Editing Kensei (section)

====Religion====
* '''Shinto, The Ways Of The Gods'''
Shinto is the original faith of Hymukai. 
According to Shinto, all things have an intelligent spirit. There is a spirit of each rock in your garden, each turnip that grows in it, each insect that lands on it. There is a complex pantheon of responsibility and strength for each object as well. The spirit of your garden is in charge of the spirit of the biggest turnip in it who in turn is in charge of all the lesser turnips, the spirit of gardens in general controls them both as well as the spirit of all turnips, all four must answer to the spirit of the region you live in, and the spirit of agriculture controls them all with respects towards the spirits of the earth and sun. Far from the occasional ghost, spirit, or monster seen in other mythologies, Shinto spirits outnumber the living in the world and humankind has its place within the hierarchy as well. The farmer must not insult spirits of his turnips as they are his fellow workers of the earth, the spirit of the garden is his equal, the spirit of gardens and turnips are his superiors, and the spirit of agriculture is as important as his local lord. 

The strongest spirits dwell in a parallel realm called Shinkai, and are called '''Kami'''. 
Ancestors are also important in Shinto, as they are the connection between the living and the world of spirits. Without any friendly deceased, the world of the living cannot interact with the Shinkai and as such it is important to stay on good terms with a dead person who may have become friends with a spirit you may want to interact with by honoring their memory and invoking it whenever possible. 

Shinto priests and Shamans can communicate with all kinds of spirits and Kami with proper rituals, the right words, the correct offerings, the precise movements, the required clothing and adornments, and the right location all at specific times. The true name of spirits, which gives a connection to their power, is secret and known only by priests honorable enough not to abuse the privilege. By entering into trances, they commune with intermediary ancestors who can pass messages onto spirits. 
Shamans fall into three groups; Miko are nuns, Geki are monks, and Shinshoku o Kanushi (both genders) are Shamans powerful enough to call directly on Kami themselves and receive their words in return. 

Every clan who worship Shinto regardless of their social standing or caste maintains a shrine to an ancestor who has become a Kami, and regardless of relationship with the living family it is VERY bad luck to offend their patron. You can wipe out every man, woman, and child in their lineage without too much trouble from the spirit world, but if you mess up their family graveyard or shrine then you are FUCKED in ways comparable to interacting with the Fey in western fantasy settings. 

Small shrines to local spirits of things like roads, rivers, a local animal species, and so on can be found almost anywhere, sometimes forgotten and sometimes well-used stops that double as shelters for weary travelers. Many small villages revolve around shrines, having little else to offer besides services pilgrims are willing to pay for.

Even Hymukai who convert to other faiths rarely abandon their Shinto beliefs. The faith is fairly adaptable, and although priests of the One God may frown on praying to the first to bear their surname or the spirit of a river that feeds their irrigation, those traditions will remain.

* '''Batsudo, The Way Of The Buda'''
Batsudo (not-Buddhism) was established in Terai by a man named Sakyamuni (AKA not-Siddhartha Gautama) who abandoned the wealth and pleasures offered by the Shankya dynasty of Licham in order to understand the suffering of the poor and unlucky. He achieved Nirvana/Enlightenment, then sought out a way to pass the teachings onto others in Licham and Angma. 
Batsudo Sutra (texts and teachings) claim that through sacrifice and contemplation one can enter a Buda state, a level of understanding and freedom from earthly troubles while still alive. Only in this state is one Arhat, or of worthiness and true nobility. 

Only when the teachings reached the Celestial Empire and Baejke (not-Thailand) did they come to Hymukai through merchants. One of the Tennos saw value in the faith and decreed that Batsudo monks would formally enter the Sohei caste with newly built temples. The Shinto were initially displeased, although as the common folk would visit both kinds of temples and adhere to both faiths the two blended over time. Like its mate faith, Batsudo often merges with any new faiths that come to Hymukai as both have come to represent culture as much as religion. 

Generally, Batsudo is unpopular with the Otokodate as its scorn of wealth holds little appeal to them. By contrast, Buke who lose devotion to their warrior lifestyles, sometimes due to age or war-weariness, find the abandonment of need for wealth and power to be spiritually fulfilling. 

Batsudo teaches the world is currently in a 10,000 year long state of Dharmic decline which makes it difficult to achieve Enlightenment.

tl;dr using WIS as your dumpstat makes you lose at life

* '''Onmyodo'''
The native faith of the Celestial Kingdom, written as the Daodejing (Book of the Path and the Power) by the philosopher Laozi. Onmyodo (AKA not-Taoism) is based on the idea that everything is made of an energy called Tao (or Dao) which comes in two forms, the positive and negative Onmyo as the Hymukai call it, or the Yin and Yang as the Celestial Kingdom knows it. It centers around the idea freedom and power are attained by balance of the two forces. 
A man named Zuang Zi (AKA not-Zhuangzi) expanded on the idea in his own texts called The Interior Chapters which advised on how to balance the forces, including using alchemy (in real life, this is the basis for Chinese herbal remedies and acupuncture). 

All science, all magic, all matter, all energy, everything comes down to positive and negative energy reacting and seeking balance before and after said reaction. 

Yin is passive. It is feminine, reacts strongly to the moon, darkness, the cold, is liquid, is introspective, and within living things is a big part of blood. 
Yang is active, masculine, reacts to the sun, is extroverted, is warm and more fire than matter, and in living things is concentrated in Ki, which can be summed up as the spiritual equivalent to blood. 

Nothing can exist made up of only one of the two forces, and out of harmony or in a turbulent state nothing good can come of anything. 

Yin and Yang form the five elements, the seasons, colors, emotions, everything. Endless winter is as bad as only feeling happiness without sadness, as a man without a sensitive side, every blue house needs some red somewhere, and so on. 

Onmyodo followers are wizards and scientists, the former mixing this belief with others to control Kami or the forces that affect humans. The magic users are called Onmyouiji. The scientists are alchemists.

tl;dr being True Neutral and drinking mercury can make you a wizard

* '''Shugendo'''
Shugendo is the mix of all the faiths of Hymukai into one belief. The followers are called Shugendo as well, or Shugenja, or Yamabushi No-Gyoia (those who sleep below the mountain) for their usual locations. 
They are hermits who dedicate themselves wholly to the spiritual, revealing themselves slowly to those individuals outside their training sites that they believe are likely to join them at the cost of all worldly ties and belongings. The teachings of Shugendo are called the Shugen. 

After years of suffering and sacrifice, even the abandonment of the very emotions tied to their pursuit of moral purity (due to desire in any form not being morally pure) along with education in everything from astronomy to psychology to medicine and herbalism, they surpass humanity and overcome all sin or debt from this life or their past lives by feeling the punishments due with humility. At this point, they are a being who is virtually a Kami contained in a mortal shell. 
The highest ranked Shugendo commune with Kami directly, are in the state of Buda and can actually influence the greater universe, and while meditating alone their soul departs their body to live as an animal in the forest while they sit in unmoving contemplation that can last for days, weeks, or more. 

The Shugendo primarily work for the betterment of mankind in various ways as they see fit.

tl;dr epic level Cleric/Druid Lawful Good murderhobos