Étherealites posit that the waking world, what most of us would term 'reality', is in fact an in-between state for the planes we truly inhabit, and ultimately, the lives we truly lead. The act of dreaming, as they interpret it, is in fact our consciousness realizing its presence within 'The Ethereal Plane'.

Étherialite congregations are held in the mid-afternoon, and comprise one hour of thoughtful rest followed by one hour of group reflection. The sect's followers, called 'Seekers', are encouraged to keep written record of their time in the Ethereal Plane using a journal.

Plainly stated, their spiritual goal is to achieve total transcendence, which is to say they aim to become fully lucid while in the Ethereal Plane, and in doing so, abandon the material world altogether.

By and large, Materistes believe that dreams, and other byproducts of the ethereal, are meant to prepare a soul's journey in the afterlife. Essentially, that material pleasures, physical feats, and sensory experiences are held paramount while one is still in corporeal form. This ranges in interpretation from devotion to athleticism, to rampant wealth acquisition, to exploring the plane we inhabit as much as possible.

Those who reach the peak of Materiste discipline - "The Glinting" - are believed to permanently lose their shadow and become immune to physical pain. No verifiable record exists of this feat being completed, however.

Chrôniens, for the most part, do not believe in free will, contending that the universe is an elaborate, interlocking superstructure, spurred on by nothing but its own momentum. The passage of time, they contend, is an illusion created by consciousness, and that existence has no origin point- instead believing it to be part of an infinite cycle of causal events.

Their most prominent religious symbol is a serpent eating its own tail.