Defining Faith vs Religion in Fantasy Worldbuilding

This topic has two related ideas that are important to differentiate.

• Faith = Personal belief concerning the answers to unprovable metaphysical questions
• Religion = External, corporate systems that arises when people share and formalize beliefs.

Faith can exist without religion, but people who share a faith will generally form a religion.  The focus here is on Faith.

Note:  For purposes of this guide, it is assumed that faiths/religions are centered on a deity or deities.  Not all beliefs have to adhere to this so some elements here may not apply if that’s the case in your fantasy world.

Do Fantasy Worlds need?

No, but if people are curious they will wonder why the world is the way it is.  Curiosity plus unanswered metaphysical questions results in faith.

• Answers maybe based on truths given directly by God or a collection of gods, delivered by prophets, born of myth, lost to the sands of time, etc. It may be built upon spiritual, metaphysical, and/or scientific foundations.
• Once faith is established, curious people are likely to share what they’ve discovered and religion will be established.
• Even if an individual or group isn’t curiosity, faith may exist if someone shares an unprovable metaphysical belief about the nature of the universe.
• Consider the perspective both from the external (worldbuilder) viewpoint and the internal (world inhabitant) perspective. – Taking only one perspective can lead to cognitive dissonance in world building (see below).

A world can lack faith and religion only if one of two conditions are met:

1. The peoples of the world have no curiosity and no one shares an unprovable theory.
2. The peoples of the world don’t need faith because they already have the absolute and irrefutable answers to the grand metaphysical questions.

Warning:  Lack of curiosity and absolute possession of knowledge will likely have large consequences for overall worldbuilding and may strip a universe of its wonderment.

Developing Plausible Religions

What Faith Promises

All religions rest upon the idea of incentive—the faithful must get something out of it.

• If there is nothing to be gained, a person may have a belief that informs his worldview, but they won’t act on it in a way that creates religion.
• The term incentive is useful but sterile for this conversation because it fails to capture the complexity and intricacies of the relationship between a world’s inhabitants and the divine.

There are two basic kinds of incentives in religion.  One or both may exist in a faith:

1. Aid in this life (or at least avoidance of harm) such as good crops, health, victory in war, etc.
2. Aid in the next life such as acceptance into heaven over condemnation to hell. In the case of reincarnative faiths, this may include being judged fairly before beginning the next life.

Deities & Their Power

There are many ways to “grade” or define deities.  This is one template that worldbuilders may find useful.  It has four tiers.

• Tier 1 – Omnipotent
  • All-Powerful
  • Exists outside of creation
  • Usually a single deity
  • Examples: Christian, Jewish, and Muslim God
• Tier 2 – Primordial
  • Exists outside of creation
  • Usually more than one deity
  • Likely have portfolios
    • May be elements within creation such as seas, fire, war, fertility, etc.
    • May be elements outside of creation such as heaven or hell
  • Examples: Zoroastrianism and Greek Titans
• Tier 3 – Regnant
  • Exists within creation
  • Usually more than one deity
  • Likely have portfolios—usually within creation
  • Examples: Olympian and Celtic Pantheons
• Tier 4 – Ascendant
  • Deities whose power can be achieved by inhabitants of the world.
  • Could potentially achieve equivalent power to any other tier.
  • Examples: Roman Imperial Cult and Ancestor Worship

Pantheons, Tiers, and Rival Gods

Deities may be cooperative, combative, or somewhere in between.

• Cooperative Systems:
  • Deities work together though they may not always agree on everything
  • Example: The Valar and Maiar of Tolkien
  • Variation: One member of the pantheon may betray the others and become the Great Evil (e.g. Morgoth of Tolkien)
• Combative Systems:
  • Divine forces with irreconcilable aims
  • Example: Zoroastrianism
• Blended Systems
  • Generally cooperative, though they may scheme against each other in pursuit of individual goals.
  • Examples: The Greek and Norse pantheons

Multiple Tiers of Deities may exist within the same setting.

• Advantage: Allows for powerful Tier 1 or 2 deities related to creation and the afterlife plus Tier 3 or 4 deities who are more worldly, accessible, fallible, and capricious.
• There may be cooperation, combat, or a blend within and/or between each tier.
• A world theoretically could include all four tiers.
• Examples:
  • Tolkien: Tier 1 Ilúvatar + Tier 2 Valar and Maiar
  • Greek Mythology: Tier 2 Titans + Tier 3 Olympians
  • Late Roman Paganism: Tier 2 Sol Invictus + Tier 4 Apotheosized Emperors

Divine Power, Incentive, and Portfolios

Tier 1 and 2 deities can probably offer boons both in the afterlife and within creation.

• Since Tier 3 and 4 exist within the created order, the probably have no power over the afterlife or reincarnation.
• Exception: If such a power is delegated from a Tier 1 or Tier 2 deities.

Tiers 2, 3, and 4 all likely have specific dominions, commonly called “portfolios”

• Portfolios may overlap. For example, many Greek deities had some influence on war.
• Portfolios often include elements that may seem odd, at least to modern sensibilities. For example Brigid was goddess of poetry, healing, and smithing.
• Portfolios often have special emphasis on those elements that matter most to worshipers. For example, the Egyptian pantheon reflected the central importance of the Nile and the desert.

How do deities interact with mortals?  Is it directly, via prophets or oracles, via the conscience, or some other mechanism?

Truth, False Faiths, and Competing Religions

What is true?

• In our world, these metaphysical answers can’t be definitively proven.
• In your world, as the worldbuilder, you can and probably should.
  • This doesn’t mean the inhabitants know.
  • It may be useful for your audience not to know either.
• Which deities exist, are deceptive about their true nature, or don’t exist at all?
  • Our world includes mutually exclusive faiths—this could be true for your world, too.
• Multiple religions can be introduced by developing the idea of gradations or variations on one core faith—such as interpretations about a deity.
  • In this scenario, one will often be true while the others will have something a little (or a lot) wrong.
  • This allows for variation when some peoples of the world have near-perfect knowledge about creation or other cosmological questions—it leaves room for dispute and interpretation.
• Syncretism is the idea that multiple faiths share the same root truth.
  • For example, multiple nations or fantasy races could worship the same pantheon but give them different names along with variations in portfolio or religious rites.
  • Is one version true or are they similar enough to all be true?

Respect Matters

The biggest danger in faith in fantasy worldbuilding is disrespect.  If a faith is introduced, it is important to respect it.  Two types of worldbuilders are most vulnerable to this mistake:

1. Those who create a religion that contradicts their own faith.
2. Those who are not religious or otherwise view religion primarily as a tool of manipulation or control.

This does not mean you have to like all the religions of your world—evil religions in fantasy worlds are common and can be quite compelling.

• It needs to be internally plausible.
• It must have an incentive per above.
• If a religion offers nothing, (or even worse, is punitive), yet still attracts devoted followers, it has no reason to exist and destroys the internal plausibility of the world.