In Laxaria the Orcs, Goblins, Ghouls, and Werewolves nearly all converted to the Abrimic Church of the Beaked Doctors within a few generations. The psychographic landscape that cultivated this shift in ideology was fueled by several contributing elements. The former thralls of the demon armies were in awe of the carcasses of false gods that the peoples of Cyan Haven had destroyed. Unable to process that such a thing had been largely accomplished by technological advances, they attributed this as irrefutable evidence of the Monotheistic God over all other deities.
Another point which lead towards their conversion was the way that their own cultural norm of cannibalism framed their view of communion. The act of eating enemies and conquered people was at root a spiritual assertion of dominance. Eating other sapient beings was a way of taking their strength. When they encountered this new God who had bested their former overlords, and offered His own body and strength to followers without death this was astounding. The offer of power exceeded the power that exceeded their former masters was deeply attractive.
Yet the most attractive quality and the most incredible to their former preconceptions was, the offer of genuine equal opportunity. This doctrine which allowed them equal standing with other free people and the meritocracy of Laxarian society which rewarded their labor was as astonishing as seeing the ruined bones of gods and demons. The folk of their world had never accepted them as anything but monsters but in Laxaria they were offered equal standing with a people that had conquered their masters.
The hardiness of Laxaria was the final crucible. The danger of the local fauna was so great that cooperation became essential to survival. The local population while kind and charitable by nature, had so long delt with monsterous wildlife and greater supernatural monsters that they couldn't be treated as prey. With elephant sized pigs and bears roaming the landscape as well as Apes, Trolls, hyenas, and other threats the local people were hardy and well defended. Even the meek little Grovelhogs had thorn walls, underground dens, and poison darts. Partnership with the locals was the only way to ensure survival.
They referred to the Laxarians as the "God Eaters" a term that the Great College of Beaked Doctors did not shy away from. Instead they used these factors to integrate the refugee populations into their own system.
Another point which lead towards their conversion was the way that their own cultural norm of cannibalism framed their view of communion. The act of eating enemies and conquered people was at root a spiritual assertion of dominance. Eating other sapient beings was a way of taking their strength. When they encountered this new God who had bested their former overlords, and offered His own body and strength to followers without death this was astounding. The offer of power exceeded the power that exceeded their former masters was deeply attractive.
Yet the most attractive quality and the most incredible to their former preconceptions was, the offer of genuine equal opportunity. This doctrine which allowed them equal standing with other free people and the meritocracy of Laxarian society which rewarded their labor was as astonishing as seeing the ruined bones of gods and demons. The folk of their world had never accepted them as anything but monsters but in Laxaria they were offered equal standing with a people that had conquered their masters.
The hardiness of Laxaria was the final crucible. The danger of the local fauna was so great that cooperation became essential to survival. The local population while kind and charitable by nature, had so long delt with monsterous wildlife and greater supernatural monsters that they couldn't be treated as prey. With elephant sized pigs and bears roaming the landscape as well as Apes, Trolls, hyenas, and other threats the local people were hardy and well defended. Even the meek little Grovelhogs had thorn walls, underground dens, and poison darts. Partnership with the locals was the only way to ensure survival.
They referred to the Laxarians as the "God Eaters" a term that the Great College of Beaked Doctors did not shy away from. Instead they used these factors to integrate the refugee populations into their own system.
Category Artwork (Traditional) / Fantasy
Species Orc
Gender Any
Size 1684 x 2188px
Just try and say "Soy Orc Boy" 5 times fast. Lol
Ahaha, love it, it's so believable!
I think i read about similarities between Holy communion and cannibalism somewhere not much time ago, probably in a Heinlein book?
I think i read about similarities between Holy communion and cannibalism somewhere not much time ago, probably in a Heinlein book?
I think I've remembered some of the people in Papua interpreted the ritual in this context.
Very interesting lore and exploration of the people's beliefs and reasoning! Been planning on posting some of my own lore regarding one quasi-Abrahamic deity in my setting at some point, but don't have a proper artwork to do it with yet.
The Church that I imagine in Laxaria is based on thought experiment between myself a d a few friends entertaining the idea of taking the original Abrimic root and cultivating it in a world where it drew from and mingling with Norse, Celtic, and Inuit religions but didn't contact the Greek and Zoroastrianism influence that shaped it in our world. The Sky Father has blatant parallels to the radically Monotheistic God whom controlled both good and evil spirits. The tree of life becomes attached to yggdrasil, and leviathan and the world serpent become the same symbols. I want to incorporate that into this Christianity for Orcs idea I'm toying with. The "Bible study" groups my friends and I host get into some really divergent territory.
Very interesting! In my setting I mostly want to explore the idea of one very controlling and oppressive narcissist god annoying other Sky Father type deities so much that they teamed up and kicked him out into the void between worlds. He ended up creating his own universe, but wiped it clean of life later when it "strayed from his teachings". He ended up being dethroned and murdered by some of his angels who defiled his corpse to create demons and shaped his still beating heart into a seed of a World Tree that prevents his universe from dissolving after his death. Also, the former presence of that god on Earth up until the Bronze Age caused some serious corruption of other Sky Father's teachings by confused priests, which led to the worst and most repressive parts of Abrahamic faith. That's the main reason why he got kicked out.
Oh yeah, the demiurge route, lots of fun terrain to explore with that. If I could offer for the combined sake of both humor in your narrative and ties to Gnostic tradition, this version of god in your story has to have a rooster head. The word play this would open up for you to play with begs for it.
I'm currently writing the myth of a goddess named Oster who collects humans from the Artic of our reality for a private human zoo. After her death other gods try to claim her property to consume them. So a shaman named Woden seeks the God beyond gods. If you know the story from Norse myth you can probably guess at the exchange he has with sword wielding angel who tells him the only way to lear the wisdom of the tree is to die on it. When he returns he and his children begin hunting gods and trolls. I want to lean into a root of all myths is one sort of story line.
I'm currently writing the myth of a goddess named Oster who collects humans from the Artic of our reality for a private human zoo. After her death other gods try to claim her property to consume them. So a shaman named Woden seeks the God beyond gods. If you know the story from Norse myth you can probably guess at the exchange he has with sword wielding angel who tells him the only way to lear the wisdom of the tree is to die on it. When he returns he and his children begin hunting gods and trolls. I want to lean into a root of all myths is one sort of story line.
Intriguing! God beyond gods is an idea I play with a lot, in fact, it is the core element of my worldbuilding. All (or most) universes are dreams. Each belongs to some kind of unconscious unfathomable entity. And it is an endless fractal where dreamers dream of other dreamers. That's why I sometimes call magic "lucidity" or "clarity" in my fictional multiverse - it relies on shaping reality like in a lucid dream.
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