Hello, everyone. This is my first post in this section.
I have a wording problem.
In my fantasy world, I have a religion, called Iquinianism or the the Church of Iquin, that masquerades as good but is "really" evil. The religion is actually created by some sinister force as a means of keeping people under control. Central to Iquinian theology are the sixteen godlike, semi-personified forces called Sephiroth (singular Sephirah). (The word is taken from Cabbala, and the meaning is similar... I think.)
Each Sephirah represents some "virtue", i.e., some moral principle that is considered good and important in the Iquinian religion. These virtues are partially made to create a harmonious, well-functioning society, but more importantly they are made in order to control people. As such, they focus on obedience and coherence as a culture.
The sixteen virtues are these:
* Loyalty (keeps people from questioning).
* Humility (keeps people from complaining).
* Dilligence (keeps people working).
* Courage (in the face of outsiders, of course).
* Honour (keeps people inside the system out of fear of dishonour).
* Faith (religious faith, fanaticism).
* Chastity/sexual decency (because sex is dangerous and can lead people astray).
* Patience (makes people accept hardship and oppression).
* Acceptance (makes people accept hardship and oppression).
* Sacrifice (obvious).
* Obedience to the hierarchy (prevents masses from rebelling and rulers from sympathizing).
* Adherence to tradition (prevents rebellion and change).
* Adherence to the law (control).
* Unity (unity with one's own people only, leading to hate of outsiders).
* Hate of the wicked (hate of everyone different).
* Hate of blasphemy and heresy (keeps religion from evolving).
However, I am not satisfied with the names of the last six (the ones I've italicized). "Hate of X" just doesn't sound very virtuous, and of course, they need to sound like virtues. So, can someone help me find better names for them?
Suggestions for other things to add to the list are also welcome. I made up them all in an hour and I was pretty hard pressed to think of sixteen, so the list is full of redundancies. This idea is pretty new as of yet, so nothing is carved in stone.
Thanks in advance.
I have a wording problem.
In my fantasy world, I have a religion, called Iquinianism or the the Church of Iquin, that masquerades as good but is "really" evil. The religion is actually created by some sinister force as a means of keeping people under control. Central to Iquinian theology are the sixteen godlike, semi-personified forces called Sephiroth (singular Sephirah). (The word is taken from Cabbala, and the meaning is similar... I think.)
Each Sephirah represents some "virtue", i.e., some moral principle that is considered good and important in the Iquinian religion. These virtues are partially made to create a harmonious, well-functioning society, but more importantly they are made in order to control people. As such, they focus on obedience and coherence as a culture.
The sixteen virtues are these:
* Loyalty (keeps people from questioning).
* Humility (keeps people from complaining).
* Dilligence (keeps people working).
* Courage (in the face of outsiders, of course).
* Honour (keeps people inside the system out of fear of dishonour).
* Faith (religious faith, fanaticism).
* Chastity/sexual decency (because sex is dangerous and can lead people astray).
* Patience (makes people accept hardship and oppression).
* Acceptance (makes people accept hardship and oppression).
* Sacrifice (obvious).
* Obedience to the hierarchy (prevents masses from rebelling and rulers from sympathizing).
* Adherence to tradition (prevents rebellion and change).
* Adherence to the law (control).
* Unity (unity with one's own people only, leading to hate of outsiders).
* Hate of the wicked (hate of everyone different).
* Hate of blasphemy and heresy (keeps religion from evolving).
However, I am not satisfied with the names of the last six (the ones I've italicized). "Hate of X" just doesn't sound very virtuous, and of course, they need to sound like virtues. So, can someone help me find better names for them?
Suggestions for other things to add to the list are also welcome. I made up them all in an hour and I was pretty hard pressed to think of sixteen, so the list is full of redundancies. This idea is pretty new as of yet, so nothing is carved in stone.
Thanks in advance.
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