Kamism
Kamism is the official religion of Cardinal, and is also the world's most popular overall religion. Kamism is actually the Earth term for the actual, existing theistic structure in AltDBZ. This article covers both localized Kamism on Earth as well as the broader organization of deities.
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Kamism on Earth
On Earth, Kamism is largely centralized in the country of Cardinal. This is due to several factors, including the large, free population resident there, the existence of actual holy landmarks within its borders, and the official sponsorship from the government of this religion. Outside of Cardinal, however (especially in D'hennex), Kamism has some representation in every civilized country on the planet.
About the Kami
Earth Kamism largely rotates around the planet's overseeing sub-deity, known as the Kami (after whom the religion was named). Earth's Kami resides on a floating, hemispherical platform known as the Earth's Lookout, upon which a luxurious palace and a sparse garden sits. The Kami, as with all Kamis throughout the mortal universe, is typically Namekian, and gains certain fantastic powers through the assumption of his mantle, which is assumed through a special ritual of ascendence. Such gifts include mastery over the many magical relics that lie within the Lookout, phenomenally far-reaching sight and senses (for which devout Kamists revere him most), and, of course, the creation of the Dragonballs. Some theologists believe that the presence of the Kami is essential to reproduction of life on the planet. The Kami retains his position until he dies. At that point, or slightly before that point, new Kami candidates arrive upon Earth from the Namekian homeworld and are chosen anonymously by the reigning Kaio of the West Sector of the Universe, who remains anonymous throughout the proceedings. Part of the ritual ensures that Earth's Kami is always pure of heart.
Religious Establishment
As previously stated, Cardinal has the largest body of Kamists in the world. As such, it also holds the strongest Kamist church, and theirs is considered to reign over all other Kamist churches, though the physical and political distance between nations makes this a tenuous chain of command, at best. Cardinal's central establishment of Kamism is the Korine Cardo Aula, situated in Central Capital. The top of the Kamist clergy, the Grand Cardinal, delivers mass there every week. The Grand Cardinal is considered the most powerful man in the world, since he not only captains Cardinal's Kamist faith, but is also a powerful tie-breaking figure in Cardinal's democratic, law-making Directional Council.
In Cardinal, the Grand Cardinal sits in the church's chain of command above the Council of Oversight, who make many wide-reaching decisions in the religion. Beneath them are various Arch-Clerics, Clerics, Rectors, Vicars, and Padres (in descending order of power), who manage and preside over progressively smaller districts of faith.
In D'hennex, the world's second most populous Kamist country, the Council of Oversight and the Arch-Clerics are wholly replaced by a congregation of the heads of two special religious orders; the Order of Ma'Shas and the Order of Leth-Kemii. Since the entire region is in a constant state of political turmoil, the followers of these two orders train specifically and intensely in their given aspect of the religion (Ma'Shas to crusade, defend, and fight against the enemies of the church, and Leth-Kemii to reinforce and invoke the Code.)
The Code is administered by the Code of Insight, which is said to be written by the pioneers of the Kamist faith, under the direct guidance of Earth's first Kami. The original version was written in a very old dialect of Common known as Vulgus, and was later translated into modern words as society evolved. However, Cardinal's freedom-loving people tend to translate it's words very loosely, satisfied with the belief that so long as one acknowledges the Kami's benefits in the world, and respects all life on Earth, that they will pass on to Heaven when they die. On the other hand, D'hennex's people, who are in need of stronger guidance, follow the original, Vulgus-written passages of the Codex Acumai to the tee. Members of the two Orders go even further, and epitomize upon the Codex's suggestions, creating postulated self-requirements to make themselves fully given to the will of the Kami.
Tragically, for the southern devotees, the current Kami, Kami Oracle, isn't all that uptight about the Codex, and merely places his own faith in the people of Earth and their defenders. His view is obviously much more aligned to the views of the typical Cardinal resident, much to their relief, when they visit him. Luckily, D'hennexian devotees (especially members of the various orders) revere the Kami and his place of residence far too much to even bother paying him a visit. If they wouldn't be set back by the Kami's somewhat laid-back attitude, they'd certainly be thrown for a loop by the fact that he's a member of an alien species.
Universal Kamism
The Kamism understood by the people of Earth is largely limited to what they can see, hear, and read. Thus, they are almost entirely limited to knowledge of the Kami, and the institutions that mankind has instituted in his name. In fact, the theocracy extends far beyond the Kami of Earth, and, indeed, beyond what most mortal men are capable of comprehending.
Kamis
The Kamis are the bottom rung of the ladder. They are the only legitimate beings of power that have descended from mortal men. All planets that possess life also possess a Kami, and the degree to which the life forms resident on the planets require religious guidance (as well as the edicts and preferences of prior Kamis) determines how public its Kami is. Most Kamis in the West Sector of the universe are Nameks. Kamis in other Sectors of the universe may be represented by other kinds of creatures, but the people of Earth have yet to confront any of them. Though they are empowered, their minds are still mortal at best, so their contact with their "superiors" is limited.
The Afterlife
The remainder of the society of gods resides within a dimension precisely adjacent to that which Earth resides within, often known as the "Afterlife", the "Netherworld" or the "Next Dimension", where the influence of deities are far greater, and reality is not held to the same confines as the world that Earth resides in, or the "Mortal Realm".
King Yemma and the Ogres
The next notable being of power above a Kami is a giant Ogre dressed in a business suit, known as King Yemma. King Yemma is responsible for receiving the souls of the deceased in the Afterlife, and passing judgement upon them. These souls pass on to Heaven or Hell, as he commands. Yemma has a large book on his desk which only he can read, which gives him instantaneous and intimate knowledge of every detail of a given soul's life. Sometimes, souls receive a different judgement than he would normally intend, because of personal sway from a Kami. He commands a cast of lesser Ogres who perform various tasks for him in Heaven, Hell, and Limbo. For instance, there are secretary Ogres who resemble office workers, who are responsible for much of the paperwork involved in processing souls. There are large, powerful Ogres in Hell who are gifted with the sense of humor to torment evil souls for the travesties they have committed. In Heaven, there are kind, polite, and attractive Ogres who serve the needs of the souls, there, helping them to find peace.
The Kaio
The Kaio are a race of mysterious, powerful creatures who watch over all that is, and champion the cause of good, though their true intents are frequently unfathomable. Even the most devout Earthen clergy know of the Kaio merely by the very vague references given to them in their Code. Even the dead are barely aware of their presence. All Kaio are complete masters of every kind of fighting form conceivable, whether it is ki, magic, or psionics.
The King Kaio are the most obvious of all the Kaio. There are four of them, each corresponding to a particular "sector" of the universe -- North, South, East, and West (Earth resides in the West Sector). They monitor situations in their part of the sector, and largely do nothing else but peruse their own interests while things are in balance. They possess small planetoids in Limbo, approximately one mile in circumference, which they reside upon and administrate. They are connected to King Yemma's world through special pathways which contain exceptional, unique hardships, and are typically only traversed by Ogres. For instance, the road to West King Kaio's planet is called Snake Way, and resembles a very, very long, slippery serpent with razor-sharp fins running along either side of the pathway. King Yemma must give explicit permission for any mortal being to travel on the roads, and he does not give it often.
Above the King Kaio are the Supreme Kaio. Nobody knows how many of them there are. They are pinnacles of the Kaio race, and almost never appear before any creature, dead or otherwise, except for other Kaio. They exist on a nameless planet that transcends Heaven, and with the merest whims, alter the universe around them. Only two incidents have ever been recorded of a Supreme Kaio leaving their ethereal world, both times when a creature was created so immensely powerful that it threatened to destroy the entire universe.
There is one being above the Supreme Kaio -- the Grand Kaio. Not even the Supreme Kaio know what he does, and he doesn't tell anybody. The only reason his existence is even acknowledged is because he occasionally descends from wherever he came from to host a great martial arts tournament in Limbo, for souls of the fallen who have been priveleged with the ability of keeping their bodies -- an honor a Kami can bestow upon someone upon their time of death.
As mysterious as the Grand Kaio is, there is at least one being higher than him, known as the Ultimate Kaio. The only time this being has ever been perceived by anyone was during the events of The First to Fall, when reality itself was coming undone, ripping everything in every dimension into nothingness. The Ultimate Kaio instantly created a new reality in its place, and charged the power wielders of Earth with protecting it, in exchange for making it in a form that their minds preferred. Some theologists in the Afterlife theorize that the Ultimate Kaio was an amalgam of every Kaio in existence. Others guess that the Kamist structure must exist in other dimensions as well, and the Ultimate Kaio simply exists on a level that no mortal can comprehend. A few try to speculate on the existence of other, greater levels of Kaio, but doing so tends to end up in great, big ice cream headaches.
The Beneath
The Beneath is a level of the Afterlife analogous to the opposite of the realm of the Supreme Kaio. It lies far, far below Hell, and is infinitely worse, epitomizing every loathsome aspect of evil. The Beneath is completely crowded with hordes of ever-warring demon tribes, struggling for power over one another even as they lust to break into the Mortal Realm to rend it asunder and claim its souls for their own. Many demons were once people and creatures that were so evil in life that being placed in Hell would have been unfair to its other denizens, though other demons were created, and still others were said to have existed since the beginning of time. The Beneath has been ruled, in recent times, by a powerful wardemon known as Lord Melchiah, who has been successful in leading raids into the Mortal Realm, frequently on the planet Earth, before Yakeoni rose to power and rent more chaos than even the demon could handle. He has since not been heard from.
The Queen of Demons
Older demons sometimes speak of an actual evil god that once presided over the Beneath, ages and ages ago. All demons bowed to her will, and during her reign, no living creature was safe from her armies. The bowels of the Beneath bulged from her incessant, irresistable raids upon civilizations across the Universe, and it was said that she was the only creature in existence that no demon would ever double cross. However, one day, she simply disappeared and hasn't been seen since, leaving the Beneath in a state of civil war. That warring from aeons ago continues even today, and the forces of good can only watch and hope that it remains in chaos. If order was ever brought to demonkind again, it could mean the doom of all things sentient.
