The Church of the Twelve Souls

Established several hundred years ago as a small community of mystics, the Church of Twelve Souls has spread to become a significant religious presence in most of the city states.
The church believes that there are only twelve souls, sometimes called "lanterns" by the faithful. These twelve souls are said to exist out of time, and all sentient creatures are held to be an incarnation of one of those twelve consciousnesses. Each consciousness experiences a lifetime, returns to the aether with its memories and experiences, and then returns to be born anew. There is significant debate within the church whether each incarnation retains any awareness or influence from previous incarnations, though it is generally agreed that different members of the twelve tend towards different personality types. It's not uncommon for adherents to try to peg people they meet as being a particular one of the twelve much as some people rely on zodiac signs; and the church has certain stereotypes and literature associated with each of the twelve.
Most members of the Church believe in minimizing conflict and bloodshed, since the twelve would only be hurting themselves and depriving themselves of potential further life experiences. A subsection of the church is fully pacifist, but most are willing to fight to defend themselves, albeit with sorrow for being party to violence between the twelve. Teachings tend to focus on compassion, universality, dignity and the importance of developing one's own potential and living a full life.
Like most organizations, the Church has a dark side. Any creatures of less than sentient intelligence are considered "outsiders" to the twelve, and the Church considers them little more than tools meant to enhance the experiences of the twelve. The church can therefore be callous and cruel towards animals and non-humanoid creatures that can't demonstrate human-level intelligence.
Its emphasis on living a "full life" can also encourage selfishness and egoism, since each member of the church considers reality as existing primarily to provide them with experiences. While morality dealing with harming or neglecting intelligent creatures is strictly enforced, the church tends to be lax when it comes to acts that don't directly cause harm or "deprive the lanterns of experiences" such as theft. Drugs, sloth and materialism are all issues, which tends to make the Church unpopular with authorities, particularly in nations that emphasize order and discipline. It's also pretty difficult to gather the church into any kind of collective action, with most groups of adherents operating in independent groups that wander or settle together. They throw great parties though, and a meeting of two traveling groups of the twelve is quite the celebration.

Structure

Loose and informal. No one is really "in charge," though certain members of the church emerge as gurus as other members admire that they "get it," on a deeper level than most. They often travel in bands or congregate in their own local spaces, though they mix freely with most communities.

Be kind, we're all just each other.

Type

Religious, Other

Demonym

From most to least formal: Lantern bearers, apostles of the twelve, twelvers or those damn kids with their music.