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Message: <blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9541080" data-attributes="member: 6790260">In Jewel of the Desert, there are three known primary religious traditions (one of which has a prominent heretical offshoot):<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Kahina, druids and shaman, who revere the natural spirits of the material world and of the spirit world.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Safiqi priesthood, clerics and paladins, who revere a distant monotheistic deity, "the One", through many different facets/aspects.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The (not yet formally named) religion practiced in far-away Yuxia, the Jade Home, which reveres the August Jade Emperor as the apex of the Celestial Bureaucracy.</li> </ul>Hardliner Safiqi see both of the other traditions as infidels, but the generally more predominant moderate faction views the faith of Yuxia as just a really weird heterodox version of their own faith (identifying the "August Jade Emperor" as a mere cultural variation of the "Great Architect", the most commonly-worshiped aspect of the One.) So-called "orthodox" Kahina view the One as merely the greatest of city-spirits, and thus are pretty dismissive of or even negative toward the hegemonic nature of the Safiqi faith. The much more common, moderate Kahina basically just see it as "sure, I'll do the song and dance to keep you off my back, it doesn't functionally matter for my daily life." It's not clear how general Yuxian faithful would perceive folks in the Tarrakhuna, but I suspect it would be a mirror of the more moderate Safiqi, one of those "you have a really weird way of doing it, but your heart is in the right place" kind of things.The aforementioned heresy is the Zil al-Ghurab, the "Raven-Shadows," an assassin-cult that started out as, more or less, the internal police/special operations branch of the early Safiqi priesthood. The Safiqi and the Raven-Shadows have been fighting a religious war for nearly two millennia, with the larger and openly-operating Safiqi repeatedly driving the Raven-Shadows nearly extinct, only for them to go to ground, rebuild, and eventually get rediscovered again. Ironcally, the Raven-Shadows don't consider their Safiqi cousins heretical, just limited, unable to see a bigger picture; the Safiqi in general see the Raven-Shadows as an extremely dangerous group, which is true, and one that is totally wrong, which...is at least somewhat in question. It's very likely they've been manipulated by someone, but exactly how and why remains unclear.The party has met several devils, a few demons, and a couple celestials. The friendlier celestial, a couatl named Tlacalicue (approximately "Daylight-Her-Skirt" in Nahuatl), has expressly said that the One (who almost never communicates directly with mortals) is quite well aware that Their (second-hand) claims of being the creator of all things and the one true god etc. etc. cannot be verified, neither by scientific pursuit nor by magical means. It is not possible to know with absolute certainty. At some point, each sapient individual must decide for themselves what to believe, and the One (allegedly) prefers it that way. Essentially, Tlacalicue has explained that the One (claims to have) created all things, so that sapient beings can exist independently and enrich that creation with their own ideas. This is why the One cares so much about preserving mortal autonomy, since (Their servants claim) it would defeat the purpose of creation itself to take away the freedom to choose. Celestials, devils, and demons all agree that this was the catalyst for the "War in Heaven" which is what caused some celestials to become devils or demons; each faction claims they won, albeit something of a pyrrhic victory for the celestials.I have worked very hard to ensure that this principle--that each must decide what they believe--holds true throughout the game. Up to this point, no true "gods" have been witnessed in-game, but that doesn't mean there couldn't be any. Most people from the Tarrakhuna (the region where Jewel is set) would not believe a being that claimed to be a god. Those who follow the old ways of the Kahina would scoff at the idea that any spirit has become so full of itself that it would claim such a ridiculous thing. Those who follow the Safiqi tradition would deny the existence of any god except the One. And then the few (but quite real) agnostic/atheist folks in the region would simply disbelieve that any powerful being is "actually" a god (such beliefs are somewhat more common amongst the Waziri mage order, the wizards and artificers, but still a minority overall.)Answering the bullet-point list for the One (the only deity-like figure "encountered" thus far):<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Extent of their knowledge: Claims omniscience and omnipresence. No evidence this is false, but only equivocal evidence that it is true.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Limits of their power: Unknown. Faith claims They have none, but self-limits because of Their goals.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Benign, malign, between?: Benign. Claims to wish to see all sapient beings flourish.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Engaged, aloof, between?: 99.999% aloof. Celestials left the world long ago. The One almost never directly intervenes.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Relationship with other gods: None. Claims to be the one and only true deity. Pretender deities are met with skepticism.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Nature of worshippers: Extensively worshipped across the Tarrakhuna region where faith was founded ~2K years ago by angels teaching mortals (before leaving).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Treatment of worshippers: Priests are highly active in charitable work, public health, basic education, etc. An internal police faction hunts down treacherous priests who abuse their powers.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Treatment of priests: Very limited interaction. Rare visions, miraculous effects, etc. A few saints have claimed closer links. Whether this is true or not is a matter of belief.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Immortality level: Absolute existence. The One is that which cannot not exist, so the very notion of death or even injury is senseless, if Their claims are true.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Locality: Claimed to be infinite in extent and awareness, present in every part of reality simultaneously, including Hell.</li> </ul></blockquote>

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