Author’s Aside: Harry Vossen, creator of A Way With Worlds, has been very helpful and supportive of The Cerberus Rebellion, so I thought I would repay the favor. He’s running an IndieGoGo campaign to develop the funding for his novel, Under a Burning Sky, to be self-published in paperback, hardcover and special edition. You can find his post here. Stop by!

Religion on Zaria

This post was inspired by several posts over at A Way With Worlds covering the topic of Religion in Worldbuilding.

I have a particularly special insight into the matter of Religion. I was exposed to a great deal of study into the various major religions and their off-shoots; how those religions interacted with each other and what they believed. I’ve used that insight to help develop the various religions of my world.

Since The Cerberus Rebellion primarily deals with the nations of Ansgar and Kerberos, I think that I’ll limit myself to discussing the two major religions of these nations, how they affect their followers and interact with each other.

Kerberos

The Kerberosi, as descendants of Nordahr, have continued to follow the Nordahrian religion.

The Nordahrian religion is polytheistic: they believe in several primary gods and several major deities. Each of these gods has a different role within their religion: God of War, Goddess of Charisma, God of Justice. There are distinct priesthoods for each of the major gods and important deities; the people pray to whichever gods they think will aid them in whatever endeavor they seek.

While the religion is widespread throughout Kerberos, outsiders are tolerated but not given the respect that a follower would.

I based this religion on a conglomeration of the Ancient Greek and Roman Pantheons: belief that their gods will affect their lives through prayer and sacrifices, a pantheon that consists of gods that are able to take physical form, and various other minor aspects.

Ansgar

The Ansgari Religion is also polytheistic, but I based this religion slightly more on the Norse pantheon and rites.  The Ansgari heaven includes a special place for heroes, their tradition is passed on through ballads, holy books and oral tradition. This religion is not only followed in Ansgar, but was carried there by colonists from Welos.

While the Ansgari religion is similar to the Nordahrian in that the majority of the citizens of the nation believe in it and follow its tenets, the Ansgari discriminate severely against those that chose not to follow the religion. Some of the religion’s deadly sins include apostasy and faithlessness. The largest effect of this is that when Kerberos was invaded, subdued and annexed by Ansgar, laws were put into effect banning the open worship and the Nordahrian language in any form.

My major characters aren’t particularly devote in their worship of the religion, but they do follow the general tents of it.

These are only two of more than a dozen different religions worshipped on the world of Zaria. As more of these come into focus, I’ll do more posts on those religions.