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How do your Gods influence your worlds?

How do your Gods influence your worlds?

There are two (somewhat fleshed-out) religions in my world, so pardon the blocks of text...

Zodiac Precepts & the Harbingers ~

Nomenclature is based on stars from their respective constellation, w/influence from the Espers of Final Fantasy XII:

Aldebaran THE ZEALOT TAURUS

Benelgen THE ARBITER LIBRA

Castor & Pollux THE MAGI GEMINI

Cebalrai THE WHISPERER OPHIUCHUS

Fomalhaut THE DEVOURER PISCES

Hamal THE HERETIC ARIES

Lesath THE PARAMOUR SCORPIO

Meleph THE TYRANT CANCER

Nashira THE GUARDIAN CAPRICORN

Regulus THE SAVIOR LEO

Sadalsund THE WAYFARER AQUARIUS

Terebell THE VENATOR SAGITTARIUS

Zavijava THE MAIDEN VIRGO

Deities (a.k.a. Harbingers) of the Zodiac Precepts are merely metaphorical/archetypical figures that give diviners direction & understanding of fortunes they foretell based on the resulting deity.

They may have once existed as exalted people but there are no recorded tales of them manifesting in the world or even sending a true message to a diviner; They are merely depictions upon cards that people pay diviners to flip for fortune-telling...and yet hierophants and thaumaturges of higher order discovered they can draw power from ritualistic games of Zodiac, a power wholly separate from aether-based magic that truly affects the fates of those who play...win or lose, for better or for worse.

Cosmic Doctrine, Church of the Cosmos ~

Parallax OCULUS OMNIS

Asterion SCION OF SPLENDOR

Baryaxis SCION OF SOLEMNITY

Galaxand SCION OF STABILITY

Lunelle SCION OF SERENITY

Novus SCION OF SUCCESSION

Quasor SCION OF SAPIENCE

Solex SCION OF SPIRIT

Nebula NEMESIS NIHILITH

Parallax, the Creator & Observer, willed into existence seven scions to defend the universe from Nebula -- the incarnation of chaos, nihilism, and the primordial void itself -- inadvertently given consciousness by Parallax's own hand as he molded all creation from that very same primordial darkness.

The war would be waged eternally as Nebula became legion, casting aside her physical shell to linger as the deep and dark desires of man and beast alike. The Cosmic Church preaches that all great evils throughout history are just different forms of Nebula but as she has never revealed her true form, this has led to skepticism.

The seven scions, however, are known to be very real yet lack the true omnipotence and immortality of their creator, so they live on through cyclical reincarnations via magic they created. Their fight against Nebula's will has spanned endless generations of mankind and takes the form of establishments of power and institutions of learning built by the scions in their various forms in order to lead denizens of the world to the light of Parallax.

The Scions can always reincarnate, however the person whose soul they manifest within is entirely random. Furthermore, each reincarnation scrambles and deteriorates the scions' memories, so they must reawaken themselves to what they truly are each time; circumstances vary based on their new host. If they could, most followers of the Cosmos would willingly offer their children or spouse as a scion's host, for their is no greater honor.

All seven incarnations of the current "cycle" must die before the next can begin. Worshippers of the Cosmic Doctrine have learned to influence this through rituals created and left behind by the scions themselves, in order to promote and expedite their return...but now the Church has commenced their own agenda to control these gods, creating their own vessels for the scions in an attempt to remove the "RNG" from the reincarnation cycles while tampering with the rituals in order to control the memory of the scions.

One could say that Nebula is winning...

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