TOLARIA - HUMAN RELIGIONS

(This was originally developed as background for a fantasy RPG campaign that never actually happened.  Some of the names are swiped from GW material, but just because they were good names - there is no similarity beyond that, and this as never intended for publication)

Religion on Tolaria is generally a matter of individual conscience. There are religious festivals, but while a man who didn’t take part might be regarded as odd (if only for missing the attendant fun), it is unlikely to become an issue.

A man may attend any temple he chooses, or none. Public preaching requires a licence within city limits (usually only granted to priests recognised by the major religions), but is quite legal outside them, and private devotions to any god are generally acceptable unless they cause offence.

Most Tolarian temples have a strong social role – Clerics of Shallya are healers, for example, and priestesses of Verena are traditional arbiters of legal disputes – and these roles are commonly woven into the social structure.

CREATION MYTHS

The usual Tolarian creation myth runs rather like this. “Once upon a time, there was nothing. No world, no time, no gods. We do not know where the creator came from, but he created the world of Tolaria, the heavens, the sun and the stars.

He peopled the world with thinking beings - Elves, Dwarves and Men – and with unthinking ones, such as animals, birds and fish.

He called the seven gods into existence, and set them to watch, help and protect the world he had created, then he departed. Where he went, we do not know”

This is far from the only creation myth (the Dwarven version has the Dwarf gods Grungni and Valya creating dwarves from stone, while Elves were formed from plants, and humans from beasts, for instance), but it is accepted as the default by most human cultures on the Tolaria.

THE SEVEN GODS

The seven gods were the pantheon of the old Ibarian Empire, and have remained the primary religion of most human cultures since. However, the way they are worshipped can vary greatly between nations – a priestess of Verena in the Attan empire would have very different views from her counterparts in Telea or the easterling states, for instance.

Most of the gods have a number of aspects (for example, Verena the defender is the closest Tolaria has to a war god). Radical savants often suggest that these aspects are relics of earlier, local, gods, syncretised to the seven gods during the expansion of the Attan Empire. Some people revere a god in all their aspects, or have a particular attachment to one aspect, not always the primary one – Ganalt is the god of thieves and tricksters, for example, as well as his other roles.

Most villages would have a temple, with either dedicated to the gods collectively, or with separate shrines for each of the gods, depending on local practice. Larger towns or cities would probably have a separate temple for each of the gods, often with attached workrooms, dispensaries etc in the case of Shallya etc.

Above the individual temple level, organisation varies between countries. The Attan Empire has a geographic organisation, with lectors responsible for districts, and answering to the archlector, with relatively strong authority over the temples in their areas. Telean temples often share resources to fund training novices etc centrally, but each is independent, with only a weak co-ordinating body, the synod. Istalia (as befits what is essentially a theological state) has a strong central religious authority, capable of disciplining priests who disagree with its views.

Prayer is the most usual form of worship; sacrifice does not form a major part of Tolarian religious practice, though most religions ask for contributions for their worshippers, used to maintain temples and perform good works.

Teleans commonly have a rather more transactional view, routinely making vows to make a donation to the temple of Morr if the god brings them safe through a sea voyage or whatever, but most northerners would find such attempts to buy divine favour amusing.

One thing to bear in mind is that with no major competing human religion and a much less hierarchical structure than the Christian religion on earth, a much more relaxed approach to doctrinal purity is usual – the concept of heresy (in that one view is definitively wrong, rather than belief different from the mainstream) barely exists, and religious persecution is uncommon, even in relatively fundamentalist countries like Istalia.

A substantial percentage of Easterlings are atheists – the prevailing view there was that since the gods didn’t help them during the cataclysm, either they aren’t real, or don’t interfere in human affairs, in which case, what is the benefit of worshipping them.

The seven gods are;

• Verena, Goddess of Wisdom, Learning and justice. Her colour is blue, and her symbol is the scales. Many of the temples in cities have evolved large libraries, or even colleges, while those in villages often act as the village school.

• Thersos, God of Smith-craft, industry, Merchants and travel. His colour is fiery red, and his symbol is the smith’s hammer. He is usually invoked as a guarantor of commercial transactions.

• Shallya, Goddess of healing and protector of women. Her colour is white, and her symbol is the dove. Shallyan priests swear an oath never to knowingly harm another except in defence of another life.

• Ganalt, God of Wine, artists, theatres and other merrymaking, as well as children. His colour is yellow, and his symbol is an old-fashioned actor’s mask. Most Tolarian cultures use the main festival of Ganalt in the spring as a coming-of-age ceremony.

• Demarta, goddess of fertility, farming, love and sex. Her colour is brown, and her symbol is an ear of corn. Her great festival is just after harvest-time, in thanks for her bounty. Demarta is also usually invoked at weddings

• Raal, god of nature, forests, wild beasts, and hunting. His colour is green, and his symbol is the hunter’s horn. His main festivals are in the spring, to celebrate life returning to the land.

• Morr, god of death, sleep, dreams and the underworld. His kingdom of the dead is beneath the sea, and he is often regarded as god of the sea, too. Note that Morr is NOT a god of the undead; he would actually be invoked for protection against them. His colour is black, and his symbol is a silver hand. His main festival is the “unquiet night” in winter, when spirits and ghosts are abroad.

As well as the “mainstream” temples, there are a variety of minor sects, worshipping one or more of the seven gods in their own particular way. Most are open, but a few are secretive mystery cults. All are legal, though some are regarded as odd.

“Incarnationists” believe that the gods sometimes take on mortal form, walking the world and performing miracles. The cult has sometimes become a political problem, when a self-proclaimed messiah challenges the established structure, but it has been quiet for most of the past generation. There are several subsects, with different views on whether or not particular historical figures were actually divine avatars.

Most incarnationist sects do not worship these avatars, but some elevate them to the status of separate intercessor personalities, like saints in medieval Catholicism.

“Devanites” are a demarta-worshipping subsect who take a scriptural instruction to “be happy, fruitful and multiply” very literally. Members are encouraged to marry early and have large families – being childless past the age of twenty is to sin by omission, unless for medical reasons. The sect is popular in some farming regions, partly because of its fertility-cult links. “Penny dreadful” broadsheets usually depict devanites as promiscuous, and often contain lurid accounts of cult orgies. This is true enough for some elements of the cult, but very far from all.

“Strict Shallyans” are pacifists, believing that no circumstances – even self-defence – can justify killing. Some are prepared to use non-lethal force, if it will save other lives. Most members are vegetarians, too. The cult is almost exclusively urban, at least partly as a survival mechanism.

“The Brotherhood of the Flame” is a mystery-religion cult worshipping Thersos in his aspect of god of smithcraft. Members are bound to secrecy, but it is known that there are seven grades of initiation.

“Istalian Duallists” see the world as a battlefield between the forces of light and darkness, with the ultimate victory being determined by the actions of men - they believe that each act of virtue or charity action strengthens the side of good, while each bad action strengthens the side of darkness.

Though the sect originates in Istalia, and is most popular there, believers can be found anywhere.

“Militant Duallists” espouse a particularly literal form of Istalian Dualism which arose during the chaos of the cataclysm – the cult is organised as a military hierarchy, with preacher-Captains leading their temple-companies into battle.

Theoretically, the cult maintains its forces purely to “Defend light against the darkness”, but some of the cult’s theologians have long advocated that the best form of defence is a good offence.

It is largely restricted to Istalia, on the grounds that large, organised bodies of armed men not under political control make most countries nervous, though individual members are welcome everywhere. As a sidelight, it may be the only religion with a holy book that includes chapters on drill, tactics and field fortification.