A different Community World Building Project 1[Religions]

[Iceforge]

Greetings Playgrounders!

Sorry, but a long post ahead

General Project Introduction

I have seen a lot of these community world building projects springing up here and seeing how I have been struggling with my current world building project (pretty much having almost all of the ideas and personal demands to the world in my head, rather than in typing), I figured I would give it a go to ask the playground for help.

Firstly, I must say that this is NOT a voting thread, as seems the most common practice for community world building projects; I am not going to give you options from which to choose, I am instead giving you creation power (stealing your creativity, more like)

This will be done in stages (this list may be changed during the proces):
1. Religions
2. Factions 1(Races and Cultures)
3. Factions 2(City States)
4. Monsters and Other Threats
5. The World Map (this one might just be done by me)
6. Revisions
7. The Crunch (this one might just be done by me and will most likely be seperated from the fluff)

As the project comes along, I will gather the approved/selected submissions into a thread and a most likely also a freely available pdf (as thats the format I prefer to have it in myself, and might as well make that available for the rest of you as well). A fair warning, however, I will be liberal in approving submissions, but even if I like and approve a submitted religion, it might not make it into the final world, as it nees to be tied further into the world in later stages (mainly the faction stages).

The General Theme/History of the Setting

This is going to be a high-fantasy setting with a focus on the humanoid races and their struggles with each other and against their surroundings in a world that has suddenly changed rapidly.
Most of the world used to be united under one rule lead by a now almost extinct race of humanoids. A mysterious disease spread through the ranks of this race, and as they have fallen, their empire has crumbled, and in the struggles for power, defenses against the other threats (dragons, giants and so forth) was neglected/disorganised, and many parts of the world are now dangerous territory, and many previously grand cities, castles and such have fallen to decay.
The current state of the world is that many smaller nations/city states exist and are trying their best to keep existing and growing in power/expand their territory, which should allow the players to take either a role as mercenaries, travelling around, offering their services to various rulers, or exploring adventures that travel to abandoned ruins in search of treasures, or they can even try and establish their own city state/nation/empire.

A few highlights for the setting I want to end up with:

Gods are a matter of belief, not something people can know if they exist or not
*As a result, there is not real distinction between arcane and divine magic (but thats a crunch homebrew, not a fluff homebrew)
*Furthermore, plane travelling is not going to be a part of this setting (at least not in a major way, if at all)
Religions vary from place to place and even within some cultures, its not simply a matter of choosing a God from a single world-wide Pantheon
Cultures and Factions are varied and not necessarily limited to one race
*There might be several factions of elves, humans, dwarves, orcs, and so forth and some factions consisting of blends of all or some of the races
Alignments are out, and no creature is inherently good or evil; Some people consider certain other races as evil, but its not an objective fact of the world
In general, think fluff rather than crunch, as while I will personally be using this homebrew for a DnD campaign, it does not need to reflect the system in any way; I will adapt my crunch for the setting once it has been created.


Why This Project?

I figure that if you know why I want to build a new world/setting, then we can meet on a more common ground.
I like to have a fleshed out setting before I start out an adventure that I hope will lead to a campaign, so that explains why I want a world at all, and don't just create a small area and then wing it from there.
The reason I do not just grab an established setting is many, but mainly, I have always disliked how simplified religion is; it is usually one Pantheon of Gods that people can actually know exist and people then decide which God(s) to worship, rather in which they belive in.
I want multiple religions, each can contain as many or as few Gods as they want and explain as much or as little about how the world works as it wants (almost, anyway)
I also want a variety of cultures that are influenced by said religions, either by one they hold to be true or by the interplay of several of the religions are being acceptable in the culture.
I also dislike how in many published settings, each race (with the occational exception of humans) are bound to one culture, i.e. One culture/nation of Elves, one of Dwarves, One of Orcs, and then 2-3 of Humans; Why should humans be more varied and split than the other races?
Now, you might say that my story of the world and these two things do not go well together; A world previously united in 1 empire would have 1 religion and 1 culture; The Fallen Empire did not institute a state-religion, but realized to avoid long and costly rebellions inside their empire, they had to let people keep their long held religious beliefs and support those, and let many areas function as almost independent small states, which was bound to give support (taxes and soldiers) to the empire and gained certain benifits in exchange (protection and financial aids of various natures), so some parts of the Empire functioned as local feudal lords bound to the Empire while other parts was small local democracies bound to the Empire.
The workings of the empire might be vague for now, but I am leaving it as such, as one of the religions (coming very soon that part) will become their religion, as that might influence if it worked as a sort of republic or was lead by an Emperor

This Stage: Religions

I decided that religions should be first; Religoins tend to influence cultures and how they work; If you find it easier to create a religion that fits to a culture, you can also submit a Culture+Religion, I am not going to be that strict about the stages (I will very much appreciate any constributions anyone is going to make to this project, as the span of this project is so vast that it is sort of staggering me, and has been blockade for me to even get going for a while)
Ideally, each religion should contain an origin story (that may or may not explain all of existance, maybe it just explain where the God(s) came from or it may explain creation of the universe itself)
Religions do not need to contain God(s), but must contain either God(s) or some supernatural substitute (Like Karma or a reward/punishment/destination after death (think "The Brothers Lionheart" for a deityless version of the afterlife))
Also religions can contain taboos and traditions tied to them, but this can be expanded upon later in the Cultures stage, and might be changed entirely if the made taboos or traditions doesn't fit into a desired culture.
You might include traditional worshippers, i.e. by race or a mix of races, but this might also be changed later, as it is not yet decided which races will be represented in this setting; That is decided during the Factions stage

Sample religion:


Religion of the Four

In this religions holy scripture, it is said that there exists many Gods, all but 5 of which are unnamed throughout the writing and of those 5, only 4 are worshipped.


Creation:

It is said that the world; Earth, Wind, Water, and the Stars was created by one of those unnamed Gods, and for a purpose unknown, and just existed in a barren unchanging state, until The Swirl, God of Light and Darkness, introduced shifting of Day and Night into the world and created Fire.

If he was created by one of the unnamed Gods, or had always existed is unknown, but the Father of Blood looked upon the creation so far, and used the power of blood to breath life into this world.

But the Father of Blood was lonely, so he created to himself his wife, Mother of Life, whom in turn looked upon the creation so far, and breath changes and variation into the world, splitting her husbands life into different shapes and forms, creation elves and trees, humans and orcs, dwarves and animals, all alike was created by her from the life her husband had created.

The Father of Blood looked upon his wifes changes and was pleased, but soon saw that the creation was stale, and created Birth and Death to the world.

For a long time, the Father of Blood and the Mother of Life was pleased with their creation, but then they felt something was lacking in their lives, and together, they created for themselves the Daughter of Soul, whom in turn looked upon the creation so far, and breath creativity and playfulness into it. For where she saw only sorrow and pain in someone falling and getting hurt, she created laughter and lightheartedness in those witnessing it, as well as compassion and empathy for the pain of others, so the creation would care and help each other. Not yet satisfied, the Daughter of Soul created for all life entertainment, to lighten their existance; Where there was before just sound, she created song and music. Where there was just words and actions, she created theater.

Once again, the Gods left the world as it was for a long time, viewed as wars was fought, viewed as great plays and acts was written and rehearsed, and enjoyed their creation.
But one last time, they felt the world growing stale, and the Father of Blood and the Mother of life created unto themselves a last child, the Son of Magic, whom in turn looked upon creation and breath into living beings the potential of himself, his sister and his parents, and let creation have the powers of creating and willing things into existance.
And since then, the Four have watched creation, and seen that it no longer grows stale.


God(s)/Force(s) of Worship:

The Father of Blood
The Father of Blood is worshipped and prayed to in regards to fertility and lethal struggles like war. He is both the giver and the taker of life.

The Mother of Life
The Mother is worshipped in regards to health and wellbeing; If the father is prayed to by the couple trying to conceive, they pray to the mother once pregnant, asking for a healthy child (and of the gender they most desire, if such be the case), for she shapes life once it is created.

The Daughter of Soul
The Daughter is worshipped and prayed to in regards to the fun of life, and often entertainers will pray to her daily that they may perform well and pleasingly for their crowds, or get the inspiration they need for their new play.

The Son of Magic
The Son is the favoured one to worship by those whom practice magic, as he granted this power to the mortals of existance.
Those seeking magical aid will often send a prayer to the son as well.


Other God(s)/Force(s) which are not worshipped

The Swirl
The Swirl created Night and Day, and fire to the world, and it is his ever changing nature that leads to the lengths of day varying, or fire being an untrustworthy force that might warm you from the fireplace, but might also eat up your entire house in flames, if left unattended.
The Swirl is unconcerned with life and the creations of the four, and as such is not worshipped, for the nature of the four is not influenced by the prayers or worship of mortals.

The Unnamed Gods
These explain many things of life, for which the other Gods provides little explanation, such as the misfortune of the farmer whose crops suddenly wither away, or the luck of the miner who strikes precious metals repeatedly.


Taboos and Traditions

Blood-oaths
In the Religion of the Four, the highest form of oath is a blood-oath, in which the 2 sides of an oath makes a minor cut in the palm of their hand before shaking upon the oath. Breaking such an oath forfeits ones life and those whom break an blood-oath is seen as the lowest of scum.

The 4 Grand Feasts
The Religion of Four got 4 yearly celebrations and holy periods, one dedicated to each of the Gods of Worship, consisting of 4 days each
During Winter, they celebrate the Father of Blood, traditionally including an animal sacrifice that is hunged and left to bleed out over the alter dedicated to The Father, the animal increasing in size each day (First day might be a squirrel, and the last day might be a cow)
During Spring, they celebrate the Mother of Life, traditionally including 4 feasts, one consisting of meals from each domain of life: Animal, Plants, Insects and Fish.
During Summer, they celebrate the Daughter of Soul, tradtionally this is where celebrated bard, minstrels and other performers will show of their newest performances, and everybody goes to see at least one show each day if possible.
And during fall, they celebrate the Son of Magic, during which time extraordinary friendliness and hospitality is showed to local and wandering mages and others gifted with the usage of magic, and those so gifted make displays of their magical powers at dawn and dusk for those around. Due to the rarity of mages, however, in some rural communities, these days are just celebrated with feasts, songs and the like.

Living on in the Bloodline
It is a big taboo to kill the last member of a Bloodline, as the dead are seen as living on in the blood of their descendants, and as such, by killing the last of a bloodline, you are destroying all that remains of the ancestry. It is a taboo that is broken at times tho, but never done without consideration and when other alternatives might still be viable.


Feel free to either post submissions as replies or post a link to a thread containing your submission (so you can get more organized feedback)
Also feel free to post feedback on the project or my sample religion (or posted submissions) as well, all help to this project from this great community will be appreciated.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, but in the finished thread/pdf, credit will be given to those who submit content, that was such a given in my mind, that I nearly forgot to mention it :)

[Malachi Lemont]

This sounds like just the kind of project I was looking for. I never get tired of high fantasy settings, but I like to explore different versions on them. Here's a religion I thought up - it can be perceived as good or evil, depending on your world view.

The Cult of the Vigilant

Members of this religion worship a single deity, the Vigilant One. The Vigilant One is supposedly genderless, but almost always described as male. He is omniscient, but set apart from earthly affairs. He can influence the minds of those on earth, but he does not directly interfere with the ways of mortals. He is a distant God, but one who never sleeps.

Worshipers of the Vigilant One sometimes draw images of their God. This is not considered heretical. He is always drawn as a supernatural creature with three eyes. One eye looks to the past, and reminds people of their former follies. One eye looks to the future, and warns them of what is to come. And one eye looks straight ahead into the present, and judges the actions of all mortals.

Prayers to the Vigilant One are usually silent, rather than spoken aloud. Ceremonies of worship are small and private, and consist of lighting a single candle in a dark room. It is considered a taboo to light two candles in the same room, for this is wasteful and insulting to the all-seeing eyes of the Vigilant One.

This deity has no ordained priests, although it is usually connected to state and legal affairs. In cities where the Cult of the Vigilant is widely practiced, judges and rulers will often have a symbol of the three eyes displayed prominently, in order to remind citizens that justice never sleeps. Members of the Cult usually have a strong sense of civic duty. They are quick to report crime.

There are two schools of thought within the Cult about how to punish criminals. Some say execution is the best, because that rids the sinners of their earthly bodies and delivers them to the Vigilant One to be judged. Some say that life imprisonment is a far worthier punishment, because the sinners should be forced to suffer on earth as long as possible rather than face the possibility of forgiveness.

In general, members of the Cult of the Vigilant believe in an afterlife, although some dispute its existence. However, their beliefs on the afterlife are rarely spoken of, for it is also a taboo to speculate on what might happen to you after your death.

[Iceforge]

Love the Cult of the Vigilant, thanks for the contribution :)

Going to bind myself to making at least 2 contributions each week, to make sure this project will advance :)

Added "Monsters and Other Threats" as a stage

[Alexkubel]

How about the
'Templar's of Josiah'

unnecessary phrasing I know

the Templar's of Josiah are an militarily minded cult, depending on your race, culture, religon and faction they are either holy warriors, or ungodly killers.
They believe in Genocide, the Chosen peoples will rule the world and, everyone else, must be exterminated, over recent history most of their genocide has been targeted at elves, Cult of the vigilant one, but they have been merciful to a select few nations, who they believe to be the ones who will inherit the world and as such need to be strong for the final holy war, and after the war can the non chosen be eradicated.

The Templar's worship a group of gods from multiple pantheons who they believe to be genuine, while all the other gods are fictions. Interestingly all the gods they believe in are either genderless, both genders or female, often the gods are depicted wearing a very limited number of clothes, and many of them are gods of war, strength or other warrior ideals. much of the Templar's ranks are also female, this set them apart from other religious groups for this fact, though Men are still hold some positions of power, these are usually because of their experience (such as head armourer, Master Trainer, Master Blacksmith, head of forges, head of book keeping, Master of battle, Master of stables). they use great underground caverns as temples, and have very few icons, their temples are smooth floored chambers with roughly chiselled roofs, a alter that rises from the floor and at the base disappears into it.

History:
The Templar's of Josiah have always been an extreme group, only due to their smallness of an order in the past could they survive, on many occasions they where attacked before their numbers became a threat, but they survived, in the recent turmoil though they've found great influx of people who believe seeing their village be nearly wiped out believe these people are truly following the right gods, though they in the past where hated by the government it is known now that a number of their attacks where actually government informed, they where tipped off on other threats in their area, both groups of course denied this heavily and still do. in the past they where rated a potentially very dangerous threat, and now march on their genocidial, regicide of a war to clear the way for the chosen peoples.


Attire wise they wear what is called Plate of Josiah named after the Templar's of Josiah, it consists of specially hardened metal plates made in such a way that they are near invisible, only the blood used in it's making is visible appearing in swirling patterns upon the body, strategically covering various points (though they are weaker then most other similar rarity metal armour) and leather underneath it. each suit is made for the wearer and uses their blood and will always fit, if there is an imperfection then the magic woven into it will fix it, such is the form with a tiny mental thought the wearer can make slight adjustments to their armour to gain an desired effect (e.g. making it slightly oversized to look more intimidating, though this doesn't help most people think it does). also worth noting the leather is there for comfort and public decency, it can be removed but is not recommended, it's a lot less comfortable and actually is less effective, though some versions use chainmail instead of leather, these are actually surprisingly comfortable and worn by the highest members due to the difficulty of forging the metal into the links.

the chest is covered in 3 parts, shoulder harness, chest plate and neck protector.

the shoulder harness is made of metal creating a V shape going though it for the neck protector (the bottom of the V goes out of the bottom of the plate), this part usually has the leather only going around the back and under the shoulders leaving their front of their body more visible.
the neck plate is a curved plate designed to protect the wearer from cutting blows to the neck, the actual neck plate actually also covers the lower part of the head and attaches onto the V in the other parts of the armour, usually the part in front of the head has a series of grills and is the only part of the plate with padding on it.
the chest plate is actually 2 pieces one to go on the back and the front part, it sits between the abdomen plates and the shoulder plate, and is fully backed by leather, this tends to be one of the pieces of armour the backing is not removed from.

Abdomen is covered by a series of thin-ish plates that are fitted onto a leather backing.
the arms are almost standard until you reach the gauntlets, each gantlet is designed with an inbuilt weapon usually either a sword, claws or hand crossbow, though other weapons are used.
the rest of the armour is fairly standard plate in design


potential player link: to hose who are on their, do not kill list and are lucky or stupid enough not to know the truth, will see them as an order of paladins who will select promising children to grow up to become paladins themselves, parents willing of course (they wont that people into their order from the ones who must die), it is not known that some will leave before their training is done to do what is called an adventure, their form of an apprenticeship where the young paladin is handed to some mercenaries who are trusted to learn from them, or to go off on adventures with other people, depending on their success they may be given a fast track though the ranks and become known officially as a quester, they as a quester must spread the word and enact the will to the order (class restriction of lawful good for paladin from the Templar's of Josiah, they must be lawful evil 'the end justifies the means')

[Thunderfist12]

Children of the Black Flame
The Children of the Black Flame are a people in a dying land, in service of a dying god. The Lord of Ash, He Whose Name Cannot Be Known, has weakened in power since his ancient battle with his brother, the Lord of Candles, He Who Kept The Shadow At Bay, and he has slowly lost his life force to the void over millenia of half-life. His followers draw from that lost power, and seek to return their master to life through the reanimation of his former life-force. The Children have created the first necromentals in service of their god, but they will not survive to create the last...

Godly Portfolio
???, Lord of Ash, He Whose Name Cannot Be Known
Domains: Evil, Fire, Magic, Shadow, Summoning


Six Tenets of the Black Flame
Though there were thirteen tenets when the Lord of Ash reigned in glory, seven have been lost to time. The Brotherhood now follows the six tenets that remain.

Thy brother in the Flame is thy brother in soul. Thou shalt do him no ill.
Thy power is not thine own. Do not use it against the will of Brotherhood.
The enemy of thy enemy is not thy friend, but thy tool. Make no such mistake as the contrary.
Thou shalt pray before the Black Flame each day at sunset.
The enemy of thy brother is thine also.
Any brother who disobeys the tenets is to be killed before the Brotherhood.

[Sergeantbrother]

The Cult of the Vahim

In the beginning there were many gods who dwelled in a void and formless universe. They sought to make for themselves world of forms and life that they could enjoy and rule over. Each god had special talents and proclivities and designed certain aspects of the world. One formed the earth and stone, another the air, and another created the forests, and so on.

Though as the gods made there world they began to disagree about how it was to be. Some wanted the lives of the living creatures there to be short and pitiful, full of death, disease, and suffering so that they would fear the gods and beg for their help. Other gods sought to create a paradise for life, one where the living creatures could attain for themselves powers like unto the gods and control their own world to fill it with joys. These two factions, the Rashim who sought to create a world of suffering and the Vahim who sought to create a world of pleasures, went to war with each other. The Rashim were more united in their vision of the world to come and better organized, they defeated the Vahim and cast them out of this new world, trapping them in the darkness beyond the edges of this reality.

With the Vahim defeated, the Rashim were free to create the world they desired. They made life short and brutal for all living creatures, made childbirth agonizingly painful, made diseases to kill off children before they reached adulthood, abused teeth to fall out, created famine plagues and war, and so that no mortal could live to long and gain too much knowledge or power, their souls would be snuffed out with death. The Rashim would rule over this world and demand sacrifices and adulation, lessening the suffering of their devoted worshippers just slightly for their devotion, lessening the effect of the occasional disease here, providing victory in battle for one devoted worshiper there. They ruled reality like megalomaniacal tyrants.

When the Vahim saw how the Rashim had created the world, they were furious and saddened at once. They resolves to put aside their differences and work together to break the barrier between the world and the void, so that they could retake reality or at least lessen the suffering of life here. There efforts had some limited success, making cracks in the barrier rather than shattering it. As the Rashim sought the keep out the Vahim, their control over the world slipped a little and the tyranny was reduced. As cracks opened in the barrier, some of the power of the Vahim could leak through and not only empower the sapient races of the world, but enlighten them as to the world in which they lived.

Soon many mortals began to hear the call of the Vahim, learning magic from them and utilizing their powers coming into the world. They began to teach this message to others and the Cult of the Vahim started, a religious based upon the veneration of the exiled gods with a hopeful eye towards some day throwing off the tyranny of the gods of the world and letting reality become an eternal paradise.

There are several prominent Vahim, some members of the cult focus their worship/veneration on a single god and some serve all of the Vahim. Each deity tends to represent a single change to reality or vision of what the things should be like.

Zelrek is a god of youth, of eternal youth in fact, of childhood innocence and fun. It is said that his desire was for reality to be an endless childhood free of responsibility and danger, where mortals could play and frolic forever with each day as fresh as the last.

Kuriox is a god of death and the afterlife. It is said that he saves the souls of all who die so that they cannot go into oblivion as the Rashim desire. It is said that he keeps the souls of the dead with him in the void, waiting for the day when he can create a worldly paradise for them. Kuriox wished for a reality free of not only death, but impermanence.

Ashanka is a goddess of pleasure, beauty, and sexuality. It is said that she sought a reality of carnality where all people could experience love and pleasure in what ever way they desire. Those who follow her believe in free love and in seeking pleasure in what ever way they can.

Akarak is a god of space itself, of distance and travel. A more esoteric deity than many of the others, it is said that he wishes to break down distance itself, so that any creature may be anywhere it desires when ever it desires. Some say that he would apply this change to time as well.

Hariak is a god of knowledge, as god who desires to set knowledge free that all sapient life may know all things that they desire. He is associated with science, scholarship, technology, magic, prophesy, and education. His followers believe in freeing all knowledge, there should be no secrets, no hidden information, none or are stuck in ignorance.

Chakari is the goddess of life, of endless life and the unity of all living things. She seeks not only that sapient creatures not suffer, but seeks to end the struggle between all living things, that they may live in harmony with each other rather than strife. Her followers seek to live in harmony with other living things, including natural plants and animals.

There are many others as well, though the above are the most well known.

Those who follow the Cult of the Vahim see the gods of other religions as the Rashim, as evil tyrants and thus oppose other religions and speak out against them. As a result, they themselves are often disliked by other faiths and when in the minority, must keep themselves secret. In fact, some members of other religions believe that the beings that the Cult of the Vahim worship are not gods at all, but rather demons who seek to turn people away from the gods with promises of power or liberation from rules.

[Iceforge]

How about the
'Templar's of Josiah'

unnecessary phrasing I know

the Templar's of Josiah are an militarily minded cult, depending on your race, culture, religon and faction they are either holy warriors, or ungodly killers.
They believe in Genocide, the Chosen peoples will rule the world and, everyone else, must be exterminated, over recent history most of their genocide has been targeted at elves, Cult of the vigilant one, but they have been merciful to a select few nations, who they believe to be the ones who will inherit the world and as such need to be strong for the final holy war, and after the war can the non chosen be eradicated.

The Templar's worship a group of gods from multiple pantheons who they believe to be genuine, while all the other gods are fictions. Interestingly all the gods they believe in are either genderless, both genders or female, often the gods are depicted wearing a very limited number of clothes, and many of them are gods of war, strength or other warrior ideals. much of the Templar's ranks are also female, this set them apart from other religious groups for this fact, though Men are still hold some positions of power, these are usually because of their experience (such as head armourer, Master Trainer, Master Blacksmith, head of forges, head of book keeping, Master of battle, Master of stables). they use great underground caverns as temples, and have very few icons, their temples are smooth floored chambers with roughly chiselled roofs, a alter that rises from the floor and at the base disappears into it.


Attire wise they wear what is called Plate of Josiah named after the Templar's of Josiah, it consists of specially hardened metal plates made in such a way that they are near invisible, only the blood used in it's making is visible appearing in swirling patterns upon the body, strategically covering various points (though they are weaker then most other similar rarity metal armour) and leather underneath it. each suit is made for the wearer and uses their blood and will always fit, if there is an imperfection then the magic woven into it will fix it, such is the form with a tiny mental thought the wearer can make slight adjustments to their armour to gain an desired effect (e.g. making it slightly oversized to look more intimidating, though this doesn't help most people think it does). also worth noting the leather is there for comfort and public decency, it can be removed but is not recommended, it's a lot less comfortable and actually is less effective, though some versions use chainmail instead of leather, these are actually surprisingly comfortable and worn by the highest members due to the difficulty of forging the metal into the links.

the chest is covered in 3 parts, shoulder harness, chest plate and neck protector.

the shoulder harness is made of metal creating a V shape going though it for the neck protector (the bottom of the V goes out of the bottom of the plate), this part usually has the leather only going around the back and under the shoulders leaving their front of their body more visible.
the neck plate is a curved plate designed to protect the wearer from cutting blows to the neck, the actual neck plate actually also covers the lower part of the head and attaches onto the V in the other parts of the armour, usually the part in front of the head has a series of grills and is the only part of the plate with padding on it.
the chest plate is actually 2 pieces one to go on the back and the front part, it sits between the abdomen plates and the shoulder plate, and is fully backed by leather, this tends to be one of the pieces of armour the backing is not removed from.

Abdomen is covered by a series of thin-ish plates that are fitted onto a leather backing.
the arms are almost standard until you reach the gauntlets, each gantlet is designed with an inbuilt weapon usually either a sword, claws or hand crossbow, though other weapons are used.
the rest of the armour is fairly standard plate in design



Very different and I like it. Its not easy to fit into the world, seeing how the world had until recently (a few generations ago) been united in one empire; While they would been allowed to practice each their religion, this one might been troublesome, due to the genocide part of it; But I could see it work in 2 ways (and others might see even more ways to implement it, once we get to the cultures stage); either as one of the few nations/city-states that was not incorporated in the Empire, so something around the coast and somehow kept at bay, and in some way being settled in such a benign area as for the Empire to not have bothered going after them in full force, and/or as a religion that used to be suppressed, but still had a few followers, which has now gained a mass influx of followers, seeing how it seems nature itself, or godly forces, have implanted a genocidal curse upon the leaders of the empire; What is that, if not a sign that the Templars of Josiah was the right, even if negleted, path?


Children of the Black Flame
The Children of the Black Flame are a people in a dying land, in service of a dying god. The Lord of Ash, He Whose Name Cannot Be Known, has weakened in power since his ancient battle with his brother, the Lord of Candles, He Who Kept The Shadow At Bay, and he has slowly lost his life force to the void over millenia of half-life. His followers draw from that lost power, and seek to return their master to life through the reanimation of his former life-force. The Children have created the first necromentals in service of their god, but they will not survive to create the last...

Godly Portfolio
???, Lord of Ash, He Whose Name Cannot Be Known
Domains: Evil, Fire, Magic, Shadow, Summoning


Six Tenets of the Black Flame
Though there were thirteen tenets when the Lord of Ash reigned in glory, seven have been lost to time. The Brotherhood now follows the six tenets that remain.

Thy brother in the Flame is thy brother in soul. Thou shalt do him no ill.
Thy power is not thine own. Do not use it against the will of Brotherhood.
The enemy of thy enemy is not thy friend, but thy tool. Make no such mistake as the contrary.
Thou shalt pray before the Black Flame each day at sunset.
The enemy of thy brother is thine also.
Any brother who disobeys the tenets is to be killed before the Brotherhood.


Another that I like; I am starting to see pathern :) Really love how all these ideas are all far removed from what I would have created myself, which is really the strength of doing it like this, cause religions should be varied.
But don't bother with domains and such, as thats related to crunch and as Im going to majorly rework the crunch, once I got the setting setup, it might be wasted effort, and would love that the setting that I end up gathering from this is untied to any game system, so anyone can take it and make a few adaptions and use it for their play, whichever system they prefer :)


The Cult of the Vahim

In the beginning there were many gods who dwelled in a void and formless universe. They sought to make for themselves world of forms and life that they could enjoy and rule over. Each god had special talents and proclivities and designed certain aspects of the world. One formed the earth and stone, another the air, and another created the forests, and so on.

Though as the gods made there world they began to disagree about how it was to be. Some wanted the lives of the living creatures there to be short and pitiful, full of death, disease, and suffering so that they would fear the gods and beg for their help. Other gods sought to create a paradise for life, one where the living creatures could attain for themselves powers like unto the gods and control their own world to fill it with joys. These two factions, the Rashim who sought to create a world of suffering and the Vahim who sought to create a world of pleasures, went to war with each other. The Rashim were more united in their vision of the world to come and better organized, they defeated the Vahim and cast them out of this new world, trapping them in the darkness beyond the edges of this reality.

With the Vahim defeated, the Rashim were free to create the world they desired. They made life short and brutal for all living creatures, made childbirth agonizingly painful, made diseases to kill off children before they reached adulthood, abused teeth to fall out, created famine plagues and war, and so that no mortal could live to long and gain too much knowledge or power, their souls would be snuffed out with death. The Rashim would rule over this world and demand sacrifices and adulation, lessening the suffering of their devoted worshippers just slightly for their devotion, lessening the effect of the occasional disease here, providing victory in battle for one devoted worshiper there. They ruled reality like megalomaniacal tyrants.

When the Vahim saw how the Rashim had created the world, they were furious and saddened at once. They resolves to put aside their differences and work together to break the barrier between the world and the void, so that they could retake reality or at least lessen the suffering of life here. There efforts had some limited success, making cracks in the barrier rather than shattering it. As the Rashim sought the keep out the Vahim, their control over the world slipped a little and the tyranny was reduced. As cracks opened in the barrier, some of the power of the Vahim could leak through and not only empower the sapient races of the world, but enlighten them as to the world in which they lived.

Soon many mortals began to hear the call of the Vahim, learning magic from them and utilizing their powers coming into the world. They began to teach this message to others and the Cult of the Vahim started, a religious based upon the veneration of the exiled gods with a hopeful eye towards some day throwing off the tyranny of the gods of the world and letting reality become an eternal paradise.

There are several prominent Vahim, some members of the cult focus their worship/veneration on a single god and some serve all of the Vahim. Each deity tends to represent a single change to reality or vision of what the things should be like.

Zelrek is a god of youth, of eternal youth in fact, of childhood innocence and fun. It is said that his desire was for reality to be an endless childhood free of responsibility and danger, where mortals could play and frolic forever with each day as fresh as the last.

Kuriox is a god of death and the afterlife. It is said that he saves the souls of all who die so that they cannot go into oblivion as the Rashim desire. It is said that he keeps the souls of the dead with him in the void, waiting for the day when he can create a worldly paradise for them. Kuriox wished for a reality free of not only death, but impermanence.

Ashanka is a goddess of pleasure, beauty, and sexuality. It is said that she sought a reality of carnality where all people could experience love and pleasure in what ever way they desire. Those who follow her believe in free love and in seeking pleasure in what ever way they can.

Akarak is a god of space itself, of distance and travel. A more esoteric deity than many of the others, it is said that he wishes to break down distance itself, so that any creature may be anywhere it desires when ever it desires. Some say that he would apply this change to time as well.

Hariak is a god of knowledge, as god who desires to set knowledge free that all sapient life may know all things that they desire. He is associated with science, scholarship, technology, magic, prophesy, and education. His followers believe in freeing all knowledge, there should be no secrets, no hidden information, none or are stuck in ignorance.

Chakari is the goddess of life, of endless life and the unity of all living things. She seeks not only that sapient creatures not suffer, but seeks to end the struggle between all living things, that they may live in harmony with each other rather than strife. Her followers seek to live in harmony with other living things, including natural plants and animals.

There are many others as well, though the above are the most well known.

Those who follow the Cult of the Vahim see the gods of other religions as the Rashim, as evil tyrants and thus oppose other religions and speak out against them. As a result, they themselves are often disliked by other faiths and when in the minority, must keep themselves secret. In fact, some members of other religions believe that the beings that the Cult of the Vahim worship are not gods at all, but rather demons who seek to turn people away from the gods with promises of power or liberation from rules.

Really nice, love that creation story.

Must really thank you guys for all the submissions so far; Came here and was surprised to see any more submissions, then noticed it was 2 submissions, and while I was downstairs for a bit before getting to reply, a 3rd one came :) Im psyched! :D

[Alexkubel]

Very different and I like it. Its not easy to fit into the world, seeing how the world had until recently (a few generations ago) been united in one empire; While they would been allowed to practice each their religion, this one might been troublesome, due to the genocide part of it; But I could see it work in 2 ways (and others might see even more ways to implement it, once we get to the cultures stage); either as one of the few nations/city-states that was not incorporated in the Empire, so something around the coast and somehow kept at bay, and in some way being settled in such a benign area as for the Empire to not have bothered going after them in full force, and/or as a religion that used to be suppressed, but still had a few followers, which has now gained a mass influx of followers, seeing how it seems nature itself, or godly forces, have implanted a genocidal curse upon the leaders of the empire; What is that, if not a sign that the Templars of Josiah was the right, even if negleted, path?


the latter was one of my ideas but I had to do something else before I could add their histoy, anyway the order was intended to only be of up to 100 people in the past and only recently swollen, I'll update it.

[Iceforge]

the latter was one of my ideas but I had to do something else before I could add their histoy, anyway the order was intended to only be of up to 100 people in the past and only recently swollen, I'll update it.

Cool :)

As I stated earlier, however, people might make adaptions to this stuff (and I will be doing editorial work on it to make everything streamline and fit) when we get to later stages, so perhaps both options will end up applying, if interesting and fitting cultures are made for both.

Question time:
I have been pondering this; Perhaps I should move the Monsters and Threats stage up before cultures; Perhaps deciding which monsters and threats exist in the world will influnce the cultures, or perhaps its okay as it is, as we will just make a list of monsters and threats that are required by the cultures?

I can see either working, I just wonder what others think will work best?

[Sergeantbrother]

Personally, I think that cultures should come first and that if the culture includes some monster or threat, it can be introduced along with that culture.

[Thunderfist12]

I actually agree with both of you: adapt the most common monsters before the cultures, and adapt others afterward to fit the cultures and to act as a product of something like magic biomanipulation or something.