Hello.
I'd like to see some dwarven religion as gameplay mechanic. I saw that some dwarves have their gods in the profile, but I didnt notice any effects on gameplay. My idea would be:
Masons can build altars. Altar, once deployed, can be turned into a room (temple). You can pick which god the temple belongs to.
Any dwarf assigned to the altar (no limit) will start training his Faith skill until he becomes a Runepriest. Runepriests dont work, but walk around and bless your dwarves. A blessing makes the dwarf abit more happy and has a very low chance of converting the dwarf to the god of the runepriest. They also have side effects based on the god. The number of blessing / season is based on the size/wealth of the temple and the number of runepriests. Many runepriests and a small temple or few runepriests and a big temple will both get you a decent amount of blessings.
Unlike the common dorf, nobles will go and ask for blessings every now and then. If the runepriest in question is out of blessings for this season, he will be put into jail for "refusing to bless a noble". Which in turn makes all followeres of his god unhappy.
At some point (100+ dorfs) a new noble will show up; the Inquisitor. Later on he will become High Inquisitor. His requirements include a temple. He will not make mandates, but walk around and declare dwarves who do not have a god picked yet as heretics -- if he is not kept happy. The more unhappy he is, the less he cares if they have picked a god or not. Innocence proves nothing. Dwarves marked as heretic will be considered hostile and attacked by any dwarves who is a follower of a god. Maybe the player can decide if this is considered a crime and guards will step in or not.
The side effects of the different gods.. I use two as example. First we take the common dwarven god of craftsmanship, booze and kicking elven bottom (or shin). His blessings have a chance to heal permanent injury. If this happens the dwarf is instantly converted. The second one is the god of war/death (arm_ok?). His blessings reduce penalties for the loss of a family member and maybe grant some small increase to combat prowess.
The low magic approach would fit into dwarf fortress, imo. And players still have the choice of building temples or not; worst thing is that you need to lock your high inquisitor away and I heard such dorfs tend to fall down pits alot.