Jrega

Jrega is one of the 2 primary Abar religions, alongside Glaan-San. It originally began as a political reactionary movement against the power of the Glaan-San Church. The core feature that distinguishes Jrega from the other Abar religions is the belief that the Glaan do not necessarily have a greater connection to the Aba than other races. The clergy of the Jregan Church are known as myuruns.

The early Jregan religion was intimately associated with the Akranon and its attendees, and was one of the earliest philosophical movements to emerge from the university. The Jregan movement culminated in the Great Schism of 789, in which Galin-Martzup II officially converted the Kadeean Empire to the religion. The political tensions caused by this decision led to the outbreak of the First Abar War.

Beliefs and Practices
Jrega was a monotheistic religion centred around the Aba. Jregans believed in the legend of the Badkalden and that she experienced a divine connection to the Aba. They also affirmed the legitimacy of the Miinonyukon. However, unlike adherents of Glaan-San, jregans denied the claim that the Glaan inherently possessed a superior spiritual connection to the Aba.

A distinctive custom of the Jregan religion was abstinence from alcohol, which was considered to be a morally corrupting influence. Myuruns were strictly forbidden from ever consuming alcohol, and anyone who had done so at any point in their life was not elligable to be ordained by the Church. When Martzup II officially endorsed the religion, she made the trade and transport of alcohol illegal.

Proto-Jrega
During the early days of academic study there was a lot of racial and ideological tension, due in most part to the lingering effects of the Kamakan Civil War. One prime example of this was the attitude shared by many early Kadeean philosophers that the Glaan felt that they were intellectually superior, and attempted to suppress lay philosophy. On the other hand however, most non-Kadeean thinkers tried not to disrespect the Glaan, even if they were trying to argue against them. In fact, the stereotype of arrogant and bad-tempered Kadeean philosophers was far more prevalent than that of authoritarian Glaan thinkers. Over the course of the 6th Century, the philosophical basis for the Jregan religion was developed at the Akranon. Thinkers presented arguments to justify rejecting Glaan doctrine and establishing religious truth on rational principles.

Ĵaa-Malthoo was the earliest recorded individual to question the political and religious authority of the Glaan. His rebellious and politically charged arguments would serve as a major influence on the early proto-Jregan thinkers.

The original Jregan movement traces its roots back to a group of Akranon attendants in decade: 64 and 65. Some were more mystical, while others were more political. Many metaphysical ideas were formulated by mystics of this early movement, only some of which were accepted by the official church a century later. Chiefly, there was the belief in angelic beings between humans and the Aba, the most famous of which is the Holy Herald who is in charge of communicating with humans on behalf of the Aba. According to early Jregan thought, the Glaan supposedly mistook this herald for the Aba and believed that her fondness for them was in fact the Aba’s fondness. These angelic beings are an obscure part of the later official religion. Another Jregen belief that is accepted into the official dogma is that there is an opposite of Teltelee located in the west that is inhabited by those who have committed major sins without repentance.

"Tribe of Free Theology"
The Jregan movement was founded in 666:05 by a group of philosophers at the Akranon who called themselves Jrid-Abiyoo-Fank, meaning "Tribe of Free Theology" in Kadeean. This phrase was gradually shortened to "Jrega" over the next century. They formulated a new religious doctrine that eventually evolved into the Jregan religion. Its core tenets were a rejection of the Glaan religious monopoly and a loosely defined moral code based on charity, church ceremonies and abstinence from alcohol and fornication (inspired by the declaration of intoxication and fornication as a minor sin in the Miinonyukon). The religion was initially intended to be totally personal, but over the course of the next century, many self-proclaimed myuruns (derived from the Kadeean word for light) claimed that they knew the true way to the Aba and would teach others who paid them. These amateur priests started appearing all over the Empire and became incredibly popular, but many feared that the initial message of the religion was being corrupted by the influence of individuals.

Corruption
After the Jregan Church was officially endorsed by Martzup II, corruption started to slowly develop over the subsequent centuries. The most common form of corruption was when senior members of the Church would take bribes in exchange for overlooking the sins of myuruns. The myurun who comitted the sin was usually from a wealthy family that could easily afford to pay such bribes.