A Note on Religion

A brief note on religion and beliefs in the Abode

It's hard not to believe, when God(s) may pop up to correct you any time...

Religion is not only belief for those travelling between worlds and different realities, it is down to practical knowledge on whom (or what) have the main influence in a certain plane, or set of realities.

In a multiverse with infinite possibilities there are bound to be entities of far more power than we can imagine, both benevolent and malevolent. And these entities will, when so inclined, take responsibility to advice, learn, lecture, save or conquer the people in "lesser" realities, sometimes as an experiment, sometimes for own gain and. not too seldom, just for the fun of it. It is not unusual that several different entities from different existences are interested in the same realities, and will either compete or cooperate and naturally the interests from these entities can change over time. It even happens that god, or gods, will abandon their believers, when things go wrong, they loose interest, or simply grows bored.

For those living in a specific reality the divine interest can be very real, all depending on how much these entities want to involve themselves. For those who have been classified as daemons (those moving between dimensions and realities, as most of those living in the Abode) ridiculing or denying local deities can have dire consequences, even if they have a high level of tolerance against those living in their sphere of influence, they don't like creatures from other realities messing things up, and as a result they usually include daemonkind as something negative in their teachings. On the other hand, most somewhat seasoned daemons, will know this. It is after all reality, not belief, for them.

The different divine beings (good or bad) can roughly be divided into the following classes:

The One(s):

These are divine beings who often take on themselves to lead the people in a reality toward a better goal, usually through subtle means. They will usually not meddle much, but will show real power, often devastating such, if the need arises, and it is the only way to get their followers in the right direction.

The Dividers:

Not seldom there are two opposing One's, who will test their ideas of salvation against each other, or just compete. The usual set up would be the Good and the Evil One. Sometimes it is hard to know if you have two opposing forces truly competing, or if it is two aspects used by the One. These will make themselves far more seen than the singular One(s), to gain more followers.

Mythos setting:

This is when a group, or sometimes several groups, of entities take up control or watch over a reality, usually dividing their spheres of influence based on their interests. These are often entities of lesser individual power than the One(s), but can make up this through their number. These constellations are far more involved with their subjects, and it is not seldom that they will live and interact with them as well. Examples would include the classic Greek or Norse mythology. Hyperboria have a mythos setting with several groups of deities, old and newer.

All of the above will use other daemons as contractors to carry out minor work, and this is where angels, devils and daemons come in. There are also planes of existence that deal, and depend, on the divine planes for their existence, such as the different planes of hell (and heaven). As an example the planes of hell will set up contracts to collect disqualified souls for their own benefit, and employ powerful demons and devils to gather these (and often raise their share).

Spirital settings:

In other realities, the divine entities actually encourage plane travelling and exchange between realities, these are usually the "spirital" realities where different realms mix and blend from time to time. These are often a result when no major divine interest has been given, and are quite interesting places to visit. Shintoism is a good example of this. The Sylvan world connected to the Abode and part of the Imperial Earth connected through the Shrine are such settings.

A few words of advice:

What is good and what is evil is not always easy to decide: Is the daemon removing the bad souls from a reality necessarily evil?

Take your god, or if appropriate, gods, seriously, you never know when you need their help.

Observe that this text is not intended to belittle, belie or offend any Deity or Religion in any reality, ours inclusive.