Prostorism

Prostorism (or Prostoric) is a strict, Monotheistic religion that originated in Middle Ages Almodaria. Prostorics believe that the God Prostor created the universe and chose the Almodarian people to rule under his name in a Theocratic Kingdom. Since the 930s, the religion has been deemed illegitimate and its followers have been repeatedly beaten down by Police Forces of Almodaria to uphold State Atheist policy.

History

Early History

Sometime around 924 CE, a poor peasant man by the name of Zvrtko was on his way home after a day of hard labor. During his walk home, he was mugged by a group of bandits. While he struggled to get away, (according to him and witnesses), a blinding beam of light came down from the sky and landed on the hands of the burglars, when they pulled their hands away, they came to learn that they had been burnt off clean. The bandits quickly ran away and soon after the event, a voice entered Zvrtko's mind. It told him to spread the word of his existence so him and the Almodarian people would be freed from the burdens of the world and enter an eternal kingdom. The voice called itself Prostor which in Almodarian translates roughly to "Space". Soon later, the voice would continue to return to Zvrtko. According to his notes and what he told people, it didn't sound like an internal monologue, but like an echoing voice that came from the skies. He was given prophecies of a revolution that would put him or one of his descendants onto the Almodarian throne to become the mortal link to the eternal world, making Almodaria a theocratic kingdom. He was giving the right to convert anyone who he may come across, whether that be man, woman, child, homeless, etc. Anyone could believe but those who didn't where to be struck down or forcefully converted. All of the word and orders, and the personal notes of Zvrtko were written in a book that is now known as the "Canon of the Word". In from 924 CE to 927 CE, the Prostoric fellowship, which was made up of around 100-300 members, made their way to Tuvaria, Tuvaria (Capital of North Almodar) as part of their pilgrimage.

When they arrived, they set up their first church in the home of Zvrtko where disbelievers would convert, and followers would sit alongside Zvrtko as he got the message down unto paper. The numbers skyrocketed as the group went from 300 to nearly one thousand in the span of a few months in 927. This began to alarm the sitting Darian king Ivan XIV who wanted to keep his kingdom under secular control as the prior kings before him did. Ivan XIV began to persecute Prostoric communities, sending hundreds to work camps or forcing them into military service to keep them senile. In 929 CE, Zvrtko was asleep when he was awoken by a prophecy from Prostor that told him he would die fighting a revolution for the religion which filled Zvrtko with the rigor to test his strength against Ivan XIV. And so, when the new year came, Zvrtko and his followers barged through the gates of the castle where Ivan XIV sat unamused. He knew this would happen and simply waited. Zvrtko, who was still trying to call for peace, tried voicing to the king that the word of Prostor is to be taken seriously and not as just the ramblings of an old peasant. Ivan would respond with a yawn and ordered for the guards to kick the rebellious group out of the castle. Zvrtko, defeated and humiliated, retreated to his quarters when he got another word from Prostor. He told Zvrtko that the time was now to rise up and take what's theirs. "Flames shall rise from the ground and erase those who disobeyed." Prostor said to him. Zvrtko was reinvigorated and later with the use of hidden communications, called for his community (which now numbered around 1,500) to begin the revolution and take the Darian crown, which will force the Almonian king to surrender the kingdom to Prostor.

Soon after, the group numbering in the thousands rose arms against the king, they made their way to the castle keep seemingly unharmed with the Royal Guard retreating into the castle grounds due to the sheer size of the group being too much to combat. Ivan XIV was once again at the throne, sword by his side, calmly waiting for the rebels to reach him which they did in the matter of minutes. Zvrtko was no longer calling for peace and yelled at the king saying "We called for you to let Prostor in and you rejected him! His glory will not fall under the eyes of a heretic!" (It's argued on whether he said this to the king or said this on the way into the castle.) The king stood up from his throne with sword in hand. He signaled for the counterattack which was made up of hundreds of highly trained knights, versus around a thousand peasants with torches and fists. It did not end well for the peasants as many (who brought their kids with them) surrendered to live and escaped while they could. There was nowhere to go for the followers and Ivan simply went up to Zvrtko and said, "Did your lord call for you to end up as the fodder we will feed the pigs?!" to which Zvrtko replied with a call for Prostor but before he could finish, his head was rolling on the floor. The religion was officially banned, and State Atheism became a political doctrine that all had to follow. The captured followers were killed during the Week of Red and fell into oblivion.

Modern History

Since the destruction of the Prostoric Revolution, the policy of State Atheism has been upheld. There were times when the popularity of the religion spiked like during the Almodarian Civil War, and during the Yurichenko Dictatorship. The religion has become more popular recently as Futurists push for the removal of the Secular Policy which has been the center of new persecution of Prostorics to prevent the Nightmare Scenario: a theoretical coup de tat that would come with religious freedom in Almodaria which would destroy the country. The current Prophets of Prostor are Zvrtko Eternal (Eternalized after his death), and his supposed great descendant, Lukas.

Beliefs

Prostor created the Urth and is the rightful ruler of the universe, he created the Almodarian people to spread his word through conquest or peaceful means and work under his will, Prostor chose Zvrtko the Eternal to bring peace to a realm controlled by darkness and his bloodline will connect the link between the heavens and the Urth after years of disconnection, those who follow his word will be enlightened with the knowledge of a mighty ruler, those who refuse to connect with their eternal king will be stricken with the eternal impediment of the Urth and will not be enlightened in the ways of Prostor, those who failed to follow the word of Prostor became forever corrupted with the evil of the Urth and use their secularity to bring death and chaos to the realm, Prostor can not interfere with worldly events and leaves it to his followers to test their faith and strength because only the strongest willed individuals will last through his trials in heaven. Lastly, in the end of days, the light of Prostor will cover the Urth in scorching flame. Those who follow the light and have reached full knowledge through Prostor will be immune to the flame whilst the heretics and atheists will burn in the fury. Zvrtko will be at the top of a pillar to guide his people through the trials of the afterlife.

The Bulleted List Below gives a simpler explanation of everything involved:

• Prostor: Prostor is the God and highest deity in the Prostoric religion. He created the earth and chose the Almodarian people to become the leaders of the human realm. In the end of days, he'll scorch the Urth and take his followers to Heaven where they'll endure tumultuous trials to show their worthiness to enter the realm of light.
• Prosvijetljen (Enlightened): The Prosvijetljen or the Enlightened are those who follow the ways of Prostor with all of their heart, soul, and mind and work tirelessly through their lives to gain their spot in heaven. The Enlightened will go through heavenly trials postmortem.
• Nevjernici (Disbelievers): The Nevjernici or Disbelievers are those who were oblivious to the truth or were purposely deciding to ignore Prostor. In the end of days, they'll be scorched from the Urth but those who come to their end. However, disbelievers born before the first messages of Prostor to Zvrtko in the 900s could try their shot into heaven by completing the heavenly trials in their own purgatory of sorts. But if they fail, it's back to the flames of fury they go.
• Raj (Heaven): Heaven is where the enlightened and those completed the trials will be able to rest and contemplate for the rest of eternity.
• Paklu (Hell): Hell is where the disbelievers, atheists, and heretics will end up at the end of their lives. It is a cold a desolate pit of despair that has a deafening noise that comes from the screams of agony coming from the mosh pit of evil souls at the bottom. They're screaming because the floor of hell is hot coals.
• Suđenja (Trials): After Death, enlightened individuals or those born before the first message will need to endure trials that are all tailored to the life of the person. They are purposely designed according to Prostor to make you use your enlightenment to get through each one and when you reach the end, you'll supposedly be judged by Prostor on your performance. If you used brute strength which is deemed barbaric and secular, you'll be banished to Hell. But if you used your knowledge as given to you by Prostor, you enter into Paradise.

Writings

The first written documentation of Zvrtko's conversations with Prostor date back to around 926 CE in his personal journal. By the end of his life, 3 volumes were made with their unofficial name being "The Writings of Prostor" suggesting that the word inside is coming directly from the mouth of Prostor, making Zvrtko the scribe.

Volume 1

Volume 1 was started in 926-927 CE and was finished sometime after that before 930 CE. It details the beginning according to Prostor, contains details of the heavenly trials, heaven itself, and hell, and has a list of basic practices and rights/wrongs you must follow including Pilgrimage. It also has a few pages were according to analysis, it could be Zvrtko himself writing his own thoughts down. The volume towards the end has a list that shows the number of members at the time of writing. This may've been done by Zvrtko to keep count of how many members he had to make a mark on society, or he did this to somehow please Prostor.

Volume 2

Volume 2 was authored from 928 to 929 CE but was cut short when he died that same year. It contained prophecies of the apocalypse, the future of Almodaria, political events worldwide, and etc. as of 2023, none of these prophecies have happened. Towards the end of the volume, it listed the rules set by Prostor for religious conquest of neighboring states which will be listed below. It also contained another personal journalling segment by Zvrtko that showed that he was worried about the end after learning more about the trials afterlife and was concerned about whether or not he would be in good favor with Prostor in the end. The volume was never completed as when he died, the persecution of the Prostorics in the week of red began and it was left abandoned with the other volumes.

Volume 3

Volume 3 is somewhat complicated. It was authored by Zvrtko's grandson Sergey who managed to flee during the Week of Red and survive. It is unknown if he was divinely guided on what to put in the book or if he freely wrote his own works in it. The volume had supposed visions from Prostor which showed the world "Coated in a blood red ink" followed by dreams of blinking stars and various other odd details. It listed the member count which barely numbered in the 10s since the week of red was so successful in wiping out the religious population. Lastly, towards the end of the book, Sergey wrote down his thoughts just as his grandfather did before him. He talked about Hell, Secularists, and the future of Almodaria which he described as bleak and short. It is unknown what happened to Sergey since he kept details on his life bleak, but it is known that he kept the books secret to hide his identity as a Prostoric when the guards of his township were making routing searches in accordance with Almodarian police work.

Practices

Prayer (Molitva)

In Volume 1 of the writings, Prostor calls for Almodarians to pray once before bed and once after you wake up to acknowledge your continued service to Prostor. To properly pray, a Prostoric needs to sit with crossed legs and have their hands facing up and laying on their legs or you can optionally put your hands together to make them look like an open book. According to Prostorics, this shows Prostor that for one thing you're still his follower and for another, you're still asking for his further enlightenment. Prayer can only be missed if the person is ill or unfit to do so.

Pilgrimage (Hodočašće)

In Prostorism, there are two Pilgrimages: The Pilgrimage of Trial, and the Pilgrimage of Piety. The Pilgrimage of Trial as the name suggests is the first pilgrimage all adult followers of Prostorism must undertake when the reach 18. They need to head into the western desert areas of Varatistan and remain there for a 2 to 3 weeks with limited food and water. This is done to test the will of Prostorics because only the strongest of willed can reach enlightenment. If you give out on the Trial, you'll be given one more shot but if you also fail that then you've lost your chance at enlightenment unless you're somehow redeemed. The Pilgrimage of Piety is conducted after the Pilgrimage of Trial. Since there are no official holy sites in Almodaria due to atheistic policy, the Pilgrims usually travel to points of religious historical significance such as the site where Zvrtko encountered Prostor, Zvrtko's home, and the various other locations that Prostorics prospered. When you arrive at a location, you need to pray and reconcile with Prostor for upwards of 2-3 hours where you spend that time contemplating with others on how to stay in favor. When completed, you would have completed your second of two urthly trials with the first being the Desert Pilgrimage. Your final pilgrimage is in Heaven where you complete the Sudenja.

The Clergy (Sveštenstvo)

The Clergy are a select group of significantly holy people that was created after the death of Zvrtko when there was no guidance for the surviving members. They exist to lead in prayer, and keep the canon safe.