Bowism

Bowism (Basaquese: Kevneşopiyên Bow, transl. "Traditions of Bow") is a religion or religious tradition originating in the Basaquastan region of Liberto-Ancapistan. Regarded as the indigenous religion of Basaquastan, it has no central authority and encompasses a variety of practices and beliefs, often delineated into different schools. These may be influenced by prophets and scholars or regional traditions.

Bowism is typically monotheistic and centred around Bow, the creator of the Deryaya Bow ("Sea of Bow"), the world inhabited by humanity, which is characterised by the presence of water. Bow is not eternal or omniscient, and originates in the space outside the Deryaya Bow, called Netem, the nature and contents of which differ between Bowist schools. Bow is incorporeal and does not interact with the Deryaya Bow as a singular, united entity. Instead, individual attributes and parts of Bow's being may materially manifest in the form of lower deities, called Aspects. Bowists believe that the material world and humanity are entirely non-divine and self-sustaining, but may be altered through the divine interaction of Bow, the Aspects of Bow, or semi-divine beings which draw their sustenance from Bow, called spirits. Bowist worship revolves around appeals to attract the attention of Aspects or spirits, in order to elicit favours or create harmony between humans and individual spirits. Rituals typically involve water, especially in appeals to Aspects, and offerings of food or other objects.

According to most scholars, Bowism is a linear development of pre-existing Basaquastanian religion, which differed from Bowism primarily in its polytheism. Between the 2nd century BCE and the 6th century CE, the traditional gods worshipped in Basaquastan were either reinterpreted as Aspects of the greater Bow or demoted to localised worship as spirits. The reasons for this shift have been debated, with some scholars positing that the development of Bowism can be attributed to attempts at religious consolidation by the Emirate of Great Nizmstan and Santian Empire, and others pointing to popular shifts in belief and the influence of prophets. Throughout the history of Bowism and especially during the latter half of the 1st millennium CE, prophets claiming to have had personal interactions with Aspects have had a significant influence on Bowist beliefs and practices, especially in encouraging the religion's monastic tradition. The largest school of Bowism, Kevirozian Bowism, emerged in the 7th century CE based on the teachings of the prophet Shamaqoli ji Zinar, whose sayings and poems were collected posthumously in a book, the Isahd. From the 14th century, Bowism found increasing competition in coastal Basaquastan from the foreign religion of Christianity, but the new religion's suppression by Santian authorities helped it to remain the largest religion in Basaquastan, a status which it continues to hold today.

Bowism is primarily found in Liberto-Ancapistan, among ethnic Basaquastanians and some other groups in the Basaquastan region. Most practitioners outside the country are part of the Basaquastanian diaspora. Numerically, it is the largest religion in Liberto-Ancapistan, followed by Santian Folk Religion and Christianity. Aspects of Bowism have been incorporated into the Basaquastanian Christian tradition Nivin Christianity.

Beliefs

Bow and the Deryaya Bow

Bowism is almost exclusively monotheistic, believing in a singular, transcendent creator god known as Bow. Bow is held to be omnipotent, but is neither omniscient nor eternal, and is instead a product of the space outside the Deryaya Bow, Netem. Bow deliberately created the Deryaya Bow in the distant past, which most Bowists hold to have been an act of creativity. Bow does not manifest themself within the Deryaya Bow, either because they are unwilling to do so or because doing so would harm their functions in the spiritual realm. Instead, different parts of Bow's spiritual being, which collectively make up the god, may individually manifest and interact with the Deryaya Bow and its inhabitants. These are called Aspects, and function similarly to lower gods, being the mechanism through which the inhabitants of the Deryaya Bow can interact with Bow. Though Bow is believed to care for the Deryaya Bow as a whole, and is said to have unparalleled wisdom, their Aspects are not necessarily benevolent, and have differing levels of connection to the Deryaya Bow's inhabitants.

Bowists hold the Deryaya Bow (material universe) to be a fundamental creation of Bow, different to Netem, which surrounds the Deryaya Bow and which Bow is a product of. Bowists divide reality into the material, the self-sustaining reality of the Deryaya Bow, and the spiritual, derived from Bow or Netem. Bow is, ordinarily, wholly spiritual, while humans are wholly material, and may only interact with the spiritual through the consent of spiritual beings. Spirits, sustained by Bow, are wholly spiritual, but are closely connected to and exist among the material world. According to most Bowists, the most pure material substance, and the primary means through which Bow created the Deryaya Bow, is water. Many Bowists, including those of the Kevirozian school, hold that aspects of reality other than the material and spiritual could exist within Netem, perhaps created by deities other than Bow. However, most consider the nature of Netem outside its interactions with the Deryaya Bow to be entirely unknowable.