Share with me your setting's religions. Currently working

Far too fiddly and complex for a single symbol. The main symbols aren't something a committee works out, it's what people use, and most likely somethign more directly related to the mythology or teachings than a laundry list of virtues. Christianity has the cross, Judaism the star, Buddhism often gets symbolised with the wheel. You want the [thing], not a bunch of things, and the easier that thing can be drawn or scribbled onto something, the better.

>>51577330
Fair enough, already using just the sun for mapmaking to be a church. Problem basically just comes to how early on I am in the process, I don't have a really solid idea yet, especially with this seeming particularly monotheistic and I'd like to have a few gods rather than just the one.

While belief in the existence of spirits is pretty widely held, the specific mechanics of it are fairly diverse.

The winter folk hold the belief that only people have spirits, and moreover that the spirits of ones ancestors hold much more sway over your life. This leads to a very large focus on lineage in their culture. They are also the progenators of the belief that the closer one is to death, the easier it is for them to receive wisdom from their ancestors, which leads to a couple cultural quirks. It explains why they are almost always led by the eldest among them, at any given moment they are likely closest to death. It also gives rise to a type of priest known as an oracle. These are people who willingly undergo intense torture to be brought within inches of their death, only to be brought back (hopefully with some wisdom from the otherside) many medical advancements in the setting can be attributed to this specific practice. In more modern practices the question becomes less about how close to death one can get and more about how long one can stay dead and mqke it back. Oracles are highly respected, but it isnt considered a profession.

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>>51577678
The summerfolk hold the beleof that thungs that walk, swim, or fly have spirits, but humans are the only ones with individual spirits. A humans spirit is as individual as their mind or body, however the animals of shudia operate under different rules. While a dog has its own mind and body seperate from that of any other dog, they share a spirit with every other dog. These grand animal spirits influence the world in favour of their species, humans ideally serve to maintain balance between the forces at play through selective hunting practices. The summerfolk priest class are known as shamans, and they rely on hallucinogens and mind altering chemicals to converse with the spirits of animals. Shamans arent necessarily associated with specific animals, mamy develope close relationships with animals spirits they interact with frequently. Modernisation and colonization of their native lands has made their practice somewhat less frequent, however their influence is still felt on modern culture. Fir instance, drug use is much less of a taboo in communiries that have strong summerfolk cultural influence. As agriculture has replaced tradition hunting the need for shamans to instruct and guide hunting practices has decreased, most modern shamans view their profession as a way to hold true to their cultural roots in the face other, more invasive cultural influences.

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>>51578030
Springfolk hold the belief that all things have a reflection or representation in the realm of spirits. The rivers, the mountains, the trees all have spirits of their own. In earlier times the creation of life in any way was viewed as a magnificent achievement, and considering the fertile soil of their native land its no surprise they developed horticulture and agriculture way before anybody else. The abundance and stability of food supply provided by agriculture and the celebration of life so central to their cultural identity lead to a very constant and fast population growth. Children became a status symbol, the more you could support the more capable and succesful you appeared to be. There are benefits and drawbacks to this practice, for instance those who are infertile are looked down upon, however orphans are almost unheard of. Springfolk are unique in that they have no dedicated priest class, the spirituals affairs of any given person are left to that person alone. This likely stems from the concept of land ownership developing early in theur culture, and the only spiritual relationship that really matters for anyone is their relationship to the spirits of the land they own. Modern springfolk culture is arguably the most secular, with large sprawling metropolises and less focus on agriculture as anything other than an industry. Large families and many children is still viewed as a status symbol, and private gardens are commonplace. Modern religious springfolk hold the belief that even buildings have spirits, as do cities much like trees in a forest. Prayer is generally done by way of gifts left at shrines dedicated to specific spirits. Unlike the summerfolk and winterfolk, springfolk typically dont have depictions of spirits. Where ancestral spirits resemble the person they represent and animal spirits resemble the animal, the spirit of a river lacks any sort of representative, or if it did it would simply be the river itself.

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>>51578945
>>51578945
Fallfolk are a different case. Theur native land was rendered uninhabitable by some event long before recorded history that rendered the very air there toxic to humans, they have lived in roving bands and caravans pretty much ever since. Unwekcome in most places they live on yhe move, nomadic with no land of their own. There are as many legends about the destruction of their homeland as there are caravans, modern scientists theorize a supervolcano or asteroid may have played a part but its a mystery as to why the air remains so inhospitable. Their religion, if it could be called one, has a very heavy focus on narratives passed down verbally through many generations. Stories upon stories, each as unique as the caravan they come from. Caravans also have a tendancy to pick up cultural quirks and practices from cultures they encounter, making most a hodge podge of all sorts of beliefs. Its not unheard of for locals to leave theur homelands for whatever reasons they have and joining a caravan, so before modern travel was a thing caravans were pretty much the main way cultures and races mingled with one another.

I would like to note at the end here that I dont expect my players to know all, or even any of this going in to my game. I believe its necessary to have this kinda shit to make a believable world, and ive found that if I make the game compelling and immersive enough the players will actively ask seek out more knowledge of the setting. I try to grant this kind of exposition through interaction with npcs and the world in game rather than through a wall of text. A sort of "show, dont tell" kinda thing. Ive been working on the setting for about 5 years now, and this is just very broad and general things anout it. My goal is to make a setting as deep and internally consistent and tolkiens, and have gone so far as to take college classes in sociology, theology, and anthropology for tjis specific purpose.

And yes, I am slightly autistic

>>51579379
You're my kind of autist, anon. I'd love to be one of your players.

>>51577226
I just took a bunch of pictures and concepts from Angelarium and gave them appropriate domains.

File: 1485082808192.jpg (196KB, 955x660px) Image search: [Google]

196KB, 955x660px

In a world roaming with massive titans of varying abilities and temperments a certain amount of them individually decided to take pity on the mortals that resided within their land, for whatever reason, some for power, some out of loneliness and some out of a great yearning to see them succeed, these titans taught certain spell groups and survival skills to these folks of varying races, giving them the tools to protect themselves from other more feral titans, as well as often being there to fight other titans themselves.

They adore their titans.

>>51579379
>I am slightly autistic
Congratulations, now I regret reading your posts.

>>51579379
Should also note that not every belief in the setting is right. as a DM I am aware of what the |"rules" are on spirits and what have you but a lot of the beliefs are based on false observations. I think it adds a sort of mysticism to the religious aspect of the setting.

>>51579564
Thank you, I really mean that

>>51582095
I'm just happy anyone read it.

>>51582583
Definitely, it'll be especially neat if your players start to piece together what's really going on with the spirits and work out what's just myth.