Fantasy Foretold Forum World Development

As is often the case with fantasy authors, we must put a lot of thought into our fictional worlds. Feel free to use this thread as a place to bounce ideas off others and work through sticky plot points. 

So I don't think the polytheism thing is overdone at all. I mean, it really just makes sense, honestly. Fantasy novels are based on an era of civilization where polytheism was common anyway, and if you make the religion substantive (e.g. the gods are actually a part of the story) then it just adds to the mystical allure, in my opinion. I'm going a similar route, but different. Basically there's one god but he has other creatures that are sort of between himself and humans in the food chain that help to guide people... sort of, but more complicated.

I agree with Arutha in that polytheistic religions aren't overdone, but if you are looking for another religion-base (I guess is what you call it?) you could try:

Monism-->one definition is that there is an ultimate plurality of living things which are all destined to return to the singular source from which it originated (i.e. Hinduism, Buddhism)...

Animism-->(I've used this one before) the belief that all the things of nature have a spirit (i.e. Shinto)

Interesting... I was thinking about doing a Hindu-esque religion (primarily because I'm in India right now and could do some killer research) 

Actually, the idea of the world without any religion is the most interesting and innovative I've heard so far. When I think of that, I've never came across such thing in any fantasy book I've read. The religions were either based on the religions existing contemporary or this matter wasn't mentioned at all.

I always liked when there were two or more religions existing in the same world, like for example in Eddings' Elenium series. It made the world seem much more complex and believeable.

@Gosia: TANGENT! Were you actually able to get through "The Elenium?" I don't remember it much, save for the fact that Garion was grown up and the story was a 100% replicated version of "The Belgariad" lol. Actually - and if I've already mentioned a thousand times, forgive me - the one that starts with the "Ruby Knight," his other series, was somewhere around a 50% replication lol.

 I'm so sorry, I just noticed your reply (I guess I figured WC would notify me about forum replies...apparently not : )   ).  You should definitely go for the Hindu-esque religion given your opportunity for close-contact research.   I don't know that much about monism, but I'm pretty sure that the whole 'everyone and thing is god' doesn't create and equality complex since everyone is god.   Interesting concept, though, it makes sense.  You could have the people accomplish something conceived only to be in the power of gods (i.e. create life?  move mountains? I don't know, have fun).  There are a lot of 'O my lord you must be put to death because you're trying to play God' motifs out there, but I have yet to see a 'We are succesfully playing god...maybe we are equal to them' motif.  That'll be interesting for sure.   Good luck. : )

Thanks! Unfortunately this means I have to rework a bunch of stuff to add more detail... Which is never a bad thing, but definitely a time suck... 

I understand, I'll have to do that with my own story when I've finished the first draft, too.  Good luck : )!

Something to think about: if people find that they have the powers of gods, what is the price for that power? The way I figure, you could have this go one of two ways:

1. The people wield their new found powers with little to no thought of consequence, end up doing terrible things with it, and realize that even though they have the powers they are no gods because they don't have the discipline to wield it as the gods did (or maybe still do, subtly in the background). This obviously plays off the theme that when people play gods, bad things happen, and a return to a religious lifestyle seems to be the right idea.

2. If you want your society to STAY AWAY from religion, than you should have some plot development about learning how to use their powers responsibly. This could be the major driving force behind your story, or could just pop up in small spurts-- although it's hard for me to imagine that with people wielding godly powers it wouldn't be front and center.

Like I said, there is always a price to pay. Think of other prices people might have to pay for their powers and the use of them, and think about how it will play into your story!

I think a good plot idea to move your culture away from deities would be to have a cataclysmic back story. You could do something like there was a terrible plague. The people made sacrifices and prayed to the gods with a new found zeal. But a new source of magic not a deity saved them. Essentially something similar to Black Death rolled through and made people less inclined to follow a religion with a distant god. This also sets you up with the ability to add a fundamentalist cult like faction that clung to the religion even during the cataclysm. I don't know if any of this fits into your plot but I'm just kickin out ideas.