This is the first part of a series about religion, the gods, and the afterlife in Loaerth & Feywyrd. We will explore these concepts and how they might be used to shape the cosmology of Loaerth & Feywyrd in the future.
by Jonathan Jacobs
One of the things I really love about working with all the fine people (i.e. gearheads) of Nevermet Press is how ideas are bounced around between us and evolve in our development forum. Ideas and concepts change, and sometimes something completely unexpected pops out of the hive mind of NMP that surprises all of us. When this happens – I’m left just sitting there staring at my screen thinking “Wow… now here’s something that gets my gears turning!”
This happened a few months ago when I brought up the topic of religion, gods, and the afterlife for Loaerth & Feywyrd. How should these concepts fit into the setting? What tropes do we want to preserve? And, what common fantasy motifs might be kick to the curb because they are not compatible with our vision for L&F?
We are designing Loaerth to be a primitive steam-punk setting (Loaerth and the Known World) with a outer fridge of fantasy (the Feywyrd) [1]. Thus, the “stock fantasy” notion of a Pantheon of Gods doesn’t seem to fit that well. The Helfay, the event that (temporarily) stripped magic from the world, also destroyed Man’s confidence in Magic and Spiritualism. The Gods had failed, and it was therefor up to Mankind to overcome the obstacles the Helfay brought on the world without the assistance of spells, rituals, and magic rites. Science prevailed – with dwarven forgesmiths and coalcrafters leading the way forward.
What then, after 500 years of this technological revolution, would be the place of religion in Loaerth. And now, with the reemergence of magic in the world – what kinds of resurgence would religion see among Man? How would the agents of the gods pave the way for new followers?
These were basic questions – that needed lots of back-filling of story and setting elements to answer. Once brought up for discussion, the NMP developers started a lengthy discussion in the forums that lasted for weeks[2]. The results of which are still not nailed down, but I’ll outline the basic concepts in this series. We would all love to hear your feedback as well, and suggestions, so feel free to comment at the bottom.
It all started when Tony Hoffart basically asked the group: “what happened to the gods?” After several weeks and some 57 posts/replies, here is something of what we sketched out…
The Known World and the Feywyrd
There are not any gods in the traditional fantasy sense (omnipotent forces of the universe bending their will on the world). Instead, the Universe is split into two halves: The Known World (read: the real world, material plane, etc) which is where the mortals live, and The Feywyrd – a place where the spirits of mortals go while waiting to Fade into the Void. This is somewhat like a heaven and hell all wrapped up into one. What keeps spirits in the Feywyrd is the memories, rituals, and veneration they receive after their mortal body dies from those living in the Known World. Its essentially ancestor worship, but this not only prevents loved ones from go fading into oblivion it is the first step towards giving your ancestors real power after they die. Each veneration, blessing, or act of worship by a mortal for that spirit increases their power.
Eventually, with enough support, some of these spirits become powerful enough to channel their power back into the Known World through those who follow them: they are essentially gods.
Over eons, countless numbers of spirits and souls of the dead have passed through the Feywyrd and most eventually Fade. Some, however, remain there for centuries but their power and influence in the Known World often weakens with each passing generation as their descendants memory and faith in them wanes. These ancestral spirits are known as Aspects. They are minor deities who existence is tied to one family, a clan, or perhaps a specific locale. They are able to convey minor blessings and miracles to their descendants, but there are literally thousands of them in existence at any given time.
Some of these Aspects have been fortunate enough to remain in the Feywyrd for a millennium or more, and to have grown a solid base of worshipers during that time. These Aspects are closer to what you might consider the gods of other Fantasy RPG campaign settings: powerful beings with thousands if not millions of followers who command great power and influence over their domains. These “super souls” are called Angels, and they gain power from those who worship them in the Known World, and through them they exert their wills on the events of the Known World. They are not necessarily evil or good, or tied to some idiom, elemental aspect, or domain. After all – at one time – they were men and women who lived in the Known World, although it was likely eons ago.
So, the Angels of L&F are nothing more than very old, powerful souls. From this an important distinction is made: the creatures of the Feywyrd do not have souls. What and how they were created is a mystery. They are more or less immortal while in the Feywyrd, and they age at an extremely slow rate while in the Known World. However, any elf, grunkak, or other Feywyrd creature that dies from physical harm immediately becomes a lifeless shell. Their soul and their bodies are one in the same, and once their bodies die their soul immediately Fades.
The elves, after first invading the Known World a millennium ago, discovered a strange thing though. Fey creatures born in the Known World are granted souls. This was a very rare event, for it is difficult for Fey to bear children even in the Feywyrd. What made this particularly strange, however, was that once they died they returned to the Feywyrd and were able to live on as an Aspect. Soon, elven souls mingled with the souls of mortals, and were able to grow in power just as the other mortal souls did. Eventually, one Elven soul attained enough power and influence that he is recognized as an Angel. This elf, Locien Tinuvir, and now is now Lord Tinuvir and the God King of the Elves.
In the next post in this series we’ll explore what happens when soulless elves trick the natural way of things and become Gods – and what the Myrmidons have to do with it…
[1] Someone on Twitter suggested coalpunk, and that term has stuck in my mind ever since. Loaerth City is particular is a grease and grim soiled brick megalopolis. It’s not so much a place of steam powered chrome and neo-Victoriana beauty as it is a vision of smog choked, mid-19th century urban sprawl with gadgetry, magic, and creep.
[2] A transcript of this discussion is available, cleaned up and in PDF form. We are on the fence about whether should make these available to NMP fans. What do you think?
[3] The Races of Man include all mortal humanoids – currently Humans, Dwarves, and Trolls. It’s possible others may emerge as the setting evolves, but for now that’s about it.
Am I missing something? A confidence (belief?) in Magic and Spiritualism are gone (the gods are gone) but there is an existence of the soul that manifests in the Known world and travels to the Fey. The soul can even manifest in the Fey if they are born in the Known world.
What are souls in this world? Why are they part of man/people of the Known world?
This might be answered in the later post and I’ll look forward to it, but right now it seems like the basic nature of the soul, at least for why people of the Known world have them, is glossed over. It seems odd that this scientifically oriented society would even consider there being a soul. It’s not something that is quantifiable… or is it? That would be an interesting question to answer.
Perhaps the soul is the essence of the Feywyrld that the inhabitants of the Known world carry with them? They are not part of the Feywyrld, but it can’t exist without them. I don’t know, seems like something fun to play with in an effort to explain why a soul exists at all.
Jim – your last comment basically captures it.
We had MANY long discussions internally about _what_ the feywyrd was. Believe it or not this whole setting started as a Arturian Mythology spin on steampunk (no longer) – but concepts of a “hidden world dependent on the souls and spirits of the living” is basically what the Feywyrd is. It’s sort of like hell and heaven – an Eden if you will. It’s the seed place from were our spark of humanity comes from, and where it returns after we die. The Fey – well.. there were never meant to come to the Known WOrld in the first place – but they figured out how to do this. They were supposed to be the Caretakers of the Feywyrd – not the conquerers of the Known World.
And yes — there are not “true gods” in L&F. Gods are basically the souls of the dead who have been elevated by way of ancestor worship and veneration. Eventually, they gain a following and have the ability to channel some of that energy / mana / whatever (we haven’t named it yet) back into the Known World to their priests.
The Known World was not always so science based. What happened was an event – the Helfay – a ritual that went completely haywire banished all the Fey back into the Feywyrd along with all that was tainted with Fey. Magic. Religion. Gone – all snuffed out in an instant by one massive mistake by the Archivist who attempted to return the elves back to the Feywyrd. Instead the whole world was swept clean of everything even remotely Fey.
What followed was a period of 500 or so years where the dwarves emerged from the mines, brought thier steam… err coalcraft technology with them and issued forth centuries of technological innovation.
But now – the Viel has been cracked. The fey are returning back into the world… and you have this juxtaposition of the old world and the new – the fantasy and the coalpunk – priests are reaching out to their gods again, and old religions that have become traditions are now gaining new life and “miracles” are once again possible.
that’s basically it.
Wow… I wish I had more time to write / develop L&F. This post (rereading it) and your comment have really got my brain thinking again! More coming soon… I promise.