Religions
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For as long as people have existed, they have had varying beliefs. Religion is one that stems from them, and various types exist in the world.
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Kanti
The oldest and largest faith throughout Shinseina.
Kanti, "The Way of God", is the oldest known faith in Shinseina, and remains the most widely practiced religion across the realm. It is estimated that over sixty percent of the global population either believes in Kanti or acknowledges its cultural importance. The origins of Kanti stretch back to the earliest sentient races, beings said to have been in direct communion with the divine force known as Kami.
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Though the belief has changed across eras and regions, evolving through countless generations, its central spirit has endured. Kanti has no singular founder, no fixed doctrine or sacred scripture, and does not rely on missionary zeal or widespread preaching. Instead, it lives in the hearts and customs of the people. It is not uncommon to meet someone who may not actively practice the rituals of Kanti, yet still acknowledges Kami's role in shaping the world.
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At its heart, Kanti venerates Kami, the One True God, alongside reverence for their divine Son and Daughter. Kami is believed to have shaped all things essential to existence, the winds that fill the lungs of the living, the rains that nourish crops, the mountains that pierce the sky, the trees that bear fruit and breathe out life, the rivers that quench thirst and give shelter to creatures, and humanity itself. Through these natural elements, Kami is ever-present.
Kanti differs significantly from the more rigid monotheistic religions found in other lands. There are no strict absolutes, no written commandments, no binary concepts of right and wrong. Morality is shaped by intention, not perfection. Evil, in Kanti, is not an innate state of being, but rather something born from pain, history, and misguided actions. Most rituals within the faith are centered around purification, prayer, and offerings, acts meant to align oneself with Kami and promote harmony with the world.
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There is no heaven, no hell, no eternal punishment or reward. Death in Kanti is merely a cycle: the soul is reborn, cleansed of memory, and enters life anew. One’s deeds shape their rebirth, determining whether they return as human, beast, or something in between. While not all Kanti followers believe in strict reincarnation, some hold to a gentler belief that if one lives with great virtue, Kami may reshape them into angels, spiritual beings tasked with quietly guiding the world.
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Worship of Kami takes place in Kanti churches, sacred sites devoted to honoring Kami and their divine children. These churches serve as both ritual spaces and community centers, often hosting vibrant festivals meant to celebrate the cycles of nature and invite Kami to witness the world through mortal eyes. Within these grounds, Kanti priests serve as guides and caretakers. Both men and women may become priests; they are permitted to marry but must forgo parenthood, as they are to see all people as their children.
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Priests are assisted by Shrine Maidens, young women who serve ceremonial and spiritual roles. They dress in flowing white robes, must remain unmarried, and are often taken in and trained by the priests themselves. Together, they uphold the rhythms of Kanti practice and ensure the traditions endure.
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Kanti is not a religion of conquest or fear. It is a living current, flowing through the daily lives of Shinseina’s people, shaping how they understand good, life, and the sacred bond between mortals and the divine.
Shanti
An old religion that stems from nature, beauty, and love.
Shanti, "Beauty in Creation", is a faith cherished most deeply by the elves and members of the Beast Clan, revered for its connection to the natural world and all its splendor. Though often viewed as a branch or offshoot of the broader Kanti religion, many who follow Shanti consider it a faith all its own, separate in spirit, purpose, and devotion.
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Unlike Kanti, Shanti does have a recognized founder. The faith is believed to have begun with a revered Beastmen woman named Freya Yunlong, a tribal matriarch whose eyes were opened to the majesty of the world during her journeys. As her tribe moved through lush valleys, quiet forests, and glistening rivers, she grew overwhelmed by the beauty that surrounded them, a beauty she believed went underappreciated and uncelebrated.
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In response to that sorrow, Freya gave birth to Shanti, a religion that honored not just the world, but the creator of its beauty. Her vision resonated deeply with her kin and quickly took root within her tribe. As they traveled across the land, their faith spread like wildfire, told through stories, rituals, and offerings shared with those they encountered. In time, what began as the dream of one woman blossomed into a religion known across all of Shinseina.
Shanti evolved into its own distinct faith, no longer tethered to Kanti’s broader theology. Its worship became focused solely on Kami’s Daughter, the Goddess of Creation, the divine being they believe sculpted the beauty of nature, filled the skies with stars, shaped every tree, river, flower, and forest, and gave the world the very essence it needed to sustain life.
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Through their devotion, Shanti followers came to view Kami’s Son, the God of Destruction, as his sister’s opposite, an entity who sought to tear down what she built. To them, he became a symbol of cruelty and senseless ruin, often portrayed as a villain in teachings and stories, a figure used to caution children and warn sinners of straying from harmony.
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While most who follow Shanti are members of the Beast Clan or elvenkind, the religion does not exclude outsiders. On rare occasions, festivals of radiant celebration are held in honor of the Goddess of Creation, colorful, music-filled events that draw crowds from every race and region. These moments are a chance for all to bask in nature’s wonder and offer their praise, if only for a night, to the goddess who gave the world its form and color.
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To follow Shanti is to see the divine in every tree, the sacred in every breeze, and the purpose in every living thing. It is a quiet, radiant reverence, one born not of fear or judgment, but of love for the creation that surrounds all.
Damati
A taboo religion that is treated as forbidden.
Damati, "Destruction of All", is a forbidden, cult-like faith whispered of in fear and disgust. Once a religion with hundreds of followers, its ideology now survives only in shadows, kept alive by the mad, the desperate, and the damned. In modern Shinseina, Damati is outlawed, its practice punishable by death.
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Unlike the faiths of Kanti and Shanti, Damati does possess a sacred scripture. Said to have been penned centuries ago by the religion’s founder, a man who named himself Satan, the book outlined the twisted philosophy at the core of the faith. Though the bulk of this scripture was destroyed during the Great Purge, fragments still exist, carefully preserved by the cult’s last remaining believers.
The origins of the faith trace back several hundred years. It is told that Satan, during a solitary journey, bore witness to a catastrophic event: a mountain reduced to dust in a single instant. That moment, that sheer annihilation, awakened something within him. According to what remains of his writings, he found a warped sense of beauty in the notion that all things, no matter how grand, are destined to end. That revelation became his gospel, and he soon proclaimed Yomoko, the God of Destruction, as the only deity worthy of worship.
His beliefs, radical and apocalyptic, found an audience. They spread quickly, among the lost, the unstable, and the ruinous, forming the early ranks of the Damati cult. To them, destruction was the truest expression of divinity. Life was fleeting, the world an impermanent illusion, and only by embracing ruin could one find purpose.
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This growing cult, however, posed a threat not only to order but to life itself. It wasn’t long before the authorities and followers of other religions united to purge Damati from the realm. Hundreds of its members were hunted down, executed, or forced into hiding; the cult faded into the underground, but it never fully died.
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Today, Damati is considered illegal in every known region, and practitioners are executed on sight. Still, rumors persist of secret gatherings, of blood-soaked rituals, of lingering followers who believe that the world must return to what it once was:​ nothing.
Pagan
Belief not in the divine, but in creatures that roam the lands.
Pagan, "Other Gods", is a fringe, cult-like faith regarded with suspicion and disdain by much of the world. Its presence is small, its followers scattered and rare, but its practices leave a lasting impression. To most, Paganism is synonymous with heresy.
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Unlike the major religions, Pagan holds no central scripture. Instead, it is built upon a multitude of ritual scrolls and ancestral customs, each one considered sacred within the tribes that uphold them. These ritual writings, ancient and fiercely protected, are passed down without alteration, and outsiders are strictly forbidden from laying eyes on them.
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The religion is often described as barbaric and unorthodox, and it is not difficult to see why. Rituals under Pagan practice are steeped in blood and sacrifice, most commonly that of animals, but in more extreme sects, human life is offered. Their ceremonies blur the lines of morality and legality, and many practitioners reject clan laws or social norms, openly participating in acts considered abhorrent elsewhere: incest, polygamy, kidnapping, and more.
Paganism has no known founder, only stories lost in time, the most commonly believed tale tells of a town suffering in darkness, desperate for aid. A figure named Pegea is said to have introduced the townspeople to strange beings, primordial entities that responded to their calls. These entities answered, protected, and delivered them from despair. From then on, the town’s people worshipped them as divine, spreading their belief far and wide.
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Unlike most religions in Shinseina, Pagan followers reject Kami and the celestial children, claiming instead that the true gods were the first Fauna to walk the land. They refer to them as the Pagan Gods or the Old Ones, primordial spirits that predate recorded civilization.
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Though being Pagan is not illegal, it is socially condemned, and many view its followers as dangerous outsiders. Law enforcers treat them harshly, and any Pagan caught breaking the law faces arrest without hesitation. Yet even so, in the deep forests, abandoned temples, and isolated tribes, the fires of Pagan belief still burn.
Kyogi
A belief not in others, but in oneself, formed by a small select few.
Kyogi, “The False Gods”, is a religion in name only. In truth, it began not as a faith, cult, or movement, but as an obsession, an ambition pursued by a handful of individuals who sought to ascend beyond mortality. It lacked followers, lacked reverence; what it had was hunger.
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The origins of Kyogi trace back over 4,500 years, to a time when six individuals, Timerous Vincerithina, Yetherin Manurivana, Chris Cuntkin, Alexandra Mantizu, Leohandate Stronghold, and Henchmate Freshbottom, banded together under a singular, blasphemous goal: to become gods.
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They cast off their worldly names and titles, swearing loyalty only to each other and their shared ambition. Together, they formed what they called the “Partnership of Godhood”, or POG. Wealth, fame, and legacy meant nothing; only the pursuit of power mattered.
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What began as a humble group of adventurers soon evolved. The six traveled far and wide, slaying monsters, gathering forgotten relics, and unearthing arcane secrets. But everything changed the day they discovered the existence of Demi-Gods, divine creations meant to govern the aspects of the world. Ever-present, never seen, their power rivaled the myths.
It was then that the POG found their path.
They sought out and captured the Demi-God of Storm, sealing it in a tomb through powerful, now-lost rituals. Through ancient arcane means, they extracted the very essence of the Demi-God, splitting it evenly among themselves. The result: partial divinity, mortal frames now surged with power beyond human bounds, and the Demi-God, slain.
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The Gods watched, and at first, they did nothing. Another Demi-God was born to replace the fallen one, and everything continued. But the six grew bold; they turned their eyes to a second target, the Demi-God of Earth, and repeated the process.
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This time, the Gods acted.​ Yomoko, the God of Destruction, descended with fury. Divine judgment rained down upon the six, striking them with the full wrath of creation’s warden. According to recorded history, they were erased, wiped from the world by his decree.
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And yet whispers linger.
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No bodies were ever found, no tombs unearthed. The ancient altars of their rituals have never been located, believed to be hidden by powerful magic that even divine eyes cannot pierce. While POG's story ended in fire and wrath, the Kyogi faith, if it can be called that, survives in fragmented legend, spoken only in silence.