Religion in the twenty worlds is an interesting concept. Since there is no doubt that the gods exist, faith does not take the same form as it does in the “real” world. Instead, worshipers have faith that their chosen deity will take the time and effort to watch over them and protect them - even though they are but one of millions demanding the same attention.

In actuality, the gods do watch over and protect their faithful, but are prevented from taking direct action by a millenia-old agreement known as The Concordant. This agreement is sometimes described as a “gentlemen's agreement” and other times described as a force of nature that physically inhibits the gods' activities. Whether it can be overcome has been a matter of heated debate amongst the clergy since the beginnings of the worlds.

Another major difference between the “real” world and the twenty worlds is that the gods are known to have limits. No dogma claims their deities are omnipotent, although most claim that the combined power of the pantheons is greater than anything.

Related to the concept of faith is the fact that an afterlife exists for all sentient beings. Because of this, death is not usually considered as significant as it is in the “real world”. From this, it is understandable that ideas such as “heroic sacrifice” and “slaughter of the innocents” take on new meanings.

Examples: Killing an captured enemy after a battle is oftentimes viewed as simply transporting them to a different prison. Sacrificing your own life to save others is viewed by some as “normal”. The hero's loved ones, after all, know he has moved on to a better plane of existance.

The human gods (sometimes referred to as “The Terran Gods”) originally lived on Earth (another of the twenty worlds). They left that world when the mana became depleted sometime around 3000 BCE and came either to the Prime World or Godsland (depending on which stories you choose to believe).¹⁾

While the creation of the twenty worlds is often attributed to the various gods²⁾, most dogma is quite clear on the assumption that the multiverse existed prior to the arrival of the gods. In fact, there are numerous references to divine beings that predate all known current gods. Chief among these are the Earthmasters.

There are at least four documents that are considered sacred to (nearly) all Human religions. These are The Tale of Time (which tells the story of creation), The Tale of the Transgression (which tells the story of man's relationship to the gods), The Tale of the Spire (which tells of the gods greatest gift to man), and The Tale of the Return³⁾.

The various “families” of the Human gods seem to prefer to keep their followers separated. Because of this, each nation (or kingdom) tends to focus on one pantheon. However, since the other pantheons are acknowledged to exist, and to be gods, there is a healthy amount of respect for “foreign” religions.

This open attitude, though, has been sorely tested in recent years in Spindrift and Rota, where an influx of foreign refugees from the wars have brought with them their unusual gods. In some places, tolerance has given way to bigotry, and in others open hostility has broken out.

Here is a list of pantheons by nation:

Each race has its own pantheon. The main ones are listed here:

• Elven Gods
• Dwarven Gods
• Gnome Gods
• Halfling Gods
• Orc Gods
• Goblin Gods

In addition to the actively worshiped pantheons, there are several classes of divine beings that either no longer have worshipers, or never truly had them.

These are:

• The Elemental Lords
• The Lords of Chaos
• The Earthmasters

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