Color Focus - Religion and Spirit Worship

Deity Worship

    The people of Ville des Marie are quite religious, and follow many Gods and Goddesses. While there are quite a few churches in the city, certain Gods and Goddesses are considered too dangerous and there are no official churches that have been built in their name. These "outlaw" deities still have plenty of worshipers, but their worship is kept secret for the most part. They are denoted in italics on the following list.
  • Amtia - Goddess of love and childbirth.  Alignment: Chaotic Good. Favored weapon: None. Domains: Family, Good, Pleasure
  • Bridia - Goddess of sacrifice and protection.  Alignment: Lawful Good. Favored weapon: None Domains: Denial, Devotion, Protection
  • Cavdes - God of paladins.  Alignment: Lawful Good. Favored weapon: Longsword. Domains: Exorcism, Good, Sun
  • Danreus - God of the journey and animals.  Alignment: Neutral Good. Favored weapon: Staff. Domains: Animal, Travel, Wood
  • Edmos - God of power and domination.  Alignment: Lawful Evil. Favored weapon: Mace. Domains: Domination, Evil, Law
  • Idros - God of luck and chaos.  Alignment: Chaotic Neutral. Favored weapon: None. Domains: Chaos, luck, Trickery
  • Iyja - Maiden of winter.  Alignment: Neutral Evil. Favored weapon: Icecycle. Domains: Death, ice, Trickery
  • Khorus - God of evil and destruction.  Alignment: Lawful Evil. Favored weapon: Flaming morningstar. Domains: Destruction, Evil, Fire
  • Maxdal - God of bards, music and communication.  Alignment: Chaotic Good. Favored weapon: None. Domains: Charm, Communication, Knowledge
  • Olene - Goddess of honor and strength.  Alignment: Lawful Neutral. Favored weapon: Longsword. Domains: Exorcism, Law, Strength
  • Omtia - Goddess of home and hearth.  Alignment: Neutral Good. Favored weapon: None. Domains: Good, Healing, protection
  • The Father - The sun father.  Alignment: True Neutral. Favored weapon: Spear. Domains: Balance, Fire, Sun, War
  • The Mother - The moon mother.  Alignment: True Neutral. Favored weapon: Sickle. Domains: healing, Knowledge, Magic, Moon
  • The Nameless One - Diety of corruption and decay.  Alignment: Chaotic Evil. Favored weapon: None. Domains: Corruption, Destruction, Pestilence
  • Tielia - Mother of pain.  Alignment: Lawful Evil. Favored weapon: Dagger. Domains: Denial, Evil, Pain
  • Tyzotl - Diety of magic and mystery.  Alignment: Chaotic Neutral. Favored weapon: None. Domains: Confusion, Magic, Mysticism
  • Uhther - God of war and judgement.  Alignment: Lawful Neutral. Favored weapon: Two-handed sword. Domains: Inquisition, Law, War
  • Uthgon - Barbarian god of war and destruction.  Alignment: True Neutral. Favored weapon: Bearded Axe. Domains: Death, Destruction, War
  • Vyrtia - Goddess of death and the undead.  Alignment: Neutral Evil. Favored weapon: Dagger. Domains: Death, Necromancy, Undead

Iyja - Maiden of winter

Vaudou

    Roughly ¼ of the population of Ville des Marie follow a belief known as Vaudou. Vaudou is a worldview encompassing philosophy, medicine, justice, and religion. Its fundamental principle is that everything is spirit. Humans are spirits who inhabit the visible world. The unseen world is populated by loa (spirits), mystè (mysteries), anvizib (the invisibles), zanj (angels), and the spirits of ancestors and the recently deceased.

    The primary goal and activity of Vaudou is to sevi loa (“serve the spirits”) - to offer prayers and perform various devotional rites directed at Kiliitu and also particular spirits in return for health, protection, and favor. Spirit possession plays an important role in the religion, as it does in many other world religions. During religious rites, believers sometimes enter a trancelike state in which the devotee may eat and drink, perform stylized dances, give supernaturally inspired advice to people, or perform medical cures or special physical feats; these acts exhibit the incarnate presence of the loa within the entranced devotee, and the loa are inferred to be "riding" the worshiper. Vaudou ritual activity (e.g., prayer, song, dance, and gesture) is aimed at refining and restoring balance and energy in relationships between people and the spirits of the unseen world.

    Vaudou is an oral tradition practiced by extended families that inherit familial spirits, along with the necessary devotional practices, from their elders. In the cities, local hierarchies of priestesses or priests (houngan or mombo), “children of the spirits” (ounsi), and ritual drummers (ountògi) comprise more formal “societies” or “congregations” (sosyete). In these congregations, knowledge is passed on through a ritual of initiation (kanzo) in which the body becomes the site of spiritual transformation. There is no centralized hierarchy, no single leader, and no official spokesperson, but various groups sometimes attempt to create such official structures. There are also secret societies, called Bizango or Sanpwèl, that perform a religio-juridical function. Another practitioner of Vaudou is the bokor. Bokors are often associated with the creation of zombies and various other undead, and as such are reviled by the common peasant. It's not unusual for a bokor to have a small army of zombies accompanying them, much to the disconcertion of those nearby.


A Houngan

    Vaudou teaches that there are over a thousand loa (or lwa). They are regarded as the intermediaries of Kiliitu, the supreme creator deity in Vaudou. The sage Clément Gagneux argued that by learning about the various loa, practitioners come to understand the different facets of Kiliitu. There are no buildings dedicated to the loa, and worship always takes place outside of the city walls. This is done out of necessity, as vaudouists and deity worshipers are often at odds. Vaudouists are tolerated by law, and visual acts of intolerance are illegal (bigotry runs rampant, however, in the form of higher prices, lower wages, being ignored or passed over for important functions, etc).

    The loa can offer help, protection, and counsel to humans, in return for ritual service. They are thought of as having wisdom that is useful for humans, although they are not seen as moral exemplars which practitioners should imitate. Each loa has its own personality, and is associated with specific colors, days of the week, and objects. The loa can be either loyal or capricious in their dealings with their devotees; Vodouists believe that the loa are easily offended, for instance if offered food that they dislike. When angered, the loa are believed to remove their protection from their devotees, or to inflict misfortune, illness, or madness on an individual.


A Bokor

    Practitioners believe that some Vaudou priests and priestesses became loa after death (such as Baron Glegali), or that certain talismans are loa. Vaudouists often refer to the lwa residing in "Jainea", but this is not intended as a precise geographical location. Many loa are also understood to live under the water, at the bottom of the sea or in rivers (such as the famed Rivière Tumultueuse). Vaudouists believe that the loa communicate with humans through dreams and through the possession of human beings.

    During rituals, the loa are summoned through designs known as veve. These are sketched out on the floor of the ceremonial space using cornmeal, ash, coffee grounds, or powdered eggshells.


Various Veve

    For game purposes, the multiple types loa are treated as having purviews with the worshiper, and as such have many more "domains" than a standard god or goddess do. The worshiper is able to honor and bargain with multiple loa, and as such have access to different domains depending on the type of loa.

Loa, Benevolent: Any good-aligned worshiper. Domains: Good, Healing, Love, Pleasure, Protection.
• Names: Pyriel, Baltha, Alik, Kielik, Rieliah, Bariel, Nieliah, Kasdiel, Banael, Binem
Loa, Impartial: Any neutrally-aligned worshiper. Domains: Balance, Luck, Magic, Mysticism, Travel.
• Names: Kiliitu, Adudis, Inyammid, Suuhazuu, Aralit, Immabius, Tana, Buni, Nyasamsu, Marduga
Loa, Malevolent: Any evil-aligned worshiper. Domains: Bestial, Death, Destruction, Evil, Pain.
• Names: Beraie, Anzus, Aras, Vapar, Lithora, Amaech, Mamma, Vapul, Sadya, Bacha
Loa, Orderly. Any lawful-aligned worshiper. Domains: Domination, inquisition, Knowledge, Law, Strength.
• Names: Lili, Ninki, Lila, Ayastal, Mammyl, Puaba, Ninu, Sabi, Nisab, Ammere
Loa, Turbulent: Any chaotic-aligned worshiper. Domains: Chaos, Confusion, Fire, Shadow, Trickery.
• Names: Baron Glegali, Diranwe, Gladuili, Papa Loup Blanc, Erdios, Eneler, Celinerdh, Lineli, Thranwe, Gwindeli