(Here are some old posts related to the Seven Firmaments campaign from before it was cancelled.)
As you can see, I didn't stick to Phantasy Star canon at all, but rather used the basic premise and "world" maps and place names and a few other details while trying to put my own spin on the concept. By which I mean that I mashed it up with a bunch of other borrowed ideas. Anyway, this is a rough draft of a thing I might not even finish, but I hope someone at least finds it amusing.
General info: All of the following religions are represented in each of the seven "worlds" (habitats) at the point when travel and communication was cut off between them. Neo-Termaxianism, Layanism, and the Grand Monument are the mainstream religions, while the other four are marginalized to different degrees - unfairly in most cases, but when it comes to the Druids and the most radical Militant Atheists, it's more of a matter of self-defense. In most cases, larger communities are more religiously diverse than smaller ones, but even villages tend to have some degree of variety. This diversity is not reflected in government. None of the worlds have an official state-sponsored religion on paper, but local governments are almost universally ruled de facto by a single religious faction, and world governments are at best split between a Neo-Termaxian majority and a minority party of Layanists and/or Monumentalists.
1A. Neo-Termaxianism, a.k.a. The Holy Latter Day Termaxian Church
I'm borrowing this from James Young's excellent posts found at Ten Foot Polemic HERE and HERE.
Neo-Termaxianism is by far the single most popular religion among humans, and the most politically powerful church in general. Elf and dwarf adherents are rare but not unheard of. Among halflings, there's pretty much a three-way tie for first place between standard Neo-Termaxianism, Muggletonianism, and Layanism.
The church was formerly ruled by the Papal Posse, a panel of the seven Popes - one for each world-kingdom. But now that the kingdoms are cut off from one another, each Pope is trying to hold down the fort individually until connection can be reestablished. It's probably all a test of people's faith, conducted either by Termax or that pesky Queen Satan.
Presumably there was an original group of Termaxians lacking the "Neo" prefix and the whole "Latter Day" thing, but apparently no one remembers them (or the original Nonanists they spun off from, which you can read about in the posts linked above). But if someone did remember the originals, they would note that the Neo-Termaxians tend to be a lot more stoic and sober, and less focused on partying and not giving a shit. They still believe in the particulars: "the Apocalypse" and "Termax/Maximum Godhead Hyper-Jesus defeating Eris/Queen Satan and launching the faithful from the Holy Mountain in a silver rocket to enjoy salvation beyond the firmaments" and all that good stuff. But their demeanor, their everyday philosophy of life, is closer to Roman Nonanism, what with the guilt and the systematically impenetrable jargon and the boring sermons every week and whatnot. This is a real bummer for the Muggletonians, who want to keep the spirit of Termaxianism alive (see below).
Neo-Termaxian doctrine used to go so far as to state that Queen Satan and Laya are one and the same, but this has been rolled back somewhat recently as part of the efforts to keep the peace with the Layanists.
1B. Quintessential Gnosticism
Some consider this a spin-off sect of Neo-Termaxianism, others posit in turn that Neo-Termaxianism may have branched off from it, or that both religions might stem from a common, earlier source. The followers of this faith are few in number but tend to be very dedicated. Basically, it's Neo-Termaxianism plus Gnosticism, possibly with some aspects of Marcionism and Catharism.
Their single most radical tenant, and arguably the core of their whole theological system, is the idea that the known physical world beneath the seven firmaments is an illusion or artificial construct of some sort, designed by an evil being or force - the Demiurge - to imprison and deceive people so that they cannot reunite with God (or the Monad) out in the real universe beyond the firmaments. Neo-Termaxianism doesn't get along with them very well because they sometimes claim that Maximum Godhead Hyper-Jesus is actually the Demiurge (essentially a Devil figure), and their Monad is the true God.
Gnostics have a history of studying esoteric texts, split between a tiny secret "canon" and a sprawling "quasi-canon" or "pseudo-canon" - they don't always mind sharing with outsiders the contents of the texts they study, but they tend to be very cagey about confirming which specific texts they actually believe to be truly canonical. Gnostics tend toward pacifism, vegetarianism, and antinatalism, although these are not universally agreed upon. Their concept of "Hell" is simply being reincarnated in the worlds beneath the firmaments. Folk tales often associate Quintessential Gnosticism with magical potions, alchemy, and supernatural transformations.
1C. Muggletonianism
I'm borrowing this from real life and from Barry Blatt's England Upturn'd. Just replace all of the Christian references with Termaxian ones. Even though they consider themselves a denomination of Neo-Termaxianism, they get along much better with Layanists and Militant Atheists than they do mainstream Neo-Termaxians. They do agree with the Neo-Termaxians that the worlds were made specifically for the use and pleasure of the humanoid races, but they see this less as an excuse to lord their superiority over other lifeforms and more as an excuse to party all the time. They believe that Termax lives on one or both of the moons, just above the firmament and some six or so miles over their heads.
2A. Layanism
This is the mainstream elf religion. Layanists worship Nature as a god (or goddess - they're not picky about the pronouns), but direct devotion to Nature as an individual entity is a relatively minor aspect of their beliefs. Layanism is primarily a form of Animism; they believe that everything in existence has a soul or spirit, and at least some level of awareness - not only animals, but plants and other lifeforms, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena as well. Most of their worship centers around venerating these spirits, especially the ones most directly involved in their lives, like the spirits of their food, homes, tools, and ancestors. Laya is a messianic figure believed to be the ur-ancestor of the elves, and through them, dwarfs and halflings. She is revered as being the first to make peace with Nature, turning the relationship between people and Nature from an adversarial one to one of mutual benefit. Nature, Laya, and all the spirits of the world are collectively referred to as the Triad of Order and represented by an equilateral triangle pointing to the right.
Layanists believe that Laya was wounded in an ancient battle with her nemesis Orakio, the ur-ancestor of all humans. Layanist doctrine used to go so far as to state that Orakio and Termax are one and the same, but this has been rolled back somewhat recently as part of the efforts to keep the peace with the Neo-Termaxians. Laya is now believed to sleep under a hollow hill until her injuries are healed and/or she is needed to return and save the Layanists from some dark fate that they are reluctant to discuss with outsiders.
2B. The Howling Church a.k.a. Druidry
I'm borrowing this from Arnold K.'s excellent posts Goblin Punch about Druids (1 2 3 4 5 6), and to a lesser extent, about Satanism and other topics (1 2 3 4 5). If given half a chance to make it even slightly theologically coherent, I'd probably combine the Druidic and Satanic material from Goblin Punch into one religion, for Maximum Folk Horror. These people want to tear down civilization and make everyone operate on animal instinct. If they ever discovered the truth about their artificial environment, they would lose their shit.
3. The Grand Monument
This is the mainstream dwarf religion. Outsiders regard them as the all-work-no-play religion, even more so than the Neo-Termaxians, which is really saying something. Adherents believe that dwarfs were created by one or more now-deceased gods for the express purpose of maintaining the physical well-being of the worlds, which are also collectively the sleeping, unborn body or bodies of one or more new gods who will someday awaken and be born. The worlds are the corpses of the old gods, the tombstones or memorials for those gods, and the raw materials of the gods-to-be, all at once; they are a Grand Monument to the eternal persistence of creation. Grand Monumentalists believe that it is their job to build and/or repair their godhead, which is also their home, essentially making them holy construction and maintenance workers.
Many dwarfs live and work underground to be close to the machine superstructures they supervise. They tend to agree wholeheartedly with Layanists about the importance of preserving the ecosystems of the above-ground worlds, even if they do regard the Layanists as deluded fools who don't see the big picture. They are generally indifferent to other religions except Muggletonians (whose care-free attitude rubs them the wrong way) and Druids (who are hated by just about everyone for their indiscriminate murder).
Monumentalists tend to obsess over work and isolate themselves from the political and cultural goings-on of the surface worlds except when they perceive a threat to the integrity of the environment, in which case they carefully and methodically go absolutely ballistic until the problem is solved. Monumentalist Troubleshooters are among the most effective hunters of rampaging monsters.
4. Militant Atheism
I'm borrowing this from Gus L.'s characters in Beloch Shrike's Dungeon Moon. They're essentially straw atheists. Their level of Militancy varies wildly among individuals, from merely enjoying a good argument at every opportunity, to a belief in staying armed and vigilant for the purposes of self-defense, to engaging in guerrilla warfare or even outright crusades when they feel persecuted.
Mysteriously, their ranks do include the occasional cleric, complete with magic powers. This could mean that there really are gods who bless them despite their unfaithfulness...or it could mean that clerical spells don't really come from a divine source, or that the magic was inside you all along, or Termax-knows-what.
Atheist Paladins - fighters who declare themselves champions of reason and wander the worlds in search of wrongs to right - are actually widely trusted and very begrudginly respected among the lower classes in most worlds, because even though they're completely insufferable, they've proven themselves again and again to be champions of the common people, as well as brave and effective monster hunters right up there with the Monumentalist Troubleshooters. Still, they do eventually get run out of any normal community they stick around too long once people get sick of them nitpicking every "superstition" they come across. To a lesser extent, this goes for Militant Atheists in general, so they usually live in their own isolated communities.
Random Religion by Race - Roll d100 to determine the religion of a PC or NPC as desired.
Dwarf
- 01-75 The Grand Monument (75%)
- 76-87 Militant Atheist (12%)
- 88-95 Layanist (8%)
- 96-97 Muggletonian (2%)
- 98-99 Gnostic (2%)
- 00 Neo-Termaxian (1%)
- 01-75 Layanist (75%)
- 76-85 Muggletonian (10%)
- 86-95 Gnostic (10%)
- 96-97 Neo-Termaxian (2%)
- 98-99 Militant Atheist (2%)
- 00 Druid (1%)
- 01-30 Neo-Termaxian (30%)
- 31-60 Muggletonian (30%)
- 61-90 Layanist (30%)
- 91-97 Militant Atheist (7%)
- 98-99 Gnostic (2%)
- 00 Druid (1%)
- 01-80 Neo-Termaxian (80%)
- 81-89 Militant Atheist (9%)
- 90-95 Muggletonian (6%)
- 96-97 Gnostic (2%)
- 98-99 Layanist (2%)
- 00 Druid (1%)
- Layanism 28.75%
- Neo-Termaxianism 28.25%
- Grand Monument 18.75%
- Muggletonianism 12%
- Militant Atheism 7.5%
- Gnosticism 4%
- Druidry 0.75%
*This is assuming that dwarfs, elves, halfings, and humans all have roughly equal populations. Since reliable survey information is unavailable, this is not a safe bet. Humans widely appear to be the most numerous of the humanoid races, so it would be unsurprising if Neo-Termaxians actually have a slight majority over Layanists. These demographics can be safely assumed to be roughly the same across all seven worlds for the first few decades after communication and travel is cut off, but the proportions will naturally tend to differ more over time due to the individual political situations and conflicts in each world unless contact is reestablished.
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