Tumaniti in Entropan

Since it started becoming popular with the Entropanian population at the beginning of the 20th century, Tumaniti has become one of the largest religions in Entropan. Starting with the Eden Group, a group of immigrants from Tumland who moved over in the late 19th to the early 20th century and began a Tumanitun church in the outskirts of Maledonia, Tumaniti grew through a combination of it being embedded in popular culture through highly influential pieces of media including values and symbology of Tumaniti, and through the generously charitable programs of the Entropanian Tumanitun Church. Entropanian Tumaniti grew, and developed from the Southern Ecrosian counterpart by focusing away from the deity-centred tradition it derived from, and focusing more on ethics of virtue and panpsychism, with it also including the national election of representatives to devolved Regional Communions, who then delegate to the National Communion.

Today, Tumaniti is the largest religion in Entropan, narrowly beating out the traditional Christianity that has dominated Entropan, with 21.8% of Entropanians being adherent to Tumaniti, according to the 2021 census. It has significant influence within Entropanian society, with many influential political figures, including several formed Prime Ministers, being Tumaniti. The prevalence of Tumaniti is also cited as reasoning for the implementation and success of many policy endeavours of the Entropanian government, including environmental protection legislation, due to the focus on nature and the environment in the Tumaniti religion, and the closeness of Entropan with Tumland, and the tight diplomatic co-operation between the two countries in world affairs.

History

Early introduction of Tumaniti (1753-1889)

One of the surviving old Tumaniti churches.

Before the Eden Group, several immigrants from Tumland set up their own communities, particularly in northern provinces of Uryho, in order to set up their own churches, and live according to the values of Tumaniti, most of them coming following the fall of the Folkonian Empire in 1778. These communities, known in Entropan as the Konkordoj (harmonies), were primarily self-sustaining, with resources for the churches being sourced by buying those resources using profits generated by multi-generational sale of agricultural products. A lot is known about the way of life in these early Tumanitun communities, as their extensive record-keeping has survived to documentation.

These communities practised Communal Tumaniti, with their practices baring a mark of being substantially more ascetic than other Tumanitun communities around the world. The Communal interpretation of Tumaniti mythology heavily emphasised the communitarian values of Tumaniti, with their own mythology preaching the utmost avoidance of vice and hubris by not placing any emphasis on earthly possessions.

However, these communities were short-lived, with only Dovegerne, a community residing in a mountain range of northern Uryho, surviving to the 21st century, with most of the causes they ultimately succumbed to being famine, widespread disease, or natural disaster. The Second Entropanian Civil War destroyed some of the communities that survived devastating natural events, with the Heavenly League, a far-right Catholic fundamentalist group, burning the villages of many of the remaining communities in their prosecution against non-Catholic religiosity.

The Eden Group (1890-present)

In 1890, 14 people from Tumland, disliking how Tumaniti religious institutions were developing in Tumland and the widespread presence of apologia for the country's previous Folkonian Empire, decided to move to Entropan to set up their own group in order to spread the values of their Tumaniti denomination, Edenic Tumaniti, to Entropanian citizens. This group began to hand out pamphlets and write books, including collating Tumaniti mythology and writing their own form of a holy scripture (The Book of Eden), under the name "The Eden Group", the word "Eden" roughly meaning the value of harmony with all beings.

Maledonian Church

The refurbished Maledonian Church, as it stands today.

The Maledonian Church was set up in 1894, on the outskirts of Maledonia, on a plot of land bought from a housing developer for the today-equivalent of QBC₵121,000, having raised the money through the sale of their own written Tumaniti books in bookstores and stalls across Maledonia, as well as being through parts of the salary of some highly-paid professionals who joined the Eden Group. What were at first only a place for meeting and building a particular Entropanian Tumaniti community quickly became a vehicle for charity, with further funds from donations and sales going towards providing shelter for the homeless population of Maledonia, and becoming a food bank of sorts, with a communal garden growing to the point where a new plot of land had to be purchased for its size to be fully accounted for.

Therefore, a substantial Tumaniti community began to grow in Maledonian city-centres. This quickly increased tensions between the Tumaniti and Christian populations, as well as increasing the spread of social democratic and socialist thought due to the communitarian and environmentalist values promoted by the Church. By 1899, around 40,000 people were members of the Church, and, despite occasional sparks of violence between Catholic and Tumaniti populations in Maledonia, the period between the Church's foundation and the turn of the century was mostly peaceful, despite the radical nature of the new emerging religion.

New Heavenly League

The centre of the New Heavenly League.

In the years following the prominence of the Maledonia Church at the hands of the Eden Group, tensions grew between the Tumaniti population, the religion being popular with mainly young working class Maledonians, and the Christian, traditionally Catholic population, consisting of mostly middle-aged or older Maledonians. This, alongside growing unrest due to the ongoing economic crisis faced by Entropan, resulted in significant radicalisation among the Catholic population.

A radical Catholic group emerged, founded in 1902, named the New Heavenly League, after the Heavenly League which led a far-right insurgency that contributed to the onset of Entropan’s Second Civil War. The group, founded along the lines of a hardline far-right National Catholicism, espoused in its ideological writings what ranged from a hatred to an outright exterminationist attitude against the thriving Tumanitun community of Entropan. Centred in Brønchurch in western Maledonia, the group aggressively agitated against the Maledonian Church, publishing pamphlets advocating for what it called an “anti-tumanist” National Catholic ideology.

Despite leaders at the Maledonian Church suing for peace and launching ill-fated programs at the resolution of religious divide, the New Heavenly League grew in popularity among the Catholic population of Maledonia, and deepened the divide between Catholics and Tumanitun. Along these religious lines, the situation worsened, with discrimination in employment and housing being prevalent, targeting both the Tumanitun and Catholic population, and sparks of conflict being set off, including isolated hate crimes and religious murders, as well as general distrust emerging between Catholics and Tumanitun.

Haeger Riots (1903)

By 1903, the situation in relation to religious divides between Tumaniti and Catholic Maledonians had worsened significantly. Despite attempts from the city-wide authorities to quell the unrest, violence continued to increase along these religious lines. The Eden Group had abandoned their previous diplomatic views on the matter, instead advocating for entrenching against the New Heavenly League, while still being open to peaceful talks with other Catholic groups.

On the 19th of February 1903, a group of still unidentified people threw rocks through the windows of the Brønchurch, the headquarters of the New Heavenly League. Anger at this, as well as a series of hostile interactions with Tumaniti supporters and the increasingly violent rhetoric propelled by the group’s leaders, led to, an hour later, a group of 13 members of the New Heavenly League to walk towards and destroy a Tumaniti-sympathetic bookshop, killing the owners and setting the shop ablaze.

When news of the destruction spread across Maledonia, Tumaniti leaders at the Maledonian Church cancelled a community event prepared for that day, and instead led a demonstration to “show solidarity and sturdiness” in response to the events of the day before. These protestors marched, down towards the centre of the New Heavenly League, where they were met by an organised group of armed counter protestors. After a prolonged standstill, sparks of violence emerged between the two groups, and eventually the event descended into violence.

The resultant riots killed 23, injured nearly 100, and caused significant damage to high streets of Maledonia.