Saturday, June 11, 2016

Background: Divine Magic and Religion

Divine magic works differently than arcane magic--part of that is a game mechanics issue (because having one type of spellcaster that could do everything would make it less interesting for players and more difficult for storytellers) and part of that is because different characters have different roles in the party. Clerics tend to be support characters--good in a fight (they get to wear armor, which helps), often restricted to blunt instruments rather than swords (because caving someone's Goddamned head in won't be as violent as stabbing them?) and their magic tends to be of the defensive, healing and helpful type. Wizards can be described as a "glass cannon"; they can do massive damage but they aren't tough and they (generally) don't get to wear armor because the weight and restriction that several dozen pounds of metal pressing down on your shoulders brings will disrupt the concentration necessary to perform magic.

Divine magic isn't the same as having the Spark and learning arcane magic. It's more like dipping a cup into a river and using the water for your own purposes. Clerics don't have to carry spell books around and don't have to learn new spells at a bookstore. Instead, they are granted their magical abilities through faith and worship. In the game world, the gods are real (or at least, their worshipers are capable of doing the impossible in their name on a regular basis). Their prayers have a real and tangible effect on the world, which means there probably aren't a lot of atheists in the 1899 game world. There might be people who only go to services once or twice a year (just like there are on Earth) but religions are provable correct in the game.

One might think this would lead to strife, but here's the thing--more than one religion has shown it's capable of producing the same results. If only Christians could breath fire and fly while Jews, Muslims, Mormons, Buddhists and Taoists could not, that'd be some evidence that Christians have got it going on. In Pathfinder, priests of any of the religions in the game--if granted the ability to do so by their [(G/g)od(dess)(s/es)]--can perform wonders. In game terms it means that characters who got stabbed, shot, burned, bitten or splashed with acid will be as good as new in ten minutes (or at least not in immediate mortal danger). Clerics can nullify poisons, make food and water appear out of thin air, and when they've been granted sufficient power by their patron deities, restore limbs to the maimed, sight to the blind and life to the dead. Not Re-Animator style second life, but actual resurrection.

Since I don't feel comfortable putting JHVH and Christ in a roleplaying game, I'm pinching some ideas from various other sources to make religions in the game. The inspirations are pretty transparent, and if people familiar with the sources find that they're being done differently in the game world than in the novels (TV shows, movies, other games, etc.) that they're familiar with, welcome to the rule of "I'm running the game and this is how things work here".

For players who want to have incense, prayers, holy water and oil and the various other aspects of medieval Catholicism that informs the generic "good" clerics in D&D and its successors, I'm adding in the Faith of the Seven from Westeros. This church essentially replaces Christianity in the game world--and as I'm sure I've said before, don't look to closely or this all will fall apart. At any rate, the Faith has a sacred text (The Seven-Pointed Star), instantly recognizable robes and vestments, stained-glass windows in their septs, holy symbols (the seven-pointed star symbol as well as crystal prisms that separate white light into seven bands of color) and a duty to serve the weak and poor in the world by going out and doing good in it. Septons and septas can count on institutional support from their church (it's very well established in Europe and the Americas, and traveling / adventuring clerics are an accepted part of the Faith's outreach efforts in the world).

The Red God, R'hllor, is also worshiped in fire temples, since I'm stealing more than one thing from the same source. Players who want to have a monotheistic cleric (or just want access to fire and shadow magic) can use this framework. The Drowned God is popular on Venus, though in 1899 the services are less about Viking-style pillage and more about the cyclical nature of life, death and rebirth (though the adventuring Drowned Men and Women are more direct and forceful than most of the other priests of this faith).

Similarly, the Old Gods of the North are available as a worship focus for druid characters, and serve as a focus for clerics / druids that work from an animist or nature-worshiping framework. There won't necessarily be observances or standard prayers (and weirwoods have been extinct since the 1690s in the game world), but even without the sacred trees the powers still work.

The Skaven (more about them in another background post) are alchemically created bipedal rat creatures that will use Halfling stats in the game if anyone wants to play them. They were created by Jacob Waterhouse, an alchemist at the Massachusetts Bay Colony Institute of Technological and Arcane Arts, in 1796. He taught several dozen breeding pairs of the inquisitive ratlings all he could about the world, science, the English language, and how to channel the Spark that a few of them developed. They escaped his lab in early 1802, fled to the open lands in the USA and bred like rats; there are now Skaven communities in virtually every large city in the USA and Peachtree (the average Skaven prefers living in a city to rural areas). The CSA does not consider them human and does not grant them civil rights, so they avoid that country. Deseret considers them abominations but under political pressure from the USA, but no longer offers a cash bounty on Skaven pelts. The 500 Nations allow them free entry into the territory (which is not a privilege extended to many humans from other countries). Peachtree scientists and alchemists tend to view Skaven as the best lab assistants and researchers on the continent, since their natural curiosity, sharp senses and nimble hands help them out in their labors. Tejas is big and empty enough that there are Skaven cities and neighborhoods there as well, and they get along with the Tejanos about as well as they do in the USA or Peachtree despite Tejas' relative lack of creature comforts and luxuries.

The Skaven religion worships eight figures, with the ratkin viewing them as different aspects of existence. Jacob Waterhouse is revered as The Creator, whose aspect is that of bringing new things into the world or making new discoveries built on the framework of old ones. The Litter-Mother is their fertility goddess and the Nest-Mother is their household goddess; they are considered two different aspects of Skaven existence (birth and breeding isn't the same as making a safe space for one's family and finding comfort in domesticity). The Laughing Rat King is a mythical figure celebrating victory over adversity, whether that's famine, house fires, or prejudice from other races. He's more of a Bacchus figure (or Ho Tai from Buddhism). The Open-Handed Giver is the Skaven spirit of community and cooperation and good fortune; unlike the previous four gods it is not ever pictured as consistent to its appearance, gender or species--after all, the Skaven have been treated well from quarters they didn't expect often enough that they recognize the touch of the Open-Handed Giver even when it's from a human (or Martian or Lizardman or Jaguar Man, etc.). The Seeking Child is always depicted as a Skaven child with one eye open; it's ratling god of inquisitiveness, curiosity, secrets and knowledge. The Enduring Sufferer is also always depicted as a Skaven, one that is half-starved and mangy, its tail injured and a front paw maimed or missing. The Enduring Sufferer is the god of adversity while it's happening, and several Skaven myths tell the story of how this figure becomes the Laughing Rat King after outwitting or merely outlasting its oppressors. The final god of the Skaven is the Blight. This is their devil figure; it's the cause of suffering and oppression when it works its will through other living creatures. Dead things rot because of the Blight, but there are times when calling on your worst enemy means you live to fight another day.

The Skaven use the following symbol as a religious icon; the eight arrows represent the eight paths their gods revealed to the Skaven as a race. At one time or another all eight paths are open to an individual Skaven to follow and this helps them remember it. Metaphorically, the Skaven is standing at the center of the icon and each different god or goddess has a path to follow from there.


Tripod Martians have a different religious observance--there aren't any churches or services for the Martian religion. It is instead an inward-looking and meditative study where the worshiper goes into a circular stone chamber lit by flickering torches and looks at the slowly revolving stone cylinder inside. The cylinder depicts the Three-Faced Judge--the stone artwork features the faces of Joy, Sorrow and Wrath. While meditating in the chamber the Martian watches the stone cylinder revolving and sees which face of the judge is looking at them. Once the Martian decides what to do in order to atone for what they've done that made their deity either sad or angry, the next face to appear is Joy. Then it's up to the individual Martian to go out and do what they've decided to do in order to put things right. The flickering flames in the temple conceal the fact that all three faces on the cylinder are identical; it's the Martian's own thoughts that make one or the other appear to them.

The Lizardmen on Mars are nomadic and don't have churches, but leave offerings at small stone altars on travel routes and oases for their gods who live among the stars (and, as it turns out, for travelers who need food, water or clothing). Their sacred calendar is governed by the Sun and Mars' two moons, with single or double eclipses calling for fast days or feast days, depending on the order of events in the sky. The Venusian Lizardmen follow similar rites on their planet, with the lack of a moon on Venus meaning that there are no eclipses and the feast days occur on equinoxes and solstices instead. Of possible interest, the Green Lizardmen, being able to breathe water, do not understand the Drowned God at all.

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