Temple of Ishket

The world is made of Struggle; Struggle without resolution is suffering. Resolution does not destroy struggle, but rather redeems it by giving it consistent and stable form - it contains it.
Our world is an island of redeemed suffering and stability in a sea of bubbling chaos. Neighboring worlds cling to our reality like parasites, reflecting us out of jealousy and undermining our redemption through temptation. This is where Demons come from, and the legion of Demonic Gods. Frighteningly, the parasite worlds are not wholly alien. They reflect us and the instability that lurks in our hearts. For every person, there is a demonic being known as an Otherbody that seeks to tempt and replace us from the Mirror Worlds; these Otherbodies are the most numerous and dangerous threat to our reality. If that wasn't enough, even the Gods have Otherbodies! And there are Parasite Gods as well, demons from the Beyond that slither into our world to devour it. This legion of demons seeks to plot the end of the world and constantly conspires against Good - all other religions, the Temple says, are Demonic ploys to steal the world for themselves.
This is all very frightening. Luckily, we are not alone. Directing the forces of Good is Ish, the supreme being of redemption and virtuous struggle. Ish is Goodness; Ishket means the Way of Goodness. The primary prophet of Ish is Ishkibal, the redeemer. Ishket considers other Ishkibites to be slightly wrong companions in their crusade against evil. The rest of Ishkibism considers Ishket to be a heresy, but a heresy with good intent with most of the important parts right.
This is the Temple of War in Maradia, which sees conspiracies in every corner and doomsday cults behind every foreign book. It endlessly stokes conflict, even among its own followers. Currently, its great crusade is against the religions of Nafena - mostly the Singing Church of Orisha, which Ishket seeks to drive from Maradia at any cost.

Structure

The Temple of Ishket is currently divided in half by the aggression of Orisha and other Nafenan religions into Southern Ishket and Northern Ishket. For the most part, the South and North are harmonious; they see each other as fundamentally the same, and seek to reunite one day. 

Rank	Role
Eminence	Each Eminence manages war efforts and executive orders in the North or South
Pillar	A Council of Ten Pillars advises each Eminence and manages Ishketan dogma
Speaker	Speakers manage regional affairs and appointments
Priest	Priests act as community leaders

Culture

Flesh and Hate

Species purity is an illusion; no example of the Ur-species remains. But it is only natural to hate things that arent like you, so you should embrace that hatred. But do not commit wanton violence; channel it through holy means. Species are meant to compete for resources and status in society, by doing better in business, war, and production. The priesthood exists to mediate the inevitable conflicts caused by this competition. Every community and every state has open victors of this contest (best to be clear about who is winning). But no victor is allowed to monopolize their victory; if a government hires only dryads, they should bet a number of slots to be given to promising human candidates instead, but only if the humans prove themselves worthy (for example, by winning at sports or killing bandits). This isn't just a species-thing, though; know that this is also a way to deal with ethnic conflict, or any other group label issue.
The flip side of this is that long-term grudgebearing and targeting is deeply stigmatized. After all, forgiveness is everything: unless it is productive hatred, harboring that hate is a sin. But boy howdy does Ishket love productive hatred, and not just against enemies. In Ishket, "intimate hatred" is a reflection of love: there is romantic hate, sexual hate, brotherly hate, and platonic hate. And intimate hatred is productive and good, a safe way to hate and forgive at once. Having a romantic rival as well as a romantic lover is normal under Ishket, and being simultaneously hate-married and love-married is acceptable. In fact, dual-marriage allows for people in arranged marriages to have some agency, as they can define what the political marriage is love/hate-wise, and then marry again for the other. Hate relationships have a whole set of norms to make them non-destructive. These norms do not necessarily spell for healthy relationships, though.  Relationships that oscillate wildly in love and hate are called "Pendulum loves", and are considered powerful but dangerous.
Ishket's whole attitude towards negativity is fatalistic and abrasive. The idea is that if you feel hate or rage or bad things, that the darkness must be channeled somewhere and somehow or else it will pollute your soul and cause you to hurt those around you. So, hate must be channeled into productive destruction. This can include socially accepted acts of rudeness, it can include destroying wickedness, it can include hard labor for the church. To release the community's social tensions and negativity, regular violent sports games are used; in larger settlements, paladins are made to fight each other. These paladin fights are part show-fighting, part bloodsports that rely on divine healing to prevent casualties. On a smaller level, having regular neighborhood brawls is common, though these are not always welcomes by the Temple (as they can often maim people, especially if those people are disliked by the community or considered deviant). 

Nightmare World

The Ishket worldview is one of paranoia. All foreign religions are doomsday cults trying to end the world, and all followers are fools duped into ending it who must be forcefully saved and redeemed. Anyone could be replaced by an Otherbody at any time, so everyone always needs to be monitored for mind control or magical impersonation. The world has a suffering quota based on the amount of sum unholiness in the world, and any surplus of that suffering is released as plagues and famines - only making the Evil people suffer can help reduce this suffering quota and bring an end to these evils. The best way to make this happen is by holy war. If a life is full of suffering, perhaps going on a war and making other people suffer instead will divert new possible evils (and if suffering continues, perhaps they just avoided even worse things!). 
This feeds a culture of extreme conspiracy theory and xenophobia. To the Ishket, only they are saving the world: by singing in major cities, their songs can disrupt the world-ending songs of Orisha, for example. Nothing can be trusted but Ish, and only the elite can interpret the will of Ish. Everyone is always being watched, by both good and evil. Reflections (puddles and mirrors included) are literal viewing screen for Otherbodies to spy on you. Bad impulses are literal psychic parasites trying to mind control you so they can control your body. Fears of infestation, alter-egos, gang-stalking, and possession are extremely common for people experiencing high stress under Ishket.
This extremely dark backdrop of the world makes the redemption feel so much more powerful - like a true purifying light of unique goodness. The emphasis on negative emotions similarly gives a lot to confess for during Temple meetings. 
For more specifics on what foreign evil plots are believed to be in motion: Orisha and Vetevism are obvious doomsday cults. Elemeer and Brambleway are depersonalizing Leviathan cults intended to summon evil sea gods. Keveket is Dark Agamine the Vanisher's plan to bottle up all the world's negative emotions to explode like a super bomb. Heksala wants to open a portal to the mirror world. Kamada feeds an army of dragon gods. Daraka wants to summon Otherbody Wimbo. Pratasam wants to summon Otherbody Lily. Etc, etc.

History

The Beginnings of Ishket (300 - 1290 ME)

Ishket began in the 300s ME, after a climate anomaly struck Southern Maradia and caused mass crop failure and famine. A vicious plague followed, which struck humans more than their dryad and prism. The humans, desperate, were vulnerable to the divisive preachings of Ishkibal, who declared nonhumans to be demonic in nature and in need of conquest and redemption. Why Ishkibal was so successful here (while it floundered most places) is a matter of debate - perhaps it was the great warrior (Meriben the Red) who pledged their soul to Ishkibal; perhaps it was the sharp difference in living between them and their Empty-wielding neighbors; perhaps it was just that Ishkibal's name was extremely similar to the local chief God's, Ishkyra. Whatever the case, a massive cult of Ishkibal soon developed and began slaughtering and enslaving nearby dryads. The Ishket forces spread across Maradia, and began facing fierce resistance - mostly from the Keveket, but also from Lunar cults across Maradia that rode in to contain the new cult. During the movement's peak in the mid 400s ME, Ishket saw itself as creating a "New Desmia" - a species-stratified paradise of eternal war. This ended up collapsing, and the movement had largely retreated to the defensive by 500 ME. By 600 ME, Ishket-driven war had stopped entirely. 
But this was not the end of the Temple. It remained, quiet in its hatred. And, in the 1030s ME, the Temple rose again. This time, it was not a human-driven movement, but a dryad-led one. A horrific blight raced across Maradia and struck the South most brutally; this time, killing dryads more than humans. A charismatic dryad bard named Kesakella, raised as a subordinate in the Ishket Temple, preached that this was a mirror of the 300s plague - a sign that the hierarchy must be flipped within the Temple, by blood and death. Kesakella found support from Lily of Red (and, initially, from Orchid of Blue, who eventually turned against her and supported splinter sects). This began the "Pendulum Wars", a sequence of species wars where each group withdrew from the others and fought to subjugate one another in Ishkibal's name. These petered out by the mid-late 1140s, when a former-Orchidian splinter sect prophet named Sangralla negotiated peace between the different species-sects. Tension still flared up as groups disagreed on what compromise was holiest, but these were wars of heresy. The Temple was back! And now, it was fused with a whole lot of strange ideology.

Ishket Marches (1290 - 1810)

Ishket fought its last war of heresy in 1290 and finally crowned a single authority- the Ishket Eminence - over the Temple. From 1300 to 1400s, Ishket stabilized its control over Southern Maradia and began fighting off the Nafenan religions of Orisha and Vetevism. While it was able to slow these faiths, Ishket struggled to keep Lunar support and to muster economic strength to fight off more developed organized religions. Lunar agents and local opportunists kept forcing the Temple to fight internal civil wars, and the legitimacy of Ishket was waning. They needed an Arcane Factory - many Factories - to rise as a true power once again. And so, in 1500, they went to war to take the Original Arcane Factory from Keveket. By 1590, Ishket had not only taken multiple Factories but had managed to extort the right to make more. This costly century of war unfortunately led to less attention in the South, allowing Orisha to push further into Maradia - but now, Ishket had the tools to defeat these newcomers. 
Another massive war struck the continent from 1620 to 1810: a huge conflict that dragged on and on, a colossal battle for which religion would control all of Maradia. Ishket got quite close to winning this war in the 1750s, when Ishket forces successfully took Agamine's holy city of Vetuza (which they still hold to this day). But as all powers were weakened, Orisha flowed into the continent - poaching governments and covertly building followers. Ishket was most aware of this and concerned by this trend, but was also the most targeted by Hiku's spies and assassins. In 1769, Orishan forces managed to capture the Ishket Eminence, forcing the Temple to pivot from conquering the North to defending the South. Splinter factions formed, and the Temple seemed close to falling apart along species-lines once again. 

Modern History

It took two total outsiders to help bring the war to its final close. One was a solar by the name of Citadel: an exiled Eastern solar who had been educated in magic, and had a bounty on his head for improperly involving himself in non-solar affairs. Citadel was a well-educated and charismatic cleric that saw a great opportunity to reshape the crumbling Temple in his image. After seizing control of part of the Temple in the 1770s, Citadel instituted a series of reforms intended to move away from species-isolation and towards unity against the Nafenans. The other outsider was Patana the Painted. While Patana did have a particular dislike for Ishket and spent many years fighting the Temple, she ultimately did choose to work with the Temple's leadership to reform it: many of the less violent reforms have her fingerprints all over them, and she had an uncomfortable alliance with Citadel that some say saved the Temple. More importantly, Patana negotiated an end to the Wars of Control and allowed Ishket to prioritize reformation and survival over fighting off Keveket and Heksalan armies. 
The 1800s remained a rough time for Ishket: splinter sects rejected the new reforms, and Ishket remained friendless and besieged. In 1910, the Temple accepted the realities of lost territory and split the temple into two subregions (North and South this also allowed local traditions more room to breath. The years since have been a slow reconstruction: Ishket has been gathering resources and allies, and seems to be building towards a grand war against the Singing Church. It has even made a temporary truce with the Final Choir of Vetevism: anything to end the reign of Hiku and make Maradia pure once more.

Mythology & Lore

Creation

In the beginning there was wild and destructive struggle - energy, feelings, and concepts clashing formlessly. There was no meaning and no consistency, only a scream of eternal universal suffering. From this hellish forge, some energy and ideas stabilized into a shape: the Supreme Order, Ish. Ish gave our world permanence and form, allowing life to bloom. The patterns of struggle that wove into life became Ishket, the principle of goodness sometimes personified as "Architects". This principle demanded minds to know it and it drew power from the great chaos, and so people were made. But this great act of creation invited in many outside things - half-formed shapes now given permanence. These parasites set to work immediately derailing the world. The struggle of the world was set to discord and ruin. The world was razed in fire and pollution, but some beings resisted. These beings were the Lunar Pantheon, led by the Ishkethol - the vessel of Ish, Ishkibal. These individuals preserved shards of Order and stability as the ashes of the world cooled, though they were not yet a pantheon of their own.
These bubbles of order drifted through the demonic wastes for many years. Finally, two bubbles met: Ishkibal's and Agamine's. Ishkibal kept with him the concept of day and Agamine kept the concept of night; Ishkibal kept laughter and Agamine kept tears. They fell in love, as opposites often do. The two wandered along the great Serpent - loving each other, and happy, but weary and looking for a home. Eventually, they stopped and rested- and Agamine wept, and those tears become the stars. Ishkibal promised him a home and pointed up at the dark sea, where the great Leviathan known as the Masked One devoured the head of the great serpent. Ishkibal fired arrows at it; Agamine created a wall of night to keep Ishkibal safe from its curses. Some of The Stars, wanting to protect their parents, sought to get help- and called to Lily of Red, who helped them slay the demon. They skinned the Masked One, and Agamine donned it to become the Spirit of Death. The rest of the monster's body became Our World. Agamine shaped prisms, Ishkibal shaped humans, and Lily shaped Dryads; the others slowly drew to their united light. The world was made anew, guided by Ishket!

The State of Things

But all was not well. A new evil was entering our world: the Great Demon God, the vile parody of Ishket, and the False Pantheon, the mirrors of the Lunar Pantheon. These forces made reflections: portals into our world for Otherbodies to enter. They undermined the Love the Pantheon had for each other and poisoned the world. And yet, Ish remains - and Ish preserves. The truth is in our hands now, to save our world and redeem it through struggle.
The Pantheon is as follows:

• Ish is the Supreme Being, alien and detached. It is creation, redemption, love, hate, and knowledge.
• Ishket is the Principle of Good through which Ish becomes knowable. More worshipped than Ish itself

The Superior Lunar Gods, who are considered most are

• Ishkitahl/Ishkibal, the Sun King of Black and White, and vessel of Ishket; his Otherbody is Ishkibal the Broken, a being of pure despair who has misled the rest of Ishkibism and who prevents Ishkibal from speaking direct truth
• Agamine the Masked Night who says little and cries much. He is basically the good parts of the Masked One. He is also patron of romantic love, for he invented romance for Ishkibal. His Otherbody is the Vanisher, who obscures knowledge and hates all forms of change
• Lily-Red-Nightshade, Our Lady of Sublime Struggle; her Otherboy is Lily the Thrall, who obeys the Dark Spirit of Corrupted Halcyon and rejects the beauty of struggle. Her Otherbody has made great efforts to take over the Divine Contact in recent years, a sign of dire times.

Other Lunar Gods include

• Jade the Ruler, lawmaker and knight; Otherbody is Jade the Repressor
• Theia the Warrior, patron of liberating force; Otherbody is Theia the Rebel
• Hiku the Muse, patron of magic and wonder; Otherbody is Hiku the Tyrant
• Orchid the Healer; Otherbody is Orchid the Seducer
• Emesh the Loremaster; Otherbody is Emesh the Spider
• Haru the Teacher; Otherbody is Haru the Doubtful
• Wimbo the Brave; Otherbody is Wimbo the Fool

Meanwhile, beloved ancestors include:

• Meriben the Red, the original Saint and most beloved of Ishkibal
• Kesakalla the Riotous, the prophet and patron saint of intimate hatred
• Sangralla the Unifier, the peacemaker
• Parenja the Tireless, the Crusader-lord who fought against the Keveket and martyred herself for her troops
• Tervinius the Stormstruck, the berserker who fought alone against impossible odds to take the Holy City of Vetuza
• Kimkellus the Tormented, the Eminence captured by the Orishans who resisted all mind control and torture and was martyred for it

Cosmological Views

Ishket believes our world is literally made of struggle. It is inescapable, even in the best possible world. But we can achieve balance and stability, where we can make peace with the struggle and shape it into something that is not suffering. This balance is itself violent, though, as all balance and stability is: a building is full of violent, dangerous force - the pillars of a building are full of clashing stone and terrible weight, but they do not groan or sway because they are at peace in that terrible clash. That is all we can strive for. The only peace in this world is oblivion.
Much like a building, the world is a load-bearing structure. There is a certain amount of tension and negativity that must be released from it. This is easily done by purifying violence. When a plague or a famine hits and it feels like there is nothing you can do, know that a holy war is absolutely going to make it better. There is a certain amount of destructive energy that needs to be released, and it ought to be channeled into destroying evil rather than being left to leak out and poison the innocent.
Our stable system struggles for balance. Paradise exists for those who fight for good (good humans go to paradise, not-good dryads are sent to Hell from Paradise; either way good souls go up, bad souls go down). Any place that is not Paradise, Hell, or the Earth are going to be infested with demons, or possibly even one of the demon's parallel hellworlds.
The reflections that haunt our world could be shaped into balance, if Ishket prevails, but for now it is merely corruption: demonic doppelgangers of our worst selves that hide in every mirror and puddle, watching us and tempting us so they can invade us. Dark cults rule the world, mixing with demons and letting evil alien influences into reality. Anything can be purified by Ishket, but it must submit to Ish first - anything that does not should be treated with suspicion and even hate.

Tenets of Faith

• Fight to Save the World: Only by advancing the Temple can the world be saved; all outsiders in some way serve the Dark Forces of our enemy. Obey and be righteous. 
• Seek Redemption: Fight temptation and when you fail, seek forgiveness before the Gods. When an enemy is defeated, bring it before Ish to be redeemed and assimilated into the Balance. 
• Be Disciplined: Ready your body for violence. Do not flirt with demons through substances. 
• Embrace Hate and Pain: Negative things are healthy. Embrace them, express them, and channel them towards good - or you will only do evil 
• Fight the Mirrors: Do no sacred or licentious thing before a reflective surface. If someone is acting strange, check them for signs of doppelganger activity. 
•  Seek Knowledge: Ish is a thing of math and thoughts. Invite Ish into your mind; seek the consistent knowledge of the world. 

"Fight! Hate! Save the World!"

Founding Date

1070 ME/1800 ME

Type

Religious, Organised Religion

Demonym

Ishketan

Parent Organization

Ishkibism

Deities

• Agamine the Lost
• Ishkibal
• Lily of Red

Location

Maradia

Related Ranks & Titles

• Vagabond