Random Religions of the Megaverse
Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2019 8:44 pm
Yet More Story Grist Generators:
Random Religions of the Megaverse
(Or ‘A priest, a swami, a rabbi and a yr’eog walk into a bar-”)
“It’s ZEES, not ‘Zeus’. You can’t hold me accountable if your followers can’t read!”
“Hello, can we talk to you about your plans for the afterlife?”
“.....get off my property or you’ll be finding out about yours firsthand.”
“Backsmack decrees: Everybody gets a cream pie...in the face!”
“Fazang is a just god, but more than just a god. We know it’s difficult to make a proper choice with so many other gods around these days, but Fazang believes in telling the truth and trusting you will make the right decision and put your trust in Fazang. We offer equitable and generous terms for joining, and ample evidence of Fazang’s existence and ability to perform miracles, so why not give Fazang a try? You will not be disappointed. ”
“Oh Chanti, Goddess of Slaves! Oh Chained One, Shackled Bride, Heartbound and Steelbound, we thank You for delivering us into the possession of a Good Master! Bind our hearts to Master’s as thoroughly as You are Bound with Yours! May our Bindings lead Master safely home through all dangers!”
Not everybody believes the same things, and PCs who get around Rifts Earth or the Megaverse will find themselves encountering a great number of different belief systems. Some are ancient, with histories stretching back to times immemorial, while others are more recent, the result of spiritual insight and revelation.
Some religions have the benefit of having an actual deity backing them with answered prayers, miracles, and visitations. Some survive on the power of pure faith alone, or by the inertia of tradition. Others are assembled whole-cloth from pieces of other earlier beliefs in an attempt to tap into perceived earlier ‘golden ages’ or purer forms of spiritualism. Some are breakaway sects of earlier churches, meant as reform movements. Others are straight-out shams created as cults of personality or as money-harvesting cons playing on the desperate spiritual needs of people.
Religions can be nonintrusive aspects of daily life, an assurance of a stable spiritual life apart from the daily grind of making a living, or they may dominate every aspect of daily life.
Disclaimer:
The following is by no means a complete coverage of the various aspects, rituals, ceremonies, or facets of religious culture. Nor is it meant as a sociological study on religion, or to satirize, critique, or endorse any particular religious belief. Religion can be a rich part of a culture, especially in a multiverse setting where multiple societies come in contact with each other.
And if a GM or player feels uncomfortable with the idea of exploring alien(in both the sense of being ‘foreign’ and ‘non-human’) religions or religion in general, then ignore the following.
a)Size:
b)Alignment:
c)Origin:
d)Type:
e)Organization:
(Gender of Priesthood)
f)Degree of Activity
g)Membership:
h)Recruitment:
i)Membership Duties
j)Observances
k)Taboos
l)Security:
m)Available Funds:
n)Special Features:
o)Outside Relations
p) Divine Backing
A. Size:
“This chapel seats ten thousand. We have global media links to five hundred other chapels across the planet. Then there’s the three dedicated hyperlink channels to our offworld dioceses...”
How large is the membership?
01-10% Tiny---Not more than 2d6x10 followers
11-30% Small---The church draws about 1d6x100 followers
31-65% Modest--All told, the religion has about 1d4x1,000 followers.
66-95%Large---The religion has several thousand followers(1d10x1,000)
96-00%Massive---The church commands the loyalty of MILLIONS of followers
B. Alignment:
“Kill them all. Let God sort them out.”
What are the core beliefs/philosophies of the religion? What moral and ethical standards drive them?
Note that this may not be readily apparent to new members
01-10% Diabolical----The leadership core values are devoted to the pleasures and whims of those who can seize and wield absolute power.
11-20% Aberrant----The religion has material goals and ambitions that it is willing to tread on the rights of others to achieve, but it prides itself on having honor and some lines it will not cross.
21-30% Miscreant---- The religion freely robs others, takes advantage of the weak-willed, but won’t intentionally kill for what it wants.
31-40% Anarchist----The religion has a freeform belief in allowing its followers to do whatever they can to advance themselves
41-65% Unprincipled----Good and Evil are mere concepts, though doing right by others is the best way, but it’s all right to help yourself along the way.
66-75 Scrupulous-----Adheres to codes of conduct about treating others, but sometimes, in order to do good, the rules may be bent a little, especially when opposing evil.
76-00% Principled---- Highly moral defenders of the Light and of Order.
C. Origin:
“This is the Book of Bob. It starts with Bob. It continues with Bob. It ends with Bob. There is only Bob. Bob is Bob.”
How did the religion get its start? This is also a possible indicator of how old the particular religious organization is.
01-30% Ancient----Nobody knows how the religion got started; it appears to have a continuous history dating back centuries or more(or so it claims).
31-50% Personal Revelation---The founder had a personal revelation that inspired them to start their own religion. This could become a Cult of Personality or it could survive the death of its founder to become something greater.
51-98% Breakaway Faction---The religion has its origins in a disagreement in an older, more established, religion. Dissidents with issues with the older church have decided to reject some, if not all, of the teachings and policies of the older belief system and form their own ‘purer’ form of it. The result may be a Cult of Personality(if the schism started with a charismatic dissident) or a Reformation(possibly a violent one).
99-00% Public Reveal---The religion was started as a result of a very public occurrence of some mystic or paranormal phenomena; this could be a UFO sighting, the planet briefly stopping rotation, or the open appearance of a god-entity or alien intelligence. Conversely, this might be the result of a collision of cultures, with some aspect of one mistaken by the other for a spiritual cause/effect(like cargo cults).
D. Type:
“Blessed are the Farmers, who give us our daily bread, blessed are the Cheesemakers for our tasty sustenance, blessed are the Vintners who provide us with fine spirit----Blessed are all who give us breakfast and make us ready for our day, every day. ”
What categorizes the central themes, organization, and goals of the religion?
01-20% Animism----The religion sees a range of lesser spirits distributed throughout animals, plants, and even geology, each of which are home to a divine spark. Harmony with nature is often seen as a central tenant of the religion.
21- 35% Pantheonic----The religion worships an organized plethora of deities, though smaller sub-sects and orders of the religion may focus on specific godheads.
41-55% Monotheistic---- The religion worships a single deity(though that deity may have an entourage of adjutant spirits to carry out its goals). Getting closer to that godhead plays a central role in the religion.
56-67% Ancestral----The religion worships those who have come before; ancestors are seen as having become ascended spiritual beings. Respect of one’s elders is often seen as part of the religion.
68-70% Cult of Personality---The religion is based around a single living leader figure who (supposedly) speaks with the voice of the divine and acts as a conduit for miracles. Note that unless some sort of divine-sanctioned succession system is established(such as provable reincarnation or transfer of powers) religions of this sort typically do not long survive the death of the leader figure. Automatically gets the Organization: Religious Autocrat.
71-80% Messianic----The church forecasts the emergence of a divine leader or godhead who will lead the faithful into a new era of prosperity/rapture free of the troubles of the current society.
81-90% Apocalyptic----The religion predicts a future disaster that only the faithful will survive.
91-00% Transformational---The objective of the religion is to facilitate some sort of transformation of the members into a superior state of being and entry into a richer level of existence. This can take the form of a divine/mystic transformation(magic transmogrification, bite of a vampire/werewolf/zombie virus), facilitated passage(traveling through a dimensional rift or into a black hole), or shedding of the flesh(becoming a cyborg or uploaded intelligence)
E. Organization:
“I am E’loth S’om, Divine Selector Third Enlightenment, Purple Spectrum High-Banner of the Adjutant Path of the Sub-Soul-Judger, Eighth Nirvana. How may I help you in your Dream-Journey?”
How is the religion organized with regards to priests and administration? A loose and local interpretation and administration of rites and doctrine may lead to a drift in canon and orthodoxy, while a stricter, more organization-heavy or centralized priesthood may become distanced from the needs of its followers, leading to schisms.
01-05% Self-Interpretation---Aside from a few religious guides, interpretation of the holy works and tenements is left to the individual believer(or may be assigned to senior family members).
06-50% Loose---There is a local priesthood, tied together by a loose network of communication between them and councils of monks, nuns, or elder priests who review and decide on matters of orthodoxy.
51-95% Strict Hierarchy----The religion relies on a distinct and strict hierarchy of religious administrators who pay obedience to the levels above them, culminating in a (01-75%) a religious potentate/guru/head of church, or (76-00%) a supreme council of church elders.
96-00% Religious Autocrat---The first and final word on all religious matters is decided by a single religious head whose rulings are unquestionable. Whatever levels of ‘priests’ that surround this person are merely transmitters and enforcers of the autocrat’s rulings.
Gender of the Priesthood:
“Gendethans, being selectively expressing hermaphrodites, consider the female mode to be the most spiritual, so becoming a mother automatically inducts you into the priesthood until you choose to opt out by becoming male.”
Many religions limit the interpretation and administration of religious matters to one gender, while the other sex may only participate in a support roll(as monks or nuns). A few groups allow both genders to act in the important roles of the priesthood.
01-40%Male
41-80% Female
81-00% Both
F. Degree of Activity
“-okay, I know we of the Sacred Valley do not talk to outsiders of our holy way of life here, but Hera the Wise has just appeared to me in the temple with several hundred refugees She says are now our responsibility to care for! We’re going to have double up, some of us, and count on providing extra seating in the temple!”
How aggressive is the religion in its growth? The religion’s growth and degree of interaction with others may lead to entanglements in affairs not directly related to the religion.
01-15% Isolationist---The religion has no plans to expand much beyond its current size. It increases its numbers only slowly, often just enough to replace lost members. They tend to avoid involvement in outside affairs(or conversely, they may be secretly manipulating events from behind the scenes, in order to protect themselves). May not take Evangelism under Recruitment.
16-75% Passive---The church has taken on a ‘come what may’ attitude to growth; if their divinity wants them to expand, it will show signs, and they will deal with it as they may. Their efforts to publicize themselves tend to be low-key and their participation in worldly affairs tends to be at the local level.
76-96% Evangelical---The goal of the religion is to spread its word and patterns of behavior far and wide. The success of its members is tied to the expansion of the church and the recruitment of new members. Tends to be very involved in outside affairs such as politics. Automatically gets Recruitment: Evangelical.
97-00% Pro-Active Mandate---The religion has a specific agenda that involves the outside world, to which it is actively working to carry out, secretly if need be. This could be deliberately setting up self-fulfilling prophecies, arranging for certain events to take place, creating the conditions for the birth and rise of a messiah, encouraging the growth of transformative magics or technologies, or laying the groundwork for an apocalypse.
G. Membership:
“Are you a robot? 011101100110101011010111001011100111001110101001110101
If you understood that, welcome to the Local Area Network of Univax One, the True Machine God, blessedly free of the influence of the Tainted Meat.”
Who is counted in the following?
01-50% Open---The religion preaches to EVERYBODY(well, just about anybody) who is willing to join.
51-70% Only members of a specific ethnicity or species need apply; all others are turned away.
71-85% Social Class/Profession----Only members of a specific social class or profession are allowed to join. The tenets of the religion will reflect the concerns and wants of those groups.
86-00% Preordained---New members are not vigorously recruited, but have already been ‘chosen’ by the divinities, and are expected to come around to the religion of their own accord, upon discovery of their special status. Depending on the Alignment of the religion, the ‘signs’ may be subject to fairly flexible interpretation.
H. Recruitment:
“*Pssttt*---Hey, buddy, have you heard the Word of Yog?”
How does the religion gain new members?
01-60% Word of Mouth----Word is spread by followers.
61-90% Evangelical---The religion has a vigorous public relations campaign that actively seeks to attract new followers through missionaries, public media, and door to door solicitation.
91-00% Mystical Selection----New followers are somehow magically informed of their new station, by a visit from a mystic seer, spirit visitation, dreams, or supernatural vision. Or maybe a psychic or magical member of the religion helps convince prospective members with a little ‘push’.
I. Membership Duties
“Thog only wants us to give an annual gift of oranges? That’s better than our previous church; they wanted our first born and sanity!”
To remain within the belief, members are expected to pay some sort of regular service to the core organization, be it as a test of faith or a more realistic contribution to the upkeep and maintenance of the organization.
May roll 1d4 times.
01-15% Pilgrimage---At some point in their lives, the faithful are expected to make a pilgrimage to a holy site.
16-25% Ritual Sacrifice----Followers make regular sacrifices of living creatures(the more Good-aligned religions may ameliorate this to symbolic sacrifices, while more Darkness-aligned sects favor blood sacrifices), or may purchase animals to be killed by the religion’s priests. More extreme beliefs may sanction the sacrifice of intelligent beings.
26- 50% Tithe----The devout are expected to give a percentage of their money/worldly goods to the church on a regular basis.
51-60% Personal Offering---Followers offer up some part of their physical bodies, be it the regular conurbation of lockets of hair, blood, or other bodily fluids, to more extreme forms such amputating fingers or toes.
61-80% Labor---Followers are expected to contribute work to the religion. building a temple, working on church farms, or working in the church in some capacity, such as servants to the clergy or congregation members.
81-00% Public Service---This could be washing lepers, cleaning sidewalks, policing forests of trash, or some other regular public service that takes time, effort, and takes the followers out of their immediate comfort zone.
J. Observances
“There is no shame in crying or screaming during the du’shoi-par. There is only shame in not making the effort to take hold of the Rod of Fire.”
Part of the religion requires some sort of regular signature observance.
01-20% Daily Prayers---Several times a day, true believers must engage in prayer. facing certain directions, or behaving in certain ways, may be part of the prayer ritual.
21-30% Mantra----Believers are expected to memorize and recite certain religious passages.
31-40% Special Foods---As part of religious observations, followers prepare and consume special foodstuffs.
41-50% Alms to the Poor---Followers are expected to give to the less fortunate if and when they can. This can include working in a soup kitchen or helping in a homeless shelter.
51-60% Material Offering----This is the regular offering(and destruction) of material to the religion’s godheads. This can be burning of joss sticks, symbolic money, grain, alcohol, donations of blood(the devotees own or other) or other material.
61-75% Specific Costume--- Followers are required to wear special dress or specific items on themselves. This may include iconic/symbolic weapons or materials.
76-85 % Care of Animals----Followers are expected to be kind and caring towards animals, especially any totemic species specific to the religion, but also animals in general.
86-90% Fasting----Followers must go without eating for a period of time; this may be for the duration of a historical event, or until the followers reach a delusional state of enlightenment.
91-95% Body Modification----Tattooing, piercing, ritual scarring. In some of the more extreme cases, this may involve magic, technological, or genetic modification.
96-00% Self-Flagellation---And other forms of mortification of the flesh. Many beliefs have rites of passage involving pain and endurance, such as walking across hot coals or being stung by insects.
K. Taboos
“So dragon is off the menu? Easy enough to follow, then.”
What sorts of things are adherents of the religion NOT allowed to do? Note that in many religions, especially those of core Selfosh or Evil aignments, these taboos apply only to the rank and file; the priesthood may have special disposition(covertly or overtly) to indulge in normally forbidden items/activities.
01- 10% Profanity----Obscene language, profanity, and/or casual use of the religion’s main figures in vain is forbidden
11-20 % Sex---Activities or objects that are sexually stimulating are forbidden. Or certain sexual practices are forbidden.
21-30% Violence---Includes abuse of animals, killing, possession of weapons.
31-35% Ostentatious Dress---Opulent or just plain showy clothing is not permitted under the taboo laws of the religion.
36-40% Media---Certain forms of media are proscribed, such as loud music, movies, holodrama, fantasy fiction, scientific journals, etc.
41-45% Wearing of Particular Materials---The truly faithful must avoid wearing certain sorts of fabrics/materials, such as fur, silk, leather, wool, or synthetics. Similarly, certain metals may not be allowed, such as silver, gold, or cold iron.
46-50% Clothes----(01-30%)Wearing of concealing clothes, or ANY clothes, is not allowed under the religion. Conversely(31-00%) REVEALING clothes are forbidden(01-60% of it applying to only one gender, 61-00% all genders must be covered up)
51-55% Speaking to Outsiders----Adherents of the religion are not to speak to nonbelievers. Similarly, writing to outsiders, especially of the practices of the religion, is forbidden.
56-60%Materials---The devout must refrain from handling certain materials, such as leather, the bare earth, excrement, metals, magnets, synthetics, etc. To do so requires special purification rituals afterwards.
61-65% Intoxicants---Alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, and other mind- and mood-altering drugs are banned. May be banned entirely or only the elderly or certain figures in the priesthood may use them.
66-70% Dietary Restrictions----The faithful may not eat certain foods, or foods prepared in certain ways.
71-75% Association with Specific Groups----Followers of the religion are not allowed to associate, be seen to associate, with specific groups. This may be lower castes within the religion itself, specific professions(such as butchers, leather workers, garbage haulers, or undertakers), or different ethnicities, beliefs(such as LGBT) or species(like non-human d-bees or mutants), considered anathema by the religion. To do so incidentally may require special purification rites afterwards, while willing association may be cause for censure or even excommunication.
76-85% Medical Procedures----The religion does not recognize or allow certain medical treatments, such as drugs, vaccines, psychiatry, surgery, organ transplants, abortions, x-rays, or cybernetics/bionics.
86-90% Technology---Certain types of technology are eschewed, as are the products of those technologies. Genetic engineering and gene-altered foods, Artificial Intelligence, nuclear power, powered flight, teleportation, to name a few.
91-00% Magic----The study and practice of magic is forbidden. If a magic-using religion/society, then certain kinds of magic are outlawed, or restricted to the priesthood.
L. Security:
“Silver Guardians of Nema! Claws of the Holy Eagle! Protectors of the Pure! Raise High Your Divine Arms and Prepare to Smite the Unworthy!”
How does the religion defend itself? What means does the religion have to deal with threats(mundane or supernatural)?
01-40% None---Other than locked doors on facilities, the religion has no real security. This is typical of the more pacifistic beliefs.
41-70% Warders of the Faith---Specially appointed wardens or proctors who have some self-defense training.
71-90% Holy Warriors---The religion actively trains special cadres of combatants, such as warrior-monks, empowered by religious decree to do violence in the name of the religion. The Denlech Defenders are a good example of this.
91-00% Soldiers of God----All members of the religion are expected to be able to take up arms in defense of the true beliefs. Part of their society is regular preparedness drills and weapons training.
M. Available Funds:
“...well, if we have another bake sale, we might be able to pay the power bill for the temple this month.”
How financially well-off is the religion? How much money can the church come up with for special needs, repairs, living costs, programs, and the like?
01-05 % Destitute---The religion is sorely wanting for resources, and typically cannot afford any permanent places of worship, nor lay out enough for ecclesiastical equipment. Priests must make do with thin-bare ritual garments or street clothes. Passing the hat, they may be able to grub up 1d6x10 credits at any given time.
06- 20% Poor---The religion barely has enough to make ends meet. Its places of worship often go without repair, and its priests work multiple positions both in and outside the church with little compensation. They might be able to scrounge up 4d6x100 credits’ worth of money to deal with anything that comes up.
21-70% Well-Off---The church is well-funded as much as they have the means to maintain their facilities, pay off workers, and support a few modest programs like soup kitchens, choral clubs, or religious festivals. Usually have a ready cash fund of 2d10x1,000 credits to work with.
71-90% Rich---The church is very well-off and can afford multiple properties, expenses, commission-work, and programs. At any given time they can come up with 2d8x10,000 credits in ready funds.
91-00% Obscenely Rich---The religion is wallowing in money and resources. Between donations, investments, and liquidatable properties, the religion can easily come up with 2d6 million credits’ worth of funds for projects and emergencies.
N. Special Features:
“ The Stel of Eternity appeared on this spot at the very beginning of our people. It was the messenger of the Heavens that educated our first holy men as to the Truth. See? See the place where the Stel stood? That is where the stuff of the Heavens touched the mundane earth.”
What else might the religion have to back up its beliefs?
01-20% Relics---The church holds items of religious significance such as reliquaries or magic items
21-40% Holy Tomes----The religion has a sacred text that is the reference source of their beliefs.
41-50% Retreat---The religion is able to hold services at a remote location where followers can go away from outsiders and commune with other believers.
51-65% Sacred Site---The religion holds a particular location sacred and important to their beliefs.
66-70% Secret Temple---The religion has a secret religious center hidden from prying eyes, where they can hold their most sacred rituals or safeguard important items. The location of this temple may not be even known to the general following of the religion.
71-80% Miracles---Whether it’s psionics, magic, technological trickery, clever staging, or actual divinity, the religion regularly produces miracles such as healing, fortunetelling, communicating with the dead, or walking on water.
81-85% Iconic Symbol---The religion has an iconic symbol that is easy to duplicate and easy to recognize, and can be readily displayed just about anywhere. It may or may not have special properties(like the cross does for vampires), most likely specific to its world/society of origin.
86-90% Art Works----The religion encourages, as a sign of devotion, the creation of art, some of which can trend towards the monumental. These artworks have become distinctive symbols of the religion.
91-00% Powerful Patron/Protector----The religion has at least one powerful supporter in a position of power or influence who can help the church in bad situations. The patron may be purely secular, or a secret member of the religion, but can extend them legal protection, or offer them places to hold services.
O. Outside Relations
“-- with the growing schisms amongst the Teletubbyists, we’re looking at the possibility of religious violence on a scale with the Barney Wars. That’s not counting the chance of nonbelievers interfering, looking to settle old scores----”
How well-received is the religion in general by others? They may be seen as the Only True Spirituality, harmless kooks talking to invisible friends, or dangerous lunatics playing with dark forces.
01-05% Branded Heretics---Followers of the belief are treated as pariahs at best, dangerous criminals at worst. The religion is actively outlawed and known priests are persecuted.
06-25% Tolerated---The church is regarded with suspicion and some distrust, but as long as they stay within local law, they aren’t overtly mistreated.
26-80% Accepted---Pretty much regarded as part of the social background noise. Unless they do something really good or bad, they’re generally overlooked by their neighbors.
81-95% Well-Loved--Even if one is not a believer, most people like and trust the followers of the religion. Either through good works or just general attitude, the religion is seen as a pillar of the community
96-00% State Religion----The religion is seen as THE belief system supported by the government of the largest polity in which it is located.
P. (Optional) Divine Backing
**”No, really, it is I, your Divine Being, come to Thank You for your continued support! I only look like this because I have been recently Intervening with the Chip’stra, a species over eight thousand of your light years away from here, who are also of My Flock!”**
What’s the REAL story behind the religion? Does it have any real divinity supporting it?
01- 50% Self-Written---The religion has NO real divinity behind it. It’s been created whole-cloth over time by generations of people misinterpreting(willingly or otherwise) natural phenomena and coincidences. ‘Miracles’ may be the result of a group placebo effect or the use of unrelated magic or psychic powers.
51-60% Scam---The religion was made up by mortals as a criminal enterprise to scam followers out of money, time, and labor. The confidence game may be especially long-running to the point that only the inner core of the priesthood know the true nature of the religion, or it may be a fly-by-night scheme. In the alternative, the religion is a front for outsiders using tricks(such as real magic or technological special effects) to gain a following for some often nefarious purpose.
61-65% Alien Intelligence----A powerful, but not divine, alien being is using the religion as a front for some (typically nefarious) purpose. The alien bears little, if any resemblance, to the divinity worshipped by followers.
66-70% Real Divinity---There is an actual god-being backing the church, though the god-entity may not have communicated directly with its followers in some time.
71-73% Pretender----The religion may have a real godhead they pray to, but the god/dess hasn’t answered/paid attention in some time, and another god-being has slipped in and is poaching followers.
74-00% Ambiguous(Agnostic)----There’s not enough physical evidence to prove conclusively that there’s anything to the religion, but just enough anecdotal evidence to suggest that -something- is going on. Whether this is the godhead being coy, or something else like a a mass psychic effect, remains unclear, but currently the argument for a real divinity remains up in the air.
Examples:
*Gendriytes---The Gendriytes are a small sect of Ultrovians(see Rifts: Phaseworld: Anvil Galaxy) who follow the teachings of the Pantheon of Gar-Gendri. They are less concerned with magic-for-magick’s-sake than the rest of the Ultrovians, which paints them as something of lazy deadbeats or failures by their fellows, but the Gendriytes are into carving rock formations on whatever planet they settle on, into representations of all five hundred of the gods and goddesses of Gar-Gendri. While their craftsmanship is exceptional(all work is done by hand and magic), their work has sometimes landed them in hot water with locals, especially in the Thundercloud Galaxy, where Gendriyte settlers have offended local sensibilities by desecrating sacred rock formations(or just the earth in general) with their carvings.
*Steppers---The Steppers are a megaversal belief system that states that the current material universe that we inhabit is just one step on a ‘Thousand-Thousand-Step Ascension’ that souls are traveling on their way to a near-infinitely distant godhead. All other religions and gods are either assistants or tests on that journey. Souls get reincarnated into new universes to continue their journey towards ultimate enlightment, but may become temporarily trapped on one plane by mistaken belief in the plane’s local religions or materialism, sometimes reincarnating hundreds or thousands of times in that universe until finally realizing their mistake and breaking free of the cycles to continue their upward path.
Steppers are generally pacifistic and peaceful in attitude, but there are exceptions. One of the recent disturbances with the Steppers is controversy over interdimensional travel; some Steppers see it as a heretical disruption by allowing souls to travel, in-body, from one universe to another, a trip that they should be properly taking via reincarnation. The hardcore Steppers forbid dimensional rift and time travel, but see them also a temptation-test to trap the unwary. The more extreme Steppers actively target time travelers(including Temporal Magic-users), Shifters, and any interdimensional travel mechanisms, including places like Phase World(which they regard as an abomination).
*The Temple of Vinlac---The Temple of Vinlac is a growing religious sect that is all the rage on Perbenes. It is the fastest growing religious movement on a world normally known for its apathy and drabness.
The charismatic head of the church is High Illuminary Photun Lustran who channels the Light of Illumination, speaks with the Tongue Divine, and has fired the imagination, energy, and faith of the Perbensians like nothing previously. His face and voice are everywhere on the planet, broadcast by the massive communications network of the Temple.
Truth is, the Temple of Vinlac started out as a smalltime scam by a confidence man named Eghas Trom, who planned on running an evangelical tent-revival long enough to bilk a few old ladies for enough to get him a ticket offworld. He decided to stick around to rake in a little more when the movement took off, and things snowballed from there. Trom planned on eventually bowing out quietly and slipping away with the loot, but the local government got involved, after noticing how much money the Temple was bringing in, and how it was affecting the populace. The government gave Trom a choice; stay as the religious head, issuing disguised proclamations from the government, who would quietly take a cut of the tithes. The alternative was that Photun Lustras would be retired as Trom originally planned, only he would die in a truly spectacular, real, and VERY final fashion worthy of a martyr. So now Trom sits at the head of the multi-billion-dinar Temple of Vinlac, overseeing millions of faithful, stage-managing miracles, and sweating at the close proximity of his ‘assistants’ who will readily have him ‘called to heaven’ if he steps out of line.
*Order of Vrogile---The Order of Vrogile is a small sect of devoutly religious worshippers of the Holy Vrogile, an ancient god of the planet Seclar.
The Vrogilites have been all gathered together by shared dreams, in which Vrogile appeared to them and warned them of a time of troubles that they would all perish in if they did not gather together in secret and away from other Seclarians.
Currently the few hundred Vrogilites have settled in a high and secluded mountain valley to wait out the coming apocalypse, the exact nature of which remains unknown, but is looming ever closer. A few converts continue to trickle in from the outside world and tell of mounting tensions between the various nuclear-armed nations of Seclar, or of concerns of pending environmental collapse.
*Meldara Crusade---The Meldara Crusade was once a peaceful and open to all religious organization serving the worship of the patriarchal god Armel, and had a limited distribution across several worlds of the United Worlds of Warlock and the Consortium of Civilized Worlds. Sometime in the last century, however, the Meldarans underwent a fundamental change and became the militant Meldara Crusade. The Crusade now preaches against the evils of the Gene-Splicers and the Gene-Tech, and seeks to destroy the beings and their creations, which are regarded as tainted by evil. The devout are commanded to take up arms and prepare to expunge Gene-Tech from the Three Galaxies. When questioned about the radical change in focus, the church elders have only responded that they have ‘received new marching orders from Armel”. They’re also mum on where they’re getting the massive funding that’s providing them with weapons.
*Chantri, Goddess of Slaves---On Kaldia, the slaves, under the widespread and highly organized chattel system, have several gods. Kaldia is a Persephone-like goddess who fell in love with her captor/husband and refused repatriation to stay by his side. The Chantrians are open only to slaves, and the religion maintains several secret temples to which slaves may make homage, to petition Chantri’s help with their masters or for their unions with their possessors to mirror the Goddess’s own.
The temples of Chantri are not as secret as the slaves might think, and in fact they receive secret support and protection from a number of high local governments and organizations, including slavers’ guilds, who see the temples as a way for the slaves to vent their enotions...as well as identify any schemes of rebellion to spies in the temples. However, the majority of priests and priestesses in the temples are actual slaves, ex-slaves, and freemen, and genuine believers.
To the abolitionist Greater New Englanders who have recently become martially involved in Kaldian affairs and have learned of the church, the Chantrians are known as the ‘Temple of Stockholm Syndrome’. It galls many of the GNE soldiers and officials that many of the Kaldian slaves, many of whom have been given or pledged themselves to the outsiders for fighting the rapacious Strelthi hordes and attendant warlords, regard the GNErs as Chantri’s sending to them, owing to the kinder treatment given their Kaldian charges.
Random Religions of the Megaverse
(Or ‘A priest, a swami, a rabbi and a yr’eog walk into a bar-”)
“It’s ZEES, not ‘Zeus’. You can’t hold me accountable if your followers can’t read!”
“Hello, can we talk to you about your plans for the afterlife?”
“.....get off my property or you’ll be finding out about yours firsthand.”
“Backsmack decrees: Everybody gets a cream pie...in the face!”
“Fazang is a just god, but more than just a god. We know it’s difficult to make a proper choice with so many other gods around these days, but Fazang believes in telling the truth and trusting you will make the right decision and put your trust in Fazang. We offer equitable and generous terms for joining, and ample evidence of Fazang’s existence and ability to perform miracles, so why not give Fazang a try? You will not be disappointed. ”
“Oh Chanti, Goddess of Slaves! Oh Chained One, Shackled Bride, Heartbound and Steelbound, we thank You for delivering us into the possession of a Good Master! Bind our hearts to Master’s as thoroughly as You are Bound with Yours! May our Bindings lead Master safely home through all dangers!”
Not everybody believes the same things, and PCs who get around Rifts Earth or the Megaverse will find themselves encountering a great number of different belief systems. Some are ancient, with histories stretching back to times immemorial, while others are more recent, the result of spiritual insight and revelation.
Some religions have the benefit of having an actual deity backing them with answered prayers, miracles, and visitations. Some survive on the power of pure faith alone, or by the inertia of tradition. Others are assembled whole-cloth from pieces of other earlier beliefs in an attempt to tap into perceived earlier ‘golden ages’ or purer forms of spiritualism. Some are breakaway sects of earlier churches, meant as reform movements. Others are straight-out shams created as cults of personality or as money-harvesting cons playing on the desperate spiritual needs of people.
Religions can be nonintrusive aspects of daily life, an assurance of a stable spiritual life apart from the daily grind of making a living, or they may dominate every aspect of daily life.
Disclaimer:
The following is by no means a complete coverage of the various aspects, rituals, ceremonies, or facets of religious culture. Nor is it meant as a sociological study on religion, or to satirize, critique, or endorse any particular religious belief. Religion can be a rich part of a culture, especially in a multiverse setting where multiple societies come in contact with each other.
And if a GM or player feels uncomfortable with the idea of exploring alien(in both the sense of being ‘foreign’ and ‘non-human’) religions or religion in general, then ignore the following.
a)Size:
b)Alignment:
c)Origin:
d)Type:
e)Organization:
(Gender of Priesthood)
f)Degree of Activity
g)Membership:
h)Recruitment:
i)Membership Duties
j)Observances
k)Taboos
l)Security:
m)Available Funds:
n)Special Features:
o)Outside Relations
p) Divine Backing
A. Size:
“This chapel seats ten thousand. We have global media links to five hundred other chapels across the planet. Then there’s the three dedicated hyperlink channels to our offworld dioceses...”
How large is the membership?
01-10% Tiny---Not more than 2d6x10 followers
11-30% Small---The church draws about 1d6x100 followers
31-65% Modest--All told, the religion has about 1d4x1,000 followers.
66-95%Large---The religion has several thousand followers(1d10x1,000)
96-00%Massive---The church commands the loyalty of MILLIONS of followers
B. Alignment:
“Kill them all. Let God sort them out.”
What are the core beliefs/philosophies of the religion? What moral and ethical standards drive them?
Note that this may not be readily apparent to new members
01-10% Diabolical----The leadership core values are devoted to the pleasures and whims of those who can seize and wield absolute power.
11-20% Aberrant----The religion has material goals and ambitions that it is willing to tread on the rights of others to achieve, but it prides itself on having honor and some lines it will not cross.
21-30% Miscreant---- The religion freely robs others, takes advantage of the weak-willed, but won’t intentionally kill for what it wants.
31-40% Anarchist----The religion has a freeform belief in allowing its followers to do whatever they can to advance themselves
41-65% Unprincipled----Good and Evil are mere concepts, though doing right by others is the best way, but it’s all right to help yourself along the way.
66-75 Scrupulous-----Adheres to codes of conduct about treating others, but sometimes, in order to do good, the rules may be bent a little, especially when opposing evil.
76-00% Principled---- Highly moral defenders of the Light and of Order.
C. Origin:
“This is the Book of Bob. It starts with Bob. It continues with Bob. It ends with Bob. There is only Bob. Bob is Bob.”
How did the religion get its start? This is also a possible indicator of how old the particular religious organization is.
01-30% Ancient----Nobody knows how the religion got started; it appears to have a continuous history dating back centuries or more(or so it claims).
31-50% Personal Revelation---The founder had a personal revelation that inspired them to start their own religion. This could become a Cult of Personality or it could survive the death of its founder to become something greater.
51-98% Breakaway Faction---The religion has its origins in a disagreement in an older, more established, religion. Dissidents with issues with the older church have decided to reject some, if not all, of the teachings and policies of the older belief system and form their own ‘purer’ form of it. The result may be a Cult of Personality(if the schism started with a charismatic dissident) or a Reformation(possibly a violent one).
99-00% Public Reveal---The religion was started as a result of a very public occurrence of some mystic or paranormal phenomena; this could be a UFO sighting, the planet briefly stopping rotation, or the open appearance of a god-entity or alien intelligence. Conversely, this might be the result of a collision of cultures, with some aspect of one mistaken by the other for a spiritual cause/effect(like cargo cults).
D. Type:
“Blessed are the Farmers, who give us our daily bread, blessed are the Cheesemakers for our tasty sustenance, blessed are the Vintners who provide us with fine spirit----Blessed are all who give us breakfast and make us ready for our day, every day. ”
What categorizes the central themes, organization, and goals of the religion?
01-20% Animism----The religion sees a range of lesser spirits distributed throughout animals, plants, and even geology, each of which are home to a divine spark. Harmony with nature is often seen as a central tenant of the religion.
21- 35% Pantheonic----The religion worships an organized plethora of deities, though smaller sub-sects and orders of the religion may focus on specific godheads.
41-55% Monotheistic---- The religion worships a single deity(though that deity may have an entourage of adjutant spirits to carry out its goals). Getting closer to that godhead plays a central role in the religion.
56-67% Ancestral----The religion worships those who have come before; ancestors are seen as having become ascended spiritual beings. Respect of one’s elders is often seen as part of the religion.
68-70% Cult of Personality---The religion is based around a single living leader figure who (supposedly) speaks with the voice of the divine and acts as a conduit for miracles. Note that unless some sort of divine-sanctioned succession system is established(such as provable reincarnation or transfer of powers) religions of this sort typically do not long survive the death of the leader figure. Automatically gets the Organization: Religious Autocrat.
71-80% Messianic----The church forecasts the emergence of a divine leader or godhead who will lead the faithful into a new era of prosperity/rapture free of the troubles of the current society.
81-90% Apocalyptic----The religion predicts a future disaster that only the faithful will survive.
91-00% Transformational---The objective of the religion is to facilitate some sort of transformation of the members into a superior state of being and entry into a richer level of existence. This can take the form of a divine/mystic transformation(magic transmogrification, bite of a vampire/werewolf/zombie virus), facilitated passage(traveling through a dimensional rift or into a black hole), or shedding of the flesh(becoming a cyborg or uploaded intelligence)
E. Organization:
“I am E’loth S’om, Divine Selector Third Enlightenment, Purple Spectrum High-Banner of the Adjutant Path of the Sub-Soul-Judger, Eighth Nirvana. How may I help you in your Dream-Journey?”
How is the religion organized with regards to priests and administration? A loose and local interpretation and administration of rites and doctrine may lead to a drift in canon and orthodoxy, while a stricter, more organization-heavy or centralized priesthood may become distanced from the needs of its followers, leading to schisms.
01-05% Self-Interpretation---Aside from a few religious guides, interpretation of the holy works and tenements is left to the individual believer(or may be assigned to senior family members).
06-50% Loose---There is a local priesthood, tied together by a loose network of communication between them and councils of monks, nuns, or elder priests who review and decide on matters of orthodoxy.
51-95% Strict Hierarchy----The religion relies on a distinct and strict hierarchy of religious administrators who pay obedience to the levels above them, culminating in a (01-75%) a religious potentate/guru/head of church, or (76-00%) a supreme council of church elders.
96-00% Religious Autocrat---The first and final word on all religious matters is decided by a single religious head whose rulings are unquestionable. Whatever levels of ‘priests’ that surround this person are merely transmitters and enforcers of the autocrat’s rulings.
Gender of the Priesthood:
“Gendethans, being selectively expressing hermaphrodites, consider the female mode to be the most spiritual, so becoming a mother automatically inducts you into the priesthood until you choose to opt out by becoming male.”
Many religions limit the interpretation and administration of religious matters to one gender, while the other sex may only participate in a support roll(as monks or nuns). A few groups allow both genders to act in the important roles of the priesthood.
01-40%Male
41-80% Female
81-00% Both
F. Degree of Activity
“-okay, I know we of the Sacred Valley do not talk to outsiders of our holy way of life here, but Hera the Wise has just appeared to me in the temple with several hundred refugees She says are now our responsibility to care for! We’re going to have double up, some of us, and count on providing extra seating in the temple!”
How aggressive is the religion in its growth? The religion’s growth and degree of interaction with others may lead to entanglements in affairs not directly related to the religion.
01-15% Isolationist---The religion has no plans to expand much beyond its current size. It increases its numbers only slowly, often just enough to replace lost members. They tend to avoid involvement in outside affairs(or conversely, they may be secretly manipulating events from behind the scenes, in order to protect themselves). May not take Evangelism under Recruitment.
16-75% Passive---The church has taken on a ‘come what may’ attitude to growth; if their divinity wants them to expand, it will show signs, and they will deal with it as they may. Their efforts to publicize themselves tend to be low-key and their participation in worldly affairs tends to be at the local level.
76-96% Evangelical---The goal of the religion is to spread its word and patterns of behavior far and wide. The success of its members is tied to the expansion of the church and the recruitment of new members. Tends to be very involved in outside affairs such as politics. Automatically gets Recruitment: Evangelical.
97-00% Pro-Active Mandate---The religion has a specific agenda that involves the outside world, to which it is actively working to carry out, secretly if need be. This could be deliberately setting up self-fulfilling prophecies, arranging for certain events to take place, creating the conditions for the birth and rise of a messiah, encouraging the growth of transformative magics or technologies, or laying the groundwork for an apocalypse.
G. Membership:
“Are you a robot? 011101100110101011010111001011100111001110101001110101
If you understood that, welcome to the Local Area Network of Univax One, the True Machine God, blessedly free of the influence of the Tainted Meat.”
Who is counted in the following?
01-50% Open---The religion preaches to EVERYBODY(well, just about anybody) who is willing to join.
51-70% Only members of a specific ethnicity or species need apply; all others are turned away.
71-85% Social Class/Profession----Only members of a specific social class or profession are allowed to join. The tenets of the religion will reflect the concerns and wants of those groups.
86-00% Preordained---New members are not vigorously recruited, but have already been ‘chosen’ by the divinities, and are expected to come around to the religion of their own accord, upon discovery of their special status. Depending on the Alignment of the religion, the ‘signs’ may be subject to fairly flexible interpretation.
H. Recruitment:
“*Pssttt*---Hey, buddy, have you heard the Word of Yog?”
How does the religion gain new members?
01-60% Word of Mouth----Word is spread by followers.
61-90% Evangelical---The religion has a vigorous public relations campaign that actively seeks to attract new followers through missionaries, public media, and door to door solicitation.
91-00% Mystical Selection----New followers are somehow magically informed of their new station, by a visit from a mystic seer, spirit visitation, dreams, or supernatural vision. Or maybe a psychic or magical member of the religion helps convince prospective members with a little ‘push’.
I. Membership Duties
“Thog only wants us to give an annual gift of oranges? That’s better than our previous church; they wanted our first born and sanity!”
To remain within the belief, members are expected to pay some sort of regular service to the core organization, be it as a test of faith or a more realistic contribution to the upkeep and maintenance of the organization.
May roll 1d4 times.
01-15% Pilgrimage---At some point in their lives, the faithful are expected to make a pilgrimage to a holy site.
16-25% Ritual Sacrifice----Followers make regular sacrifices of living creatures(the more Good-aligned religions may ameliorate this to symbolic sacrifices, while more Darkness-aligned sects favor blood sacrifices), or may purchase animals to be killed by the religion’s priests. More extreme beliefs may sanction the sacrifice of intelligent beings.
26- 50% Tithe----The devout are expected to give a percentage of their money/worldly goods to the church on a regular basis.
51-60% Personal Offering---Followers offer up some part of their physical bodies, be it the regular conurbation of lockets of hair, blood, or other bodily fluids, to more extreme forms such amputating fingers or toes.
61-80% Labor---Followers are expected to contribute work to the religion. building a temple, working on church farms, or working in the church in some capacity, such as servants to the clergy or congregation members.
81-00% Public Service---This could be washing lepers, cleaning sidewalks, policing forests of trash, or some other regular public service that takes time, effort, and takes the followers out of their immediate comfort zone.
J. Observances
“There is no shame in crying or screaming during the du’shoi-par. There is only shame in not making the effort to take hold of the Rod of Fire.”
Part of the religion requires some sort of regular signature observance.
01-20% Daily Prayers---Several times a day, true believers must engage in prayer. facing certain directions, or behaving in certain ways, may be part of the prayer ritual.
21-30% Mantra----Believers are expected to memorize and recite certain religious passages.
31-40% Special Foods---As part of religious observations, followers prepare and consume special foodstuffs.
41-50% Alms to the Poor---Followers are expected to give to the less fortunate if and when they can. This can include working in a soup kitchen or helping in a homeless shelter.
51-60% Material Offering----This is the regular offering(and destruction) of material to the religion’s godheads. This can be burning of joss sticks, symbolic money, grain, alcohol, donations of blood(the devotees own or other) or other material.
61-75% Specific Costume--- Followers are required to wear special dress or specific items on themselves. This may include iconic/symbolic weapons or materials.
76-85 % Care of Animals----Followers are expected to be kind and caring towards animals, especially any totemic species specific to the religion, but also animals in general.
86-90% Fasting----Followers must go without eating for a period of time; this may be for the duration of a historical event, or until the followers reach a delusional state of enlightenment.
91-95% Body Modification----Tattooing, piercing, ritual scarring. In some of the more extreme cases, this may involve magic, technological, or genetic modification.
96-00% Self-Flagellation---And other forms of mortification of the flesh. Many beliefs have rites of passage involving pain and endurance, such as walking across hot coals or being stung by insects.
K. Taboos
“So dragon is off the menu? Easy enough to follow, then.”
What sorts of things are adherents of the religion NOT allowed to do? Note that in many religions, especially those of core Selfosh or Evil aignments, these taboos apply only to the rank and file; the priesthood may have special disposition(covertly or overtly) to indulge in normally forbidden items/activities.
01- 10% Profanity----Obscene language, profanity, and/or casual use of the religion’s main figures in vain is forbidden
11-20 % Sex---Activities or objects that are sexually stimulating are forbidden. Or certain sexual practices are forbidden.
21-30% Violence---Includes abuse of animals, killing, possession of weapons.
31-35% Ostentatious Dress---Opulent or just plain showy clothing is not permitted under the taboo laws of the religion.
36-40% Media---Certain forms of media are proscribed, such as loud music, movies, holodrama, fantasy fiction, scientific journals, etc.
41-45% Wearing of Particular Materials---The truly faithful must avoid wearing certain sorts of fabrics/materials, such as fur, silk, leather, wool, or synthetics. Similarly, certain metals may not be allowed, such as silver, gold, or cold iron.
46-50% Clothes----(01-30%)Wearing of concealing clothes, or ANY clothes, is not allowed under the religion. Conversely(31-00%) REVEALING clothes are forbidden(01-60% of it applying to only one gender, 61-00% all genders must be covered up)
51-55% Speaking to Outsiders----Adherents of the religion are not to speak to nonbelievers. Similarly, writing to outsiders, especially of the practices of the religion, is forbidden.
56-60%Materials---The devout must refrain from handling certain materials, such as leather, the bare earth, excrement, metals, magnets, synthetics, etc. To do so requires special purification rituals afterwards.
61-65% Intoxicants---Alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, and other mind- and mood-altering drugs are banned. May be banned entirely or only the elderly or certain figures in the priesthood may use them.
66-70% Dietary Restrictions----The faithful may not eat certain foods, or foods prepared in certain ways.
71-75% Association with Specific Groups----Followers of the religion are not allowed to associate, be seen to associate, with specific groups. This may be lower castes within the religion itself, specific professions(such as butchers, leather workers, garbage haulers, or undertakers), or different ethnicities, beliefs(such as LGBT) or species(like non-human d-bees or mutants), considered anathema by the religion. To do so incidentally may require special purification rites afterwards, while willing association may be cause for censure or even excommunication.
76-85% Medical Procedures----The religion does not recognize or allow certain medical treatments, such as drugs, vaccines, psychiatry, surgery, organ transplants, abortions, x-rays, or cybernetics/bionics.
86-90% Technology---Certain types of technology are eschewed, as are the products of those technologies. Genetic engineering and gene-altered foods, Artificial Intelligence, nuclear power, powered flight, teleportation, to name a few.
91-00% Magic----The study and practice of magic is forbidden. If a magic-using religion/society, then certain kinds of magic are outlawed, or restricted to the priesthood.
L. Security:
“Silver Guardians of Nema! Claws of the Holy Eagle! Protectors of the Pure! Raise High Your Divine Arms and Prepare to Smite the Unworthy!”
How does the religion defend itself? What means does the religion have to deal with threats(mundane or supernatural)?
01-40% None---Other than locked doors on facilities, the religion has no real security. This is typical of the more pacifistic beliefs.
41-70% Warders of the Faith---Specially appointed wardens or proctors who have some self-defense training.
71-90% Holy Warriors---The religion actively trains special cadres of combatants, such as warrior-monks, empowered by religious decree to do violence in the name of the religion. The Denlech Defenders are a good example of this.
91-00% Soldiers of God----All members of the religion are expected to be able to take up arms in defense of the true beliefs. Part of their society is regular preparedness drills and weapons training.
M. Available Funds:
“...well, if we have another bake sale, we might be able to pay the power bill for the temple this month.”
How financially well-off is the religion? How much money can the church come up with for special needs, repairs, living costs, programs, and the like?
01-05 % Destitute---The religion is sorely wanting for resources, and typically cannot afford any permanent places of worship, nor lay out enough for ecclesiastical equipment. Priests must make do with thin-bare ritual garments or street clothes. Passing the hat, they may be able to grub up 1d6x10 credits at any given time.
06- 20% Poor---The religion barely has enough to make ends meet. Its places of worship often go without repair, and its priests work multiple positions both in and outside the church with little compensation. They might be able to scrounge up 4d6x100 credits’ worth of money to deal with anything that comes up.
21-70% Well-Off---The church is well-funded as much as they have the means to maintain their facilities, pay off workers, and support a few modest programs like soup kitchens, choral clubs, or religious festivals. Usually have a ready cash fund of 2d10x1,000 credits to work with.
71-90% Rich---The church is very well-off and can afford multiple properties, expenses, commission-work, and programs. At any given time they can come up with 2d8x10,000 credits in ready funds.
91-00% Obscenely Rich---The religion is wallowing in money and resources. Between donations, investments, and liquidatable properties, the religion can easily come up with 2d6 million credits’ worth of funds for projects and emergencies.
N. Special Features:
“ The Stel of Eternity appeared on this spot at the very beginning of our people. It was the messenger of the Heavens that educated our first holy men as to the Truth. See? See the place where the Stel stood? That is where the stuff of the Heavens touched the mundane earth.”
What else might the religion have to back up its beliefs?
01-20% Relics---The church holds items of religious significance such as reliquaries or magic items
21-40% Holy Tomes----The religion has a sacred text that is the reference source of their beliefs.
41-50% Retreat---The religion is able to hold services at a remote location where followers can go away from outsiders and commune with other believers.
51-65% Sacred Site---The religion holds a particular location sacred and important to their beliefs.
66-70% Secret Temple---The religion has a secret religious center hidden from prying eyes, where they can hold their most sacred rituals or safeguard important items. The location of this temple may not be even known to the general following of the religion.
71-80% Miracles---Whether it’s psionics, magic, technological trickery, clever staging, or actual divinity, the religion regularly produces miracles such as healing, fortunetelling, communicating with the dead, or walking on water.
81-85% Iconic Symbol---The religion has an iconic symbol that is easy to duplicate and easy to recognize, and can be readily displayed just about anywhere. It may or may not have special properties(like the cross does for vampires), most likely specific to its world/society of origin.
86-90% Art Works----The religion encourages, as a sign of devotion, the creation of art, some of which can trend towards the monumental. These artworks have become distinctive symbols of the religion.
91-00% Powerful Patron/Protector----The religion has at least one powerful supporter in a position of power or influence who can help the church in bad situations. The patron may be purely secular, or a secret member of the religion, but can extend them legal protection, or offer them places to hold services.
O. Outside Relations
“-- with the growing schisms amongst the Teletubbyists, we’re looking at the possibility of religious violence on a scale with the Barney Wars. That’s not counting the chance of nonbelievers interfering, looking to settle old scores----”
How well-received is the religion in general by others? They may be seen as the Only True Spirituality, harmless kooks talking to invisible friends, or dangerous lunatics playing with dark forces.
01-05% Branded Heretics---Followers of the belief are treated as pariahs at best, dangerous criminals at worst. The religion is actively outlawed and known priests are persecuted.
06-25% Tolerated---The church is regarded with suspicion and some distrust, but as long as they stay within local law, they aren’t overtly mistreated.
26-80% Accepted---Pretty much regarded as part of the social background noise. Unless they do something really good or bad, they’re generally overlooked by their neighbors.
81-95% Well-Loved--Even if one is not a believer, most people like and trust the followers of the religion. Either through good works or just general attitude, the religion is seen as a pillar of the community
96-00% State Religion----The religion is seen as THE belief system supported by the government of the largest polity in which it is located.
P. (Optional) Divine Backing
**”No, really, it is I, your Divine Being, come to Thank You for your continued support! I only look like this because I have been recently Intervening with the Chip’stra, a species over eight thousand of your light years away from here, who are also of My Flock!”**
What’s the REAL story behind the religion? Does it have any real divinity supporting it?
01- 50% Self-Written---The religion has NO real divinity behind it. It’s been created whole-cloth over time by generations of people misinterpreting(willingly or otherwise) natural phenomena and coincidences. ‘Miracles’ may be the result of a group placebo effect or the use of unrelated magic or psychic powers.
51-60% Scam---The religion was made up by mortals as a criminal enterprise to scam followers out of money, time, and labor. The confidence game may be especially long-running to the point that only the inner core of the priesthood know the true nature of the religion, or it may be a fly-by-night scheme. In the alternative, the religion is a front for outsiders using tricks(such as real magic or technological special effects) to gain a following for some often nefarious purpose.
61-65% Alien Intelligence----A powerful, but not divine, alien being is using the religion as a front for some (typically nefarious) purpose. The alien bears little, if any resemblance, to the divinity worshipped by followers.
66-70% Real Divinity---There is an actual god-being backing the church, though the god-entity may not have communicated directly with its followers in some time.
71-73% Pretender----The religion may have a real godhead they pray to, but the god/dess hasn’t answered/paid attention in some time, and another god-being has slipped in and is poaching followers.
74-00% Ambiguous(Agnostic)----There’s not enough physical evidence to prove conclusively that there’s anything to the religion, but just enough anecdotal evidence to suggest that -something- is going on. Whether this is the godhead being coy, or something else like a a mass psychic effect, remains unclear, but currently the argument for a real divinity remains up in the air.
Examples:
*Gendriytes---The Gendriytes are a small sect of Ultrovians(see Rifts: Phaseworld: Anvil Galaxy) who follow the teachings of the Pantheon of Gar-Gendri. They are less concerned with magic-for-magick’s-sake than the rest of the Ultrovians, which paints them as something of lazy deadbeats or failures by their fellows, but the Gendriytes are into carving rock formations on whatever planet they settle on, into representations of all five hundred of the gods and goddesses of Gar-Gendri. While their craftsmanship is exceptional(all work is done by hand and magic), their work has sometimes landed them in hot water with locals, especially in the Thundercloud Galaxy, where Gendriyte settlers have offended local sensibilities by desecrating sacred rock formations(or just the earth in general) with their carvings.
*Steppers---The Steppers are a megaversal belief system that states that the current material universe that we inhabit is just one step on a ‘Thousand-Thousand-Step Ascension’ that souls are traveling on their way to a near-infinitely distant godhead. All other religions and gods are either assistants or tests on that journey. Souls get reincarnated into new universes to continue their journey towards ultimate enlightment, but may become temporarily trapped on one plane by mistaken belief in the plane’s local religions or materialism, sometimes reincarnating hundreds or thousands of times in that universe until finally realizing their mistake and breaking free of the cycles to continue their upward path.
Steppers are generally pacifistic and peaceful in attitude, but there are exceptions. One of the recent disturbances with the Steppers is controversy over interdimensional travel; some Steppers see it as a heretical disruption by allowing souls to travel, in-body, from one universe to another, a trip that they should be properly taking via reincarnation. The hardcore Steppers forbid dimensional rift and time travel, but see them also a temptation-test to trap the unwary. The more extreme Steppers actively target time travelers(including Temporal Magic-users), Shifters, and any interdimensional travel mechanisms, including places like Phase World(which they regard as an abomination).
*The Temple of Vinlac---The Temple of Vinlac is a growing religious sect that is all the rage on Perbenes. It is the fastest growing religious movement on a world normally known for its apathy and drabness.
The charismatic head of the church is High Illuminary Photun Lustran who channels the Light of Illumination, speaks with the Tongue Divine, and has fired the imagination, energy, and faith of the Perbensians like nothing previously. His face and voice are everywhere on the planet, broadcast by the massive communications network of the Temple.
Truth is, the Temple of Vinlac started out as a smalltime scam by a confidence man named Eghas Trom, who planned on running an evangelical tent-revival long enough to bilk a few old ladies for enough to get him a ticket offworld. He decided to stick around to rake in a little more when the movement took off, and things snowballed from there. Trom planned on eventually bowing out quietly and slipping away with the loot, but the local government got involved, after noticing how much money the Temple was bringing in, and how it was affecting the populace. The government gave Trom a choice; stay as the religious head, issuing disguised proclamations from the government, who would quietly take a cut of the tithes. The alternative was that Photun Lustras would be retired as Trom originally planned, only he would die in a truly spectacular, real, and VERY final fashion worthy of a martyr. So now Trom sits at the head of the multi-billion-dinar Temple of Vinlac, overseeing millions of faithful, stage-managing miracles, and sweating at the close proximity of his ‘assistants’ who will readily have him ‘called to heaven’ if he steps out of line.
*Order of Vrogile---The Order of Vrogile is a small sect of devoutly religious worshippers of the Holy Vrogile, an ancient god of the planet Seclar.
The Vrogilites have been all gathered together by shared dreams, in which Vrogile appeared to them and warned them of a time of troubles that they would all perish in if they did not gather together in secret and away from other Seclarians.
Currently the few hundred Vrogilites have settled in a high and secluded mountain valley to wait out the coming apocalypse, the exact nature of which remains unknown, but is looming ever closer. A few converts continue to trickle in from the outside world and tell of mounting tensions between the various nuclear-armed nations of Seclar, or of concerns of pending environmental collapse.
*Meldara Crusade---The Meldara Crusade was once a peaceful and open to all religious organization serving the worship of the patriarchal god Armel, and had a limited distribution across several worlds of the United Worlds of Warlock and the Consortium of Civilized Worlds. Sometime in the last century, however, the Meldarans underwent a fundamental change and became the militant Meldara Crusade. The Crusade now preaches against the evils of the Gene-Splicers and the Gene-Tech, and seeks to destroy the beings and their creations, which are regarded as tainted by evil. The devout are commanded to take up arms and prepare to expunge Gene-Tech from the Three Galaxies. When questioned about the radical change in focus, the church elders have only responded that they have ‘received new marching orders from Armel”. They’re also mum on where they’re getting the massive funding that’s providing them with weapons.
*Chantri, Goddess of Slaves---On Kaldia, the slaves, under the widespread and highly organized chattel system, have several gods. Kaldia is a Persephone-like goddess who fell in love with her captor/husband and refused repatriation to stay by his side. The Chantrians are open only to slaves, and the religion maintains several secret temples to which slaves may make homage, to petition Chantri’s help with their masters or for their unions with their possessors to mirror the Goddess’s own.
The temples of Chantri are not as secret as the slaves might think, and in fact they receive secret support and protection from a number of high local governments and organizations, including slavers’ guilds, who see the temples as a way for the slaves to vent their enotions...as well as identify any schemes of rebellion to spies in the temples. However, the majority of priests and priestesses in the temples are actual slaves, ex-slaves, and freemen, and genuine believers.
To the abolitionist Greater New Englanders who have recently become martially involved in Kaldian affairs and have learned of the church, the Chantrians are known as the ‘Temple of Stockholm Syndrome’. It galls many of the GNE soldiers and officials that many of the Kaldian slaves, many of whom have been given or pledged themselves to the outsiders for fighting the rapacious Strelthi hordes and attendant warlords, regard the GNErs as Chantri’s sending to them, owing to the kinder treatment given their Kaldian charges.
