Church of Fire
The Church of the Holy Sunflower, commonly known as the Church of Fire, is a polytheistic religion that worships a deity called the Creator, who is considered the progeny of the sun, known as All-Father. It was founded in the Fire Nation in January 2021 and its holy seat is at Fenixholm. The leader of the Church is the Firelord, whose temporal possessions are the leadership of the Fire Nation as justified by their guardianship over the Holy Sunflower, seen by followers as a direct gift from the All-Father unto humanity. Followers are referred to as Flametouched (e.g. one Flametouched person, two Flametouched people, the Flametouched crowd, etc).
Beliefs
The Flametouched consider themselves to be a chosen people of their deity. They identify all of Creation with the sun, and consider life to be analogous to fire, describing a sort of metaphysical fire in lieu of a soul. This explains the human capacity for beauty and action, as well as that of destruction and civilization. While mastery of fire as a tool of civilization is therefore an act of respect towards the All-Father, firebenders are considered to be His chosen people as their metaphysical fire extends to the literal fire they can wield. While it may be the case that benders in general are also included as part of this Chosen People insofar that their metaphysical fire, their soul, can extend to control aspects of Creation (i.e. the sky, the ocean, the earth), the position of NPC villagers or non-bending humans is not fully designated. The text also does not appear to fully describe what created Spirits or the source of their magics, nor the origin of other dimensions such as the Nether or the End.
Practices
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Scriptures
The religion's holy text is known as the Book of Fire. There are other holy texts, such as Why We Fight, that expand the canon. While Book Of Fire's official origins are unknown, official church doctrine states "The Book of Fire was dictated to the Firelord Alweglim by the All-Father and the Creator, through the light of the Eternal Flower. It was put to paper by the Firelord's mighty hand, and quickly spread through the villages and towns of what would become the Fire Nation, gaining popularity and devotees."
The work is composed of four books. These are Creation, Shame, Redemption and Commandments.
Creation
Creation consists of 3 verses and outlines the creation story of the Church. The first verse describes a world without mass or light, which then subsided with the rise of the stars. Among these was the greatest of the stars, the All-Father or the Sun. The All-Father then willed the Creator into being as his progeny, who began the creation of the material world.
The second verse states that the Creator "sang" the physical word into being. Starting with the bedrock, and then the sky, next came the sea and earth. It is unclear as to whether this is an implicit reference to the cycle of the elements - fire from the sun, then air, then water, then earth. The text also does not mention the creation of Spirits here or the other dimensions, such as the End or Nether.
The third verse describes the beginning of life. Humans are "marked" by the Creator with fire (debate continues as to whether this refers to literal firebending, mastery over fire through tools, or a metaphysical fire we may call a soul), which is considered to be "His blessing". The book ends stating "We are His chosen".
Shame
The second book describes the fall of man. It consists of 5 verses and identifies a series of "wretched" and "base" series of actions committed in the days before the Church. Whether this is to be identified with pre-Church Fire Nation or all nonbelievers is unclear. The first verse begins by asserting the loss of knowledge of the All-Father and Creator.
The second verse describes the rise and fall of nations, false gods, and describes the rejection of the holy fire as "this greatest of shames" for which all believers must now beg forgiveness. Which "false gods" the text describes is unclear, but it may refer to monarchical cults, the worship of Spirits, or possibly folk cults.
In verse 3, the religious awakening begins. This verse is one of the most metaphorical in the text and leans heavily on the metaphor of fire as life, as seen in "the flesh is weak, / We forgot to tend our fires". Song also enters here, as "we awoke once more, / And sang unto the heavens,".
Verses 4 and 5 establish the immediate background surrounding the Holy Sunflower, a key object of worship in the church. As the worshippers rekindle their faith, they seek a sign of the All-Father or Creator's goodwill and presence, seemingly receiving no response. These verses may be identified as the lowest point of the text - while the true believer may have risen to a greater status than pagans who worship false gods and do not respect or know of the All-Father or Creator, this true believer may also begin to wonder if the All-Father and Creator are themselves just more false gods without a sign or demonstration of their presence in the world. This is then disproven through the dawn of the Holy Sunflower.
Redemption
The third book has two functions: the tale of the Holy Sunflower, and the beginnings of the political treatises of the Book of Fire. While the latter is mostly pertained to in the next book, the first foundations are laid down here as the location of a holy city (consisting of a great castle for a holy nation) and the role of a guardian or Firelord is defined.
Verse 1 continues the themes of Book 3 in describing seemingly futile prayers and efforts to see a sign from the All-Father, but subverts this at the end by stating "Our Fathers" (the first time this expression is used in the work to refer to both All-Father and Creator) had indeed sent a sign, "And what is mortal is unknowing".
Verse 2 evokes themes of Book 1 by describing elements of creation - fertile Earth, running water, and the digging towards Bedrock - found at "a place of great holiness... Where the fires of life burned most brightly" which is likely a reference to the site of Fenixholm. There at "The foundation of Creation", the Holy Sunflower is found. Why the Sunflower is not just another sunflower is explained, as the flower appeared to be flourishing despite the lack of any conditions for proper growth, such as light or water, and thus must be a miraculous act of divine favour.
In Verses 3-5, the reaction to the Flower is shown as the second religious awakening. After having found the light of the Creators, their sign has been found. Fenixholm is established as the holy capital, "a great castle / From which we would rule a great nation" situated on top of where the flower was dug from the earth. The book concludes by stating that the will of the All-Father and the fires of life are too dangerous to be left untamed and that such a holy and powerful artifact requires a guardian. This is identified as the Firelord.
Commandments
The final book of the work moves away from the historical or empirical aspects of the early aspects of the text, and instead concerns more political or ethical claims.
Verse 1 and 2 appears somewhat unremarkable upon first glance, simply recapitulating upon the position of Firelord as guardian of the Eternal Flower, but this would be a naive reading. This verse creates a coherent and powerful derivation of royal legitimacy and fundamentally redefines the title of Firelord, previously held as a title for simply that person who is the strongest firebender among peers, into a position that is mandated by the will of Creation itself and necessarily must be obeyed by all who live.
Verses 3 and 4 present fairly logical derivations of this claim. The former's claim that is forbidden to harm "a child of fire" contains an interesting ambiguity: "Fire" is generally capitalised in the text to refer to holy fires and yet is not here. This may be interpreted as meaning that one is permitted to commit harms against living creatures in general, in possession of metaphysical fire, but not against firebenders or those who have mastered fire at a physical level. The latter exemplifies this problem by stating one "shalt not trespass against the Nation of Fire", effectively requiring obedience to the Firelord. This verse also states that "the nation is the Body of the All-Father on the Earth" which contains somewhat serious implications. As Creation showed the All-Father is considered to have universal dominion over all life such that the burden lies upon nonbelievers to convert, this clause effectively means that any perceived harm to the Fire Nation's geopolitical interests is an unholy act that is meriting of holy war.
History
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