Shamanism and Spiritworship

Despite the growing size and influence of organized Religions, the worship of spirits and nature itself is still very widespread. People perform shamanistic rituals in the hopes of gaining the favor of spirits of nature, or their ancestors. These rituals range from simple prayers and ceremonies to full sacrifices of both animals and even other people (though such practices are heavily frowned upon and therefore quite rare in the Old World).

"Contrary to the belief of some, the existence of certain spirits is a proven fact and a majority of these known spirits is reported to be sentient (and in some cases quite intelligent). The level of awarness and influence (over the material plane) of these 'creatures' (they are far more than that, but we sadly lack more fitting terminology) seems to directly correlate to both their age and the size of their following. It appears as though the more worshippers a specific being has, the more powerful and intelligent it grows. If this is the case, it can safely be assumed that especially those spirits, which embody major parts of nature and our universe possess immense strength and wisdom.

Sadly this hypothesis is quite difficult to investigate, since these 'major spirits' do not simply heed any call and their minor offspring likely only command a miniscule fraction of their parent's might."

~ Excerpt from "Basics of Spirits and Spiritworship" by Professor Duncan Purnell of the Academy of Nhyssa

Mythology & Lore

Since time immemorial spirits have been worshipped. Some shamans say that it was the spirits, not the gods, who created the world and maintained it until now. Whilst this might sound like heresy to the more radical elements of other religions, this theory might not be wrong. Since many of the major spirits are deeply intertwined with core aspects of our world, they likely did play part in our worlds creation and upkeep. There are many accounts of spirits allegedly showing themselves to people, often heroes or powerful mages, oracles and rulers. These stories tend to speak of some kind of entity, which represents an aspect of our world, revealing itself to a mortal and granting them a boon related to their specific nature.
One noteable story is that of a human, who was brought before what the tale called the "Court of Spirits", which seems to be an assembly of all major spirits, where matters of high importance are discussed. The human was chosen to be the judge in a dispute between a spirit of fire and a spirit of water, who had to share a mountain. The fire-spirit wanted the mountain to spew rivers of flames, whilst the water-spirit wished the mountain to be turned into a giant geysir. Since the spirits could not find common ground the human was appointed to mediate between them. In the end, it was decided that the spirit's ideas would be merged, causing the mountain to occasionally erupt with liquid fire.

This story, whilst a simple tale from ages past, when scientific progress had not yet advanced sufficiently, speaks of an interesting concept, which again might be more real than assumed at first glance. Such an assembly of major spiritual entities might very well be a reality, as shown by certain historical events, like the Heavenly Accords.

Divine Origins

The question of a starting point is difficult in this case. Either the spirits were the first to reach out, granting boons and asking to be worshipped and receive sacrifices in return, or mortals started worshipping aspects of the world and the spirits took notice.

More certain is that most rituals and teachings likely stem from the individual wishes and preferences of specific spirits.

Cosmological Views

The spirits each created their respective aspects of the world and are intertwined with them, making the entirety of the world "holy" in a way.

Type

Religious, Other