Gods
There are many faiths in the world of BattleMaster, and more appear all the time. Almost all faiths worship a god, or sometimes more than one god.
Faith-based
The gods of BattleMaster do not typically involve themselves with mortal affairs, and therefore gods are faith-based. Meaning that because of the lack of overt signs, the people of BattleMaster worship deities on the power of faith alone.
Nonetheless, their existence and will are revealed to a few who claim to be prophets, channeling the gods' desires through them.
Because gods are not overt it is hard to either prove or disprove whether a prophet is making something up or truly channeling a deity. Therefore the power of ideology is critical to religions.
Origin
Since new deities appear all the time, it begs the question of where do these gods originate from? There are different theories on this:
- The other faiths are misguided
- In truth the other faiths are idol-worshipers, venerating something that is not a deity at all. There is only one true god.
- They have always existed
- Why gods even bother with mortals is unclear. Perhaps only those deities that have gained an interest in humans (and elves) have decided to reveal themselves.
- They are formed from the Cosmos over time
- The ways of gods are mysterious, and they are not "born" in the way mortals are but through some other unknown mechanism.
- They are created from faith itself
- Some people have wondered, perhaps cynically, whether it's not the power of faith itself that creates these divine entities. A god has more power and influence with the more followers it has, and is threatened with "death" (or at least ceasing to exist) if it doesn't have any worshipers.
Evidence of Deities
Since the worship of gods is faith-based, it begs the question of whether any gods truly exist. While it's hard to prove so for an individual deity, there are some evidences that at least some gods exist, or at least entities of vast powers that might as well be deities.
Miracles
People on the battlefield have witnessed miracles, in particular seeing people recover from serious wounds almost instantly. The people that have recovered from these wounds claimed to have heard faint litanies began to ring above their head, from somewhere up in the air. They couldn't make anything intelligible out of the chants, but felt surprisingly soothed. (OOC: new player protection)
Divine Emissaries
Also, respected nobles of the land have claimed to have been visited by a divine emissary and spoken with them.
For instance Doc Primus, a ruler of the elven realm of Sirion, has claimed to have been visited by a divine emissary. The divine emissary told him that tournaments are not meant to be monopolized by only one realm, and that he should allow other realms to host tournaments as well.
Wrath of the Gods
Lightning bolts have descended from on high and have struck down nobles in the past. Typically this is a warning of some sort, though lightning storms have also occurred, which have killed the noble outright. (OOC: This is typically due to a player not following the game rules)
The most notable example is when lighting bolts struck down at the rulers of several realms on the East Continent. The gods spoke out to each of them, and informed them that there was too much peace on the continent, and that further lightning bolts would strike them if this age of peace did not soon end.
Titans
There are rumors of beings known as Titans that enforce order and normalcy in the world of Battlemaster. But these rumors should probably be scoffed at. (OOC: is there any IC evidence of Titans?)
