Faith in Mizahar: What Is Your Personal Take On It?

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Faith in Mizahar: What Is Your Personal Take On It?

Postby Nai'shee on March 11th, 2012, 10:42 pm

For Nai'shee, she believes in Gods, she knows about them, but she is type to believe in her own power. She knows most about Laviku, normally, but she is aware of all the Gods, tho, she doesn't really worship any. Her first association is usually Laviku and she mentions him from time to time, maybe even pray to him or do something in his name, but not really in religious way, it's more a habit or kind of respect. Based on her actions some Gods could like her, tho.

As for other Gods and Gnosis you mentioned three I would like to have the most (Dreamwalking, Nightstalking and Treavery), but I don't really think they would suit the PC. If I'm willing for a Gnosis I'll probably make PC completely suited for it or choose one based on Nai'shee's actions, I won't choose actions based on Gnosis I want. The only Gnosis that would suit Nai'shee is probably Hapchance, lol, but I'm still not sure if she is yet to get it, too young to be considered lost case.XD Maybe Night Stalking or Oceanus too.

For Lucy, she has no clue about Gods and she would probably think it's some trick. If they appear before her she will learn to respect their power, but she would never want anything from them. She is a Klevic after all.

I thought about making character who's Gnora's worshiper, but she is really a hardest Goddess there is to worship (my opinion). It's too hard to play, I can't make a completely emotionless character, no matter I want it or not (too much anime, lol). It's just that something will eventually change him/her, much people are just too nice or not nice to handle and my own emotions mix in writing. I will probably accept the challenge one day, but not just yet.
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Faith in Mizahar: What Is Your Personal Take On It?

Postby Rorugir on March 11th, 2012, 11:20 pm

Meh. I don't think I really captured the essence of Rorugir's faith, but this is basically his take on it:

On the lower part of this post.
This is Rorugir's speech when he speaks in Common...
...And this is Rorugir's speech when he speaks in Isur.
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Faith in Mizahar: What Is Your Personal Take On It?

Postby Alric Wilmot on March 12th, 2012, 1:55 am

For me, it seems that belief in a god, is not the same as faith. I mean, in Mizahar, you're kind of wierd if you don't believe in them. Instead, it seems that having faith (at least in Mizahar) is about trusting a god. Which, considering how much they seem to screw up around here is quite a feat.

Although, perhaps I have missed the mark somewhat. I mean, it seems worship of them is abundant. Although, worship is mostly wonder and awe at something, and then paying your respects to it.

So, someone who worships Ionu, would marvel and wonder at Ionu, and then pay Ionu his respects.

Someone who has faith in Ionu, would trust Ionu to be even-handed in his trickery.

At least, that's what I get out of it.
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Faith in Mizahar: What Is Your Personal Take On It?

Postby Raiha on March 12th, 2012, 3:13 am

Raiha, on Faith. Particularly, first and foremost, about Akajia.
The first rule of Akajia is you do not talk about Akajia.
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Faith in Mizahar: What Is Your Personal Take On It?

Postby Nyahna Sasin on March 12th, 2012, 3:16 am

Sasin is something like an atheist. He knows there are gods, and he acknowledge that they are very, very powerful people. But in his mind, that's still what they are: people. Sasin is a follower of Siku because he grew up with that, and the occasional killing and torturing is just a reminder to her that "yup, I still remember who you are"

He calls to the gods when he's mad or amazed or whatever, but it's really the same as an atheist going "Oh my god".

Sasin thinks that he's a worshipper because he can't imagine not being one, even though he really could not care less.
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Faith in Mizahar: What Is Your Personal Take On It?

Postby Shadahl on March 12th, 2012, 5:23 am


Shadahl remains spiritual but not necessarily devout. Reading over this entire thread, I found it actually funny that there are people who would only worship a god/goddess in the name of receiving gnosis marks. After all, it sort of erases the purpose of an individual divine being if they're only reduced to gift-givers, doesn't it? I guess since Shadahl's goddess doesn't have a gnosis that is actually filled out is kind of a lucky thing for him.

Semele is Shadahl's goddess of choice, and it's for a particularly simple reason that he stands by her. It's not necessarily the physical earth, even though I'm sure to some scope he treasures her body just as any loving mortal should. It's not the shiny gems, even though they capture his eye and bring forth admiration just like in any other living entity. No, it's not the obvious fore-front of what Semele stands for that has attracted my character, instead it is the idea that he is consistently surrounded by an omnipresent force. While yes it could be argued that all gods or goddesses are to some extent everywhere all the time, Semele is the only one who carries the living literally with the support of her entire body.

In a way, I think that affects Shadahl in a place he can't truly understand. By following the patron of the earth and gemstones, he's admitting to himself he bears reverence for not only her body, but for the actual spiritual experiences she gives off simply by existing.

Imagine constantly being surrounded by a loving, warm, caring entity. A being that accepts all into her arms, despite their lineage, history, or future, and supports them without bias.

That's important to Shadahl. That's purity at it's finest. That is the definition, and enactment, of kindness.

It's something no-one else can give him. He believes, very strongly, that such acts of unrequited gentleness should never go unnoticed, and because of his belief, he has become a worshiper of Semele.
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Faith in Mizahar: What Is Your Personal Take On It?

Postby Veldrys on March 12th, 2012, 5:44 am

Veldrys is a devout follower of Viratas. Viratas is the god of his people. He protects them, and Veldrys tries his best to please him (even though it sometimes conflicts with his own thoughts and feelings). Since Viratas marked him and gave him a prophecy about a year ago, he has become even more faithful. He often uses his gnosis and regularly sacrifices some of his blood and prays to his god. His biggest wish is to become a priest of Viratas one day. He will also often talk to others about his faith.

Being a doctor he also has some respect for Rak’keli, although she never marked him (I kind of hope that she will one day though to allow him to be a better healer). Nikali is also of some importance to him, although his feelings towards her are somewhat ambivalent. He enjoys the atmosphere in the temple of Nikali, and being with Lucette made him a little calmer and happier, but he also thinks that Nikali and her priests are at least in part responsible for her pregnancy because they didn’t give her anything to prevent it.

My little squire is much less religious. He would never spend hours in a temple like Veldrys and hurt himself in the name of his god. If he heard about somebody doing that, he would probably think they are insane! As a squire he was raised to worship Tyveth, but his heart has never truly been in it. He thinks the knights are boring, and he doesn’t want to worship the same god as everybody else either.

For a long time he wasn’t religious at all. He lacks the patience to sit down and pray. And then Kelwyn came along and marked him. He doesn’t really pray to them a lot and worship them either, at least not in the way followers of other gods worship their own gods, but he respects them and tries to please them. They are probably the only gods he really cares about right now.
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Faith in Mizahar: What Is Your Personal Take On It?

Postby Tabarnac on March 15th, 2012, 6:28 am

When I first started reading the lore to figure this place out, one of the first things I read were the gods and sometimes their gnosis. I think you can learn a lot about the general feel of the game based on its cosmological structure, but I'm also a nerd like that who would have taken a degree in religious studies just for fun... I'll read tomes about Gnosticism, Haitian Vodoun, Feri Tradition just because it tickles me. So while I'm not an expert, I'm not without some education in the matter. Couple that with Baptist pre-school and Catholic high school and I can usually hold my own in a conversation.

I don't want to talk about the Nazi Pope, though.

Anyway, this is not a criticism, but one of the first things I noticed was the occasional lack of coherence. This is natural when you have six writers building a world together. They're all going to have slightly different ideas of how things are, and even the best rapport isn't seamless. So okay, there's a little in the way of Greek drama with Ivak's story. Right, and...

Sama'el was my first character. His opening thread was a flashback about the decimation of his pavilion and his trail of tears into slavery, and he was calling out de profundis to all the gods he knew to be kind to his people. I think I was trying to figure out how they all fit into his worldview with that post, too. None of them answered overtly -- often the answer to prayers is "no" -- and he was a slave for eight years before he escaped. His faith probably wavered in those years, but I skipped over to his escape, wherein he met his ancestor, Kasb'el Sunsinger, aka Caelum. So of course, he assumed Syna sent him help. Kasb'el taught him the old hymns to Syna and now he sings her into the sky in the morning and to her rest at night. He probably misses it once in a while due to circumstances, but most of the time... he's on it. And now he has Inavalti. He was struck down by a fever and Kasb'el recognized it as a trial sent by Syna, the which he passed. The gift is often not as helpful as his Webbing, but he considers it no less a gift. He's proud that she marked his face. He sees his Fire mastery as a gift from Syna, sunfire rather than a gift from Ivak. He still honors Ivak in rituals involving reimancy, but honors Syna more highly. Ever since his return to the Drykas people and his initiation into Webbing, he has become ever more aware of the interconnectedness between people and things, and so his understanding of magic and everything is becoming ever more holistic. I hesitate to call him superstitious, but rather he sees more now. Whether he understands it is another matter entirely.

He also considers Dohaina, his strider, a gift from Zulrav since she came to him out of the teeth of a Cyphrus storm. She might be his mother reincarnated...

That's another thing: reincarnation. It's an accepted thing in Mizahar, save for those races with special permissions, such as the Myrians joining Myri's ninja army in the Ukalas, or the ethaefal previously ascending, or the Drykas being caught in their own Web to remain within Cyphrus. It's one thing to believe in reincarnation as do, say, the Hindus. It's quiet another to know something. Faith gets funny when there isn't a leap of, well, faith. Did you see Constantine? He knew that heaven and hell existed, but that wasn't enough to save him. He had to believe in the resurrection of the Christ and that it was his doorway to salvation. Can a population still facing dangers all round afford to be laissez-faire about their lives because they know they will just be reborn? I haven't seen anyone say "There is no death" and jump into Mt. Skyinarta.

Hadrian, on the other hand, is too smart by half. He is more gnostic than Sama'el, believing that there is something beyond the gods, some True Source or another, and maybe a demiurge that actually created the world. I don't know that he would use that vocabulary to describe it, but he doesn't quite know how to articulate what he believes anyway. It's all concept now. That's also why I'll say OOCly he wants to be a god, but ICly he doesn't know. He knows he wants to know as much as he can, to understand as a god understands, but that's tantamount to becoming one, really. So he's the one who suspects reality, such as the Ideas, even if he can't really know. And while he doesn't know about the "levels" of gods, he knows that the ones with the most crazy conceptual demesnes are Fate and Time, and that they are the most removed from humanity, while the Seasons and others live among them. So his brain categorizes and forms hierarchies.

So he went in a direction I didn't originally intend. Auristics was so difficult for him at first, but he practiced it so often that now he is a Master. Couple that with Master-level Observation and this guy notices everything. If you mention it in a post, I will assume he can notice it, because Master-Master. I don't mean to overpower people, but that's what his sheet says. But understanding what he sees is another matter entirely.

To my mind, the gnosis he has makes sense. Eyris' was the first he earned, though it has been sealed from his memory and the wild djed will reveal it to him. Lykata is a lot like psychometry, which is a sensing thing. It's observational on another level, which is in line with what his desire for more information, more input. Through a series of quests in Alvadas, he got Ionu's attention, learning hypnotism and being granted Illusions. He has taken this as a lesson that reality is not what it seems, and perhaps trusting his senses isn't always the best course. But what else does he have? There is a problem with which he wrestles.

So, in a sense, Hadrian is like Constantine. He doesn't have faith in the gods because he knows they exist. I'm still not sure whether he's good or evil, or just mad. I mean, I know he's a nutter, but... time will tell, I suppose.

Anyway, Ifran thinks he's descended from gods, and all Eypharians are, but just a river god whose river is gone, so they should really get over themselves. He sees the gods as beings more powerful than him, not necessarily beings with any sort of moral authority over him. Mihai is a Kelvic, so he's like herp-derp-derp about the gods. He loves Myri, but actually dislikes the god of cats despite the fact that he's a tiger Kelvic because he draws Myri's attention away from him and all he wants to do is win her favor and attention all the time.

Gracen is interesting because he has gnosis from Sivah (once I get that squared away), but it's sealed and has been for a dozen years and at this point he seems himself as irredeemable even though his revenge quest is an attempt to unseal his gnosis and find favor with the god again. He's probably a good candidate for the Ruvna, really. He stepped away from his god and is definitely walking the path of the Dark Side. I can't really say much more about him because I'm still figuring him out.

And I'm petering out...

But OOCly, I personally give characters leeway to worship as they see fit, but if they want to get gnosis, they have to understand the lore writer's understanding of the god because they give the initial permissions. Because people worship their gods differently, even within the same denomination or sect, tradition or discipline.

I might add more later, but this is enough for now.

I recently told Legion and Colombina that "Hadrian needs Jesus."
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Faith in Mizahar: What Is Your Personal Take On It?

Postby Ialari Pythone on March 17th, 2012, 10:11 am

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Ialari is just shy of being fanatically devoted to Izurdin and by extension, the isur. Though her perception of things is rather skewed, everything she does in life, she does for her people and for Izurdin. With every test of strength or patience, she prays to Izurdin for guidance. With every deal she makes, every item she trades or purchases, every item she crafts, she does so in homage to Izurdin. So to say that Izurdin has a great influence in her life is almost saying too little as everything she does in life is influenced by her god.

Ialari first learned of Izurdin when she was old enough to speak. Though the isur are born with Izurdin's Gnosis in the form of their metallic arms, Ialari felt his influence even deeper. At a very early age, she internalized the teachings of Izurdin and her people's culture as it was in ages past.

As far as other gods are concerned, Ialari learned of a handful of them alongside Izurdin. Some holding influence in Ialari's life alongside Izurdin. Vayt, God of Weakness as well as Poisons, holds a good amount of influence as Ialari is rather fond of poisons. She also recognizes that there can't be strength without weakness so where Izurdin exists, so does Vayt. While many may consider Vayt to be a dark or "evil" god, Ialari views him as serving a necessary position in the divine realm. Without weakness, there can be no strength. Thus without Vayt, Izurdin's influence is diminished. In her crafting and use of poisons, she gives thanks not only to Izurdin for the ability to craft in general but also gives thanks to Vayt for his own special gifts.

Ialari's family, the Pythones, share a bond with serpents and snakes. This grants her an affinity toward, Siku, Demigoddess of Snakes and Serpents. Ialari tends to mimic some aspects of snakes in the way she thinks, speaks and acts. She is patient, calculating and often lies in wait for her opponents to make the one fatal mistake before she strikes.

Viratas, God of Blood and Heritage, is also held in high regard by Ialari since to her, family bonds and bloodline are extremely important elements in her life. While she doesn't necessarily indulge in the literal aspects of the Gods domain, she does internalize the figurative side of his domain.

Dira, Goddess of Death, hasn't always held much influence in Ialari's life although she has sent a prayer or two to the Goddess throughout the years at the passing of loved ones. Currently in-thread, Ialari has taken some offense that Dira did not initially approve of Ialari being granted the secrets of Dominion. In exchange for helping Dira claim a soul, Ialari is asking for Dira's mark as a sign that Death approves of Ialari and her having Dominion. This may bring about a new and unique relationship between Ialari and Death.

Now as for gods that Ialari does not feel all that warm about, Sagallius rates quite possibly at the top. Drainira, golem and Sagallius' champion, tried to wipe out Sahova and all who dwelt within. Ialari was one of the intended victims and took great offense at being targeted for elimination. Ialari succeeded in saving Sahova from Drainira's treachery and thus gained some amount of influence on the island and in the Citadel. This encounter also served to twist Ialari's perception of reality when she merged her consciousness with Sahova in her attempt to save it. The alien environment in which she found herself tore away at her sanity. While she survived, Ialari took on some of Drainira's cold, inhuman perceptions of reality. When merged with her own existing warped views, Ialari's mind began to crack. Realizing on some level that she had been damaged by the whole encounter, Ialari couldn't help but feel great hatred toward Drainira and the puppeteer who pulled the golem's strings.

The only thing I can say I am frustrated about is seeing characters with numerous gnosis marks yet they don't really pay any homage to the gods that gave them. It's as if they are collecting marks just to say they have them. As far as Ialari is concerned, any marks she gains will be from gods that she actively tries to establish some relationship with. She views the gods as being very special and otherworldly. For them to see fit to grace her with their presence and even mark her, is a moment beyond belief and one to be recognized and repaid.

Where Ialari goes whenever the Dominion thread is complete is still up in the air however her views on the gods and their decision to choose her for Dominion will definitely play a major role in what happens to Ialari in the future.
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Faith in Mizahar: What Is Your Personal Take On It?

Postby Caelum on March 23rd, 2012, 5:20 pm

Here is Caelum's for those interested.
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