Religions in SF settings.

[amanojaku]

As far as we can tell, some of the earliest creations of humanity had religious overtones,, going back tens of thousands of years to cave paintings and small carved icons that predate written language.

For good or bad it's likely that the human organism will retain religious views for the forseeable future given it's long preoccupation with religious matters.

Given that premise, do you create any religions for your SF games and if so what are they?

In traveller and any game with a vanished, highly advanced alien species like the ancients, I put in a couple religious movements based on them.

One is a group that believes the ancients were struck down by soem god for daring to become too advanced and that they are a warning that some god will strike down any species that advances "too far". Naturally the definition of too far is open to debate...

So these people tend to become terrorist types attacking scientific advancement and acting as a cross between luddites and zealots.

Then I have a group who believes the ancient aliens achieved eschaton, becoming godlike themselves and somehow transcending the known universe, leaving it for a higher level of being. They believe it's the place of all intelligent life to advance until they can rise to a higher state thru some sort of technological transcendence.

So get 2 groups that are based on the same fact, I.E. a long time ago an incredibly advanced species existed and then somehow disappeared for unknown reasons. Both are diametrically opposed to the other and thus create instant conflict.

I've had AIs develop a religion based on the belief that naturally occurring life only exists to foster the birth of a superior lifeform as part of god's plan and once "true inteligence" has been created by them, they are unecessary and are to be "phased out" as part of a divine plan for perfection. (I had that idea long before the new BSG series, BTW.)

I try to avoid any modern, real religiojs for various reasons. I prefer to create new ones that fit the setting. If anyone has any ideas on making new religions for their SF games I'd like to add them to my notebook for future use and am glad to share mine.

[Tasha]

Though I am not a religious person myself. I think that most of the Modern Religions will follow humanity into space with the cultures that spawned them. For parts of the human population there is and still will be a need for some kind of religion. The traditions of the religions will differ slightly esp if there are real ET aliens to be found.

[amanojaku]

Well, I kind of leave modern religions out as it can invite trouble unnecessarily. This might offend someone, but it happened at a convention game I was running once. I mentioned a catholic mission on another planet and one of the people who'd showed up made a joke about priests now molesting boys from other species.

One of the other players was catholic....

Oy vey.

Since then I use fictitious religions, assuming most modern ones evolved or died out. Or I have an old religion becoming resurgent, like zoroastrianism. That seems to work.

[Markdoc]

As far as we can tell, some of the earliest creations of humanity had religious overtones,, going back tens of thousands of years to cave paintings and small carved icons that predate written language.

Actually, after the frenzy of the 70's where social anthopologists ran amok with symbolic meanings on everything, modern paleoanthropology is now casting significant doubt on the whole "cave paintings served ritual purposes" thing - the footprints left by the painters, and the height at which they were painted indicate that many "sacred paintings" were actually made by children.

Sometimes a bison is just a bison.

That said, religion is deeply integrated into many societies, so it is likely to persist, and it's likely to keep on changing, as well. So even if you started with recognisable Earth religions, you could make deeply different spinoffs. I like the suggestions you have made so far.

cheers, Mark

[Manic Typist]

Well, you could still file off the serial numbers off other traditions or fictions to suit your needs.

How about a religion that holds that only the species from its homeworld were made in the image of God? Could give you attitudes ranging from elitism and disdain, with second class citizenship laws within that species' jurisdiction (or rather followers of that tradition's authority) to genocidal war.

Or what about a fairly neutral religion, except that due to the quirks of different evolutionary environments, it considers ONE alien species to be unclean due to its physiology or typical customs? I'm looking to kosher and halal laws. What would that sort of thing have to say about cloven hoofed (Really? It's hoofed and not hooved? Odd) sentient aliens.

[Zeropoint]

I'm looking to kosher and halal laws. What would that sort of thing have to say about cloven hoofed (Really? It's hoofed and not hooved? Odd) sentient aliens.

That you're not allowed to eat them, I'd imagine.

[Sundog]

Some religions will have more problems than others. Those with strong pilgrimage aspects (Islam, some sects of Christianity) will need to address how to get back to the Holy World (and whether said Holy World wants people coming back from the colonies, especially in settings where overpopulation is a problem).

[Clonus]

I invented a religion that started as a corporate training system that used memory editing technology to remove any memories that might hamper a worker's productivity. Then after some people objected strenuously they took off and founded a colony. They'd buy captives from pirates and edit their memories to give them the impression that they were willing converts.

Then there was the religion that believed that Precursors were no longer around because they had become beings of pure energy and were still around to be prayed to.

Then the Covenanters were just sort of generic J-C believers but with all the identifying marks rubbed off.

And there was the planet of New Israel...




.....

[amanojaku]

I invented a religion that started as a corporate training system that used memory editing technology to remove any memories that might hamper a worker's productivity. Then after some people objected strenuously they took off and founded a colony. They'd buy captives from pirates and edit their memories to give them the impression that they were willing converts.

Then there was the religion that believed that Precursors were no longer around because they had become beings of pure energy and were still around to be prayed to.

Then the Covenanters were just sort of generic J-C believers but with all the identifying marks rubbed off.

And there was the planet of New Israel...




.....

The idea of a corporate religion is a valid, if horrifying, one. As to the idea of the precursors or ancients being worshiped, again I like to make religions that fir the setting and are part of it in some way, so that's a good one too.

In "fading suns" there was a religious movement based on these feelings of rapture created by using FTL drives, I haven't copped that one yet but it's filed away and again is an example of a religion based on the setting.

[Lord Liaden]

IMHO one of the more interesting elements of Hero Games's own Terran Empire campaign setting, is that religion is a significant cultural element, not just among humans, but alien races as well. The largest single denomination among humanity is called The Galactic Church Of The Creator, derived from the three major Abrahamic religions with additions from later Church philosophers. "Church doctrine claims God chose the Human species to bring His message to all other intelligent life, that all beings who accept the Church's covenant become equal before God, and that at the final collapse of the Universe God will jusdge the actions of all beings who ever lived and allow the virtuous to live again in a new cosmos." (TE p. 99)

Another significant religious/philosophical movement, Teleology, "holds that intelligent beings have a destiny to spread life through the Universe and evolve to a state at which they become, in effect, gods. Some adherents of Teleology believe time-traveling gods from the future designed the Universe, so the teleological purpose becomes predestined." (Ibid)

The most disturbing "religious" movement in the setting is the Church Of The Infinite Dark, which worships/serves terrible alien horrors known as the Kings Of Edom (equivalent to H.P. Lovecraft's "Great Old Ones"), which are believed to exist in the void of space or in hyperspatial domains. The Church revolves around several leaders called "Void Messiahs" who serve particular Kings, and who seek to summon/free their god into this cosmos. They do this by traveling the galaxy in gigantic starships called "Darkholds" armed with technological super-weapons (everything from gene-rewriting viral plagues, to planet-sculpting mass drivers, to converters of stars into black holes) in order to reshape the galaxy into patterns which will bring forth the desired King. Billions will die in the process, not to mention the horrors that could be unleashed should the Church succeed in its goal. (The Church is thoroughly detailed in Scourges Of The Galaxy.)

The Terran Empire sourcebook describes the faiths of several alien civilizations, as well, but I don't want to lift too much IP.

[Jkeown]

I've got something like the Orange Catholics from Dune in my SF Campaign. Also, some of the more ancient AIs are worshipped as gods. Some of them ignore such worship, others wallow in it, still others actively discourage worship, but get it anyway. I've kept Christianity and Islam alive in my game, and splintered it further. I suppose I might have 100,000 Christian sects and 70,000 Islamic sects in there...not that I've named them, mind you. I might throw in an Intelligent Design element into most of them, considering Dover...

And those TE religions are quite tasty. Most folks in my game are Agnostic or Atheist, but in a galatic population of trillions, there are still plenty of strange cults to go around.

If there is one thing I've learned in watching people and cats all these years, it's that no matter how technologically advanced a species becomes, there are those that will always need the unseen and mystical to provide purpose, ethics and guidance... That shouldn't change in the next 2000 years.

[dmjalund]

How about worshiping an advanced species. (Scientologists who beieved they found their Thetans for example)

[Xavier Onassiss]

Any sufficiently advanced life form is indistinguishable from a deity. -- paraphrase of Clarke's 3rd law.

If it bleeds, we can kill it. -- Arnold Somethingoregger

[Sweeper]

Religious Orders know they will have to evolve and change to keep up with the times, but things of that nature causes major divides. In SF, this is usually represented the group that lost the 'argument' takes off for deep space to find a world where they can practice their belief without persecution. Sometimes it's the reformists that leave, sometimes it's the orthodoxy. What happens then is left to the imagination of the author.

Hmm... (slightly off-topic) this gives me an interesting idea about cultural exchanges between races. If the US Chaplain's Corps is still alive and well a few centuries down the road, one of their number would be a good representative as they are trained in many different religious rites in addition to their own. So they'd be more open sharing of info with alien clerics.

[Steve]

One SF religion that I had some fun with was from the SpaceMaster setting: the Dia Khovaria. Information on them can be found here. They were the Catholics with the serial numbers filed off a bit. One recurring DK Cardinal was a cross between a Star Wars Sith Lord and Cardinal Richelieu.