Sunday, January 6, 2013

Everything Old is New Again

Question: Out of curiosity, what effect do you think neopagan and reconstructionist religions have on the different pantheons in Scion? Obviously the Yazata, Shen, Amatsukami, Loa and Devas still have followers, but thanks to the neopagan religions so do the Greek, Irish, Slavic, Egyptian and several other pantheons. I mean, do you think the gods are happy about that, or do they think it's not legitimate since many of their rituals have been forgotten? The question just popped into my head reading American Gods.

It probably depends on the gods in question, but I imagine most of them don't really care all that much. They no longer directly interfere with the World due to Fatebonds and long ago lost their true cult centers and religious practices; since there's no mechanical bonus for anyone but the Aztlanti to have mortal followings, they probably really don't notice the neopagan religions in the world all that much, since they aren't there themselves and large unified festivals like the Saturnalia or Panquetzaliztli are things of the past. Half of most neopagan adherents aren't even using the correct names for the gods (no fault of theirs - we've lost a lot of them, and others, particularly the Egyptians, have been thoroughly popularized with mistranslated or foreign names instead of their own), which would hardly give them much of a heads up about it.

Having cults is more of a prestige thing for the modern god than anything else, so if a god happens to be particularly proud or really enjoys the attention of that kind of thing (most king gods fall under this umbrella), they're probably more likely to be pleased about it even if it's not conforming to the ancient rituals they were once used to. Gods who are sticklers for tradition and occult may be insulted or annoyed by mortals who are "doing it wrong", while gods who have a taste for the whimsical may find the new religious forms entertaining or funny and those who are more concerned with things like knowledge, technology or civilization may not give much of a damn, being more interested in what other things modern mortals are up to other than religion. Gods who have Piety and are all about their pantheons are probably torn, on the one hand pleased that humanity is trying to give the pantheon the respect it's due but at the same time irritated by any misconceptions or improper worship being practiced in their name. Gods whose religions lived an exceptionally long time, like the Pesedjet or Devas, may be philosophical about the changes, having watched their worship evolve and change many times over the centuries.

Of course, there's no reason a god might not take an interest in a particular revivalist cult of his or hers if it suits your story; that's a perfect way to work with a plot involving the intersection of the divine and the mortal, and Storytellers can always come up with reasons a god might care about these modern religions more than his or her fellows. Individual gods have their own personalities, so how much something like a modern cult and its general resemblance to ancient ones matters to them will vary across the board. Feel free to figure out what any given god might think about it when your story demands it, and don't sweat it too much for everyone else.

And for the majority of gods who don't often bother with going to the World for anything other than creating Scions, all neopagan revival probably means to them is a slight increase in static from Hear Prayers.

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