List of Ways of Darkness Religious virtues

This is the list of religious virtues within the Ways of Darkness RPG module. For a general information on how religions works in the World of Artograch, read RPG:Religion.

Virtues
As stated in the Basic Ruleset, each religion has a set of virtues that its believers hold dear. A religion typically has multiple virtues, but different virtues may contradict each other - a religion may not hold two contradicting virtues at the same time. Some religious virtues may be made redundant when combined, but for the sake of realism and faithfulnes to the lore, religions may hold redundant virtues, even if it is “wasteful” gameplay-wise.

Aerolatry
Aerolatry in its literal sense would mean worship of air - but no one simply worships the air we breathe. Instead, it means that the religion is either a monotheistic religion with a wind-god or thunder-god, or a polytheistic religion whose chief deity is a wind-god or thunder-god - usually some kind of Father Sky or Father Thunder. “Fly like the wind!”


 * Effect: Clerical Magic users can access Air Magic, receiving the feat Basic Aeromancy for free. The character also receives Basic Sneaking for free.
 * Divine Favour: This virtue does not unlock any addition ways of gaining Divine Favour. Because of this, this virtue must be combined with an addition one that grants a way of gaining Divine Favour.
 * Contradicts with: Elementalism, Shamanism, Lunalatry, Heliolatry, Geolatry, Pyrolatry, Hydrolatry

Altruism
Altruistic religions include selflessness, self-sacrifice and uplifting of the weak among their core tenets. As such, they tend to focus heavily on healing, blessings and various other benevolent forms of magic. Altruism is not to be confused with pacifism - while the two may often go hand-in-hand together, a pacifist may simply abhor violence without rushing to the aid of someone in distress, while an altruist may not shy away from violence in the name of protecting the weak and the needy.


 * Effect: Clerical Magic users gain gain access to healing spells even if they have no skill in Photomancy. The spellcaster also receives Basic Medicine and Basic Surgery for free.
 * Divine Favour: Divine Favour is granted for actions that benefit others.
 * Contradicts with: Contradicts Kraterocracy and Occultism.

Ancestor Worship
Ancestor Worship means the veneration of the dead, of one’s forefathers, dedicating shrines to them and praying to them and their spirits. Religions that incorporate veneration of the dead tend to put special emphasis on respecting one’s elders. Such religions also tend to be very bound-to-the-ground


 * Effect: Clerical Magic users receive the unique spell Ancestors’ Wrath.
 * Divine Favour: Divine Favour is granted for paying homage to one’s ancestors, respecting one’s elders, dedicating a shrine to one’s ancestors and praying to them.
 * Contradicts with: incompatible with Proselytism and Dogmatism.

Astrolatry
Astrolatry means the worship of stars and other heavenly bodies as deities, or the association of deities with heavenly bodies. It is practically synonymous with predestination (the doctrine that all events have been willed by the gods or stars, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul) and divination (the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual) - effectively, it is believed that everyone’s fates are written in the stars.


 * Effect: Clerical Magic users receive the feat Diaesthese for free.
 * Divine Favour: Divine Favour is granted for convincing people to resolve themselves to fate.
 * Contradicts with: none

Dogmatism
Every religion has doctrines that are more or less abided by those who claim to be faithful, but dogmatic religions take the enforcement of religious orthodoxy one step further, oftentimes dishing out corporeal or lethal punishment to so-called “heretics” and “apostates”, as well as insincere converts. A dogmatic religion is not necessarily proselytizing - even exclusionary hemolatrious faiths can be dogmatic.


 * Effect: Clerical Magic users receive the unique spell Martyrdom.
 * Divine Favour: Divine Favour is granted for enforcing religious purity, exposing heretics and apostates, and promoting abiding by the religion’s doctrinates
 * Contradicts with: Contradicts Ancestor Worship and Syncretism

Egeletarianism
Egeletarian religions preach equality - whether between the sexes, races or classes, they preach that all are created equal, and thus are equal in front of their deity or deities.


 * Effect: Both male and female characters can be priests. Because this virtue does not grant any magic skills, it must be combined with one that does so.
 * Divine Favour: Divine Favour is granted for actions that balance the powers, promote equality and undermine unjust discrimination.
 * Contradicts with: Patriarchy and Matriarchy

Elementalism
Elementalistic religions revolve around worship of the four elements - Earth, Air, Water and Fire - or deities associated with them. These religions tend to be polytheistic.


 * Effect: Clerical Magic users can learn the feats Pyromancy, Hydromancy, Geomancy and Aeromancy, but do not receive any of them for free.
 * Divine Favour: This virtue does not unlock any addition ways of gaining Divine Favour. Because of this, this virtue must be combined with an addition one that grants a way of gaining Divine Favour.
 * Contradicts with: Shamanism, Aerolatry, Geolatry, Pyrolatry, Hydrolatry

Geolatry
Geolatry in its literal sense would mean worship of earth - but no one simply worships the earth we walk upon. Instead, it means that the religion is either a monotheistic religion with a earth-god, or a polytheistic religion whose chief deity is a earth-god(dess) - usually some kind of Mother Earth. “May the earth nurture you.”


 * Effect: Clerical Magic users can access Earth Magic, receiving the feat Basic Geomancy for free. The spellcaster also receives Basic Geology for free.
 * Divine Favour: This virtue does not unlock any addition ways of gaining Divine Favour. Because of this, this virtue must be combined with an addition one that grants a way of gaining Divine Favour.
 * Contradicts with: Elementalism, Shamanism, Lunalatry, Heliolatry, Aerolatry, Pyrolatry, Hydrolatry

Heliolatry
Heliolantry means the worship of the sun - however, it is seldom applied in its strictest, literal meaning. More often than not, it means that the religion is either a monotheistic faith where the deity is a solar deity, a sun-god, or a polytheistic faith where the chief deity is a solar deity. “Praise the sun!”


 * Effect: Clerical Magic users can access Light Magic, receiving the feat Basic Photomancy for free.
 * Divine Favour: This virtue does not unlock any addition ways of gaining Divine Favour. Because of this, this virtue must be combined with an addition one that grants a way of gaining Divine Favour.
 * Contradicts with: Contradicts Elementalism, Shamanism, Lunalatry, Aerolatry, Geolatry, Pyrolatry and Hydrolatry.

Hemolatry
Hemolatry in its literal sense would mean the worship of blood - but very few religions do that in the literal sense. Most so-called “blood-worshipping” religions are merely heavily ethnocentric faiths, where religion and race or ethnicity become closely intertwined, possibly even one. These highly exclusionary faiths do not accept foreign converts, tho they might clamp down on their own apostates. In other words: these are highy exclusionary and ethnocentric religions that have no interest in converts.


 * Effect: Clerical Magic users receive a bonus to any damage done to foreign races, while also receive a  bonus to healing spells applied on their own race.
 * Divine Favour: Divine Favour is granted for anything that’s patriotic or xenophobic.
 * Contradicts with: Contradicts Meritocracy and Proselytism.

Hydrolatry
Hydrolatry in its literal sense would mean worship of water - but no one simply worships the water we drink and sail upon. Instead, it means that the religion is either a monotheistic religion with a water-god, or a polytheistic religion whose chief deity is a water-god. “Drink my holy water!”


 * Effect: Clerical Magic users can access Water Magic, receiving the feat Basic Hydromancy for free. The spellcaster also receives the feat Basic Swimming for free.
 * Divine Favour: This virtue does not unlock any addition ways of gaining Divine Favour. Because of this, this virtue must be combined with an addition one that grants a way of gaining Divine Favour.
 * Contradicts with: Elementalism, Shamanism, Lunalatry, Heliolatry, Aerolatry, Geolatry, Pyrolatry

Kraterocracy
Kraterocratic religions believe that might makes right, and they believe that it is their duty to “cull the weak”, whatever that may mean. Unlike other religions, these religions typically focus more on destruction and offence than defence.


 * Effect: Clerical Magic users can access Destruction Magic, receiving the feat Basic Olethromancy for free.
 * Divine Favour: Divine Favour is granted for “culling the weak” (interpretation up to the DM).
 * Contradicts with: Contradicts Altruism, Occultism and Pacifism

Lunalatry
Lunalatry means the worship of the moon - however, it is seldom applied in its strictest, literal meaning. More often than not, it means that the religion is either a monotheistic faith where the deity is a lunar deity, a moon-god, or a polytheistic faith where the chief deity is a lunar deity. “Praise the moon!”


 * Effect: Clerical Magic users can access Dark Magic, receiving the feat Basic Sciomancy for free.
 * Divine Favour: This virtue does not unlock any addition ways of gaining Divine Favour. Because of this, this virtue must be combined with an addition one that grants a way of gaining Divine Favour.
 * Contradicts with: Contradicts Elementalism, Shamanism, Heliolatry, Aerolatry, Geolatry, Pyrolatry, Hydrolatry. Redundant with - but does not explicitly contradict - Occultism.

Matriarchy
Matriarchy means the rule of the mother, or more loosely, the rule of women (even though the proper word for that would be gynocracy) - in a religious context, a “matriarchial religion” is one with an all-female leadership and priesthood (although men can be still monks) that emphasizes female authority and male submission to said female authority.


 * Effect: Only female characters may be priests and inquisitors - male characters may still be monks and paladins though. Because this virtue does not grant any magic skills, it has to be combined with one that does so.
 * Divine Favour: Divine Favour is granted for preserving female authority and promoting matriarchy.
 * Contradicts with: Patriarchy and Egeletarianism

Meritocracy
Meritocratic religions emphasize the importance of employing and rewarding people for their merit instead of birth. Such religions may incorporate various tests to evaluate merit even amongst the clergy.


 * Effect: Clerical Magic users gain immunity to mind control and illusion spells.
 * Divine Favour: Divine Favour is granted for employing people with merit instead of favours and birth, convincing others to employ based on merit, or beign employed for merit instead of birth or favours.
 * Contradicts with: Hemolatry

Occultism
Occultistic religions promote seeking to understand the world through more mystical and abstract lenses, often following very alien types of morality that transcend traditional ethics. These religions tend to simultaneously “promote freedom” while condoning slavery, promote tolerance for sexual deviancies and promote transcending traditional moral ideas, instead “become more divine, god-like”.


 * Effect: Clerical Magic users can access Dark Magic, receiving the feat Basic Sciomancy for free - they also receive Basic Alchemy for free.
 * Divine Favour: Divine Favour is granted for seeking knowledge, uncovering mysteries and undermining traditional forms of morality and society, promoting progressive values.
 * Contradicts with: Contradicts Altruism and Kraterocracy. Redundant with - but does not explicitly contradict - Lunalatry.

Pacifism
Pacifistic religions emphasize the importance of peace and abhor violence. Pacifism is not to be confused with altruism - while the two may often go hand-in-hand together, a pacifist might simply abhor violence without rushing to the aid of someone in distress, while an altruist might not shy away from violence in the name of protecting the weak and the needy.


 * Effect: Clerical Magic gain access to shield, defense and ward-type spells even if they lack the necessary feat to access them normally - however, they cannot learn Olethromancy.
 * Divine Favour: Divine Favour is granted for preserving the peace and actively opposing and preventing violence.
 * Contradicts with: Incompatible with Kraterocracy

Patriarchy
Patriarchy means the rule of the fathers, or more loosely, the rule of men (even though the proper word for that would be andocracy) - in a religious context, a “patriarchial religion” is one with an all-male leadership and priesthood (although women can be still “monks”, called “nuns”) that emphasizes male authority and female submission to said male authority.


 * Effect: Only male characters may be priests and inquisitors - female characters may still be monks (nuns) and paladins though. Because this virtue does not grant any magic skills, it has to be combined with one that does so.
 * Divine Favour: Divine Favour is granted for preserving male authority and promoting patriarchy.
 * Contradicts with: Matriarchy and Egeletarianism

Proselytism
Proselytism is the act of religious conversion. All religions are convinced that their version of the “universal truth” is the real one, otherwise they wouldn’t be following the religion. With the exception of the most blood-centered and exclusionary ones, all religious people would be probably happy if everyone in the world agreed with their version of the “universal truth” - however, some religions go even further, actively investing in proselytizing unbelievers, spreading the word - sometimes even at the point of a sword.


 * Effect: Clerical Magic users receive the unique spell Word of God / the Gods.
 * Divine Favour: Divine Favour is granted for spreading the faith.
 * Contradicts with: incompatible with Hemolatry, Ancestor Worship and Syncretism

Pyrolatry
Pyrolatry in its literal sense would mean worship of fire - but no one simply worships the fire we use to cook food. Instead, it means that the religion is either a monotheistic religion with a fire-god, or a polytheistic religion whose chief deity is a fire-god. “Fire cleanses the filth in this world.”


 * Effect: Clerical Magic users can access Fire Magic, receiving the feat Basic Pyromancy for free. The spellcaster also receives Basic Enchantment for free.
 * Divine Favour: This virtue does not unlock any addition ways of gaining Divine Favour. Because of this, this virtue must be combined with an addition one that grants a way of gaining Divine Favour.
 * Contradicts with: Elementalism, Shamanism, Lunalatry, Heliolatry, Aerolatry, Geolatry, Hydrolatry

Shamanism
Shamanistic religions revolve around two things: worship of nature, and interacting with the spirit-world through an altered state of consciousness, or a trance, communing with the spirits of nature and directing their spiritual energies in the physical world.


 * Effect: Clerical Magic users can access Air Magic and Earth Magic, receiving the feats Basic Aeromancy and Basic Geomancy for free.
 * Divine Favour: Divine Favour is granted for actions that benefits the balance of nature, such as actively opposing deforestation and industrialization.
 * Contradicts with: Elementalism, Aerolatry, Geolatry, Pyrolatry, Hydrolatry

Syncretism
A syncretistic religion is a religion open to syncretism, which is the amalgamation or attempted amalgamation of different religions, cultures, or schools of thought, the blending of multiple religious systems into one. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thus asserting an underlying unity and allowing for an inclusive approach to other faiths. As such, such religions tend to be very tolerant and open to dialogue with different faiths, tolerating their presence and eager to learn from them and their ways.


 * Effect: Users of Clerical Magic may take up other magic feats - any of them - by studying with priests of other religions.
 * Divine Favour: Divine Favour is granted for promoting dialogue and reconciliation between hostile faiths, studying from other religions or convincing other religious leaders to adot elements of your own faith
 * Contradicts with: incompatible with Dogmatism and Proselytism