Religions and Cults

An example of the Covenant Class (all of which represent a class of objects formed by an OathMaking? event), religions and cults can be made up of priests and monks (whether PlayerCharacters? or NonPlayerCharacters?), who are MagicUsers who have chosen to pursue strategies which encourage oathkeeping in the communities around them.

The three kinds of component of which Religion Classes are composed are: Creedholds, Worshipholds and Believerholds.

  • Creedhold? -- the aspect of the cult or religion which defines its beliefs
  • Worshiphold? -- the aspect of the cult or religion which defines its outward form as others understand it (liturgy as well as buildings)
  • Believerhold? -- the aspect of the cult or religion which defines the participants in the church (note that the church is not composed of its members, but its members do define one of the components which do compose the covenant; also note that the participants can themselves be ComposedClass? objects, like player characters or !NP<nop>Cs)

Two concepts are important in understanding all Composed Classes, including religions: statistics and attributes.

Statistics are that which defines each of these components (or holdings) by a primary value which represents the underlying stable development stage of the component and a secondary value which can vary up to the value of the primary, fluctuating with conditions. The secondary value is not a Developmental Object? whereas the primary value is.

Statistics for religion objects are:

  • Creedhold:
    • Primary -- the underlying creed which has been created to define the purpose of the covenant (which doesn't have to conform to most of the particulars which associate with churches, but must encourage oathkeeping)
    • Secondary -- the current level at which the local church conforms to that creed
  • Worshiphold:
    • Primary -- the liturgies and traditions which define the true form of the religion
    • Secondary -- the physical structures (temples, chapels, shrines, etc.) with which those outside define the religion's form
  • Believerhold:
    • Primary -- the laity as a whole
    • Secondary -- the current locally available clergy

Attributes? are that which define the church and are governed by the holdings. Attributes function in all ways like the attributes of any other kind of object for composed-class objects like religions and cults.

Attributes for religion or cult objects are:

  • Unary attributes:
    • UnaryProp1 (Creedhold)
    • UnaryProp2 (Worshiphold)
    • UnaryProp3 (Believerhold)
  • Binary attributes:
    • BinaryProp1-2 (Creedhold over Worshiphold)
    • BinaryProp2-3 (Worshiphold over Believerhold)
    • BinaryProp3-1 (Believerhold over Creedhold)
    • BinaryProp1-3 (Creedhold over Believerhold)
    • BinaryProp2-1 (Worshiphold over Creedhold)
    • BinaryProp3-2 (Believerhold over Worshiphold)
  • Trinary attributes:
    • TrinaryProp1-2-3 (Creedhold over Worshiphold over Believerhold)
    • TrinaryProp2-3-1 (Worshiphold over Believerhold over Creedhold)
    • TrinaryProp3-1-2 (Believerhold over Creedhold over Worshiphold)

See also CulturalObjects?, CovenantClass?, Priests and Monks, and High Priests?

— ScotusTheProsyFaerie? - 21 May 2000