Guide to Enhiarg

1.6 Atheists: Spiritual and Spiritless

Atheists in their purest form, i.e. those who deny the existence of gods altogether, make up a fringe minority in the Infinite. And are essentially nonexistent in Enhiarg. This is expected, since most of the locals have either themselves beheld a god at some point in their lives or personally know someone who has had the pleasure.

Nevertheless, there are plenty of creatures who manage to turn a blind eye to any evidence of "higher powers," finding it unfathomable that anyone would want to pray to some such deity. There are also those who regard religion as an extremely harmful institution, and gods as parasites, sucking the lifeblood from their flock and hindering their development. The latter category comprises many members of the magical elite. In Enhiarg, Lindgorites are the most prominent representatives of this view.

Enhiargeans split the nonbelievers into two categories: spiritual and spiritless. And their attitude toward the two groups varies greatly.

Spiritual nonbelievers are creatures who don't need any outside entity guiding their spiritual development, offering a readymade system of ethics, rules of conduct, and so on. They are perfectly suited for the task, allocating their Im-a towards nourishing their own spiritual skin.

Such a creature may believe that they are a carrier of some idea, or that they are capable of creating a world (and/or themselves as part of that world) without any help from above, and a bit better at that, a bit more correctly—from their own unique vantage point, naturally. In this scenario, to quote Ellis an Temiar, the creature as if becomes the god and the worshipper in one. Such a method of "investing" one's Im-a is more troublesome (shaping one's own worldview and defending its right to exist is much harder than picking up an "off-the-rack" version from a holy book), yet also more rewarding, as the creature's Im-a remains at its disposal fully and unconditionally; thus, the creature need not settle for the crumbs that the deity may (or may not) favor it with.

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"The gods want us to believe that we're nothing without them. That is false. Having said that, it cannot be denied that, in a way, their power stems precisely from our own weakness."

"Please elaborate."

"Most of us are incapable of disposing of our Im-a, directing it towards the creation of some specific thing. Think of it as money. We all have certain savings, but few are able to make the money work for itself. And so, we place it in a bank. To be sure, the profits had by banks are incomparable with what we end up with. But at least it's something".

From an interview with Ar-Dirrelejt, head of the department of applied theology

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One striking example of such an atheist is Tellyrien the Chronicler. Believing that it is every creature's duty to treat with respect all of their non-sentient neighbors across the Infinite, he had dedicated his life to protecting nature against all manner of magical pollution. And though Tellyrien never worshipped any god embodying Nature, the power of his spirit is quite astounding, manifesting in the Chronicler's mystical connection with plants and animals, as well as his remarkable resistance to sorcery and poison.

Ironically enough, upon cementing their own philosophical conception and life approach, some of these gods-unto-themselves swiftly accumulate an army of followers and tumble into divinity. The aforementioned Tellyrien himself has been balancing on the brink. (And as he does so, rather miraculously, a delicate matter arises, namely, how are his own followers to be classified: as atheists or creatures of faith?)

"Tellyrien's story is further noteworthy in that Enhiarg already features an "embodied" Nature—Aellenica. And yet Tellyrien didn't become her priest, even though, at a glance, the two appear to pursue the same goals. The reason is that they have different views on the means of implementation. Aellenica believes that the only way to save her precious bushes and flowers is by destroying sentient life, at least of the non-vegetative variety (after all, all they do is trample down the grass and crush the roots of fragile saplings, those damned parasites). In contrast, Tellyrien is convinced that all living things are capable of living in harmony. All sentients need to do is occasionally use their brains for any purpose other than momentary, short-sighted gains".

Talia Murr an Kamian (The "Four T's" Speaking Guide to Enhiarg)

As for the term spiritless nonbelievers, Naerites use it to describe creatures with no convictions, no life philosophy, and no aspirations for self-actualization. Those who don't care to search for any meaning to their existence outside of gratifying their own, fairly primitive desires—having good food, pretty clothes and furniture, an attractive sexual partner or, say, pushing around others.

Such individuals are extremely rare in Enhiarg. They are represented primarily by Envirze females, who had followed their families in migrating to Anlimor. No longer forced to carry out religious rites, they lost whatever small resemblance they still had to intelligent beings.

It is worth noting that nonbelievers throughout the Infinite would be far fewer in number if not for the deep hatred the Nae and their sympathizers have for forced conversion to faith.