Religious Life of the Orbis

The initial inspiration for the Orbis as a homebrew gaming and fiction setting came from wondering about what our own world would be like had the Gnostic Valentinus been elected to the position of Pope in the late 100's AD, as very nearly happened. This led to a lifelong interest in Gnosticism as a concept and in its many iterations as it flowered in the classical Mediterranean world of the first three centuries but then retreated to shadowy fringes after Roman Catholicism rose to incredible power in the west over a host of independent kingdoms, and Byzantium merged the powers of church and state in its empire that lasted for more than a thousand years - despite which few Americans ever learn a thing about Byzantium in their normal public education.   To be clear, this is not Earth; these are not the same Valentinus, Basilides, or Carpocrates as historical figures on earth, and the 'denominations' associated with those names are not particularly informed by the teachings of the actual people who bore those names. But the importance of the gods, and the lack of a real polytheism in vanilla 5e (or, back then - 2e *cough cough*) settings drove the earliest beginnings of this setting sometime in 1986.   The people of the Main Continent are nearly all some variety of Celestii Magni in their religious affiliation other than the Kylmen (People of Kylma), who, like the Rus that they represent in this game, follow an analog of Slavic Paganism. The failed state of Mlastina is also exceptional for its Cthonic pantheon which is made up of a distressing variety of giants, monsters and cosmic entities unlike anything on earth outside of romanticized Sumeria or the writings of HP Lovecraft.   Beyond the First Continent, outside of the worship of the Great Celestials (Celestii Magni) we have other, more decidedly pagan systems of worship. The Tozzites, who are an approximate analog of Persia, follow a reskinned Zoroastrianism, while the other people of the second continent follow approximate analogs of classical Egypt (a syncretic fusion of the faith of Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt), Shintoism, and Vedic (pre-Medieval) Hinduism.   The Southern Continent has only three true nations - Srirco, Khafra and Pilaan. For the most part these are also Celestial-worshippers, though the native Pilaani Elves have also fought to preserve their freedom to practice their old faith, Elia Nauthiia, which is a nature-spirit and ancestor-worship based around the Sea Goddess Nauthiia and her consort, the Earth God Shua (Or Nashua). After several diastrous wars for the Empire, they were given a dispensation of religious freedom, but that also means that the two heretical branches of Celestialism can be found in greater numbers in Pilaan. Caetica, an unincorporated region of jungle tribes of strong Hyinchneuman ancestry, worship beings at the clan level who often superficially resemble those worshipped in the far distant jungle lands of Mlastina.