Marsholme Part III: Seofengoden, a randomly generated religion

Since the Floodtide is based on medieval Europe I had the idea to create a religion system more akin to the way religions work in our world. The idea is to separate the religions into old and new. The old religions would be cults, the religions of the old days. The new religion comes out of the east. Furthermore, I wanted to make the religion have a series of prophets that change the face of the religion over the years. Monotheism felt a little too on the nose so I created a council of seven good gods that were worshiped by a series of prophets in different ways. Making up the history myself seemed like cheating. So here is my solution. A series of charts that guide you through building a history of the prophets and sects of the religion known as Seofengoden: the religion of the seven good gods.

The Prophetesh of the Seofengoden

The basic religion of the good gods of the Floodtide is called Seofengoden. The religion rose out of the Holy Lands of the East. The faithful believe that a series of prophets will emerge over many hundreds of years. One, of course, will be the final prophet, but there is constant debate over how many true prophets there will be and which will be the last. Each prophet leads a new sect with slightly different beliefs and a different favored deity.

The Seven Elder Gods: Realms of Influence -- Symbol

The Archivist: Books, Nature, History -- A Book

The Toiler: Nature, Gardens, Crops, Harvest, Hard Work -- A Scythe

The Elements: Earth, Wind, Water, Fire -- Four Circles

The Ombudsmen: Humanoids, Fairness, Give and Take -- An Eye

The Prism: Color, The Odd, Mechanization, Alchemy -- A Cube

The Magus: Wizardry, Power, Magic -- A Pointed Hat

The Barrister: Balance of Power, Cults, “Devil's Advocate” -- Scales

Generating a Millennium of Seofengoden Sects

Grab some note book paper. Each line will represent a decade starting with year 0 to year 10. Start in the first decade at the founding of the church. Roll up a random sect on the charts below and give it one influence point. Then Roll on the events table for each of the next 100 decades. Each decade a point of “influence” will be added to a sect based on the “event” that dominated that decade. If the event result calls for a new sect, then randomly create a new sect with a new prophet and give it a point of influence. At the end of 1000 years (100 rolls on the table) you will have a procedurally generated history of multiple sects. Each sect will have an “influence” score and the influence scores of all sects will add up to 100 allowing you to use this as a percentile chart for determining random sects for new NPC's, Clerics Characters, etc. weighted by how important that sect has made itself over the last 1000 years.

When rolling for a new sect first randomly determine the prophet's name and the corresponding name of their followers. Next roll to determine what item or practice is forbidden or prohibited to that sect, what oath the sect members say when greeting, parting, or praying, and finally which of the gods they favor and disfavor.

Random Sect Generation (D30)*

Prophet Name / Followers name

1 Urgleburt / Urgites

2 Pastivadle / Pastivites

3 Shay Dungo / Shaductites

4 Abudoon / Ablites

5 Skarata / Skarites

6 Eso-Vordo / Esovites

7 Shardeep / Shardepites

8 Oshuntka / Oshtakites

9 Tim Tim / Timtamites

10 Kru / Kruvites

11 Hardob / Hardobites

12 Saint Shiver / Shiverites

13 Saint Bastus / Bastites

14 Saint Docar / Docarites

15 Saint Bastizar / Bastites

16 Saint Mall / Malites

17 Saint Stivuhl / Stivites

18 Marasalta / Marasites

19 Crodestock /  Crodstakites

20 Ur / Urvites

21 Jayshun / Jawvites

22 Hopi / Hopities

23 Ziggle-Zonk / Zizites

24 Quivnack / Quivnites

25 Grishtarr / Grishtites

26 Paltir / Palites

27 Zala /  Zalites

28 Crondel / Crondites

29 Flolar / Flolavites

30 Holmes / Holvites

*If you roll a result that has already come up make this the "Second Coming of X" and call the followers "New 'X'ites."

Prohibition (D30)*

1 Male-female contact

2 Chairs and stools

3 Speaking of food

4 Shellfish

5 Wheels

6 Sneezing

7 Horses

8 Music

9 Alcohol

10 Make-up

11 Armor

12 Edged Weapons

13 Gold

14 Fruit

15 Red Meat

16 Pipe-weed

17 Bright colors

18 Wheat

19 The number “7”

20 Games of chance

21 Stonework

22 Dreams

23 Eating after dark

24 Time keeping

25 Birds

26 Facial hair

27 Mushrooms

28 Books

29 Fire for light

30 Holidays

*Duplicates from other sects may be re-rolled for varieties sake.

Oath and Greeting (D30)*

1 So it shall be

2 Verily, verily

3 So it goes

4 Infinity will illuminate

5 All things must pass

6 In all deeds, piety

7 Favors for favors

8 Gods willing

9 All things, great and small

10 Rejoice!

11 Praise them

12 Everything is beautiful and nothing hurts

13 Speak truth

14 Dance the dance

15 Fail me not

16 Find my time

17 I await 

18 Eternal, unbound

19 Happiness abounds

20 Compel us

21 Fight be joined

22 No struggle; no reward

23 Die on your feet

24 Be one with the seven

25 May their light guide us

26 Our prayers; our love

27 Be excellent to each other

28 Love is all you need

29 Seek the path

30 Life goes on within you and without you

*Duplicates from other sects may be re-rolled for varieties sake.

Favored God (D8) 

1 Archivist

2 Toiler

3 Elements

4 Ombudsmen

5 Prism

6 Magus

7 Barrister

8 All (do not roll on disfavored table)

Disfavored God* (D8)

 

1 Archivist

2 Toiler

3 Elements

4 Ombudsmen

5 Prism

6 Magus

7 Barrister

8 None 

*If you roll the same result as the first table you should roll again.

Decade Event Table (D12)*

Event: Influence Recipient

1 Revival: Oldest Sect

2 Reconciliation: Lowest Influence Sect

3 Jihad: Most Recent Sect

4 Crusade: Second Most Recent Sect
5-7 Peace: Bank one influence and give it to the next decades recipient
8 Conversion: Newest Sect gets one influence and then swaps followers with the highest other Sect.

9 Exodus: Third Most Recent Sect

10 Inquisition: Highest Influence Sect
11 Revelation: Create a new sect and give it “1” influence. 
12 Upheaval: (Roll D3)
   1. Reformation: Highest Influence Sect**
   2. Apostasy: Create a new sect and give it "1" influence***
   3. Holocaust: Highest Sect loses up to 5 influence, given evenly to other sects - oldest first.

* Any ties go to the older sect

** In a reformation after receiving its point of influence the highest sect must split its followers equally between the old and reformed versions of the sect (remainder goes to the older sect) The new version of the religion gets all new oaths, prohibitions, etc. and its followers are called "Reformed 'X'ites. Note there can be Second and Third reformations as sects continue to splinter.   

*** The last sect to receive influence before this one is now a dead religion. It will no longer receive new influence for any reason. Its influence number is locked in at its current level and it is considered old fashioned, fatuous, or taboo to most modern practitioners. The religion will however persist in secluded pockets and closed communities.

Other Methods of Generation

If you prefer a quick and simple use for the random tables, just create random sects on the fly rather than worry about creating a history or tables for percent of influence. If you like creating the history, but feel that the 1000 year guideline is to constrictive simply set the number of years to any number you like and figure the percentages by hand. The thousand year convention was implemented both for ease of calculation and because it seems like some crazy stuff might go down on the 1000 year anniversary of a religion.

A Sample Prophetesh

Randomly generating a 1000 year history takes about two hours. The process itself was actually pretty entertaining as long periods of peace would be suddenly broken by generations of upheaval and change. The Marasite Sect was particularly interesting, as it came on in the last century of the history, and quickly usurped large amounts of followers before becoming a dead sect in a span of 30 years. It was as if it had been a fad religion that the populous quickly became suspect of. The many iterations of the followers of Holmes and Ur fighting for dominance over the centuries provided an interesting backdrop for the revelations of many minor prophet over the years. Here is a sampling of the results:

Random Religion based on influence:

1-7 Urvite (Ur)
8-19 Reformed Urvite (Ur)
20-25 Crodstakite (Crodestock)
26-29 Bastitie (St. Bastus)
30-33 New Urvite (Second Coming of Ur)
34-37 Reformed New Urvite (Second Coming of Ur)
38-40 Timtamite (Tim Tim)
41-43 Jawvite (Jayshun)
44-46 Holvite (Holmes)
47-53 New Timtamite (Second Coming of Tim Tim)
54 Hardobite (Hardob)
56-65 New Holvites (Second Coming of Holmes)
66-70 Reformed New Holvites (Second Coming of Holmes)
71-72 Second Reformation New Holvite (Second Coming of Holmes)
73-87 Matasite (Marasalta)
88-89 Stivite (St. Stivuhl)
90-00 Kruvite (Kru)


Descriptions of Sects

Sect/Follower Name: Bastites
Prophet: St. Bastus
Prohibition: Male / Female Contact
Oath: "Die on your feet"
Favored God: The Elements
Disfavored God: The Prism
Year Founded: 280

Sect/Follower Name: Crodstakites
Prophet: Crodestock
Prohibition: Holidays
Oath: "In all deeds, piety"
Favored God: The Prism
Disfavored God: None
Year Founded: 110

Sect/Follower Name: Hardobites
Prophet: Hardob
Prohibition: Wheat
Oath: "Eternal, Unbound"
Favored God: The Magus
Disfavored God: The Prism
Year Founded:530

Dead sect only found in secluded communities

Sect/Follower Name: Holvites
Prophet: Holmes
Prohibition: Fire for Light
Oath: "Everything is beautiful and nothing hurts"
Favored God: The Elements
Disfavored God: The Archivist
Year Founded: 480

Sect/Follower Name: Reformed New Holvites
Prophet: Holmes II
Prohibition: The number seven
Oath: "So it shall be."
Favored God: The Toiler
Disfavored God: The Archivist
Year Founded: 700

Sect/Follower Name: New Holvites
Prophet: Holmes II
Prohibition:  Time Keeping
Oath: "I await"
Favored God: Ombudsman
Disfavored God: Barrister
Year Founded: 540

Sect/Follower Name: Second Reformation Holvites
Prophet: Holmes II
Prohibition: Stonework
Oath: "Gods Willing"
Favored God: The Magus
Disfavored God: The Prism
Year Founded: 870

Sect/Follower Name: Jawvite
Prophet: Jayshun
Prohibition: Alcohol
Oath: "Compel us"
Favored God: The Elements
Disfavored God: The Barrister
Year Founded: 410

Sect/Follower Name: Kruvites
Prophet: Kru
Prohibition: Armor
Oath: "Fight be joined!"
Favored God: All
Disfavored God: None
Year Founded: 950

Sect/Follower Name: Marasites
Prophet: Marasalta
Prohibition: Edged Weapons
Oath: "Rejoice!"
Favored God: All
Disfavored God: None
Year Founded: 910

Dead sect only found in secluded communities

Sect/Follower Name:  Stivites
Prophet: St. Stivuhl
Prohibition: Gold
Oath: "Happiness Abounds!"
Favored God: The Prism
Disfavored God: The Archivist
Year Founded: 940

Sect/Follower Name: Timtamites
Prophet: Tim Tim
Prohibition: Horses
Oath: "May their light guide us"
Favored God: The Toiler
Disfavored God: The Ombudsman
Year Founded: 400

Sect/Follower Name: New Timtamites
Prophet: Tim Tim II
Prohibition: Speaking of Food
Oath: "Be one with the seven"
Favored God: The Magus
Disfavored God: The Elements
Year Founded: 510

Sect/Follower Name: Urvites
Prophet: Ur
Prohibition: Shellfish
Oath: "Find my time"
Favored God: The Prism
Disfavored God: The Toiler
Year Founded: 0 

Sect/Follower Name: Reformed Urvites
Prophet: Ur
Prohibition: Bright Colors
Oath: "I await"
Favored God: The Ombudsman
Disfavored God: The Toiler
Year Founded: 40

Dead sect only found in secluded communities

Sect/Follower Name: New Urvites
Prophet: Ur II
Prohibition: Games of Chance
Oath: "Infinity will Illuminate"
Favored God: The Archivist
Disfavored God: The Barrister
Year Founded: 310

 

Sect/Follower Name: Second Reformation Urvites
Prophet: Ur
Prohibition: Birds
Oath: "Dance the dance"
Favored God: The Barrister
Disfavored God: The Achivist
Year Founded: 330