Schism (religion)

Schism is a religious philosophy which attempts to explain the creation of existence and The Schism through three biblical texts; the Wolschism, the Ralschism , and the  Silschism. These texts were supposedly written by the prophet Sinmaker immediately after a lucid dream which lasted three years.

Wolschism
The Wolschism is the Book of Life. It explains the creation of Virioz (the physical world) as an extension of Ketic (the world of souls). It explains how all the souls were being eaten by the Schism in Ketic, so they dreamed up the world together and escaped inside. It tells of how some figments bound together and became their own souls, but ones which originated in Virioz instead of Ketic. These races are considered the 'Hard' races, less tied to Ketic due to their origins on Virioz, while races that are considered 'Soft' are thought to have originated in Ketic, and are less bound to the physical world. Many of the Hard races are considered to be avatars of various elements of the physical world and enforcers of souls, keeping the ever-dreaming souls from letting the rules of the world break down.

The Zariphexen were the avatars of Power.

The Faulters are the avatars of Conviction.

The Middlers are the avatars of Sense.

The Shofizateri are the avatars of Memory. The Zautiers represent long-term memory and foresight, while the Shofies represent short-term memory and insight.

The Lodeborn were originally the avatars of Law, but then they attempted to contact the Schism and ended up losing their souls. (This is a heavily and hotly discussed and disliked part of the Wolchism, and has led to the Lodeborn being discriminated against often for being 'soulless'.)

Ralschism
The Ralschism is the Book of Death. It explains how souls enter and leave their bodies. For Soft souls, they escape Ketic and enter Virioz, where they choose a body and are placed within. Over their life, that body lives, evolves, and their experiences form a new entity apart from the soul. When a person's body dies, that body's memories become a new soul and that soul briefly enters Ketic, where it must work to avoid the Schism if it wants to live again. When a new being is born in Virioz, the oldest soul in Ketic enters their body. The old souls travel to Teivox (the dream within the dream) to imagine new worlds and live new, eternal lives within them. In Teivox, each soul is given the chance to attempt to create a more perfect world than Virioz, and to explore what worlds the other souls have created. Teivox is also an escape from the Schism, which cannot find its way out of Ketic.

Silschism
The Silschism is the Book of Dreams. It explains the origin of souls and the Schism. At first, there was simply Nothing, but then Nothing began to dream. Its first dream was the Schism; the duty of Schism was to uphold the ordered absence of all things and to keep Nothing from dreaming again. But then the Schism began to dream, and then those dreams began to dream, and it spiraled into the chaos and confusion that was Ketic, the world of dreams. It was when the dreams began to wake that they became souls, each more than a dream and yet lacking their previous fluidity. The Schism, embarrassed by its dreams, began to destroy each of the souls. The surviving souls decided they could not live in Ketic any longer and began to dream of a new, more solid world where things could be more coherent and framed outside of the madness of the dreamworld. This new world was called Virioz, and the story continues in the Wolschism.

Schist Glyphs
Schism is written in a unique language made up of glyphs. This language is picture-based and very easy to learn, which has allowed the religion to spread very easily. The symbol most often used to represent Schism is the Glyph of Dreaming, which encapsulates the universe as presented in the texts. The crescent on the bottom represents Ketic and the Schism surrounding everything, connected to everything, yet not being the main focus. The line and empty circle in the middle represents Virioz, the world where souls find their bodies and live their lives. The line ends at a circle, which represents Teivox, where most of the souls exist. Ketic touches Teivox at the sides, where the new souls from Virioz return to Ketic and await the birth of their bodies.