One of the most powerful motivations in our world, religion is something that can either enrich your world or make it generic. Having a generic religion can actually be what you want, particularly if your story doesn’t deal with these issues. As with every other aspect of world-building, building a religious life can lead one down a rather long rabbit hole, so deal with it as you feel necessary.
I personally feel that dealing with religion in a more realistic way enriches a world enough that you should plan to spend a fair amount of time on it. If you are dealing with a fantasy world, the cliche is to use a pantheistic system, similar to what the Greeks and Romans had. You have the Goddess of Love, the God of War, the God King, etc. The dominant religion in my world is Pantheism, which is exactly what I’m talking about. Since most roleplayers and fantasy readers are used to this, you can come up with your own gods, slap some labels on them, and move on.
One way to spice up that sort of system is to have gods who oppose one another. Obviously, the God of War and the God of Peace aren’t going to like each other very much, and this could be reflected in their followers. However, you should also look to having alliances, particularly ones that make sense, but may not be intuitive. Solemi, God of Passings is on good terms with Drakyr, God of Damnation on Spheryl. Their priesthoods look out for each other and defend each other in their own way. In Myos, the Seat on the Ruling Circle of Nine is designated for Solemi, but they consult with the Priesthood of Drakyr for political decisions, sharing political power.
Another way to make things more interesting is to have rival religions. They could be similar, such as another pantheistic religion with different gods, or very different, such as using animism, spiritualism, monotheism, or ancestor worship. Since most religions teach that the only way to enlightenment/heaven is by following their religion, having more than one way can lead to religious conflicts of all sorts, from debates to all out religious crusades.
Don’t forget the idea of heresy. Just because you have a dominant religion doesn’t mean everyone agrees on how that religion should be practiced. There are thousands of denominations of Christianity, for example. Conflicts arise all the time between people who nominally believe in the same religion, but have different interpretations. Look at the Reformation, the Sunni/Shia conflicts, and others.
Even within a single priesthood, there should be conflict, and this is where we get into the heart of the matter. Story is always about conflict. Without it, there’s no point to the story. When you are creating your world and religion, beware of a trope called the Planet of the Hats. Not everyone in the religion believes the same thing. Not all the priests will agree with each other on any particular point. Priests of the god of justice should argue over what that even is. The video below has a great discussion on this trope, how to use it when you want, and how to avoid the pitfalls.
Next week, I’ll be talking about the importance of geography in world building. If there’s a topic you’d like me to discuss, just let me know in the comments. See you next Sunday!
