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Kaharnism is a traditional Charnean religion associated with Tamashek speaking peoples of the Zahra desert and today practiced by many groups across Charnea and Scipia. Core aspects of Kaharnism as an organized religion were established through the amalgamation of the traditional beliefs of Tamashek speaking nomads and the faiths of many ethnic groups residing in southern and eastern Charnea as the former came into contact with the latter through migration and conquest in the 10th and 11th centuries. Modern Kaharnism arose through syncretism of this medieval Kaharnism with White Path beliefs introduced through osmosis from Mutulese interests in Scipia, followed by the appearance of mendicant proselytising entities such as the semi-legendary Desert Oracle. It is not known when these processes of syncretism and partial conversion of Kaharnists to Sakbe beliefs began as the earliest surviving record of these activities are an early account of the Desert Oracle's activities dating to the mid 16th century, indicating that Sakbe must have been present or known in Charnea for some time prior. However, it is widely accepted that the heavily syncretic Sakbe-infused beliefs recognizable in modern Kaharnism had been well established around the mid to late 18th and early 19th centuries in many regions, and became widely although not universally practiced after the reunification of the Charnean Confederation in 1816. Kaharnism and similar Amazigh belief structures are also known to be syncretic with the Azdarin faith, various Christian denominations, and Judaism.

Kaharnic practice focuses on the correct treatment and veneration of deities known as the kel essuf, which are described as animated spirits of natural places and elements, in addition to the imanen, the souls of dreaming or dead human beings and animals. The religion has many local variations and the nature of spirits and distinction between nature spirits and ancestor spirits vary greatly. The standard Kaharnic term to refer to all lower deities of either nature is rada, a corruption of the Urushar word arada used to define similar animist spirit deities in traditional Urushar religion. The rada are identified as Sakbe deities or avatars, as well as Yen temanaa and some Fabrian catholic saints through syncretism with various faiths. Kaharnist worship of the Rada can take place in a variety of locations, including graveyard shrines which generally feature a stelae field, established temples called taghazam ta rada or a "House of Spirits/Ghosts", as well as personal or household shrines and even notable locations in the landscape such as the peaks of mountains or bodies of water. Rituals center on contacting the Rada, which is facilitated through gift giving to the spirits, animal sacrifice, singing, dancing and close contact with ancestral remains either by keeping a talisman of an ancestor's bone or simply praying at or sleeping on an ancestor's grave. Spirit possession and divination practices are present in some, though not all, local variations of Kaharnism.

Many variations and syncretic sects of Kaharnism exist across Charnea and Scipia, practicing at times markedly distinct and differing liturgical orthodoxy and rites. The central constant which unifies Kaharnist practice and distinguishes it from other forms of Scipian traditional shamanism and ancestor worship is the deified figure of Mother Kaharna, a legendary queen of the ancient Amazigh peoples who was posthumously deified as a powerful ancestor spirit and later a higher order goddess as Kaharnism continued to develop. Kaharna, often referred to as Mother of us all, is worshipped as a powerful ancestor spirit representing an original ancestral matron of all nations and tribes of humanity, who therefore presides over the local and more specific rada affecting the lives of many different groups. The rada of Kaharna is strongly associated with water, especially desert oases, and is seen as a benevolent deity seeking to nurture and guide her descendant children. While most traditions of ancestor worship in Kaharnism fall under familiar ancestry, the spiritual motherhood of Kaharna is more metaphorical, encompassing not only groups decended or associated with the Amazigh but the rest of humankind as well. Some rada, such as the imanen of the well known Charnean conqueror Agnan of the Tree, receive similar treatment and broad veneration, although this is typically limited to particular tribes or nations as opposed to the universal worship of Kaharna across all of Kaharnism.

Beliefs

Kaharnism espouses the belief in a supreme being which created the universe, leading to the religion being mistakenly identified as monotheistic historically. The creator being is identified as the sun, alternatively as a dual entity encompassing both the sun and moon, and is referred to as Lis or less commonly as Sham-Mawu meaning sun-moon. In the latter interpretation, the creator Sham and the demiurge Mawu are distinct facets of the same overarching supreme entity, Lis. For Kaharnists, Lis is a distant and transcendent god who is uninterested in human affairs and therefore is not prayed to or directly venerated, as humans cannot contact it directly. Lis can sometimes be personified as either a male or female entity, sometimes even as both male and female, but is more commonly portrayed as a non-human, intangible entity represented by the solar disk. Lis is differentiated from non-transcendent lower deities known as rada, which are both animistic spirits of the land, natural elements and conceptual embodiments as well as the empowered spirits of both living and ancestral dead souls. The heavenly divine realm of Lis and the earthly divine realm of the rada spirits are often contrasted through mitigated duality. However, Kaharnism does not incorporate belief in any powerful antagonistic entity opposing the creator Lis nor does it depict the heavenly and earthly realms as being in conflict, leaving the religion's dualism morally neutral. Similarly, spirits described as "light" or "dark" are not associated with good or evil, but rather in a positive/negative relationship related to complimentary dualism.

The rada, which are interpreted as gods, spirits or geniuses, are the polytheistic deities of Kaharnism. Depending on the sect or syncretic beliefs of practitioners, the rada will alternatively be referred to as K'uh, temanaa or as saints, "mysteries" or "invisible ones". Rada interact with humans through positive influence by offering help, protection, or guidance as well as through voluntary possession and negative influence such as causing disease or inflicting tamazai, a form of negative possession akin to depression. The rada of ancestors or living relatives in a dream state will often readily assist or otherwise interact with persons, while others might be compelled to act through prayer, ritual gift giving and blood sacrifice. Some rada are treated as middle entities between humanity and the solar creator Lis, however many rada such as the dreaming spirits of living humans and some ancestor spirits do not communicate with Lis. Kaharna is the primary intermediary between humanity and Lis, as well as many rada which are too minor or distant to be contacted by human practitioners through ritual. Consequently, the uniquely powerful rada of Kaharna is a focal point and central figure for all sects and denominations of Kaharnism as she is prayed to even in rituals intended to contact other rada, and is attributed many powers which would be considered beyond the scope of most rada's influence in the mortal world.