Transitionalism

Followers of the deity Enna have formed a religious philosophy that acts as a loose cultural and governmental guide. This guide is meant to uplift not just their own, but every society to the highest achievable level in hopes of eventually creating an intellectual utopia. Unfortunately, no one outside of their religious group seems to be very interested in furthering this noble goal, which has given Transitionalists the image of being naive idealists.

Structure

While present in many of their decisions, this philosophy has a very "loose" or unspecific list of rules. Everything is open to debate, believing that through debates (in good faith), they will eventually find some way to achieve what is currently believed to be impossible. So far, this has served them well and even led to the discovery of science as something separate from magic and began the discussion of whether or not magic itself even exists... or if it is, perhaps, merely an advanced science they've yet to understand.

Culture

Transitionalist culture is extremely similar to that of the elves, despite a reasonable amount of their group consisting of humans. This is largely because both Transitionalism and elves (by nature) pursue idealistic intellectual goals rather than practical or even "safe" ones. For example, they don't believe in military and therefore would be easily wiped out should they be attacked. However, their numerous diplomatic relationships have put them in good standing with all major groups, allowing them to not only expand their influence, but also mediate peace between directly conflicting religions or national interests.

Public Agenda

While their idealism is occasionally mocked, their straight-forward and honest policies as well as their knowledge/scientific advancements have made them invaluable allies. Of course, this alliance is not as one-sided as it might initially appear, since this political position allows them to contribute their findings to the basic curriculums of most education systems. Of course, this excludes reclusive groups like the dwarves as well as the Orthin education system, recently.

Divine Origins

According to the earliest records available, this religion was originally started to honor Enna, whom they believed to be the sole goddess of everything, because she was the first to appear before any sapient species (at least, on record)... though this was before the time of elves and dwarves. When it was revealed that this world's creation and continued existence was a bit more complicated than they'd thought, humanity started to become divided. These divisions grew resentful and aggressive towards each other, resulting in rising tensions that were very abruptly diffused when Enna and Ryn appeared as twin suns that shone golden and blue (respectively). The stunned population of Dwell watched as the two separated, then condensed as Enna and Ryn manifested into their avatars for the first time--Enna as a beautiful, golden-haired elf-like woman who stood at a staggaring seven and a half feet; Ryn as a young boy with dark hair and deep blue eyes. Enna, in this form, approached the people of Bane city by city, settlement by settlement, home by home--collectively informing a massive audience of the most basic functions of their world. Then, before leaving, revealed the first fundamental tenet of Transitionalism: "All intelligent life is one and therefore unavoidably equal." In more recent years, it is still debated whether this was said as an absolute truth or with the intent of altering the public perception to create a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. Regardless of the reason, though, their course of action and this part of their fundamental philosophy would remain unaltered.

Tenets of Faith

All intelligent life is one and therefore unavoidably equal.
Knowledge should not be hoarded nor sold.
We do not know, we can only perceive and estimate.

Temporary

This part is still a work in progress and is subject to change/develop.

Ethics

1. "All intelligent life is one and therefore unavoidably equal."

Fundamentally, this is sort of a "great equalizer" and has been an imperative part of maintaining the integrity of this philosophy. As with all other groups, some have attempted to infect this religion with elitist views--arguing that "intelligent life" should only apply to the most intelligent species rather than all species that passed the "intelligent" threshold thousands of years prior. This, however, was short-lived and even became a common example of what mentalities to avoid in the future--as they, like everyone else, are still vulnerable to corruption. This tenet, however, was not really meant to preserve intellectual communities--even if it did largely accomplish this. In fact, the greatest inference is that no intelligent being is superior to any other, so all deserve the same base amount of respect. This doesn't necessarily guarantee trust, mind you. All this means is that no one should develop feelings of superiority... or inferiority. Treating others with more or less respect based on their species, culture, history or even usefulness is, in their view, stupid and narcissistic. Equally, treating one's self with less respect than others is seen as a foolish diversion from the real, underlying issue. Furthermore, this means you should neither judge nor feel judged when discussing your own or someone else's struggles. Neither should you take offense when advice is offered in good faith (also, you shouldn't give advice in poor faith). This statement has been picked apart for millennia and now has tens of thousands of translations and implied meanings--but at the same time, can be loosely applied to a wide range of scenarios without requiring too much thought or internal debate. It doesn't function as a simple input/output system, but instead guides a personal moral perspective... it's a philosophy. That's what it is. At least, a fraction of one.

2. Knowledge should not be hoarded or sold.

This one is pretty self-explanatory. They see knowledge as something that automatically belongs to everyone, so simply being the ones to discover it doesn't entitle them to any form of ownership. They are obliged to share what they know about the world (this, of course, doesn't apply to things like personal secrets and information).