User:Char/sandbox3

Founder
Mysterious Oracle Centlatoani Cozauh
Scriptures
Teocuezalin
Languages
Nahuatl

Cozauism is a monotheistic faith and religious movement originating as an offshoot of traditional Tlateotoca. The foundational text and holy book to the Cozauists is the Teocuezalin, a text that preaches the worship of the Turquoise Lord of fire and time, Xiuhtecuhtli, as the supreme being and origin of all things. The deities of many indigenous pantheons of ancient Zacapican are reinterpreted as the earliest children of Xiuhtecuhtli, some of whom are portrayed as benevolent beings who serve as loyal intermediaries between Xiuhtecutli and humanity while others have become jealous of their father's love for humanity and become treasonous entities acting against the divine will. The origins of the Teocuezalin are relatively obscure, as the identity of its author or authors and the precise date of its writing remain a mystery. Nevertheless, the text would be popularized by the priest-king Cozauh in the 10th century, a great conqueror who styled himself Centlatoani or universal ruler and adopted the Teocuezalin as his personal guiding text in religious matters. Cozauh would go on to establish a clerical hierarchy and militant temple institution which facilitated the conversion to many polytheists across his territory to the singular worship of Xiuhtecuhtli and aided in the administration of the empire. The Cozauist temple would outlive the fall of Cozauh's empire, which splintered shortly after his death, and would be propagated across Zacapican and the wider world by the empire of Aztapamatlan. Today, Cozauism is a global faith with many millions of followers across the Oxidentale, Malaio and the Ozeros region.

Fire is sacred to the Cozauists as the embodiment and manifestation of their Lord, making the practice of Cozauism an organized form of pyrolatry. Ritual fire is the focus of daily worship and many rites, religious festivals, and other practices, and the pyrolatric theme can be found across many examples of Cozauist writings, music, songs, dances, architecture and visual arts. Cozauist congregations are overseen by a Teopixqui, a religious minister of Xiuhtecuhtli. Regional networks of many small Teopixcalli single-fire shrines or an individual large temple complex may be overseen by a superior Hueteopixqui, the head priest and regional administrator for a subdivision of the temple organization. Ultimately all Teopixqui and Hueteopixqui are beholden to the Tlatocateopixqui, also known as the Holy Speaker, who serves as the head of faith and ceremonial successor to the Centlatoani Cozauh himself. Succession disputes over the office of Tlatocateopixqui have historically been the cause of religious schisms and the origin of Cozauist heresies, including the Tlaloc sect established in Pulacan. The temporal possesions and political influence of the Cozauist temple in its place of origin has declined significantly since the Zacapine Revolution, although it remains an important spiritual and social institution.

Precepts

Singularity of God

The first and most fundamental precept of Cozauism and the fulcrum of its departure from its polytheistic precursors is the affirmation of a singular supreme God who is without equal. This defintively monotheistic manifestation of Xiuhtecuhtli embraces the many aspects of the Xiuhtecuhtli-Huehueteotl complex of deities and merges them into an omnipotent original being, the eldest and the universal father of every being to come thereafter. He is the Living Flame whose energy and heat causes things to be and which gives shape and essence to living things, that the heat fades causing things to cool and to become dead, so that they may be bathed in fire and rejoin the Living Flame in its heat. The purpose of existence is to know the radiance of the burning God, to heed his lessons and his will for his living creations, and to rejoin with him having borne the gift of his life into the world.

Acts of Worship

Renunciation

Tlatlaztli Iztlacatlatolli or the Renunciation of Falsehood is the first tenet laid out by the Teocuezalin and its most fundemental principle. The text states that the truths of the world are laid out by Xiuhtecuhtli across all of time, therefore to know and speak the truth is to hold the works of the Lord in regard and to tell a lie is disrespect what the Lord has set forth. Another aspect of Renunciation is to denounce false beliefs, including those previously held by oneself. This applies in particular to religious beliefs such as foreign religions, heresies and polytheism. Renuncuation is the first stage in the induction of a religious convert. Renunciation is a common practice during prayer, in which one's former false beliefs or ignorance or one's former lies are ritually denounced and rejected in an affirmation of divine truth.