Bralspace:Bralspace Religions pt 1

Bralspace and Religions

        In general, religion does not play as strong a role in most of
Wildspace as it does within groundling or planar communities; most scholars
attribute this relative religious indifference to the obvious weakening of
priestss within spheres outside their dieties influence or the phlogiston.
Undoubtably the proliferation of faiths also sets this tone.  The fact that
religion is not as important relative to the groundling or planar realms
does not mean it is unimportant.  In fact, Wildspace has seen more then its
share of religious conflicts, holy wars, and crusades just not quite as
many as might be found elsewhere. Religion is important to many spacers,
and Bralspace, having no indigenous races of its own, has an especially
knotty religious community.
        Below I list some of the more important religions of the sphere and
their relations with each other and the secular powers of the sphere.  Many
dieties not mentioned below are still worshipped somewhere within the
sphere, the many astroid communities and small, out of the way settlements
mean that maintaining the hundred or so worshippers needed for contact with
their diety is not very difficult for even minor cults within Bralspace.
In short,  the DM should always feel free to insert a religion if he/she
wishes.

Ptah
        The church of Ptah is easily the most prominent in space,  and it
considers Bralspace one of the core regions within its area of influence.
It is the most powerful temple on the Rock of Bral,  popular with the many
artisans, dock workers, and spacers.  The Church is hierarchical,  and the
temple on Bral is the chief temple of Ptah for this sphere.  The Church
maintains itself in a strictly neutral manner on the Rock,  which in
practice means that many of the minor priests are willing to sell their
spell services to any of the varied factions.  Direct actions against
Prince Andru are strictly forbidden, however.  The priesthood is not above
hedging its bets, however, and happily undertook the job of enchanting the
Chalice of Storms for Prince Aric Cozar for a low fee in the hopes that if
he manages to gain the throne they will be remembered in a friendly manner.
        Currently the Church of Ptah in Bralspace is engaged in two major
rivalries with other religions.  On the planet Shipwrecker the Church is
embarressed and annoyed at the number of spacers who have begun making
offerings to appease Latanuut, the goblin goddess of that planet.  Despite
the priests' best efforts her worship has continued, ironically under the
name "Shipwrecker" which the the Church of Ptah originally spread as a
derogatory title intended to drive worshippers away from her.
        Throughout the sphere the Ptahists also compete with the followers
of Celestian.  Though this is a slightly less bitter rivalry then the one
with Shipwrecker, priests of the two dieties are still barely civil when
they meet.
        Besides the main temple on Bral, there is a secondary temple to
Ptah in the town of Wrighters on Shipwrecker. A third temple had been built
on Spiral but it was destroyed in the scro invasion of that planet.  In
addition three temple ships are assigned to Bralspace, and base themselves
at the rock.  These vessels cruise among the astroid colonies and planets
at regular intervals,  trading goods, offering healing, and preaching
Ptah's greatness.  The three vessels are: the SEA OF STARS,  the
PTAH-HOTEP,  and the ANKH-HAF.  Each is usually escorted by 1d3 hired
waspships when underway.

Shipwrecker
        Shipwrecker is named after a minor sea goddess worshipped by the
goblins of the planet.  Her goblin name,  Latanuut ("Undernight"),  was
dropped by some humans and demihumans who took up her worship as a way of
preventing the many shipwrecks she is said to cause on the planet.  The
goblins themselves continue to worship her,  and are spelljamming aware,
though not spelljamming capable.
        In practical terms the chruch is divided between the human branch
which operates small shrines in Wrighters, the mining and lumber camps; and
the goblin shamans.  The goblin shamans far out number the human priests
(in fact, there are less then a dozen human priests of Shipwrecker).  Their
abilities are fairly typical of shamans found anywhere and the goblin
church is very chaotic and disorganized.  One oddity is that these tribes
have both shamans and witchdoctors worshipping Latanuut,  goblin tribes on
otherworlds usually have one or the other, rarely both (use the shamen and
witch-doctor kits from the CB of Humanoids).  Worship services usually
involve sacrifice (perferably captured enemies),  chanting, and dances.
        The human priests are a mixed bag, but most seem to possess powers
similar to those of other storm dieties.  They typically accept offerings
as a way of placating the angry goddess,  worship in this case being
essentially a way of bribing Shipwrecker to visit her wrath elsewhere.
Many of the planet's fishermen and lumberjacks are superstitious enough to
make such offerings and Shipwreckers following has steadily grown.  Despite
sharing a goddess the human priests and goblin shamens show no friendship
towards each other, indeed several of the human priests aided the Bralian
Army in tracking down goblin tribes during the recent war.  Shipwrecker
seems not to mind such conflict as she continued to grant spells to both
sides throughout.

The Pantheon of the Olympians

        This Bralian temple is devoted to the top twelve gods of the Greek
Pantheon; Zeus,  Aphrodite,  Apollo,  Ares,  Artemis,  Athena, Demeter,
Hades,  Hephaestus,  Hera,  Hermes,  and Poseidon.  Inside the main hall
twelve shrines face off,  sixto each side.  Like the Pantheon itself, the
High Priest of Zeus is the head of the church, and also like the panthoen
this authority is constantly questioned and ignored.  Each diety has 5-20
priests and acolytes dediccated to carrying for their shrine.  While
priests must devote themselves to individual dieties in the pantheon,  lay
worshippers are expected to give deference to all.
        The priests of this temple have enough problems with their own
internal rivalries,  they have no significent conflicts with other faiths,
yet.
        Recently, the priesthoods of this temple have managed to agree on
something.  The High Priest has announced plans to host a festival of games
in the Arena of Frun, similar to festivals held on other worlds in honor of
the Olympian gods.  These games will be dedicated to the deities of the
temple but are open to all.  The festival will begin on the 1st Day of the
5th Month and will last 2 weeks.

Here are the order of events for the upcoming festival, or "Olympics", on
each day there will be competitions as follows:
1st Day:Chariot Races
2nd Day:Poetry
3rd Day:Wrestling
4th Day:Foot races
5th Day:Singing
6th Day:Boxing (unarmed combat, really. Kicking is allowed)
7th Day:Dancing
8th Day:Archery
9th Day:Spell crafting (best "new" spell wins the prize)
10th Day:Javilin Throwing
11th Day:Horse races
12th Day:Fencing
13th Day:Spellcasting ("combat" casting against illusionary foes)
14th Day:Spelljammer Regatta (through an "astroid" course)

There is a five gold piece entrance fee for each event, contestents can
enter up until midnight of the night prior to the the event.  Each night as
well the church will host a festival ot the Arena of Frun with illusionary
shows,  plays, music, dancing ect.  Culminating with a Grand Ball on the
14th day of the games. (only open to the city upper crust, and event
winners).

(The Pantheon of Olympus is building #68 on the SJR5 map, SJR5 calls this
the Planar Church of Olympus)

Celestian
        There is only one temple to this diety of the stars,  based on the
Rock itself.  In many ways the temple acts more as a hostel or inn then as
a place of worship.  Worshippers and priests of Celestian passing through
Bralspace are permitted to stay at the temple while arranging their next
journey.  Priests of Celestian are renowned as spelljammers,  many captains
come to this temple looking to hire helmsmen.
        Despite a lack of temples in the sphere Celestian is still an
important diety because there are so many wandering priests who follow his
teachings.  Most Celestians make a courtesy call at the temple on Bral upon
arriving in port,  but for the most part there is little regulation or
organization.  The Church is heavily involved in the activities of both the
Seekers and the Pragmatic Order of Thought; many assume _all_ Celestians
are secret POT members though in fact this is far from the case.
        The priests do pursue a rivalry with the Church of Ptah, from their
end this usually involves elaborate practical jokes,  the Ptahites pursue
the rivalry through political channels, trying to discourage captains from
hiring Celestians as helmsmen or navigators, for instance.

Bibliography:
SEA OF STARS Barge of Ptah designed by Terry (TLHawk@???-??.org)
Dragon #153 "Following In Their Footsteps" by Fraser Sherman
Complete Book of Humanoids
Deities and Demigods
Legends and Lore
Faiths and Avatars
Powers and Pantheons
SJR5 Rock of Bral
Spelljammer Boxed Set
_The Maelstrom's Eye_ Book 3 of the Cloakmaster Cycle
"Shipwrecker" Module Role Aids #712

"Human life without knowledge of history is nothing other than a perpetual
childhood, nay, a permanent obscurity and darkness." Philip Melanchthon
westermeyer.3@???.edu
Paul Westermeyer
Phd Candidate, History, Ohio State University
Adjunct Faculty, Humanities Department, Columbus State Community College