The Awakening is a new religious movement arising in the far East of the Murinal Empire and its Tributary States.
History
(under construction)
Founded 1711
The Prophetess of the Morning Star
Desert people angry at repression by Murinal Empire, or at least a bad dominator
Theology
The Awakening is pantheist, believing that the universe and everything within it are thoughts in the mind of one transcendent God, called by believers "the All." All things, are thoughts in the mind of God, are thought to be holy, and nothing is impure. The Awakening radically rejects the concept of ritual or religious purity, and is hence viewed with special horror by the Twofold Way. It does not deny the existence of immanent personal gods within the universe, but views them as essentially more powerful humans. They might be bribed or convinced with worship, but such worship has no primary, intrinsic merit.
Ethics
The Awakening are hedonistic in their outlook. They view their actions as being calculated to advance human happiness. All actions which promote the collective pleasure of humanity are considered good, and the moral action is, essentially, the one that produces the greatest sum total of happiness. However, in practice, the group's penchant for committing atrocities has damaged the credibility of their claims in the eyes of many, including other proponents of consequentialist ethics.
Religious Symbols
The symbol of the religion is a burial shroud flown as a banner, sometimes flown from a spear rather than a flagstaff. This is a reference to their custom of tying pieces of burial shrouds to their weapons, to damage the morale of Imperial soldiers, many of whom believe that they can contract a form of contagious ritual impurity from contact with decayed corpses, causing ill fortune and a prolonged purification in the afterlife.