Atmu

According to the Teachings, Atmu descended from the heavens and became fascinated with the creatures it found crawling over the earth. It spent hundreds of years learning about and living with animals and humans. It then took what it learned and formed the munikin inside the wombs of human mothers.

Some say Atmu bred the munikin from its own body, while others say Atmu’s energy alone gave form to the munikin. However this biological process occurred, the munikin were born and tested for many years before each of the three children found perfection.

Once “perfection” was found, Atmu formed scores of tribes of munikin over the course of a few thousand years. Like a shepherd tending a flock, it moved between these tribes and nurtured its bond with its children.

As humans began to practice more sedentary lifestyles, their numbers grew. And as their numbers grew, the munikin found themselves coming into contact with humans more often. While some of these encounters were peaceful, many were not.

Atmu lamented that it had doomed its children to complete destruction by the natural creatures of the planet. The details of what happened next have been hotly debated for millennia, and include thousands of commentaries that serve as addenda to the Muniotus Teachings.

Generally, it is agreed that Atmu disappeared for a time, leaving the munikin to fend for themselves. When Atmu returned, it came with a newly created beast, The Justice, and the four books that codified the Muniotus teachings.

The teachings stressed the importance of silence surrounding magic, concealment from humans, and keeping harmony with the natural order of things, whatever the cost.

The Canon

The Canon is known as the four core texts of poems and dialogues that make up the Muniotus Teachings. There are no gods in the Muniotus Teachings—and while many munikin do consider Atmu their creator, it is not always depicted as an all-knowing deity.

Rather than focus on deities and the supernatural, the teachings focus on self-understanding, harmonious living, balance, and collective responsibilities.

The Book of Cosmogeny

This book contains poems relating to Atmu’s understanding of the physical world and its reasoning for creating the munikin. It describes a type of theurgy that permeates all living beings, and which emanated from Atmu itself as an unconscious process. This energy infused and enriched the earth, while giving the munikin life and the ability to breed and use their gifts.

Atmu also described munikin as beings of multiple parts, each with a physical body, a conscious mind that is connected to the theurgy—or magic—that Atmu emanates, and a soul, which acts as a container for the consciousness within the body and connects each being to the universe.

The Book of Conception

These poems reference Atmu’s early attempts at creating the munikin, and details its many failures. In this book, Atmu states that the Theoni were the firstborn, the canidera second, and the ayvions third, with the shée being the unintended consequence of Atmu’s enormous energy and its long-term effects on the planet.

It also contains descriptions of the gifts each of the munikin were given at conception, and Atmu’s intentions for their use. Each gift also comes with an alternative negative aspect, which Atmu stresses gives each being balance.

Theoni were given the ability to use Atmu’s theurgical energy—magic—while also being the most inhuman in appearance of all the munikin.

Canidera were given superior strength and constitution, however, they share emotional bonds that can make them mentally unstable.

Ayvions were given a second body into which they could shapeshift, while also being given complicated breeding cycles that make it difficult to bear children.

The shée ability to change shape at will is suggested to be their gift, though it was unintentional. However, once mid-adulthood is reached, the gift fades, and the shée remain in a single body for the remainder of their lives.

The Book of Existence

The Book of Existence is given in the form of dialogues. These dialogues are conducted between Atmu and each of its children. Through these conversations, Atmu describes how the munikin are to live and guide one another. It is the thickest of the four volumes, and combines a myriad of spiritual teachings that Atmu attributes to its observations of humans and animals alike.

The dialogues include descriptions of correct social conduct, self-cultivation, balance, and Atmu’s musings on the universe and divinity. Atmu stresses harmony, secrecy, and collective action, while encouraging the munikin to abstain from falling into the “traps” of un-cultivated thought. Some of these traps include illiberality, group-think, dominance, short-mindedness, and other instinct-based mechanisms that lead to chaos.

The book also describes birth rituals, betrothal rituals, coming-of-age ceremonies, anniversaries and holy days.

The Book of Ending

This book is the shortest of all the books of the Muniotus Teachings. Like the Book of Existence, The Book of Ending is given in a series of dialogues. These dialogues occur between Atmu and a being it calls The Justice.

Through the dialogues, Atmu lays out its plan for the munikin—the requirement of seclusion and secrecy, various methods of subversion to help the munikin escape detection from humanity. Most chillingly, the book describes in meticulous detail how the Justice is to punish munikin who fail to follow the concealment doctrine.

The final conversation describes what Atmu plans to do in the event that the munikin are no longer able to hide from humans, and hints heavily that their destruction will be imminent.

The Justice

The Justice is a being who converses with Atmu in the Book of Ending, the final book of the muniotus teachings. It was the final creature Atmu made before it left the munikin to fend for themselves on earth.

The Justice was a real being, and there are many historical records of the creature meting out the punishment that Atmu foretold. Entire munikin villages were destroyed for violating the concealment doctrine.

Records indicate that the Justice was destroyed thousands of years ago during what is known in munikin historical record as The War of Ghosts. The war was fought entirely outside of human detection. History books describe it as the war that won the munikin their freedom.

The Justice hasn’t been seen for many hundreds of years. Some say it still lives, quietly waiting for the moment that Atmu described in the final pages of the Book of Ending.

Munikin Magic

Munikin magic comes from the theurgical energy left behind on earth by Atmu. Atmu was a being a pure energy, and by spending time on earth, its energy permeated into all life on the planet. Munikin breathe in this energy like humans breathe in oxygen. Without it, munikin fail to thrive, and a host of illnesses result from a body’s lack of access to magic.

Scientific studies of munikin magic has identified the energy as a unique particle. Humans have dubbed the energy Retz energy, after Henry Retz, the human scientist who first discovered the properties of munikin magic. Munikin call individual particles of retz energy “ingots.”

Some munikin are born with the ability to see this energy. Others have carefully trained themselves to see it. So far, no human has been able to “see” magic the way munikin claim. However, humans have measured the energy, and its existance is scientifically confirmed.

Atmu’s energy did indeed change the planet. It has been found that munikin magic flows through living things much like blood flows through veins. All creatures, humans and animals alike, have a reservoir inside of them called a magical core.

The magical core resembles an organ, such as the heart, into which energy is stored and then distributed throughout the body. This reservoir is where munikin access magic in order to change the physical environment.

In other words, munikin can cast magical spells using energy drawn from their core.

Theoni can do so without external assistance. Other beings, including humans, must use a bridging skill, called runewriting, to access magic. There are rare cases of other munikin, and even humans, being able to use magic without runewriting. This skill, called freecasting, is said the be awakened in moments of severe or life-threatening trauma.

Runewriting

Runewriting acts as a bridge between munikin and the energy inside of them. The system was developed in the 1100s BCE in the middle east, and quickly spread throughout the world. The ability to runewrite gives all munikin—and humans—access to Atmu’s energy.

Runewriting is a precise and extremely complicated language. Humans who work with the runewriting system describe it as a mix of mechanical engineering, mathematics, and computer coding.