Guess Who's Back!

Long time, no speak!

I'm finally back to this! Only 8 months after I last posted...

Anyway, I've had a recent burst of inspiration after buying Wonderbook. It's a book designed to help authors write 'imaginative fiction', which largely means fantasy or science fiction, so it's perfect for what I'm after. It's got some really cool authors as contributors as well, like Mr. Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin. It seems to have been just the kick up the backside that I needed!

I've decided to start working on this on my breaks at work, and I think that'll be when I get the most done, so hopefully that can carry on! Over the past couple of days I've been looking at religion and the political organisation of the world I'm creating. It's something that could actually work out quite integral to the story, and if not will be important to make the world feel realistic and actually inhabited, so hopefully I've been able to come up with something decent!

For the Mage, I had something vaguely
like this in mind, but a bit older and more modestly dressed

I've gone with something vaguely similar in style to Game of Thrones and other similar religions, but I've varied it a bit, most notably by changing around the typical organisation of religion a little bit. I've gone with ten Gods, associated with particularly characters or roles, such as Warrior, Trader, Scholar and Child, each with their own particular qualities and particularly areas. For example, a pregnant woman would pray to the Mother, or someone on their death bed would pray to the Aged. Obviously, more complicated issues or problems will need overlap in the Gods who are prayed for, but the same general gist will apply.

In terms of organisation, it's different in that there will be none. There's not going to be priests, or a pope or any kind of similar figure. The plan is for worship and prayer to be entirely personal. There will be temples (name could change, I need to think about this) with 'stations' for each of the ten Gods, and citizens can go and pray as little or as often as they'd like, in a complete personal, non-organised way. There will be 'caretakers' (again, name likely to change), who look after the temples and maintain them, but they'll have no religious role or significance at all.

The upkeep and maintenance of the places of worship will be paid for by the government, but these won't this will be the only link.

There'll also be home-stations, where families can purchase 'stations' for worship in their own homes. They can purchase just the entire 10 stations, or just one. For example, a blacksmith could just purchase a station to the Warrior (weaponry) or the Mason (construction, crafting).

That's about all I've got so far. It's a pretty hollow shell of a construct, but it's a start.

I'm intrigued to hear what anyone has to say about it, whether it's good or bad. Any additions or comments are completely welcome (and would be greatly appreciated - I can repay you in positive thoughts!)

I'll hopefully be back in a few days with a post about my plans for the political system!