Universalists (Human Religion)

The Universal faith of the “One God” is militantly monotheistic. While many polytheistic religions acknowledge that the gods of other religions are genuine gods, albeit inferior ones, the followers of the One God believe that He is the only god in the heavens and that all others are fallen celestials and false idols.

Although the One God has a name, it is considered disrespectful and sinful to speak it aloud except for his priests, and even then usually only amongst other priests except when personally evangelizing and trying to convert others, or in other teaching capacities. His followers call themselves Universalists after their faith, the Universal Church, so named because of their adamant belief that all other gods and religions are false.

Universalists are able to maintain simultaneous contradictions about their Lord. He is the God of Peace, yet in his name the Universalists slay thousands who do not worship Him in ways they deem proper. He is the God of Love, yet he imposes incredible restrictions on non-procreative sexual activity. He is Omnipresent and Omnipotent, rewarding the faithful, and yet his followers cannot explain why he allows pain and suffering in the world even among his followers. He is a god of forgiveness and mercy, yet a jealous god who smites those who fail to worship him properly. His priests often claim that natural disasters are the result of his wrath. They are all too happy to be specific about which actions caused his wrath, even when the disasters strike others far away and long after.

Followers believe that the One God is attended in Heaven by celestials, including five who are the most powerful Arch-Celestials, and that faithful followers will join Him in the heavens when they die. Those who are not properly faithful may be condemned to a drab purgatory until prayers from friends and family release them to the heavens. Greater sinners will be doomed to spend eternity in the underworld where they will be tortured by the Lord of Lies.

The Lord of Lies is a fallen celestial – formerly a sixth Arch-Celestial – who was cast out of the heavens for daring to confront the One God’s supremacy. Some ancient texts, now forbidden, argue that the “Lord of Lies” (whom they call the Angel of Light or the Angel of Knowledge) was banished for simply questioning the One God’s many contradictions.

In addition to the One God’s celestial attendants, some of the God’s most faithful may be elevated to sainthood upon their death. This is usually those followers who spent their lives evangelizing the faith, often dying in a gruesome manner as a martyr to their god. These saints may be prayed to as a patron of a particular city or region, or for a particular issue such as pregnancy, lost ships at sea, and the like. While these saints may have shrines, their priests do not receive their power from the saints themselves. Their power still comes from the One God, and the saints merely help intercede with the One God on their worshippers’ behalf.

Universalists also believe in prophets of the One God who have been granted divine power by their God – powerful clerics who have been granted divine might from the One God to heal the injured and smite the wicked because of their devotion to Him. Some of the historical deeds of the most powerful have been recorded in the religion’s holy texts.

There are numerous sects of followers of the One God, many who worship in temples and splinter sects named after particular saints or prophets. These are grouped into three broad types.

Universalist Sects

Orthodox Sect

The Orthodox Universalists are most militantly devout and proscriptive of the Universalist sects. Men and women are expected to worship separately. Women are expected to dress incredibly modestly, covering most of their bodies except their faces (with married women even keeping their hair bound and covered when in public). Premarital and extramarital sex is forbidden, and even nonprocreative sex is frowned upon. Women are forbidden most roles outside of the home except for those who renounce a family life and live in convents dedicated to ministering to the poor and sick. Those women who do not are expected to marry and bear as many children as possible to expand the faith. They promote warfare and military aggression to forcibly expand the faith, slaughtering any who refuse to convert. They have no problem with the execution of heretics in their midst whom they claim follow the Lord of Lies, and the most extreme even condemn to death other followers of the One God who fail to worship Him in the restrictive manner they advocate. Virtually all orthodox clerics will be men except for the women who live in monasteries ministering to the sick, who invariably take the Life or the Grave domain. Some orthodox ministers believe that arcane magic – any magic other than divine magic from the One God Himself – is a blasphemy from the Lord of Lies. Members of the Orthodox Sect will tolerate members of the Conservative Sect, though they fear those members are walking a fine line on the edge of risking their immortal souls. They generally believe that members of the Reformed Sect are delusional and will likely lose their immortal souls if they do not repent before the end of the days — though only the most extreme believe they should be hastening the end of their days.

Conservative Sect

The Conservative Sect is somewhat more relaxed than the Orthodox faiths, yet still militant about spreading the faith by the sword to heathens who worship false idols. Men and women may worship side-by-side. Women, especially married women, are expected to dress modestly, but baring their heads or arms isn’t unseemly. Premarital and extramarital sex is frowned upon for men, but forgivable, but for women is considered much more sinful. Though they accept violence in the name of expanding the faith, executions for heretics among them is rare save for the most extreme cases (usually for those actively encouraging others to renounce the One God, rather than mere differences in how to worship Him). Arcane magic is permitted for those who remain devoted to the One God, but is viewed somewhat suspiciously, as it is seen to be a frequent tool of the Lord of Lies.

Reformed Sect

The most relaxed of the Universalists are in the Reformed Universalists sect. Reformed sects advocate expanding the faith through teaching rather than the sword, and in countering heresy through education, and occasionally expulsion and banishment in the most extreme circumstances but never execution. Women may worship alongside men and can hold professions outside of the home, teach, and even become priests themselves. Wonton promiscuity is frowned upon but forgivable. Sex is considered an act of worship when love is involved, even in manners where procreation is impossible. Even same-sex pairings are accepted, with sects varying in the degree of openness to which same-sex couples may express themselves publicly. Universalists of reformed sects are not only more tolerant of other sects but also are more tolerant of other religions. Some of them believe that other religions’ gods are merely different names for facets of their own God. Others believe that while these sinners may be damned or condemned to purgatory in the afterlife, that’s no reason to be impolite in the here and now. And all believe that helping the sick and downtrodden of all faiths is a way to proselytize and draw new followers to the Universal Church, for who can doubt the power of the One God when he has healed their injuries?

Practicing the Universalist Faith

The symbol of the Universal Church is an unadorned, perfectly symmetrical ring or hoop. Large ones will hang from the rafters above the altar in many Universal Churches, but many adherents wear small ones on thin chains or cords around their neck. The hoop symbolizes that the faith is complete unto itself without beginning or end.

The One God is the God of all domains, though none of his sects accept Death as an appropriate domain, as all believe the Undead to be an abomination. The Lord of Lies is more commonly considered for the Death domain.

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