Maatism

Maatism is the major native religion of Karnak, practiced by some 40% of its present population as of 1756 AN. A polytheistic religion featuring both anthropomorphized and amorphous gods, Maatism is the oldest continuously practiced religious tradition in Karnak. It also remains one of the central religious traditions in Karnak alongside Umraism. The Pschent of Karnak is usually a practicing Maatist, although rare exceptions exist in Uramist Pschents ruling the country. Alongside its religious concepts Maatism also embodies multiple strands of philosophy that permeate Karnak's civilization in every social stratum and every part of the territory.

Overview

Given its extreme age, Maatism also brings a complex cosmological system centered on the concept of spiritual and physical balance, continutity, and the maintenance of order within the seen and unseen universe. Many continuously surviving traditions from its earliest days as an organized religion include ritual practices, astronomical & astrological observations, political & dynastic legitimacy, moral philosophy, governance, and worldviews shaped by thousands of years shaped by slow tradition and change.

Maatism's emphasis on balance is partially derived from thousands of years of existence in a deeply contrasting Karnaki landscape. Karnak's geography is highly contrasted between the well-watered, verdant coastal regions and the deep desert where few can survive without a lifetime of preparation for the elements. The desert and well-watered regions of Karnak shift with time, and the second millennium AN have seen the deep desert retreat inland from the interior mountain ranges that protect much of the green parts of the country. During the early days of Maatism, however, most of Karnak was covered in deep sandy desert, with only a few river systems. Common belief holds that adherence to the religion was one of the causes of this re-balancing of the land in humanity's favor, and archaeological evidence has pointed to a shift that did begin a few centuries after the religion as established near present-day Abyd'os.

Maatic tradition retains a mixture of symbolic, personal, and non-personal (and even non-sentient) gods and other mythological entities. While the nature of this pantheon's composition and membership (for lack of a better word) is a matter of intense debate, the core concept of the religion is as established as it is old. That is, the central concept of Maatism is Maat itself. Maat is no longer understood not as an individualized or personified deity, but as the underlying order governing existence, binding mortals, rulers, nature, and even the gods themselves into a fragile but necessary equilibrium. Maat itself is still revered, however, among most Maatic temples.

Nature of the Gods

Maatic tradition retains a mixture of symbolic, personal, and non-personal (and even non-sentient) gods and other mythological entities. Over the millennia of its existence, some early gods underwent a slow shift into non-personified manifestations of universal principles rather than strictly personified beings in the conventional sense. While these so-called "conceptual gods" do indeed exist at the center of this religion, they are not identified as anything regarded as "human" on present-day Micras. And indeed, neither are they considered to be alien (extraterrestrial) in origin (outside of a fringe, new-age minority). Personhood is sometimes assigned to these gods by some adherents, but most organized temples instead acknowledge the so-called "mystery of their existence" and deliberately avoid questioning the individualistic nature of certain gods. However, other gods such

Central among these concepts is Maat itself, understood not as a singular deity, but as the underlying order governing existence, binding mortals, rulers, nature, and even the gods themselves into a fragile but necessary equilibrium.