Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[ChairmanPoo]

Ok, I had already seen the category X god (IE: Dwarven god), and I know that megabeasts and demons can be worshipped (which yeah, makes sense). Today I saw an entry about one Imere Amalaosine, which is a "force". The description says it's a force said to permeate some location. So yeah, I understand it's some sort of genius loci, or something. But what's supposed to represent in relation to the others? I assume gods are the center of established religions, whereas worshipped megabeasts falls more into the category of spontaneous cult. But what is a force supposed to be? An ancient-and-forgotten god, perhaps?

[blah28722]

I believe there are single gods as well as pantheons. Dwarves form multiple religions that aren't related to each other. Kinda like what we have.

A force is like The Force from star wars, I would guess.

That or something like the Light, if you played any of the warcraft series.

[corvvs]

No, the original poster has it right - a force is a "Natural Force" or genius loci (spirit of place).

If you consider ancient polytheistic and animist religions (some Wiccans/neopagans do this as well, but you can't claim it to be a requirement for modern polytheists) in addition to the Gods (Apollo, Zeus, Dionysos, Aphrodite...) there are also genii (yes, that is where the word comes from - also linguistically related to djinn in Arabic, which is what most people think of them as in the US and probably UK) which are spirits or gods or forces who embody the IDEA of a place. (it's such a foreign concept to modern Western thought that I can't think of a way to express it concisely other than to say IDEA in all caps to distinguish it from the regular word "idea" - let me know if you want more detail)

These would be prayed to or appeased when entering a new land, hunting in a "wild" place, etc.

Ooh, I know! Have you seen Princess Mononoke? The Great Forest Spirit would be an example of a genius loci.

But in any case, yes - this is what the Forces are in the legends screen. The elven religion is made up of cults that follow the will of the genii (er, using "cult" in the anthropological sense here - not the modern "Jim Jones" meaning).

[Leafsnail]

Would Gods eventually have powers, sortof like megabeasts?

[Bloogonis]

close, The Forces actually are more like forces of nature. as there are multiple forces and they often take the form of animals genius loci would be the best description of it yes.

 The megabeasts are probably more complicated as there are megabeasts that are worshiped at world gen (IE demons) so their worshipers probably count as legitamate religions, this will probably fit better when Megabeasts are improved so they are actually mega.

[lordcooper]

which are spirits or gods or forces who embody the IDEA of a place. (it's such a foreign concept to modern Western thought that I can't think of a way to express it concisely other than to say IDEA in all caps to distinguish it from the regular word "idea" - let me know if you want more detail)

Think of it as a spiritual personification of the essence of a locality / RL biome.  Forests have dryads, oceans have kelpie, merpeople etc

[Zironic]

Would Gods eventually have powers, sortof like megabeasts?

Could you pray for aid as in other roguelikes?

[corvvs]

Would Gods eventually have powers, sortof like megabeasts?

Could you pray for aid as in other roguelikes?

You can now in adventure mode, with arguably as much reaction as you get in real life.

But this is listed in the dev notes as being planned for the future, yeah.

[lordcooper]

I think more malicious gods would better suit DF.

Screw praying for help!  The gods should punish you for NOT worshipping at specifically designated temples.

[Rowanas]

I did notice that currently all gods are benign gods. We need more of a system where dwarves might pray to one god for protection from another, much like in a roleplaying game I was in a while ago.

One of my mates played a priest of Morr, and as a result he could face the undead with strength etc, but he was adversely affected by religious stuff, because he believed in it. I played a dwarf (what else?) with no faith, so he had a harder time staving off the foulness of undead, but when demons and stuff came at him they were a bit pathetic because he didn't believe in silly delusions.

[corvvs]

Zalar the god of famine, disease, and the moon (throwing together some random, not opposing spheres off the top of my head, but I've seen similar in game) is benign?

Real religions have the notion of gods that you appease as well as ones you ask for help, and it seems that DF is already headed that way with the possibility of deities like the one I mentioned.

I would imagine the cult of Zalar would involve worship elements such as doing a prescribed ritual in the fields under a new moon to ward off blight among the prickle berry crop. The ritual wouldn't involve any sort of fertility cult elements (ritual sex, etc.) but intead would be some sort of thing designed to turn Zalar's eyes away from this area (walking counter-clockwise [or possibly clockwise if the sun orbits west to east instead of the way it does on Earth] around the field while sprinkling crushed feather wood roots and finally leaving an offering of goat milk or something). Basically specifically NOT asking for his blessing.

[Name Lips]

I saw that priests got an update, but will we actually be able to build temples in the next release? Or are they still relegated to Adventure Mode?

[Rowanas]

ooh. I can picture it now. You could designate a room from an altar as a temple and assign it to a god. Then the god would make demands for what the temple would be like, very similar to how nobles work. Praying to gods would grant benefits depending on their sphere, and having temples to every god could really boost a fortress. Praying to gods like the famine god above would probably cause your enemies to produce less food etc etc.

The actual effects of the gods should be indescernable, so you know the god is helping, but you never know how much (a farming god might increase crop yield by 1 per tile, or reduce growing time by a few days, while a war god might increase the die rolls of your dwarves in combat)

Basically, this needs to happen...

[lordcooper]

Basically, this needs to happen...

*Sacrifices a kitten to the Toady God*

[ricemastah]

*Sacrifices a kitten to the Toady God*

*You are struck by lightning