Pursuant to the authority invested by the Superior Council of Pyth, the Office of Cultural and Religious Affairs (ORCA) hereby issues The Codex to provide a complete summary of the officially recognized religions active in Pyth. Each summary has been assiduously prepared by a noted expert in the field of religion, anthropology, philosophy, or linguistics, and that expert has brought their extraordinary perspective and understanding to the discussion, allowing you, dear reader, to have the most profound understanding.
Of course, discussion of religion is also a discussion of culture. And, indeed, to be certain, some religions are amalgams of many cultures and many peoples. Even some of the world's oldest religious practices, which began as the special faith of a people, duly steeped in their culture, have, over time, opened their doors to what were formerly outsiders. (Why they have done this? It is a matter of debate: some say it is that they view their religious truths as necessarily encompassing all peoples and so the doors must be open; some say expansion increases resources, power, and influence and open doors are a keen strategy; some say it is a necessary tactic in a heated religious environment, a necessary pragmatism to defer irrelevance.) Nonetheless, there are equally as many religions who have refused admission to people they view as physical or cultural outsiders. (Usually the excluding group views themselves as superior.) Mixing and diversity among religions and cultures is particularly apparent in Pyth, of course, as, compared with any other place in the world, Pyth is a haven of openness, a center of wisdom, and a gateway to all the possibilities the world may offer. But as a citizen of Pyth, you, of course, already know this.
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