Apogee of Ages

This page is read only. You can view the source, but not change it. Ask your administrator if you think this is wrong.
======Western Cultic Faith======

Western Cultic Faith is the name now given to the various forms of religious expression that emerged and were prominent in the northwestern continent for several thousand years, prior to the expansion of Ferfydden and Common Church movements in those areas. Generally called something like 'the old ways' or 'traditional faith', small enclaves of this religion clung for many years before being more or less wiped out over the past few hundred years. However, there is a renewed interest in the religion of the past, and some young people are attempting to reconnect with this alternative religion. 

WCF generally views the gods as existing in a realm outside of general mortal experience. While the gods are individuals, with wants and needs like mortals, their interactions with the world are strange and distinct. For ordinary mortals to interact with the gods was therefore seen as a risky business, best confined to special ceremonies, or for those who were particularly initiated. Amulets and charms were safer ways for ordinary mortals to touch the divine - or ward it off. 

These cultic faiths tended to be particularly focused on one god or another, with each enclave having its own idiosyncratic rituals and ways of interpreting the divine. Cultic faiths were thus very individual. It is an interesting contrast with broader civilisation at the time, which appears to have been very communal and interconnected. While the village acted as one unit, the faith always existed on the outside of that, brought in only for special occasions or moments of great need. Some have theorised that, in a hostile environment, the cultic faith was both an expression of escape and, in a strange way, a social glue that kept the fear of the outside confined to a specific location.