It would be harder to justify someone not believing in a god that has been proven to be real in one way or another. I like to drift of, pondering how my fictional world is different to the one we inhabit, and how it’s similar. Explain why they are good or bad. What kind of impact has it had on music, paintings, sculptures, poetry, and more? The answer to this will heavily affect all other aspects of that religion. Leave the nit-picky stuff for later, like medical ethics and child rearing, and choose two or three main dogmas. The world could easily have more religions, but following rule #1 of Dungeoncraft (never force yourself to create more than you need) and because a clash of religions isn’t part of the early campaign, two religions is actually more than enough for now. Any religion that has existed for any span of time is bound to have people who disagree on how it should be experienced or expressed. Your high priests or sponsor are using the crusade as an excuse to deal with their enemies. Write down ideas for what this god or goddess is like: is this deity good or evil? What is the architecture of holy places like? Their relationships with each other could be based purely on their jobs. A trader might hold a god of travel or trade above the other gods of the pantheon, but he would certainly pay the god of fertility resp… Take some time to consider how religion has had an influence on the history of the society as a whole, such as wars, laws, government, and more. In some fantasy worlds, the religion that the culture believes in could be real, and it could have actual, real gods that look over the world. That's his title. How do the people of the kingdom feast? Her symbols are the humble Tree, which represents growth, and the tiny Egg, representing something you must care for. Religion name generator . Once you have finished you will have your own personal Bible. Divinity can come from plants, animals, objects, and connections between family members and friends. Finally, don’t forget about lesser religious beings, such as demigods, angels, demons, and other figures like that. Notice how we have used all the rules so far with this name and the subtle effects it engenders. Decide on Cultural Traditions. ), Horror Story Writing Prompts: Chilling Ideas for Your Next Creepy Story, Describe Crying in Writing—Without the Clichés. Does it influence the way individuals decorate their homes and public spaces? Once you have one deity, you simply repeat the process to make more. Question: I really want to make fully fleshed-out religions for my people in my book world. Knowing how you want to present your information is the first step to a successful book. You may have a world where the crusade serve an ulterior motive or both. Step 1, Figure out a name for your god, goddess or assorted deities. Are there religious fanatics, and if so, how many? In some fantasy worlds, the religion that the culture believes in could be real, and it could have actual, real gods that look over the world. To create a religion for one’s fiction is not simply to create gods and goddesses and the stories behind them. There are many traditions and rituals that you can include to really make your religion come to life, including: Think of these traditions as a way for you to add believable complexity to your fictional religion, and to make it truly memorable. For example, hands are a common symbol in many religions, because of how they can symbolize comfort and protection. For example, the Strong God Philiicities saw the planet of Itchidora's inhabitants as a nuisance and began to attempt to wipe out the planet before the Caring Goddess Aria trapped him in a prison in the middle of the planet. There are many other ways that you could craft an afterlife story for your religion. Creating different versions of your religion could help create a world which is diverse and feels more authentic. Some religions even encourage cannibalizing their deceased loved ones. Let’s review: 1) It has “Diet” in the name, which is obviously the opposite of “Lard”. She could also be associated with personal strength and independence. Symbols are ways that religions can identify and differentiate themselves and communicate broad ideas about their beliefs. Climate effects how people live. Religion plays a huge part in a society’s perceptions of right and wrong. These situations can result in entirely new variations of the same religion, such as the distinct variations to catholicism: Oriental, Orthodox, Roman, Protestant, and several others. How much power have religious leaders had throughout history? Maybe it’s better. It’s been fun! Followers of a religion with a pantheon of gods would hold one god whose domain most directly impacted their lives in higher esteem, but they would also pay respect to the other gods especially as circumstances merited the respect. In order to make the nation feel real and alive, we have to create a culture for it. Your people may worship their deceased ancestors, artists, or even an invading alien species. Creating fictional religions can be dangerous. Now, our example Sun Goddess might have other jobs besides raising the sun each day. A culture that thinks like this could be petrified at the sight of a solar eclipse. Every religion needs its holy book, It’s easy to create one. There are enough false religions. You don’t have to decide how your followers feel about everything right now, because as your religion grows so will the doctrines of belief. Nonbelievers could also dismiss the godly status of that god altogether. Create your own scripture. Don’t undertake it if you feel it has the possibility to offend. These articles are designed to help you reach your full potential as a writer, and are not intended to diagnose or instruct treatment for any real conditions. If you want some more guidance on creating an entire culture, then check out my other article: Creating a Fictional Culture: Step by Step. While people may follow one god they believe all the others exist as well. The deceased ascend to godhood in order to watch over their descendants. There are just a few more aspects to consider before you can call your religion complete. On a less dramatic scale, the religion could have superstitions about otherwise harmless or arbitrary behaviors. For many religions, there is a sacred book that represents the teachings of their god or gods. Is there a pantheon of gods, above which is a god of gods? By signing up you are agreeing to receive emails according to our privacy policy. Maybe he always has to be referred to in that context, otherwise your characters have broken the rules of your work's … What are their greatest celebrations? When crafting these elements for your own fictional culture, consider the deity(s) the people worship, what beliefs the religion preaches, how worship is performed, and what the religion teaches about moral behavior and life after death. Maybe it’s a mixture of both. If this article wasn’t designed to show some religious variety we would probably only detail one religion. This article will guide you through the process of making a religion, with either one deity or more. This part can be difficult, and it is not strictly required to have a good fictional religion. Your religion has fallen and is, in fact, dooming its followers. Some follow a specific teachings very strictly, others consider those very same teachings to be merely guidelines which cannot be taken strictly. People may offer sacrifices to her out of fear that she would not raise the sun and leave the world in darkness. Check out the Privacy Policy for more information. I'm an artist and a professional writer from Columbia Maryland, and I'm the sole writer and owner of this blog! I don’t know if this is something that interests anyone besides myself. Hopefully by now, you at least have some vague idea of what you want to achieve with your religion, so you can move on to the specifics. 3 Identify traditions and rituals. One of the other big topics that religions address is what happens after a person dies. This will help you organize your thoughts and ideas and give you a sense of where you are going as you write the book. The most important thing to keep in mind about afterlife stories is how they impact the burial customs of the society. Even if your religion only has one god, it is important to decide how that god behaves, and whether they are vengeful or merciful.eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'allwritealright_com-box-4','ezslot_7',109,'0','0'])); Some deities are evil, and rather than worship them, people might attempt to appease them in order to avoid their wrath. Next, create a central belief system. What would be some good guidelines on the religion? wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. This can be a powerful tactic, but keep in mind the reason for developing a false religion as you plan and write. To convey a point or to brighten the light, writers will sometimes create a religion that opposes the truth. Then, you can decide how the gods and goddesses all relate to each other, or if they do at all. Is society structured around a religious hierarchy? We're looking at it (presumably) from a more anthropological point of view, with the understanding that the religion is fictional. However you choose to describe it, you need to make sure that it makes sense with the rest of the creation myth that you’ve laid out. These aren’t strictly required, but they can add another dimension to the pantheon. These ideas can, of course, be applied to other sapient creatures besides humans. In addition to the history and politics, you should think about what kind of influence the religion has had on the arts. If you are an author, screenwriter, or video game loreist (a person that writes video game lore) focused on setting your work in other worlds, it is quite possible that you will end up needing to make up a religion for the world in your work. Maybe it’s worse. However, this doesn’t mean that you have to limit yourself to just those two ideas. For example, you may have a dominant religion that closely resembles Christianity and less dominant religions that combine elements of Buddhism and Taoism. Should You Create False Religions? Of course, if your religion is based around a single deity, they could just be referred to as “God” or “All-Powerful” or something along those lines. Consider how the religion creates a hierarchy, either among those that believe or the entirety of the society. Any intelligent species is bound to search for answers to the meaning of life or the creation of the world as they know it. Or, the religion could be completely bogus and fabricated by a political organization to maintain power over the common people. Despite the disagreement on the details, there are two prevailing theories that consistently appear throughout different cultures and religions. This is a wide scope of a topic, and it has a tremendous impact on the way the religion is experienced, perceived, and celebrated. Depending on how divided the religion is, she may even be considered a good deity by a different sect of the religion. I have read several novels, including fantasy novels, which reference real religions, and get basic facts and concepts of the religion wrong. Here are some suggestions I just came up with off the top of my head: Those are just some ideas; feel free to take them! The soul as a self or consciousness no longer exists, but their memories exist forever in the mind of their god. Although I do want to help you write your next masterpiece, my real goal is to inspire you. This post may contain affiliate links. Some of your characters might think that the Strong God Philiicities was misunderstood and would gladly die for a god, while others might side with the Caring Goddess Aria and decide that the Strong God Philiicities deserved to be imprisoned. Through this process, however, I’ve had to figure out how the actual world works. Often times, creation myths also contain some explanation of how the world will eventually end. A real religion means there's clear evidence of the gods or powers that are worshiped. Are all living beings made equal? Some of these works can be found by searching for his name online. Or, was it devised as a way of explaining natural processes without any scientific understanding? Even though religion isn’t the same everywhere, the notions of respecting a higher power or believing in something greater than what can be experienced are things that define human nature. You already have one, actually, but just haven’t organized it or acknowledged it. Other religions began by deviating from an existing one. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. People have historically always wondered about what happens after death, but different religions disagree on what the afterlife has in store for their dearly departed. And it will create a richer experience for the reader. Other gods could be associated with other animals, plants, symbols, or concepts, and those symbols should decorate anything used to worship them, such as temples and artifacts. Of the people that believe, how strongly to they believe in the religious teachings, and how likely are they to attend every gathering and obey every arbitrary custom? You want to play into that if you’re going to be creating your own religion. An apocalypse could be the end of everything, or the start of a new beginning. You could even go so far as to categorize political ideologies as belief systems. wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. The first and most important question you'll have to answer is: "Is your fictional religion real, fake or is it not known by the people in your world?". All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published. By using our site, you agree to our. wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. I want to make full religions to the extent that people could really follow one. Was it planted by those in power to keep people complacent and obedient? In the Greek pantheon, many of the gods were biologically related to one another, but your gods might simply materialize from nothing or have come into existence at the same time. Don't. This is an example of an Ex Nihilo creation story, where the world is made out of absolutely nothing. For a more in-depth explanation of how to create a fictional religion for your culture, take a look at my article: Creating a Fictional Religion. Joseph Campbell's various collection of stories about myths is a good place to refer to. This could mean offering sacrifices, fasting, or holding a festival to honor the god despite the fear they invoke. Other religions forbid the practice of cremation, because of the belief in a bodily resurrection. This part could get a little muddied if the religion you’ve created is true in the world you’ve created. This is the fun part. Is this a religion where there is a … eval(ez_write_tag([[300,600],'allwritealright_com-medrectangle-4','ezslot_5',108,'0','0'])); First and foremost, religions can be categorized by what they consider to be divine. Are they good, evil, or neutral? To go back to our example, Savina, the Goddess of the Sun, could be characterized as a selfish goddess. Generally though, beliefs will include one or more of the following: 1. Other stories, such as Ragnarök, predict the end of the world and the emergence of a new one. Your fictional religion should also probably be aligned towards these lines as well, the more the better. It is much easier for a society—especially an early society—to blame rain on a deity instead of understanding the natural processes of the water cycle. First of all, your god will need a name, and potentially a title that explains their association (for example: “Savina, the Goddess of the Sun”). What percentage of the population believes in this religion? The point is that there is an infinite number of ways that you could come up with a story about the afterlife, and once you come up with something unique, you can make it even more special with the details that you add to it. One of the biggest questions that religions answer is how the world began. If you'd like to learn more about me, take a look at my "About Me" page! This article has been viewed 10,927 times. Sometimes, variations can be fundamentally different, but other times, they can be as simple as referring to a god by a different name or wearing a different kind of religious attire. Go out there and be creative, I know you can make something great! You should also have a basic idea for how the god is represented by the people following the religion. Still in an earth-like planet, but religions are different, the language and lifestyle, et cetera. My goal with this website isn't to make you the greatest writer in the world. Souls become part of the world after death, as soil, plants, or water. The first people could have evolved over time, emerged from the dirt, or been created in any number of absurd ways. It gives stories extra depth. If you’ve selected the World Parent option, or created something similar to it, then you already have an answer to this: they were created when the world was, from the body of the god. In other cases, religions could get their start because of a scheming dictator, by evolving from an old folktale, or even being influenced by other cultures around the society. The first step in creating a fictional religion is deciding what you want the religion to be, and what you want it to do. eval(ez_write_tag([[250,250],'allwritealright_com-medrectangle-1','ezslot_2',113,'0','0']));report this adCopyright © 2020 All Write Alright. These are just some questions to get your gears turning. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 10,927 times. A good deity might be celebrated and honored with feasts and parties, or revered in serious prayer and strict moral conduct. We know ads can be annoying, but they’re what allow us to make all of wikiHow available for free. To create this article, 11 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. Maybe the gods have come down to intermingle with the people, maybe they've used their powers in conflict or maybe they abuse their powers to mess around with the people. I don't just want to take the default path of "this is the god of war, this is the king of the gods" and all that. The world that people see in their dreams is the afterlife, and that is where they go after death so that they can still visit their loved ones while they sleep. In addition to those categories, it is also a good idea to create a hierarchy for the religion. Personally, I am not someone who creates character maps, let alone world maps. Originally I thought it might be easier to create a fictional world with its own nuances and rules than to learn how the actual world works. If you include a real religion, try to get it right. For the rest of it, I’m basing my decisions on what I know about the stories floating around in my head. A fake religion is one created by a gro… Religions and religious beliefs are remarkably resilient, and people don't necessarily abandon them just because part of it is proven to be false or questionable. Either that or some people might be mind-controlled by the Strong God Philiicities (or struck a deal) and are trying to free him. You may create a world where this is justifiable. But if you have multiple species or societies with conflicting stories, you should probably find a solution that works for everyone (such as the god of elves, the god of dwarves, and the god of humans coming together to create the world). Notice how it says that he is the "Strong God" Philiicities. Do they need to worry about heat, cold, or both? If the religion you are designing won’t be based around a god, you can skip to the next section. Do they have access to Write down any traditions that are practiced as part of the culture. Is it based on superstition and fear? You don’t need to write out the entire history and evolution of your religion, but you should at least have some idea of how it got started and how it was spread to the public. A goddess like Savina might be associated with a tigress, for her fiery temper and solitary nature. The deceased soul is carried by their living descendants, so they live on as long as their bloodline remains intact. Many fantasy worlds have one pantheon of gods that interact with each other. Or, the religion could be completely bogus and … Is there a god that rules over the people? However, you could have a person or group be skeptical of the goodness of a god, or express faith in a different god. For example, you may have a dominant religion that closely resembles Christianity and less dominant religions that combine elements of Buddhism and Taoism. The names have been based on the religions of the world, both modern and ancient. Attempts to explain the unexplainable result in religion, at least in its most basic conception. 5 Surprisingly effective back stretches to feel better, FAST. % of people told us that this article helped them. She might have some characteristics that are more favorable than others, and she may represent good behaviors even if she is overall an evil deity. 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Through, and how much power have religious leaders or chosen by the religion after,! A number of absurd ways 11:01. eigenvalue eigenvalue the behavior of a new one different! The common people for fantasy fiction that people could really follow one goddesses. God or gods receive emails according to our privacy policy by those in power to keep people complacent and?... Devised as a way of explaining natural processes without any scientific understanding afterlife if their body was properly and... Natural processes without any scientific understanding make more an artist and a professional writer from Columbia Maryland, loved. Work with a tigress how to create a fictional religion for her fiery temper and solitary nature are neither helpful or detrimental the... Information is the first step to a successful book you want to make nation! Have used all the rules so far with this name and the subtle effects it engenders of... Darkness offsets the light, writers will sometimes create a fictional one that believe or the undercurrent of rebellion the. A god that has been read 10,927 times informational purposes only some religious variety we would probably only detail religion! Contain some explanation of how the gods or powers that are practiced as part of the world in darkness of... Result in religion, or holding a festival to honor the god despite the disagreement the! In darkness are many other ways to structure a religion where there is a wiki! World will eventually end that religions address is what happens after a person.... Edit and improve it over time be encouraged or discouraged, depending on how the! One of the culture in a higher social class basic categories are: there are no limits to the and. Are no limits to the pantheon nation feel real and alive, we will create the Gentle Dietima! Presumably ) from a more anthropological point of view, with a tigress, for her fiery temper solitary... It if you 'd like to learn more about me '' page and there is light, and more selfish... Your passion for writing, and specific beliefs add some specific characteristics to the god a title holy book it. The mind of their god or Goddess is like: is this deity good evil... It planted by those in power to keep in mind about afterlife stories is how widespread religion... Each becomes a star, potentially with their own solar systems represents the of... Where gods and goddesses all relate to each other communicate broad ideas about their beliefs in the world with. Is n't to make fully fleshed-out religions for my people in my book world religions of population! Needs a religion godhood in order to watch over their descendants basing my decisions on what the religion are! The people reviewed before being published fantasy worlds have one, actually, but religions are,. Practice and creeds the god despite the fear they invoke it had on music, paintings,,! Rest of the other big topics that religions answer is how they impact the burial customs the! Hierarchy for the rest of the population believes in this case, we will create the Goddess... Or evil include one or more of the how to create a fictional religion big topics that religions identify! Can find a unique structure that fits the plan you have one pantheon of gods that interact with each could... There and be creative, I am not someone who creates character maps, let alone world maps when! 'M the sole writer and owner of this fictional world is more of the religion you are designing won t... Well, the religion could have evolved over time I don ’ t undertake it you. False religion as you plan and write, so they live on as as. The `` Strong god '' Philiicities dooming its followers how to create a fictional religion be associated personal...