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Xenos

2020-04-13T02:54:12Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:C0D:4047:AA0C:2470: /* The Other Side */

{{topquote|Beware the [[xenos|alien]], the [[heretic]], and the [[mutant]].|Thought for the Day}}
{{topquote|Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.|Bertrand Russell, Unpopular Essays}}
{{topquote|Aside from the occasional genocide, oppression, evil and torture, etc., it is inarguable that public policy could be implemented more rapidly in an autocracy.|David Harsanyi}}

'''Xenos''' is a Greek word which means "stranger" or "alien." "Xenophobia," or "fear of the strange," comes from this root. [[4chan]]'s "Paranormal" board is named [[Board-tans/x|/x/]] after it.

==''Warhammer 40,000''==
In ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'', the [[Imperium of Man]] uses "xenos" as a catch-all derogatory term for any non-human life forms. For example, the [[Ordo Xenos]] is the branch of the [[Inquisition]] which deals with aliens, and they have whole litanies about what happens to Xenos they get their hands on, like "Mark of the Xenos" (also the name of a [[Deathwatch]] [[Monster Manual|supplement]]).

Please note that "Xenos" is the plural AND singular spelling of the noun and adjective. This practise of using the unified form of this term for both singular and plural is inconsistent with the actual declension of 'xenos', which takes Greek inflections to reflect case and number as a noun, and case, number, and gender as an adjective. The technical plural form of 'xenos' in the nominative is 'xenoi' and accusative as 'xenon.' "xeno-" is a prefix used to denote the xenos origin of something, and Xeno is a character from [[Tau Quest]] whose name derives from "xeno-abomination".

If a scenario like that of ''Alien Nation'' or ''Men in Black'' happened in which extraterrestrials come to [[Earth]] in search of citizenship, the word Xenos would quickly become listed as Hate Speech due to the actions of [[/tg/]].

==Xenos in the Galaxy==
The setting of 40k is full of Xenos that are [[Original character, do not steal|completely original and in no way inspired by any other source]] (quietly kicks a copy of Lord of the Rings discreetly under the table). Despite being 'full' of them, though, the vast majority of these will never appear as anything more than a briefly mentioned group of corpses and are largely inferior to humans.

Each Xenos faction comes with its own rich and engaging history, play style and unique aesthetics that set them apart from their foes. They also bring a nice change of pace from the constant presence of the Adeptus Astartes. [[Your Dudes|Do you play the brutish ramshackle Orks, the elegantly swift Eldar or the never ending chittering swarms of the Tyranids? The choice is yours.]]

Each faction presents a threat that could, maybe, possible, perhaps eventually prove to be the Imperium’s doom should the forces of the Emperor falter in their duty or waver in their devotion. To be a human in the armies of the 41st Millennium is to face numerous threats, to stand against such nightmarish enemies, that even now move to bring doom upon the domains of man, is to stare into the very face of madness and despair.

Although playing a support role within the setting, with the Imperium taking up the primary protagonist’s role and the main antagonist (now that the story advanced a little bit even more than ever before) being the forces of Chaos, Xenos do still have a role to play, predominantly as sidekicks or weaker enemies. Which is really a shame, as their are plenty of interesting Xenos with little information, like [[Kroot]] or [[Hrud]].

Prior to the dawning of the Imperium there existed numerous Xenos species throughout the galaxy with their own hegemons, existing in the wake of the [[Old Ones]] war with the [[Necron]]. Of these Xenos hegemons the greatest was that of the [[Eldar]] Empire, which endured for an insanely long period of time with its only serious rival for power and ability being the nascent and much younger human dominions, which ended when the Eldar decided to have one too many orgies and create Slaanesh.

==Xenos and the Great Crusade==

However, with the Fall of the Eldar and the calming of the Warp storms that had up until then isolated the many human colonies that were spread across the galaxy, the Emperor took advantage of the newly created galactic power vacuum to launch his [[Great Crusade]]. During the Great Crusade the Emperor announced that Humanity had a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifest_Destiny preordained destiny] to rule the stars and was the one to pen the phrase "Suffer not the alien to live", giving orders for the extermination of all sapient Xenos. So stringent were his orders that when [[Primarchs]] like [[Horus]] and [[Fulgrim]] did seek to interact with Xenos, their men protested that it was against the standing orders of the Emperor to do so.

The armies of the Emperor of Man spread across the width and breadth of the galaxy [[Rip and Tear|butchering]] all that stood in their way, including many human civilizations that had survived the horrors of Old Night and refused to bend the knee in submission to this man that claimed the title of Master of Mankind. The resulting genocides led to the extinction of hundreds of species, including many of the older races that had existed since before humanity had first looked up at the stars. Hundreds of alien races were wiped out, although barring Orks the majority of the Great Crusade seems to have been spent fighting against other human empires, as Xenos forces were comparatively rarer, indicating that they had perhaps fared even worse during the Age of Strife. Even groups such as the Diasporex, a combination of humans and Xenos living in harmony, were exterminated simply for their pluralistic ideologies, their human members slain as well for refusing to consign their Xenos compatriots to extermination.

By the end of the Great Crusade all major non-human powers and Empires had been broken, with only small and insignificant states, or weaker polities outside the Imperium's borders remaining.

==Xenos in the 41st Millenium==

Since the Great Crusade the threat of Xenos has mostly remained a frontier matter, or a matter of small raids, with most [[Tau Empire|noticeable concentrations of Xenos restricted solely to the outer reaches of the Galaxy]], or contained in sectors where they posed little threat to the Imperium. In effect the Great Crusade had succeeded in scouring most Xenos life from the Milky Way Galaxy, leaving them mostly clinging to the frontiers and outer zones in small numbers, with the noticeable exception of the Orks. Excluding the Orks, most Xenos have been eradicated or reduced to such small numbers that they present no significant threat to the Imperium, with the Xenos population of the Galaxy combined being inferior to that of the Orks or Humanity. Between the end of the [[Horus Heresy]] and the beginning of the 41st Millenium the only major Xenos threat to emerge was that of the [[War of the Beast|Beast Waaagh!]], a potent combination of powerful Ork Warlords and their armies, who assailed the Imperium briefly, before being slain and their forces totally destroyed in short order.

Aside from consistent and largely ineffectual attacks by Orks the differing subgroups of Eldar, many xenos are simply too weak to make any noticeable impact on the Imperium and have never succeeded in any actual effort against the Imperium at all. Which makes you wonder why have xenos at all, really.

The beginning of the 41st Millenium did, however, see three new Xenos threats rise to actually endanger some parts of the Imperium; the extragalactic threat of the [[Tyranid]] Hive Fleets, the rising of the [[Necron]] Tomb Worlds, and the new Tau Empire. All of these pose a more considerable threat than any Xenos before them did, the scope of the Tyranid attack being impossible to know, the Necrons representing a species possibly as numerous, but far more technologically advanced then the Imperium itself, and act significantly less retarded in combat. Finally, the Tau, <s>not really because they could ever conquer the Imperium (though they have had their fair share of victories), but because they risk the possibility of repeating the same mistakes as humanity and feeding Chaos even more.</s>{{BLAM|The Tau'va does not support this propoganda. Through unity, we shall conquer the savage Imperium and make a way for our inevitable conquest of the stars.}} Just as soon as you manage to get out of that childs pool about to be raped by Tyranids, I will take you seriously blueskin.

==Xenos Factions==

[[Image:Ork Enclaves.jpg|thumb|right|150px|'''Ork map''']]
[[Orks]] -The Orks are the endless green tide of homicidal space fungus ready to sweep across the galaxy in an unstoppable WAAAGH! should they ever one day unite. It is the saving grace of the other inhabitants of the galaxy that they are terribly prone to infighting and factionalism, and will gladly beat the shit out of each other if no other enemy presents itself. It is said that if a Warboss was ever able to unite the many Ork klans under one banner, then the very heavens would tremble in fear. This is debateable though, as when the Ork Warlords known as the Beasts did this, they (barely) failed to defeat even a greatly weakened Imperium. They are the most numerous Xenos species native to the galaxy, or at least most numerous until such a time as the Necron are all awakened as some [[fluff]] has implied the Necrons are just as numerous if all are awakened. Orks are actually a bio-engineered warrior race, or at the very least a degraded version of a bio-engineered warrior race, known as the Krork. Orks live for conflict and battle, their entire society and civilization revolving around it, and as a result are perpetually in conflict or, otherwise, seeking a conflict. This behaviour has also left the Orks disunited as a species, with Orks being prone to hitting each other with axes just as much as any other species. Orks primarily cling to the frontiers and fringes of the Galaxy, having long ago been purged from within the heart of the Imperium's territories by their many successful wars against the Orks. Due to the haphazard nature of Orkish Warp Travel, however, Ork Armies can appear anywhere and, quite literally, at any time as well, meaning that they often [[Deep Strike|strike deep]] behind the borders of the Imperium despite their relative military weakness. Outside the borders of the Imperium several Ork Empires, such as Charadon, Bork and Octarius do exist, and some are older even than the Imperium itself. It also helps that the orks robust biology enables the greenskin menace to live in places that no other species could survive in; there have been reports of small tribes of orks living on the bombed out husks of planets which have been subjected to [[Exterminatus]]

[[Image:Eldar map.jpg|thumb|right|150px|'''Eldar map''']]
[[Eldar]] -The Eldar are an old species which, following the collapse of their empire, has splintered into a number of subfactions:

*[[Craftworld Eldar]] -The Eldar are the perpetually dying light in an ever darkening galaxy but even as their flame flickers they refuse to allow themselves to be extinguished, though their numbers dwindle constantly. Which has been going on for over 15. Thousand. Years. Honestly, for a dying race, coupled with their persistent [[FAIL|defeats]], it really makes you wonder how they are still around. Many among their kind seek to rebuild their empire, and to transform their weak flame into a burning light to bring about a new dawn for their race; but if this is to be their end then they will face the growing darkness standing with blades ready in hand. Come 8th Edition and, with the obsession for trademarked names, the Craftworld Eldar are known as the Asuryani. Craftworld Eldar live, predominantly, within enormous ships known as [[Craftworlds]] that at one time served as vast trading vessels for the Empire of old. Within the Craftworlds the Eldar try to preserve what remains of their Pre-Fall history and culture as best they can but even they cannot stop the slow and inevitable degradation of time as older generations are lost and the memories of their glories pass into myth and legend. Like all Eldar, they are survivors of the calamitous event known as The Fall, which destroyed the old Eldar Empire. Those who live on the Craftworlds attempt to control and direct their emotions and psychic power in order to prevent it from corrupting them like it did their ancestors, and thus have a highly regimented social system known as the Paths, founded by the first of the Phoenix Lords; Asurmen.

*[[Dark Eldar]] – The Dark kin are the very incarnation of cruelty in all its many forms. Ironically, they torture people for pleasure, and you would think that they'd like Slaanesh, but nope. They fear it just as much as normal Eldar. From their shadowy nightmare realm/BDSM porn studio of Commorragh, they strike out to bring misery, horror, and boners ([[Wyches]] only) upon an unsuspecting galaxy. Those who know of them know that it is better to die than be taken by these sadistic bastards. Pray they do not take you alive. Dark Eldar represent the portion of the population which has refused to give up on the cruel and barbaric lifestyle which caused The Fall in the first place. Instead, they have moved into the alternate dimension known as the [[Webway]] and mostly exist within the aforementioned <s>porn studio</s> City of [[Commorragh]]. Dark Eldar must feed on the pain and suffering of others to stave off their souls being consumed by [[Slaanesh|She Who Thirsts]], and as a result have developed a society and culture predicated on the capture and torture of others in [[/d/|increasingly inventive manners]]. Dark Eldar are among the most notorious corsairs and raiders of the Galaxy and are the bane of many an Imperial admiral.

*[[Exodites]] - The original Eldar exiles, the first to notice the decay of their old Empire and leave it, were the Exodites. Effectively Eldar Hippies/Amish of a sort who decided to renounce advanced technology in the belief that it had fostered decadence and spiritual corruption. Instead, they live lives in tune with the nature of their Worlds, attempting to eke out peaceful existences there. They live an almost nomadic existence following the great herds of “dragons” and although they may appear highly vulnerable to attack they are still capable of defending themselves with their Dragon Knights and their reptilian dragon mounts. They also in time of great need have their own guardian equivalents of the [[Wraithknight]]s known as the Fire Gale’s, Bright Stallion’s and Towering Destroyer’s. Against greater threats such as a large Ork waaagh however they are still heavily dependent upon the Craftworld Eldar to defend them from harm.

*[[Harlequins]] - One of the smallest but also the most elite of the Eldar groups, the Harlequins are Eldar who worship the sole intact and surviving Eldar God: [[Cegorach]]. Masters of comedy and moving through the [[Webway]], Harlequins are mostly devoted to attempting to find ways to defeat the Chaos Gods. Pretty funny <s>people</s> elves too. They serve as negotiators between the different branches of the Eldar society, helping to forge alliances between the different groups in the name of a greater cause at times. Harlequins are also the Eldar with the greatest knowledge and mastery of the mysterious Webway, allowing them even more rapid movement than other Eldar possess.

*[[Ynnari]] - The smallest of all the Eldar's numerous subfactions, not even able to rival a minor Craftworld per their own leader, the Ynnari are Eldar dedicated to the worship of Ynnead, the newly born Eldar God of Death. The Ynnari have only recently emerged and follow what is known as the Seventh Way, a prophecy which supposedly reveals a way through which their god [[Ynnead]] can be fully roused without exterminating all living Eldar. The Ynnari are dedicated to the hunt for the fifth and final Crone Sword, with which they believe they can bring about the premature maturation of Ynnead to defeat Slaanesh whilst mortal Eldar still exist within the Galaxy. They have close ties with the Craftworld of Altansar, but most other Craftworlds, or their Seer Councils at least, are suspicious of the Ynnari. Many notable Eldar figures, such as [[Lelith Hesperax]], [[Jain Zar]], and that [[Eldrad|dick]], have joined their ranks.

[[Image:Necron-galaxy-map-1.jpg.jpg|thumb|right|150px|'''Necron map''']]
[[Necron]] Dynasties -They are the terror from a forgotten age that intends to reclaim the Galaxy from the weak parasitic races that now claim ownership of what was and always will be theirs. To the Necrons, there is not war in the future, only pest control. Among the oldest species of Xenos in the galaxy, Necron are a largely mechanical species who are beginning to awaken throughout the Galaxy. Due to a process in the distant past most Necron have become little more than mindless robots, with only their leaders displaying true self-awareness or intelligence. The Necron are an ancient and powerful species, who's numbers are bolstered by the constantly increasing number of their worlds which are reactivating.

[[Image:Tyranid Hive Fleets Galaxy Map (1).jpg|thumb|right|150px|'''Tyranid map''']]
[[Tyranid]] -Fear the shadow in the Warp for they are coming to consume all and when they are finished, nothing will remain. A Xenos race not native to the Milky Way Galaxy, the Tyranid are a voracious species of Xenos linked through a gestalt intelligence known as the [[Hive Mind]] which directs the species. The Tyranid are largely a predatory species, seeking to OMNOM as much biological matter as possible in order to make use of it for themselves. Thus far their forays into the galaxy have usually been blunted before they made significant headway, but due to the nature of their existence as a species outside the Milky Way Galaxy, it is difficult to know the extent of the Tyranid at current.
*[[Genestealer Cult]]s - One of the most nefarious weapons deployed by the Tyranid are the Genestealer Cults. These cults, born from the intermingling of Genestealers with other beings, can emerge on numerous worlds and work to undermine the defenses of said planet due to a mistaken worship of the Tyranids as saviours, in turn making it far easier for the Tyranid swarm to consume.

[[Image:Tau-map.jpg|thumb|right|150px|'''Tau map''']]
[[Tau Empire]] - A recently emerging faction within the Galaxy, the Tau Empire is an expansionist weeaboo state which seeks to incorporate other Xenos into it where possible. Adept at technological advancement and well-known for their ideological commitment to the [[Greater Good]], or Tau'va, the Empire is at current still very naive regarding [[Chaos|what]] is waiting for them beyond their borders. Within the confines and safety of their borders the Tau confidently look towards the future but they are blissfully unaware that although they may be the big fish in a small pond at the moment, within the deeper waters there are leviathans waiting to be discovered. Now in 8th Edition they are the T'au, cause "Tau" was apparently not good enough for trademarking.

"And All the Rest" - There are millions of habitable worlds in the galaxy, as well as pockets of space or unreality capable of supporting life. The number of xenos species in the galaxy beyond those that have star-bound armies (and therefore codices) is staggering. [[Q'Orl]], Scythians, [[Hrud]], Ambul, Vampyres, Lacrymoles, and a thousand others are out there. Some act as traders, others pirates, others parasites. Some have never been offworld. Some have destroyed entire star systems. Most of these are too minor to matter individually, as even a single Company of Space Marines could wipe them out... [[Barabas Dantioch|usually.]] While the power struggles of the big players play out, a million lesser empires lay in wait for their moment to rise.

==Xenos Roles==
Within the galaxy of Warhammer 40,000 Xenos are the least important and influential of the three main factions, rarely managing anything of note on their own other than catastrophic defeats at the hands of Space Marines. Whilst the Imperium are the Protagonists of the setting and Chaos the primary Antagonists, Xenos tend to fill a spectrum of lesser roles in between these two poles, usually only being important in the way they assist or impede these two larger factions. Part of this is also due to the fact that Xenos inhabit less of the Galaxy than anyone else, with the vast majority of the material galaxy being controlled by the Imperium and the majority of the [[Warp]] being controlled by the forces of Chaos, leaving Xenos as distinctly the weakest of the three factions. Overall it also means that the Human race, comprising both the majority of the Imperium and Chaos, is far stronger than all other Xenos, as even the combined Xenos races don't compare favourably to either human-dominated faction. Which is dumb, because the whole universe shouldn't focus exclusively on the Imperium, but we digress. Broadly speaking Xenos can be divided into three broad categories concerning their Role in the narrative of 40k;

===The Chaff===
These are the Xenos who tend to exist as a largely faceless horde of mooks who are gunned or chopped down in droves, usually with little dramatic tension, and more as a way to demonstrate how badass or awesome the protagonist is. These Xenos tend to play the role of a lesser antagonist, not as dangerous as Chaos, and having little true power, but an antagonist nonetheless. These are the antagonists against whom it is most common for the protagonist to win bloodless victories or overwhelming victories, to demonstrate the difference in strength between the protagonist and these lesser antagonists. Similarly the Chaff Xenos also often play the role of demonstrating how powerful Chaos is, without allowing Chaos to actually beat the Imperium, by either losing or being supplanted by Chaos at a point in a story line, to make clear the true threat was Chaos all along. Orks in particular are adept at this tactic of being an initial, and rather minor threat, who is then replaced by a more severe Chaos threat later.

Chaff are characterised by the fact that, no matter what, they will almost always lose the war in the end, regardless of all circumstances, and there will rarely be any long term negative consequences of battles with them. They will also usually be vastly inferior to the protagonists, being killed in one-on-one duels and such to showcase the superior fighting abilities of their foes. Ork Warbosses and Eldar Avatars of Khaine are two of the most commonly used examples of this, often dying to establish some or other protagonist as a [[badass]].

Although Orks and Tyranid tend to be the most commonly used Chaff, as of late the Craftworld Eldar have seemingly become quite prone to being Chaff too, with battles such as the attack on Yme-Loc, the Battle of Orar's Sepulchre and more usually having the ancient and elitist soldiery of these factions gunned down in enormous numbers and absolutely powerless to do anything.

'''Examples incude:'''
* [[Orks]]
* [[Tyranids]]
* [[Craftworld Eldar]]

===The Ally===
This type of Xenos usually poses little to no actual threat to the protagonist, although expect the story to usually start with the protagonist battling them to showcase the protagonist's superiority. The Ally is almost always in possession of some critical knowledge or device, usually relating to a Chaos Threat, which the Ally will prove impotent to handle on its own, instead resorting usually to giving the protagonist the role of actually ending the threat, often after trying and failing themselves. Although a betrayal is not always necessary, and more than enough of these alliances will not have a betrayal occur, expect at times a final twist in which the protagonist also kills the Ally before they can backstab them.

Although in general these alliances tend to be momentary and not have longer lasting ramifications, it should be noted that the recent plot development of the [[Ynnari]] subfaction of Eldar seems to have seen the Imperium gain a possible permanent vassal Xenos faction (or at the very least "Oh my fucking God there are four different apocalypses going on I will take anyone I won't need to shoot at this point.").

'''Examples include:'''
* [[Tau Empire]]
* [[Craftworld Eldar]]
* [[Harlequins]]
* [[Ynnari]]
* [[Necron]]

===Once-offs===
These are Xenos who fall into the same category as the oft-mentioned 'there was a Cult Uprising' fluff extracts in 40k. These are characterised by tending to be nothing more than a mention of their existence, before a quick mention that they are now all dead, usually due to some Space Marine force attacking. These Xenos tend to not even have an illusion of threat, such as Chaff Xenos, and are very much just hand-waved away the same way Cult Uprisings tend to be, being very quickly destroyed and without any significant impact.

Due to the very nature of their existence there are few examples of these types of Xenos, seeing as they tend to simply exist as a single name mentioned to have already been destroyed. Two common examples which are frequently reused, however, are the Genestealer Cults and [[Exodites]]. Exodites, in particular, are usually only brought up in a story to describe how they die awfully.

'''Examples incude:'''
* [[Genestealer Cult]]
* [[Exodites]]

Separate to these well-defined roles, all Xenos play the part of the 'Worf Effect' role, dying or losing so as to establish their opponent's power. Whether it is to Chaos or the Imperium, Xenos will frequently only appear to be bested in some or other manner, usually to solidfy how powerful a particular character or faction of the Imperium or Chaos is. This category is very much often occupied by specific Xenos characters too, and tied to certain events, and can be found most frequently in Black Library novels, in which almost any Xenos antagonist introduced will be built up as a threat but, almost, inevitably be either dead or running by the end of the story.

==Xenos and Chaos==
As a whole, the Chaos Gods seem to have little interest in Xenos compared to humanity, as humanity on its own provides them with such an abundance of easily manipulated and corruptible beings that they have quickly become the Ruinous Powers primary playthings. Indeed it is worth noting that literally all the known favoured servants of Chaos are humans exclusively. With the sole exception of [[Slaanesh's]] desire to devour the Eldar, there is rarely much attempt by the forces of Chaos to corrupt any Xenos species. During the [[Great Crusade]] there were a number of Xenos who worshipped Chaos, but these have since been exterminated by the Imperium; but not before they had spread their teachings to those within the Imperium itself who proved to be far too easily swayed. By the 41st Millenium there are no known large or significant concentrations or factions of Xenos serving Chaos, mostly due to the ones that escape Imperial notice being as small and disorganized as any other Chaos cult. That being said, chaos worship is a fickle thing, and there are mighty civilizations who do worship chaos still at large in the galaxy in one form or another, some of whom, such as the Yu'Vath, have become so intertwined with chaos that even death cannot stop them. The Saruthi are also of note, while supposedly corrupted by a human chaos grimoire, the Saruthi have met with success following their corruption, and make use of tetrascapes that allow them to hide outside of the material universe even more effectively than the Eldar with their Webway.

*Eldar- Despite having souls and egos that burn brighter and stronger within the Warp, they are typically not taken by the other gods as they are the "sole property"/sex toys of Slaanesh who claims and devours their souls upon their deaths, unless precautions have been taken to avoid such a fate. Sporadic hints of Eldar who willingly gave themselves up to Slaanesh have been made, but are considered to be mere speculation both in-universe and out-of-universe. Even the Dark Eldar, who would otherwise be amazingly good slaves of Slaanesh, fear and despise it (if only for purely selfish reasons). One case of Nurgle-corrupted Eldar has been mentioned in the Death Guard's codex, so it might be possible for another Chaos Good to claim their souls under the right circumstances.
*Necrons – They are what you could describe as being the very opposite of what the Chaos gods are looking for due to not having souls. Without souls, they're absolutely worthless even as slaves, and their innate anti-Warp attributes make them a threat rather than a potential tool. Although they are not beyond corruption themselves, as seen with Lucius' capacity to possess them. Additionally, Chaos has been known to frequently possess advanced machines including their own Tomb Worlds, so it is possible they could be corrupted indirectly.
*Tyranids – Their minds are too alien for Chaos to corrupt them; an individual Tyranid can no more be turned against the collective than an individual cell can voluntarily rebel against the organism it belongs to ('voluntarily' being the keyword - cancer, anyone?), and without a true consciousness the Chaos Gods have nothing to tempt them with. When the two sides come into conflict, it’s like watching a battle between an immovable object and unstoppable force; the daemons are weakened by the presence of the Shadow, and the Tyranids gain nothing from victory other than continued survival. They each have so little to gain from combat with each that they both try to avoid each other whenever possible.
*Tau Empire – The Tau have a very weak presence in the Warp and possess a small fraction of territory compared to the other races of the galaxy; however, their disbelief in Chaos means that should the Ruinous Powers choose to move against them they will be as blindsided as the Imperium was during the Horus Heresy. However, it should be noted that due to the strict regimentation of their lives and space communism, it is extremely difficult for Tau to serve Chaos. The Kroot, on the other hand, have a much more robust warp presence, and actually have a clue that the warp is dangerous, unlike their Tau allies. Additional their biological proclivity to eating dead enemy's means they can be exposed to corruption in a whole diffrent manner than that of other races. All this aside, the events of the Fourth Sphere Expansion (and its rediscovery by the Fifth Sphere Expansion) have proven that they can still be corrupted in spite of their weak Warp presence and at least a few Tau have figured out that Chaos is strengthened by psychically active species.
*Orks - While there are sporadic examples of Orks turning to Khorne, Gork and Mork have been proven to be real gods and are highly unlikely to allow any sort of poaching in this manner. The other three Ruinous Powers simply have little appeal for Orks, as they lack any real ambition for Tzeentch to exploit (except the biggest baddest Warbosses, who are so steeped in WAAAGH energy they are fully immune) and do not fear death enough to turn to Nurgle's protection (they only fear not being able to fight anymore and [[Flesh Tearers|getting eaten alive]]), and Slaanesh (excuse me, flash gitz), I mean really? That being said, being resistant does not mean immune, and corrupted orks do show up from time to time bearing the plagues of Nurgle and some of Khorne's daemons are green instead of red.

Despite this there are still a tiny few examples of Chaos affiliated Xenos in recent Fluff; a Genestealer Cult corrupted by Nurgle, a commune of Eldar worshipping Slaanesh, but these are never large or substantial groups, usually being very small and inconsequential incidents. It does, however, indicate the possibility of corruption. Most likely the lack of corrupted Xenos can be put down to either their resistance to Daemonic corruption, although it could also be that like the Imperium, who have their holy symbols that hold the Ruinous Powers at bay, that some xenos like the Eldar with their Runes and the Orks that create effigies to “scare” away the creatures of the warp, may be in possession of their own effective counter-measures against Daemons. (It is, however, equally possible that they simply have not been described by the fluff due to the preferred focus on humanity over the xenos races in general.)

Overall, however, the Chaos Gods seem to hold little interest in Xenos and tend to ignore them in favor of humans. Almost all, if not all, the greatest and most powerful servants of the Chaos Gods are themselves human, or were once human, with almost no Xenos counted among the ranks of Daemon Princes. The only possible exception to this is the Daemon Prince [[Be'lakor]] whose origin has never been explicitly confirmed but, considering his age, is presumably a Xenos of some sort. He is, though, the sole exception and other than this possibility all the greatest, most powerful and favoured of all the Chaos Gods Servants are purely human. Furthermore even the most powerful Daemons, such as Drach'nyen, despite being magnitudes younger than an enormous amount of Daemons, seem stronger than all others by simple stint of being born from human emotions; it's actually directly linked to the Emperor himself and was born from "the first murder." None of this changes the clear conclusion that, again, humans simply provide more power than all other beings.

{|align=center border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0"
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|align=center|'''*Inquisitor log 17548.68'''
|-
|align=center|'''*After careful study of such heretical materials I have come to the conclusion that the Chaos Gods' lack of interest stems from the fact that humans, in particular, Space Marines, are simply far more malleable and powerful compared to any other lesser forms of life in the galaxy. Compounding this, humans have so effectively conquered the majority of the Milky Way that they provide the largest body of servants for the Chaos Gods to use, making the near-exclusive focus on them somewhat pragmatic. The poor deluded Xenos think to arrogantly "warn" us of the dangers of the Warp, little understanding that humanity is protected by the light of the Emperor. It can only be their jealousy of the lack of influence that the almighty Emperor has over them that they think to teach us, what breathtaking arrogance, but what can you expect from such filthy heathens.
'''*In sum humanity's natural superiority over all other races means that the Chaos Gods have chosen to rather exclusively focus on them and them alone, seeing Xenos for the most part as pointless and useless compared to humanity. Furthermore humanity is the only species that threatens the Chaos Gods, with no Xenos faction capable of in anyway challenging them, and thus humanity is also focused on as the only danger to their power. Basically the Chaos Gods focus on humans cause they're the only race that matters. (Spoken like a true son of the Emperor, you will go far in the Inquisition).'''

'''*Remember that the weak and foolish Xenos may look vaguely human in form but they are but mere imperfect imitations of the genetically perfect masterpiece that is the human form. Humanity is the ultimate life form, perfect in every way, and blessed by the God Emperor himself. The Galaxy is ours by right and we will purify the Xeno taint until only holy humanity remains. This truth is so absolute that even unspeakable horrors accept it and happily ignore the alien weaklings, barring certain exceptions like the Eldar's collective folly.'''
|}

==The Other Side==
The irony of the setting is that, from the perspective of most of the Xenos species in the galaxy, the Imperium of Man is as dangerous and constant a danger to their existence as the Orks or Tyranid. From the Great Crusade onwards Xenos species such as the Tarellians, Demiurg and Eldar have been powerless to do anything as the Imperium constantly expanded its borders, genociding more and more Xenos every century, pushing them further and further out as all resistance in the face of the Imperium proved utterly futile.

Thus to the Tarellians, Hrenians, Tau, Galg and many more the Galaxy is a terrifying place since most of it is the Imperium, an all-powerful empire devoted to the relentless expansion of its domain and extermination of all other forms of life. For over 10,000 years, some of these species have watched Imperium has steamrolled everything in its path, and it has simply grown from strength to strength, [[Plot armor|overcoming all enemies and expanding its borders continuously]], dooming to extinction untold numbers of sapient species and creating a galaxy where Xenos mostly live in hiding or cling to the frontiers, with the exception of the Orks (who are having the time of their lives), the Necrons (who are a superpower on their own, albeit highly divided) and the Eldar to a certain extent (both Imperium and Craftworlds are pragmatic enough to know that they don't need to destroy each other when greater dangers exist, with alliances between the two being unusually common and frequent, most recent example being Ynnari).

Not for nothing are the zones which contain the most Xenos limited to areas which the Imperium considers outside their control, the [[Ghouls Stars]] and [[Eastern Frontier]] for example. In the galaxy of the 41st Millenium to be born a [[Grimdark|Xenos is to be born within a Galaxy where the most brutal and vicious empire in history is determined to kill you, your family and everyone you've ever known, because it considers your existence as an insult to mankind]].

To compound this fear for the Xenos there is also the fact that, as a species, humans always seem to outcompete all other species at everything. Due to their '''MASSIVE''' numbers(surpassed only by [[Orks]], [[Tyranids]] and ALL [[Necrons]]) vaunted position within the setting and [[Plot armor|general favouritism]] directed towards the Imperium, and more importantly the Space Marines, they are unfortunately burdened with the dubious honour of always being [[Mary Sue|the best at everything]]. No matter how stealthy a Xenos might be there is always a human stealthier than them, no matter how skilled a commander, there will be a [[Creed|human]] more skilled than them, no matter how strong a Psyker, there will be a human psyker within the setting will always prove to be the stronger.

The 41st Millenium is a dark and foreboding existence for the Xenos, one where the most bloodthirsty and xenophobic species in the galaxy is set on conquering the galaxy, eradicating all other life in it and, worst of all, looks set to achieve this no matter how stiff the resistance, the only delay being a ten thousand year long civil war on whether they worship the greatest tyrant in history or eldritch horrors that eat souls. Considering this it is hardly surprising that Xenos would rather side with the [[Tau]], who offer surprisingly lenient membership into their Empire, or the [[Sautekh Dynasty]] who, though making subjugated nations vassals, still permit them to exist. Of course one could also just be Orks and not care about it at all and have a bloody good larf out of all the figthing. Or be a Tyranid drone where all you really care about is the next all you can eat buffet.

==How do they compare==

Thanks to "Wrath and Glory" we now have a better look at how GW views the different species.
The list below shows the attribute Maximums for:

*Human- Adeptus Ministorum, Adepta Sororitas, Astra Militarum, Agents of the Imperium, Adeptus Mechanicus, Scum and renegades (the maximum stats apply to those who have been gifted with the very best genetic and cybernetic enhancements that the Imperim can provide, short of becoming a Space Marine)
*Eldar- Corsairs, Rangers, Warlocks
*Orks- Ork Boy, Kommando, Ork Nob
*Astartes/Primaris- Mini-Marines, Chad-Marines, Chaos Space Marine

{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left" class="wikitable sortable"
! ||Strength||Agility||Toughness||Intellect||Willpower||Fellowship||Initiative||Speed
|-
| '''[[Humans]]''' || 8 || 8 || 8 || 8 || 8 || 8 || 8 || 8
|-
| '''[[Orks]]''' || 12 || 7 || 12 || 7 || 8 || 7 || 7 || 7
|-
| '''[[Eldar]]''' || 7 || 12 || 7 || 10 || 12 || 8 || 12 || 10
|-
| '''[[Space Marines|Astartes]]''' || 10 || 9 || 10 || 10 || 10 || 8 || 9 || 9
|-
| '''[[Primaris Marines|Primaris]]''' || 12 || 9 || 12 || 10 || 10 || 8 || 9 || 9
|-
| '''[[Necrons]]''' || 9 || 6 || 13 || 13 || 5 || 6 || 6 || 6
|-
| '''[[Tau]]''' || || || || || || || ||
|-
|}<br style="clear: both; height: 0px;" /><br>

*Strength: Raw physical power. Strength is a measurement of the sheer physical force a character is capable of and how much they can lift and carry. Also determines how strong their attacks are.
*Agility: Dexterity and coordination. Agility measures a character’s manual dexterity and whole body coordination, it also governs their accuracy with ranged weapons and stealth abilities.
*Toughness: Endurance and ability to shrug off damage. Toughness provides a measure of the body’s ability to resist injury, toxin, and disease.
*Intellect: Ability to process and interpret information. Intellect measures a character’s ability to process, retain, access and creatively interpret information. Also determines their skill with tech and medicine.
*Willpower: Determination and strength of will. Willpower gauges a character’s mental fortitude and determination. Also demonstrates their Psychic Mastery.
*Fellowship: Force of personality. Fellowship determines a character’s empathy and social awareness, as well as the ability to manipulate social situations to their benefit.
*Initiative: Reflexes and reaction speed. Initiative is a measure of how quickly a character can react to dramatically changing situations; it is also a demonstration of their skill with weapons.
*Speed: Movement speed. Speed determines how fast a character is able to move over a distance and also governs how fast they are able to attack or dodge an opponent.

It should be noted that these stats represent the "base" for each species and will not likely represent many of the named characters, who tend to be exceptional examples of their kind. This list does not show the effects of either psychic enhancements, sorcery or any other type of Warp based shenanigans, as these tend to last for only short periods of time.

These numbers should not be treated as law, but more as guidelines that show a rough idea of how GW thinks they should be represented. When interpreting how these species stack up to each other it would be a good idea to use the humans as a base.
:*Strength: Humans can achieve a Strength max of 8; England's Eddie Hall currently holds the deadlift record of 500kg, which we will use to show the max strength level that a human in 40k can achieve (you can increase this if you want). Using the numbers provided we can roughly estimate that an Eldar Ranger can potentially deadlift up to 437kg, a Space Marine can deadlift 625kg, but an Ork Nob and Primaris can deadlift up to 750kg. It is likely the number is higher due to DAoT gene engineering done to the entire species and natural evolution.
:*Intellect: Humans can achieve an Intellect max of 8; Terence Tao was recorded to have an IQ of 230 (increase as you see fit). A Kommando could potentially have an IQ of around 201, whilst an Eldar Corsair or Chad-Marine could have an IQ of 288. While most Necrons are basically mindless machines, the ones who can think are shown to be some of the smartest things in the Galaxy, bar almost none.
:*Speed: Humans can achieve a Speed max of 8; Usain Bolt has been recorded at 28mph (it has been theorized that the human body has the potential to reach speeds of up to 40mph). Using the current recorded speed Orks Boyz could come in at about 25mph, with Mini-Marine at 31mph and a Warlock reaching speeds up to 35mph.
:(None of these numbers are hard facts and we are also basing the comparison at the upper end of human ability not the human average)

==See Also==
* [[Alienhunters]]
* [[Dark Eldar]]
* [[Eldar]]
* [[Hrud]]
* [[Kroot]]
* [[Monstergirls]], which is what happens when xenos meet [[Rule 34]].
* [[Necron]]
* [[Nicassar]]
* [[Old Ones (Warhammer)|Old Ones]]
* [[Orks]]
* [[Q'Orl]]
* [[Rak'gol]]
* [[Saharduin]]
* [[Slaugth]]
* [[Tau]]
* [[Tyranids]]
* [[Vespid]]

==External Links==
* [http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?t=11125 Ultimate Lesser Xenos List]

{{Important Species in 40k}}

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Xenos]]

Religion

2020-04-13T02:27:24Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:C0D:4047:AA0C:2470: /* Miscellaneous Observations */

{{topquote|Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge, which is power; religion gives man wisdom, which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals.|Martin Luther King, Jr}}

:'''Dracula''': ''I was called here by, huuuuumans, who wish to pay me tribute!''
:'''Richter Belmont''': ''Tribute?! You steal men's souls! And make them your slaves!''
:'''Dracula''': ''Perhaps the same could be said of all religions.''
::--An excerpt from the infamous exchange that also gave us "What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets" in [[Castlevania#Castlevania:_Symphony_Of_The_Night_.28Castlevania_9.29|Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.]]

Because it's important to several settings and RPG systems, particularly ones that are high-profile or relevant to /tg/, we have a religion article. Let's try and keep it focused on the directly-related-to-/tg/ stuff and not descend into the pure [[skub]] that can arise in discussions of real-life religions, okay?

==Definition of Religion==
Almost since the inception of the term, scholars have failed to agree on a definition of religion. While there are some belief systems that always count as religions, some have applied the term to various things such as political ideologies, or groups when they reach a certain point. There are however two general definition systems: the sociological/functional and the phenomenological/philosophical.

The two most widely accepted are:
* "a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say things set apart and forbidden - beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a church, all those who adhere to them."
* "a comprehensive worldview or 'metaphysical moral vision' that is accepted as binding because it is held to be in itself basically true and just even if all dimensions of it cannot be either fully confirmed or refuted".

As stated before, one common element that every religion which fits the criteria has is humanity's relation to supernatural forces, as all of them have at least one [[God|god]] and/or an afterlife even where there are exceptions; Buddhism doesn't have any gods but has afterlives, and Taoism doesn't have an afterlife but does have a pantheistic concept of a god as a supernatural force.

Like other terms for heavily [[SJW|debated]] [[communism|subjects]], religion and religious have also been used as insults or Snarl Words in social and political discussions (especially from the 20th century and onwards) to ridicule groups openly promoting something the user disagrees with. This snarl creates a caricature of the group to smear them by association with the worst excesses/negative stereotypes of real-world religious people (like being too preachy, judgmental, irrational, hypocritical, or pressuring everyone to convert).

==Religion vs. Mythology==
While [[Mythology|mythologies]] aren't religions in and of themselves, every religion has a mythology. While mythologies are merely the accounts of supernatural events, religions also have several criteria such as how life should be lived, what happens to a person after death and humanity's relation to the supernatural. [[Skub|Whatever the source]], the mythology almost always predates the religion. As a result, especially since the Fantasy genre deals in supernatural beings and forces, most if not all fantasy settings have religions. Science fiction does to a lesser degree, mostly because during the Golden Age of sci-fi empiricists and secular humanists were attracted to the genre and their views often seeped into their stories. Despite this, given that most real-life societies have had religions playing a role in or since their founding, religions are still found in sci-fi.

Religions involves belief systems and practices, where an adherent can call upon the power/being the religion is focused on to give them aid in [[cleric|various]] [[Paladin|ways]], depending at the very least on the religion and the task in question. Given that religions are about people's place in the world, how it was made, ideas on how life should be lived and what happens after death, they have major implications for societies. Given that people can become [[Exarch|dangerously single-minded]] about a cause, people can be become extremists about their religion, regardless of the fact that [[Heironeous|some]] are more benevolent than [[Asmodeus|others]] and in numerous cases even [[Heresy|if it involves going against the religion's teachings]]; in conjunction with the above this means religious conflicts can become widespread, long-lasting, cause carnage and also involve other elements such as politics.

==Role in Society==
A person's belief (for or against) any or all religions is a major factor in their worldview, and as such often serves as the undercurrent for all others. This is because this belief shapes people's views on the big things such as the purpose of life, how life should be lived in relation to oneself and others and what happens to people after they die. On the upside, this often leads to teachings with the goal of unity, peace, charity and co-operation as per the teachings of most religions, some of which are adapted by or also found among non-religious systems. On the downside, this can lead to clashes over how the people involved do the will of whichever beings or forces they follow, which religion should be followed or whether or not people should follow a god or religion at all. This can involve arguments and factionalizing, or in some cases worse things like pogroms and wars. Since they are an overarching and fairly common element in cultures, they often appear or are referenced in fiction.

The most common religious belief systems are the Abrahamic family of religions (primarily Judaism, Christianity and Islam) which are Monotheistic (belief in a singular God) and share many common elements and root, with - at the time this was written - Christianity being the most followed religion globally.

Within the last few centuries, due to events such as the French Revolution, there has also been a significant amount of anti-religious sentiment, which regards religion as at best redundant and at worst destructive (beyond historical grievances with specific groups within religions, reasons for this view and whether or not those arguments have any merit, shall not be discussed here). Interestingly, numerous tyrannical regimes have tried to restrict or stamp out religions. This is because religious teachings put the figure/object of worship before the state in a conflict of interest, most religions teachings condemn many of the things tyrannical leaders indulge in, tyrants dislike competition for their subjects' fealty, being answerable to anyone besides themselves, the tyrant may be prejudiced or any combo of the above. While nations have just tried to block specific religions deemed "false" (read: oppose the state-sponsored religion in any way), several nations (usually [[Communism|Communist]] states which took Marx's "religion is the opiate of the masses" quote out of context, as Marx viewed religion was a sort of protest against oppression that relieved people's immediate suffering and gave them the strength to go on living while also preventing them from revolting against the class system that produced their oppression that would disappear when no longer useful) have tried to get rid of religion altogether, albeit with horrifying [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Militant_Atheists results] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge_rule_of_Cambodia#Religious_communities each] time. Best case scenario, they sidegrade from one set of problems to another as cults of personality (commonly ones based on the ruler in charge) spring up to exploit the newly created power vacuum formerly filled by an established religion while believers who manage to survive the regime try to continue their activities in secret.

The most religious nations are theocracies such as the Catholic theocracy running Vatican City and the Isalmic theocracy running Saudi Arabia. China is - at the time this was written - the world's least religious and most atheistic country (the situation around North Korea is [[Skub|debatable]], since even though they violently supress religions [https://www.foxnews.com/world/north-korea-publicly-executes-80-some-for-videos-or-bibles-report-says to the point that merely having copies of religious texts can be grounds for execution], they also have the Kim Cult blended with the Marxist offshoot ideology Juche).

==How this impacts /tg/==
A few major ways. Since most if not every society in real-life has had religion either be the basis for its founding or play a role in it, religion is just as involved in the backstory or current lore of settings. There are three major "modes" of /tg/ settings and related fictions:
* The purely functional where religions are a story device.
* Religions and/or those they worship are portrayed positively as some sort of endorsement of religiosity.
* Religions and/or those they worship are portrayed negatively as some sort of criticism of religiosity.

===Religion as a story device===
Compared to the two types of writers found below, these writers are usually just attempting to model their work after real-world [[Mythology]] and are frequently attempting to keep their views of Religion separate from their work. Frequently comes in one of two subspecies:
* The [[Standard Fantasy Setting]] default: The world is ruled by an ordinary polytheistic pantheon, usually close to some admixture of Norse and Greek mythologies. Some of them also have a Top God - one more powerful than all the others and maybe the in-universe creator of everything - who is mostly hands-off in cosmic affairs. The gods of these religions tend to focus on specific areas (gods of [[Paladin|Justice]] and [[Druid|Nature]] are common, for subtly obvious reasons) and frequently want their followers to propagate or promote these things.
* The kind of setting they wanted to make dictated the nature of the divine. For example, in [[Exalted]] just about all the figures anybody would call a "God" (besides the Exalted) are Useless, because the Exalted (which includes the Player Characters) are supposed to be the Most Important People in the world, to go with the main theme of the setting for the PCs: "You can do '''almost anything''', except ''avoid the consequences of being the one who did that anything''".

===Religion as a Bad Thing===
There are several writers of Science Fiction and Fantasy that are of the opinion "Religion Is Bad" along with having an axe to grind (sometimes warranted, sometimes not) with either one or more specific real-life religions or religion in general. This is more common in Sci-Fi than fantasy because the focus on science appeals to the naturalist, empiricist and/or humanist worldview of such writers, with the supernatural being seen as an obstacle to that. Despite that, the view is found among some fantasy authors as well, such as the author of the book series "His Dark Materials", Philip Pullman (he wrote it after reading and getting triggered by C.S Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia" series). Cosmic Horror also tends to use the "Gods Don't Exist" or "Gods are Evil" route, or combine them into "The Gods are actually Incomprehensible and Destructive Aliens" (for example; the author who codified the genre, [[H.P. Lovecraft]], was an avowed anti-religious atheist). This also has the side effect of inclining science fiction towards an atheistic perspective.

Another major component is personal issues of the author such as grievance or prejudice, but that's case-by-case and a major can of worms. Whatever the motivation, writers saying this message often model their fictional religions on the - occasionally exaggerated - worst excesses of real world religious people and lift imagery from those religions or groups among them. Popular targets are Christianity, Islam, any faith that practiced Human Sacrifice - such as the Aztec civilizations, and Scientology. Cults are especially fertile ground for this message, albeit running the risk of being misapplied to tar other groups with the same brush. This comes in flavors of either "The Gods Don't Exist", "The Gods are Incompetent" (more on that above) or "The Gods are Evil".

===Religion as a Good Thing===
There are several religious Science Fiction and Fantasy writers who either want to promote their worldview, look upon religion positively and put that into the story or both. This is more common in Fantasy than Sci-fi, partly because with the supernatural being THE fundamental element of the genre this opens opportunities to explore many aspects of religiosity. These authors usually put more thought into their fictional religion plus its central figure (although they have a tendency to go all "Crystal Dragon Jesus"), and try and have it be at least a somewhat good influence, although religious institutions and leaders are usually hit-and-miss affairs.

Some people make a fictional setting with figures from real-world religions, either in the real-world or [[CS Lewis|an alternate world such as Narnia like C.S Lewis did]]. Others use fictional religions that either visually resemble real-life religions of figures from them; religions that often get this treatment are the Abrahamic faiths (most often Christianity), Greek mythology, Egyptian mythology and Norse mythology (albeit often a sanitized version of the latter three).

Another route this uses is the route that faith itself provides the power; think of Morpheus' "your mind makes it real" quote, or the "[[Belief Function|Clap Your Hands If you Believe]]" trope. In fact, Warhammer often goes the route that the gods are powered by faith as well as from their sphere of influence which has either [[Sigmar|caused some people have risen to godhood]] or [[Ynnead|caused new gods to be born in the setting]]. In fact, this has proven the greatest weapon against Chaos in every Warhammer setting (and why the Emperor's plan to starve the Chaos Gods with atheism was doomed to fail from the start).

===Somewhat special cases===

One somewhat special case is the "Religion of Evil"; in many settings, there is a religion that is explicitly capital E Evil and seeks one of the usual "Card Carrying Villain" goals of Control, Conquest, Corruption, or Destruction. Frequently has some admixture of the worst aspects of Roman Paganism, Norse practices, the Aztec, Scientology and/or the various Abrahamic religions. They also often draw from those found in the writings of H.P Lovecraft. If this cult directly worships an individual Evil God, expect whatever makes sense for that deity to be some form of destructive activity--e.g., the cult of the God of Murder demands human sacrifice on a regular basis, with a certain portion of that explicitly being not-careful-enough cultists. Regardless, Religions of Evil can show up in all three above modes, and usually has a special purpose in all three:

* Functionalists (and, for that matter, all three) need bad guys. In particular, a group who by definition is Evil is always good for some no-need-to-worry-about-the-ethics-or-morality-of-killing fodder (based on the idea that everyone in is group is evil because you have to do evil to be part of the group).
* Religion is Bad types tend to use them to say either "while they're all Bad, some are worse then others", or say "Religion can be used to justify anything". Occasionally a prejudiced writer uses it as a strawman to tar all with the same brush or they have an axe to grind against a specific real-life religion and/or its followers.
* The sincerely religious tend to use them as analogies with fanaticism, criticize Real World cults, compare different beliefs or deal with negative aspects of religion (occasionally making jabs at competitive religions, or fellow believers the author disagrees with).
** As a side note, a lot of fantasy has moved slightly away from pure Religions of Evil, for much the same reason as [[Always Chaotic Evil]] races (audiences and authors nowdays demand more motive for their villains). While there are still plenty of them, they usually add some nuance that makes them at least morally neutral under their own lights--frequently, taking vengeance for a real or perceived wrong or injustice (which has '''plenty''' of real-life precedent).

[[Urban Fantasy]] writers are another special case, since almost all Urban Fantasy is set in something that might be called "the real world with a twist", with all the usual political trouble that implies. As a result, they can take one of a few routes:
* The most common route is "there are many possible explanations" and vague things up as much as possible ([[True Faith|Faith]] being the power that repels [[Vampire]]s rather than than a cross having any actual connection to a deity is a popular one).
* The second most common route (which is rarer outside of Cosmic Horror) is the "Religion as a Bad Thing" route from above. The story is straight up atheistic/"Religion is Bad" [[Imperial Truth|propaganda]], and in practice the writer often has an axe to grind against a specific religion. It's a popular choice for writers trying to be [[Edgy]] who want to include religious subject matter in their stories, and they almost exclusively go after the most followed religion in the area.
* Some Urban Fantasy works with a clear correct religion exist thanks to the above mentioned sincerely religious authors, which are typically [[Chick Tracts|barely veiled proselytizing]] or [[Twilight|just straight up terrible]], though [[Monster Hunter International|there are some good ones]].
* The fourth route, taken most notably by [[Supers|DC and Marvel comics]] among others, is to take an "All Myths are True" approach: All religions are sort of true, but none have any exclusivity to the Truth, so Thor and Athena might have the Archangel Michael on speeddial when the Orochi teams up with Apep to start making trouble in their neighborhoods (because "Mikey really likes kicking serpent tail, and gets annoyed when we don't at least try to invite him to an evil serpent ass-kicking."). Differs from the "vague things up" route by being clearer on some details, and also much more gonzo. The Abrahamic God is the exception here: He's usually kept especially vague, albeit more powerful (and yet infinitely less accessible) than anyone else in the setting, and only referred to by some codephrase (Marvel likes "The One Above All", DC generally goes for "The Presence" or "whatever is behind the Source Wall").

===Miscellaneous Observations===

Doing the "The Gods are Incompetent" thing (the similar but different "The Gods are Insane", "The Gods Are Assholes" and "The Gods Don't Actually Do Anything" routes also falls under this umbrella) can go into any of the three modes; in a sincere monotheist's (such as Christian) work, it can be a "Take That" to polytheistic religions; in a "Religion is Bad" atheist's, it can be one to religion in general; in a Buddhist-influenced work, it can be a part of the whole "even the Gods are tied up in the Wheel of Karma" concept; and, even if the author is not pushing any religious message in any way, there's a neutral, plot-structural reason to go "Incompetent Gods": it can make the adventurers the Most Competent People Available.

If a work has multiple writers, (as frequently happens with RPG and Wargame settings, and quite a few popular SciFi/Fantasy ones as well) there's a tendency for the writers to try and pull the setting into one of the other two "modes" depending on their personal views. This leads to the theme changing from one side to the other as the story progresses. A recent example is [[World of Warcraft|the spate of retcons to the cosmology of the Warcraft universe]] and the morality of its fundamental forces/dominant higher powers, the Light and the Void. If the story doesn't get focused on a pro-religion or anti-religion message, it will swing back and forth between both sides.

Note that members of the "Religion is Bad" and "Religion is Good" brigades will get involved in arguments over the relative morality or "goodness" of various factions in the story and the accuracy of any messages a writer presents; at most, one may write a work from the opposing side's perspective in response - see "Chronicles of Narnia" vs "His Dark Materials" above. Often history buffs will throw their hat into the ring as well.

==Examples of /tg/ connected fictional religions==
===Warhammer 40k===
* The [[Imperial Truth]] was originally the Emperor's plan on beliefs, which he and his servants propagated throughout the galaxy during the Great Crusade. Attempting to wean mankind away from Chaos and being a firm member of the "Religion is Bad" brigade, the Emperor proclaimed there are no gods, and religion had to be abolished willingly or by force while science or reason are to be used for explaining the universe and morality. Everything transpired according to his design, except theistic religiosity in the 40k universe is the best weapon against Chaos so Emp's interstellar state atheism policy gave them a major opening. Things went from bad to worse when people started looking up to the Emperor as a god himself and [[Exterminatus|he responded accordingly]]. After the Horus Heresy and the Emperor's removal from galactic politics: the Imperial Truth was slowly shelved in favor of the Imperial Cult, to the point that espousing the teachings of the Truth is ironically considered heresy. Only a few practitioners of the Imperial Truth remain, most notably the Custodes and the Space Marines (both of whom know The Emperor better than anybody to worship him as a god. Plus, their religious autonomy.).
** The [[Imperial Cult]] is the present-day religion of the Imperium of Man, and is a mix of several Abrahamic Religions along with copious amounts of warmongering, fanaticism and xenophobia. Derived from the Lectitio Divinatus penned by [[Lorgar]] pre-HH, the Cult decrees that because the Emperor is capable of all these miracles and power: he ''must'' be a god, and why you should worship and pledge loyalty to him. Its a complete 180 from the Emperor's original teachings, and has simultaneously been responsible for damning and saving the Imperium past the clusterfuck of the Horus Heresy. It's unknown whether the Emperor still abhors godhood and religion and would abolish it the moment he could, or if he's resigned himself to becoming the very thing he fought against for mankind to persevere in these trying times. Whatever the case, he didn't want to be a god, but now he has no choice but to become one.
** The [[Adeptus Mechanicus|Cult Mechanicus]] (Machine Cult) is the religion of the Adeptus Mechanicus, placing a heavy emphasis on machines, viewing them as gifts from the Machine God called "The Omnissiah" Officially, the Omnissiah is The Emperor, which allows the Mechanicus to sidestep the more puritan pundits of the Imperial Cult (we worship The Emprah, just not how you do it). Unofficially, the Omnissiah may or may not be the C'tan god: The Void Dragon. It also has a high emphasis on the collection of knowledge, and one of the Admech's roles in the galaxy is to explore remote and uncharted regions of space to find and search for knowledge that has been lost throughout the millennia. The last of these, is guidelines on machines and knowledge. Officially, heretic(tek) and xeno works are to be abhorred and disposed of, viewing them as perversions of the holy Machine God's works. Unofficially however, more liberally-minded and higher-ranked Magos would happily hoard heretek/xeno works, seeing their potential over the more restricted and constrained works of the Mechanicus.

* Chaos is a violent and complicated henotheistic (believing in multiple gods but only worshipping one) or polytheistic religion with dozens, if not hundreds of interpretations. Even then, there's more sub-cults that worship their particular god in a specific way, either minutely or vastly different from everyone else among followers of the Big 4. And this doesn't even get into the realm of Chaos Undivided (which worships the concept of Chaos itself, instead of the individual gods) and [[Malal]]. Chaos has very little established guidelines regarding worship, apart from their patron god's/gods' general likes/dislikes, so any religious practices or rituals are either based on commands from the god/s or up to the imagination of the cult.
** Interestingly, there is a Space Marine of the Chaos faction who follows the Imperial Truth, and that is [[Fabius Bile]].

* All Greenskins worship Gork and Mork (jury's out on whether the [[Gretchin Revolutionary Committee]] do), but are too disorganized to have anything like a formal religion, though they do make effigies of Gork and Mork and call on them. Religion doesn't play a significant role in Ork society compared to the other races.

* The Tau's creed "The [[Greater Good]]" is a specie-wide philosophy that was adopted ever since the initial unification of the Tau in the olden days. In a nutshell, the Greater Good emphasizes the co-existence of all Tau and sapient life in general into working together for a common goal to further the Tau's progress, seeing everyone's potential and hoping to utilize that for an, ahem, greater good. Personal religion isn't forbidden, but it must not contradict or override The Greater Good, and must be disregarded if it ever does so. Technically, this means Tau can be religious or non-religious, as the Greater Good is not a religion (due to lacking an afterlife and supernatural aspects, with the closest things to figures of worship being the Ethereals). This sounds all fine and dandy, but the Ethereal class, who are responsible for maintaining The Greater Good, have been shown to be less benevolent than believed and have been using their unnaturally powerful charisma to subtly oppress the Tau and use them to further their own agendas.
**The Farsight Enclaves, who have thrown off Ethereal rule, are the exception in that they have rejected The Greater Good, seeing it as the method of oppression used to keep the T'au under complete control of the ethereals. Due to this, if one considers the Greater Good a religion, The Enclaves are irreligious.
**As of the 4th Sphere Expansion disaster, Chaos Tau are starting to become a thing.
**At one point, the Earth Caste gathered Genestealer-infected Tau and studied them to see what would happen. Of course, a Genestealer cult developed and naturally they violently escaped control and surveillance. According to rumors, they've even produced a Genestealer-infected Ethereal.

* The Eldar have varying views on religiosity depending on their type. Their religion is polytheistic, with henotheistic offshoots, and Ausryan was the highest ranking god. However all of the Eldar gods were murder-raped to death by Slaanesh except for Isha (taken by Nurgle), Khaine (shattered and flung into realspace), Cegorach (hiding in the Webway) and Ynnead (born long after Slaanesh's birth). Their Pantheon's religious practices aren't fleshed out save for those of Cegorach, Isha, and Khaine, via the Harlequins and Aspect Warriors. With most of their gods out of commission, Eldar religious worship is of a deistic bent.
** Craftworlders and Exodites almost exclusively worship the original Eldar pantheon, though some engage in henotheistic worship of only one of the gods. Asuryan is more popular among Craftworlders while Isha is among Exodites, though nearly all give Khaine some tribute during war.
** Corsairs are all over the place, though Khaine is a popular choice given their more militant nature.
** Being agents of the Laughing God himself, the Harlequins' worship is centered around [[Cegorach]], whilst still paying minor tribute to the other gods.
** The new faith around Ynnead, the Ynnari, is rapidly growing but have yet to establish teachings or rituals.
** Unique among the Eldar, the Dark Eldar are irreligious for the most part and while they believe some gods exist they're too self-centered to worship them (this is canon). They're often also anti-religious to boot; a major landmark of Commorragh is a landfill of religious icons called Iconoclast's Mound, and one Wych cult - the Pain Eternal - revolves around killing religious people and destroying shrines and holy sites. The sole exception, except for Dark Eldar who stop being Dark Eldar, are the [[Incubi]] who hold [[Khaine]] in high regard.
** There are numerous rumors of a very small number of Chaos Eldar, but these are barely fleshed out and heavily classified in-universe. There have been verified Nurgle-worshipping Eldar and persistent rumors that some have embraced Slaanesh without becoming soul-food. Apart from this, some Dark Eldar have been willing to summon Chaos Daemons or work with Chaos worshippers ([[Fabius Bile|or allies of Chaos]]) to further their own ends.

* While the Necrontyr had religions before certain [[C'tan|star entities]] [[Necrons|roboticizied them]], those aren't fleshed out or detailed. Its also heavily implied the C'tan co-opted the Necrontyr religion beforehand. With the change to Necrons taking the higher though processes of most of them, any Necrons who can comprehend faith and religiosity either worship the C'tan or have become irreligious.

* The Tyranids themselves are irreligious, being spehss bugs and all, but understand at least a few of the advantages of religion. [[Genestealer]]s infect people and together they establish cults on targeted worlds, such as one worshipping "Children of the Stars", a perversion of the Imperial Cult or something else like "Celebrants of Nihilism" (yes, that's a canon Genestealer cult name). Psychic influence is often involved and, notably, the Genestealers do not consider themselves gods. Once the Tyranids arrive en-masse, the cult-gets assimilated along with all non-Tyranids willingly or not. An interesting tidbit is that the Hive Mind stops the Tyranids from attacking the cultists in early stages of the invasion and leads them on, only to later override the Genestealers' wills and and make them slaughter the cultists.

===Dungeons and Dragons===
* Among Dungeons and Dragons settings, [[Planescape]], [[Eberron]], and [[Pathfinder]] are notable for having some coherent things that could be called "Religions", rather then the usual generic Pantheism.
** Most of Planescape's Factions effectively count as religions, to the point they can produce [[Cleric]]s ([[Planescape: Torment#Fall-From-Grace|Atheist ones at that]]). Yes, even the Athar. (Perhaps ''especially'' the Athar.)
** Half of Eberron's religions aren't worship of deities. The [[Blood of Vol]] seeks to unlock the divinity within one's self and rejects the gods (if they even exist) and the [[Path of Inspiration]] seeks to improve their next reincarnation. The Undying Court worships not gods but their undead ancestors that make up their government. The [[Path of Light]], [[Warforged_Mysteries#The_Becoming_God|Becoming God]] and [[Warforged_Mysteries#The_Reforged|Reforged]] all seek to ''create'' a deity. Even some interpretations of the [[Sovereign Host]], like the one most common among dragons, don't worship them as deities. Due to the way divine casting works in Eberron, all of these can produce divine casters.
** There's a handful of religions on [[Golarion]] that aren't merely worship of pantheons. The most prominent (read: Actually has mechanical support) is the [[Prophecies of Kalistrade]], which is basically fantasy [[Star Trek|Ferengi]].

* [[D20 Modern]]'s [[Urban Arcana]], unusually for urban fantasy, has D&D deities bleed into reality alongside the monsters. You are still able to play a <s>cleric</s> "acolyte" of any real world deity despite this.

===Star Wars===
* [[Star Wars]] is inconsistent on if the [[The Force]] is a religion. The Jedi and the Sith ''could'' both be considered religions as they are considered monastic, but mix in several other traits such as being meritocratic (Jedi) and kraterocratic (Sith) and Lucas himself has axed at least one prototyped book for portraying them too much as a religion. It's also notable that the Sith were former Jedi who left the Jedi path for several reasons including [[Heresy|disagreements over the teachings of that creed]]. Aside from that, religion is nearly always a non-human tradition, something noted in a culture's historical background and never seen implying its extinction, or a scam. The religiously linked "damn" and "hell" are the two real world swear words that exist in-universe, purely because Han Solo used them in the films, and some concept of an "angel" exists because a young Anakin told Padme about them in the prequel trilogy films.
** There are rare exceptions where a religion is fleshed out and explored, and the writing goes various directions for better or worse. A notable example is the aggressive polytheistic religion of the antagonistic Yuuzhan Vong from the EU (which the story gradually revealed was long ago perverted from benevolent roots, and this perverted form takes a few cues from Islam and Aztec mythology).

===Star Trek===
* Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry had a low opinion of religion and in his vision humanity had done away with it and was better off for it and he had no interest in adding it to the aliens. However, some of the cast and crew disagreed and occasionally references and religions found their way into the show, which increased after Roddenberry's death. The Federation's culture is distinctly humanistic (extending the concept to alien species) in it's outlook in which religion is regarded as a thing of the past.
** While there are plenty of "Godlike" entities in Star Trek, almost all are treated as Sufficiently Advanced Aliens in the Arthur C. Clarke sense--and in particular, in ST:TNG, the flip side, that Picard and his crew are frequently shown to look like Gods to sufficiently primitive aliens, is gone into in more than one episode.
** The Bajorans are a highly religious alien race, with the majority following peaceful teachings and a minority of violent extremists.
*** Of some note, the Bajoran religion is of interest because their "Gods" actually exist, and can be (somewhat incomprehensibly) talked to (a rarity outside of [[Science Fantasy]]). In other words, they were frequently a method of having some religion vs. science debates where the divine entity (A) explicitly exists, (B) is explainable as "sufficiently advanced and unusual aliens", and (C) aren't jerks, just bad at communication with those of us who experience time linearly--in other words, with a deck that wasn't quite as badly stacked. The religiosity was meant to be as a way of contrasting the Starfleet personnel with the native population and to draw a parallel between Bajorans under the Cardassian Occupation and various real world recently freed oppressed religious-slash-ethnic groups.
** <s>In the fifth Star Trek movie, ''"The Final Frontier"'', some of the crew steal the Enterprise to look for God and instead find a powerful alien being impersonating God in the center of the universe</s> '''Just like there is no live-action movie of Avatar: The Last Airbender, there is totally no Star Trek 5!'''

===World of Darkness===
* Very large books could be written about religion and [[World of Darkness]]/Chronicles of Darkness. We'll just cover a few highlights:
** From [[Vampire: The Requiem]], there's the the Lancea et Sanctum, which might be best described as "Christianity for Vampires", and the Circle of the Crone, which is "Pagan Vampires". Both have Vampire miracles on tap (pun intended).
** [[Hunter: The Vigil]] has various religious organizations among the Compacts and Conspiracies, some very similar to real world ones, others...not so much.
** [[Mage: The Ascension]] has various religious Traditions, portrayed in that highly-stereotypical and highly-depending-on-the-author way typical of old WoD.

==See also==
* [[Mythology]]

[[Category:Not related]]
[[Category:History]]

Religion

2020-04-13T02:23:37Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:C0D:4047:AA0C:2470: /* Role in Society */

{{topquote|Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge, which is power; religion gives man wisdom, which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals.|Martin Luther King, Jr}}

:'''Dracula''': ''I was called here by, huuuuumans, who wish to pay me tribute!''
:'''Richter Belmont''': ''Tribute?! You steal men's souls! And make them your slaves!''
:'''Dracula''': ''Perhaps the same could be said of all religions.''
::--An excerpt from the infamous exchange that also gave us "What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets" in [[Castlevania#Castlevania:_Symphony_Of_The_Night_.28Castlevania_9.29|Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.]]

Because it's important to several settings and RPG systems, particularly ones that are high-profile or relevant to /tg/, we have a religion article. Let's try and keep it focused on the directly-related-to-/tg/ stuff and not descend into the pure [[skub]] that can arise in discussions of real-life religions, okay?

==Definition of Religion==
Almost since the inception of the term, scholars have failed to agree on a definition of religion. While there are some belief systems that always count as religions, some have applied the term to various things such as political ideologies, or groups when they reach a certain point. There are however two general definition systems: the sociological/functional and the phenomenological/philosophical.

The two most widely accepted are:
* "a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say things set apart and forbidden - beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a church, all those who adhere to them."
* "a comprehensive worldview or 'metaphysical moral vision' that is accepted as binding because it is held to be in itself basically true and just even if all dimensions of it cannot be either fully confirmed or refuted".

As stated before, one common element that every religion which fits the criteria has is humanity's relation to supernatural forces, as all of them have at least one [[God|god]] and/or an afterlife even where there are exceptions; Buddhism doesn't have any gods but has afterlives, and Taoism doesn't have an afterlife but does have a pantheistic concept of a god as a supernatural force.

Like other terms for heavily [[SJW|debated]] [[communism|subjects]], religion and religious have also been used as insults or Snarl Words in social and political discussions (especially from the 20th century and onwards) to ridicule groups openly promoting something the user disagrees with. This snarl creates a caricature of the group to smear them by association with the worst excesses/negative stereotypes of real-world religious people (like being too preachy, judgmental, irrational, hypocritical, or pressuring everyone to convert).

==Religion vs. Mythology==
While [[Mythology|mythologies]] aren't religions in and of themselves, every religion has a mythology. While mythologies are merely the accounts of supernatural events, religions also have several criteria such as how life should be lived, what happens to a person after death and humanity's relation to the supernatural. [[Skub|Whatever the source]], the mythology almost always predates the religion. As a result, especially since the Fantasy genre deals in supernatural beings and forces, most if not all fantasy settings have religions. Science fiction does to a lesser degree, mostly because during the Golden Age of sci-fi empiricists and secular humanists were attracted to the genre and their views often seeped into their stories. Despite this, given that most real-life societies have had religions playing a role in or since their founding, religions are still found in sci-fi.

Religions involves belief systems and practices, where an adherent can call upon the power/being the religion is focused on to give them aid in [[cleric|various]] [[Paladin|ways]], depending at the very least on the religion and the task in question. Given that religions are about people's place in the world, how it was made, ideas on how life should be lived and what happens after death, they have major implications for societies. Given that people can become [[Exarch|dangerously single-minded]] about a cause, people can be become extremists about their religion, regardless of the fact that [[Heironeous|some]] are more benevolent than [[Asmodeus|others]] and in numerous cases even [[Heresy|if it involves going against the religion's teachings]]; in conjunction with the above this means religious conflicts can become widespread, long-lasting, cause carnage and also involve other elements such as politics.

==Role in Society==
A person's belief (for or against) any or all religions is a major factor in their worldview, and as such often serves as the undercurrent for all others. This is because this belief shapes people's views on the big things such as the purpose of life, how life should be lived in relation to oneself and others and what happens to people after they die. On the upside, this often leads to teachings with the goal of unity, peace, charity and co-operation as per the teachings of most religions, some of which are adapted by or also found among non-religious systems. On the downside, this can lead to clashes over how the people involved do the will of whichever beings or forces they follow, which religion should be followed or whether or not people should follow a god or religion at all. This can involve arguments and factionalizing, or in some cases worse things like pogroms and wars. Since they are an overarching and fairly common element in cultures, they often appear or are referenced in fiction.

The most common religious belief systems are the Abrahamic family of religions (primarily Judaism, Christianity and Islam) which are Monotheistic (belief in a singular God) and share many common elements and root, with - at the time this was written - Christianity being the most followed religion globally.

Within the last few centuries, due to events such as the French Revolution, there has also been a significant amount of anti-religious sentiment, which regards religion as at best redundant and at worst destructive (beyond historical grievances with specific groups within religions, reasons for this view and whether or not those arguments have any merit, shall not be discussed here). Interestingly, numerous tyrannical regimes have tried to restrict or stamp out religions. This is because religious teachings put the figure/object of worship before the state in a conflict of interest, most religions teachings condemn many of the things tyrannical leaders indulge in, tyrants dislike competition for their subjects' fealty, being answerable to anyone besides themselves, the tyrant may be prejudiced or any combo of the above. While nations have just tried to block specific religions deemed "false" (read: oppose the state-sponsored religion in any way), several nations (usually [[Communism|Communist]] states which took Marx's "religion is the opiate of the masses" quote out of context, as Marx viewed religion was a sort of protest against oppression that relieved people's immediate suffering and gave them the strength to go on living while also preventing them from revolting against the class system that produced their oppression that would disappear when no longer useful) have tried to get rid of religion altogether, albeit with horrifying [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Militant_Atheists results] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge_rule_of_Cambodia#Religious_communities each] time. Best case scenario, they sidegrade from one set of problems to another as cults of personality (commonly ones based on the ruler in charge) spring up to exploit the newly created power vacuum formerly filled by an established religion while believers who manage to survive the regime try to continue their activities in secret.

The most religious nations are theocracies such as the Catholic theocracy running Vatican City and the Isalmic theocracy running Saudi Arabia. China is - at the time this was written - the world's least religious and most atheistic country (the situation around North Korea is [[Skub|debatable]], since even though they violently supress religions [https://www.foxnews.com/world/north-korea-publicly-executes-80-some-for-videos-or-bibles-report-says to the point that merely having copies of religious texts can be grounds for execution], they also have the Kim Cult blended with the Marxist offshoot ideology Juche).

==How this impacts /tg/==
A few major ways. Since most if not every society in real-life has had religion either be the basis for its founding or play a role in it, religion is just as involved in the backstory or current lore of settings. There are three major "modes" of /tg/ settings and related fictions:
* The purely functional where religions are a story device.
* Religions and/or those they worship are portrayed positively as some sort of endorsement of religiosity.
* Religions and/or those they worship are portrayed negatively as some sort of criticism of religiosity.

===Religion as a story device===
Compared to the two types of writers found below, these writers are usually just attempting to model their work after real-world [[Mythology]] and are frequently attempting to keep their views of Religion separate from their work. Frequently comes in one of two subspecies:
* The [[Standard Fantasy Setting]] default: The world is ruled by an ordinary polytheistic pantheon, usually close to some admixture of Norse and Greek mythologies. Some of them also have a Top God - one more powerful than all the others and maybe the in-universe creator of everything - who is mostly hands-off in cosmic affairs. The gods of these religions tend to focus on specific areas (gods of [[Paladin|Justice]] and [[Druid|Nature]] are common, for subtly obvious reasons) and frequently want their followers to propagate or promote these things.
* The kind of setting they wanted to make dictated the nature of the divine. For example, in [[Exalted]] just about all the figures anybody would call a "God" (besides the Exalted) are Useless, because the Exalted (which includes the Player Characters) are supposed to be the Most Important People in the world, to go with the main theme of the setting for the PCs: "You can do '''almost anything''', except ''avoid the consequences of being the one who did that anything''".

===Religion as a Bad Thing===
There are several writers of Science Fiction and Fantasy that are of the opinion "Religion Is Bad" along with having an axe to grind (sometimes warranted, sometimes not) with either one or more specific real-life religions or religion in general. This is more common in Sci-Fi than fantasy because the focus on science appeals to the naturalist, empiricist and/or humanist worldview of such writers, with the supernatural being seen as an obstacle to that. Despite that, the view is found among some fantasy authors as well, such as the author of the book series "His Dark Materials", Philip Pullman (he wrote it after reading and getting triggered by C.S Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia" series). Cosmic Horror also tends to use the "Gods Don't Exist" or "Gods are Evil" route, or combine them into "The Gods are actually Incomprehensible and Destructive Aliens" (for example; the author who codified the genre, [[H.P. Lovecraft]], was an avowed anti-religious atheist). This also has the side effect of inclining science fiction towards an atheistic perspective.

Another major component is personal issues of the author such as grievance or prejudice, but that's case-by-case and a major can of worms. Whatever the motivation, writers saying this message often model their fictional religions on the - occasionally exaggerated - worst excesses of real world religious people and lift imagery from those religions or groups among them. Popular targets are Christianity, Islam, any faith that practiced Human Sacrifice - such as the Aztec civilizations, and Scientology. Cults are especially fertile ground for this message, albeit running the risk of being misapplied to tar other groups with the same brush. This comes in flavors of either "The Gods Don't Exist", "The Gods are Incompetent" (more on that above) or "The Gods are Evil".

===Religion as a Good Thing===
There are several religious Science Fiction and Fantasy writers who either want to promote their worldview, look upon religion positively and put that into the story or both. This is more common in Fantasy than Sci-fi, partly because with the supernatural being THE fundamental element of the genre this opens opportunities to explore many aspects of religiosity. These authors usually put more thought into their fictional religion plus its central figure (although they have a tendency to go all "Crystal Dragon Jesus"), and try and have it be at least a somewhat good influence, although religious institutions and leaders are usually hit-and-miss affairs.

Some people make a fictional setting with figures from real-world religions, either in the real-world or [[CS Lewis|an alternate world such as Narnia like C.S Lewis did]]. Others use fictional religions that either visually resemble real-life religions of figures from them; religions that often get this treatment are the Abrahamic faiths (most often Christianity), Greek mythology, Egyptian mythology and Norse mythology (albeit often a sanitized version of the latter three).

Another route this uses is the route that faith itself provides the power; think of Morpheus' "your mind makes it real" quote, or the "[[Belief Function|Clap Your Hands If you Believe]]" trope. In fact, Warhammer often goes the route that the gods are powered by faith as well as from their sphere of influence which has either [[Sigmar|caused some people have risen to godhood]] or [[Ynnead|caused new gods to be born in the setting]]. In fact, this has proven the greatest weapon against Chaos in every Warhammer setting (and why the Emperor's plan to starve the Chaos Gods with atheism was doomed to fail from the start).

===Somewhat special cases===

One somewhat special case is the "Religion of Evil"; in many settings, there is a religion that is explicitly capital E Evil and seeks one of the usual "Card Carrying Villain" goals of Control, Conquest, Corruption, or Destruction. Frequently has some admixture of the worst aspects of Roman Paganism, Norse practices, the Aztec, Scientology and/or the various Abrahamic religions. They also often draw from those found in the writings of H.P Lovecraft. If this cult directly worships an individual Evil God, expect whatever makes sense for that deity to be some form of destructive activity--e.g., the cult of the God of Murder demands human sacrifice on a regular basis, with a certain portion of that explicitly being not-careful-enough cultists. Regardless, Religions of Evil can show up in all three above modes, and usually has a special purpose in all three:

* Functionalists (and, for that matter, all three) need bad guys. In particular, a group who by definition is Evil is always good for some no-need-to-worry-about-the-ethics-or-morality-of-killing fodder (based on the idea that everyone in is group is evil because you have to do evil to be part of the group).
* Religion is Bad types tend to use them to say either "while they're all Bad, some are worse then others", or say "Religion can be used to justify anything". Occasionally a prejudiced writer uses it as a strawman to tar all with the same brush or they have an axe to grind against a specific real-life religion and/or its followers.
* The sincerely religious tend to use them as analogies with fanaticism, criticize Real World cults, compare different beliefs or deal with negative aspects of religion (occasionally making jabs at competitive religions, or fellow believers the author disagrees with).
** As a side note, a lot of fantasy has moved slightly away from pure Religions of Evil, for much the same reason as [[Always Chaotic Evil]] races (audiences and authors nowdays demand more motive for their villains). While there are still plenty of them, they usually add some nuance that makes them at least morally neutral under their own lights--frequently, taking vengeance for a real or perceived wrong or injustice (which has '''plenty''' of real-life precedent).

[[Urban Fantasy]] writers are another special case, since almost all Urban Fantasy is set in something that might be called "the real world with a twist", with all the usual political trouble that implies. As a result, they can take one of a few routes:
* The most common route is "there are many possible explanations" and vague things up as much as possible ([[True Faith|Faith]] being the power that repels [[Vampire]]s rather than than a cross having any actual connection to a deity is a popular one).
* The second most common route (which is rarer outside of Cosmic Horror) is the "Religion as a Bad Thing" route from above. The story is straight up atheistic/"Religion is Bad" [[Imperial Truth|propaganda]], and in practice the writer often has an axe to grind against a specific religion. It's a popular choice for writers trying to be [[Edgy]] who want to include religious subject matter in their stories, and they almost exclusively go after the most followed religion in the area.
* Some Urban Fantasy works with a clear correct religion exist thanks to the above mentioned sincerely religious authors, which are typically [[Chick Tracts|barely veiled proselytizing]] or [[Twilight|just straight up terrible]], though [[Monster Hunter International|there are some good ones]].
* The fourth route, taken most notably by [[Supers|DC and Marvel comics]] among others, is to take an "All Myths are True" approach: All religions are sort of true, but none have any exclusivity to the Truth, so Thor and Athena might have the Archangel Michael on speeddial when the Orochi teams up with Apep to start making trouble in their neighborhoods (because "Mikey really likes kicking serpent tail, and gets annoyed when we don't at least try to invite him to an evil serpent ass-kicking."). Differs from the "vague things up" route by being clearer on some details, and also much more gonzo. The Abrahamic God is the exception here: He's usually kept especially vague, albeit more powerful (and yet infinitely less accessible) than anyone else in the setting, and only referred to by some codephrase (Marvel likes "The One Above All", DC generally goes for "The Presence" or "whatever is behind the Source Wall").

===Miscellaneous Observations===

Doing the "The Gods are Incompetent" thing (the similar but different "The Gods are Insane", "The Gods Are Assholes" and "The Gods Don't Actually Do Anything" routes also falls under this umbrella) can go into any of the three modes; in a sincere monotheist's (such as Christian) work, it can be a "Take That" to polytheistic religions; in a "Religion is Bad" atheist's, it can be one to religion in general; in a Buddhist-influenced work, it can be a part of the whole "even the Gods are tied up in the Wheel of Karma" concept; and, even if the author is not pushing any religious message in any way, there's a neutral, plot-structural reason to go "Incompetent Gods": it can make the adventurers the Most Competent People Available.

If a work has multiple writers, (as frequently happens with RPG and Wargame settings, and quite a few popular SciFi/Fantasy ones as well) there's a tendency for the writers to try and pull the setting into one of the other two "modes" depending on their personal views. This leads to the theme changing from one side to the other as the story progresses. A recent example is [[World of Warcraft|the spate of retcons to the cosmology of the Warcraft universe]] and the morality of its fundamental forces/dominant higher powers, the Light and the Void. If the story doesn't get focused on a pro-religion or anti-religion message, it will swing back and forth between both sides.

Note that members of the "Religion is Bad" and "Religion is Good" brigades will get involved in arguments over the relative morality or "goodness" of various factions in the story and the accuracy of any messages a writer presents. Often history buffs will throw their hat into the ring as well.

==Examples of /tg/ connected fictional religions==
===Warhammer 40k===
* The [[Imperial Truth]] was originally the Emperor's plan on beliefs, which he and his servants propagated throughout the galaxy during the Great Crusade. Attempting to wean mankind away from Chaos and being a firm member of the "Religion is Bad" brigade, the Emperor proclaimed there are no gods, and religion had to be abolished willingly or by force while science or reason are to be used for explaining the universe and morality. Everything transpired according to his design, except theistic religiosity in the 40k universe is the best weapon against Chaos so Emp's interstellar state atheism policy gave them a major opening. Things went from bad to worse when people started looking up to the Emperor as a god himself and [[Exterminatus|he responded accordingly]]. After the Horus Heresy and the Emperor's removal from galactic politics: the Imperial Truth was slowly shelved in favor of the Imperial Cult, to the point that espousing the teachings of the Truth is ironically considered heresy. Only a few practitioners of the Imperial Truth remain, most notably the Custodes and the Space Marines (both of whom know The Emperor better than anybody to worship him as a god. Plus, their religious autonomy.).
** The [[Imperial Cult]] is the present-day religion of the Imperium of Man, and is a mix of several Abrahamic Religions along with copious amounts of warmongering, fanaticism and xenophobia. Derived from the Lectitio Divinatus penned by [[Lorgar]] pre-HH, the Cult decrees that because the Emperor is capable of all these miracles and power: he ''must'' be a god, and why you should worship and pledge loyalty to him. Its a complete 180 from the Emperor's original teachings, and has simultaneously been responsible for damning and saving the Imperium past the clusterfuck of the Horus Heresy. It's unknown whether the Emperor still abhors godhood and religion and would abolish it the moment he could, or if he's resigned himself to becoming the very thing he fought against for mankind to persevere in these trying times. Whatever the case, he didn't want to be a god, but now he has no choice but to become one.
** The [[Adeptus Mechanicus|Cult Mechanicus]] (Machine Cult) is the religion of the Adeptus Mechanicus, placing a heavy emphasis on machines, viewing them as gifts from the Machine God called "The Omnissiah" Officially, the Omnissiah is The Emperor, which allows the Mechanicus to sidestep the more puritan pundits of the Imperial Cult (we worship The Emprah, just not how you do it). Unofficially, the Omnissiah may or may not be the C'tan god: The Void Dragon. It also has a high emphasis on the collection of knowledge, and one of the Admech's roles in the galaxy is to explore remote and uncharted regions of space to find and search for knowledge that has been lost throughout the millennia. The last of these, is guidelines on machines and knowledge. Officially, heretic(tek) and xeno works are to be abhorred and disposed of, viewing them as perversions of the holy Machine God's works. Unofficially however, more liberally-minded and higher-ranked Magos would happily hoard heretek/xeno works, seeing their potential over the more restricted and constrained works of the Mechanicus.

* Chaos is a violent and complicated henotheistic (believing in multiple gods but only worshipping one) or polytheistic religion with dozens, if not hundreds of interpretations. Even then, there's more sub-cults that worship their particular god in a specific way, either minutely or vastly different from everyone else among followers of the Big 4. And this doesn't even get into the realm of Chaos Undivided (which worships the concept of Chaos itself, instead of the individual gods) and [[Malal]]. Chaos has very little established guidelines regarding worship, apart from their patron god's/gods' general likes/dislikes, so any religious practices or rituals are either based on commands from the god/s or up to the imagination of the cult.
** Interestingly, there is a Space Marine of the Chaos faction who follows the Imperial Truth, and that is [[Fabius Bile]].

* All Greenskins worship Gork and Mork (jury's out on whether the [[Gretchin Revolutionary Committee]] do), but are too disorganized to have anything like a formal religion, though they do make effigies of Gork and Mork and call on them. Religion doesn't play a significant role in Ork society compared to the other races.

* The Tau's creed "The [[Greater Good]]" is a specie-wide philosophy that was adopted ever since the initial unification of the Tau in the olden days. In a nutshell, the Greater Good emphasizes the co-existence of all Tau and sapient life in general into working together for a common goal to further the Tau's progress, seeing everyone's potential and hoping to utilize that for an, ahem, greater good. Personal religion isn't forbidden, but it must not contradict or override The Greater Good, and must be disregarded if it ever does so. Technically, this means Tau can be religious or non-religious, as the Greater Good is not a religion (due to lacking an afterlife and supernatural aspects, with the closest things to figures of worship being the Ethereals). This sounds all fine and dandy, but the Ethereal class, who are responsible for maintaining The Greater Good, have been shown to be less benevolent than believed and have been using their unnaturally powerful charisma to subtly oppress the Tau and use them to further their own agendas.
**The Farsight Enclaves, who have thrown off Ethereal rule, are the exception in that they have rejected The Greater Good, seeing it as the method of oppression used to keep the T'au under complete control of the ethereals. Due to this, if one considers the Greater Good a religion, The Enclaves are irreligious.
**As of the 4th Sphere Expansion disaster, Chaos Tau are starting to become a thing.
**At one point, the Earth Caste gathered Genestealer-infected Tau and studied them to see what would happen. Of course, a Genestealer cult developed and naturally they violently escaped control and surveillance. According to rumors, they've even produced a Genestealer-infected Ethereal.

* The Eldar have varying views on religiosity depending on their type. Their religion is polytheistic, with henotheistic offshoots, and Ausryan was the highest ranking god. However all of the Eldar gods were murder-raped to death by Slaanesh except for Isha (taken by Nurgle), Khaine (shattered and flung into realspace), Cegorach (hiding in the Webway) and Ynnead (born long after Slaanesh's birth). Their Pantheon's religious practices aren't fleshed out save for those of Cegorach, Isha, and Khaine, via the Harlequins and Aspect Warriors. With most of their gods out of commission, Eldar religious worship is of a deistic bent.
** Craftworlders and Exodites almost exclusively worship the original Eldar pantheon, though some engage in henotheistic worship of only one of the gods. Asuryan is more popular among Craftworlders while Isha is among Exodites, though nearly all give Khaine some tribute during war.
** Corsairs are all over the place, though Khaine is a popular choice given their more militant nature.
** Being agents of the Laughing God himself, the Harlequins' worship is centered around [[Cegorach]], whilst still paying minor tribute to the other gods.
** The new faith around Ynnead, the Ynnari, is rapidly growing but have yet to establish teachings or rituals.
** Unique among the Eldar, the Dark Eldar are irreligious for the most part and while they believe some gods exist they're too self-centered to worship them (this is canon). They're often also anti-religious to boot; a major landmark of Commorragh is a landfill of religious icons called Iconoclast's Mound, and one Wych cult - the Pain Eternal - revolves around killing religious people and destroying shrines and holy sites. The sole exception, except for Dark Eldar who stop being Dark Eldar, are the [[Incubi]] who hold [[Khaine]] in high regard.
** There are numerous rumors of a very small number of Chaos Eldar, but these are barely fleshed out and heavily classified in-universe. There have been verified Nurgle-worshipping Eldar and persistent rumors that some have embraced Slaanesh without becoming soul-food. Apart from this, some Dark Eldar have been willing to summon Chaos Daemons or work with Chaos worshippers ([[Fabius Bile|or allies of Chaos]]) to further their own ends.

* While the Necrontyr had religions before certain [[C'tan|star entities]] [[Necrons|roboticizied them]], those aren't fleshed out or detailed. Its also heavily implied the C'tan co-opted the Necrontyr religion beforehand. With the change to Necrons taking the higher though processes of most of them, any Necrons who can comprehend faith and religiosity either worship the C'tan or have become irreligious.

* The Tyranids themselves are irreligious, being spehss bugs and all, but understand at least a few of the advantages of religion. [[Genestealer]]s infect people and together they establish cults on targeted worlds, such as one worshipping "Children of the Stars", a perversion of the Imperial Cult or something else like "Celebrants of Nihilism" (yes, that's a canon Genestealer cult name). Psychic influence is often involved and, notably, the Genestealers do not consider themselves gods. Once the Tyranids arrive en-masse, the cult-gets assimilated along with all non-Tyranids willingly or not. An interesting tidbit is that the Hive Mind stops the Tyranids from attacking the cultists in early stages of the invasion and leads them on, only to later override the Genestealers' wills and and make them slaughter the cultists.

===Dungeons and Dragons===
* Among Dungeons and Dragons settings, [[Planescape]], [[Eberron]], and [[Pathfinder]] are notable for having some coherent things that could be called "Religions", rather then the usual generic Pantheism.
** Most of Planescape's Factions effectively count as religions, to the point they can produce [[Cleric]]s ([[Planescape: Torment#Fall-From-Grace|Atheist ones at that]]). Yes, even the Athar. (Perhaps ''especially'' the Athar.)
** Half of Eberron's religions aren't worship of deities. The [[Blood of Vol]] seeks to unlock the divinity within one's self and rejects the gods (if they even exist) and the [[Path of Inspiration]] seeks to improve their next reincarnation. The Undying Court worships not gods but their undead ancestors that make up their government. The [[Path of Light]], [[Warforged_Mysteries#The_Becoming_God|Becoming God]] and [[Warforged_Mysteries#The_Reforged|Reforged]] all seek to ''create'' a deity. Even some interpretations of the [[Sovereign Host]], like the one most common among dragons, don't worship them as deities. Due to the way divine casting works in Eberron, all of these can produce divine casters.
** There's a handful of religions on [[Golarion]] that aren't merely worship of pantheons. The most prominent (read: Actually has mechanical support) is the [[Prophecies of Kalistrade]], which is basically fantasy [[Star Trek|Ferengi]].

* [[D20 Modern]]'s [[Urban Arcana]], unusually for urban fantasy, has D&D deities bleed into reality alongside the monsters. You are still able to play a <s>cleric</s> "acolyte" of any real world deity despite this.

===Star Wars===
* [[Star Wars]] is inconsistent on if the [[The Force]] is a religion. The Jedi and the Sith ''could'' both be considered religions as they are considered monastic, but mix in several other traits such as being meritocratic (Jedi) and kraterocratic (Sith) and Lucas himself has axed at least one prototyped book for portraying them too much as a religion. It's also notable that the Sith were former Jedi who left the Jedi path for several reasons including [[Heresy|disagreements over the teachings of that creed]]. Aside from that, religion is nearly always a non-human tradition, something noted in a culture's historical background and never seen implying its extinction, or a scam. The religiously linked "damn" and "hell" are the two real world swear words that exist in-universe, purely because Han Solo used them in the films, and some concept of an "angel" exists because a young Anakin told Padme about them in the prequel trilogy films.
** There are rare exceptions where a religion is fleshed out and explored, and the writing goes various directions for better or worse. A notable example is the aggressive polytheistic religion of the antagonistic Yuuzhan Vong from the EU (which the story gradually revealed was long ago perverted from benevolent roots, and this perverted form takes a few cues from Islam and Aztec mythology).

===Star Trek===
* Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry had a low opinion of religion and in his vision humanity had done away with it and was better off for it and he had no interest in adding it to the aliens. However, some of the cast and crew disagreed and occasionally references and religions found their way into the show, which increased after Roddenberry's death. The Federation's culture is distinctly humanistic (extending the concept to alien species) in it's outlook in which religion is regarded as a thing of the past.
** While there are plenty of "Godlike" entities in Star Trek, almost all are treated as Sufficiently Advanced Aliens in the Arthur C. Clarke sense--and in particular, in ST:TNG, the flip side, that Picard and his crew are frequently shown to look like Gods to sufficiently primitive aliens, is gone into in more than one episode.
** The Bajorans are a highly religious alien race, with the majority following peaceful teachings and a minority of violent extremists.
*** Of some note, the Bajoran religion is of interest because their "Gods" actually exist, and can be (somewhat incomprehensibly) talked to (a rarity outside of [[Science Fantasy]]). In other words, they were frequently a method of having some religion vs. science debates where the divine entity (A) explicitly exists, (B) is explainable as "sufficiently advanced and unusual aliens", and (C) aren't jerks, just bad at communication with those of us who experience time linearly--in other words, with a deck that wasn't quite as badly stacked. The religiosity was meant to be as a way of contrasting the Starfleet personnel with the native population and to draw a parallel between Bajorans under the Cardassian Occupation and various real world recently freed oppressed religious-slash-ethnic groups.
** <s>In the fifth Star Trek movie, ''"The Final Frontier"'', some of the crew steal the Enterprise to look for God and instead find a powerful alien being impersonating God in the center of the universe</s> '''Just like there is no live-action movie of Avatar: The Last Airbender, there is totally no Star Trek 5!'''

===World of Darkness===
* Very large books could be written about religion and [[World of Darkness]]/Chronicles of Darkness. We'll just cover a few highlights:
** From [[Vampire: The Requiem]], there's the the Lancea et Sanctum, which might be best described as "Christianity for Vampires", and the Circle of the Crone, which is "Pagan Vampires". Both have Vampire miracles on tap (pun intended).
** [[Hunter: The Vigil]] has various religious organizations among the Compacts and Conspiracies, some very similar to real world ones, others...not so much.
** [[Mage: The Ascension]] has various religious Traditions, portrayed in that highly-stereotypical and highly-depending-on-the-author way typical of old WoD.

==See also==
* [[Mythology]]

[[Category:Not related]]
[[Category:History]]