Aurethic is a monotheistic faith founded upon the revelations of Da'vid, who taught that Aureth alone is God, Creator, sovereign of creation, and the sole proper object of worship. The religion originated in the western Karsenic region in 768 AB and is today widespread across Ekbir, the Karsenic world, western Mediath, and Aurethic communities elsewhere. The Ekbir Caliphate is its most important modern state, but the faith itself is 519 Veyrathian years (about 355.3 Cycles) old and predates Ekbir by many generations.
Aurethics recognize the existence and divinity of the Nine Ladies, but understand them very differently from either mainstream Aurethians or Asharanics. They are the divine daughters of Aureth, magnificent beings created by him and worthy of respect, but they are not to be worshipped, prayed to, invoked for supernatural guidance, or treated as independent sources of moral authority. The Faithful turn directly to Aureth.
Da'vid was born in 731 AB among the Asharan-speaking peoples of the western Karsenic region, then part of the Arvessan Empire. Tradition remembers him as a literate man familiar with caravan trade, livestock, mountain travel, local disputes, and the religious diversity of the imperial frontier.
By his thirties, Da'vid had become increasingly dissatisfied with the religious practices around him. Aurethian temples proclaimed Aureth supreme while much of ordinary devotion was directed toward the Ladies, while local Asharan traditions gave Ashara-Selyra extraordinary prominence.
Da'vid began withdrawing periodically into the Karsenic Mountains for prayer and contemplation. In 768 AB, while alone in a mountain cave, he claimed to be visited directly by Aureth.
Aurethic tradition holds that Da'vid did not see Aureth in any physical form. There was no human figure, statue, sun, or apparition. Instead, he experienced an overwhelming but intelligible divine presence and heard Aureth command him to remember, recite, and carry his revelation to others.
The first revelation declared that Aureth alone was to be worshipped. Da'vid was told that the Nine Ladies were real and divine, but that they were Aureth's children rather than independent authorities over mortal life. Further revelations followed throughout the remainder of Da'vid's life, establishing the religious, moral, and legal framework of Aurethic.
Da'vid died in 792 AB. Aurethics regard him as the final human messenger to receive universal binding revelation from Aureth. He is deeply honored and studied, but never worshipped.
The cave in which Da'vid received the first revelation is the holiest place in Aurethic religion.
It lies within the Karsenic Mountains and is preserved as a protected sanctuary surrounded by a large pilgrimage district. The cave itself remains deliberately austere. No statue or devotional image of Aureth, Da'vid, or the Nine is permitted within it.
Aurethics throughout the world face toward the Cave of Revelation during formal prayer. Every adherent who possesses the health, safety, and means is expected to visit it at least once during their lifetime.
Aureth alone is God.
Aurethic teaches that he is uncreated, indivisible, without parent, partner, equal, or superior. He created the universe and everything within it, and nothing within creation is identical with him.
Aurethics therefore reject the mainstream Aurethian belief that the sun is Aureth's celestial embodiment. The sun is a magnificent creation and evidence of Aureth's power, but it is not Aureth. The same is true of the stars, planets, mountains, rulers, relics, and living beings.
Aureth cannot be accurately represented by an image or statue. Aurethic religious art and architecture consequently avoid devotional images of him entirely.
The gravest theological error in Aurethic is Association, the directing of worship or divine dependence toward anything alongside Aureth.
Aurethic recognizes Cassara, Vaedra, Neressa, Alessia, Selyra-Ashara, Tessara, Cerena, Lyris, and Morenna as genuine divine beings and daughters of Aureth.
Their divinity is not disputed. An Aurethic does not consider the Ladies false gods, metaphors, saints, or mortal women. They possess extraordinary powers and the characteristics traditionally associated with their portfolios because Aureth created them that way.
What Aurethic rejects is their religious authority over humanity.
A sailor does not require Neressa's guidance to cross the sea. A soldier does not need Vaedra's blessing to fight. Alessia is not the source of marriage law. Tessara does not determine whether a commercial bargain is righteous. The moral law governing all of these things comes from Aureth.
An Aurethic may speak respectfully of the Ladies, appreciate traditional stories about them, or admire secular artwork depicting them. Prayer, sacrifice, vows, prostration, and appeals for supernatural guidance belong to Aureth alone.
The principal Aurethic scripture is the Clear Measure, containing the revelations Da'vid recited as coming directly from Aureth.
The revelations were memorized, written down, recited publicly, and taught throughout the growing community during Da'vid's lifetime. A standardized text was assembled by his early followers from surviving manuscripts and memorized recitations within a generation of his death.
The canonical text preserves the western Karsenic Asharan language spoken by Da'vid. Translations are permitted and widely used for teaching and study, while formal recitation preserves the original language wherever practical.
Aurethics distinguish the Clear Measure itself from later traditions concerning Da'vid's sayings, judgments, habits, and actions. Those later accounts can carry substantial religious authority, but scholars examine their transmission and reliability before using them as foundations of law.
Aurethic does not recognize the Precepts of the Nine as the source of morality.
Many values overlap with Aurethian virtues, but Aurethics hold that moral authority comes directly from Aureth. Da'vid's revelations establish virtues, sins, obligations, permissions, and prohibitions governing the lives of the Faithful.
Among the qualities particularly praised are faithfulness, justice, mercy, charity, truthfulness, modesty, patience, gratitude, self-command, courage, humility, hospitality, family duty, learning, cleanliness, repentance, forgiveness, honest trade, and the responsible exercise of authority.
Aurethic morality places considerable emphasis on discipline. Wealth is permitted, but carries obligations. Sexual pleasure is good within lawful marriage, but appetite does not excuse sexual misconduct. Anger may be justified, but does not excuse cruelty. Power may be necessary, but authority remains a trust for which its holder answers before Aureth.
Religion and law are closely connected, but sin and crime are not identical. Many sins are matters of personal repentance or social judgment rather than civil punishment.
Five universal religious duties form the foundation of ordinary Aurethic practice.
The Testimony: An adherent affirms that Aureth alone is God and the proper object of worship, and that Da'vid is his Messenger.
The Five Daily Prayers: Aurethics pray before sunrise, around midday, during the later afternoon, shortly after sunset, and at night. Worship includes recitation, standing, bowing, kneeling, and prostration while facing the Cave of Revelation.
The Share of Mercy: Those possessing sufficient wealth owe a mandatory charitable portion for the poor and other recognized needs. The common assessment on qualifying accumulated monetary wealth is one part in forty. Additional voluntary charity is strongly praised.
The Annual Fast: During one sacred month each local year, capable adult Aurethics abstain from food, drink, sexual activity, and deliberate indulgence from first light until sunset. The sick, travelers, pregnant or nursing people, and others facing genuine hardship receive exemptions or alternative obligations.
The Pilgrimage: Every Aurethic with sufficient health, safety, and means is expected to make pilgrimage to the Cave of Revelation once during their lifetime.
Domar, the fifth day of the Veyrathian week, is the principal day of congregational worship.
Markets and ordinary life do not necessarily stop for the entire day, but the main midday prayer and sermon draw large congregations. Government offices and many businesses in Aurethic-majority societies suspend ordinary activity during the service.
Formal prayer is preceded by ritual washing when practical. Worshippers clean the hands, mouth, face, arms, head, and feet. Full washing is required after certain conditions, including sexual intercourse. Where water is unavailable, religious law permits a dry form of purification using clean earth or dust.
Calls to prayer from towers or other elevated positions are a familiar part of life in many Aurethic towns and cities.
Aurethic law distinguishes between permitted and forbidden food.
Swine and products derived from swine are prohibited. Carrion, blood, and meat from land animals not slaughtered according to the prescribed method are ordinarily forbidden. Permitted animals are killed swiftly while Aureth is invoked and the blood is allowed to drain.
Seafood is broadly permitted, although legal schools disagree about some aquatic creatures.
Intoxicants are forbidden. Alcoholic drink and other substances taken for recreational intoxication are prohibited because they impair judgment and self-command. Medicines, disinfectants, industrial preparations, and trace quantities incapable of intoxication are treated separately.
Gambling for money or property is likewise prohibited.
Marriage is both a religious and legal contract within Aurethic.
A valid marriage ordinarily requires the free consent of those entering it, witnesses, publicly knowable terms, and a marital gift given to the bride as her personal property.
Sexual pleasure within marriage is regarded positively rather than as something shameful. Sexual relations outside a valid marriage are prohibited. Both fornication and adultery are considered grave sins, with adultery carrying the additional wrong of violating an existing marriage.
Marriage does not permit sexual coercion. Forced sex, abuse of authority, and the sexual exploitation of someone incapable of meaningful consent remain grave offenses.
Traditional Aurethic law allows a man to marry up to four wives, provided he can support them and treat them with the material fairness required by law. A man unable to fulfill those obligations is expected to remain monogamous. Most marriages are monogamous in practice for economic reasons. A woman may have only one husband at a time.
Divorce is lawful, although regulated, and Aurethic courts may address maintenance, property, dower, inheritance, and support of children following separation.
Traditional Aurethic law prohibits same-sex sexual acts, although same-sex affection, friendship, and nonsexual companionship are not regarded as sins merely because they occur between people of the same sex.
Family obligations occupy an important place in Aurethic morality.
Parents are owed respect and care in old age. Children are entitled to food, shelter, protection, education, recognized parentage, and fair treatment. Abandonment of dependent children and deliberate falsification of parentage are serious offenses.
Women may independently own property, receive wages, conduct business, inherit wealth, administer charitable institutions, and bring cases before courts.
Inheritance is governed by defined shares for spouses, children, parents, and other close relatives. These shares are not always identical between men and women because traditional law assigns different financial obligations to husbands and male relatives.
Modesty is expected of both men and women.
Men are expected to dress appropriately, govern their gaze and sexual conduct, and avoid using physical display, wealth, or behavior merely to provoke vanity or humiliate others.
Adult Aurethic women commonly cover their hair in public and wear clothing that does not closely display the shape of the body. Exact garments vary widely by region, occupation, class, climate, and school of law. Covering the face is not a universal Aurethic requirement.
Aurethic modesty regulates conduct and presentation rather than establishing a single sacred costume.
Commerce is honorable within Aurethic thought.
Merchants are expected to maintain honest weights and measures, disclose serious defects, honor agreements, and avoid manipulating scarcity or exploiting desperate need.
Usury is prohibited. Aurethic finance instead makes extensive use of partnerships, profit-sharing, leasing, trade credit, purchase-and-resale arrangements, asset-backed financing, and mutual insurance.
Debt itself is not shameful. Refusing to pay a debt one is capable of paying is. Forgiving or restructuring the debts of someone genuinely ruined can be an act of considerable religious merit.
Wealth is lawful, but it is never understood as entirely free of social obligation. Charity, care of dependants, fair wages, hospitality, and assistance during famine or disaster are important expressions of righteous prosperity.
Aurethic has no sacramental priesthood.
Religious authority rests upon learning, reputation, interpretation, and recognized qualification. Readers specialize in scripture and recitation; teachers instruct communities; jurists interpret religious law; prayer leaders conduct congregational worship; judges apply religious law where courts possess appropriate jurisdiction.
No single living scholar speaks infallibly for the entire faith.
Aurethic law draws upon the Clear Measure, authenticated traditions concerning Da'vid, scholarly consensus, analogy from established principles, public necessity, and local custom that does not contradict revelation.
This has produced hundreds of Cycles of legal argument and numerous interpretive schools. Disagreement between qualified scholars is normal.
Learning is highly respected.
The practical demands of the faith encouraged literacy, mathematics, astronomy, geography, medicine, legal study, record keeping, and commercial scholarship. Prayer times must be calculated, the direction of the Cave determined, inheritance divided, trade regulated, and hundreds of Cycles of jurisprudence preserved.
Aurethic theology generally regards the physical universe as something that can and should be studied. The sun and stars are creations rather than divine bodies, so astronomical investigation presents no inherent theological problem.
Libraries, schools, universities, hospitals, fountains, wells, poor kitchens, cemeteries, and pilgrim houses are frequently supported through permanent religious endowments.
Aurethic houses of prayer are aniconic.
They commonly contain prayer halls, courtyards, washing fountains, teaching rooms, libraries, kitchens, guest quarters, and offices belonging to charitable institutions. Their decoration favors calligraphy, geometry, colored tile, carved stone and plaster, gardens, water, patterned screens, domes, towers, and carefully controlled natural light.
Human and animal images are ordinarily excluded from devotional spaces.
A prayer niche in the appropriate wall indicates the direction of the Cave of Revelation and orients the congregation during worship.
Aurethics bury their dead rather than cremate them.
The body is washed, wrapped in a simple shroud, prayed over, and buried as promptly as circumstances allow. Graves are usually restrained in decoration, and excessive devotional practice surrounding tombs is discouraged lest the dead become treated as intermediaries between Aureth and the living.
Aurethic teaches that mortal death is not the end.
At the time appointed by Aureth, the dead will be raised and judged. Every person answers for belief, intention, conduct, obligations, and injuries inflicted upon others.
The righteous hope for the Garden, an enduring state of peace, beauty, abundance, companionship, and Aureth's favor. The condemned face the Fire, punishment associated with rejection, oppression, and grave unrepented wrongdoing.
Aureth alone possesses final judgment. Neither the Nine nor any mortal religious authority can determine with certainty the final destiny of an ordinary person.
Aurethic shares important beliefs with mainstream Aurethianism. Both recognize Aureth as Creator and acknowledge the reality and divinity of the Nine Ladies.
The disagreement concerns worship.
Mainstream Aurethians worship Aureth above the Nine and pray directly to individual Ladies. Aurethics consider this a dangerous misdirection of worship toward created divine beings.
The disagreement with Asharanic is even more pronounced. Asharanic places Ashara-Selyra beside Aureth in worship and strongly celebrates sensual pleasure, sexual freedom, wine, and erotic religious practice. Aurethic worships Aureth alone, prohibits intoxicants, confines sexual relations to marriage, and places considerable value on restraint and modesty.
Despite these theological differences, Aurethic law has historically permitted non-Aurethic religious communities to exist under Aurethic governments, and practical coexistence between the traditions is common wherever politics allows it.
For a devout Aurethic, religion structures ordinary life from waking until sleep.
Prayer marks the hours of the day. Food is selected according to religious law. Contracts and debts have moral consequences. Wealth creates charitable obligations. Marriage governs sexual life. Hospitality creates duties toward guests and travelers. Parents, children, neighbors, workers, animals, and the dead all possess claims upon proper conduct.
Most Aurethics are no more perfect than adherents of any other religion. People miss prayers, drink secretly, gamble, quarrel over inheritance, conduct questionable business, commit sexual sins, or simply fail to live up to standards they sincerely believe in. Others are rigorous observers. Most fall somewhere between the two.
Aurethic society is not intended to be joyless. Family feasts, courtship, coffeehouses, poetry, gardens, music, sport, scholarship, humor, trade, beautiful clothing, architecture, hospitality, and friendship all flourish within it.
The ideal is not deprivation.
It is a disciplined life lived consciously beneath Aureth.