Religions

Religions are what people believe in. Religion, like race, often motivates a great deal of action within the world.

Solarism
By far the most common religion, Solarism has some presence on almost every continent. It comes in 3 forms, and is often represented in some form, even in its opponent religions. When one says 'Solarism' they ussually refer to the Aggressive Tenants rendition

Old Solarism (Eastern Solarism)
Followers of the original book, supposedly passed to man by the Sun Goddess Solaria, this religious faction believes in virtues, benevolence, and peace. It is written into this book that religious tolerance should be followed, however this is seldom acknowledged. Followers of Old Solarism have several complex social codes, such as manner of dress, manner of food, and even manner of daily speech, but these are seldom observed. After the Aggressive Tenants were written into canon law, during the Auterium Occupation, this religion was persecuted for being to kind to non-believers, and responded by being even kinder. After the Grent Reformation, this religion more or less fell apart, and was only saved by establishing a Archbishop Hierarchy, ironically virtually identical to the Tenant brothers.

Followers: Scavon

New Tenants (Solarism)
Followers of the Re written book, with modifications to incite more people to war, this religious faction has a highly centralized Archbishop Bureaucracy. This Church plays a very big part in politics, seeing as how if a Solarist country has a leader which disobeys the Archbishop, a call to war is almost immediately pressed by the most ambitious next of kin. The New Tenants were written during the first of the Auterium attempts to invade Dijard, and were designed to incite hostile action. They were dubbed 'Aggressive Tenants' by critics, and the church split, with many eastern countries refusing to alter the original book of Solaria.

Followers: Arenex, Mortland, Auterium Republic

Grent Reformation (Grentism)
Followers of Grentism, very similar to the Old Solarism, believe that the New Tenants are wrong, but additionally, recognize an ancient hero, named Grent, as the Son of Solaria. Believed to have been crucial to the survival of Europa against Auterium, this man is celebrated as a demi-god, and allegedly has bloodlines reaching into Grent Nobility. A series or wars were fought against the Conventional Solarist immediately after the fall of the Empire, and led to a large Grentism Empire (the Grenvil Empire) gaining hold of the western half of Europa for roughly 5 Decades.

Followers: Grenvil, Canton, Arcadia

Old Gods
The old gods worship began when the Nartheners first came to the continent of Europa and experienced the seasons, where as before they had been in virtually perpetual winter in the frozen wastes. They believed that each Season was the actions of a particular deity, just as the sun and the moon were their parents. As such the 4 seasons are attributed to 4 gods, the sun was the mother and the moon the father. Although to worship one is not to worship them all, most have a favored god among the 4, which they worship almost exclusively, but respectfully acknowledge the existence of the others.

When the Auterium Empire began to conquer followers of this pantheon, they denied its worshipers the right to continue their practices, leading to a particularly cruel series of wars and insurrections. Ironically, those who favored the Sun God, the mother of the others, were spared, and almost all converted to Solarism. Because of this, among followers of the Old gods they either exclude the sun from the pantheon (and place more emphasis on the moon), or blame those who favor the sun as traitors. Followers of the Old gods, and any who didn't adhere to Solarism were punished by death. Still many sects survived, and flourished after the Empire's fall.

Mother Sun
The followers of the Mother Sun prepared offerings, most being perishable food, and placed them in wide mouthed jars at dawn, and then collected or replaced them at dusk. It was said that if the food was still fresh or edible by sun set, it mean bad luck for the next 4 days.

Solar Eclipses were signs of doom.

Father Moon
The followers of the Father Moon were shamans and hunters, who believed that at every Full moon 2 people must marry (and consecrate within the light of the moon), and at every new moon a sacrifice must be performed (within the dark of the night). Most sacrifices were human, although during the Auterium occupation, they switched to livestock to remain hidden.

Lunar Eclipses were signs of adultery

Summer God (God of War)
The Summer God was often depicted as a winged naked woman, with a spear (later a Halberd) and shield. Followers waged war, or staged arena fights every summer to honor this Deity. It was said that the summer rains were her sweat, and the summer storms her wrath. If drought occurred it was because not enough war (or work in general) was going on, and she had nothing to sweat over.

Summer Solstices were holy days.

Spring God (God of Fertility)
The Spring God was often depicted as a man dressed in leafs with a permanent grin. His fertility is legendary. Followers engaged in orgies, or staged elaborate royal marriage rituals (filled with crude games).

Several Spring holidays exist where observers are expected to engage in coitus

Winter God (God of Death)
The Winter God was often depicted as a woman dressed in the frozen skins and furs of animals that succumbed to cold. Her outermost layer of clothing is always some decorative fur, and her inner most layer is always humans, believed to be baby skin. She is cruel, but not arbitrary, only taking those who make mistakes, or those who suffer from the wrongness of others. Followers believe every death has significance, and blame, leading many worshipers to outrageous acts of vengeance.

Winter Solstices were holy days were killing was considered blasphemy.

Fall God (God of Harvest)
The fall god was often depicted as a man in woven pants, with a basket which he collects food with. His followers believe in the virtues of patience, and agriculture.

Several weeks of Fall are set aside for harvest festivals.

Sky Gods
Worshiped by the Inhabitants of Sinosaur, the sky gods are deities personified by animals, often disguised as clouds. While often simply giving advice lost to the wind, they have little to no impact upon the lives of the Sinosarins, with the exception of the Phyrexians, who perform multiple sacrifices weekly to their gods, with fear that the sky will 'stop'.

Dij
Followers: Dijard Major, Dijard Minors