The Artistic faiths (Artisans, Sculptors, and Crafters) all hold different levels of reverence for saura and shells, but are typically united in the belief that possessed lockettes are unnatural.  More militant sects believe that possessed lockettes will lead to the destruction of Maquette, while the more typical belief is that possessed lockettes are a perversion of the Artist’s creation.  The Artisans are particularly opposed to the possessed, and often organize campaigns against any possessed lockette who becomes ‘too powerful’.

Artisans, who believe the best way to worship the Artist is to grow society and ensure their beliefs are widespread, have an immense impact on how cultural views, as they have historically operated schools to educate new lockettes, and thus ensured most lockettes develop with their beliefs.  This has changed with the creation of Kagiana Academy and its branches across most nations, approximately three centuries ago, which aim to educate new lockettes in as secular a manner as is possible.  Artisan schools still exist and have sway, but they have been much diminished.

Sculptors believe the best way to worship the Artist is by creating more lockettes.  Approximately 60% of all shells made in Maquette are made by adherents of the Sculptor faith.  While they do not generally have much interest in the development of the lockette after it inhabits the shell, they tend to be similarly inclined in beliefs to Artisans otherwise, and the two faiths generally see one another as allies in political matters.  Some militant Sculptors have been arrested in recent decades for murdering possessed lockettes who manifested in shells they had made, but this is publicly disavowed by most Sculptors.  Many Sculptors place great importance on not altering the shell after creation, other than prosthetics, but such hardline positions have become less popular in the past several centuries.

Crafters are the youngest sect, being only six centuries old, and believe that the best way to worship the Artist is to create new things in her honor.  They have little in the way of specific beliefs about shells, saura, and the possessed.  On shells and saura, they generally agree with the Sculptors and Artisans on their origins and how they work.  On the possessed, however, they differ wildly - they believe that since, in their creation myth, the Artist would not destroy any of her creations, they should not either.  This does not mean failing to defend themselves against violence from possessed or malformed lockettes (or even normal lockettes who are simply violent), but rather that they seek to preserve the existences of all lockettes.  They typically capture and imprison the offending lockette.  It is believed to be Crafters at the root of historical experiments on possessed lockettes, and some are believed to continue the research in the present day even though it has been outlawed, seeking to fix what they believe is broken.  Some possessed and malformed lockettes believe them to be more dangerous to their rights than Artisans and Sculptors.

Lockettes of other religions, and secular lockettes, generally have different beliefs.  There are some religions, particularly in [Haven], that believe possession to be a blessing.  Other religions believe it to simply be another form of saura.  Secular lockettes typically believe it to be a disease, similarly to Aerius’ necrosis.

Some religions believe shells to be a prison, but most religions tend to believe that shells are a positive thing for saura, protecting it.  Secular lockettes tend to also view shells as a positive thing, since they give the saura structure and form, and a way to interact with the universe.

Interestingly, most religions concur with the research of how saura originates.  There are a few that unilaterally believe only one or two origins, or that believe in some sort of different origin that has not been verified by assessments, but generally, secular and religious lockettes alike can agree on this.

Saura sharing has romantic connotations to many lockettes, and there is some tradition with inked lockettes in particular of keeping some of their lovers’ saura in small hollow inserts (colloquially called ‘tanks’) that they have placed in their shells, or in little jewelry they wear.  This tradition has been adopted by other lockettes of all sorts in recent centuries.