from religious persecution, war, and genocide. The three-month long journey to Drysjian (prolonged due to harassment by pirates, various sea monsters, hurricanes, and a lack of direction) had resulted in nearly a sixth of the exiles perishing during the journey. The trauma gained by the Exile made nearly all of the settlers lose their faith and religious beliefs, leaving only the most faithful to futilely preach their message.

Dhanir was a product of this generational trauma, being raised in a makeshift orphanage in the early settlement of Aurica. He was told the stories of the great Exile of what would become the Drakean people to Drysjian, and how the exiles had to endure great suffering from both Rathnirians and Drysjians, for even after their arrival the Drakesland Autarchy was a fragile city-state beset by native tribes and barbarians. As such, Dhanir came to believe that the old religions of Rathnir had failed them, for what god would let his people suffer so? Instead of turning his effort to becoming a priest like the orphanage teachers wanted him to do, Dhanir would instead turn his attention to the philosophical pursuits.

It was at this point that Dhanir would lay out the main beliefs of what would become Vareism; that humanity had squandered it's potential on religious wars and conflicts, that in order for humanity to achieve a period of eternal peace it had to cast off these beliefs and impose it's own ideals on nature, and that the goal of peace should be achieved with the ultimate creation of a utopian "Final Society", where the efforts of humanity would be dedicated not to the worship of religous figures and idols, but rather to the pursuit of knowledge, logic, art, and reason. His life's work would be complete when he published a trilogy of philosophical books, collectively known as The Final Society. Two years after it's publication, Dhanir would die peacefully, surrounded by friends and family.

Vareist Thought would prove extremely popular within Drakaen culture, with it's beliefs of a rational world and a utopian Final Society catching on quickly with the disillusioned Drakaen masses. Feeling abandoned by their gods, Vareism grew to become a defining pillar of Drakaen culture, with the third Autarch of the Drakesland Autarchy, Ivo Marcella, eventually declaring Vareism the state ideology of Drakia. This is where the foundations of Drakaes' hatred of religion and superstitious belief were first built.

Composition
The beliefs and composition of Vareism were first laid out in Dhanir's trilogy of philosophical writings known as The Final Society. All branches of Vareism derive from these three writings, as they help codify what Vareism is compared to the major religions of Rathnir and the superstitions of the Drysjian natives. Enlightenment through the pursuit of knowledge and reason is a common theme in all three books, and is most exemplified in the final book, The Final Society.

The first book, I Grant You Dominion Over Them muses on the human condition, and speculates on why humans were drawn to worship idols and gods. Dhanir states that the worship of idols chains the potential of humanity to the ground, as religious worship detracts from the pursuit of knowledge and reason. Dhanir also compares the worship of idols to the Rathnirian Divine Right to Rule, where kings and queens justified their rule by invoking the words of their gods; thus reasoning that the Heavens themselves had granted them dominion over their subjects. Dhanir states that this almost comical devout belief in religion has resulted in incompetent rulers rising to power with their only support being a holy book clutched in their right hand.

The second book, God's Own Sling lays out the many faults and hypocrisies of religion, and refutes the existence of a God and/or Gods. While Dhanir acknowledges the existence of highly powerful beings, such as Entropy, he follows up by saying that even these highly powerful beings are mortal and subject to the laws of physics, as seen when Athaz the Traveler slayed Entropy at the Battle of the End. Finally, God's Own Sling rejects the premise that religion serves as a way for mankind to achieve enlightenment and world peace, saying that historically religion has only led to bloody wars over differing interpretations, no matter how small.

The third and final book, The Final Society, lays out Dhanir's view of the future and what humanity must do to accomplish enlightenment. Unlike the first two of Dhanir's writings, The Final Society was not a collection of political and social essays, but rather a long political treatise intended to appeal to a wider audience. The Final Society defines the ultimate goal of mankind as the achievement of social and political enlightenment, where humanity will gain the knowledge and understanding to fully control the laws of natures and physics, and fully unite the world under the titular "Final Society". It is here that Dhanir also defines Vareism as not just a set of beliefs; Vareism is defined as a social project, a massive feat of civilizational engineering in order to achieve Dhanir's utopian Final Society. It is also here where the Drakaen concept of the "Global Imperative" was born; the belief that it was Drakaes and Drakaes alone that would establish the Final Society.

Vareism-Almirism
The downfall of the Regnum Drakaes led to many citizens believing that Drakaen State Vareist doctrine was inherently faulty and corrupted. Many citizens believed that Vareism had turned into the worship of atheism, worship of godlessness and, ultimately, the worship of the State, Autarch, and Varas himself.

The loss of western lands, the abandonment of Aurica and defeats at the hands of surrounding barbarians led to a radical reaction among the citizens of Drakaes. The state was collapsing in on itself, many cities and vassals had defected and declared independence, and thousands of citizens were losing faith in the Drakaen nation. It was clear that in order to preserve the Drakaes nation and lead it out of the crisis, it required drastic reforms and action.

Even before the collapse of the Regnum Drakaes, Vareism could not effectively suppress religions in the subjugated territories, even after massive widespread suppression. A series of cults and secret societies started to emerge, one of which was the School of Humanity, founded by a charismatic and learned scholar named Ilnur Almirion.

The School of Humanity was far more different from other religions. If Vareism was a religion, then Almirion's society could be called it's heresy, a deviation, a new movement. Like Vareism, the School of Humanity propagated reason, rationalism, anthropocentrism and the scientific analysis of religions. Unlike Vareism however, Ilnur Almirion advocated for the integration of religious worship into society. According to his magnum opus Rational Irrationality, religion is a fundamental part of human nature which cannot be forcefully removed with reason or magic. Imperialist and crude methods of destroying religion in the subject territories of the Regnum Drakaes, spearheaded by Arnin Hanicai, had merely exacerbated tensions and had led to many rebellions. Under the pretext of ridding the nation of superstition the Drakaen government had created a religion out of atheism - a hollow dogma of worship.

In Rational Irrationality Almirion offered a solution to the illness of godlessness - a rational religion. Previously, the word "religion" was associated with irrationality, primitivism, and barbarism. However, what Almirion introduced was a syncretic system of beliefs and worshipping, where the central element is humanity itself. According to his studies, all religions were fundamentally similar to each other, worshipping nature, divine beings, elements or actions. All of these could be summed up in one uniting syncretic school - the worship of the "Supreme being", "the world itself", "the one who surrounds and fills us all". All religions, in one way or another, worshipped qualities or elements of the Supreme Being, and it was the mission of the School of Humanity to combine them all into one single system of thought.

Vareism-Almirism is a secular and positive religion, a complete system of belief and ritual, with liturgy and sacraments, priesthood and pontiff, all organized around the public veneration of Humanity and the Supreme Being. The motto of the Almirist church was "Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer" - If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. Vareism-Almirism rose to it's greatest extent during the fall and reformation of the Regnum Drakaes into the Drakaen Concordat, a authotarian democracy based on Almirist values. However, after the Concordat's final collapse, Vareism and it's multiple forms have once more fallen into obscurity.