The Church of The Cognizant One

The Church of the Cognizant One, or Cognizm for short, is a religion based around worship of the Cognizant One. in this religion knowledge is the one true power.

The Faith
The Cognizant One is the first being to have a thought, and with that thought it created the earth and the gods with that thought, it is the knower of all that has been, and all that will be. Their worshipers take it to heart as they made it their mission to collect every possible book or tome to add to their collection to get closer to the Cognizant One.

The Cognizant One
From scholars long past and accounts of the 13 vessels we have a somewhat accurate description of the Cognizant One:

"There stood a figure that demanded reverence. The shape was humanoid in some fashion but the exact features blurred the more i focused on them, if they had a gender in conventional means then it was not discernable to me, in place of flesh and clothes i could only see the empty night sky as stars brightened and dimmed like undulating freckles across their form, their 'hair' had the same property though the more i looked the more it seemed like the hair had no end, in place of eyes it was just pure void filled orbs." - San'ngaal, Vessel of Literature

The Vessels
Created by the Cognizant One, The Vessels are creations of thought given the purpose of collecting information, the exact descriptions of the Vessels have been lost, though the exact information the acquire has not.

The Known
San'Ngaal - Vessel of Literature

Emin'rul - Vessel of Architecture

Agakhan - Vessel of Agriculture

Leyuu - Vessel of Art

Nyun - Vessel of Faith

Jemnia - Vessel of Culture

Oniq - Vessel of Science

Gjin - Vessel of Politics

Cajaque - Vessel of Strategies

Hynd - Vessel of History

Sakul - Vessel of Language

Xeandre - Vessel of Craftwork

The Betrayer
originally there were 13 Vessels, but for reasons unknown the youngest of the vessels was created without the ability to sense knowledge like their brethren, and so The Betrayer defected, abandoning their siblings and the Cognizant One to pursue a fate unknown. The Betrayer is the only piece of Information that has ever been expunged from the records of the Church.

Holy Books
so far there are only two holy books of the Church,

The first is the memory of the past, this holy book is the record of creation and the past up until the books creation.

The Second is Thoughts of the End, this holy book is is the tenants a worshiper should abide by to be closer with the Cognizant One

Creation Myth
In the beginning, when there was nothing but void, one entity had a thought, and in a explosion of creation everything was created, in the billions of years it took as the universe changed the Cognizant one notice that they were not the only creature with the power of creation, following the gods the Cognizant One found the world, and it watched as it changed, the gods created life with soul and purpose change the landscape of their world. The Cognizant One wanted to see all the world had to offer, but as a god itself it could not descend onto the earth and so, it created life of its own.

In the middle of nowhere, vessels were created. Clay was used as a base for its form; within complex networks of sand used to pass information like wires, paper was used to store the information it experienced, leather covered the form in place of flesh, its eyes were marbles of glass, it's bile was made of wood and leather as wool stranded together to form hair.

This was a worthy vessel

The Cognizant One had made these vessels to house Their children, using magic long since forgotten they created hollow souls and began to fill them with ideas and emotions of the other sentient races and soon the thoughtborn were created, placing the new souls inside their vessels the golems of clay began to move and shift as their leather skin morphed into reality, they were no longer clay but muscle, wood would now be bone, sand be nerves, glass be eyes, and their soul imprinted on these form bringing them to life.

imbuing apart of themselves into these vessels the Cognizant one could now watch the world grow through his children's eyes.

Tenants of The Cognizant One

 * 1) Knowledge is life, knowledge is power,  knowledge is greatness,  knowledge is everything
 * 2) Knowledge must not be lost, even a scrap of knowledge can end nations
 * 3) Always peruse knowledge, everything is at our fingertips, we just need to grasp it
 * 4) Be not afraid, the Cognizant One is always watching, it's embrace is omnipresent
 * 5) Knowledge must be protected, some seek to destroy what they do not understand
 * 6) Knowledge it the most important thing in one's life
 * 7) Gods arrived from the Cognizant One's thought and are to be respected along with their worshipers.
 * 8) If one leaves the Church, the must swear upon their soul that their information will not be handed to outsiders.

Rituals
The Cognizant One has many rituals to it's worship, here is a couple.

"Gift of Sight" - In a alter dedicated to the Cognizant One a book is compiled of the knowledge of the current time, anything from art to politics and science all appease the Cognizant One.

"Vessel Protect Us" - using clay, glass, wool, and leather worshipers create a golem [in a chest ] resembling how the Cognizant one constructed his vessels.

Hierarchy
the church works with a hierarchy, and from most to least important:

The 12 Vessels

High Priest, this is currently held by Cion Yvir

The 3 High Bishops

The 5 High Survayors

The Low Priests

The Low Bishops

Low Survayors