You would think in a land surrounded by magic we'd have gotten beyond the concept of organized devotion to "gods". I consider myself a god! With how long I've lived and my general influence on this world I've done more for this place then most of these so called gods anyway! That sounds egotistical, but its not ego if its the truth! On to the religions I've run across. This is by no means a complete list (much like my magic one from yesterday, think of these as the major groups currently openly practicing).
Followers of Fire: Two groups here really, Priests of the Fire God and Servants of the Fire God. Major distinction being that priests are generally magical followers and servants their none magical breatheren. They are a structured group and one of the most popular religions in this world. Both sects answer to a council who makes the majority of decisions for belief. The Fire God they worship has no formal name other then "Fire God" she is the goddess of war and destruction, to serve in their religion is to engage in martial struggle and worship death on the battlefield. She is also associated as a god of revenge (gee what a shock there), common swearing involved with her religion are "*Blank* Five Fires" Denoting their levels of the underworld (the Fire God is said to preside over five fires a place of hellish torment for failing to be strong in combat. By contrast ascendence also involves going to the Five Fires, but instead of being tormented you are the soldiers who keeps the broken fallen in check, its more then a little screwed up).Devout followers seeks to breed often so that more soldiers can be born (seriously their places of worship are like sex clubs with as much interbreeding goes on) and be the best warriors they can be. Typical temples of The Fire God are stone structures with a central fire in the middle and stone pews around (comfort is not really something they care too much about). A normal service is a reading of the Chronicles of Fire (their holy book until printing presses made it more easily printable copies of it were always hand written, and even now finding a hand written copy is a major seller for any devote follower) followed by martial display (male or female the fire god cares not) after that you are released to go about your day. Service is always in the morning though temples are open all day to show your worship or test your strength against one of their clergy. Typical outfit of a Fire God supporter are brown robes, broad sword (no markings), shield with flame incription, and in recent times rifle (in the past this would have been a bow, with upgraded technology they upgraded their methods). There is still variety amongst followers, but for the most part thats their "outfit" of choice. Hair is usually kept martial short (male and female) and all money given to the Church (suckers). Not the worst church in this world, but their are rumors of practicing "sins" (short for Assassin, I guess its better then calls them ass's) who smite enemies the church has found particularly wrong or evil. I have no run across one yet, but I figure its only a matter of time.
The Black Path: Despite the name this is second popular group is actually a peaceful group who believes in the collaboration of all life (hence black a combination of all colors) in guiding the world to happiness. They have no central god or basis of worship other then a belief in all things working together. Fairly strange not to have a central figure in their religion, their main appeal seems to be in how they help others and encourage that help amongst followers (so a religion of suckers really). They also are weird in that they have no holy book or rituals. Followers usually wear a simple black pendant and just seek to be helpful to others. They do have temples where "priests" (used here in the loosest term again as they have no formal ritual or practice) will run down a list of tasks or requests they have aquired from the community and ask their followers to help. Despite this insanity of helping others they are a fairly popular religion and are well regarded by most governments (gee imagine that a group that helps out without being asked well liked by government). There are rumors of dark underpinnings to the religion, but these are mainly made by idiots who hear the name and the nature of the group and surmise that no one could be so selfless without getting something in return (in that I agree, but then again people are stupid and think that selflessness gets them something it doesn't, you all dies the same, you meaning others I live forever). Afterlife is to be returned to the land and your essence spread amongst nature to effectively share your essence forever, they don't have a negative afterlife, as any slight against the black path will get you removed from their religion (so they aren't always super nice).
Anti Magic: There isn't a formal association for this group as they are a loose basis of a lot of different religions and nut jobs (yes I consider them crazy sue me I'm a magic user). Principal belief amongst them is that magic is the work of demons and those who engage in are also demons in human form. They are secretive sometimes hiding under the guise of the black path (which probably also leads to the rumors of the path being evil or at the very least not as wholesome). Though I have run across Fire God believers that carry the same central belief. Generally not supported by all but the most backwards of governments, they are sleeper agents known for a lot of dangerous attacks on magic users and tend to write in the blood of their victims "Demon" near the bodies.
Tribal Elementalists: This group used to be larger before civilization really took off (in a way we still aren't so civilized but I digress), simple belief structure centered around the embodiment of an element and its grounded representative (The Fire God laughably was once amongst the basic elementalists prior to her ascension to supreme god hood, a belief that is considered heresy amongst current followers). Water, Earth, and Wind still have some followers even in modern time, most of them of course are tribal and don't really practice in the same belief structure the other religions do, even avoiding cities all together for the lack of connection to the prime elements. I've always been intrigued by this group especially their belief in personal reps of these gods. Should there be such a thing as a living god on this world (who is not me), it would be quite the feat to bind, or otherwise enslave them (ok so maybe I'm more evil then my neutral nature exudes).
So theres a simple primer on popular religions. By no means and exhaustive list or a full description. I've run across a lot more and perhaps I'll go into some of those as I reach them in this journal which is supposed to be about me but has become about this stupid world and its stupid inhabitants! Tomorrow I'll finally FINALLY go into something about me! And it'll be my glorious childhood, aren't you all lucky! Not really I had a miserable childhood and you'll all suffer with me as I relive it!
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