The Nokodo

The Nokodo (NOH-kho-doh) is the religious philosophy under which the races of the Enkhkoi live. The deep gnomes and the rock gnomes are its most devoted followers, while their forest gnome cousins have long lost their ways into the woodlands and abandoned the Creed. It is the cornerstone of magic, science and ethics for all Enkhkoi who follow it.
 * Symbol: Six interlocking circles.

The Creed of the Black World
The Creed of the Black World is a huge tome, first written in times no one can track. The cover is an unidentified metal, not yet seen anywhere in the world, while its 3,140 pages are what appears to be an extremelly thin and tight chitine skin, though remarkably tough and light. The author is also of unknown identity or origin, though the deep gnome known as Quann the Delver who first uncovered it 400 years ago, states that it is not by chance that this tome was recovered by Enkhkoi hands, in the blackest reaches of the Deepworld.

The Creed opens with a phrase, written in the Kyn language, which is that of the Enkhkoi. That phrase is: "Ambition is an idol. Be subliminally great, or be nothing". That became the foundation of deep gnome society, and it spread like wildfire to all the Enkhkoi. Quann strongly believed that a sentient elder race tried to pass on knowledge to continue its work after some great calamity, and that somehow that elder race was in touch with their Enkhkoi ansestors.

Buildings
Through gatherings and endless meetings, the philosophy of the Creed spread. Eventually, about 350 years ago, the first building dedicated to the Creed was build of granite and onyx, a black and white momument, known as the Coronia. It is located in the heart of Tutka, the major deep gnome city, though lesser such structures exist in each Enkhkoi city. The location became somewhat of a pilgrimage for all Enkhkoi from other places, except for the forest fnomes who about 300 years ago felt a calling and left for Imryll, never to return.

After the erection of Coronia and every year since, a new deep gnome is chosen amongst the wisest and most accomplished, taking up the mantle of the Chronicler. His role is a moderator of sorts, listening to all Enkhkoi within Coronia, making sure everyone may speak, and in general preside over the gatherings. His word is law when he chooses to intervene, though the Chronicler is always inclined to remain a spectator until need arises for him to take control.

Beyond him, there is no specific hierarchy structure. Everyone is equal in their work, and all are equals under the roof of Coronia also. Ideas go back and forth, studies and speculations are an open field for all who can support their hypotheses and musings.

The Cosmos
Through the Creed and the evolution it sparked, the Enkhkoi have one solid belief, around which their existence revolves. The Cosmos is the birthplace of everything, and the result of everything also. It is timeless, structured, and precise. Luck and hope are feeble concepts that suckle the tit of fear, dismissing them as childish. The believe that the fact that Enkhkoi exist is the effort of the Cosmos to dismantle and understand itself, giving them sentience and resolve, time and limited experiences. This allows them to focus and comprehend the world backwards, stone by stone. The phrasing Black World poetically represents the undiscovered secrets of the world and the unfathomable nature of dark space in the sky.

The Six Steps of Life
The deep and rock gnomes follow this tenet throughout their daily lives, their work, and even all along their aging process. Called the Six Steps, it is for them a flawless system that cannot fail, unless you allow it to. This tenet is:
 * 1) Knowledge: The basic level of acquisition of knowledge requires that you be able to identify the given topic, issue, thesis, and points.
 * 2) Comprehension: Comprehension means understanding the material read, heard or seen. In comprehending, you make the new knowledge that you have acquired your own by relating it to what you already know. The better you are involved with the information, the better you will comprehend it.
 * 3) Application: Application requires that you know what you have read, heard, or seen, that you comprehend it, and that you carry out some task to apply what you comprehend to an actual situation.
 * 4) Analysis: Analysis involves breaking what you read or hear into its component parts, in order to make clear how the ideas are ordered, related, or connected to other ideas. Analysis deals with both form and content.
 * 5) Synthesis: Synthesis involves the ability to put together the parts you analyzed with other information to create something original.
 * 6) Evaluation: Evaluation occurs once we have understood and analyzed what is said or written and the reasons offered to support it. Then we can appraise this information in order to decide whether you can give or withhold belief, and whether or not to take a particular action. Never put evaluation ahead of the other steps in critical thinking steps; otherwise, you will be guilty of a "rush to judgement." When emotion substitutes for reasons, evaluation incorrectly precedes analysis.