Adhavāda

One of the Daunasi religions, Adhavāda rejects the authority of gods over human life and seeks to instead reach a higher level of consciousness understood as godhood in other religions. Adhavāda is more of a framework than a religion, as numerous strains differ in position in regards to things like greater spirits, racial relations, and the nature of godhood. Adhavāda was at its peak during the Dudurian Empire, which saw the religion throughout the eastern half of Ærellion. Adhavāda spread the furthest of all Daunasi religions, and is present as a minority religion in most of Hymar, in Bakatyeong, and even into Conbán Dhao and Vránzoúala.
The main schools of Adhavāda thought are the Uvichāra, Āntarisa Pratiya, and Ātāmi Jūjā (roughly "Higher Thought", "Inwards Reflection", and "Spirit Seeker" respectively). Each of these schools have different worship preferences, tradtions, and slightly different theological views, but all are Adhavāda. In general, Adhavāda believers follow one of these three schools with the other two being considered inferior or even heretical in some cases. However, even those who follow the "wrong" school are still thought of as true Adhavāda, as what matters is that they seek ascension and do not accept the authority of any gods. Inter-school relations is also often complicated by the varying doctrines of Adhavāda, which means that even within a school there is variance on key ideas (though usually there is a dominant set of ideas within each school).
The most common school in the Daunastiya and Apastajaii regions, where Adhavāda originates, is the Uvichāra school. The Uvichāra belive that to ascend one must look outwards, and that to accomplish this they must therefore interact with the world as much as possible. Monks of this school are free from restrictions as they believe that by encouraging understanding of others through love, war, and even everyday interaction ascension can be reached. Uvichāra believe that ascension can only come after death in a life fully lived. The current dominant trends in the Uvichāra monks is that other races can achieve ascension, but not in their current lifetime. They are firm believers in the racial caste system, and feel that "monsterous races" must first be reborn as a non-monsterous race and then finally as a human before ascending. Non-monstrous races, while close, will have to do good in their life to be reborn as a human in order to be in the right headspace to ascend. This means that while the Uvichāra are still discriminatory, many believe that if a monstorous race atempts to do good they should not be exterminated (on a case by case basis). However, there is a strong minority of the Uvichāra who believe that all monstrous races are sinners and that they should be exterminated. This view was prevalent moreso in the past, but some rulers have reembraced the philosophy, especially those bordering the Mapinguan. It, however, remains vastly underrepresented in the monks. Most Uvichāra believe that learning from nature spirits is helpful, though not necessary to ascend.
While the Uvichāra are the majority in Adhavāda's core regions, outside it is much less popular. Instead, most follow the Ātāmi Jūjā school. This school is a moderate school of thought which holds nature spirits in higher regard than other schools. Ātāmi Jūjās believe that the best way to ascend is to commune with nature and to interact with nature spirits. They believe that the secret of ascension is embedded into the very world itself, and that becoming attuned with this is the best way to ascend. As a school which is spread across many regions and with a loose hierarchy, Ātāmi Jūjā relies on wandering monks to spread their teachings, and what temples they do have are usually consecrated deep within jungles or on the peaks of mountains. This also means that there is very little central authority and so there is really no common consensus on other races ascending or on the other theological debates. However, it should be noted that many of the groups that follow this branch of Adhavāda are either very accepting or very against "monstrous" races. The Ātāmi Jūjā took a huge hit in popularity during the Bāla heresy's formation, as most followers of Bāla when it first began were Ātāmi Jūjā, which led to the school being viewed with suspicion.
The final school of Adhavāda is by far the smallest, and is known as Āntarisa Pratiya. Āntarisa Pratiya is a sect which encourages inner reflection and total abstinence from worldly desires. The rules of Āntarisa Pratiya prohibit many actions, such as prohibiting fighting except in self-defense. This of course means that Āntarisa Pratiya nations would be at a huge disadvantage in war if they all followed these restrictions. However, the way Āntarisa Pratiyas view ascension is that it can only come after many lifetimes of introspection without interruption, and that only those who feel the calling are actually ready to ascend. Those who do not should still try to follow many of the restrictions they place, but only those truly ready for ascension need to be perfect. They view long-lived races as having failed to ascend in their past lives and being punished with a long life which they must follow Pratiyan tenants for much longer than a human would. The Āntarisa Pratiya do not believe that nonhumans can ascend, and they believe that "monstrous" race, despite having shorter lifespans on average, are also being punished far worse than long-lived races. The dominant thought within Āntarisa Pratiya is that monstrous races are sinners who showed no remorse and must suffer through a punishment cycle before they can return to human form in their next life. However, being sinners, they struggle to break out of the cycle as their nature now matches their form.