Isama

The religion of the Karoi people

Isama is the mystical and meditative religion practiced by the three major people groups of Karoa; that is, the Mosori, Sabani, and Ilisi. In the Karoi language, the word isama refers to spiritual health, and the practices that foster it.

Supernatural beings

The Karoi people believe in two primary kinds of supernatural beings: spirits (davao) and gods (ikao).

Spirits

According to Karoi belief, there are many kinds of spirits. There are little devious ones and great powerful ones. Most things have a personified essence or spirit that animates it; humans have spirits, the air has spirit, light has spirit, music has spirit, emotions have spirits, animals have spirit, the trees have spirits, fire has spirit, every drop of water has spirit.
Every tiny, animated thing has its own weak spirit; the spirits of humans are of moderate strength, but easily corruptible. The great and powerful spirits include that of the sea (a negative, destructive being according to the Mosori and Sabani, and a positive, protective being according to the Ilisi), of the sun and its rays (a positive, benevolent being), the sky (a temperamental, capricious being that is sometimes a force for good, and sometimes for harm), the earth (most important to the Sabani), and the air (most important to the Mosori).
In addition to all these spirits that are attached to tangible things, there are also free-running, unattached spirits who run amok and cause harm, influencing people to do evil for their own amusement.
Though spirits play a central role in everyday life, and can be quite powerful, they are invisible. Their effects are clearly seen, even if they have no visible bodies our eyes can observe. It is the spirit of a plant that drives it to grow; it is the stronger spirits of earth and sunlight that strengthen the plant's spirit and makes such growth possible. Spirits influence each other in this way all the time, sometimes for good, sometimes for evil.
One's spirit can be good or corrupted (which the practices of Isama can cure, so long as the corruption is not too great). It can be healthy, unhealthy, or dead. When someone is sad or dejected, it is perceived as a loss or sickness of their spirit. Corruption attracts further corruption. When individuals or groups of people become increasingly corrupted in spirit, it can attract bad luck, and even disastrous calamity.
A dead spirit will not pass on after its host has died, and a corrupted spirit will become an unattached ghost roaming the earth and causing evil. Battlefields are feared places because of their presence of harmful ghosts, given that the experience of killing (especially enraged or gleeful killing) may corrupt a spirit just before the host's death. Healthy spirits, however, may pass on to other hosts, in the cycle of decay and new life. Especially pure spirits will pass to a mysterious beyond place, where they may experience peace and exaltation, and even divinity.

Gods

The Karoi also believe in some gods. Unlike spirits, which have immediacy and closeness in the everyday lives of humans, the gods are somewhat indifferent and impersonal. That being said, they are higher and more powerful than all spirits; they set the events of the world in order, and are responsible for the very structure of reality, including the existence of spirits themselves. The gods determine the fates of kingdoms and wars; they give the great spirits their power and reign over the world. They watch over all, and draw forth warriors and great people to set things right.
The gods are too sacred for common people to commune with directly. Your spirit must be very pure to attempt direct communication, or else the attempt could kill you.
Anyone may pray to gods or visit a priest to cleanse their spirit, but all sacrifices are handled by a priest on behalf of a community. Sacrifices of grain and animals must be made frequently to the gods in order for them to still preside over humans and answer their prayers. Without sacrifice, a prayer will reach uninterested and apathetic ears.
The gods are mysterious and unknowable. They tend to have very flexible genders, and are referred to with gender-neutral pronouns. There are masculine-coded and feminine-coded gods, but even then, this is vague and not clearly set.
The total number of gods is uncertain; it is assumed that more may be discovered, but there are a few that are known. The gods may have names, but these are secret and sacred, able to be discovered only by the purest of spirits in the deepest states of Isama (such as, hours-long meditation). If one discovers the name of a god, it must not be uttered or shared, or there can be disastrous consequences.
For common people, in day-to-day life, the gods are referred to in abstract ways. A few examples include:

• The One Who Set the World in Order: A commonly feminine-coded god who created the physical universe.
• The Giver of Spirits: A commonly feminine-coded god who created the spirits and imbued them with their nature and power.
• The One Who Incites War: A commonly masculine-coded god who stirs the hearts of humans to enter into war, and often favors one side and drives them toward victory.
• The One Who Raises Heroes: A commonly masculine-coded god who calls forth individuals to make things right or defeat evil. It is dangerous if you feel this god tugging at your soul, but fail to answer the call, as this god will only call upon you after surveying all humans and deciding you are the best one for a task. In some cases, you are the only one who can do what needs to be done. The task may fall to others who will do poorly, or to no one. The Karoi tell many myths and legends of heroes who answer this call, and tragic tales of those who shirk it.
• The One Who Carries Out Justice: A commonly feminine-coded god who observes injustices and sets about events to right them. You may think you can get away with doing wrong, but The One Who Carries Out Justice will see, and this god will even out the scales.

Subdivisions

Within the Isama tradition exists three major subdivisions. It is these religious subdivisions that separate Mosori tribes from Sabani tribes, more so than any particular ethnic differentiations. Both see the other as not practicing true Isama, and thus as spiritually unclean. The city of Ilies practices a version of the Mosori tradition, with some differences.
The main point of contention among different practitioners of Isama is the issue of the primary source of the sacred; or put another way, which is the most powerful of the great spirits.

Mosori Isama

The Mosori prioritize the air as being most sacred. According to the Mosori, the air is the most powerful spirit of all; in fact, the air is Spirit Itself, nourishing and enlivening all other spirits.
Unlike other great spirits, which have positive or negative associations, air is above goodness or evil. It simply is, and it does what it does. Its motives cannot be questioned or understood; it must simply be respected, and we must be grateful for it. Every time we take a breath, we are drawing in the essence of spirit. That is why we must breathe to survive, and that is why the caress of a breeze can be so enlivening.
The air is thought of as feminine; thus, the feminine principle is especially important to the Mosori.

Small social units

The spoken word is especially sacred to the Mosori, due to its connection with air. Mosori believe that cleansing prayers spoken by a priest or priestess are deeply powerful, and can cancel each other out, or even cause disaster, if they are spoken within close proximity of each other. As a consequence, any single community will only ever have two priests: A primary priest, and a student priest.
This is why the small social unit (villages, clans, limited-sized tribes) is so important for Mosori; one priest can only do so much. Cities are seen as spiritually unclean at best, with too many souls in too small a place for a single priest's prayers to cover; and dangerous at worst, for if multiple priests work to cleanse a city, mistakes could lead to disaster.
There is one notable Mosori city, that of Uri-onu, which has a temple of careful priests that follow a strict prayer and sacrifice schedule to avoid working in close proximity to each other. Many Mosori fear this is not enough, and thus will opt to divide a community into smaller and smaller spread-out clans rather than allow one to grow too large.

Priestly orders

Mosori have a number of monasteries where individuals may gather to seek higher levels of Isama. Prayers and rituals are all carried out in silence, and heavily feature meditation.
For monks and nuns, and for priests and priestesses, it is typical to wear long, flowing garments that will move easily in the wind. There will also be banners and flags around sacred, circular spaces. This is to make communion with the spirit of air easier.

Ilisi Isama

The Ilisi value the sacredness of air, much as the Mosori do, but even more so they value the sacredness of the sea. The Ilisi think of the sea as a positive force, and themselves as children of the sea. Many stories in Ilies tell of villains being destroyed by the ocean or rivers, and how the great waters will protect and nurture aquatic creatures such as fish, whales, or Aquatic humans. No such promise exists, however, for children of the land, who must treat the sea with respect, as it owes them neither safe passage nor nourishment. While the Ilisi value the sea more than any other great spirit, they also regularly worship the sun and its rays and the earth. In Ilies, a mysterious third principle, beyond the masculine or feminine, is sought and valued.

Sabani Isama

The Sabani believe that the Mosori are wrong to prioritize the air as most sacred and powerful. Instead, the Sabani prioritize the earth. It is out of the earth that comes plants and trees, upon which all beings are dependent for food. The earth nourishes, feeds, and strengthens. The earth provides stone, clay, and wood, which are the foundations for building and art. Unlike the Mosori, the Sabani do not fear the spoken word to nearly the same extent, and consider the Mosori paranoid in this respect. While the spoken word is still powerful, it is not so destructive that Sabani are nervous to gather in larger living spaces. Instead, they pride themselves as city builders and artisans. The arts are deeply important and sacred to the Sabani, and they consider acts of building and sculpture to be acts of worship. Sabani monasteries and temples feature beautiful sculptures, and the creation of statues and art is an essential part of ritual. Priests follow careful ritualistic schedules where prayers are whispered to lessen their chances of negative interaction.
The Sabani value meditation as the Mosori do, and use repetitive forms of art as one way to enter a meditative state. The clothing of their monks, nuns, and priests are loose, but not as flowy as those of the Mosori; instead they are stitched with incredibly detailed patterns and bright colors.
The earth is thought of as masculine; thus, the masculine principle is especially important to the Sabani.

Type

Religious, Other

Location

Karoa

Related Ethnicities

• Mosori