Look out! It's the veggie-cannibal artist-cultists!

[Superfluous Crow]

New material for my Broken Verge setting! (hurray)
Anyway, this is a religion that continues on the art theme i had going with the Moshrayah. Not that art is a theme as such in my setting, i just wanted to make something with it. This religion is also very much a cauldron where i have cooked together various ideas, but i think it's sufficiently woven together to have some consistency and coherence. Then again, this is still in a not-so-final layout so if you find missing parts (yes, find them...) then i'd like to know. Generally, unanswered questions you'd like to see answered are welcome. Anyway, enjoy the mysteries of the flesh hallowers.


 The Cult of Hallowed Flesh
The Cult of Hallowed Flesh believes that all flesh are divine works of transcendent art made by the Creator; the divine artist-god that made the world, the creatures that inhabit it, and, lastly, the humans. Flesh is naturally beautiful in all incarnations to them, but sentient creatures are especially beautiful because they possess the Creative Spark. This spark is created by the divine and is itself divine as it grants the greatest of the Creator's works the power to emulate their gods and use the power of creation.  

Principles
The Cult takes a deistic stance as to the actions of their god; he created everything, but his art was perfect and would continue its beautiful existence by itself without him interfering.
The cultist is asked to consider the beauty around him as well as to create something himself. What he creates is up to himself and they greatly enforce independence and the use of the singular power of creativity they claim they have been granted. Respect for the work of others is mandatory; be they animals or humans. Because even though animals do not possess the Spark their spawn are still considered to be their creation. As such, it is forbidden to eat the flesh of animals and all practitioners of the religion are vegetarians (as plants are not considered to be "alive"). Combat to the death is also considered a taboo, although martial arts are strangely respected as they are, in a way, considered to be "art" when not actively used in combat.

Foundation and structure
The Cult is relatively new, and although it was inspired by some pagan religions it didn't in fact develop from one. The foundation of the religion is a series of letters sent by an unnamed religious artist describing a divine vision sent to him outlining the main tenets and ideas of the religion. The letters are all adressed to someone called Harikem. Who this person was or what he represented is still unknown, and the same goes for the identity of the author.  These letters, of which there are 11, are collectively known as the Letters of Vision, and the author is referred to as the Visionary.
Clergy are organized around small monasteries where the monks live simple lives in the pursuit of aesthetic rather than spiritual perfection. The monks have few actual duties in the religious community; they prepare the bodies of the dead for the burial ritual and often serve as orphanages for lost children. In the rest of the time they sing beautiful praises to the Creator, nature, and humanity and help copy books or create new pieces of art. They live lives of personal poverty, indulging in few luxuries so they can best pursue their chosen path without unnecessary distraction. Celibacy is not a requirement though, and sex is almost considered an artform by itself and the monks perform something akin to tantric sex (the monks are pretty famed for their skill). The cult has even made a sort of religious guide to it, a work which has been banned by many nations.  

Practice
Although the religion has grown somewhat prominent in the world, it's still uncommon to be born into it. Rather, people happen about it in books and by participating in artistic social circles. As such, most people are middle or high class and well-educated and have entered the cult as a choice rather than through indoctrination. As the religion is deistic, prayers are not common practice, although monasteries do sing hymns. Mostly, practice of the religion just involves accepting the mythology and gazing upon the beauty of the world. Some people also use more rigorous and spiritual Aesthetic Meditations where they dwell on the beauty of a specific item. Practitioners are known as flesh hallowers, or just hallowers.  

Rituals
Birth: as a religious cult focused on creation, birth is an event of huge importance. The child is usually hidden away by the parents for the first few days, and a party is then thrown for the child where the family and the friends of the parents come to see the child who is customarily dressed up in make-up and a small colorful robe. It's customary to praise the parents of the beauty of the child at these events.
Coming of age: There are no coming of age rituals in the Cult as such, as they do not believe in stages of life as such; all of life is equal. Sometimes, though, if a child follows an artistic path in life, a small party is thrown after the creation of his first personal piece of art. If it is a physical piece of art, like a picture or a sculpture, it's often on display at the party.
Death and burial: Death is seen as the deterioration of art and is therefore feared. They do not believe in an afterlife. The Spark of Creation is reborn in a new body, and the body reverts to the components from which it was created. The identity of the person is irretrievably lost. The components of a human body are considered intrinsically human, and as such are sought to be reverted to the human state. This concept involves a highly ritualized cannibalising of dead family members where the body is salted and brought to the nearest monastery where it is prepared by the monks and then eaten by the family. The dead body is divided into three types of components; the hallowed components which are eaten (e.g. organs and muscle), the identity-holding pieces which are burnt (e.g. heart, brain, fingers and eyes) and the practical, non-aesthetic, pieces (e.g. stomach and bone) which are removed without further ado.

Adherents
Most who follow this religion are artists. Some were artists before they entered the cult, and some became it later. But there are many exceptions; all who see beauty in their work or in the world around them can feel drawn to the religion. The enigmatic Moshrayah of the underground, whose entire culture focuses on the dedication to arts, often follow this religion, although only those living on the surface have free enough access to edible plants survive, as ordinary moshrayah diets consist of mostly meat (the underground isn't exactly rich on nutritious plant-life). Members of the Order of the Rose are also often members.

Sects
Even though it's a somewhat small religion, sects are prominent in a religion with so loose a dogma.
Hallowers of the Canvas Incarnate: These believe that life is not art in itself but rather a medium which you can mold into real art. They use tattoos and piercings, as well as other acts of self-modification and -mutilation, to modify themselves into human artwork.  
Hallowers of the New Dawn: This small sect doesn't focus on material creations but rather on the making and birth of children. The New Dawn followers are avid users of the previously mentioned blacklisted manual and typically sire a lot of children. Some more fanatic members of the sect attempt to pick their partners so as to create what they consider "optimal" children, practising their own personal variant of eugenics.

[Snargash Moonclaw]

Cool direction. What do they think of body modification (outside of the . . .Canvas Incarnate)? Can you make your body even more beautiful or is that sacrilege? If the latter, are cosmetics likewise? Beauty of change (aging)? How would they view someone "disfigured" by accident or disease - is this unfortunate or perhaps the beauty of change, one's experience reflected in the body?

Re: Monks - do they perceive aesthetic perfection as different from spiritual perfection or is that purely an outsider's perspective?

[Superfluous Crow]

If you are a believer you believe that every living creature is beautiful in its own right; you do not believe in any objective aesthetic but rather that everyone has an unique beauty. As such, body modification just isn't necessary; there is nothing to improve. makeup might be useful to blend into traditional society, but would it be more interesting as a sort of taboo?
Hmm, if they see death as deterioration they probably also see physical damage and age as deterioration of beauty. Not that something becomes worthless as it becomes old, but it neither does it become better.
And the only spiritual perfection you can achieve is to see and understand beauty wherever you look, and in this way spirituality is keyed to aesthetics.
Great questions, and i'll probably have to think a bit more about them. thanks.    

[Snargash Moonclaw]

Sure. Love the concept. The dwarves in Panisadore have a very similar view of the sacredness of life for essentially the same reasons (and practice a form of funerary cannibalism in which the ashes of the deceased are mixed with those of all preceding them and a portion ritually consumed by the community). They haven't really taken the aesthetic perspective but some foreign influences could certainly lead to some very similar conclusions. I'll have to float it on the back-burner for a bit and see what bubbles up.

The idea of changing could be incorporated as beauty being constantly in flux rather than static. If children are beautiful as they are (rather than "works in progress") then the idea that aging results in the loss of beauty can be avoided. Instead of a "peak" at the prime of life there would be a continuity and flow - beauty is ever-changing rather than fleeting. *How* people consciously go about changing in their lives could be a school of subtle aesthetics as well - life becomes almost a performance art-form. Monks could well exemplify this. Given the extremely subtle and interpretive nature of this line of thought it would probably be adhered to only within a couple of highly dedicated sects.

[Superfluous Crow]

Maybe it could be like the beauty of a finely-crafted machine or clock; no matter what stage it is in, or where the hands or gears point, it is still the same object with the same beauty. Only when it breaks (read: person dies) is the beauty shattered. This might lead to a worldview where time is of less importance and where past, present and future are one. Could be an interesting conclusion to make.
Also, i think i'll make a sect that focuses on objective beauty (that is, they also believe in the concept of ugliness which is bad).

[Scholar]

this is a pretty interesting concept. some thoughts:
you write that comat to the death is frowned upon. but isn't all form of combat bad for your own beauty? like, you know, from smashed out teeth to severed limbs.
i have to say, tho, that the cannibal and vegan parts don't match for me. if it's an honour to take someone's aspects into yourself, can't you also honour an animal in that way?
also, do they do drugs to enhance their perception?
if yes, this would be a very popular religion, i guess. serving god by doing sex, drugs, sitting around and staring at stuff. ;)

[Superfluous Crow]

Drugs aren't part of the religion in any way, but you could take some if you wanted to i guess unless your culture is biassed against it.
And they aren't necessarily vegan; unfertilised eggs aren't really "alive" and milk is just nutritious liquid.
And it isn't an honor to eat your dead. It's a necessity. You don't absorb the person (that's why you leave out the pieces connected to identity) but the raw materials only, raw materials that go into the human pool to eventually make new humans. Dog meat belongs in the dog pool of components and cow meat belongs in the cow pool and so on.
And when i wrote about combat i was considering a scenario where you didn't yourself get hit (that's a risk that is completely up to you whether you'll take). They just frown upon taking a life. You can subdue people if you want to (and are allowed to by law). Just don't kill anyone.

[Scholar]

And it isn't an honor to eat your dead. It's a necessity. You don't absorb the person (that's why you leave out the pieces connected to identity) but the raw materials only, raw materials that go into the human pool to eventually make new humans. Dog meat belongs in the dog pool of components and cow meat belongs in the cow pool and so on.

okay, now i get it. :) it is still a bit askew, though, in my opinion. unless this cult stems from an area where food is very scarce, there is no actual need to eat your dead. generally, i got the impression that when ritually eating parts of animals, enemies or your aunt, you do it so the person "lives on" (in case of your aunt), or you take on traits of what you eat (e.g. a tiger's heart). it's still a cool idea, but eating your dead for purposes of closed-circuit recycling feels a bit clinical for an artistic society.

And when i wrote about combat i was considering a scenario where you didn't yourself get hit (that's a risk that is completely up to you whether you'll take). They just frown upon taking a life. You can subdue people if you want to (and are allowed to by law). Just don't kill anyone.

i see. still, when all forms of life are considered beautiful, i guess there'd be a lot of true pacifists among the hallowers.

[Superfluous Crow]

There are definitely a lot of pacifists.
And you might be right about the clinical part. Although it does fit nicely into the mythology. It might be alright that it seems somewhat un-artistic since it's pretty much the only rite they have. In some ways it also figures into a reincarnation concept, only a more materialistic one where you can become part of the next link in your family.

[Ghostman]

And they aren't necessarily vegan; unfertilised eggs aren't really "alive" and milk is just nutritious liquid.
And it isn't an honor to eat your dead. It's a necessity. You don't absorb the person (that's why you leave out the pieces connected to identity) but the raw materials only, raw materials that go into the human pool to eventually make new humans. Dog meat belongs in the dog pool of components and cow meat belongs in the cow pool and so on.

What is their view on carnivorous animals then? When a wolf eats a goat, is it a bad thing on the grounds that it's consuming an entirely different kind of creation, thus absorbing it's components into a pool they do not belong? If not, why is it still wrong for humans to eat animals?

[Superfluous Crow]

Humans are the only creatures who can themselves appreciate beauty and as such they are capable of acknowledging this fact and sparing the art/the creature. Animals are not capable of this acknowledgement and can therefore not be expected to have the associated respect for other animals.