Fantasy campaign religion setup

[Dogbrain]

Ideas for people to toss around:

The major religion of the part of the world where the PCs start is devoted primarily towards worship of the state and of society. Deities are worshipped as a matter of social obligation--it's the "done thing". There is no question of benefits--society works, crops grow, the army is strong. Slaves worship their masters, free people worship the nobility. Soldiers worship their officers (who are noble). Nobles worship the gods. It's trickle-down religion.

Of course, nobility reap the greatest benefits, but they are expected to share the wealth, since much of their worship of the gods is funded by they, themselves, being worshipped.

There is no thought of an afterlife. Slaves in this world will be slaves in the next. Soldiers will be soldiers. Nobles will be nobles. The only benefit is that pious slaves/soldiers/commoners will have less work to do and get better food/lodging/etc. Impious individuals will spend eternity participating in the eternal arena as "entertainment".

Into this mix comes a set of foreign mystery cults, each devoted to a specific deity. All of them permit people to continue to follow the state religion, but they also promise a "way out" of the state religion's view of the afterlife--personal salvation that promises to be better than just a well-padded version of ones current life.

So, are the mystery cults actually demonic infiltration? Are they a threat to society in general? Is it the mystery cults that worship "true gods" and the state religion is an infernal pyramid scheme? Is everybody, or anybody, on the up-and-up?

 

[Tonguez]

Both are correct!

What if the religion began - in prehistoric times of course- as a system of Ancestor Worship and the 'gods' are diefied mortals?

The Nobles are acknowledge as the direct descendants of the god-Ancestors and so on ad infinitum.

Now what if the Current Ruling Council of the gods likes the current set up and doesn't want anymore mortals ascending to godhood and so imposes the Status Quo where everyone knows their place and does nothing to change it.

But then a more liberal anarchic god comes along and wants to give everyone the right to ascend from Dog to Slave to Freeman to Noble to god and comes out teaching people how to do it.

What you get isa Politics! The Nobles don't like it, the Council of gods doesn't like it, even the common folk don't like it (since as the holy book says Desire not that which has not been given to you by Divine Grace. For desire brings disorder and disorder brings misery to you and your families)

Heretics and Inquistions, Rebels and The Empire, Ascended Nobles and Angry gods - just add PCs!

 

[fusangite]

Obviously, you've been inspired to write this by looking at 2nd-5th century Rome. So, the most obvious reactions are those of historic Rome to this phenomenon:

Rome welcomed mystery cults compatible with its heterodox theology and persecuted those that were not. Therefore, the only question to ask when examining a mystery cult is: how does it integrate with the theology of the empire? This is a two-way street. Obviously, one can have a cult that imperial theologians deem compatible with imperial heterodox theology even as those who are part of it did not see it that way (e.g. Judaism) -- no persecution, some state regulation. Or, one can have a cult that both adherents and imperial theologians see as opposed to the regime (e.g. Christianity) -- persecution. Or, one can have a cult that both adherents and imperial theologians see as fully compatible (e.g. Isis) -- state endorsement.

If you have a totalizing system, however, one thing that will be agreed on is the existence both of the imperial gods and those of the mystery cults. Augustine explained Rome's gods not as figments but as demons. Iaweh was considered to be part of the grand imperial pantheon as a god of the Jews. Whether you decide to take a stand as to the absolute reference frame or leave things in a mixed state doesn't really matter.