Shuli Go Stories Vol. 5: The Two Keepers

Notes 'n Stuff

Since it was touched on in this story, I thought I'd go into a bit more detail about the religious practices of the people in the Central Empire in this edition of "Notes 'n Stuff."

Background and History

To start off, there are two main organized religions that are spread across the empire. A brief overview of each:

1. Shei - A polytheistic religion based on a set of gods and goddesses who were responsible for the creation of the land that would be the Empire, as well as its protection from a series of evildoers in the distant/ahistorical past. The religion also forms the basis for the majority of the moral and political systems & beliefs that Imperial citizens hold.

2. Tiendu Shu - A non-theistic religion that views the entirety of life, existence, and everything as part of one great living organism called The Great Tiendu. Also believes in reincarnation, the permanence of the soul, and a sense that all energy is merely transferred from one part of the Tiendu to another.

The Shei religion is considered the "native" Imperial religion, in that it originated in the Centre of Civilization (the main floodplains where the Empire first grew), and is traditionally viewed as one of three pillars of the Central Empire's growth and stability (the other two were the Emperor/Empress, and the Ten Tiers of Imperial Society). It largely serves a role similar to Catholicism in European history, or Confucianism to Chinese history, but for a number of reasons began to gradually separate from the power of the state, as the organization of the religion butted heads with a series of Emperors over the millennia. The Empire in this time period is (mostly) secular in nature, with the Emperor/Empress only performing a few religious duties.

This gradual increase in secularization also meant that the Tiendu Shu religion, which originated in a country we haven't visited yet, was allowed to peacefully enter into the Central Empire and convert a number of Imperial citizens. It's kind of the new religion on the block, and while it is fairly well established by the time of this book, about 900 years earlier the Empire had fallen into a major civil war when one of the Emperors actually decided to convert to Tiendu Shu. A number of conservatives and Shei religious leaders decided they couldn't handle this, and the country fell apart. There were major pogroms in areas where there was a religious minority, and it took the Empire hundreds of years (and a brand new dynasty) to recover from the religious war.

At the end of it, the Empire reverted back to its secular state, and promised freedom of religion for all subjects, but also guaranteed that the Emperor, whatever his or her personal beliefs, would perform the proper Shei rights, and would serve the Shei church without ever taking an official position in the Tiendu Shu religion.

That's more the political history of the two religions though. What do they actually believe? And how do they practice their religion?

Shei - Kickin it with the fam

Well, Shei religious practices are focused around the family, honoring one's parents and ancestors, and trying to live a good life in accordance with the instructions of the gods. The most important aspects of Shei religious belief are filial piety, not causing undue pain and suffering, and making the world a better place for those generations that will follow you. There are hundreds of written and oral stories about the various travels of the gods and their interactions with humans, but the ten most important books are all captured in the Shei Testimonial. These were purportedly written down by the demi-gods who founded the Empire, directly from testimony from the gods themselves before they abandoned humanity for heaven.

Similarly to the number of stories, there are a near limitless number of shrines, churches, temples, and monasteries devoted to various aspects of the Shei religion. Villages or towns may be named after one god or another (think Athens and Athena), and certain families may consider themselves patrons of a particular god or goddess. For the most part though, these practices are private, and large scale churches like the one mentioned in A Week's Bliss, are rare and usually used for large ceremonies like New Year's and the celebration day for certain famous gods. Most actual religious activity is private and practiced in the home.

The most important element of the Shei we've seen so far though, has been the Chaste. These are magically infused men (and they are strictly men) who are granted magical powers in exchange for losing all sexual functions. The Chaste were widely used as advisers to Emperors because they could not have any family to pass wealth on to, a similar line of thinking to eunuchs in Chinese history. A select few were also chosen for additional... adjustments, and served as both the highest priests of the Shei, and personal bodyguards of the Emperor/Empress. Quan's father Mei, was one such Chaste.

Tiendu Shu - It's all connected

The Tiendu Shu meanwhile, have a far more simple worldview. They are strict utilitarians, and therefore dislike all violence, except in personal self-defense and feeding oneself, and are focused exclusively on promoting life in all its forms, especially human forms. Though all parts of the Great Tiendu are considered equal, human beings are thought to be the creatures who have lived a most just and positive life in the past, and human beings are in an exclusive position to achieve enlightenment.

Enlightenment is not, like, say, Buddhism, the ultimate goal of the Tiendu Shu. Enlightenment does not end the cycle of reincarnation. It does grant the individual the ability to grasp the entirety of the Great Tiendu, often just for a single moment. This is thought to be the greatest pleasure a being can experience, and so humans are encouraged to try and find this pleasure through meditation and the living of a life devoid of any negative action. Those who have achieved enlightenment are then thought to move elsewhere in the Great Tiendu after they die, perhaps in the skies, where an even more pleasurable and decent life is to be found.

Tiendu Shu are not, therefore, inherently pacifist, and most lay Tiendu Shu have no problem slaughtering animals for meat, and don't feel bad about say, the thrill they might feel while hunting. They believe that while a truly great and lucky individual may devote themselves to avoiding doing any harm in order to achieve enlightenment, the majority of Tiendu Shu believers must look after themselves first: respectfully of course, and without any undue harm brought upon other people, the land, or other living creatures. But they are extremely pragmatic, and this pragmatism helped smooth their initial entry into the Central Empire, and continues to help it find new converts across the land.

Tiendu Shu religious activities are slightly more public than Shei, with more public gatherings, and more public devotions. However, unlike the Shei, which mirrored the organizational structure of the Empire, with a centralized leadership across the land, Tiendu Shu are mostly autonomous units of worship that sprout up organically. The most public of these organizations are the monasteries where men and women go to seek enlightenment. It is one of these monasteries that Quan has grown up in, trained by one of those who has found enlightenment: a Keeper.

Not all those who find enlightenment are Keepers, and not all Keepers find enlightenment, but similar to Shei Chaste, they are considered some of the most religious and most noble of Tiendu Shu, and they receive extra training in order to use magic and protect not just other Tiendu Shu, but all human life, from suffering.

Now obviously once you have that training and those powers, what you do to "protect human life" is open to interpretation, and this week's story focused on two somewhat different, but also similar interpretations of what that phrase meant. Kalsang and Quan both wind up murdering people in this story, and both do so with the belief that they are protecting the weak and innocent from further suffering. Kalsang just believes that the only way to do that is through wholesale revolution, which he is destined to lead. Quan, taking after his mother perhaps, is much more pragmatic, and concerned with those directly in front of him. Both men though, consider the greatest possible good that can come of their actions, and behave accordingly. It's a distinctly Tiendu Shu way of looking at the world and their places in it.