#askreligion

[loominggaia]

How exactly does someone join the cult of the Crescent?

Good question! I think if you're the type of cruel, ruthless person the cult is looking for, you'll just kinda end up there without trying. The Cult of the Crescent has agents everywhere, hiding in plain sight, but they tend to congregate wherever nasty business is happening.

Wherever there is misery and suffering, the Crescent is never far away. Crime dens, riots, disaster zones, slaving and trafficking operations, battlefields, prisons...places like this attract bloodthirsty individuals and Crescent cultists. When the two meet, recruitments happen.

The cult likes to prey on angry, desperate people who have nothing left to lose. People who have no qualms about hurting others and making the world a worse place, people who have lost all hope in life itself. The cult empowers these people to take their anger out on the world and make everyone around them suffer.

Everyone is welcome to join the cult, no matter their species, age, sex, or any other circumstance. There is no discrimination here! But not all who join will thrive; many are filtered out by their own conscience as the cult pushes them to commit worse and worse atrocities.

However, one who takes that first step in may not simply back out, because initiation requires committing an act of terrorism in the Divine of Hate's name. Now you are an enemy of regular society. No kingdom will accept you, but the cult will...so long as you keep terrorizing society. If you refuse, the cult will terrorize you.

The bottom line is, it's best not to engage with these guys at all. If someone reveals themselves as a Crescent cultist, don't even fight, just get the hell away from them. Even the most elite of these guys are just slaves, forced to serve the Divine of Hate.

Everyone who has ever joined this cult regrets it, but they have no power to leave. They gave that up the moment they betrayed society.

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[loominggaia]

What are Lamai’s Dark Shaman’s like? Are they just your typical necromancers, or is there something particularly unique about them as a group/people? Do they worship Necrom instead of the typical Vermism, making them heretics?

In Lamai Nation, I imagine the term "dark shaman" is a general term that means "mage who uses forbidden magic". Some spells are illegal to cast in this kingdom. For example, lobbing a hazard spell at someone, using telepathy to alter someone's free will, or any form of necromancy.

Necromancy is a hot topic in particular, especially in Lamai Nation. Raising zombies or otherwise tampering with the dead is illegal and considered very taboo here, yet it's still a rampant problem in this region.

There are secret networks of necromancers in Lamai Nation, and yes, many of them are operating in the name of Necrom. This kingdom's unique attitude towards corpses kind of feeds into this problem.

Dead bodies are not cremated here--in fact, the notion is considered offensive in Lamaish culture. Instead, they are recycled by specialists, who take the bodies apart and make things out of the skin, bones, organs, etc. for a fee.

Sometimes these specialists are in cahoots with dark shaman cults. Instead of recycling the bodies, they just sell them to the shamans, who practice their dark rituals on them. This usually happens to the bodies of unloved Lamaish people, who have no families or friends to claim their recycled parts, or whose families are too poor to pay for the recycling service. In these cases, the body-recyclers do the service free of charge, but keeps all the harvested materials and sells them for profit.

Or, like I said, they sell the whole body to the dark shamans, which is easier and more profitable.

Strangely, death is one of Lamai Nation's biggest industries. There is a whole facet of the economy built around the death of its citizens and the rituals around it. One side of this economy is legit and performed by licensed shamans, but the shadier side is performed in secret by their dark, unlicensed counterparts.

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[loominggaia]

If the order of love and light is women only then what about austerity

Actually the Order of Love and Light is not a women-only faction! All genders are welcome, though it does tend to be female-dominated. There are various reasons for this, but that's a whole new post on its own.

I'm just making an assumption here, but your confusion probably stems from the story "Dirty Animal"? I recall someone else asking a similar question after reading that story, so I'll just quickly explain that the Order of Love and Light is not female-exclusive, but it does have some temples that are segregated by sex. The reasons for this are mainly cultural and may differ based on what region they're in. Because females vastly outnumber males in this faction, it may appear that there are only female temples. In reality, there are also male temples, they are just less common.

In "Dirty Animal", a satyr named Itchy was being raised in a female-only temple. The priestesses made an exception for him because he was just a child. But as he got older, he started getting sexually mischievous and his behavior was causing issues with the women around him. Normally he would be transferred to a male-only or mixed-sex temple at that point, but in this case, the grand priestess just decided to kick him out of the faction entirely (for unique reasons that are explained later in the series).

All of this is to say, Austerity's sex has no effect on his status with the Order of Love and Light. Whether he was male or female, he is still an agent of Karenza.

However, it does effect the way he's treated if he were to visit a female-only temple. There are special rules he must follow while he's there, certain rooms he can't enter, etc. It doesn't matter that he was once female. Since he is male now, the male rules now apply to him.

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[loominggaia]

Do Communion members behave alike because of telepathy or the indoctrination? is losing ones identity by overusing telepathy possible outside of it?

It's a little of both! I imagine it starts with typical indoctrination, then as the followers develop their telepathic powers and connect with The One more and more, they genuinely begin losing their sense of self on a cognitive level. They can no longer tell where their own consciousness ends and the consciousness of The One begins. But this isn't distressing to them; in fact, it's their main goal! Individuality is a sin in this religion. Communion followers wish to let go of all independent thought and become a giant hivemind.

Abusing any type of magic can have negative consequences, and telepathy is no exception. What Communion followers experience is not new or unique to them; any telepath who spends too much time in other peoples' heads can begin losing their sense of self. They become mentally detached from their bodies, experience things like dissociation, personality changes, and even hallucinations. Advanced cases can drive themselves to total insanity.

This is why it's important to always practice magic responsibly! But some mages just don't have enough sense, or maybe they just can't resist the call of the void. Communion members abuse their powers intentionally, but in a somewhat controlled manner.

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[loominggaia]

What if a Lindist family moved to Matuzu, how are they treated?

Most of the world's Lindists live in Evangeline Kingdom, so I'm going to assume that's where they're immigrating from. Long story short: Matuzans and Evangelites don't like eachother. Their cultural values are incompatible, and this leads to a lot of conflict between them.

Most of Evangeline's culture is derived from its dominant religion, Lindism. Matuzu Kingdom is much more diverse, meaning there is no single religion that dominates its culture. Matuzan culture is tolerant of other beliefs.

However, there is a bit of a "tolerance paradox" when Evangelite Lindists immigrate to Matuzu Kingdom. These Evangelites believe that men are superior to women, fae and gaians are evil by nature, slavery is good for the economy, and nature should be prioritized over peoples' welfare. When they become Matuzan citizens, they gain the right to vote for policies (a right which they did not have in their homeland), and Matuzans get angry at them for changing the local policies to be more like their homeland.

Evangelite values disgust the average Matuzan, and are not compatible with current Matuzan law, which states that all peoples should have equal rights, slavery is illegal, and people should be prioritized over nature.

So, I imagine many Evangelites/Lindists have a hard time integrating into Matuzan culture. Maybe some don't integrate at all and live in insular communities, enforcing Evangelite ways, while others leave their old ways behind and fully immerse themselves into the new culture.

In the series, an Evangelite character named Evan was part of the latter group. He was like "this whole culture sucks ass, I'm outta here", left Evangeline territory, and completely uprooted his life, values, and religion to start fresh. He basically had to tear himself down and rebuild himself as a person, which is a very difficult thing to do. I think many Evangelites would lack the gumption he has, and might stubbornly cling to some of their ways.

I will add that Evangeline Kingdom is quite comfortable for all humans Lindists, or people who enjoy these cultural values, so they aren't likely to leave their homeland willingly. The ones who leave are already dissatisfied with Evangelite culture and desperate to distance themselves from it. So, they would be more willing to adopt a new culture. These are people like women, LGBT people, fae and gaians, Sylvanists or other non-Lindists, etc.

Evangelite culture caters mostly to male Lindist commoners, so they have little reason to leave. When they do, it's usually for economic/business reasons. (See: Edmund's cousin Lorenso, who moved to Folkvar Kingdom for his ranching business. He still loved Evangeline culture and didn't want to leave, but admitted that he can make more money in Folkvar land.)

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[loominggaia]

Chey here,

Do 7 deadly sins exist in looming gaia or no?

The 7 deadly sins are a Christian concept. Since Christianity doesn't exist on Looming Gaia, this doctrine doesn't exist either.

However, there are religions and ideologies on Looming Gaia with similar concepts of sin. Things like murder, rape, theft, etc. are considered sins throughout most cultures on Gaia. (There are also cultures which glorify these horrible things, like the Cult of the Crescent!)

Here are some random examples...

Sylvanists believe it's a sin to kill animals for sport. They kill only for food and in self-defense.

It's a Modern Lindist sin to harm nymphs.

The Communion believes it's a sin to wear revealing clothing (They literally say, "Skin below the chin is a sin!")

Indigenous Vermists believe necromancy is a sin, while Followers of Necrom (another branch of the same religion) revere necromancy.

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[loominggaia]

Popular religions in each great kingdom

Religions are still very underdeveloped in this series, so this will not be a complete answer. But this is what I have so far:

Folkvar: Sylvanism and Traditional Lindism.

Matuzu: Mixed (lots of different religions, no large dominance of one over the others).

Lamai: Serpentism (worship of dragons), Congregation of Midday (worship of sunlight), Vermism.

Yerim-Mor: Cult of the Crescent (worship of the Divine of Hate), Order of Love and Light (worship of the Divine of Love. Technically this is outlawed here, but many worship her in secret.) Agnosticism.

Zareen Empire: Atheism.

Evangeline Kingdom: Modern Lindism largely dominates Evangelite society, but there are also some pockets of Sylvanism.

Mogdir Kingdom: Arcanism (worship of magic), Sylvanism.

Etios Nation: Sylvanism. Indigenous Vermism.

Damijana: Communion of the One. Atheism.

Seelie: Arcanism.

Unseelie: Necrom (a weird branch of Vermism).

Aquaria: Mixed.

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[loominggaia]

Hot take: modern Lindism is human copium for being the worst race

This statement has been fact-checked by True Folkvaran Patriots(tm)!

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[loominggaia]

Has the Cult of the Crescent ever kidnapped a divine and put them in an agony cradle forever

Thankfully this hasn't happened...yet. It's terrifying to think about though!

I think most divines would be too powerful to be contained in an agony cradle, or get captured by cultists in the first place.

Crescent Cultists are actually pretty chickenshit. They pick on the weak first, and only take on stronger opponents when they have to. Trying to capture a divine would be a lot more trouble than it's worth. Disgrace has been trying to get his hands on Karenza for thousands of years, and despite all the gold and lives and time this quest has cost him, he's still empty-handed.

There is a reason this cult victimizes women and children above all else...because they are rotten, lazy, cowards.

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[loominggaia]

1:¿Hay alguna cultura que celebra algo similar a la navidad?

2:no es una queja en si, pero ¿Por qué en las entradas de titania y morgause no aparecen las leyes de su pueblo como en las otras entradas?

(Translated via Google Translate)

1:Is there any culture that celebrates something similar to Christmas? 2: It's not a complaint in itself, but why don't the laws of their town appear in the titania and morgause entries like in the other entries?

1 ) I imagine there are many holidays around Looming Gaia that celebrate winter and the spirit of giving. The changing of seasons is a particularly big deal to Lindists and Sylvanists.

Lindists celebrate winter by leaving offerings to the isanae, like gold and charms. They also sing hymns to the wilderness as offerings.

Sylvanists paint rocks and trees with fresh animal blood to honor their gods. They perform chanting rituals to ask the gods for a merciful winter.

There are also holidays which don't take place in winter, but that celebrate charity, giving, and consumerism like Christmas does. Followers of Karenza devote themselves to charity work on certain days.

There were once Morite holidays that encouraged giving to the less fortunate, but they have been lost to corruption since the Gold River War.

That's all I can think of at the moment! These are just rough ideas so far, I haven't developed them much beyond this yet.

2 ) Some articles are outdated and need to be updated. Titania and Morgause's is definitely one of the ones I'd like to update, with new information and artwork.

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[loominggaia]

Is the FGG religious?

I think they're all agnostic, with a small handful of exceptions. Those exceptions being...

Evan: Evan was once a practicing Lindist, only because he was raised in a Lindist household and he knew nothing different. As he grew older and exposed himself to more worldly ideas, he began to find cracks in his religion and eventually fell out of it. He now vaguely claims himself to be "spiritual", not a Lindist but still having faith in Gaia as an intelligent and loving maker. He continues to worship Her in his own way, not in the way Lindist doctrine demands. He also still observes the minor gods from Lindist scripture, which are all really just elements of Gaia by different names (water, fire, land, air, etc.)

Lukas: Lukas considers himself an atheist. However, in the context of Looming Gaia, the word "atheist" can encompass several very different belief systems. In Lukas' case, he doesn't believe that Gaia is a sentient being who does anything deliberately. Everything She creates is just a byproduct of Her survival, and She lacks the capacity to care for these creations or anything else living upon her. Lukas views Allkind as parasites living on Her back. He believes that his maker basically shat him out by accident and regards him like a dog regards a tapeworm.

Lukas looks down on anyone who believes otherwise, and he hates the concept of organized religion in general. He believes that religious doctrine, in all its forms, only does harm and makes the world a worse place for Allkind.

Glenvar: Glenvar is the most religious member of the crew, surprisingly enough. Though it seems he treats everything in life like a joke, his faith is the one thing he takes very seriously. He's a devout Sylvanist who compromises his faith for nothing. He'll skip work to goof off without a second thought , but he wouldn't dream of skipping a prayer ritual. It's too important to him. He communes with his gods daily and finds comfort in them.

This annoys his crewmen at times, because he makes them participate in these rituals whenever the opportunity arises. If it's prayer time (sunrise and sunset) and they happen to be standing near one of his shrines, they better get on their knees and join him. If they don't, he'll kick them in the shins to drop them, then trap them in a headlock and force them to pray with him, because he takes great offense when they "disrespect" his gods. If his crew is eating meat, they better throw a piece of it in the fire first or he'll grab it off their plate and do it for them. If they hunt an animal, he'll make them say a prayer and dress its corpse in flowers right after they kill it. And so on...

Most of his crewmen just go along with it, because it's way less trouble than fighting with him about it. Lukas, on the other hand...Lukas and Glenvar have had some earth-shattering fights over religion. They argue about it pretty much daily. These dumb arguments have become background noise to the rest of the crew, it's as natural as birdsong to them at this point.

Elska: Elska's tribe had its own set of beliefs about the world as well as their own unique creation theory. This religion is so small and obscure that it doesn't even have a name, but it's what Elska has always believed and continues to have faith in today.

In short, she believes that Gaia is a huge cosmic centaur who shaped Elska's tribe in Her image, forging them from stone and bone (This is why her tribe is called the People of Stone and Bone). When her people die, they join Her in the cosmos with all their ancestors, where they run free among the stars for all eternity.

Elska isn't pushy about her religion like Glenvar is. She mostly keeps her faith and rituals to herself. Leaving her mountain actually made her start questioning this faith and gave her a new perspective on it as a whole. She still believes in it, but she looks at it differently than she used to.

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[loominggaia]

Also is Is there any Religions That don't have articles?

There are several religions that still need articles. I'm still working on Arcanism (worship of magic), Serpentism (worship of dragons), Congregation of Midday (worship of the sun), and some others I can't remember at the moment. Religions are one of the most difficult aspects of worldbuilding in my opinion, so they always take the longest.

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[loominggaia]

Oh, my God, I'm so sorry. Lindisim I meant But I just Re-read The article and I don't think. What I said was true... I swear I Saw it in a post you made.. About gaia creating women from man's rib.. Are you planning to update the lindisim article tho?

Ah I see, thanks for clarifying! I'm pretty sure I never said anything about women being made from man's rib in Lindist belief, but I have said that Lindists believe women were created by Gaia to serve men. Maybe that's what you're thinking of?

I would like to update the Lindism article in the future with more info, as well as some art of the temples and priests.

I know in your last message you mentioned Lindism being a stand-in for Christianity, so I want to say that isn't exactly the case. Lindism takes elements from all "big business" religions. That is, religions which have become corrupted by greed and capitalism.

In Lindism you can find elements of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Paganism, Buddhism, etc. Traditional Lindism represents religion in its personal, spiritual form. Modern Lindism represents religion in its corrupted, capitalized form, where it has been twisted into a weapon by powerful men and used to control people.

Like many forms of real-world religion, modern Lindism has nothing to do with spirituality and everything to do with making money, gaining power, and oppressing others.

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[loominggaia]

How Is this about the cult that says that all mermaids descend from salina and marina? Please explain

Salina and Marina are very old divines. All divines, but especially the most ancient and powerful ones, have a problem with attracting worshipers. These worshipers follow them around, acting like crazed devotees in hopes that the divines will bless them with their powerful magic.

Some divines revel in the attention, but others find it very annoying. Salina and Marina enjoyed the fame at first. They rewarded their devotees with blessings and tried their best to influence them to make the world a better place.

But as the years, the centuries, and the millenias passed, Salina and Marina's little fanclub grew so massive that it began fracturing into different sects. These sects had different beliefs, some of them straying far from Salina and Marina's teachings.

Long story short, the divines grew frustrated, realizing that no matter what they did, mortals were too stupid, too greedy, and too short-lived to understand their teachings at all. By this point Salina and Marina had influenced entire nations, started and ended great wars, and achieved many things, but nothing they did was permanent. The world was always in a state of flux, and no matter how many bad situations they tried to fix, it seemed a thousand more would pop up just as soon. Every problem they solved would just create another problem.

So, Salina and Marina gave up on trying to fix the world's problems, abandoned their devotees, and decided to just live life for themselves. Now they influence their own little world with eachother in the belly of a whale. But they still have a glimmer of that benevolent streak in them, so should someone happen to cross paths with them by chance, they will likely throw that person a bone and grant them a wish or something.

They did this for Alaine and Glenvar for example, and only because they sensed that these were pure-hearted individuals. They probably would not do the same for any crazed cultists who stumbled upon them, for it would be effort wasted on those who would misuse their blessings anyway. Salina and Marina knew that Alaine and Glenvar would use their blessings only for good.

To most of the world, these divines are ancient names and forgotten faces. But some of the cults that used to worship them are still around, desperately trying to find them. These cults have evolved on their own for a long time since Salina and Marina disappeared, and without direction, their beliefs have gone off the rails and gotten a little, uh...wacky. Some of them have slid off the rails so hard that they believe Salina and Marina literally birthed the first sirenes, and that all sirenes today descend from them! They give more reverence to these divines than they do to their true maker, Gaia.

These cults are examples of how religions and idealogies can stray so far from their roots, they hardly resemble what they once did. Salina and Marina only ever wanted to help the world be a better place. But mortals don't seem capable of understanding their goals, and instead of carrying out these divines' benevolent wishes, they worship the divines themselves and miss the point entirely, greedily hoping for blessings in return.

It's no wonder why Salina and Marina got sick of this behavior and went into hiding! They once had faith in mortals, but mortal disappointed them. Now they leave mortals to rot in the messes they created, granting blessings only to the rare individuals who deserve it.

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[loominggaia]

What job do people born under the Falcon star in Red Tundra get?

The Maskamar tribe believes that those born under the falcon star are destined to travel for a living. They become carriage drivers, travelling traders, scouts, cartographers, couriers, and so on.

They believe that the falcon star blesses them with the gift of swiftness. Is it true, or just a placebo effect? Only the falcon-born people can tell you for sure!

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[loominggaia]

So is atheism in the Looming Gaya Universe Just Zareenites Trying to cope with the fact that they're killing a sentient god creature slowly?

Yep, pretty much! This form of atheism has been pushed by Zareenite political parties for a very long time. They have convinced the Zareenite people that Gaia is not a living thing, and therefore the pollution of their factories is not harming Her. Since they believe She is not a living creature, they also don't believe that She once rose up and attacked the Ancient Ones, dividing her face into many continents.

Zareenite atheists don't believe that Gaia will rise again and punish them for harming Her. Because they don't fear consequences of this harm, they keep voting for hyper-capitalistic, industrialist politicians and see no reason to change their ways. After all, how can they kill what was never alive in the first place?

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