Nyeshet
First Post
My favorate reason comes from a book I read a while back. I used it in my signature for a while, actually, so I still have it somewhere. Let me see . . . Here it is:
"If you aren't [omnipotent], why should we bring sacrifices, why should we praise and pray?" [Ariadne asked him.]
Dionysus raised his brows. "Why do the people of Crete bring your father tithes and taxes? Because he protects them from others, because he sometimes grants them what they petition for, because he is more powerful than they and would punish them if they didn't obey his laws. That's why you pray and sacrifice to the gods of Olympus. I said we weren't [omnipotent]. I didn't say we weren't any different from the native people in this part of the world."
Bull God (p 260) by Roberta Gellis
- - - - -
I also use another reason in my homebrew world, a bit more insidious, actually. There are many demi-worlds, planes, demi-planes, quasi-planes, etc, but there is a single transitive plane arranged in a layered pattern between them. Only through divine aid does one move up in this pattern. Each world, plane, etc is bordered by two transitive planes, one "above" and one "below". Upon death one falls to the lower one unless they have received a final blessing within the last 24 hours.
Celestials serving each of the various deities wander within the lower plane (which is not the lowest, and therefore not fiend infested), but the strength of one's belief determines how fast they are likely to find you. If your belief is strong you stand out like a bonfire to servitors of your deity, and you will be found within a few hours - or, at worst, days - and taken to your final rest. If your belief is weak it may take months to be found. If you do not believe in any, then you are doomed to wander that plane indefinately. And celestials are not the only beings upon this mid-level transitive plane.
Fiends wander the non-highest planes, as do the ghosts of those that have died before and not yet been found, not yet been caught, and not yet faded from existence. It is a dangerous place - especially for those lacking in power. Even if one manages to evade the deity-loathing fiends, the fact remains that being so far from Truest Creation - the central most seed of reality that exists above the planes of the deities - one is not immortal, nor even immutable. Given enough time, the soul will alter, will fade. Even the most powerful spirit will fade with the passing years and centuries. Eventually the spirit will cease to exist.
All that awaits those not aligned with any deity is a nerve-wracking dangerous afterlife followed by oblivion - for the lucky. Those that are caught by fiends will experience horrors undreamt by those upon the prime. And even those that remain overlong upon the plane may find their minds slowly slipping towards madness, such that oblivion might be their surest yet least saught reprieve from an ever less sane existance. Insane ghosts can be nearly as dangerous as fiends to those newly arrived into the afterlife.
Those that find a place in the afterlives arranged by their deities find instead a more pleasant setting. For them the afterlife is a place of rest, a place of enjoyment. Furthermore, by being in the divine realms, they are assured near immortality and near immutability. They cannot go insane, and their views, etc will not alter with time. Their personality, values, and degree of devotion will remain more or less the same as upon at the instant of death - regardless of how many centuries pass, and they will continue to exist as long as their deity does. And if their deity is part of a pantheon, then they might possibly exist as long as the pantheon exists - even if their deity does not.
So those that worship deities gain a surety of true immortality, a surety of an afterlife of ease, sanity, and assurance that their Self will not be altered or 'adjusted' with the passing of time. While those that do not can never be sure whether they will simply fade after a few months, years, or even centuries - or if they will experience the worst horrors of hell for as long as their fiendish captor decides to allow them to exist in torment.
And so most in my campaign world worship at least one deity - or at least the pantheon as a whole - in both the hope of eternal rest and the hope of a little something while still alive (see the quote). They understand that the deities are empowered a little by worship, but they also understand that the least powerful deities do not always have the means or the time to grant their wishes, and the most powerful deities have little need of their (individual) worship to retain their strength - and are quite formidable even without worship from any due to the devotion of the many souls they have gained throughout the prior millinia.
So the NPCs tend to be happy as long as the deities are not unhappy with them (or their community), even if prayers go unanswered, and they will continue to worship (at least to the degree of lip service to the entire pantheon) in the hopes of evading a truly horrific fate. Most make a point of staying near a priest or temple if they believe their death is imminant. If a war breaks out it is a given that celestials from many of the deities will be present in the lower transitive plane to gather the souls of the dead as they die. Adventurers are looked upon oddly at times, as they risk the chance of dying so far from a holy site or holy person of their faith as to risk meeting a fiend before meeting a celestial servant of their deity (well, this is true at least for the non-priests).
As for priests, their power comes from themselves (as is true with all casters), but it is devoted to the service of their deity, and thus they gain a few boons (domains specials, spontaneous casting, turning, etc). If they turn from their deity they do not lose their casting, but their ability to turn, use domain specials, and spontaneous cast is lost upon the instant - at least until they atone or find another deity.
"If you aren't [omnipotent], why should we bring sacrifices, why should we praise and pray?" [Ariadne asked him.]
Dionysus raised his brows. "Why do the people of Crete bring your father tithes and taxes? Because he protects them from others, because he sometimes grants them what they petition for, because he is more powerful than they and would punish them if they didn't obey his laws. That's why you pray and sacrifice to the gods of Olympus. I said we weren't [omnipotent]. I didn't say we weren't any different from the native people in this part of the world."
Bull God (p 260) by Roberta Gellis
- - - - -
I also use another reason in my homebrew world, a bit more insidious, actually. There are many demi-worlds, planes, demi-planes, quasi-planes, etc, but there is a single transitive plane arranged in a layered pattern between them. Only through divine aid does one move up in this pattern. Each world, plane, etc is bordered by two transitive planes, one "above" and one "below". Upon death one falls to the lower one unless they have received a final blessing within the last 24 hours.
Celestials serving each of the various deities wander within the lower plane (which is not the lowest, and therefore not fiend infested), but the strength of one's belief determines how fast they are likely to find you. If your belief is strong you stand out like a bonfire to servitors of your deity, and you will be found within a few hours - or, at worst, days - and taken to your final rest. If your belief is weak it may take months to be found. If you do not believe in any, then you are doomed to wander that plane indefinately. And celestials are not the only beings upon this mid-level transitive plane.
Fiends wander the non-highest planes, as do the ghosts of those that have died before and not yet been found, not yet been caught, and not yet faded from existence. It is a dangerous place - especially for those lacking in power. Even if one manages to evade the deity-loathing fiends, the fact remains that being so far from Truest Creation - the central most seed of reality that exists above the planes of the deities - one is not immortal, nor even immutable. Given enough time, the soul will alter, will fade. Even the most powerful spirit will fade with the passing years and centuries. Eventually the spirit will cease to exist.
All that awaits those not aligned with any deity is a nerve-wracking dangerous afterlife followed by oblivion - for the lucky. Those that are caught by fiends will experience horrors undreamt by those upon the prime. And even those that remain overlong upon the plane may find their minds slowly slipping towards madness, such that oblivion might be their surest yet least saught reprieve from an ever less sane existance. Insane ghosts can be nearly as dangerous as fiends to those newly arrived into the afterlife.
Those that find a place in the afterlives arranged by their deities find instead a more pleasant setting. For them the afterlife is a place of rest, a place of enjoyment. Furthermore, by being in the divine realms, they are assured near immortality and near immutability. They cannot go insane, and their views, etc will not alter with time. Their personality, values, and degree of devotion will remain more or less the same as upon at the instant of death - regardless of how many centuries pass, and they will continue to exist as long as their deity does. And if their deity is part of a pantheon, then they might possibly exist as long as the pantheon exists - even if their deity does not.
So those that worship deities gain a surety of true immortality, a surety of an afterlife of ease, sanity, and assurance that their Self will not be altered or 'adjusted' with the passing of time. While those that do not can never be sure whether they will simply fade after a few months, years, or even centuries - or if they will experience the worst horrors of hell for as long as their fiendish captor decides to allow them to exist in torment.
And so most in my campaign world worship at least one deity - or at least the pantheon as a whole - in both the hope of eternal rest and the hope of a little something while still alive (see the quote). They understand that the deities are empowered a little by worship, but they also understand that the least powerful deities do not always have the means or the time to grant their wishes, and the most powerful deities have little need of their (individual) worship to retain their strength - and are quite formidable even without worship from any due to the devotion of the many souls they have gained throughout the prior millinia.
So the NPCs tend to be happy as long as the deities are not unhappy with them (or their community), even if prayers go unanswered, and they will continue to worship (at least to the degree of lip service to the entire pantheon) in the hopes of evading a truly horrific fate. Most make a point of staying near a priest or temple if they believe their death is imminant. If a war breaks out it is a given that celestials from many of the deities will be present in the lower transitive plane to gather the souls of the dead as they die. Adventurers are looked upon oddly at times, as they risk the chance of dying so far from a holy site or holy person of their faith as to risk meeting a fiend before meeting a celestial servant of their deity (well, this is true at least for the non-priests).
As for priests, their power comes from themselves (as is true with all casters), but it is devoted to the service of their deity, and thus they gain a few boons (domains specials, spontaneous casting, turning, etc). If they turn from their deity they do not lose their casting, but their ability to turn, use domain specials, and spontaneous cast is lost upon the instant - at least until they atone or find another deity.
*
