Unofficial guide to religions

Unofficial guide to religions of Furrae
Well, at least my chunk of it. There has been almost no canon word about this particular aspect of the DMFA universe, besides the Dark God, but since there are some churches that are *practically* as good as that, never mind that even outright invented stuff will work better than the original DnD deities, i decided to make this page anyways. Of course ,as long as Ambargh won't say anything herself, you are free to happily make up your own. Note: As per DnD, member allignment doesn't necessarily need to match with the ideology's.

This applies even to clerics: A subtle change here is that instead of intrinsic change due to violations, a cleric or paladin becomes an Ex-class when he is defrocked by his superiors.

Cult of the Dark God
''I have waited many days for this moment to come forth. At long last, the dark god will be raised, and i will vanquish you and all.... Er, okay? where was i at again?''  - Dark Pegasus, DMFA 

The Dark God is perhaps the most DnD-like of all the deities known. Waiting imprisoned until someone, or some insane cult throws up enough energy, whether in the form of souls, or simply strong emotions, and until the stars are right. He seems to like infiltrating other religions. Since his follower was the inventor of the (sentient) undead race, there is a firm suggestion they might be linked to him. Some sources suggest he once was something less... godlike, though who knows.

Alignment: Seems to be CE.

Domains: Chaos, Evil, Madness, Trickery, Death, Destruction, Domination

2. Mostly Canon Religions
The first one of these is implied in the work of various authors, and well, i'd be surprised if it didn't happen. The latter two are the work of Tapewolf, and my attempt to convert them into DnD form based on the sketchy info.

Cults of Personality
''Well, Kar'Pech was a Fae. He wanted to be a god, and with the powers at his disposal he was able to pull it off pretty good. He appeared before the inhabitants of a prosperous city, and by the time he left - a thousand years later - it had fallen into ruins. Its people were reduced to serfs tending the land to bring him sacrifices of grain and wheat. Living in shanties... illiterate.'' That was his idea of 'paradise' - a feudal system where he was on top and everyone else worshipped him and obeyed him in all things."   - Jakob Pettersohn, Chronicles of Jakob Pettersohn 

As you would have guessed, with great power comes great fun. And, if you are a creature powerful enough, you definitely have the means and ends to found a church focused upon your exquisite person. One way or another, cults of personality aren't uncommon in Furrae... a well known one is that of Jyraneth of the eponymous clan.

Alignment: Varies

Domains: Variable

Church of Christ the Human
I had been brought up under the wing of The Church of Christ the Human, who believed that God was human in form, and had sent his own human son to Furrae in order to help sort things out. - Jakob Pettersohn, Chronicles of Jakob Pettersohn 

The beliefs of this church seem to be somewhat resembling those of so-called Arian heresy. They have a somewhat strange relationship with creatures, believing demons to serve hell, and angels to serve heavens (and seemingly not liking Cubi at all), but are somewhat tolerant of magic, and in general a force of order and good. Mostly a being religion.

Alignment: LG tending towards NG

Domains: Law, Good, Healing, Glory, Mysticism, Community

Church of Christ the Furry (Lupus Christi)
"Those who have sinned must be sent to Him at once to ease their passage to heaven, as I have said. Where it is unclear who has committed the sin, we are to question all concerned with force until one of them confesses. And most importantly, we are to remain ever vigilant for His prophet!"  - Father Mandamus, priest, Chronicles of Jakob Pettersohn 

This church, one of the Furrae-specific branches of christian belief believes in Lupus Christi, the wolf son of god who has been hanged, and view the execution by hanging as something holy and purifying, making it a collective affair where everyone looks on. They persecute magic users and creatures as the servants of hell. In general taking a "proactive" approach in the battle against evil, it is rather ironic that a branch of them was once corrupted to serve the Dark God. Once again, mostly a being religion, usually sprouting in less developed lands.

Alignment: LN

Domains: Law, Inquisition,Purification,Death, Destruction, Community

3. Non-Canon Religions
This is just stuff i have made up for the purposes of the game i am running. Feel free to accept or ignore, whole or in parts. In a way similar to Tapewolf's above i have included some that parody real religions or rather aspects of them, though all of them make theories which are sound as of our current Furrae knowledge.

Church of Christ the Were
''The human, the Intercessor in the path of our ills, who negates them. The animal, the Comforter who is a strength in the dark. The furre, the Tester who forces us to become the sum of our parts. Thus is the creed.'' - Father Feofilakt, Archbishop of Port Oriss and Patriarch of Kebre 

Heretics, with their hundreds of saints and icons, they are polytheists under the guise of worshipping the one true god and his lupine son.  - Lucrus, Bishop of Kolma

The Church of Christ the Were is yet another christian denomination, common in the northern lands and among the more civilised weres. The followers believe in the Trinity of the lupine Spirit, which bestows the thaumaturgic gifts of god, the human Son,who gave up all of his magic to purify the world, and the lycanthropic Father, the ruling, creator aspect, all being together in one deity. Asides from that, they place importance on numerous icons of hundreds of saints, some of them decisively seem like creatures, (Saint Ilya the Dragonslayer has suspicious headwings propping up his halo, and in fact, some apocrypha state he eloped with her instead, after persuading her of the benefits of vegetarianism) a fact that is rather ironic since there are no less myths and misconceptions about them than in the other churches. On the other hand, it is perhaps the denomination most tolerant to magic, at least of the spontaneous kind, considering instances to be miracles and proof of their faith.

Allignment: LG 

Domains: Law, Good,Inquisition, Community,Magic,Protection,Strength

Ozirism/The Ones who Refuse
''And on the third day I have touched It again and this time It has touched my mind. And took it away in every direction. And there i have seen all alone, and felt their pain flow. Pain. Voices through time. Cold. The Flow coagulated. Feeling. Absorbing. The Great Empath feeds on its creation forever.''  The Scripts of Ozir 

''Bunch of lunatics. Some Cubi had a bad trip and came up with a neat idea on how to get powerful quick. Main difference from most personality cults is that it didn't die with him.'' - Christopher Twitchens, Associate professor of comparative religion at University of Zinvth

The Ones who Refuse are a small cult dating to approximately 2700 years ago, when a cubi of unknown clan wrote the Scripts of Ozir, supposedly after encountering "It"- an object or substance of suspected strong hallucinatory properties. His followers believe that the souls of the deceased are subject to eternal suffering, their emotion feeding an entity they refer to as the Great Empath, Furrae being its breeding pit. They revere the True Death as the only known means of escape, and readily devour, capture or simply destroy the souls of their victims, including their own members. Interestingly, many modern technologies relating to the exploitation of souls were based on the work done by the more scholarly of them. Aside from dealing with souls, a significant part of their efforts focuses on the fae - they believe that somehow, the fae have bound their souls to this world, cheating the Great Empath of prey. The last variant comprises serial killers. The members are hard to recognize in public and they don't tend to congregate often. In most cases ,they tend to be childless. Their view on magic is that of wrenching power from the Great Empath. Blighters and Ur-priests are common among them. Recently ,there are rumours of Ozirists experimenting with the undead.

Alignment: LE

Domains: Madness, Destruction, Law, Liberation, Force, Death

Order of the Eternal Wheel
The apprentice asked, Is it true that the older ones are wiser? Yes, said the master. And the Creatures of advanced age are wiser than the beings of younger age? Yes, for that is the way of life. ''The apprentice looked puzzled. So why the Fae?  - 600 Tales of Master Kaal, Kolina Press 

''Ooh! Ooh! Does that mean they'll make me a statue if I ask nicely?'' -Daryil.

The order of the Eternal Wheel is a spiritual group, dedicated to study of magic and personal improvement in general. They believe in no deity, rather, souls successively advance through reincarnations, from livestock through beings to creatures and above, as they absorb knowledge and sensory inputs. As such, they place little meaning to death, as well as most morals and social conventions. They aren't very homogeneous, with local "sages" and their followers, as their ideology places emphasis on the individual. One of their few universally upholded rules is the ban on soul powered technology and spells. Interestingly, consumption of souls is encouraged by most, as they view the act as the merging of the essence of the consumer and consumed, creating a more perfect, powerful entity. Ascension during one's lifetime, whether from being to creature, or from creature to a higher entity (such as a tri-wing) is viewed as the pinnacle of achievement of one's life, and many seek to achieve this goal. The followers are beings and creatures alike, though the order in general is more popular in the civilised regions.

Alignment: CN

Domains: Any -- their spiritual power comes from inside.

Secular Naturalists
''You see stories of amazing things done and you think it takes a GOD for it? I can make bread and water, heal wounds, restore sight - even raise the dead, and all on my own power. People can do wonderful things, don't cheapen them.''  - Archivist Iacobus Fervidus 

''The most annoying thing about the Secular Naturalists is that it's too diffuse to even attempt disproving. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.'' - Archbishop of H-Ann, Church of Christ the Human

Secular naturalists don't have many common beliefs, being a diverse group. They believe in no deities or supernatural - souls are merely a sort of organ, similar to the brain, and forces of magic can be understood scientifically, and harnessed through intellect. They don't tend to view creatures as any more "special" than say someone of genius-level intellect, or exceptional strength. Other than that, it has been said that getting them to agree on anything is like herding cats. at least until the speaker got assaulted by a bunch of feline furres.

Allignment: Any

Domains: Any - their spiritual power comes from inside.

Animalists
''Have you never just sat down in the grass, on a hill in the sun on a warm spring day, and just *breathed?* I need no proof that we are all connected to our animal nature. Nobody should, and nobody who has embraced it has cause to doubt'' - Shaman Eon bisi Dakuen

''Primitive infidels... their gods amount to more than any of them can count to, living in zemlyankas like mindless animals in a cave. They shall be brought the light of true faith! ''  - Inquisitor Ketrellis, on the subject of animalists 

''AARGH!  ' - Inquisitor Ketrellis, after being bitten by an axiomatic wolf. '''

Animalists are among the older religions, their numbers being rather reduced by the efforts of Lupus Christi and similar. Today, they still exist in the more remote areas where missionaries and crusaders didn't bother or were chased out of. They believe that whether feral animals, beings, or creatures, they all are a reflection of a higher, perfect version of the animal, its spirit, which gives shapeless matter its form. As such, an animalist furre worships the animal it stems from. They have a number of taboos, such as cannibalism (and killing your animal spirit's manifestations in general) and interbreeding between species (the question whether eg. beings and creatures should breed together has no consistent answer across). Most abhor Mythos, and children born with magic-induced mutations are usually killed after birth as abominations of natural order.If they have animal companions, they tend to be of the same animal species as well. Their deities sometimes manifest as axiomatic versions of the animal in question. Evil, such as corruption mentioned above is understood as the work of a single deity of darkness, bearing no consistent name. It is sometimes responsible for corrupt, anarchic versions of the animal spirits' avatars - the manifestation of such tends to be regarded as a sign of misfortune for his furres, being ones that gave in fully to their base instincts.

Alignment: NN

Domains:Weather,Animal and then depends on animal - ask your DM. Some day, there might be a list."

Morphism
''It's the great dichotomy. Life and death. Body and soul. Night and day. Sky and land. So much in this world is divided like that, how can it not be the same for the Gods?'' - Harriet Jameson, Kolina Centre of Herbal Medicine and Aromatherapy

''A religion based on a few fairly non-trivial ideas, such as the similarity of Species being due to something like panspermia. However, it is still a faith-based belief system, no matter how much it may seem otherwise. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day'' - Ricardo Squawking, Researcher at Zalmar Institute of Agriculture 

The general name used for a variety of cults with a similar set of core beliefs, most spread among phoenixes and teenage girls (the sort which summons warp-aci). Stemming from the incredible biologic compatibility among the furres, the morphists believe that all furres are of a similarly body, which gets shaped by an animal spirit of earth that has chosen it. As such, when two furres breed, the offspring's species tends to be similar to that which has chosen one of their parents. Their belief encompasses two parts - communing with their animal spirit totem, as well as honoring their two deities. One is Sherrana (most often used name, others include Sher'ne, Cheery One, and simply Cher) whose domain is earth, nature and the spirits, while the other one, Karaston 's domain is body, mind, the heavens and the arcane. Mythos are one, sometimes several spirits choosing a particularly malleable body, whereas other creatures arise when a spirit chooses a strong body, therefore it is able to retain more of its species-independant characteristics - which skews their allegiance to one of the two deities. Most believe in rebirth of some form, and in an universal balance of things. They tend to avoid conflict and bloodshed if possible. As with animalists, those of them who have familiars tend to have one of the same species as them. All spellcasters are common, Sherrana having more patronage over druids and the nature, while Karaston holds more about sorcerers and the arcane. The highest among their ranks often become geomancers, or void disciples.

Alignment: NN, tending slightly towards NG 

Domains: Celerity,Mind,Purification,Weather,Animal,Earth,Knowledge,Magic,Plant