D&D General Homebrew Brainstorm: How Would You Approach a "Descendant Worship" Culture? (+)

[Yora]

The most plausible approach that I see is that there is a believe in the reincarnation of certain great heroes or divine beings. The priests identify when such a being is incarnated in a newly born child by reading certain signs, and the child is then revered as a living god for its entire life.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Possible further options (which may or may not be compatible with the above):

• Children in this society actually do have the ability to perform certain magical feats which adults can't. Whether it is a physical maturity thing (e.g. puberty causes the magic to go away) or a mental/emotional maturity thing (e.g. someone who never "grows up" can still practice it even though they're physically adult). This would lead to a society that shelters certain segments of its society, particularly the latter; if these (mental) children are also in some kind of religious-leadership role, it would likely require some kind of moderating influence or else...well, children aren't exactly the wisest people in most cases.
• This society is much more literally "matriarchal" than normal: only mothers are allowed to lead, because only mothers have created life. The creation of life is the highest calling, followed closely by the nurturing of life. Mothers, wetnurses, animal husbandry types, gardners, etc. are exalted in this society. Perhaps it has a "maiden/mother/crone" triune structure, but the emphasis is on the rebirth of the maiden from the crone, rather than on the maiden maturing into the crone.
• Some children in this society are literally born divine or otherwise magical, which causes them to live very different lives and to never physically age once their magic manifests. (This is strongly inspired by the Padjali who lead Gridania in the game Final Fantasy XIV; physically they remain childlike for the entirety of their longer-than-normal lives, but they are mentally adult and one that you meet in-game is thought to be more than two centuries old.) Thus, the emphasis on children is more because any child might become a Divine Child, and superstitions (whether correct or not) have arisen about what it is that triggers the revelation that a particular child is a Divine Child.
• Ancestors are held to not retain any independent existence; the dead immediately get recycled back into the living, so calling out to your ancestors is pointless. Instead, you should appeal to the not-yet-faded lingering essences of their souls, which have been reborn into new bodies. You may even be visited in a dream by the child that that soul has become, granting you a vision or a boon. Those children who are born with brand-new souls, rather than souls that came from someone else who has died, are held in especially high esteem. They prove that The People are continuing to grow and improve. Years in which no "gift children" are born are considered a bad omen.
• Children form a vital part of society's social structure, because once you have become an adult, you are locked into a rigid and unbending social hierarchy; while advancement or demotion is possible, both are rare. Instead, children take a leading role in greasing the wheels between the many different rigidly-defined roles of society, as a child by definition cannot have chosen their one (and only) eternal future. This means that the monarch has, more than once, truly been a puppet of their youngest child, who schemed from behind the scenes to eliminate their elder siblings from the line of succession and then "choose" the path of monarchy for themselves.
• Until a child reaches the age of majority, it will receive divine protection from the gods (or perhaps one specific god.) This protection extends to the child's living place and close relatives/guardians, up to a certain limit in both cases. Because the world is incredibly dangerous and full of big nasties (maybe demons or zombies or something), this protection is absolutely essential for ensuring that society itself does not collapse overnight. As a result, children are incredibly highly prized, and careful planning of when children will be born and the like are a staple of this culture.

 

[aco175]

I was thinking that this would be great if the line of kings descended from a divine being and the royals are thought to be able to produce more since several children along the way could perform 'miracles'. This led to eventually others in the kingdom being able to do something since there are plenty of Jon Snows around and 3rd cousins of the king that need to marry merchants and get away from the direct royal line. At some point, the population at large is waiting for another child to be born with powers and after soo many generations it could come from anyone in the kingdom, it has led to everyone thinking they could win the lottery.

Most might only play partially or not at all, since how many of us actually think we will win the lottery. There is a chance so people may do little things like make sure children are learned and do not go hungry since they can expect this revisited back to them.

 

[RainOnTheSun]

If you're looking for some villains while you're at it, you could add in a radical splinter sect that takes the idea to a Logan's Run type of extreme: if birth and childhood are sacred, one might reason, the older a person gets, the further from that state of grace and the more profane they become, and the elderly become contemptible or outright wicked.

 

[Voadam]

The closest analogue I can think of would be expecting an upcoming Messiah type figure. Maybe there is one every certain period so most of the time the religious fervor is directed at an upcoming figure.

You could do loop ancestor worship with a reincarnation angle. We worship the ancestors, who are also future unborn.

For children worship instead of unborn you could go full helicopter parent parody.

 

[Mallus]

How about making them fantasy Transhumanists? Worshipping the children of the Singularity to come? Their gods are their future ascendant selves.

This gives you plenty of space to play with idea 'the gods are just mirrors of ourselves'.

 

[el-remmen]

I think this is a fascinating idea. Personally, I'd make it not so much that children are sacred, but some future children, always a generation away from arriving and ushering in the age of these "new true gods." In that way, you can add some of the contradiction and paradox common to religious mysteries. The actual children born are considered "disappointments" by some sects and by others a generation that must adhere to these beliefs and work harder to make sure the generation they produce achieves this future.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

The closest analogue I can think of would be expecting an upcoming Messiah type figure. Maybe there is one every certain period so most of the time the religious fervor is directed at an upcoming figure.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. An Abrahamic "our Savior is yet to come" culture combined with the belief that any of them can give birth to their version of a Messiah through some magic ritual. That works very well with the "Unborn Gods" option.

You could do loop ancestor worship with a reincarnation angle. We worship the ancestors, who are also future unborn.

That could work for Elves, given their reincarnation cycle in 5e.

For children worship instead of unborn you could go full helicopter parent parody.

That's also what I was thinking for full children worship.

 

[Cadence]

Going with the reincarnation idea others have mentioned, what if the good are reincarnated to a higher order (with humans being at the top) and the bad are reincarnated down. So each generation, in theory, should be better than the one before it.

Could have some interesting philosophical things too. If you have too many children you are forcing some sub-standard souls to be bumped up to fill the quota.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

How about making them fantasy Transhumanists? Worshipping the children of the Singularity to come? Their gods are their future ascendant selves.

This gives you plenty of space to play with idea 'the gods are just mirrors of ourselves'.

Yep. That is kind of what I was thinking for "The Unborn Gods" option. They believe that they can bring about a perfect version of themselves through some magic that they believe will let them ascend to godhood. Transhumanism combined with a pseudo-Abrahamic belief that the Messiah(s) are yet to come.