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Options in Religions

With BIND’s redesign, I’ve been thinking about options for religions. I don’t know if the old gods will survive the redesign.

Polyamorous Polytheism

I’ve always felt a missed note when I read D&D-style fantasy books where a country has many gods, but priests worship only one. Couldn’t a priest love many gods? Wouldn’t they get on better by invoking the god most related to what they want to do?

I call upon Hermes to give me speed, Apollo to give me insight, and Zeus to help me select the perfect gift for the baron!

But then again, Apollo really did have a bespoke oracle at Delphi (and presumably other places), so maybe priests really do specialize in particular gods.

Taoist et Alia

Taoists books acknowledge gods, or at least supernatural creatures (such as dragons), but don’t recommend any kind of worship. Well, maybe a Taoist master would recommend being polite to these gods. But largely, the ‘religious texts’ deal with how to be a Taoist master, and a little about who the supernatural creatures are.

Given how they were portrayed as ‘the evil Taoist sorcerer’ in Journey to the West, this sounds like a nice way to frame sorcerers, so perhaps a group like that could change the way we look at sorcerers.

Gods of the Land

I have always wondered about how people from centuries ago thought about foreign gods. They grew up learning that their gods made the world, then go to some other land, and these new people say their gods made the world, or have no idea about who made the world (not everyone has a creation myth).

One conclusion (I’ve read zero history on this, I’m making it up), is that various gods made various lands. This model would tie priests quite heavily to the land. Any priest wandering to new lands would have an interest in the new gods, and how to speak with them.

This sounds fun conceptually, but it doesn’t sound very useful for games, unless priests have some reason to continue invoking their own land’s gods even when they travel.