I had a slight epiphany a little while ago while thinking over my in-game religion, and I think I've found a system that rationalizes being a follower of Bah Tor and being a verser. The end result is a little supremacist or elitist, but I think it works overall.
Here I will, in short, outline the new shape of my verser's religion for those interested in reading it:
The Beginning:
Bah Tor created everything. Or at least, Bah Tor created the beginning of everything, a system by which all things were created, every thing, every person, every world, every universe. There are other creator gods, but Bah Tor is the original. The first place, the origin, is Bah Ke'Gehn.
The Bah:
Those that go through the life-cycle of the Bah in Bah Ke'Gehn are similar to angels from Christianity, except that they are also those chosen by Bah Tor to exist in Bah Ke'Gehn, a version of intellectual paradise (the ultimate paradise being Bah Tor's spiritual realm, which exists above Bah Ke'Gehn. The chosen of the chosen get to their.)
The Creation of the Other Worlds:
Expulsion from Bah Ke'Gehn is both a punishment and a reward. It is how the evil that occasionally springs up in Bah Ke'Gehn is dealt with, but I also see it as a reward for the Priests of Life. Priests of Life can attempt one last morph, in which they either ascend and join Bah Tor in his realm, or become "nothing." I believe, however, that they do not become nothing; instead, they are sent "outside" and become Gods, creating other universes. Evil Bah that are expelled by death also become Gods, thus the creation of the Anarch pantheon. Perhaps in addition to the above, Bah Tor sends Priests of Life that have ascended and are willing to go outside to become gods as well.
Now, keep in mind that while all Bah are in Bah Tor's image, they are not perfect (by-design). Therefore, all worlds were made with Bah Ke'Gehn in mind, but they cannot be an exact replica. All races then, are off-shoots and descendants of the Bah (imagine, for a moment, that you are a god trying to create a race like the Bah. You're good, but you're not Bah Tor-good, because that would be perfect, so you attempt to make something like it and succeed, but not that well, and suddenly you've got humans running everywhere).
Involvement of the Verser:
Bah Tor is a loving creator god, and he even watches over the creations of his creations. Therefore, he can see the imperfection in the vast multitudes of worlds and wishes to ease the inherent suffering of those that exist in these worlds. In order to do so, he selects individuals from all kinds of different races to travel the multiverse and spread his will, even if they don't know it. Those that he sees potential in are eventually brought to Bah Ke'Gehn, after they have experienced both the splendor and terror of some of the Outside worlds. Here, the verser has a chance to join the angelic (if you'll pardon the irony) race of the Bah and help to spread Bah Tor's will and gifts across multiple universes.
Conclusions:
- Each verser is special, having been chosen by Bah Tor.
- Every world the verser is sent to either has a problem to be resolved by the verser, is a reward for the verser's hard work, or is a reminder of what the verser is trying to correct (the last being the closest to a 'punishment' Bah Tor will give the verser).
- It is the verser's obligation to become involved if he or she sees that they can positively affect the world.
- Conversion of natives is not necessary since they are already linked to Bah Tor, although other versers should probably be enlightened or at least told of Bah Tor.
- Anarch gods are necessarily enemies of the verser, but need not be actively sought out and attacked. Gods of death, however, are the sworn enemy of Bah Tor's people and should be fought at every turn (well, specific kinds of death gods. Gods that encourage mass suicide as sacrifice, or revive/animate the dead for example are gods that I would fight, whereas gods that help the spirits of those dead pass on to the "other side" are gods I would definitely be okay with, anarch or otherwise.)
Note:
I don't know how much of this my character actually thinks. A lot of my assumptions rely on knowledge that there are other versers, which is something my character does not know but suspects, or at least suspects that there are other people capable of traveling the universes. I'll flesh out later which bits of this my character actually believes, and which bits of this he might conclude later. Any thoughts/comments/suggestions/criticisms are encouraged, but remember I'm posting this as a curiosity of a player creating a religion, not trying to entice a religious debate.
Graham
