The Mierese Religion
Last updated
Last updated
The Mierese fascination with stories overflows even to their comprehension of spirituality.
They believe stories are living entities, existing in another plane where the gods live, and that they can connect with them spiritually. More than that, they feel that these stories exert influence over our reality.
In this sense, the more famous and relevant a story is, the more significant it impacts our galaxy, as if the moral value or the theme of big stories would happen again and again as if they portray natural laws or phenomena.
To put it in Mierese words:
“Stories are simply the vessels for the universe's moral themes. If you pay attention, you can understand its underlying values as one can infer physical laws from natural phenomena.”
In this sense, both planes, the one where the gods and ideas live and the physical world, influence one another in a cyclical manner.
This fascinating approach is reinforced in the Mierese culture by the spiritual concept of the afterlife. It is said that a special function of the Lore Keepers is the ability to communicate with the spirits and their stories, with the exclusion of those who are deemed non-existent.
This happens through medium sessions, where souls of good or bad intentions inspire the participants to look forward to the lessons in the stories, offering guidance through indirect means.
This, together with the overall appreciation and desire for stories, generate curious outcomes in some individuals.
Sometimes the idea or story is so strong in a particular Mierese that he is almost “possessed,” firmly believing that their creed is the actual truth, becoming an avatar of his idea or story, to the point of dying for his belief. The Mierese lore sees this as an extreme case of the Onato trap we discussed in chapter 1.
That’s one of the reasons the Mierese are so reluctant to embrace an idea or a concept to the point of dying.
In extreme conditions, a Mierese would be so entangled with stories and narratives that they would develop other personalities, which represent the character they envision themselves to be, allowing acts beyond the grasp of their original self. Nevertheless, this also causes troubles, as the Mierese often lose sight of reality, causing everything from mild depression to complete despair.
This might even end up flipping their moral values as they lose themselves to the second conscience. However, this is a rare occurrence, witnessed only a few times in the whole Grand Tale history, but always having a significant impact in Mierese history.
