Re: Constructed Religions

Terrence Donnelly wrote:
>The Kadane are enthusiastic polytheists (3000+ gods so far!).  They
>worship 3 classes of gods: Sky and Earth Gods (who are similar to
>the Greek or Hindu gods of natural phenomena or abstract virtues),
>and Mountain Gods (who are similar to Catholic saints in practice).
>Sky and Earth gods are the "original" gods of the Kadane, and are
>referred to in the Kadane epic scriptures.  Mountain Gods were
>originally mortals, elevated to divine status by their devotees
>after their death.  Behind them all is the Good God, who is the
>ultimate Creator, but who currently takes a "hands-off" attitude
>towards the world.
The Kadane Gods seem more like spirits and/or "saints" to me than
gods. Their enormous number, the fact that some of them were once
mortals. Actually, IMHO, the term "mountain god" is pretty
misleading. I'd call them saints or something of that nature rather
than Gods. To me, the term God/s denotes spiritual beings that have
always been immortal.

You also wrote in your website at
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Corridor/2711/kadrel.html
where you wrote:

-----<quote>-----
"As we noted, there are three types of gods. Sky Gods are those
mentioned in the Book of the Sundering War. These are primarily gods
associated with celestial phenomena (such as Adur, the Sun God) or
virtues and intellectual faculties (such as Bastis, Goddess of
Peace, and Mazgda, God of Wisdom). Most of these are well-known from
the myths contained in the Book of the Sundering War and lesser
epics, and have well-developed cults. Earth Gods correspond to the
'elementals' and dryads of Greek mythology. They are primarily gods
of natural phenomena or special locations. For many, there exists
only a name, or minor rites of only regional importance. Major
exceptions are Zyem, the Earth God, and Gurvan, god of wild animals,
both of whom have extensive rites and many worshippers. Mountain
Gods are those with a shrine at Wawatranu, Mountain Temple."
-----<end of quote>-----

To me the only real Gods the Kadane have according to the above
paragraph would be Zyem and Gurvan because they have extensive rites
and many worshippers. There could be more that I'd consider true
Gods (perhaps the Sky Gods as mentioned in the paragraph) but I'm
not too learned on the details of Kadane religion. The other
spiritual beings mentioned in the above paragraph would be either
spirits or saints (to my understanding) in that they govern natural
phenomonons and reside in special locations. I understand natural
phenomenon to mean minor natural occurences like "fever", "plant
growth", "accidents", etc. and special locations to mean residing in
places like "in trees", "in clouds", "in lakes", etc. Or am I wrong?
With over 3000 spiritual beings in the Kadane religion, it seems
unlikely that the domain of most of these beings would not be very
specific. To me, a more specific domain would mean a smaller domain,
and a smaller domain would mean a lesser importance, and lesser
importance means less Godly.

I don't mean to nitpick - I'm just curious how it is at all possible
to have 3000 gods without having it develop into a situation where
most of these so called gods are seen as mere spirits instead.

Regards,
-Kristian- 8-)