MetaMythos - RPG Campaign and World Design

World Design/Multi-Cultural Fictional Settings/Divine Things

"I should have known that you were the Devil, 'cause you're a sweet, sweet, sweet Divine Thing."

---The Soup Dragons, "Divine Thing"

Divine objects fall into two general groups. First are the Artifacts, the portable items which play a part in ritual and provide tangible links to divinities. A tool that belonged to a god, a saint's teeth, an artistic portrayal of a hero's demise, tools or clothing used in rituals, these are all artifacts. They are portable items filled with sacred power. Second are the structures, the immobile pieces of construction that embody mythic experience in stolid wood and stone. Shrines, temples, even homes and the open spaces in towns and cities are designed and constructed according to techniques that give them sacred power and meaning.

Artifacts

What is there to be said about Artifacts? They are usually portable. They are full of sacred power which can be dangerous or extremely useful, or even both. A ritual of purification is the only protection for the person who wishes to use one without suffering damage from their power. A divinity is involved with any Artifact, either making or using or empowering it. If you don't want to deal with divine forces, don't touch Artifacts. This goes for both player characters and gamemasters. Player characters who want to remain free agents should stay away from objects with divine power. Gamemasters who want to keep their games at a low power level should think twice before allowing access to items of divine power.

Sacred items are known to be full of sacred energy. Sacred energy is dangerous to the unprepared. If a divine figure appears before your character and speaks to you while fiddling with a knick-knack on the mantel, be sure to undergo purification before picking the knick-knack up. It might not have sacred power, but if it does and someone touches it while in an impure state the sacred power may discharge through the unfortunate victim. The only preparation for use of items powered with sacred energy is ritual purification. The character intending to handle a sacred item or any item that may hold sacred energy should prepare by undergoing his or her religion's purification ritual.

NOTE: In standard English Artifact means any item which was made by an intelligent being. It is related linguistically to artist and artisan. But in the arena of roleplaying games Artifact has come to mean an item that was made or used by a divinity. You can use "artifact" as shorthand for "item of divine manufacture," it is certainly shorter and more convenient, but you may want to say what you mean in another way when talking to people who don't think Wand of Orcus ^TM when they hear "artifact."

Items of Divine Manufacture

On rare occasions a divinity will make an item and imbue it with energy. The divinity dedicates power to an item, thereby splitting off a portion of Its own self. Since this sort of creation requires the divinity to sacrifice a piece of itself it is pretty rare. It is even rarer to find one of these items than the statistics would indicate. This is because the power in them draws other divinities to them. Divinities can get power and nourishment from sacred artifacts belonging to others.

Still, it happens occasionally. Some divinities create self-aware items to serve as tools or badges of office, and these can on occasion be lent out to mortal heroes for important tasks. Hephaestus, the smith of the Greek gods, created many such items including Athene's shield and Zeus' thunderbolts. In the Norse sagas such items were produced by Dwarfs who labored beneath the earth in forges powered by volcanoes. Norse dwarfs are little like the dwarfs we're used to in roleplaying games. For one thing, some of them are gigantic! For another, they are divine beings related to the Aesir and Vanir. Such dwarfs produced many items including Thor's hammer Mjollnir.

Divinities can unintentionally power items with sacred power. A divinity who touches an item once can fill it with enough sacred power to kill the impure mortal who handles it. Items accidentally charged with sacred energy can be used in worship, and divinities will reclaim them if they discover them.

Icons

An icon is a painting or drawing or sculpture or graven image or some other representation of a sacred subject that takes on sacred power through its artistry and beauty. Such items are used as props in worship and in rituals, and the more they are exposed to worshipful activities the more they become charged with sacred power. A beautiful piece of art on a sacred theme will accumulate considerable sacred energy through such sympathetic processes.

Possible Icons

1. Painting
2. Triptych (three paneled painting)
3. Sculpture
4. Relief

Relics

A relic is a remnant of a person who has attained ancestor or hero status. Obviously this varies by culture and religion but many cultures believe that people who die do not automatically go to the alternate reality and become revered ancestors. Other, bad things happen to some people. Those who do attain hero or ancestor status are special, and their physical remains are both conduits of communication with them and repositories of sacred power in their own right. The finger bone of a saint, the sword of a hero, the skull of a prophet, the sandals of a martyr who was consigned to flames, any of these can be relics with sacred power.

Example

Medieval Europe saw widespread belief and concentration on relics of the saints. This led to chicanery as the bodily remains of saints were dug from graves or sepulchers and transported elsewhere to lend power to a new church or cathedral. Forgery of holy relics was also a problem. Pieces of the true cross multiplied like rabbits. Hundreds or thousands would have finger bones from one saint. It seemed to be a reflection of the miracle of the bread and fishes. Belief in these relics was real and official word was that all these relics, even the ones of dubious authenticity, had real sacred power.

Ritual Objects

Items that are used in rituals inevitably take on some of the sacred power that is channeled to the divinity. This is one of the byproducts of worship. As ritual objects become tempered by continued worship they become more efficient at conveying sacred force to the divinity. This is why divinities allow items with sacred power to remain in mortal hands, rather than automatically claiming them for themselves. This is also why it is such an offense to desecrate a site of worship. The sacred power inherent in altar, paraphernalia, and surroundings are discharged by the attack, and not only must they be purified but also recharged with holy power.

Likely Ritual Objects and Focuses for Worship

1. Altar
2. Animals (Serpent, Horse, Cow, Dog)
3. Bell
4. Bone, Animal Bones hold strength and powers
5. Bone, Arm or Leg holds strength
6. Bone, Skull holds the soul
7. Book
8. Candle
9. Fetish (Cake, Shoe, Bread, Fruit, Rattle, Plant, etc)
10. Fire
11. Font
12. Globe
13. Grail (drinking cup)
14. Hearth
15. Hero (memory, relic)
16. Holy Symbol
17. Holy Water
18. Jewelry
19. Lamp
20. Oil
21. Perfume
22. Pulpit
23. Ring
24. Sacrament
25. Sacred Food
26. Sacred Well
27. Scroll
28. Shepherd's Staff
29. Staff
30. Stone of Healing or other powers
31. Sword
32. Symbol of World (Mandala, globe, X, or circle)
33. Torch
34. Trees
35. Vestments (clothing)
36. Votive Item
37. Wand
38. Water
39. Weapons
40. Wind
41. Wine
42. Writing, Sacred

Architecture

Religious ritual achieves its goals by transporting participants into the Mythic Realm. Actors and audience in a religious drama partake in the original actions of divinities in the Mythic Realm, and by engaging in those activities recreate and reinforce their power and pattern. In order for it to function properly as the setting for rituals religious architecture must recreate the atmosphere of myth in stone and wood. Construction techniques, adornment, furnishings, all are chosen to convey the sacred power and beauty of the mythic realm. A well designed and furnished religious edifice has sufficient power to transport people to the Mythic Realm without their knowledge.

For religious man, space is not homogeneous; he experiences interruptions, breaks in it; some parts of space are qualitatively different from others.

Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane

Religious architecture utilizes and emphasizes breaks in space, those discontinuities in which space is different. The top of a hill that is set aside from the surrounding country by reason of the beautiful view from its summit is sacred and a good spot for a religious structure. A forest glade, separated by silence and green dappled light from the rest of the world, would be a sacred place and thus a likely spot for a religious structure. Spots of awe-inspiring natural beauty are in themselves sacred, and religious structures get built on them.

Sacred Sites

1. battlefield
2. cave
3. crossroads
4. forest glade
5. grave mound
6. graveyard or mausoleum
7. hearth or fireplace
8. island
9. lakeside
10. marketplace
11. mountain pass
12. mountaintop
13. pyramid
14. spring
15. well
16. swamp
17. town square
18. wilderness
19. circle of trees
20. monument

Cosmology and Religious Architecture

Traditional cosmological thinking divides the mundane world and the alternate reality into three sections: World; Sky; and Deeps.

First there is the part of the cosmos in which we live. This is the world, the earth. It is the surface of the earth and not the depths of the earth. People and animals live there. In the alternate reality this part is called the Middleworld. Animal and human spirits live in it, including the blessed villages of the ancestors. Divinities of surface earth live there, near where the sky meets the ground.

Second there is the sky. This is the home of the sun, of birds, and of weather. In the alternate reality it is the Upperworld. Long ago people descended from here. Or perhaps in the future people will climb to the Upperworld. For now it is inhabited by spirits of the air, by bird spirits, sky divinities, and by certain ancestors.

Third there is the deeps. This is the home of darkness, jewelry, metal, poisonous gases, volcanos, and all those things that humans dig out of mines. It is where some people bury their dead. People don't live here. It is inhabited by worms, insects, and strange albino animals. In the alternate reality it is the Underworld. The underworld is the abode of divinities of darkness, demons, spirits of disease, poisonous spirits, and the unhappy dead. Certain fearful ancestors choose to live here.

There is a place at the center of the world where sky, world, and deeps meet. They also join Upperworld, Middleworld, and Underworld in the alternate reality. This point is the axis mundi, the cosmic center. This is the nail that holds the cosmos together, the world tree, the cosmic mountain with its top in the sky and its roots in the deep earth. Different mythologies explain the center of the world differently, but almost all do acknowledge it.

Religious architecture takes both the trifold structure of the cosmos and the axis mundi into account. It emphasizes beauty and otherworldliness to transport the visitor into the alternate reality. Additionally it repeats themes which transport the visitor into the proper part of the alternate reality.

A sanctuary in a temple to a divinity that dwells in a Middleworld glade would be circled by large columns with a texture like bark. The roof would be high but not too far to see. Windows and openings would combine to give the effect of sunlight filtering through the forest roof and dappling the floor with peaceful green light. Priests would scatter the floor with fragrant pine needles. Bird songs echoing from the ceiling reveal sparrows and bluebirds nesting under the eaves. The visitor to such a temple could not help but feel closer to the sacred glade in the Middleworld, and much closer to the divinity of the temple.

A temple to an upperworld divinity would have a lofty ceiling that reached as high as current technology allows. Arches and bracings would be used to allow as much window space as possible, for during daytime hours the temple should be bathed in light. This will naturally draw attention upwards to the sky. The top might be open to the sky to let weather and light in directly, but this would make maintenance very difficult. If believers or priests have access to the ability to fly there will be entrances and egresses for flyers. Eagles, hawks, and other high flying birds would be encouraged to nest on the roof of the temple. Some might be the pets of priests and temple functionaries.

A temple to divinities of the underworld would transmit yet another message. Prayer to an underworld divinity requires one to face downward. Most ceilings would be low enough to force people to incline their heads. Floor, walls, ceiling would be covered in a uniform stone covering, sandstone, granite, or limestone, with a rough, gritty, or oily feel to it. The temple would be dark, with smoky fires burning under charred ceilings. The temple might be built below the ground, or it might be carved out of caves. If above ground the temple would be convenient to a cave, mountain, cliff, natural bridge, or large rock outcroppings.

Home

The hearth is the altar which most people use daily. Home is where the hearth is. Most people do not live close enough to temples to visit daily. Most people do not even live close enough to shrines to visit on a daily basis. People in traditional societies use their own homes as spaces for daily worship, and their hearths as altars for burned sacrifices.

With some types of home this equation is explicit. For instance the traditional Native American teepee has a fire-ring in the middle, right below the smoke hole in the top. A conscious parallel is drawn between the axis mundi which unites sky, earth, and deep and the tent-pole that holds up the roof and keeps the earth and sky apart. The tent-pole is the local center of the world. [[[[Shamans who describe their journeys state that they travel with the smoke and out into the sky if they wish to visit the upperworld and burrow into a hole in the midst of the coals if they wish to visit the underworld.]]] The fire and smoke form the center of the world, and thus make the home into a personal temple centered on the hearth.

Temple

A temple is a religious structure in which many people worship. It has to support many functions. Not all temples offer the same amenities to those who use them. Some of the functions that temples may support include:

1. Art Gallery
2. Calendar
3. Cloisters
4. Contemplation
5. Dance
6. Divination
7. Feast
8. Funeral
9. Gardening
10. Group Seating
11. Initiations
12. Music
13. Offices
14. Pilgrim Housing
15. Purification
16. Refuge
17. Religious Specialist Housing
18. Ritual Washing
19. Sacrifice
20. Silence
21. Worship

Shrine

A shrine is a small temple. It has a focus for worship but may have no more than that. Full sized temples sometimes include shrines to secondary divinities. For example a Catholic church will include a shrine to the Virgin Mary. Sometimes religions build shrines as alternatives to temples, less costly and more convenient, for those who live in the area. Some remote areas may lie so far from skilled labor that the cost to build a full temple would bankrupt the religious hierarchy. Other shrines are built by holy people who experience a miraculous event and set up a shrine on the site. Such a shrine can be extremely simple, perhaps no more than a cairn of stones. Finally, many shrines are personal affairs that people build in their own homes or on their property. Ancestor worshippers usually worship their ancestors at shrines in the home. All that is required for a shrine is some focus for worship and a permanent space to put it where it will not be disturbed.

Regional Design, the Town Center

As the home reflects the divine structure of the cosmos, so too does the town. When a village is to be built the people look for a sign, the pre-existing intersection of two roads. They build the village around the crossroads, thus naturally dividing it into four parts, the four directions. The center of the village is left vacant at first, and eventually a ceremonial house is built there, which itself is a model of the universe, with a roof like heaven's vault, walls aligned with the four cardinal directions, and sometimes with vast cellars for the bones of the dead.

Towns are divided by a main street which runs through them, dividing them along an axis and separating them. One side of town is the bad side of town, "the underworld," and the other side of town is the good side.

Right in the center of town is a town square, aligned with the cardinal directions. Next to the town square you can find the local house of worship and the center of government. The town square is a sacred civic space that adjoins on the sacred religious space of the house of worship. The square is the center of town and also the center of the world for people who live nearby.

Often a pillar or spire which acts as the axis mundi will stand in the middle of the square, marking the center of the world. It may perch atop the adjoining ritual building, and mark it as the center of the world. In some town squares the towering construction that marks the center of town is made of wood. It stands tall and is the site of important local ceremonies. It is the gallows pole, and in Celtic and Teutonic life the gallows was the center of the community, commemorated in myth by Odin's self-hanging.