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Asranism

Utilizes living sacrifices within its practices as a means of providing the creator with an aroma to obtain his attention and favor; method of sacrifice similar to that of the Celtic wicker men attested to by Julius Caesar
Witchcraft, fortune-telling, and spirit mediums are common themes of the Asranist belief system; all three were outlawed within the Mikaegeny and are labeled as blasphemy within the Mikaean Church itself
Massive bonfires in the woods at night are common within Asranist circles as a type of worship and celebration of life and death and the relationship between them and the Mikaean god
Most of the kidnappings reported within the Mikaegeny can be directly tied to Asranist who require an extensive number of the living beings for their ritual sacrifices to their creator
The Asranists believe that most of the disasters which have befallen the Mikaegeny can be directly linked to the failure to please their god sufficiently with blood sacrifices in the form of living beings
It is believed that approximately 15-30% of the Mikaean Church's membership are active adherents to the Asranist belief system; the church seeks to stem its growth rather than prevent it so as to prevent violence within the church
Virtually all non-Asranist adherents believe the faith to be extremely dangerous to the safety of their society, and have been waging an unsuccessful campaign to destroy it entirely
The efforts to remove Asranism from the Mikaean population have been abyssmal, largely due to the fact that too many Mikaeans believe it to have validity and many highly-placed officials and church leaders are adherents of Asranism themselves
Believed that life must be taken to extend the lives of others around them as based on the Mikaean tradition that all members are equal in all things, and thus any inequality in life must be repaid for in death for all adherents

Emblem

The emblem of the Mikaean Church can be interpreted in one of two ways:

The central figure is the Allfather, who supports the weight of the Mikaegeny above his head through his spiritual guidance and the teachings of the church
The emblem symbolizes the all-seeing eye of the Allfather, who keeps a close watch over all his children to ensure their safety and wellbeing

Misunnelsebok

A misunnelsebok (or more commonly misubok), or "book of envy" or "book of jealousy", is a personal journal within which all personal ---- are written for posterity. commonly kept by Mikaean individuals to keep a record of all personal slights, grudges, and cases of envy they experience. The practice of maintaining a misunnelsebok was introduced around the mid-1500s by the Mikaean Church, which promoted the act as a method of venting personal frustrations in a cathartic and non-violent manner. This came at a time where violence throughout the Mikaean population had been increasing without end, and the various hierarchs of the Mikaegeny were seeking ways to mitigate the issue.

A Mikaean will write out any thoughts which are bothering them into their misunnelsebok, opening up and explaining to the best of their ability the reason for their anger, and do so as truthfully as possible
Once the envious or violent thoughts have been put to paper, the Mikaean is encouraged to put the book away and never return to that instance that bothered them
During their confession at church, a Mikaean will often bring their misunnelsebok with them and present it to their aldatrix, allowing them to peer into their thought process and what it is that bothers them
The aldatrix will use this acculumated information provided by the Mikaean to provide spiritual guidance to help them deal with their anger and thoughts of jealousy
A misunnelsebok differs from a diary in that the purpose of the former is specifically allow a Mikaean to write out all of their negative thoughts and emotions, and are not meant to be read by anyone other than their aldatrix during confession
This method of documenting negative thoughts or feelings was designed to help get around feelings of embarrassment or refusal to revisit and discuss those feelings with others; this allows a priest to read the thoughts without pressing the Mikaean for information
Most misunnelseboks are limited to only 100-120 pages each, as the goal is to help the Mikaean spend as little time writing into their misunnelsebok and help them better deal with their thoughts and emotions

Etymology

History

Purpose

Personal use

Religious use

Minne doll

A minne doll is a ball-jointed doll produced by the Mikaeans as a method of honoring the memory of the recently-deceased throughout their communities. The dolls are noted for the remarkable level of care and detail placed into their creation, resulting in astonishingly realistic and anatomically-correct dolls made in the image of the deceased. Traditionally, the dolls are produced using the hair, bone, and tissue belonging to the deceased Mikaean prior to their cremation. This method of doll-making has existed within Mikaea for more than a thousand years, and remains an important aspect of Mikaean culture and society, as well as their unique manner of mourning the dead.

History

Materials

Early minne dolls were made using wood, iron, and horsehair for the doll's head. The faces of these early minne dolls were sculpted by carpenters who specialized in the field of doll-making as a full-time profession. Due to the difficulty of mass-producing minne dolls with this level of detail, most dolls prior to the 18th and 19th centuries were designed with painted faces over a partially-sculted head to provide some level of fidelity.

Notes

During conflicts, Mikaean soldiers would commonly make minne dolls in the image of all of the enemy combatants that they killed during a battle, and keep the dolls as trophies which would be moved around the battlefield as both a way of remembering victories, the valorous dead, and serve as a means of indicating the capabilities of the unit in question by broadcasting to others all the dead they have claimed during their period of combat service at the front
Many Mikaeans believe that the soul of a deceased Mikaean can be linked to their minne doll so long as a piece of them has been preserved within the doll; to that end, the head of the doll is designed with a special cavity that can be accessed from the rear of the head, and a piece of the dead Mikaean, usually a finger-bone, ashes, or piece of preserved flesh, inserted into the cavity to keep a physical link to the Mikaean in question within for the doll's caretakers
Asranists will usually make a minne doll of themselves as a precaution, as many are members of illegal suicide cults that exist in the forests of Mikaea; unlike other minne dolls, these self-made dolls will contain a lock of the Mikaean's own hair rather than a fingerbone or piece of flesh, allowing investigators to determine the faith of the doll's owner in the event they disappear; these dolls also serve as a way of ensuring the spirit of the Asranist has a link to the physical world should she be cast out of her coterie for her religious affiliation, as the minne doll created by her coterie would likely be burned and destroyed as a means of severing the coterie's link to her for her actions

A sinnets hage (Norwegian: "garden of the mind") is a Mikaean library specifically designed and built to include elements from nature within its floorplan and aestetic. Large trees dominate reading areas, grass floors are carefully . A sinnets hage is frequently cited as having more in common with an arboretum than a common library,

The Mikaeans do not bury their dead. Rather, they cremate the bodies of the deceased and scatter the ashes in the wind or release them into the sea. In the case of females, the bones are crushed and turned into bone meal for use as fertilizer in the microclade of their birth, where they will give life to the land to aid their family once more in death. Some of the ashes of the dead are commonly interred within minne dolls for remembrance of the deceased, along with fingerbone or fragment of their skull to ensure a piece of the Mikaean's body is kept within her coterie for ritual mourning. Mikaean males receive a more grandiose funeral rite, with a large pyre built for them and their body placed within for cremation. The ashes are then scattered into the wind or the surrounding waters, though it was common in the past for many of his daughters to cut themselves and rub their father's ashes into the wounds to forever carry a part of him on their person. This practice was outlawed in 1871 by Highfather Michael XIV Neal, and security at the pyre ceremonies increased during a male's funeral to ensure none of his ashes are misued following the cremation.
Naming ceremonies for male offspring following their birth are major social events across Mikaea, with dignitaries from throughout the population invited to take part in the tradition where the father of the son will public name his child before the audience, and invite others to share in the festivities related with the welcoming of a new male into the population of the Mikaeans.

Asranism, also known as Mikaean paganism, is an amalgamation of religious beliefs and practices which were adopted by the Mikaeans during their period of residence in Western Europe between 372 CE to 500 CE.

Burial and afterlife

Practices

Human sacrifice

Main article: Wicker man

The concept of providing living sacrifices to god had long-existed within Mikaean society, but entered into a period where humans and Mikaeans would be taken as sacrifices over animal sacrifices during the fifth century CE, at which time the Mikaeans were residing in modern-day France.

Though there was no contemporary evidence verifying their usage in Celtic paganism, . The use of a wicker man in this instance was originally limited to Mikaeans cast out from their clades, enemy warriors captured during a battle, or the bodies of the deceased during certain times of the year.

In spite of official opposition to these sacrifices, and laws in affect aggressively punishing any such acts, the act of ogi