Gods
Muxteran religions are polytheistic, and each religion honors a variety of different deities. There are general trends in the way these gods are represented across most of Muxter's various civilizations (and later the globalized "Muxteran" umbrella identity), such as gods being depicted as animals or with animalistic features (usually heads or limbs) as part of their iconography.
Gods may inhabit any number of roles but the most common are sun gods, gods of agriculture, gods of childbirth and fertility, gods of war, and gods of bodies of water, with a not insignificant amount of overlap between any or all of these roles depending on the region of origin for the god in question.
Worship
Temples
In every major Muxteran city there is a grand temple, usually of rectangular design with a great western gate through which all offerings pass, and which is the only access to the temple. Laypeople are not permitted past the gate. Within the temples are long, narrow passageways containing tables for offerings, incense, bowls of pure water for ablutions, and so on. At the end of the passageway is an enclosed sanctuary containing an elaborately carved and decorated icon of the god to whom the temple is dedicated (usually the chief god of a region). The statue is tended by high priests, who prepare offerings for the god, change and clean any adornments on the icon, and petition for divine favor on behalf of their constituents.
Lesser priests cleanse offerings and the passageway itself, maintain the painted carvings on the walls (although lay folk are permitted to work on the exterior), care for the exterior shrines, and maintain the pool and outbuildings attached to the temple. High priests then oversee the redistribution of offerings following the day's ritual.
The outer wall of each temple has a variety of exterior shrines, to major and minor gods alike, where laypeople can leave offerings of their own and pray for divine intercession in their daily lives. Additionally, the public has the option of waiting at the western gate and praying over sacrificial offerings, that those prayers may reach the gods that way.
Household Shrines
In some regions, many families also maintain household shrines. These are dedicated to a family's gods, ancestors, and associated spirits who may be due honor, and may be offered and prayed to for intercession. These practices are much more varied than the public practice at the temples, so unified trends across the board are much harder to come by.
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