Religion is practiced by most if not all cultures in some way shape or form. The lack of a deity to follow is in and of itself its own religion. Each religion is unique in some way shape or form, covering different topics of interest and concepts which mortals worry and care about. Without mortals worshipping deities, deities have less influence. They still possess the power of a god, but it is severely weakened with less followers. Gods and Goddesses thus try to recruit as many followers as they can in order to strengthen themselves in the divine playing field.
Deities, however, fall under a very special rule which ensures they will not harm one another and thus attempt to usurp the divinity of each other. Deities are unable to kill one another by their own hands. This means through the use of powers, magic, or even through ‘accidents’ caused by them. In order to harm a deity, a mortal must do so on their own, and they must do so without a deity controlling or empowering them. Because of how monumental this task is, most deities possess divine champions they instruct the church to train from birth. These champions have little to no chance of harming a god if it came to fighting one, however they are meant for the off-chance that they could harm and potentially kill a deity.
A rare title mortals sometimes bear, becoming a Godslayer indicates a level of skill and prowess that far exceeds other mortals. Those who slay the gods are extraordinary individuals, and have gone through either excruciating training or seen many battles, allowing them to stand toe-to-toe with a deity enough to land a killing strike with a Legendary Weapon. Only Legendary Weapons are capable of slaying a deity, with each Legendary Weapon either representing another deity or past deity’s personal weapon, or weapons which have been crafted in order to specifically fight the gods.
Very few mortals bear the title of ‘Godslayer’ because of the difficulty of fighting a god, yet they do exist. Once a millennia a Godslayer usually fights and ends up killing a deity. This is usually done by summoning lesser gods with less worshipers and catching them by surprise. Despite this however, it is still unlikely the deity will be slain. The last deity to be killed by a Godslayer was Vuzier the former god of famine. He has since been replaced.
When a god is slain, the mortal who killed them has the choice to take their place or let a random mortal be chosen. More often than not the mortal chooses to take the place of the deity, however a rare few humble mortals allow a random person to be chosen. The new deity is sometimes monitored by the one who slayed the original god, ensuring they do well at their new ‘job’, lest they be slain again…
Deities possess devotion, a concept which involves adding tenants and rules onto the most faithful.
For each step of Devotion, you have less sins to avoid as a devout follower - being granted a pass by your deity on certain actions. Even then, the sins presented by a deity only apply to the Chaplain and any other class which uses Devotion. Otherwise, this isn’t enforced quite as much as the deity only expects non-Chaplains to worship. Following the tenants is a nice bonus on top of the worship, and shows devotion to the faith beyond a blind following.
The sins on the devotion chart scale from minor infractions (3-10), moderate infractions (11-19), severe infractions (20-25), and deadly sins (26-40).
Repeated infractions of lesser sins by a deities' Chaplain can be punished if the Chaplain fails to stop and this is a continued issue (up to the GM's discretion).
The sin being committed must be equal to or more than your current Devotion, and when the sin is committed reduce Devotion by 5. This can bring your Devotion down 0 (effectively cutting your ties with the deity in question, and leaving an emptiness where the deity once communicated with you).
You can only gain Devotion once per day through the methods listed on the deity’s page.
Conceptual Beings are unfeeling, unthinking, and undying. They exist, and will always exist. They give power to the gods, and by extension humans as well. They can be worshiped like any other deity, granting divine powers to their priests like any other deity. Unlike deities however, Extraplanar beings representing their Divine Concept serve as arbiters and messengers instead of the deity themselves speaking to those seeking guidance and council.
Examples of Conceptual Beings include Baron of Light, Baron of Shadow, and Arcana. They represent Light, Dark, and Arcane magic respectively.
Because concepts do not possess a sense of self beyond the identity which they’re representing, they do not have Devotion the same way it’s normally handled. If a Chaplain Archetype or similar thing would alter Devotion, use the alteration instead of Conceptual Devotion.
Each concept has a single grave sin that will always reduce Devotion by 5, and that’s going against the concept you’re devoted to in some way (up to the GM usually, but this usually involves taking part in the concept’s opposite form).
In addition to this, each concept has a ritual which must be performed in order to increase devotion. This ritual can be performed once a month, or whenever you level up, whichever comes first. This increases Devotion by 4 instead of the usual +1.