Aroism

Aroism is a Mapo-Aedamic religion widely practised in Mermelia. It is a monotheistic religion with Aroe as its deity.

Etymology

The term Aroism comes from the Maponic word for the number one "Aeru", this word will later become "Aroe" or "Ero". The term Aroe is often used among the maponic population, while Ero amongst the aedamic population.

Theology

Aroe

Aroe could be described as "The One, from who we all came and towards they we shall go", it is unusual to represent they by an anthropomorphic figure. Aroe is the only deity venerated on the religion, it is considered to be an omnipresent being, as well as the gaver of live and the master of the universe. In most branches of Aroism, the nature and the universe are venerated, and have their special places on temples, as they are seen as different manifestations of Aroe.

Universe Guardians

The Universe Guardians are manifestations of Aroe, they are, mostly, natural phenomenon, like the wind, day and night, seasons, rain, etc. Their main function, according to the The Book of Teachings, is to keep the natural order and flow, along side with the Guardian of the Law, in order to the universe to work according to Aroe's will. These guardians come also from Aroe and they can desappear at any moment if they don't follow their espefic rule in the universe.

The creation myth

In the beginning, there was a tiny Pearl of light, a source that gave birth to Aro, The One from which we all came and towards them we shall return. Aro created out of its soul the first realm: The spiritual realm, where the souls inhabit. After that Aro created the material realm, after it is bright. They first created the first Guardian of the Universe: The Sun, which function is to bring light and joy to the universe. Then Aro created the second Guardian, The Moon, which function is to bring darkness and sadness. Aro, out of the sun created the fire, and out of the moon the water. By mixing the fire and the water, they created the wind, but by mixing water, fire, and soul, they created the third Guardian of the Universe: The Earth, which function is to support life. The earth was filled with dirt, water, and wind. Aro created the first animals, out of a drop of dirt in the water, but these animals were not able to talk, therefore they could not produce any sound. Then Aro was trying to figure out how to give the animals the ability to speak, but accidentally they created an evil spirit that infested the earth with plague, death, hunger, and sorrow. After some attempts, Aro gave to some animals the capacity to produce sounds, but they didn’t have a soul, therefore they couldn’t produce any sound, yet; so Aro gave them a soul, and suddenly the earth was filled with beautiful songs and speeches of all the creatures. The evil spirit fills the earth and turn some animals into violent beast, that began eating other animals (these animals are known as Evil). Aro noticed that all animals where infected with the spirit, but those animals tried to fight back the spirit, and they got hungry, (these animals are known as Gentile) in order to eliminate that hunger, Aro created the plants, soulless creatures that would feed the gentiles.

Aro they decided to create a Natural Order, which all creatures (evil or gentile) shall obey, to try to fight back the evil spirit. In order to make sure that the Natural Order was followed, Aro designed an especial animal, that would help Aro to fight evilness and to re-establish the primordial order, this animal was the Human, made out of dirt that emerged from the an special reddish water-soul mix, blood…

Practices

Sacrifices

It is well known that sacrifices are a big deal for Aroists, as they represent, how Aroe created the world and the universe, and how he became The One. Before the modern spiritual sacrifice was practiced, a more phisical one was. The human sacrifices where a common thing amongst the old maponic people, who practiced an archaic version of Aroism. During the human sacrifice ceremony, the priest will offer the soul (blood) of the sacrificed one and then, the priest would open the chest, with a ceremonial knife, and take the heart and place it on an ceremonial bowl, and all the blood from the heart and the body would be recollected to later been used on to water some fields, in order to be more productive. Not all of the blood was used to water fields, the remaining blood would be mixed with soil and ashes. The dead body would be burnt and the ashes collected to be mixed with some soil and blood, once the mixed is done, it would be used to plant a tree. Trees were used as a way to be easily reintegrated into Aroe. Nowadays, human sacrifices are not practiced, instead, the believer would simply donate some blood or their organs (once they are death). Another alternative is to get a bald haircut and mix the hair with soil, water and saliva to plant a tree.

Burrial

When a person dies, Aroist usually cremate the body, as a way of purification. Then, they mix it with dirt, water (some denominations add blood) and a seed, so the body of the person is used by the tree to grow and to proyect the soul of the person into the realm of souls, where, if the person managed to become a righteous one, also known as a Worhty One, will complete return to Aro, but, if the person didn't became a Worthy One or deviated from the Eight virtues will stay in the realm of souls for eight months to complete the Eight virtues; if the soul couldn't complete them, then the soul would be returned down to earth as a gentile.

Some cannibalistic ceremonies are performed instead of the cremation, for the same reason, purifying the deceased one.

Culture

Treatment of animals

Some Aroist are vegans, because they say that eating animals is a way in which the evil spirit is winning terrain in our souls and therefore they won't return to Aro. In contrast to this point of view, some say that eating animals is a purifying act, because we are sacrificing ourselfs in order to save the gentiles and evil souls, therefore we would be becoming an even more righteous person.

Tolerance of other religions

According with The Book of Teachings, Aro contacted with a group of eight righteous humans and tell them that the role of the human beign in the universe is to manage to erradicate the evil spirit through a series of virtues that those humans had. The virtues can be present in any human, therefore, according to The book of Guardians and supported by The book of Teachings, any human no matter the religion can achive the erradication of the evilness inside them and with that, they contribute to the erradication of evilness.