Faith and Religion

Although the gods have abandoned the world of Cairne, their influence still remains. Some cultures still maintain belief in their eventual return and others have moved on to find more practical vessels for their faith. Regardless of the direction taken, the aspect of divinity and philosophy drive a tremendous amount of the directional forces of the remaining world. In the vacuum left by the absence of the pantheon that once governed Cairne, many cults and new schools of thought have sprung up. Charlatans and miracle sellers plague the smaller settlements, preying on the uneducated, while in the loftier realms, charismatic con men have stepped into positions of influence in many realms. The forced dependance on the self has also pushed many new philosophical ideas into popular literature and open forums. The lack of religion has also brought scientific thought and study into a much more prevalent role in society, as the public can no longer rely on the clergy to heal and care for their sick and wounded. These advances have led to a much more grounded understanding of the physical world they have inherited, and some have even gone so far as to view themselves as ascended and beyond the need for a divine hand. Despite all of these things, the Blight itself is a constant reminder about the need to govern and control power, and without faith, all that stands between the races of Cairne and another cataclysm are the laws that dictate that magic is now forbidden. Within society at large, there are still those that seek to bring back not only the divine, but magic as well, and because of the strange energies that the Void has polluted Cairne with, new and terrifying forms of the arcane are being discovered and manipulated for fell and foul purpose and the people themselves are slowly changing.