The Way of the Saints

This religion is mainly followed by humans, and is so woven into the cultural fabric that it is not considered a religion the way many in our world think of religions, but merely how things are and how they ought to be. It follows the teachings of the saints, superseding the previous worship of the gods, who are now considered to be trapped in hell. These teachings mostly consist of a loose set of ethics meant to keep people from bringing back the evil of the gods. How strictly they and their various interpretations are observed vary between people and places. The primary commonality between these varying practices and interpretations, however, is the absence of anything related to gods-worship, to instead follow in the footsteps of the Saints.

Divine Origins

It once was that the gods created and ruled the world. But they became bored with their creation. Some retreated to heaven, the home of the gods, ignoring the mortal world. Others remained active in the world, becoming sadistic in their treatment of its inhabitants. The world's inhabitants, weary and suffering, felt helpless, unable to stand up to their oppression. After all, what could they do to gods? Among them rose the saints, who dared speak out against and fight the gods. They rallied the people around them, rebelling against the abandonment and abuse of their creators. The saints not only defeated the gods, but they drove them out of heaven, trapping them in hell, that dark, dreary place where the dead went. And, in so doing, they revived an old promise the gods had stopped keeping long ago: they released those hell-trapped mortals worthy of heaven and brought them to their true eternal home. Some saints remained in heaven and along the pathways and gateways from the created world to heaven and hell. To this day, they act as judges, guides, and leaders, making sure all who die end up where they are meant to be, and ensuring heaven is a paradise for all who dwell there. Other saints stayed behind for a time before joining the others. They destroyed all records of the gods and the occult practises of their followers so that none would worship them ever again or fall prey to their evil. They also destroyed all record of their own names and histories, lest they be worshipped as gods and the practises of the gods' worshippers and servants infect the world again. When all the saints had left the created world, as mortal beings must do, what remained of them in the created world was a collection of writings, distributed as widely as possible, so that all may know of the saints and their way, which is the freedom of all created beings.

Tenets of Faith

These are generally held to be the core teachings of the saints:

Do not worship the gods, or have any party in their practises or with their servants. All this is occult, and is forbidden, lest you be corrupted as the old world was.
Do not abuse any power or influence you have over others. Those below you or under your influence are your responsibility, to do good for where they are unable, and to make able where it is possible for you to do so. To abdicate or misuse that responsibility would be to act as the gods did, and is the highest of sins.
Do not coerce or force another to your will. To do so would be an assault on your own freedom as well as theirs, and undermines all.
Do not harm others. They are your fellow travellers on the way to heaven.
Do good when you are able. Do not hesitate, but do all you can to give to and help those in need, to speak out against injustice, and to bring lasting, nurturing peace where there is none. In this, you will be doing the work of the saints.
Where the world is unwell, bring what healing you can. This world is not paradise, and the scars left by its creators run deep. Heal the land, heal the people, heal yourself. We have all been broken, but that does not preclude us from paradise. Be patient with all.

Some thinkers take "Be patient with all" as its own teaching, bringing the number to seven, and other ways of numbering these teachings break them down in various different ways. The list of six, however, is the most commonly held list, as each item is a direct quote from the saints' writings and held to be discrete thoughts.