Notes

RELIGION NOTES. IT'S A LOT BE WARNED.

-Kiriyaka is the name of the religion
-The god is a phoenix named Khenixs
-They love nature and their god
-They use shrines and incense
-Lavender incense for knowledge.
-Jasmine for meditation/Prayers
-Citrus for good health.
-Amber helps with potential wealth, or money gain
-Cinnamon for protection
-Honey for the morning, helps Avians wake up.
-Rose for love soon
-Vanilla for calming, soothing
-Pine for fresh starts, turning a new leaf. Cleansing.
-Clove for luck.

-When an Avian wants one of these things, they light the incense at the shrine and hope that the phoenix god hears their prayers and grants them what they want.

-There is a special paper, called Ronpier, that is designed specifically to be burned at the Altar. This is supposed to be Holy Paper, and was created originally so Avians wouldn't just mass burn their own paper. Nobody knows how Ronpier is made.




-All incense and Ronpier are sold at churches, and in The Mad they are sold in the blackmarket, but for insane and way-too-high prices. The religious stuff are sold at the churches and benefit the churches, and they help fund everything, such as the churches themselves and the events they pull off.

-The incense works as such: An Avian gets the incense they want, and they burn it at the altar. The Incense lets off the smell, and turns to ash. According to the religion, the life and essence of the incense is supposed to go to the Khenixs, and in return for that said essence, the Khenix grants what you want, or your wish if you burned paper.




-If an Avian has a more specific wish, they write it down on a special piece of paper and burn it at the altar, representing a phoenix setting on fire. Allegedly, if the phoenix god grants your wish, the paper is supposed to burn and the wish is supposed to rise from the ashes and come true.

-It is rumored that, if an Avian burns too many incense or wishes, and gets too greedy with the Khenixs' gifts, the Khenix insteads turns their gifts against them, granting the opposite effect they wish for. If they continue with their greed, the next time they burn something, they instead burn.

-Usually, if an Avian is devoted enough, they will burn half the meal they make at the altar as well, as a sort of sacrifice to the phoenix god. Allegedly, They are supposed to take the life from the food to rejuvenate Themselves and the land around Them. Most avians that farm do this ritual, to liven their crops, but any Avian can do it to show their devotion.




-Whenever an Avian commits a heinous crime, they could get the death penalty. The penalty is being burned to death at the stake, but there is a religious reason for that. According to the Kiriyaka religion, Avians are made of good and evil. Some have more good, some have more evil. If an Avian commits a crime that is beyond redemption, they are put to the stake to "burn" the evil out. When they burn to ashes all the way, it means they were full of evil. The evil from the criminal spreads out to the world, and creates an imbalance. So, the Phoenix God sends out a wave of goodness to balance it out. However, you can't just burn people willy nilly. If an Avian is burned and they are full of goodness, the goodness comes out of them, and the Phoenix God sense that imbalance and sends a wave of badness.

-The Avians believe in a Karma sort of sense, in a more Wiccan tradition. When an Avian does a good thing, they send it out to the world. This means that the goodness has left them, opening up the world for more evil. So, the Khenixs God grants them with something good in return, to restore that imbalance. The same works for evil. You give out evil, the God replaces it and fixes the imbalance with more evil. This is different when burning things, because when you burn it you are removing the soul of the object, making all the good and evil contained into it release into the world. When an Avian commits an act of good or evil, their soul is still intact, meaning that they have to have their balance restored by the god.




-They do have a bible-like thing, but it's a story book, not a bunch of quotes like the christian bible. According to the religion, its supposed to be Khenix's journal, about Their immortal life. It also features bits of other people, Khenix's followers, in the form of them testifying, or their diaries about following Kiriyaka. It splits into chapters, which are the years, and ends very suddenly at the year 3000, and followers believe that all the books will suddenly have more writing when the Khenix writes again.

-The Avians also have events to go with this, stuff that marks milestones in the religion. Think of Christmas or Easter. These events are labeled, and described, as such;
-The Burning of the Phoenix
This is a once a year thing, set in the spring. The President even throws a huge ball for the
Burning of the Phoenix. It is supposed to be a spring cleaning sort of thing, but different. Avians
are supposed to gather, and then when the moon is directly above them, set a bonfire. In that
bonfire, they throw objects with bad memories behind them, as well as write their doubts, fear,
guilt, and insecurities onto sheets on Ronpier and burn them too. It is supposed to represent
burning the evil inside the bad memories, guilt, etc, and sending it's "essence" out into the
world. Because of this, there is way too much evil than good in the world, so the Khenixs sends a
wave of "goodness" to balance it out, giving all the Avians better luck, health, money, etc., as well
as rid them of the bad energies from their flaws and the items with the bad evil energy.

-The Religious Migration
This is an event that takes place in early winter. During middle fall, all the major Avians in the church gather in Al'asichi and ask for food and winter clothing donations. This lasts for a few days, and then they move to the next region's church. When they reach, and finish asking for donations from, Kaistiyo, they use the drop point to go to Doromadina's church. There they give away the donations to those in need, as a way to restore the Mad's faith in their religion, and give to those in need. The event ends in early winter.

-The Ceremony of Wishes
This event takes place in middle winter, as a way to lift the spirits of the Avians. All Avians who wish to partake buy 1 Ronpier and gift it to 1 person special to them, and you cant have 2 Ronpier. It is one per Avian. Then, on the Ceremony of Wishes, they write down 1 wish on their 1 Ronpier and burn it. It is said that, on this day, the Khnexis' power is the strongest, and your wish has the highest chance to be granted. Since the Avians only get one wish, they often gift each other anything else they wanted. The Ceremony is a big deal, and grand parties are often thrown. Depending on the President, a ball is also held to celebrate the power of the Khenxis.


-The Feast of Kings.

This event happens during the hottest days of summer. All the Avians have a grand picnic, packed with food and incense. They head out to the forest, or a large, barren area, and have a feast. However, the food is not for them. They all sacrifice the food and burn the incense they bring, as a way to rejuvenate the earth during the hottest, dryest, days of summer. Nobody ends up eating the food, and all of it is sacrificed. The Avians, or at least most of them, don't believe the food goes to waste though. They often don't bring a lot, as the collective amount of Avians sacrificing the food is a lot. Usually, the more food brought depends on wealth, but even the poorest of Avians gather some food to sacrifice, as they believe it will bring them wealth and prosperity as the earth is rejuvenated.


(THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS. IT STILL NEEDS TO BE CONTINUED.)