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Message: <blockquote data-quote="fusangite" data-source="post: 3578350" data-attributes="member: 7240">Well, the problem is that the very idea of "religion" does not get on with polytheistic systems. Although we use the Western word "religion" when we talk about Shintoism, Hinduism or Buddhism, there isn't really a comparison between polytheistic worldviews and monotheistic worldviews. The idea of cult initiation being universal rather than a privilege of a small subset of society doesn't really jive with polytheisms. Lay practitioners in pagan systems have essentially nothing required of them; they can pick and choose amongst gods, rituals and organizations pretty freely. In societies that did not go through a pretty unique experience of fusing the Abrahamic faiths with Greek philosophy, the effects of new religious movements are fundamentally different: new organizations form but they are not polarizing. Sure, there might be the odd mystery cult or philosophical school that offers the package of what our religions offer but these things operate within the matrix of polytheism; they don't hive off from it. For instance, in the 1970s, the Mar Thoma Christians of India fought to remain governed by the Hindu Code in legislation and also fought against the project of amending the dowry legislation contained therein. While my polytheistic worlds have clear moments where certain cults' priests align with particular political actors and voice (or fight in the name of) their god's support for or opposition to a political or military cause, doctrinal issues do not polarize society.When I have run games with theological schisms, they have been set on earth and are alternate history games that sometimes explore themes in Christianity. The problem is that God's position on a particular issue is always evident because the games have a simulationist Prayer mechanic that, like Teflon Billy's, notifies the players pretty directly of what is up with the god.I try to infuse the campaigns with a generalized sense of bigotry. I prefer situations where society isn't polarized but it is nevertheless divided into a lot of little groups that are all suspicious of one another. In my quasi-historical campaign, we're dealing with this issue right now. One of the characters is Jewish and the mixture of tolerance and bigotry is great. These people are inferior to you and wrong but they are part of your society. Provided they can maintain their own inferior, smaller social sphere, they can excel in a subset of your society's occupations. And I find I'm more interested in a deeply bigoted society that maintains a basic equilibrium from its variagated castes rather than in societies that polarize radically over tiny points of ideology. But that's just my personal taste. Sure, there are movements like the Bacchae, the Druids, Falun Gong or the Cathars who are beyond the pale and must be destroyed but these groups are exceptional in advocating someting so socially destabilizing that society collectively freaks out at them. But but those moments tend not to be sustainable arrangements. Either fight acquires a geography and it turns into a war, the intolerable dissident movement is successfully suppressed or the majority society runs out of energy and reaches an accommodation with the group. And it's this latter scenario that I prefer.That's what I like in polytheism. Your average lay polytheist is willing to attend the major festival of any god. Not only is it fun; it's was civic minded. High holy days are like a series of country fairs. Devotion to one god in no way precludes another because most relationships with divinities are not love-based; prayers are closer to bargains with divinities made by priests on behalf of worshippers. The annual rain god festival is like the whole town going en masse to haggle for good weather; public ritual is like buying into a 19th century mutual insurance scheme. The only thing you can really do to upset people in this system is refuse to participate in these rituals. But as long as you and your kids show up for all the festivals, why should anybody care what you are doing the rest of the time? You're discharging your civic duty.In my polytheistic societies, cults are not mass organizations. They are run by small priestly elites and, if they are mystery cults, a number of initiates. But the way these cults' social patronage works is like the masons -- the system fails if too many people get in on it. So, those in charge of the faiths have a big incentive to keep the clubs exclusive. So, your average cult operates more like the Scientologists than the Christians. They make a lot of moves in high society but in most social ranks, regular devotion is to minor divinities like guild gods or lineage ancestors and takes place at a family or workplace altar rather than in a major temple.I think that this would be (and indeed was) the case if you had a set of competing monotheisms living next to each other but when you have polytheistic systems I think we would see the kind of tense, bigoted harmony that existed in most of the ancient world.I think this the key point. If a society gets polarized, I think the sides will be weird amalgams of cultic, lineage, occcupational and other loyalties rather than a clear, opinion-based ideological fight.</blockquote>

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