Neil Barnes asked:
>Umm. Here's one. How polytheistic are the Cerillians? Would it be
>considered unusual of a worshipper of Haelyn to pray to Nesirie before
>setting out on a voyage, or Laerme before starting a painting or to
>Sarimie before starting a trading venture? Do the churches frown upon
>it?
>

I am not sure that this question is fully answered anywhere but here is how
I see it. To begin with, I want to define a couple of terms as they have
been used in university classes I have taken. Polytheism is a situation
where a number of gods are seen as equally important and all are worshipped
fairly equally. Henotheism is a situation where many gods are seen to
exist and all are given the respect that is due their station, but
individuals usually choose one particular god/goddess to be their patron.

Cerilia as I see it would be a prime candidate for henotheism. The various
bloodlines as well as clerics who pray for and recieve spells regularly are
evidence that a number of gods have existed inthe past and continue to
exist in the present. People would certainly not wish to insult any of the
gods. While Nesirie would not insist that all sailors worship her, most
would see her power on a daily basis and choose to at least ask her
blessings on their journey or pray for help in a storm at sea. A person
who is newly in love might ask Laerme's blessing that their love grows and
is returned by the person they have come to love. Many daily events would
inspore the average person to ask help from a specific god. However,
people are most likely to choose one god that most suits them, and make
that god their patron, offering most of their devotion to that particular
god/goddess. The clerics are more focussed as their level of devotion is
much higher and their commitment is greater. The churches themselves would
want as much devotion given their particular deity as possible so they
would probably not be too excited about their followers' making these small
associations with other deities. The degree to which a particular church
would oppose these little actions would depend upon which god is involved.
BOP gives some ideas as to how various gods and goddesses relate to each
other and their churches as well. For instance, since Nesirie is Haelyn's
wife and Cuiraecen is their son, churches to the three of them may have
vast disagreements on how they do things but would not be as inclined to
feel that they must eradicate all evidence of devtion to the other gods
among their followers. However if a cleric of Haelyn saw his parishioners
praying to Belinik or Kreisha, that would be entirely different.


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Brenda Santer:

mailto:bsanter@sk.sympatico.ca
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