Monotheism?

[Dogbrain]

Let us presume a monotheist cosmology. There is but one deity. Let us further presume that this deity is "good". However, this deity is also somewhat distant. For "the good of free will" or whathever reason, deity has absented from direct intervention, instead granting clerics divine magic.

But a side-effect of this distance is that demonic forces can also meddle, and they likewise grant "divine" magic, although it is actually infernal lies meant to draw people away from the truth. The demonic forces even pretend to be benevolent, at least for a while...

So, what happens when two countries that both worship deity are at war?

Alternative one: Neither sides divine magic work against each other.

Alternative two: deity actually withdraws divine magic but infernal forces then try to worm their way into the matter, enticing, tempting, pretending to be deity, slowly perverting the religion.

Of course, human nature being what it is, I foresee that, over time, the majority of people will be under the yoke of demonic forces, tempted there by promises and lies like "deity is on your side in this war"...

 

[Mallus]

In my current setting...

...the city-state of Hannikum [name means either the "slaves/servants/friends" of God] is monotheistic. Their god is pretty much the God of the Old Testament/Torah if He revealed himself to the Aztecs [who got most of it wrong].

The people of Hannikum believe El ha'Kum --"the only One" is the creator of the universe who welcomes the righteous to Heaven and punishes everyone else in Hell. They believe that they are His chosen people, that they hold a special covenant with Him, that he sanctions their military conquests. They believe all other dieties are the spawn the Devil --also known as Erebus--, who walks up and down upon the world --often going from hotel bar to hotel bar-- and tempts the unrighteous with knowledge, magic, and gin [the faithful of Hannikum must avoid all distilled alcohol].

While the Hannikum faith recognizes only one true God, there is a veritable pantheon of venerated saints [it is said only the Priest-King himself worships God directly]. The saints are called by the honorific "Mister". They include...

Mr. Jaguar, the Saint of War
Mr. Redlips, the Saint of Blood and Healing
Mr. Featherbones, the Saint of Martyrs
Mr. Cradle-Grave, the Saint of Duty
Mr. Onyx [who is "dark as the last night of the world and made of knives"], the Saint of Righteous Murder [assasins]
Mr. Three-Legs, the Saint of Virility
and Mr. Skull-Monkey. He's a trickster figure, the only saint who wasn't originally human. He was a member of race of monkey people that the faithful of Hannikum commited genocide against. In their religion, he's come to represent the fear of punishment over past transgressions. He's the saint of justice, but one that rules against you as often as not.

Not your vanilla monotheism [if such a thing exisits], is it?

 

[Jakathi]

i don't see a problem with monotheism

from what i've seen, all of the 'good' religions in our world have the same basic theology. that is, do good things go to heaven. do bad things, go to hell. And even the major patheons have a 'king' or chief diety followed by numerous others.

Even Christianity has this with one god and a host of angels and spirits helping out. (Christianity uses angels instead of lesser gods and demi-gods) at least that's how i see it.

oh. and i'm an agonstic polytheist.
Which means, i'm not into organized religion, but i still believe in multiple gods.

 

[MerakSpielman]

Of course, human nature being what it is, I foresee that, over time, the majority of people will be under the yoke of demonic forces, tempted there by promises and lies like "deity is on your side in this war"...

One step further, I see the demons and false gods actually providing more power than the true god, who knows better than to place such corrupting power in the hands of mortals. He could be discredited and nobody believes he's the one true god any more.

Then, the worshippers of the different demons and false gods could all be at war to try to prove whose god is the true god... but really, it's none of them, and the demons are just trying to create hell on earth by corrupting all of humanity.

This is a good starting point for a campaign. Alternately, the campaign could start a few centuries after "hell on earth" has been pretty firmly established.

 

[shivamuffin]

In theory Arch Devils and Demon Lords are as powerful as the gods ( Just confined to their planes ), and should be able to grant their followers spells. If they draw power from the material planes worshipers, they should be able to return a portion of that power in the form of spells. I understand why D&D doesn't provide rules for that, but it should be possible.

In my own campaign, they do, and it's not that difficult to choose the domains and granted powers available for worshiping them.

 

[MerakSpielman]

from what i've seen, all of the 'good' religions in our world have the same basic theology. that is, do good things go to heaven. do bad things, go to hell. And even the major patheons have a 'king' or chief diety followed by numerous others.

Even Christianity has this with one god and a host of angels and spirits helping out. (Christianity uses angels instead of lesser gods and demi-gods) at least that's how i see it.

Virtually all major religions on earth are founded by a man whose whole philosophy can be boiled down to "Everybody nice to each other." Then they all start wars because they disagree with each other how they should go about being nice to each other.

I always viewed the saints of christianity as being sorts of demi-gods. They're each patrons of one area or another, and so you pray to whatever saint is applicable. Pretty much all bases are covered - there is even a patron saint of thieves (Nicholas of Myra). For a list of all saints and their patronages, go here. There are some really good ideas for D&D saints, angels, or demigods to be gotten from this list.

oh. and i'm an agonstic polytheist.
Which means, i'm not into organized religion, but i still believe in multiple gods.

<Grin> Well, if we're all using this thread as an excuse to state our own religion, I'm been a practicing Wiccan for six years. I was agnostic before that. I love studying all forms of religion, am minoring in Religious Studies, and attend the Unitarian Universalist Church (which is pretty much where people go if they believe all religions have something worthwhile to teach). I also have a healthy bit of Taoism in my personal philosophy.

 

[Dogbrain]

from what i've seen, all of the 'good' religions in our world have the same basic theology. that is, do good things go to heaven. do bad things, go to hell. And even the major patheons have a 'king' or chief diety followed by numerous others.

Even Christianity has this with one god and a host of angels and spirits helping out. (Christianity uses angels instead of lesser gods and demi-gods) at least that's how i see it.

Except that we Christians are explicitly prohibited from worshipping angels. Likewise, Reformed Christians (Baptists, Lutherans, Pentecostals, etc.) are prohibited from even venerating saints.

 

[Jakathi]

*raises eyebrow

then why do you venerate god's son and call him your lord? by your definition, the only one you should venerate is god him/herself.

And from what i've gathered about christianity in general is that Christ was an avatar, not the deity himself.

no i don't want this to turn into a flame-war. it's just that the various belief systems do tend to go about doing the opposite of the intentions of their creator.

 

[MerakSpielman]

From what I understand about the concept of the holy trinity, God is divided into three parts: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. All three can equally be said to be "God."

edit: Some people claim that this is a loophole in the christian definition of "monotheism." Kind of like three gods in one. I don't know enough to take place in the debate.

 

[Jakathi]

or rather the people professing to believe in a certain way.

that's what i meant.

And it if you guys want to have a mono-theistic religion or two go for it. Like a great person once said: there is no one true way.

Good done in the name of evil is still good. Evil done in the name of good is still quite evil. Names don't matter. Actions matter.