Religion (Sylfaen Supplement)

Religions

Macadianism

Macadianism is the prevalent human faith in Daear, and is centered around the belief in the concept of "Macad", a word in ancient tyrian that means fate, destiny, specifically the manifest destiny of humans to conquer, expand and thrive, as the dominant race in the world of Sylfaen.

Gods

Macadians don't believe in gods per se, but they worship heroic figures. Great monarchs, brave warriors, innovators and explorers that have brought glory to the human race are treated as gods. In the Sylfaen setting, human d&d gods (such as Boccob, Heironeous, Kord, etc.) are heroes from the past, and believing in them give one their strength. The gods themselves don't lend their powers to macadian clerics, but instead, the magical power is drawn from following in their footsteps.

Practices and Worship

Worshipers of macadian faith believe that, in order to truly worship their heroes they must follow their example. So, macadians will pursue glory by imitating the entity the seek to emulate. A macadian who worship a god of war will not spend his time in solitary prayer to him, but instead, will march to war, and each death by his blade will be a prayer in their god's name.

Dormakaranism

Dormakaranism is the belief in the sacred power of creation. This is a predominantly dwarvish faith, and is centered around the belief that crafting and building something is an activity holy by itself, and is the ability to create is a sign that one is infused with sacred power.

For this reason, followers of Dormakaranism tend to despise purely destructive forces, who they believe don't possess a soul. Often this lead them to dehumanize cultures that don't meet their standards for a sacred creation.

Monotheistic dormakaranists usually pray to Moradin, consider by most dwarves, and some members of other races, as the creator of all things. Polytheistic ones often engage in some form of veneration of the dead, by worship the founding fathers of the dwarven kingdoms. Surface dwarves tend to be monotheistic, while deep dwarves will most commonly be polytheistic.

Drakanism

Drakanism is the worship of the dragons. Dragons are extinct in the world of Sylfaen, but their power is still much alive, and to this day shapes the future in all the world. The first humans believed that the souls of dragons still inhabit Daear, and lend their powers to those who graft themselves with dragon bones and drink from the Iccor, the liquid remains of dragons. They also believe that Akkad, the first Drake Speaker, was guided by the spirit of dragons to the complex of caves were he found the draconic alphabet and learned their language. Drakanists believe that all magic comes from the dragons, and that eventually the perversion of magic through the worship of false gods will lead to the Wrath Awakening, were the elemental spirits of dragons will bring the apocalypse.

Bone Worship

Orcs generally don't worship gods, despite believing in them. Instead. they turn to the worship of their ancestors, who they think they can contact through their bones - specially their skulls. To them, a creature's soul resides within its bones while that creature is alive, and never fully leaves it, when the creature dies.

Although this religion have been created by orcs in Daear, with their exodus, many communities that embraced the orcs also adopted their beliefs.

Philosophies

Arcane Philosophy

Arcane philosophy has existed since the first man cast his first spell, but his true formal origin has two main sources: the creation of the Magistery and the writings of Ban'gaz in his treatise The Dead Gods and the Nature of Magic, were for the first time the distinction between two categories of magic was made. Arcane philosophers have different sets of theories about the functioning of the arcane, but they agree in certain truths a respect of the nature of magic: that the gods don't exist.

They don't negate the power of faith or divine magic, just negate its origin as divine at all. Arcane philosophers don't distinguish magic in "Arcane" or "Divine", but in Magic of Intent and Magic of Solicitation. Intent magic is the type of magic were the caster uses his own will to bend nature, through the command of the weave. Solicitation magic is were you ask another creature to use Intent Magic for you, in exchange for some favor, or, in other words, Intent Magic with extra steps.

To arcane philosophers, warlocks and clerics bear no difference, both ask to a powerful entity with vast powers and a great understanding over Intent Magic to cast magic for them, in exchange for something useful to that being. In the case of warlocks, this exchange tends to be more straightforward, but there's still much debate about what clerics actually do for entities to gather power, and who is answering a cleric prayer.

Religious Texts

Gehenna Scrolls

The Gehenna Scrolls are an ancient text found within a cave, that supposedly contain the visions of the Flame Seer, a legendary oracle from the Jodensbarn people. Allegedly, the scrolls contain the the prophecy of the Last Sunset, verses that announce the end of the world. The verses talk about an endless light, that will devour everything, unless the beacon of light is restored. It talks about the one who can bring back the flame, the arrival of the flame princess carrying the eternal flame. [need to write the verses later]

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