The term starquintistism encompasses all religions that venerate the five gods of the Star. The vast majority of starquintists were human, though many elves were also known to espouse the faith.

Fundamentalism (Traditional Starquintism)

Theology. This was the oldest distinction of starquintism and evolved directly out of the Apostle's Legacy scripture. It focused on the unending "circle of life": the entirety of the world was merely the physical manifestation of the Star, and seasonal changes were caused by the gods marching around humankind, protecting and caring for it. In this god-made world, the humans were the "children of the Star", and individuals' purpose in life was to progress their race on the road to a bright future.

Accordingly, fundamentalism's core values were racial unity and community, and individual success. Good fundamentalists were expected to lead successful lives.

Mode of Worship. The religion was strictly starquintist: whenever a prayer was made, all five members of the pantheon had to be praised. Churches typically consisted of a ring of five steles representing the Star gods, with the believer facing the stele of the god they were primarily addressing. Many stele rings were located inside chapels: organic domes built by combining living plants with basic construction materials.

Historical Context

Until the appearance of new starquintism around 7'600 b. OW, fundamentalism was simply known as starquintism.

The religion was started off by the Five Apostles and the Pilgrims of Moonview, twenty simple farmers who decided to go on long pilgrimages to tell everyone of the Apostles' arrival and spread the wise words of the Apostles. The pilgrims and their descendants formed the priests of the fundamentalist clergy; they maintained religious infrastructure such as stele circles, chapels, and the Monastery of Five in Luche. They also taught starquintist dogma and served as psychiatrists and the arbitrators of disputes.

Most of nascent humanity quickly converted to fundamentalism, and obediently followed their gods' wisdom for millennia.

Apostle's Legacy

The legend of the Five Apostles, legendary human beings who first heard the voices of the gods and spread the good news to everyone, was at the core of the fundamentalist mythos.

Pilgrims, fundamentalist priests, most likely wrote the Apostle's Legacy - a thick book detailing the legend of the Apostles and their various achievements - in 9'700 b. OW. The following is an extract from the book concerning the four feats the Apostles fulfilled before meeting the Pilgrims of Moonview.

The fundamentalist religion gave birth to Pilgrism, but eventually disappeared as the Breighan Kingdom collapsed in 4'156.

New Starquintism (St. John's Starquintism)

Theology. The world was not god-given, but rather a harsh arena where mortal souls competed. All humans received the breath of life from the four gods, fulfilled the mission of bringing humanity closer to success during their life, and then joined the inevitable fifth god in death.

Accordingly, no one was destined to succeed; life was a struggle to help the Star's chosen to win over the champion races of the other gods.

Historical Context. The religion was founded by John Dur, later known as St. John, in 7'650 b. OW. He and his disciples were unhappy with the fundamentalist view that life was predestined and everything was certain; most new starquintists lived on Luchadimalah, a more progressive island.

Apart from theological worldview and building aesthetics (St. John's disciples preferred building squat stone chapels rather than organic domes), new starquintism was very similar to old starquintism. The vast majority of settlements did not build a chapel for each distinction; instead, believers of both faiths used the same stele rings for their prayers.

Starsilvism (Fey Starquintism)

The Disciple of St. John in Luche, due to politico-demographic necessity, decided to widen the scope of new starquintism, engaging in a "radical reform" of the church to a new denomination, starsilvism. According to it, the Star had given humankind its holy mission, and it was fine for the elves to help out because they were similar enough to humans. However, while this reform had saw initial success, its mainly aesthetic changes did not modernize the faith as a whole, and starsilvism could not compete with pilgrism over the centuries.

Pilgrism

Pilgrism evolved out of fundamentalism in 6'973, in what was known as the Toadstool Dissent.

The religion's theology changed in 4'150 b. OW, when Barnouth Okfiers clarified that the mission given by the Five Apostles and the world-gods was to spread faith of the Star in the world, not to spread humanity or humanity and elvenkind.

Culture. Whereas fundamentalists were expected to display their success in life as visibly as possible, pilgrists instead valued modesty. Discreet church donations and an unshakeable faith were enough to prove a person's holy achievement. The religion called for the complete equality of all humans birthed by the Star, including between genders.

Historical Context. The Luchian fundamentalists, a minority in a new starquintist state, decided to flee their self-vaunting oppressors and built up a new pious theocracy, valuing modesty first of all. Pilgrism would turn out to become one of the most successful starquintist denominations, primarily thanks to the fact that it was the first denomination not to put an accent of any kind on race; all believers were welcome. Some early colonists were pilgrists, leading to the creation of a pilgrist diaspora; and many of the settlers in the Settler Waves to the east were pilgrist, meaning the powerful eastern archipelago states embraced pilgrism.

Other Denominations

The original starquintist distinctions birthed numerous variations over the millennia.

Modern Starquintism

Modern starquintism emerged during humanity's first colonial expansion, when starsilvism and pilgrism mixed and institutionalized churches failed to make the transit to the dangerous new colonies. Many sages saw modern starquintism as a "naturalized" version of the faith; the most natural way to embrace the Star.

Instead to revering all five gods in a codified way, modern starquintists were simply expected to recognize the Star's authority and live out their faith in their own way. This religion did not have unified fundamental beliefs, and its theology was ultimately realist: the world was a physical reality, and believers were simple biological individuals who decided to devote themselves to the Star and fulfill the holy mission of advancing the faith. Modern starquintism was one of the most popular and long-lived starquintist faiths.

The various modern starquintist churches and priests that emerged over time often interpreted starquintism their own way, sometimes adding mythical legends and values to the religion, and often took on parallel roles as teachers and arbitrators.

Most colonies including Bamea and Litchy, were modern starquintists. Some Morinian people also converted to the faith.

Archeist Starquintism (Archeism)

This denomination evolved in the state of Archea, which had strong pilgrist roots - both historically and because its new rulers were Denisite pilgrists. Archeism was very close to pilgrism dogmatically, though it doubly underlined the importance of individual achievement (in the form of social status, the aaran). Otherwise, archeism was mostly special in the sense of how it was embedded in Archean politics and society.

Waukeen Starquintism

This religion evolved in the archipelago states as early as 400 b. OW, though it did not achieve popular majority until 300. Pilgrism did not fit in the strongly materialistic archipelago, so merchants and nobles instead embraced a much more materialistic approach (in league with the cultural trait of Munite materialism) focusing on Waukeen.