Bright Way

The Bright Way is the oldest, and historically most widespread, religion among yinrih. It is a monotheistic faith with a strongly apophatic theology. Its clerics, called hearthkeepers, are tasked with tending star hearths (ceremonial nuclear fusion reactors). This along with the fact that the clerical state is reserved for females, draws comparisons to the Vestal Virgins of ancient Rome. Its followers are referred to as Wayfarers.

The faith was not founded by a single person, and can trace its roots back to nearly the beginning of yinrih history to an event called the Theophany, where the Creator of the universe is said to have revealed itself to the entire yinrih species. It shares many characteristics with human monotheistic religions, though the Supreme Being is explicitly claimed to lack both a name (as that would imply there are more than one of its kind that would need to be distinguished with names) and a gender (as that would imply that there others of its kind of the opposite gender with which it must beget young). In English, it is properly referred to using the neuter "it". Indeed, it is said to belong to no broader category to which even a common noun can be applied. Very orthodox Wayfarers hesitate to refer to it using words like "God" or "deity", though when pressed most will admit those terms fit well enough. It is properly addressed using epithets or kennings, with "The Uncreated Light", or just "The Light" being the most commonly used term.

The faith goes by a few other names in English, mostly stemming from the Latin calque clara via (Bright Way). These include Claravianism and Claravism. Many Wayfarers regard these names to be mildly offensive. They claim that the -ism suffix equates faith with a pathology like alcoholism. The adjectival form Claravian has no such connotations.

Canons of Scripture

The Bright Way has two scriptural canons. The Protocanon contains writings by newly sapient yinrih, accounts of the Theophany, early sermons and letters, as well as liturgical rubrics and moral precepts. To qualify for inclusion in the Protocanon, a work must have been written prior to the death of the last Beholder (witness to the Theophany), and must be written in the primordial written language that evolved out of the yinrih's scent marking behavior. The Protocanon is regarded to possess divine inspiration. While it is not held to be completely historically inerrant, the bulk of its hisoriographic content has not been contested.

In contrast, the Deuterocanon is much larger, spanning not only different genres but also media formats. Works in the Deuterocanon are not regarded to have divine authority, but are seen as spiritually efficacious.