by Max Barry

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Region: The Western Isles

Dothrakia wrote:I was trying to have a situation where deities from one religion are adopted by another religion. For example, Hindu deities being adopted by Jainism where the founding religion might be Norse hence Odin as the king of gods, but they take Zeus and he is still a sky god, but not the king of gods.
And figuring out the beliefs/rituals/practices was part of what I was having trouble with. Coming from a not very religious family, I'm not really sure what I need, or where to start looking for a breakdown of what my religion would have in terms of rituals.

Why is this one religion adopting another's gods? In real life, this usually happens for one of two reasons: 1) the adopting culture conquered the adopted culture and the gods are absorbed as the adopted culture becomes integrated into the conquering culture (see: Rome), or; 2) a conquered or displaced culture refuses to give up all of their beliefs while also adopting the beliefs of their conqueror or displacer to prevent possible conflict resultant from the clash (see: Haitian Voudou). Note that the Jains didn't adopt Hindu gods: both Jainism and Hinduism evolved from the same root beliefs. They evolved side by side.

If this is a situation 1 scenario, what I said before where associations are made and gods are either blended or added is very likely (this happened in Greece, Rome, China, with the Aztecs as their empire grew, etc. etc.). If it's situation 2, we have something more like what you have (think Japanese Zen Buddhism and Shinto existing side-by-side for an example), but there's still issues. Namely, over centuries, the joints where the two religions were welded together should wear down to be almost invisible, but what we have here is just a list of names with very different etymological roots just unchanged over time and glued together. It looks very strange.

As for beliefs, rituals and practice, consider the following as simple base questions that are worth asking about your religion:

1) What morals does your religion foster? For example, Christianity (in writing) values temperance, patience, community, devotion and commitment, while ancient Norse belief would have fostered strength, cunning, personal achievement, loyalty and oaths.
2) Where do people worship and how are these spaces laid out? A mosque is very different from a Catholic church which is different from a Buddhist temple. Form follows function. Look at the interior layouts of a few places of worship in photos online and imagine how a person in that space would need to act while worshipping. For example, most Christian churches have a pulpit from which a priest sermonizes, and all seats face that point (which may also be at or near the altar, itself a symbol of importance). Meanwhile, many mosques have no pulpits at all and instead have wide open space with markers on the ground for the direction to Mecca, encouraging bowed prayer. The form of a worship space will explain a lot about its intended function. There's a reason why temples in MS' religion tend to be giant mausoleums with walking space for people to read nameplates.
3) How is the religion transmitted? Is it primarily traditional, or is it codified in writing? This will say a lot about the structure of the religion.
4) Is there a priesthood and what rules do they need to follow (if any)? Do they have a hierarchy? Who dictates doctrine and dogma?
5) Are there multiple sects of the religion and where do they disagree?
6) How do people pray? Are sacrifices required?
7) What holidays exist and why? Who celebrates them and how?

That's just a start. I recommend opening the Wiki page for any given religion and scumming through the various headings provided. They'll provide you a good sense for the requirements of a religion.

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