PMD-R- The Path of Rain

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Remnants: The Path of Rain, Sect of Tambolo City and the continent of Kinez

The Holy Path of the Sacred Rains of Kyogre

“Cleanse the sorrow from the world.”

Founder:  Unknown
Led by a: High Priest
Headquarters: Shrine of Three Paths—Wing of Cleansing Rain   
Type: Henotheistic
Territory (known): Much of the civilized Pokémon world, distribution shared with the Paths of Shine and Sky and the Order of the Sun
Languages (known): Local languages; Taolish
Adherents: Too many to count

Deity: Kyogre, the Embodiment of the Ocean, the Victorious Titan, the Cleanser
Ideals: Unity, Charity
Holy Symbols: Design of Kyogre

The Design of Kyogre is the pattern of red lines that adorn Kyogre’s body along his fins. In general, this symbol is portrayed very closely to the original; it comprises of the base pattern itself, with the lines red on a blue background when it is colored. It is often displayed on flags, jewelry, and anything else that is marked to either belong to Kyogre or the Path itself. A variant also appears on the flag of Tambolo, but this has since been declared a completely secular symbol displaying homage to the god of the city’s founder.

Summary:

                The Path of Rain has always been the most numerous religion on the continent of Kinez, at least in the Explorer-occupied southeast. Ever since the guild towns were founded by an explorer by the name of Apollon the Combusken of Team Greek Fire, whom himself was a devout member of the Path, they have enjoyed a minor cultural domination over each of the other religions present. Unfortunately for those other religions, it was often a domination that they intended to keep.

                The Path of Rain emphasizes ___, ___, and ___ among all Pokémon, whom should be benevolent and kind as the gentle, life-giving rains fallen on them from Kyogre’s bounties. They must be outwardly kind, though not weak, and dutiful in their reverence for the one that created the seas. While all practices of fair repute are welcome and honored to the luster of the contributions of their trade, Healers, Doctors, and Medical workers of all kinds are especially revered for their being the manifestation of Kyogre’s healing in the world. The Path gives much of its excess charities to hospitals run by the Practitioner’s Guild and indeed runs a number of hospitals itself, though generally in areas where Practitioner-run hospitals have less presence.

                The cities of Kinez have always had a history of religious intolerance. Kinez as a whole had already been associated with three of the four main religions in a major way even before its founding. The site is believed by researchers, and Path adherents before them, to be the first battleground of Groudon and Kyogre, and thus the first continent ever drawn from the depths of the ocean, and the first place that Rayquaza had intervened in such conflict. In fact, among the first settlers of Tambolo and its surrounding cities that were not members of Exploration guilds were monks and missionaries looking to quickly establish a presence on what was essentially their holy land. The Shrine of the Three Paths and the Order of the Sun’s monastery were the first large buildings ever erected here—and they were erected before the official founding of the city. Such was the fervor of the early settlers, and the initial settlements had grown outward from shrines established. Note that only the Merchants’ Guild had existed at this point; the Rogues, Practitioners, and Rescuers were founded much later.

                Many members of the Path of Rain began to grow restless. Back then, the home region that many of the members of the Exploration Teams had come from had a rather confrontational mindset, and a lot of fighting was breaking out between the four religions. The monasteries and abbeys on Kinez were originally founded by the religious leaders to pave the way for a path of unity between them, but with the influx of settlers, the very negative feelings they sought to destroy came with them.

History:

                The Path of Rain has been present on Kinez since its founding by Apollon and Team Greek Fire. Comprised largely of Rain-adherents themselves, Greek Fire had in fact founded Tambolo in tribute to their god. As the small guild outpost grew and other religions came to this, the first battleground of the continental Pokemon, those of other religions came to the region in the interest of its development. While the Path of Rain always maintained a small majority, the immigrants brought with them their own sets of ideals and practices from their homeland. However, as most of these immigrants were from the same tumultuous region as the city's founder, with them also came the extremist, primitive ideals that those specific sects of the Paths and the Order had been dealing with at home. Unfortunate streaks of violence followed the settlers because of this. While it was apparently not as harsh as it was in their prior land, it was still reportedly vicious enough to delay Tambolan relations from forming with the shy, fearful, Orthodoxy-following Expansemon settlers on the western shores of the continent for a number of years. 

                Outright violence was quelled relatively quickly (as in within a decade and a half-- this is in comparison to those in their origin region), though resentment harbored itself in many places through the years. Huge arguments between them and other religions have been sparked from small impasses, and discrimination is not totally uncommon, particularly from the Path of Rain towards the other religions as they enjoy a clear majority. Of the five contenders in the civil struggles, they had been the most avid in attempting to promote peace. As a religion focused largely on healing, the mainstream groups adhering to the religion worked together to fund hospitals, peace-spreading campaigns, and inter-religious talks throughout the years. Many of the other religious leaders gratefully accepted the surprisingly fast redevelopment efforts that the Path of Rain had worked towards, and indeed their efforts were hugely benevolent. In many cases, they had even gone so far as to prioritize repairing the shrines of their old enemies, the Path of Shine, to show that (the majority of) the Rainers wished for peace. The fact that many of these cases were funded nearly entirely by donation, in line with one of their key ideals, had only helped to show them as a shining beacon for hope for future peace. 

                Violence broke out again when the two legendary Pokemon gods, Kyogre and Groudon, awoke and continued their temporarily-halted combat in the southern oceans. Just as their gods had slumbered and awoken, the years-old bad blood between the Paths of Rain and Shine erupted in a sudden whirlwind of blame and anger. The two main Paths failed to retain control over their swelled populations across the numerous large cities of the continent, and widespread riots soon became a common sight as it did in the dark days before. While historically the Rainers' leadership in Kinez had been against such destructive action, the active involvement of Kyogre himself has begun to sway some of their minds. Still, though the coffers needing to be fed by charity are being heavily strained, and despite the fractured ideas in their leadership, they remain the largest aid in the relief efforts for those affected by the unrest.

            

Worship Practices:

                Adherents are expected to own at least one artifact of blessed water christened during the worshiper’s baptism into the religion. No church services exist for the Path, but individual actions of good will or righteousness are expected to be occasionally done in the name of Kyogre, or in dedication to him. The equivalent of the ‘sanctuary’ in their shrine is used as a gathering hall for miscellaneous events, similar to their counterparts in the other Paths and the Order.

Relations with the Path of Shine (in Kinez):

                In most places, the Three Paths and the Order live in relative harmony with the occasional clash of zealots and extremists. However, as is the history in Kinez, they have famously been at odds with each other over various theological disputes and territories. All Paths believe that this is the area where Kyogre and Groudon had first met each other in combat, though the debate is often over whom won or whom truly gets to claim this land as their religion’s ‘home’. The Path of Rain believes that Kyogre won because of the size of the ocean, which runs contradictory to the teachings of the Path of Shine holding that Groudon had won as Kinez, the main part of the battleground itself, has become fertile, life-supporting land. Whereas most other sects of each religion that incorporate this into their practices are content to simply hold it as a simple difference in beliefs, those here look nearly to recreate the battle.

Relations with the Path of Sky (in Kinez):

                The Path of Sky has largely joined in with the Path of Rain’s riots as equally as they have with those of the Path of Shine. By in large, the Paths of Rain and Sky do not have any official quarrel, lending their involvement with both sides to their largely split feelings over whom to side with (although it goes to note that none of the religious heads claim involvement in the riots at all).

Relations with the Order of the Sun (in Kinez):

                The Path of Rain, with the other ‘Paths’, have always been sort of vassal religions to the Order of the Sun, at least in Kinez. As such, the Order of the Sun is largely seen as the orderly father attempting to straighten out his squabbling children in these times, which the Path of Rain has accepted and has left them alone. The Order is occasionally caught in the crossfire as they share the Shrine of the Three Paths with the other, more volatile religions, but thus far nothing has been directly done against them by the Path of Rain.

Relations with the Great Orthodoxy:

                While most exchanges between the two have historically been indirect, it has always had an undertone of hostility. The Pokémon of the Orthodoxy inherently do not believe in the divinity of the continental deities, instead preferring to equate them to simply very powerful Pokémon. This is seen as a very serious blasphemy against those deities, Kyogre included, and as such the radical members of the Path of Rain have always met them with a quiet hatred. The existence of the Expansemon Scouts, however, has instilled a bit of fear into the Rain rioters whom would worry about their children being kidnapped by the sneaky assassin-like Pokémon in the night should they fight them. Because of this, anti-Orthodoxy/Expansemon aggression as a whole has been minor, though some minor violence against them has appeared against them in some of the months after the Remnants had arrived. The first specifically anti-Orthodoxy riot has just recently occurred as their Chapel in Tambolo city was beset upon by an angry mob. 


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Author's Notes:

Well wasn't this one a long time coming? With delay after delay after delay after delay, I can finally begin posting the guides again. School and such, y'know. 

I'll be working on guides as well for the Paths of Shine and Sky and the Order of the Sun, and I'll also be updating the Orthodoxy guide when I'm finished with those so that it can be up to par. As you can see from it elsewhere in the gallery, it's not much to look at . I will rectify that, and future guides will be up to this standard or above :3. 


In order of currently expected appearance:
Path of Shine Guide
Path of Sky Guide
Order of the Sun Guide
Redo/Update Grand Orthodoxy Guide
Police Department of Tambolo and the Greater Kinez Continent Guide
Technology Of Kinez Guide


...add in a possible NPC or two, as well as the sidestories for York and Genoa as well.