Also been thinking about this a bit more and I might try to incorporate an atheistic society with more technological advancements than the other cultures, though it might be more akin to late 1800s-early 1900s tech for the most part.
People talking abt my worldbuilding without my own input 
ts is so magnificent
Another question for the world, did the gods come into existence on their own/with the formation of the universe or are they manifested by the strength of the believers and number of worshippers. Also sorry if you’ve already answered it
It’s a little bit of both. The main religions that are worshipped currently in universe all manifested on their own very long ago, and they used to be more open towards each other.
After this, only a few have managed to form into existence by the worship of humans, and a good bit of those were mostly offshoots from previous religions in the first place. For worship to manifest a new religion, people would basically have to give up a bit of their magic to manifest a new deity.
Some people in lore (which I’ll eventually get to and name at some point) have even tried manifesting themselves into gods through this, but they haven’t become such yet.
It’s theoretically possible to do, but doing so would first require someone to already be notable enough, which 99% of the time will require having been part of a religion at first. Then you have to get people interested in your message and believe in your power, and then having to deal with whatever amount of opposition comes your way from you basically trying to declare yourself a god. I.e., basically every other religion.
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Enough yap about that though I feel like engagement baiting a bit
i realized most of this relic talk doesn’t really help without a general idea of what each religion is about. Unfortunately, I am lazy and haven’t worked on all of the concepts for them yet.
However, I would still like to at least get the ideas out there for people to guess on. Thus, I ask whatever people may see this reply
Should I present the basic ideas for a few of the religions with my riddles three? I’m not the best at making guessing games but I still would like to present them in this way (for engagement purposes).
So, would any of you play?
- I would play your riddles three.
0
voters
Maybe
Perchance
is it gonna be like “remember the time you ganked someone in AO? You have a bomb inside your head” type riddles
No i was planning on using some song quotes and/or zoomed in images
Updated
Added some more stuff to phase 2 and 3, added phase 3 to the original topic. Phase 4 and the theoretical phase 5 are now up as well.
Added another part for relics describing what happens when they are disarmed. This part also teases a bit of the first religion I’m working on.
Dropdown for a read will be here
New stuff added
From the end of this phase forward, the relic user will no longer be able to revert their magic back into neutral magic, effectively locking them from being a Priestsmith or Enchanter unless they are to disarm their relic (see Disarming Relics for more information).
Phase 3: “Dedication”
When a relic user has finished their training under the aspect they chose, they might choose to further improve their capabilities through their dedication and fate, hoping to become worthy or notable in the eyes of the deity they worship. While their training would become more personal at this point, there are some outlines as to what they may want to do for this training. Most religions may have relic users travel to certain locations related to their deity, usually religious temples or controlled wilderness areas believed to belong to them.
From this point, relic users will show their worship, to which they may receive some form of message from their deity delivering them a quest to embark on. This message might come in the form of natural signs, premonitions, visions, or even what may be seen as coincidences at the time. If their deity ends up giving no message, something which has been believed to be happening more often, then it will be up to the relic users to create their own quest to train on. This quest may take years to fully complete, potentially longer if there was no clear message given to the relic user, but eventually, their efforts will be recognized.
At the end of this training, there tends to be a test/vision of sorts that the user goes through. It’s not widely understood what happens in this step, but most relic users report having a one-on-one with their deity. Whether this “one-on-one” refers to a conversation or spar is debatable, most people tend to believe in the former, as even most warrior related cultures believe the latter to be absurd.
Regardless, what happens ends up feeling like a dream to the user, one which (usually) leaves them with their training fully finalized. Once this is successfully reached, the user will find themselves with further mastery over their own magic, allowing them the opportunity to create their own spells and adjust previously learned spells. It is at this point that they also find themself recognized as powerful individuals in their religion, usually becoming high ranking generals in their militaries or the heads of various institutions.
If this last step is to fail in whatever scenario happens, then the user will find themself back at square one of this phase, their quest failed and training vanished. Fortunately, this rarely occurs in this phase, although it isn’t understood why this might happen in the first place due to the unknown nature of this step.
Phase 4: “Immortalization”
If a person chooses to further improve their magical capabilities, then they would be beginning the immortalization phase of specialization. Unlike the other phases, this phase doesn’t have any clear track in which changes take place. This phase more so describes how a relic user may immortalize themself as a figure in their religion.
In this phase, a dedicated relic user learns to master their magic to the point of being able to change it in any which way; however, getting to this point is very difficult, and some magical changes may take a long time to take hold depending on how different it is to their magic’s element. For example, trying to change from a fire-based magic to a water-based magic may take decades or centuries, if not impossible in a human lifetime.
If a relic user is successful in changing their magic like this, then they may be able to help teach others their new magic as an aspect, which eventually may become passed down for generations, with the relic user being immortalized as an important part of their religion. This, however, is a lot more difficult to do in polytheistic religions as a regular relic user due to their powers deriving from specific deities or demigods.
Phase 5: “Ascension” (Purely Theoretical)
While the exact ending of this phase isn’t known, it is believed that another phase after this is possible. In theory, this phase would be where the relic user could potentially become a god, separating themself from their humanity entirely and creating a new religion.
This phase, however, has not been proven to exist, nor will it likely be proven for a long time. For one, this would require people to begin devoting themselves fully to you rather than their own religion, giving up some of their magic to improve your own powers. Because of this, many religions view this action as treachery, one which would immediately be punished.
At best, they may be exiled alongside their followers for their actions. At worst, they might be hunted due to them trying to make others undermine their own religion. Some may even be wiped from any public records if what they were doing was truly terrible in the eyes of their religion.
Thus, this phase remains unproven as of now, although a few instances of people trying to find it do exist in the present day. The most notable of these would be Lustraline the Celestial due to her pacifistic beliefs and her agreeability allowing her to hold communications with high officials in other cultures, even those of her old religion. Regardless, only time will tell whether this phase does truly exist.
Disarming Relics
If one chooses to leave their religion, for any reasons deemed necessary by the person, they will end up having to disarm their current relic to do so. The process itself is not that difficult to do, as it only takes completely destroying one’s relic with their own magic. The true issue, however, arises afterwards from the loss of the magical capabilities. In the early developments of relic magic, the magical energy becomes tied to the user’s inherent bodily functions, and the forcible removal of it from one’s body can have vastly different effects based on how far they have specialized.
At the least consequential phase of this, the Formation phase (and any point beforehand), the user will only end up having lost their magical training and undergoing Drain Sickness (a phrase used to describe the loss of energy from their magical energy being removed) for a short amount of time, typically only going up to a week at most.
If the user disarms their relic during the Aspection phase, then they will find themself having lost their physical training alongside any magical training, as well as undergoing Drain Sickness for upwards of three months. Alongside this, they will find themself undergoing a complete personality reversal if they were to undergo any changes during this phase.
If the user disarms during the Dedication phase of specialization, then not only will they find themselves undergoing other aforementioned issues (loss of all training, extended periods of Drain Sickness, personality reversal, etc.), but they will also find themselves having undergone Retrograde Amnesia, with any memories of their journey becoming unavailable. While in some cases these memories eventually end up returning, more often than not the user will never regain them, either due to them not wanting to or their brains physically preventing them from doing so. In the worst cases of this recorded, some users end up having completely lost any and all memories they once had, being left completely as a blank slate.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much known about the effects of disarming during the Immortalization phase (and subsequently the Ascension phase), as most users in these phases of specialization have become fully loyal to their religion. Out of all of the modern day religions, there has only ever been one recorded incident of this happening. In this incident, known colloquially as the Misfortune of Saint Tabitha, the disarming relic user had caused a violent explosion of magic energy to burst from her amulet as it shattered, causing the cathedral the incident took place in to begin collapsing. After the residents inside the collapsing cathedral escaped, including the unconscious Saint Tabitha, it was found that she was stuck in a deep coma, the loss of her magical energy having been too much for her body to handle.
While Saint Tabitha was transported to the highest medical circuit in her religion for further studying, followers of her teaching reported their aspection completely reverting back to the formation phase. Strangely, no loss in magical training was ever reported by them, and later medical checkups showed no cases of Drain Sickness or physical damage to the followers. The only common occurrence between all of them, outside of their lost aspect, was supposed nightmares and hallucinations of their previous saint, which was chalked up to being trauma due to the event by the doctors.
Further information about the incident and the state of Tabitha has been withheld from the general public, and likely will continue to be for the foreseeable future until, in the words of the medical circuit, “Saint Tabitha can live again.”
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It’s been almost two weeks and I got distracted by school work. I might as well show what I got for the first religion so far though.
Divollism (PLACEHOLDER(?) NAME)
Explanations about this religion would go here
Monotheistic - This religion follows one deity only, even though their magics can differ through the saints that follow this deity.
Neutral Magic: Light Energy - The main magic used by this religion is a light-based energy, typically colored a bright yellow at first.
Formation Types
Blade Formation - Those who wish to take up the job of warriors and guards are taught the Blade Formation, which begins with training one of Divollism’s foundational spells: weapon manifestation.
Cleric Formation: - Those who wish to take up the job of healers and priests are taught the Cleric Formation, of which are taught healing and shielding spells as their first types of support.
Sage Formation - Those who wish to be combatants without wanting to take up weaponry would be taught the Sage Formation, which would result in them learning summoning based spells for self preservation and as ways to attack. This formation is a newer development in the multicultural zones where Divollism is present, although it hasn’t been recognized by other primarily Divollist areas. Still, it’s significant enough to warrant putting it separate from the Cleric Formation.
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Any feedback or questions would be appreciated if possible!
neat
Updated the information regarding the misfortune of Saint Tabitha because I thought up something cooler
New reading of the event in which Saint Tabitha accidentally caused crystal energy organs/crystal cancer to exist. Flip a coin on which one you want it to be, I don’t know yet which one it should be.
In this incident, known colloquially as the Misfortune of Saint Tabitha, the disarming relic user had caused a violent explosion of magic energy to burst from her amulet as it shattered, causing the cathedral the incident took place in to begin collapsing as crystal growths started appearing sporadically. After the residents inside the collapsing cathedral escaped, including the unconscious Saint Tabitha, it was found that she was stuck in a deep coma, the loss of her magical energy having been too much for her body to handle.
At the same time, the magic energy that had left her body had begun to seep into the ground, with a projected area of about 25,768 km² total. The very edges of this area had the least changes, as the plants turned a deep teal color and took on a more rigid, crystal-like appearance. Closer to the center, however, more significant changes occurred. Buildings became enveloped by crystal growths growing on them, many collapsing from the inside as larger ones broke through their structure. Plants began to become as hard as rocks while changing into a variety of colors, from vibrant, rosey reds to intensely deep violets, and anything in between. Even the animals within the area had begun to develop crystals on their bodies, their teeth and claws changing entirely into jewels.
While Saint Tabitha was transported to the highest medical circuit in her religion for further studying, followers of her teaching reported their aspection completely reverting back to the formation phase. Strangely, no loss in magical training was ever reported by them, and later medical checkups showed no cases of Drain Sickness or physical damage to the followers. The only common occurrence between all of them, outside of their lost aspect, was supposed nightmares and hallucinations of their previous saint, which was chalked up to being trauma due to the event by doctors.
Further information about the incident and the state of Tabitha has been withheld from the general public, and likely will continue to be for the foreseeable future until, in the words of the medical circuit, “Saint Tabitha can live again.”
About 30 years later, present day, the 3rd medical circuit went back to perform a health check on the towns within the area that Saint Tabitha’s magical energy had dispersed. When they recorded that an old man, who lived a rather far distance from the center of the magical explosion, had begun developing crystal growths along his body, there was a massive panic amongst people in the crystalline plains. Not long after, the Grand Church ordered the movement of townspeople within the affected area into a quarantined zone outside of it. There, they had the medical circuit perform operations to determine the effects the magical energy had on the human body and if it might be fatal. This happened three months ago. Results so far have not been published, and the operation is still ongoing as of writing.
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