Building a setting that uses christian mythology as background.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:Jewish_legendary_creatures

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:Christian_legendary_creatures

Also snakes, pagan gods turned into demons (Crom Cruach or Moloch)

>>55357716
Lutherans.

>>55357716
You'll probably have to go back to the Old Testament to find interesting creatures (leviathan, behemoth, giant men). Old Jewish sources also have a lot to go by (golems, Talmudic demons etc.)

If you want to keep a focus on "Christian" tradition, demons and undead (i.e. vampires) were feared in the medieval era, though the latter has its roots more in local culture than Christianity.

Leviathan, Behemoth, Ziz

>>55357743
>Christian legendary creatures
>Tarasque
I like where this is going.

Make there three classifications of spirit.

Angels, divided into the ranks Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, and Angels. They were loyal to God during the devil's rebellion, and dwell in Heaven. Tie them to astrological medieval Planets and use a geocentrism Dante cosmology.

Demons, divided into Imps, Succubi/Incubi, and devils of various sins such as wrath and pride. They sided with Satan during his rebellion.

And, not technically Christian mythology but very thematic, the Fair Folk or Fae, spirits who remained neutral. Base them heavily on Greeco-Roman and Norse paganism and traditional fae stereotypes.

Also

>Not Theravada

Pleb.

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>>55357716
The Golden Legend in an ancient Catholic work that details all manner of fantastical stories about saints and the like. Perhaps reading through a translation of that might help you get the feel you're looking for?

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>>55357716
You can build a bit from medieval demonology like the Lesser Key of Solomon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesser_Key_of_Solomon

It listed the devils and gave specific rituals and times to summon them, plus what each devil specialized in. Designs for each devil were pretty out there as well.

Succubi and Incubi are notable. As are dragons. Werewolves and vampires are familiar to even non-christians.

What are those classic fuckers with horns and goat feet called?

>>55357970
>What are those classic fuckers with horns and goat feet called?

Satyrs?

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>>55357987
I thought saytrs have horse ears and tails?

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>>55357716
I like the idea of a Carolingian setting, a setting which would be drenched in Christianity. It would also be very atmospheric as this is probably when Christendom is at its nadir, with 2/3 of the Christian world overrun by Islam, the Teutonic woodlands still thoroughly pagan and Francia right at the middle of it all. This is as close as you can get to the popular myth of the "dark ages", right before the Carolingian renaissance.

Loads of room for interesting adventures, though it would require a lot of system reformatting.
>Saints are a big deal, any adventurer above a certain level (5-10?) is seen as a living saint
>There's no such thing as "magic"*, there's only two things: miracles from God or fuckyouhereticgoworshipyourdemonssomewhereelse. Frankish "magic" is mostly the former, pagan and Islamic magic mostly the latter beware of easily butthurt progressives
>Monsters may or may not be a real thing, dead saints may or may not show up in battle to aid you, Irminsul may or may not be a divine connection to the demonic realm that needs to be purged in holy fire et cetera
>Big Charlie himself may or may not send you on missions to right wrongs or drive the Moors out of Spain
It also gives you the opportunity to play an O.G. paladin.

>W-What about the Byzantines?
What about 'em, faggot?

*though if you want to play fast and loose, you can just have Christian wizards and simply refluff them as saints or prophets.

the most important monster in Christian mythology is the Leviathan

And obv Red Dragon and the Beast with 10 heads and 7 diadems or something like that

>>55358041
Imps? or just demons/devils in general

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>>55357716
The various types of angels.

Nephilim

Some Lords of Hell (read the first two chapters of Paradise Lost)

Don't forget that becoming a witch is surprisingly easy. Low level magic would be illicit, but widespread.

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>>55357716
Also Lilim

>>55357716
The absolute amorality of angels is great for this. They don't really give a shit about our notion of Good or Evil, they act according to a plan in service of a plan we can't see both sides of. Which means one might ride in, unfold the 17 wings that cover its body made of eyes, and murder an entire village.

Also, the Inquisition.

>>55357716
How will the players navigate this world?
Will this be a simple change in window dressing or is there more to it?

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>>55358440
Oops, wrong pic.

Also, what exactly is your setting?
Ancient Middle East?
Christian Europe?
The time before the flood?

>>55357749
Lost my shit hard.

>>55358515
Yeah, this is important. Is there room for pagan city states, or have they all been smited?

>>55358243
where can i learn more about this shit?

>>55358457
I too read the Mysterious Stranger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMN3i4tUy8M

Great source of legitamate Christian witch superstitions. Primary source of info came from the Compendium Maleficarum, so if you dont wanna read th Inquisitor's handbook, you can just watch the movie version

>>55357716

I always thought the Watchers were interesting.
They're angels who were sent to keep an eye on the humans but eventually came to love them. They were cast out from heaven because of their love for humans and because they taught humans forbidden arts like astrology and the creation of cosmetic items, ornaments and weapons,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watcher_(angel)

>>55358243
>you can just have Christian wizards

gifts, extraordinary powers of distinction of the holy spirit
>speak a message of wisdom
>express a word of knowledge and understanding
>wonder working faith
>healing
>working of miracles
>prophetic insight, interpreting divine will and purpose
>discern and distinguish between utterances of true spirits and false ones
>speaking various kinds of unknown tongues
>interpreting such tongues

>>55358243
where's the part where it turns out the old gods never died and then it's you and those piece of shit saracens against Genghis 2: Khan's Revenge

>>55358483
It's a mish-mash of christian traditions from everywhere. The primary parent cultures are a blend of traditions shared by a branch of Christianity

>Nestorians (blend of Persian, Assyrian, Mongol, Uighur, Chinese, and Indian believers)
>Orthodox (mix of East Slavic, Balkan, and Anatolian culture)
>Catholic (classic old western Frankish influenced Christendom, Knights & Castles and all that fairytale fun. But also more exotic branches like Kongo Catholics, Japanese Christians, etc)
>Oriental Orthodox (Coptic Egyptians, Ethiopians, Syrians, Armenians, etc)
>Protestants

The world itself is not really like ours. It has four continents for example.
>>55358558
Pagans are somewhat caricatures of what people have called heathens. I.E. Vikings, Romans as portrayed by early Christians (complete monsters), Steppe hordes, Man-Eaters from the tropics, etc.

>>55357716
Look up medieval and early Renaissance European beliefs about Muslim religion and make that the canonical evil faction.

I want to see an army of darkness worshiping the unholy trinity of Mahomet, Apollyon, and Termagant.

>>55357716
For a more contemporary Christian monster, use the Rougarou, the werewolf that only attacks you if you break Lent.

>>55359054
Interesting fluff, but what is the mechanical significance?
Was it a player request, why this particular setting?
>>55359148
>canonical evil faction
Don't go with 1 dimensional portrayals. Just give them a relatable yet antithetical motivation from the time period. Makes for better villains.

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>>55359264
Labor of love. I saw the Passion of the Christ a while ago which got me interested in Christian mythology and folklore. Even got into the apocrypha. I hear GURPs is good for this type of homebrew. Even my players don't know I'm working on this one.

But they enjoyed my Indian setting years ago so I figured why not try Christian folklore?

>>55357716
Go on /x/ and ask for old testament Jewish demons.
There a ton of them, with a lot of sigils, pentacles and shit related.

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>>55357716
>>55359054

If you're doing a Christianity inspired setting, it would be a crime not to include Pentecostals, Mithraists, Quakers, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Unitarians. It's an absolutely massive, ancient religion, and there's an absolute pile of mainstreams denominations, fringe cults, and badass figures to clean inspiration from. Read the books of Genesis, Exodus, Lamentations, and Revelations to get into the right mindset, and research some of the most significant biblical heroes, prophets, and villians here,

>> http://bibleblender.com/2014/biblical-lessons/biblical-history/complete-list-of-major-minor-characters-in-bible

If you're going to include Islamists, be sure read up on the Qu'ran, all things considered, it's a relatively short book and if you aren't a brainlet, you should be able to finish it in an afternoon. Also, it might help you to ask /x/ or /pol/ about their September 23rd doomsday prophecy, and to read up on the older pagan Caananite religious beliefs and Hebraic traditions. Best of luck, be sure to post your notes in the worldbuilding general when you've finished!

>>55359771

>*to glean inspiration from

Saints are a thing and so are their relics. Supposedly, relics carry power because they belonged to the saints. Pilgrimages and visions are solid quest excuses. Demons and aspects of sin can all make good villains.

>>55357743
>>55357763
>>55358424
These.

>>55358424
Is it really that easy? I assumed contacting a demon or the devil would be difdicult.

>>55360010

According to tradition, no, not at all, the devil and his demons are always tempting mortals and listening for the signs of sin.

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>>55359946
Which demon came up with the idea to use that font at that resolution?

>>55359771
IIRC there was a Berber sect OBSESSED with martyrdom so they'd harass and attack travelers until they got killed

>>55361058

Some kind of martyrs they must've been. So they were basically papist bandits? Who exactly did they harass? Pagans and heretics, or literally anyone? I must know more.

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The Vikings had an interesting idea of Jesus in the past. At first they said he sounded like a pussy because missionaries used the "martyr" angle. So instead, later missionaries presented Jesus Christ as a warrior God. Who let himself die (like Odin) but for the sake of his subjects. Viking Jesus had most emphasis placed on the 3 days he spent in Hell, battling with monsters and demons to rescue the souls of the righteous damned and triumphing over death and wyrd itself.

Vikings liked this Jesus more.

>>55361139
The Circumcellions. They hated slavery, private property, and debts.

They also hated bladed weapons because Jesus told Peter to put down his sword. So they'd attack travelers with clubs and fists while screaming "Praise God!" in Latin.

>>55361255
>while screaming "Praise God!" in Latin
not even from /pol/ but this reminded me of nothing so much as allahu snackbars
I guess we're not so different after all, huh

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>>55361158
Reminds me of a missionary journal I read from Ghana. In the old days, they explained Jesus to the Akan tribes as "the greatest of all hunters and the greatest of all fisherman, he has entered the bush (the bush is basically an eldritch hell in African folklore) and wrestled Asanbosam (an extremely feared, blood sucking, fire breathing, bush-demon and lord of all witches). The native preachers say "Jesus has wrestled him effortlessly, and twisted off his head! Never to trouble any of you again!".

>>55357783
>>55357716
Yeah OP, angels were weird as fuck.
The Thrones appeared as glowing wheels with eyes on them. This is why when most angels encountered humans their choice of words were "Fear not"

>>55361158
This is incorrect.

t. anthropologist

>>55361775
Elaborate

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make your angels weird (like they should be)

>>55361775
If we repeat it enough, it will become true.

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>>55357716
Samson's firefoxes

>>55361775
Really? I'd always understood it was something like that.
What actually happened? A long boring conversion by convenience or something like that?

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>>55361912
He's full of shit

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_Christianity

Vikings loved them some macho Jesus Christ

>>55357716
If we're talking about Christian folklore and not Christianity itself, don't forget to throw in the Hounds of God.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiess_of_Kaltenbrun

Also Prester John maybe.

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>>55357716
Abyssal Locust are cool.
Hordes of large, armored, fast moving, ultra-aggressive, intelligent monsters that have a debilitatingly painful sting.

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>>55359008
Early Judaism was monolatrist rather than monotheist, so it *could* work. That time the Medianites came to challenge God to a fire-off was seen as quite literally a holy war: the Medianites, representing their pagan gods, challenged Moses, who represented his God. You could either assume there were no Medianite gods in the first place, or that they were too busy getting their shit wrecked by God to respond to the pleas of their followers for holy fire. Assume the latter and burning trees becomes a lot more important.

>>55361158
>>55362578
Now I regret already having used the "Germany was a mistake" Charlemagne pic, because it sure is fucking appropriate right now.

>>55357716
Don't forget to include the lilim.

>>55357716
Look in the noncanonical gospels and "acts of saints," a style of literature popular in the early Christian world. There's one story of St. Paul baptizing an intelligent lion.
>Traditional Catholic
>Love early Christian heresy and popular literature of the time.

>>55358410
This Hierachy doesn't seem quite right.

Archangel is more of a title than a rank. Hence Archangel Micheal, Heaven's Number Two.

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>>55361158
>Viking Jesus had most emphasis placed on the 3 days he spent in Hell, battling with monsters and demons to rescue the souls of the righteous damned and triumphing over death
Viking Jesus was Doomguy

>>55365995
Who was the guy who got executed with arrows?

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>>55366771
St. Sebastian

>>55366894
Metal

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>>55366944
Don't forget St Bartholomew, who was skinned alive (and is patron saint of Tanners as a result).

>>55367235
Fuck me

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>>55357716
https://larzm42.github.io/dom4inspector/
check like this

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>>55366035
I tthink it's supposed to represent proximity to the throne, rather than power.

In any case, it's pretty inconsistent, like pretty much everything in the Bible.

>>55361790
>weird angels
No, make them cute so players can love them and find spiritual waifu that protects them.

>>55367319
Given that the angelic hierarchy is never actually described in the Bible, it's fair to say that the various representations of it are at best educated guesses. Inconsistency is to be expected.

>>55358410
>Thrones
>givers of positive energy

Well, damn. So how do they feel about those 'sending you positive energy(and likes)' Facebook posts?

>>55361407
>>55361158
>Jesus Fanfiction in action

>>55367621
Basically.

Most of Christian tradition is fan fiction.

It's like how Buddhist tradition is mostly fanfiction.

>Yeah, and then Buddha smooshed the monkey king under a mountain!

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>>55366894
>>55367235
What about Saint Denis?
>Be sent to evangelize the Gauls
>Reach (proto-)Paris
>Gauls decapitate me
>Zero fucks given
>Pick up head, keep evangelizing
>Walk to another hill in the city and die there
Legend has it that he was decapitated in what's now St. Denis and truly died in what's now Montmartre. Both are Muslim infested shitholes now.

I also find it weird that he has a very noteworthy sculpture on the Notre Dame cathedral, but it's never featured in the Disney adaptation of the Hunchback of the Notre Dame. Not even during the scene where the sculptures explicitly judge Frollo. Maybe some guy holding his own head would be way too scary for the kids?

>>55368434
>I also find it weird that he has a very noteworthy sculpture on the Notre Dame cathedral, but it's never featured in the Disney adaptation of the Hunchback of the Notre Dame. Not even during the scene where the sculptures explicitly judge Frollo. Maybe some guy holding his own head would be way too scary for the kids?
Was the statue around at that point?
IIRC Notre Dmae has gone through quite a lot of sculptures.

Nephillim are a thing

Humans with angel blood and incredible powers

>>55361442
>>55361790
>weird angels
They aren't, only thrones are.
+/- cherubims,depending on interpretation.

>>55357970
Pan.
Or Kallikantzaros

>>55361158
So Mithra?

>>55361158
Did you learn that from professor Drout?

That guy's a G

>>55369473
They do get pretty weird or at least non-humanoid if you go back to Judaism and Kabbalah.

>Hasmalim, Ezekiel 1:4
As I looked, behold, a storm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light around it, and in its midst something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire.

The Ophanim are wheels of fire, Ishim are described in the wikipedia article as being made of fire and snow.

Christianity has some interesting theological concepts, but it ('s modern pop culture form) being so heavily anthropomorhized and human-centric really makes it quite boring for fantasy settings.

>>55357716
>Building a setting that uses christian mythology as background.
Medieval Europe?

If you mean folklore and mythic/hagiographic stylings rather than the actual religion, it's going to be hard to avoid being cliched and also hard to distinguish it from either Old Testament/Jewish or Christian national mythology.

>>55357716
>Building a setting that uses christian mythology as background.
>What sort of creatures can I pull from Christian folklore?
>building a Christian setting
>focuses in the monsters
Pleb tier OP. When done right, the Christian theology, I would assert, offers one of the deepest, richest and most unique perspective you can get. But to do such requires a lot of study and learning about the Theology of Christanity and even more work to depict it in a way that does it justice without seeming like a lazy ripoff.
If you mean legends that come from Christian traditons, you mean European medival legends, which is to say the "generic" fantasy setting.

>>55366035
It looks like it's based more off Jewish mythology rather than Christian, esspecialy Catholic and it's offshoots, theology. Hence the inclusion of beings from non-canon works

>>55371914
Not sure if he can be mentioned without being jumped on here, but I like what I've watched so far of Jordan Peterson's Biblical Series.
Really has changed how I view the bible.

>>55372057
>Not sure if he can be mentioned without being jumped on here,mbut I like what I've watched so far of Jordan Peterson's Biblical Series.
While I disagree with some of his stuff, especially on that topic, it'd be unchristian to "jump on" you because of it.
>Really has changed how I view the bible.
How so? What exactly did it change?

>>55370397
>go back to Judaism and Kabbalah
A good thing real christians only follow new testament :^)

>>55372296
>heretics leaving out great works like Job, the prophetic books, psalms, wisdom, etc.
Though I guess removing books that don't agree with you is heretic's M.O. ;^)

>>55372296

> he doesn't acknowledge the Old Testament history

Borderline blasphemy.

>>55372177
Well, I didn't have much of an opinion on that book, but him explaining how the book captures knowledge about, for example, our evolution really made me appreciate the book.
Why humans are good at perceiving motion for example is partially rooted in us having to be aware of quite stealthy killers like sneks. And in the biblical story the snek is also a force that moves humans towards being more perceptive.
Basically similar with how fruits played a role in evolving good perception of colors to avoid poisonous ones. The apple in the bible also made humans more perceptive.

Those are just the basic notions that I've remembered - and can manage to reproduce (badly) - regarding parts that particular story. Forgot many other details also woven into that one story of the snek, Adam, Eve and the Tree.

>>55372353
>jew's fairy tales
>relevant
>>55372344
>listening to false prophets
lil

>>55372358
I see. Some interesting points, but it sounds like you missed out on the really good stuff, like Job and how it handles the problem of theodicy.

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>>55372416
>>listening to false prophets
>being a heretic

>>55372432
>but it sounds like you missed out on the really good stuff
Oh definitely, I'm sure of that. I do want to read the whole book at some point and watch his whole series on it.

>>55372495
>I do want to read the whole book at some point and watch his whole series on it.
You should, even from a non-religous perspective it's a fascinating read. May I ask what religous traditon you do adhere to, if any?

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>>55372461
>Catholic
lel

>>55372416

>>jew's fairy tales
>>relevant
> not only ignoring, but insulting Christ's words in Matthew 5:17, Matthew 5:18-19, Luke 16:17, and John 7:19

Outright blasphemy.

>>55372670
>heretic
Kek. Also, you don't even have to be Catholic to know that Christ said "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished."
You're just wrong no matter what denomination you're arguing against.

>>55372574
Sadly, not any really. I've been an turbo edgelord atheist in my teens. But I've gotten better since. Much better, I think.

>>55357769
Tarasque with giant feathered wings and a giant glowin ring growing out of its neck.

Don't forget about the divine curses up to an including being turned into a pillar of salt or a wild animal.

>>55359771
>it would be a crime not to include Pentecostals, Mithraists, Quakers, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Unitarians
*cough* mormons *cough*

Also OP, if you want some cool historical figures from christianity may I suggest:

>Samson the Nazarite (Judges 13-16), and Nazarites in general (Numbers 6)
>Gideon (Judges 6-8)
>Elijah (1 Kings 18) and Elisha (2 Kings 2:23-24)
>Joshua (Joshua 6)

Keep in mind that Joshua, Elijah and Elisha did a lot of things and I would definitely recommend reading more than just the chapters and verses I showed you.

Oh, and if you want some interesting monsters and creatures read Daniel 7 and Revelation 9:2-11 (Fun fact: people, including myself, believe John's description of this beast in Revelation is actually a helicopter)

Also, people believe that some angels are prophets. For example, the angel Gabriel that prophesied of christ's birth is Noah.

>>55361839
This anon knows what's up.

Anyway I hope what I showed you wasn't already covered by other anons.

>>55372742
Well that's good. I'll pray that God help you on this journey from your foolishness of youth, wherever it may lead you to. Have a blessed day anon.

>>55372815
Appreciate it. You too man.

Slumbering kings, smol dragons, travelers guised as angels, hermetic alchemists, the elusive Cain, relics, supernatural iconography.

Biblical sources will usually lend you more explicitly Jewish stuff. Christian or post-Christ mythos is mostly extrabiblical material evoking biblical themes.

>>55373008
>*angels guised as travelers

>>55372808
>*cough* mormons *cough*
What about them? We're talking about Christians, so why mention mormons?

>>55373112
B-Because they're Christian? They believe in Jesus Christ and the Bible? Because the Book of Mormon literally says "Another Testament of Jesus Christ" On the front? Because Jesus is mentioned a lot in the Book of Mormon?

>>55373421
>because they're Christian
*adds a new holy book*
SO HOL UP HOL UP
*claims god was once a man, and that we can become like him*
SO U BE SAYIN
*bans certian food and drink, despite god making all things clean in acts*
SO HOL UP U BE SAYIN
*denies the nicean creed*
AYYYOOOO SO U BE SAYIN
*fails to have a connection to the apostles*
U BE SAYIN
*adds a prophet after John the Baptist*
HOL UP HOL UP
*denies the inerrancy of the bible*
AYYOO U BE SAYIN
*claims god has a beginning instead of being eternal*
SO U BE SAYIN
*denies the trinity*
HOL UP SO U BE SAYIN
*claims satan and Christ are brothers*
WE WUZ
*claims there are many gods*
FINNA WE WUZ
*denies ex nihilo creation*
AYYYOOO HOL UP WE WUZ
*claims that salvation isn't possible with out Joseph smith*
CHRISTANS N SHEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT?

But seriously, Mormons are as Christian as muslims are

>>55372808
>>55373112
>>55373421
>>55373658

Original >>55359771 poster here, I mentioned Mormons as an example of a pseudo-Christian sub-cult that could make for an interesting mountain society in OP's setting.

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>>55359946
>Satanichia

>>55373421
Using that's definition, Islam is a branch of Christianity.

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>>55373658
kek

>>55371914
>When done right, the Christian theology, I would assert, offers one of the deepest, richest and most unique perspective you can get
Hey man, could you go into this a little bit? You sound like you know what you're talking about and the few times I've heard people speak on christian religious experiences it sounded amazing, but difficult to translate into mechanisms.

>>55375886
>You sound like you know what you're talking about and the few times I've heard people speak on christian religious experiences it sounded amazing, but difficult to translate into mechanisms.
Well, let's start with the basics, so let's begin with the nature of God. To understand that, we need to go back to the very beginning, which some claim is a very good place to start.
In the beginning, there was nothing but God. God has always and will always exist. He is "the alpha and the omega."
Now, God then created everything, setting in place the laws of science, the cosmos, everything. Why? Because of love. You see, God is love, or perhaps it's more accurate to say Love is God, for Love, Goodness, Existence, all these things are defined by God, rather than the other way around. So we now have 2 major points about God: He is Omnipresent (He exists everywhere and when all at once equally, for time and space mean nothing to limiting Him) and He is also Omnibenevolent, all good, all loving, etc.
Now, we fast forward a few billion years (because the history pf the universe as according to science is the history according to Christianity, it's been the position of the church since Augustine that this was the case). Now man comes about, and at some point man sins. Evil is brought into the world, and all men are left with the taint of original sin. This is a MAJOR point, because we learn that Evil is the fault of man, not God (we'll touch on that later with Job) and that Man is inherently sinful, but also made in God's image: we are given a soul, reason, a mind, etc. we are more than simple beasts, we are uniquely united with God. Now, this sin brings evil into the world, and thus begins what is known as salvation history: the slow but steady process of God undoing the death brought upon man by sin so that we may be united with Him forever, because that's all God wants, for He loves us more than we can ever truly know. part 1/who the hell knows?

>>55376448
so, we now come to abram, known as abraham. there's a lot of stuff here, but I'll boil it down to the essentials, because we got thousands of years of history to cover, and then all the philosophy and theology. Abraham is a bretty cool dude, moral and all that. God comes to him, says "yo, I want to give you stuff, serve me and I'll give you land, a ton of descendants and a whole bunch of great stuff! also, you got to chop off your foreskin." This is the first instance of the old covenant, which marks the beginning of God's work in bringing salvation to all mankind. Later, a bunch of stuff happens and we have moses. Moses frees the jews from egypt, while God shows off the fact that nobody is His equal, because if you were as powerful as He was, you would too. LAter we get the law given to moses, which marks the transition of the covenant to one that has moral and religious rules, a whole bunch of them. These serve as rules, that if followed correctly, will bring us closer to God, as He is slowly but surely trying to help us along the path to being perfect, as God is perfect. (more on that idea later.) Moses dies, jews get to the promise land, have trouble following the laws, so when they do God doesn't protect them and they get conquered, then they say "sorry God, we won't do it again," He helps them then the it starts over again. We go through kings, the prophets, the exile, and so on and we get to the period when the romans are in charge. Now this is going to shake stuff up a lot

>>55376545
Now we get to when God comes to fulfill the promise of the messiah. This right here is the culmination of salvation history. the angel gabriel is sent to the young virgin mary to tell her she shall bear a son. Mary, though confused, says "let it be done to me according to God's will," which is a huge HUGE thing that I could spend a ton of time on, but in short this is a major part of being a Christian: complete acceptance of God's will.
Anyways, after some things happen she bears a son and names Him Jesus. So Jesus grows up and around age 32 begins to go around judea and preach. His message is, I believe, the Truth, it teaches to love one another, mercy instead of revenge, to take care of the most lowly, to put other ahead of thyself. I could spend a whole life time on this, and if you have any questions please ask, but that's the very basic gist. Also, Jesus is God. He's also man. 100% human and 100% divine. And He upsets a lot of powerful people with His talk, because it shows the fault in their sinful lives. So they plot, and eventually they get Him crucified. But this is all part of God's plan: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. And by dying, Christ sacrifices Himself, He who is the Definition of perfection, love, goodness, and everything like that. He who amongst EVERYTHING ever deserved death the least, suffered willingly a death on the cross. Humiliating, painful, public. God, who loves us all, dies, because He love us. But it's OK, because through this God is able to break the chains of sin and death, and we now can gain access to eternal life! Now, Jesus comes back to life, and visits His friends and followers, and eventually He goes back up to heaven. And then His followers, filled with the Holy Spirit, go out and spread the news that Christ is Risen, that we are all saved if we follow the Lord's commands.

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>>55376448
>>55376545
pls no ghost, am reading

>>55376679
They suffer a lot for it, and eventaully all but one of the apostles will be martyred in very painful ways, but they all keep proclaiming the Truth of Christ until the moment they die. And, as it is the Truth, it spreads. Very quickly. now this doesn't make everyone happy, so there is a whole lot of persecution, and Christians, throughout their history, will experience greater persecution than any other group ever. But in spite of that, it lives, and it thrives. It becomes the official religion of the Roman Empire, who once sought to persecute it to it was gone. It spreads all across the world, becoming the largest religion by far. It survives tons of strife, both external and internal, and many great and interesting people like the saints help further it along. It will become the single greatest proponent and promoter of education, the arts, science, charity, peace, understanding and love.
Now, that covers all the basics in a very basic way. So what would you like to know more about:
The theology?
The life of Christ?
The saints?
The early Church?
The Old testament?
The philosophy of Christ?
The Christian world view?

Please, do ask some more detailed questions, because the makes it much easier to answer. I've got quite a lot of knowledge on this subject, and would love NOTHING more than to share it, but I need to know what exactly you would like me to tell you about.

>>55376682
Anon, don't worry. I'm a devout Catholic with a lot of knowledge on this subject who has recently been able to say yes to God's will even though I wasn't the happiest about what that meant. Given the opportunity to share my faith, I'm not going anywhere. I'm more than thrilled too answer you or anyone else's questions, but I would ask that we all remain civil and not try and start fights.

>>55376761
Do you have information on Angels? If not saints. Thanks in advance anon

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>>55376679
>Jesus is God
This always gets to me, because it seems to me like the impact of the whole message of self-sacrifice is kind of diminished when you've already planned ahead your own resurrection

>>55357970
If not satyr, then simply devils. Old Nick is often depicted with goat hooves.

>>55376761
I am semi-familiar with the lore, but thanks for going into it. Sorry if this is disappointing, but I meant more in translating it to a playable rpg. I'm not op, so I didn't mean simply as a setting.
Like I did a little reading on the gifts of the holy spirit as prospective class/archetype substitute.
I've listened to a couple sermons on spiritual warfare hoping to glean a new take on traditional combat only to conclude HP and Dx checks would be terribly inadequate representations. Jesus talking about sinful thoughts being equal to actions and the power of the tongue gave ideas of players doing combat on a nonmaterial plane with carefully formulated arguments and maybe deeper role play with divulging thoughts which constantly impact their performance.. That kind of stuff.

>>55376792
Yes, though I'll admit angels aren't my forte. Saints I can do, very well I like to think.
Well, angels, meaning "one sent" are spiritual beings and servants of God.
There are a bunch of them, and they have a very different looks depending on what they are. In Catholic theology the term "angel" refers to all spiritual creatures whether in glory with God or eternally separate from God in hell. They're more powerful than humans, but don't have quite the same connection as we do with God (this is why some fell)
They serve a variety of roles, from acting as messangers to singing the praises of God, to inspiring people, to the guardian angels, which is the angel each of us has that watches over us.
Now, they are substantial because they exist of and by themselves. They are not mere personifications of God's activity in the world. This is an important point, because it means angels are free to do as they please. This is how we get fallen angels, or demons. You know how I said that angels serve God, amd are good? Well, demons decided that serving God wasn't so great (they're wrong) amd they'd rebel. They lost, and were damned to hell. Now they try and bring mankind away from God. This is a very important and often overlooked point: demons are very real and are working against God in our very world. The promotion of sin, degeneracy and evil in the world? Demons tempted someone to do that. Great and horrible wars? Demons had a role in that. Every time you're tempted to do something wrong? You guessed it: demons are involved. This is way too often overlooked, and I would assert why so much more sin is in the world now, because as we all know from the Usual Suspects, the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing people he doesn't exist. That way, when I say "the Enemy is the cause of ISIS, Hollywood's promotion of sin, the rise of secularism and the increase of sin in this world" people say I'm crazy, and satan can lead them to damnation with him. 1/2

You know the question "Can God make a boulder so big, even He cannot lift it?"

The bible is full of metaphors, like all religious texts. Let's consider the boulder to be a metaphor. In the book of Job, Satan tells God that Job's faith will shatter if he loses everything he worked for. God then allows Satan to wreck Job's shit, but no matter what, Job remains pious in the face of despair.

Satan is an agent of God used to tempt man and test their purity. In this story, God did not rebuke Satan, and succumbed to His own sin of pride, the same pride that caused Lucifer to be cast into Hell. Satan is that boulder, and God created him. So yes, God did indeed create a boulder so big that He could not lift it. Or rather, He made a tempter so silver-tongued even He could not rebuke him.

>>55376908
Not that guy, but there is quite a bit of material on Jesus not exactly being excited about it even though he knew about his resurrection.

>>55376908
Even if it was part of your master plan, getting tortured to death still hurts like a bitch.

>>55376908
The essential core of the matter is that sin requires punishment, but only a -perfect- sacrifice could actually pay the price for all of mankind's sin. Since no man is perfect, God does it. In Christian theology, pre-Christian Jews were saved because their faith was looking forward to the Messiah, and post-Incarnation, people are saved by looking -back- to the Messiah.

The profundity comes in the fact that God - keep in mind that this is the utterly perfect creator of literally everything - deliberately and knowingly allowed Himself to be beaten, tortured, and executed by those He came to save, and in so doing, placed Himself on the receiving end of the punishment -we- deserved.

It's hard to explain, but basically the point is that Christ the Son takes the justice of the Father for us.

And no, I cannot give you an adequate explanation of the Trinity. I don't pretend to know how this stuff works.

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>>55376958
>I'm not op, so I didn't mean simply as a setting.
That's fine. Important to make sure the basics are covered anyways.
>Like I did a little reading on the gifts of the holy spirit as prospective class/archetype substitute.
Gee, that's a tough one. I'll have to think on that for a bit. Let me get back to you.
>>55376981
Now, just as a side note, dmanation does not mean the traditonal view of hell. That's fanfiction from the great work of dante "inferno" but it is not canon. Damnation is existance devoid of God. It's a symbol of love, as it's God respecting the desire one shows by their acts that they don't desire to serve Him, and allowing that. It's complicated, but it's an act of love nonetheless.
anyways, back onto angels: they have various roles and positions, but we can divide their jobs into a few different categories:
with regard to God, their office is to praise, bless, adore, and respond with perfect obedience to the will of God.
toward Jesus Christ, their office is to serve Him, even as man, as declared by St. Paul, "let all the angels of God adore Him" (Hebrews 1:6).
among the angels themselves, the office of the superior is to enlighten those who are lesser.
the angelic office towards human beings includes both directly spiritual interests and those material needs which are related to our heavenly destiny. Moreover, the angels' guardianship is over the whole human race. Under this providence are included believers and unbelievers, including those who have not reached the use of reason and, in fact, have not yet been born.
Now that's the basics on angels. Now on the saints, that's a very broad topic, but a favorite of mine.
So let me ask you what type of saint you want to hear about, and I'll talk about one:
One who served God through actions, like fighting in a war? A conversion story? A martyr? A philosopher? A holy, but normal person? A saint known for a miracle?
Also, here's a nice church for you all. It's the one I go to on sundays

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>>55377091
>One who served God through actions, like fighting in a war?
This one

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>>55376908
>>55377080
>And no, I cannot give you an adequate explanation of the Trinity. I don't pretend to know how this stuff works.
I can! Pic related. Basically, God is one in three persons, but each person is distinct yet still one with God. all distinct, but yet all 100% God. That's the best we can do, because this is one of the sacred mysteries, things the Church has said "yeah, this is what it is, but heck if we know how that works, we aren't God"
>>55376908
Keep in mind that Jesus was still 100% human while also 100% divine. If you knew what was coming, that you'd suffer all that, go to Hades (I think it was Hades, not sheol or gehena or one of the other parts of there.) then you'd not be thrilled either, even if you knew it'd turn out ok in the end. And Jesus wasn't, He asked God that if it was possible that He didn't absolutely have to, that He wouldn't, but that if He did, then He would. It's an absolutely beautiful scene, since it shows how human Christ was, that He wasn't just God but in a human body.

>>55377091
It's understandable. A lot of stuff I've read about sound awesome, but nigh impossible for me to conceive of mechanisms for simulation. Are there any core elements you feel must be included or anything you already have an idea for translating into a mechanism of an rpg?

>>55377144
She's mostly known for complaining to Jesus that her sister isn't helping her in the kitchen because he was distracting her and taming a turtle/dragon thing. Pretty based

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>>55376908
>>55377080
>>55377165
I gotchu famo

>>55377144
Alrighty then, let's discuss a favorite saint of mine, and a qt I might add (is calling a saint cute a sin? It's the truth after all, to say otherwise would be a lie), saint Joan of Arc.
Let's set the stage: At the time of her birth in 1431, the french and the English had been at war for almost 100 years. It was a brutal war over succession, and the english had been employing a scorched earth policy which has left france in ruins. The economy is in the shitter, the black death is on it's way out, the english have almost won, oh, and the king of france is a bit insane.
Joan is born in Domrémy, Duchy of Bar, in france, to Jacques d'Arc and Isabelle Romée. Her parents are moderatly wealthy, and joan lives a peaceful life, well as peaceful as you can get in france at this time. That all changes one day when, in her father's garden, she has a vision. Saint Michael, Saint Catherine, and Saint Margaret appear to her, and tell her to drive out the English and bring the Dauphin to Reims for his coronation. Joan reports that they were so beautiful that she cried when they left. She was just 13 at the time.
So, 3 year later she hitches a ride to a nearby big city, where she tells the garrison commander she must get an escort to go to the king. As one does when some random 16 year old girl comes up to you and says this, the commander sarcastically responded and sent her on her way. But joan wasn't detered, she was on a mission from God, and nothing was going to stop her. So she goes and get's the support of 2 soldiers under the commanders command, named Jean de Metz and Bertrand de Poulengy, telling them "I must be at the King's side ... there will be no help (for the kingdom) if not from me. Although I would rather have remained spinning [wool] at my mother's side ... yet must I go and must I do this thing, for my Lord wills that I do so"
For some reason, they agree to help her, and 1 year later she gets what she wants, a second meeting. 1/?

>>55376990
So is there anything to the idea that Satan and Lucifer are separate individuals and the use of those names to refer to 'The Devil' interchangeably is the result of a mistranslation? I remember reading that specifically in the story of Job and maybe Jesus' temptation that Satan was an angel serving God, as opposed to Lucifer, who I may be wrongly assuming to be the actual fallen angel and lord of hell?

>>55377388
I can give you the layman take. Devil and Satan are latin/hebrew for accuser and lucifer is a reference to a fallen king. What each of these means beyond that seems to depend on how they are reading the rest of the book.

>>55377144
>>55377353
At this meeting, she predicts that the Battle of Rouvray near Orléans, which seemed like the french would win given the latest reports, would reverse and the english would win. A couple days later, a message comes that says Orléans has fallen. With this, the garrison commander agrees to give her an escort to see the king. She's dressed as a male soldier to get through enemy territory, and she arrives to meet the young king Charles VII, who is only 26 years old. She is 17 at the time. She has a private conference with him, and leaves a strong impression on him, and later he agrees to let her go to Orleans on a relief trip his mother in law was planning. She is furnished with her armor, horse, sword, banner, and other items utilized by her entourage by donation alone, and she is accepted by the nobles because she is seen as the lone symbol of hope in a collapsing regime.
Now, she heads off to Orleans. the commander there, Jean d'Orléans, was not a huge fan of her, at all. He didn't tell her when they met, or when they were going to fight. Yet somehow joan ends up at the meetings and battles anyways. Joan turns the war into a holy war essentally, giving the french great hope. She never kills anyone, but in battle she uses her banner instead to inspire hope, and she also gives the generals advice which they heed, viewing her as inspired by God. With this, Joan begins to lead the french to victory after victory in the battle over orleans. Joan is wounded a couple of times, but she trucks on, and eventually the french recapture orleans. Now they have to decide were to go next. there is great debate, but joan suggests Reims, a place deep in enemy territory. the head commander heads her advice, and along the way they experience victory after victory, till eventually they capture Reims. There, Charles is crowned king, and the french monarchy restored.
Things are looking up for the french, but it was about to get very very bad

>>55377579
the french and english agree to a ceasefire for a couple of months. in the interim, Joan doesn't have much to do. She writes a letter to the a group of heretics known as the Hussites, saying she will "remove your madness and foul superstition, taking away either your heresy or your lives." She also writes to the English and says offers for them to stop their war with france and join her on a crusade against the Hussites. The English do not respond to her letter (though that would be a hell of a campaign to play, Joan with the english and french united against the Hussites and muslims.)
Eventually the truce ends and at Compiègne, joan is ambushed and captured by the english. She tries to escape her prison, including by making a 70 foot jump to soft earth below, and the french try the best they can to free her, but to no avail. The trial of Joan of Arc is set.
Joan is accused of heresy, sorcery, cross dressing (that whole thing where she disguised herself to get safe passage), and a whole host of other things. Though it is officially a religious trial, it's really "a ploy to get rid of a bizarre prisoner of war with maximum embarrassment to their enemies."
the trial is a complete sham, joan is denied a lawyer, the overseer isn't actually allowed to oversee it by canon law, many people from the church refuse to participate because of this, yet it goes on.
And despite this, Joan does amazingly. She dazzles the court with her ability, as a mere illiterate peasant girl, to avoid the theological traps of well trained and educated English theologians. a famous quote is "[when] Asked if she knew she was in God's grace, she answered, 'If I am not, may God put me there; and if I am, may God so keep me.'"
The treatment of joan is horrendous, she is denied female gaurds (nuns) in a church prison, when she requests that she be brought before rome here request is denied, which should have stopped the trial right there till rome can respond. The trial goes on

>>55357716
>>55357743
Grendel and Grendel's mother are said to be descendants of Cain (from Beowufl)

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>>55377730
Eventually that crossdressing charge rears it's ugly head. While it's defended by her supporters becaus eof practical reasons, and later by inquistors in an appelate trial, she is found guilty and condemend to die.
Eyewitnesses described the scene of the execution by burning on 30 May 1431. Tied to a tall pillar at the Vieux-Marché in Rouen, she asked two of the clergy, Fr Martin Ladvenu and Fr Isambart de la Pierre, to hold a crucifix before her. An English soldier also constructed a small cross that she put in the front of her dress. After she died, the English raked back the coals to expose her charred body so that no one could claim she had escaped alive. They then burned the body twice more, to reduce it to ashes and prevent any collection of relics, and cast her remains into the Seine River. The executioner, Geoffroy Thérage, later stated that he "greatly feared to be damned."
Eventually, the Pope allows a retrial aftger her death, and there Joan is found not guilty by the Church. It takes quite a long while, but on the 16th of May 1920, Joan is canonized by Pope Benedict XV. And that is the story of Joan of Arc.
Saint Joan of Arc, patron of France, martyrs, captives, military personnel and people ridiculed for their piety, pray for us.

Always that old (literal) flame war on the validity of the Trinity as an accurate representation of god.

But in any case, I am glad to see a spotlight on Christianity, as it is often dismissed for a "lack" of interesting beasties.

>>55378018
>as it is often dismissed for a "lack" of interesting beasties.
maybe by plebs. Levithan, demons, the tarasque, the beasts from revalation, Bishop-fish are all great.
Though I will agree that Chrisanity's strongest points are it's people and it's philosophy. And the catholic aesthic is GOAT