Worldbuilding Wednesdays: The Science of Religion

Welcome to Worldbuilding Wednesdays!  Every Wednesday, we spend what is probably far too much time walking through our worldbuilding process.  This week, we're going to very carefully address the subject of religion.  To start:

A Caveat

We aren't going to discuss any real-world religions in any kind of specific sense.  We here at Vagrant Dog Productions do not endorse any religion, nor do we purport to know the truth of any religious questions.  This discussion is meant only for worldbuilding purposes, and we'd like to remind everyone that what that means is everything that follows is definitely fictional and intended to be taken that way.  So, pre-emptively, calm down, everyone.

What We Have So Far

When it comes to religion, not much.

When you worldbuild a religion, you see, you do so in one of two ways:  you use religion to explain everything, or you use religion to explain how your people explain everything, which is the more historically accurate option.  Considering that we've already decided that science, whenever possible, explains everything, we're going to head in the latter direction.  However, we can at least consider a couple of questions that haven't been answered so far, and the possibility of answering those questions with our religion.  The biggest questions that we don't have so far are as follows.

  Who Made the World?  Because our world is giant and hollow, there is no known way for its creation to occur naturally.  This implies that the world was created, meaning that someone did the creating.  Who was that?  Religion could answer that question.  In fact, religion almost certainly will have an answer, and what we'll need to decide is more along the lines of whether that answer is correct.

  What's With the Lantern?  We can extend the first question to the satellites, which we currently refer to as the blue moon, the red moon, and the Lantern.  They, just like the world, are hollow and artificial.  A separate question arises, however.  How is the Lantern shining?  It isn't a star, but it gives off enough light to serve as an analog of our sun.  Since it's built like a miniature version of our world, that light can't be a product of gravity-induced fusion.  Plenty of answers could form the basis of a religion.

  Where Did Magic Come From?  Yes, we have an idea of where magic came from, in the sense that it is a form of energy that is mostly leaked (or pulled) from other dimensions.  Still, we haven't established how magic happened to take the form it did, or why.

Religion:  Multi-tasking Expert

When people first looked about their world and tried to figure out why things were as they were, the answers they came up with were codified into ancient stories, passed by song and poem around the campfires of pre-history.  These stories were called... mythology.

Religion is a whole different thing.

There's some nuance involved, as befits such a complex social construct.  A religion isn't just there to tell you why things are the way they are; it's there to tell you how things should be, and what should be done about it.  Mythology is only one aspect of religion.  More importantly, for the people we're building the religion for, religion also comprises beliefs, rituals, cultural mores, and practices one should engage in.  Mythology will tell you all about how the world was created when celestial beings were born in outlandish, impossible fashion. Still, they will not tell you that a good person hangs a holy symbol above their door, nor will they reveal how to pray so that those celestial beings can properly communicate with you.

This is leaving out the fact that, because we're the ones building the religion, we can decide if the religion is correct, false, or if the truth is unknowable.  This is also leaving out the fact that, in a properly complex world, there is going to be more than one religion.  Want to make it even more complex?  Have multiple religions be correct, even though they preach different things.

Done correctly, adding religions to a culture will increase its depth and complexity.  Done incorrectly, it will still do that, but the complexity will veer into chaos... which, ironically, would probably make it feel more real.

Religious Frameworks

Religion is a complicated enough topic that we won't be able to even start building one this week, but what we can do is put together a plan.  As mentioned, the most interesting and complex setup involves multiple religions that all have a grasp of the truth, but go in different directions with it.  Because this is an artificial setup, not the real world, we can also decide (for funsies) to use different types of religions.  Before we do that, though, we should go over what those different types are.

  Animism.  The main principle behind animism is the concept that creatures, objects, and places beyond the known conscious entities of the world are possessed of a spirit beyond that known.  An animist religion, for example, may be convinced that every river, no matter how big or small, is ruled by its own personal god.  It could also be believed that spirits rule the effects of the seasons, oversee certain aspects of the physical world, or are formed of abstract concepts.  In our world, this may well be a popular religious framework, considering that areas where magic bleeds into the world work almost exactly as described here- influenced more or less directly by semi-conscious energies beyond the ken of mere mortals.

  Folk Religions.  These religions don't concern themselves with the big questions.  Instead, they focus on one specific people.  Mythologies are built around the formation of a village, not a world, and the gods of these folk religions are often more personable.  It is one thing to believe in a trickster deity; for followers of a folk religion, that trickster deity may visit their house regularly, appeased only by proper offerings.

  Polytheism.  In many ways, polytheism is the idea behind animism, expanded to its logical conclusion.  There may or may not be lesser spirits, but as you work your way up in level of importance to the world's workings, the beings in charge shift from spirit to god.  Depending on the religion, that god may be omnipotent, or merely so beyond the mortal as to be effectively close enough.  Also depending on the religion, those gods themselves may have levels, and the most powerful gods are often organized in a fashion similar to the way that people themselves organize, due to the concept of "as above, so below."

  Monotheism.  One divine being, and only one, qualifies as a god in these religions.  If there are other spiritual beings, they are of lesser status.  This does make many questions easier to answer, since all of the answers ultimately devolve to "God did it."

  Nontheism.  An interesting variant- no being, even the spiritual ones that may be present, qualifies as a god.  People being people, this often gets simplified by outsiders to "whomever/whatever is at the center of the religion, that's who they consider God."  The distinction is important to note, however.

  Cults.  This one, you have to be careful with.  The most common form of a cult is the cult of personality, where the founder of the cult is the object of worship.  If the cult persists beyond the founder's death, however, it increasingly takes on aspects common to other religions.  After a certain point, there is little difference.

Conclusion

This may or may not be ambitious, but we're going to build one of each variety of religion.  Not all of these religions will find their way into the culture on The Hill, but it will be good practice.  Besides, one of the hallmarks of worldbuilding is that 99% of our work isn't going to be seen in the finished product.  It's enough that they exist, and color our decisions as we build the rest of our world.

Besides, once we have religions set up, combined with how languages for each of our species work, we'll finally be able to start naming things.  Won't that be fun?!