The Old Faith

In ancient times - before the times of great kingdoms - much of the western part of the continent was settled by small and secluded tribal villages, and these people followed what is now known as the Old Faith. Over the centuries, owing to migrations from the east and chieftains realizing that claiming the favor of divine beings was good for politics, the traditions of Pantheonism steadily took hold. Yet, the Old Faith still persists, in lonely villages, distant islands, and among the rough hillfolk who maintain their old existence in the deep valleys where the trade routes do not reach. The Sonderlundings, too, honor the Old Faith, bound as they are to follow the wishes of their ancestors, though the closer one gets to Vardessy the more influence there can be found from their Pantheonist neighbors. In the Highlands, however, the Old Faith is at its strongest. Many a Highlander will scoff at the Pantheonist's ways as those of soft and cowardly folk who must rely on foreign gods to protect them - though Pantheonists, in turn, often regard those of the Old Faith as backwards, superstitious barbarians, if not outright demon worshipers.

To consider the Old Faith as its own religion is a bit of a misnomer. While the cults of the gods have defined holy texts and formal officials, the Old Faith does not. It is rather a collection of various folk traditions, and no two communities share exactly the same beliefs. There are, however, a few common features among Old Faith cults that define them as belonging to such traditions, often by means of setting them apart from Pantheonist customs.

While Pantheonist temples are staffed by priests, monks, and nuns, followers of the Old Faith look to druids as their spiritual leaders - those who can commune with the natural world; who know secrets that other mortals do not, and who can serve as a go-between to bridge the gap between the worldly concerns of mortals and the machinations of higher beings. Rather than belonging to a specific order or creed, druids are often those with particular skills to make them well-suited for the job, and they may be mentored by elder druids to prepare them to step into the role when their time comes. They know many spells and rituals passed down from one generation to the next, ones that help them communicate with the spirits of all things, or to call upon their aid in times of need. As a part of their initiation, an apprentice druid may be sent out into the world on a journey, such that they may come to know and understand the land and accept their place in life.

Followers of the Old Faith do not have temples in the way Pantheonists do. They recognize the concept of holy ground, but often this is not land that is so sanctified through rituals or divine acts; rather, sacredness is something inherent to the land itself. A given hill or lake or tree may house a particularly powerful spirit, for instance, and the power of that spirit becomes the subject of reverence. Rather than building structures to gather and perform rituals, those of the Old Faith tend to perform much of their worship in the open air at these sacred places. To build a temple there, it is said, would be an act of disrespect to the spirits, as it would be to attribute importance to the works of mortal hands rather than to the sacred place itself. They do, however, mark sacred places with altars, cairns, and stone circles, many of which have stood for millennia.

Lastly, not all followers of the Old Faith worship gods as discrete entities. All things in the Lunar Lands have some degree of life force to them - even rocks and plants down to the last blade of grass or grain of sand - and many Old Faith traditions direct their worship to these spirits of the land. Others, particularly in Sonderlund, worship their ancestors, and some cults recognize deities of their own, though these tend to be strange gods specific to a given locality, many taking the form of animals, that are regarded as belonging to the community, if with much greater powers. Pantheonist theologians argue that these are in fact manifestations of their own gods, but many Old Faith believers scoff at such allegations, insisting that their gods are closer than the distant gods of foreigners, who must surely have greater problems to concern themselves with and would never heed the word of a mortal. Other Old Faith traditions direct their veneration to the Fair Folk, though less out of admiration, and more to appease these capricious spirits with offerings and placatory rituals so that their mischief does not bring ruin upon them. And others still worship the elves, who are seen as being closer to nature and to their fey forebears - in fact, many Old Faith traditions grew out of elvish customs, and almost all elven communities practice some form of the Old Faith, though they regard the traditions of humans as embarrassing corruptions of the true way.

Though largely supplanted by Pantheonism in more settled lands, the relationship the Old Faith has with the Pantheonists is not one of adversity or persecution. Worship of the Old Faith is not considered immoral, and it is not as a whole held as a ruse by demons (though some individual cults may be demonic in nature) except by the most fanatical of Pantheonists; as Hell is the domain of demons, mortal souls can only be sent there by directly selling their souls, not by following the wrong creed. Most Pantheonists simply regard followers of the Old Faith as backwards and parochial, whereas the worship of the gods is the path of modernity and embracing the brotherhood of one's fellow man instead of clinging to insularism and tradition - their worship is something to be laughed at rather than hated and feared. Though many Pantheonist saints are celebrated for introducing worship of the gods to lands once held by the Old Faith, this is not a victory over evil, but merely an advancement of the divine plan.

Ironically, in many regions that have long since embraced Pantheonism, the legacy of the Old Faith is not forgotten. There are many local rituals that can be traced back to origins in the Old Faith, and many folk saints may well be ancestral or nature spirits that were subsumed into Pantheonist traditions. If one is used to practicing the rituals of the Old Faith, after all, it is easier to simply claim that one's god was in fact an aspect of one of the Pantheon or one of their saints than it is to adopt an entirely new philosophy and traditions. There are many small villages where the local shrine is built over or nearby a sacred place of the Old Faith, and the ways in which locals conduct worship there are hardly any different from those of their ancestors.

Old Faith Cult Generator

This cult worships... (d6)

1. a local god

2. the spirit of a long-dead leader

3. the land itself

4. the fairies

5. a nearby clan of elves

6. a demon in disguise; roll again to determine what it masquerades as

...and meets at... (d6)

1. a sacred tree

2. an ancient stone circle

3. the summit of a holy mountain

4. the shore of a sacred lake

5. the homes of the faithful

6. a sacred cave

...to practice rites involving... (d10)

1. dancing and chanting

2. the sacrifice of crops

3. the sacrifice of animals

4. the sacrifice of humans

5. offering libations

6. designating a member of the congregation to marry the spirit and live as a hermit

7. ritual combat

8. assuming the forms of animals

9. hunting game to offer to the spirits

10. entering trances to consult with the spirits

...in order to... (d8)

1. obtain good harvests

2. ensure favorable weather

3. have victory in battle

4. placate otherwise harmful spirits

5. be blessed with prophetic visions

6. heal the sick and wounded

7. inflict curses upon one's enemies

8. come closer to understanding their cosmic purpose