Animism
All people of Shoujin practice animism.
The beliefs of the people of Shoujin are based on the idea that every being and every object is believed to contain a spirit that guides its properties or its actions. Some of these spirits may be benevolent, and others may be malevolent. Residents of this world may worship all the spirits, just a few spirits, or they may focus their worship on one single spirit. All of these approaches are considered perfectly valid and are largely tolerated. So, for example, a lawyer who prays to the spirits of the courthouse can be expected to be tolerant of and accepted by a baker who goes to the temple to pray to all the spirits. All the spirits are recognized—it is just up to the individual as to whether they are all worth focusing one’s time and effort on.
In this campaign setting, spirits really do exist. They largely do not respond to prayers and instead leave people to their own affairs, contrary to widespread public opinion. However, great care is generally taken to not offend or insult spirits, as they are known to sometimes be vengeful. Hostile spirits may manifest as terrifying demons, grotesque witches, or deceptively cute pixies. These physical manifestations of spirits are by no means common in the wild, but they certainly aren’t rare. Adventurers should always be prepared to encounter hostile spirits roaming the world seeking vengeance on those that offended them. In our real world Dungeons & Dragons terms, most monster types are spirits. Exceptions include beasts, humanoids, and the undead.
Spirits are not all equal. Long ago, in primordial times that can only be speculated about by scholars, a hierarchy developed among the spirits and they eventually organized themselves into a massive bureaucracy responsible for regulating and executing everything in the universe. The most powerful spirits at the top of the hierarchy call themselves gods. There are many gods, some identified by scholars and some still not yet recognized. However, at the very top even among gods are a cabinet of ten executives known as the major gods. Among them, two major gods serve as acting presidents of the universe. One is Helios, who reigns over his own domain (the aspects of the universe governed by the god) but also supervises the domains of the major gods Mercury, Venusi, Sage, and Ares. The other is Zeus, who has his own domain as well as the task of supervising Typhon, Gaia, Poseidon, and Hades.
The true nature of the major gods is perhaps beyond the comprehension of any man or woman. Stories by the rare few who claim to have met them in physical form describe them as Eldritch abominations that exist in planes of reality we cannot even fathom. The major gods care little about the plights of mortals, apart from ensuring that the universe functions as the major gods desire. Many are malevolent beings that are feared by the general public, and so regardless of which spirits a person worships they will generally take extra care not to offend the major gods.
Some people devote their entire lives to appeasing the major gods. They treat them as polytheists in the real world would treat a pantheon. The Kenku, however, argue (and perhaps truly recognize) that the major gods are no more than ordinary spirits that have bullied and manipulated their way up the ladder. The Kenku do not see the major gods as true gods (in the real world sense of the word), and believe that it is possible perhaps to even overpower and subjugate them.
Granted Divine Powers
Divine spellcasters get their power from the spirits. Some, such as druids and rangers, don’t necessarily get their powers from any particular spirit. Others, such as clerics, paladins, and warlocks get their powers from the worship of very specific and powerful spirits. Wizards and bards, then, may at first appear to be oddballs—where does their magic come from? Arcane magic, originally developed independently by a couple of races, is based on research and observations of the divine magic utilized by the other spellcasting classes. It is for this reason that wizard spellcasting is so diverse.
Type
Religious, Organised Religion
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