Re: Constructed Numerology

Simon Kissane wrote:
> On a similar topic, how many people have developed conreligions to go
> with their conlangs?
I haven't really gotten very far in the theology of my conreligion, but
I do have the rudiments of it.  The Faithful Ones (as the speakers of W.
call themselves) believe in a single goddess (at least, the Females say
that there is a Goddess, some Males say that the deity is a God).  They
believe in 8 primary elements, 4 secondary elements (secondary elements
are actually a combination of 2 primary elements, so perhaps element
isn't the best translation).  They are (arranged in the traditional
order of triplets - 2 primary elements - the first is Animate, the
second Inanimate - and their secondary element): fire, ash, wood; water,
salt, ocean; air, earth, body; soul, "spiritual earth", mind.  There are
also 8 Forces (or Energies), which are arranged in 4 Balances, each of
which is associated with a secondary element.  They are: Good Luck, Bad
Luck, Luck (Wood); Life, Death, Life-Death (Ocean); Love, Hate,
Relations (Body); Good, Evil, Morals (Mind).  Luck and Life-Death are
Within Forces, that is, they dwell within the individual.  Thus, they
are subject to the Law of Evening, which states that they balance out.
When bad luck happens, you're drained of your Bad Luck, and thus, bad
things are less likely to occur to you, meanwhile, your Good Luck is
replenished.  Likewise, when good things happen, your Good Luck is
drained, and your Bad Luck is replenished.  Some people seem to have
greater capacity for Bad Luck or for Good Luck, but it's believed that
in the long run (i.e., over several lives), it balances out.  Thus,
someone with an exceptionally lucky life either *had* a really bad life
(or lives) earlier, or *will* have a bad life (or lives) later.
Life-Death balances out as well.  When you kill something, one of those
energies will flow into you.  If you kill it properly, the Death will be
blocked, and the Life will be let in, therefore, you'll live longer.  If
you kill it improperly, the Life will be blocked, and the Death will be
let in, therefore, you won't live as long.  Relations and Morals are
Inherent.  Individuals either respond to Good or Evil, and to Love and
Hate.  Good, Love, Good Luck, and Life are all positive forces, Evil,
Hate, Bad Luck, and Death are all negative forces.  Positive forces
attract each other, as do negative forces.  Thus, and evil, hateful
person will accumulate Bad Luck and Death more easily than Good Luck and
Life.  In other words, evil hateful people tend to be shorter-lived and
have worse luck.

Creation/History myth:
In the beginning there was nothing.  Then, the Goddess created 9
elements and 9 forces/balances (soul, spiritual earth, mind, good, evil,
and morals were not yet created), and shaped them into life and the
world.  After a long time, She got bored, and so created a second sun,
and a few moons.  She was still bored, and began creating the playful
animals.  This kept her interested for a while, but she still got
bored.  They were so predictable.  So, she created the remaining
elements and forces/balances, and created the two races (Green and Blue
- two closely related species).  She created 2 of each, and just to make
things a little more interesting, she split both races into two - male
and female.  The first Males and Females got along well for a while, but
then they began fighting, shortly after the birth of the first
Children.  They took their disputes to the Goddess, who then made them
to compete.  The Females won the competition, and so won the right to
bear young, and the Males were exiled from their prescence, which is why
adult Males live seperately from the adult Females and Children, except
when the Mating Season comes.  To comfort the Males for their supreme
loss, the Goddess gave them the Gift of Tongues, so that they would be
able to speak with other groups (for She knew that they would change
their tongues).  She subsequently divided other Gifts among the Males
and Females.  Since the two Races fought even more, they were seperated
for good.  She then created 5 more of each sex and race, bringing the
total number up to 6 of each race and sex, 24 in all.  They scattered
over the face of the Earth, and, as She expected, corrupted their
language.  But, she was happy, for they were unpredictable, constantly
doing new things.  Later, she became angry at them, for they forgot
her.  She thought of destroying them and starting over, but changed her
mind when she discovered a few who remembered Her, tho imperfectly.  She
came to them and taught them her ways, and her language.  But, many of
their descendents forgot her, so that she had to punish them, and keep
them away from the Infidels, so she had the Infidels persecute them, so
that they would plead to her, and she told them to flee across the
Ocean, she brought them safely to a small island, and told them of more
islands to the west, that were empty, and which they could live on when
that island was full.

Controversies:
There is a controversy over the status of Wood.  Some say that wood is
Animate, others say that it is Inanimate.  They point out that
Watya'iya`isa, the language that the Goddess Herself gave them, makes
wood gender 8, the Inanimate Gender, but others say that it was
originally gender 6 (one of the Animate Genders), and that that was one
of the Changes that everyone knew had happened to their language.  This
is an important debate, since cutting down a tree destroys it, and if
it's animate, it must be killed in a certain manner, and if it's
inanimate, it must be killed a different way - remember, Wood is
associated with Luck.

Wow!  I didn't think I'd go on so long.
--
"It has occured to me more than once that holy boredom is good and
sufficient reason for the invention of free will." - "Lord Leto II"
(Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert)
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