Religion
Origin of the World
In the beginning, the world was naught but a boundless ocean blanketed by an endless night. Then, two beings rose from the water: Batai and Konai, the first god and goddess. They called to each other, but could not find each other in the darkness. So Konai thrust her hand into the sky and gathered all the stars she could hold, forming them into a ball. When she opened her hand, the sun shone brightly in the sky. Now that the world was bright and warm, Batai reached under the waves and tore open the seafloor. The water frothed and boiled as the molten rock deep beneath the ocean seeped to the surface, forming the land of Saekai. With light to see each other and land to sand upon, Batai and Konai married, and their children became the gods that now populate the world's pantheon.The Pantheon
Batai and Konai are the father and mother of most gods in the pantheon. Although they are respected and revered by the people of Saekai, they seldom interact with humans to the extent that their children do. Many believe that they are so powerful, their attention is focused on matters far beyond the realm of mankind. Loseta, the younger sister of Namine, is a benevolent, childlike, carefree goddess. She played a role in creating the races of Saekai, from humans to orcs, and is known as the mother of mankind because of this. Her spheres include the hearth, love, and good. Her favored weapon is the bow. Namine is a quiet yet powerful goddess who breathed life into the creatures of Saekai, including plants and sapient races alike. Her spheres include plants, animals, and the spirits of nature. Her favored weapon is the sling. Lasang is the god of the ocean. He is credited with filling the water surrounding Saekai with pure water and fish, raising and lowering the tide each day, and calming the water after a storm. His spheres include water, storms, and the creatures of the sea. His favored weapons are the spear and the axe. Tallu and Takai were an inseparable pair of twin gods of fire. They liked the humans of Saekai more than the other animals of the world, so they taught them the secrets of fire and the forge, coming to be revered as the gods that sparked civilization. They were mortally wounded by Lasang during a conflict over what is now Fallow Point. Batai took pity upon them, and rather than allow them to die, he formed two great volcanoes for their spirits to reside within. Though no longer complete deities, their spirits still hold power over the spheres of fire, the forge, and fraternity. Their favored weapons are straight swords (longswords, shortswords, and bastard swords). Daeshi is the god of the earth. Though deaf since he was born, he took a liking to the finer details of Saekai's landmasses, and he is credited with sculpting the earth and placing the ores, gems, and caves within it, although Cymere is specifically understood to not be a creation of Daeshi. His spheres include earth, trade, and strength. His name sign is the sign for stone using the D handshape with the dominant hand. His favored weapons are the mace and warhammer. Merasai is the god of air and wind. He is in charge of bringing the weather to Saekai, from cool breezes to thunderous monsoons. Merasai's wind also blows away diseased air and breathes vitality into the sick. His spheres are weather, air, and healing. His favored weapon is the scimitar. Kae-So is the god of death. Far from being a grim figure, she provides souls with safe passage from the mortal world to the afterlife, and resolutely defends the souls of the dead from evil spirits. Her spheres are death, security, and peace. Her favored weapon is the machete. Iwa is the god of darkness and thieves. Legends state that she was born from the deepest night the world has ever seen, beginning as a spirit, but quickly gaining power by flitting around in the darkness and stealing the children of mortals. The gods struck a bargain, granting her true divinity if she would return the children she took. She is now a full-fledged deity, and receives worship from honest rogues and bandits alike. Her spheres are luck, darkness, and fear. Her favored weapons are the dagger and crossbow.Spirits
See also: Killing Spirits? In addition to the gods, Saekai is home to hundreds of lesser divine beings called spirits. Spirits are said to form spontaneously from powerful things within the world, especially things that receive attention or reverence from people—although notably, spirits never manifest around Cymere. Spirits can spring into existence over everything from an entire forest to a single great tree. Their powers are similar to those of the gods, but they have much less freedom. They can only directly control whatever they manifested from, and even then, their power is limited. For example, a suitably powerful cave spirit might be able to cause a landslide to dissuade miners from disturbing it, but it couldn't collapse the entire cave in a thunderous earthquake like Daeshi could. Tales of interactions between mortals and spirits—whether benevolent or otherwise—are relatively frequent. Spirits can increase their power by gaining the respect of mortals, and they are able to perform small miracles and grant magic to people, so one can understand why some spirits seek out mortals as instruments of their will. At the intersection between spirits and mortals are druids, who have the ability to harness the nascent magic that creates spirits in the first place. At the height of their power, a druid is essentially an unconstrained spirit—but druids who can gather such strength are rare indeed.Religion and Individuals
See also: Gods, Spirits, and Adventurers Most people in Saekai spend some time worshipping the gods. How important the gods are to them, how seriously or devoutly they dedicate themselves to worship, and which god or gods are at the forefront of this worship depends upon the individual. Thieves and bandits worship different deities in vastly different ways than Vailun priests. Most commonly, people choose a favored or patron deity who is at the forefront of their worship, whether fervent or lax. This choice can be influenced by where they live or their heritage, but worshippers of just about every deity can be found throughout Saekai (except in fringe regions where religious persecution is the norm). Atheism and agnosticism as they might be familiar to us are incredibly uncommon in Saekai, which is a world in which the gods can grant corporeal miracles to those who invoke them. Also uncommon are sub-religions that reject one or more gods; again, they are quite literally capable of manifesting immediate, physical changes in the world through divine magic, so it is foolish to claim one as a false god. Instead, some people simply choose not to dedicate their worship to the gods. Others may hold the entire pantheon in equal regard, or pray to different deities as the circumstances dictate. An exception to these trends are those such as clerics, paladins, and oracles. These people dedicate themselves heart and soul to a particular god, and as payment for their faith, that god grants them a taste of divine magic. Although it is not unheard of for a god to bless a worshipper with fair weather or luck, such direct intervention is only granted to these divine agents.The Creation of Mankind
The first children of Batai and Konai were the sisters Loseta and Namine. When the two goddesses played together, their make-believe games became reality. Loseta, the younger and more imaginative sister, would tell Namine her fanciful ideas. Namine, the wiser and more patient of the two, would sculpt a fitting being out of clay, and it would spring to life. Watching their creations go about their lives amused them greatly. They would even beg their mother to block the light of the sun for a while so that they could watch their nocturnal creations come out and play; Konai eventually became tired of doing this herself, so she created the moon, which would chase the sun around the sky and bring nighttime in its wake. One day, Loseta asked Namine to sculpt figures of their mother and father to watch them play with the creatures of Saekai. Namine paused, then responded, "I am not skilled enough to create Mother and Father, but I can make beings that look like them." So she created two beings, a human man and woman. Loseta was enthralled by her sister's crafts, and Namine fashioned more beings - and so life was breathed into the elves, the dwarves, the orcs, the halflings, and so on.Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Comments