Reticulum Spirituality

The majority of House Reticulum, both crafter and wielder, believe that the weapons they craft and wield are beyond other such implements. Such is the skill of each member of the house that the results of their craft become touched by their mortal souls, becoming Shintai. These weapons hold some link to those noble enough to make and wield them, forever and irrevocably marked.

Although most Reticulum only use Shintai to describe the weapons they produce, many acknowledge the profound link between any creator and their work, seeing kinship with the artists of House Lyra, the shipwrights and mechwrights of House Fornax, and even those who draft tax code for House Eridanus.

Beyond these, a large minority of Reticulum, particularly those that follow one of the many sects of The Church of Humanity, Repentant, believe that Shintai are not only linked to the souls of those who craft and wield, but are they themselves vessels for a soul. The specifics are wildly varied, some state that a crafter puts a small fragment of their soul into their craft, effectively breathing life into it. Others state that a masterfully crafted weapon becomes the home to the soul of an ancient and mighty warrior, who lend their power to those who wield them.

Those Reticulum who believe in the soul of the weapon are highly spiritually disciplined, believing that true martial perfection comes only when the soul of the weapon and the soul of the wielder move as one.

History of Reticulum Spirituality

Although now the belief that weapons are vessels for souls has fallen into the minority, very few remember that almost all Reticulum once held it to be true.

No scholar is exactly of the origins of the belief of Shintai. Some hold that the early Reticulum brought it with them from Terra. Others argue that Akani, first of the Daikannushi, knew instantly as she gazed upon the finished Regret. There are countless theories, but all agree that, once it took root, it spread throughout the fledgling house with the power of Aomori’s surging waves.

The High Church of Messiah-as-Emperox incorporated this early Reticulum belief in Shintai, it becoming a direct precursor to the modern traditions now practiced by many Reticulum. The notion of a weapon’s own soul lay abandoned, for only a Human is possessed of such. Social drift and pressure led to the uptake of this belief, but it wasn’t until the ascent of Astradhari Zetian, now known as Arhat Zetian that the notion that weapons had souls truly fell into the past; although the High Church would hold that House Reticulum never believed anything different.

Although fallen out of favor with the majority of House Reticulum, a dwindling few held true to the old ways, among them many of the caretakers of The Shrine of the Mahati Astra, enduring unwaveringly in their faith through the centuries.

Following the division between the High Church and the Church of Humanity Repentant, there has been a slow drift as some Reticulum have returned to the faith of their forebears. Many of them identifying as followers of [CHR Sect]. Despite that their tradition is rooted in ancient Reticulum ways, the vast majority are completely unaware of this connection.