Hello, I'm here to ask the community an interesting question: How do you handle religion/faith in your games, if you have any? How many do you have? What are some traditions? Do you take the time to change your game to suit these religions/faiths? They can be either mirrors of RL religions or completely made-up.
In most of my games, there are a mix of religions and mythologies that are familiar in the real world, but they are actually intertwined and interconnected to a chiefly primary religious order called the Order of Zenith, where there are hundreds, maybe even thousands of entities represented but are chiefly presided over by 14 Divines (13 depending on who you ask) that form the majority of the spheres of influence represented on the world. Each of the Divines has at least one holiday dedicated to them and that's where I use the holiday system to showcase the religious traditions usually associated with each.
The Creator:
Zenith - God of Creation, Time and Space, Fire and Water, the Moon, and Just rule
AKA Chaos, The Watcher, and many other names; Zenith is everything and nothing all at once. There is nothing higher above it.
The Elders: The first primordial beings of creation, borne out of Chaos itself
Aatar - Elder God of Light, Absolution, Order, Defender of good, patron god of Elves
AKA the Light of Zenith; Aatar is the personification of all Light. It also administers all the affairs in Heaven and is Zenith's right-hand.
Gwynn - Elder Goddess of Balance, crystals, mysteries, fertility
Gwynn is the personification of all Matter and Energy; she is also considered the 'First Mother' excepting Zenith, and the only Elder with an established gender. Considered Zenith's left-hand, and is also a patron goddess among Witches.
Alithia - Goddess of Mercy, Light, Healing, patron goddess of the Order of Zenith
Technically a Sub-Elder, created only partially from Chaos; while the other Elders can be considered 'children' of Zenith indirectly, Alithia is the first true 'child' directly created by Zenith itself. A long time ago, she was known as the Dark Goddess after The Fallen One had corrupted her pure nature and waged war on Heaven; after thousands of years, she had returned, was re-purified of the dark influence, and returned to being what could arguably be Zenith's 'favorite child'.
The Divines: These are the gods that cover most of the other major spheres of influence; most of them are 'children of Zenith'
Hannai - Goddess of Wisdom, courage, knowledge, patron goddess of magi
Verloren - God of Death, Justice, Reaper of souls, the Life cycle, patron god of Reapers
Only a grandchild of Zenith; the fourth child of Zenith's son Masayoshi, the first god of death. First wrongly cast out by his father after a grievous mistake in Heaven, Masayoshi eventually turned evil and corrupted himself, to which Zenith had no choice but to dispose of his own son. Verloren was pardoned immediately and eventually found his way back up to Heaven, but going the long way round. All soul reapers work under him; Grimmy is just one of many other Reapers.
Arashi - God of Storms, nature, life, patron god of hunters
Anankos - God of elemental mastery, Pure willpower, Serenity, Peace
Only a grandchild of Zenith; the first child of Zenith's son Drakon, who was unfortunately captured outside of Heaven and devoured by The Fallen One. After experiencing struggles of his own, he was redeemed and became Drakon's natural replacement, living the life of a divine monk.
Rhiannon - Goddess of the Family, the hearth, guidance, flight, guardian of the tree of Alcaire (The World Tree)
Aesir - God of New beginnings, rebirth, freewill, Time (present)
Also a general mischief-maker and trickster, but only means well.
Jubilea - Goddess of the Arcane, summoning, sorcery, humanity, Darkness, and Celestial record keeper
Depending on who you ask, she can be considered a Divine or not whether they go by the old pantheon or the new one; that would bring it down to 13 (or 12) Divines instead.
Abraxas - God of the Sun, crafting and enchanting, god of Labour
Lydia - Goddess of Love, the arts, the Oceans, and the Moon
Controversial:
Fenghuang - God of Heroes, justified war, patron god of Imperanese (a special race I developed)
Fenghuang is controversial as a Divine in the fact that his story pertains to that of a mortal king who ascended to the role of a Divine, and many doubt the veracity that a mortal being could ascend into Heaven and become a Divine, let alone even a deity of any kind. Secondly, because he's considered partial only to a specific race of people and not to all of mortalkind.
The Fallen One:
Zarthon - Elder God of Corruption, Shadow, controller of the Old Ones
AKA the Shadow of Zenith; Zarthon is the personification of all Shadow. It became the Fallen One after Zenith cast Zarthon out of Heaven after favouring Aatar, since they are 'twins' of each other and despise each other to boot. Zarthon has felt jaded and has made its mission to ruin Zenith's creations ever since.
Comments
To answer the original question.
My faith plays a very important role in my life, and consequently I do try to incorporate faith and religion into the world of my sims. Having said that, I do not believe that my sims have to practice my religion and I have actually spent some time researching various religions when I create some of my more culturally diverse characters (this is of course an almost impossible task because no amount of research can immerse you in the actual faith of another religion if you do not embrace the tenets of that faith with both an open mind and heart - and this of course will most likely lead you to conflict with tenets that do not mesh with your inherent belief system), but as for customs and holidays and wardrobing etc. associated with the major religions of the world - hell's YEAH! Nothing is more interesting to me than what motivates folk and nothing motivates folk as powerfully as their faith - even when their faith appears faithless (as in atheism), so in some ways it is essential to the creation of my characters to think about and incorporate their religious beliefs. In the case of some sims it's more relevant and pronounced than in others (as in real life). Am I jaded by my faith? Most likely, as I do believe that all my sims - no matter how culturally diverse I try to make them all seem to adhere to at least one simple tenet " An it harm none do what ye will" as do I - yet my candle still burns in Rome.
But with the exception of 3 Disney heriones (Kida, Ewliony and Lilo) most other Heriones have "jobs" with them they have to help based on their behaviours or storyline. I can't remember all of them- but Alice is imagination, Wendy's is mothering, Snow White's is magic&night and also shares winter duties with Elsa, Aurora (obvious) day and also of dreams, Ariel=goddess of the sea (well water)&artsm Belle-goddess of knowledge, Cinderella-Goddess of the Hearth (Home), Elsa&Anna together=goddess of family, Esmerlda= goddess of outcasts&heart break, Jasmine-goddess of exotic pets &thieves, Jane=goddess of Jungle, Merida=archery, Megra=goddess of broken hearts, Mulan-Goddess of fighting, Moana-travelling (new?) Pochantas=harvest, Rapunzel=goddess of healing, Tiana (Goddess of chefs/entrepreneurs).
So basically there's a female priestess (and her family) and depending on what the need is-she dressed as one of the various Disney heroines.
Toddlers=don't do anything
Girl children=Are dress like Alice
Teen Girls=Wendy Darling
YA-take over from Mom.
coed- "Enrichment" (Evil religion) there's both a priest and Priestess (married) supposedly both genders are supposed to be allowed to become the new leader-but in-story for some reason the family prefers girls to boys
Okay I loved reading this so much.
I too try to do that, to a lesser degree. My sims are multicultural, of course they would be of "various faiths and beliefsTM".
I guess I use mirrors of RL religions. It is not a focal point of my gameplay though, the most I do about it is different ways of doing the Festive Lighting tradition, or a nod in deco items, food, names, or clothing.
But I don't know enough to try more, and even if I did know more it would still only be a background thing.
I really liked The Sims Medieval approach to the Cult of the Watcher (the Watcher being the player) and I've always wanted to use it in another game in the franchise buuuut ... too lazy.
(She/her)
I do have a family that is part of a cult like religion (well kind of) that I just made it up. They have a shrine area and every member has a shrine area in their home. They are strict about dress and have other customs and even have meetings with others in a wider group outside of the family.. it's very patriarchal. Mostly I made it up to add to the backstory for one sim. The religion I made isn't bad, but it is strict and will lead to an unpleasant story line later because of conflict.
Oh I also add in churches in my save games... for weddings and graveyards. Still haven't had a wedding in one.
I've made sims of different cultures and what not, but haven't bothered to delved deeper into anything that may revolve around said faith, since sims don't have a concept of such. For the most part it's just cosmetic and wanting to imitate as closely when I look up certain cultures, decor and some traditions that may be common in that culture. Have some Hindu sims I had interest in decorate their home specifically with a lot of references. Haven't quite played around with traditions to make a specific holiday tied into culture just yet
For now, most Sims just worship the almighty llama god.
I'm kidding, mostly. I do have them do the 'attend holiday ceremony' thing on what I call Easter, but I just imagine they're at some like... city-wide Easter egg hunt or something. Nothing super religious.
Player: *instructs sim to prepare meal* "Then eat something, you little goofball!"
Sim: *starts cooking meal*
-5 seconds later-
Sim: *Stops cooking meal* "I'm so hungry!"
Player: *head hits desk*
All witches in my save follow the Goddess of Magic Lunayra.
Gods in my game are more refered to as deities, and they aren't all powerful or omnipotent, but they are incredibly strong.
The main characters in my story are also technically demi gods, due to being direct decendants of Lunayra.
Theres also an afterlife.
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In Founder Sim's Church they think there was a founder sim who was their ancestor. They're rather conservative, at least the core group that lives in Oasis Springs. They also believe that all worthy sims will be saved to the gallery and have a chance for a second life. This all could of course be true, but my save doesn't have a founder sim and I don't generally bring sims back...
The plumbobians belive that there's a plumbob that sometimes appears over the sims head and it will give their lives a direction. Most believe that the plumbob is green and means good, but some worship the red plumbob. This is kind of like the state religion. Almost all sims who don't belong to Founder Sim's Church will be buried in one of the plumbobian cathedrals. This religion isn't as well shaped in my mind as the other, probably because there are so many sims that it should suit.
I have tried to create even a third religion, perhaps a nature religion, but I feel like I can barely manage two.
Updated with Werewolf Diaries (1)
1. I never remove autonomy from my sims.
2. I don't play vampires, evil sims, kleptos or any of that type of thing.
3. I don't do things I think would be cruel just because I could.
4. My sims are, well, pretty nice.
5. I don't run around killing sims, but I have been known to delete some townies. Hey, they're just simulations.
6. None of my sims woohoo unless married....
... you get the jist. I don't play a boring game, but it's not nearly as edgy as many folks' game. But no, I don't create little bible study gatherings or church services for my sims. That may be something I could do, but it would seem weird. What would be the point. Faith is the opposite of a simulation.
EA ID: SheriGR
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/SheriGr
"What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." ― Micah 6:8