Traveller religions?

[The Thing]

Ok, all the talk re religion in the political pulpit and the general theme of this site made it impossible for me to not think of religion in traveller, and I was trying to compile a list of religious groups in traveller.

It occurred to me that there seem to be few religious groups in traveller, and they seem to be small and cultish. Based on what I've read the droyne seem to treat ancient sites as sacred and religious places they often won't set claw in, so I presume the droyne have some deep feelings towards the ancients. Does this count as a religion? I can't say for sure. The droyne do have ceremonies involving their coynes, is that a religious exercise? Maybe, but at best the droyne's religious views are obscure and mysterious to outsiders, which may be the way the little gits want it.

The k'kree have their detailed and in depth religion which was explored quite nicely in GT, and a very militant religion it is, so their religious views are pretty clear.

The vargr are in a bit of a situation, knowing they were created by the ancients makes it hard for them to claim creation by a supernatural deity, but some of them apparently substitute the ancients for a deity and claim they are the "chosen" created by the ancients to rule the galaxy. (Sounds more like an ecuse to say "We've got a right to steal everything we want!" than a religion to me...)

I don't have the aslan module yet, but assume that they have some religion that goes claw in claw with their honor.

The hivers, I mean, could they even begin to have a religion by acknowledging something higher than they are? And if hivers believed in a god, they'd probably just work on ways to manipulate him/her.

Humans seem to have little and few religions in traveller. There doesn't seem to be a religion in most human states, tho I imagine the Zhodani have one that belief in is mandatory and enforced. The solomani would seem to have one but I see little refference to it.

In "darkmoon" there was a reference to a religious cult that believed in the spirit of arbellatra and sealed themselved up in old SDBs with low berth capsules to wait out a coming cataclysm, most of them just died cold. Another religious ref in darkmoon was about the guy who claimed that taking certain jump routes spelled out the names of god, he was busted for running a travel agent scam.

But all in all there seem to be very little religious views in the human population of the traveller universe.

Has there ever been an article about religions in traveller, or popular religions in the 3I? (And guys, please keep this a strictly traveller religion based thread, OK? No refs to real religions unless some source material shows they exist in the traveller era.)

 

[The Thing]

You know, as I read my post an idea for a religion in traveller, a purely traveller based religion set in the traveller universe, came to me.

It would be a semi-Luddite movement based on the idea that if a race becomes too advanced, it gets too close to being godlike and thus god plays "whack-a-mole" with them.

This religions could be based on the belief that the ancients were wiped out by the big G for coming too close to his level, and he didn't want the competition.

So I guess adherents to this faith believe that mortal life must "keep in it's place" and oppose scientific advancement for fear of being involved in god's next round of whack-a-mole.

I wonder if anyone else has made something like this as an official traveller religion already? I'd almost be astounded if they hadn't. Anyway, if anyone wants to grab this and jump it into their traveller universe feel free, I like sharing ideas with fellow gamers usually.

 

[Jame]

I'm thinking of a philosophy based upon humanism, something like sophontism. The prime tenets are to be respectful of life, although it's definitely acceptable to have a death penalty and to eat meat.

Sophontism also insists that certain behaviors be either encouraged or discouraged on what basis they help or harm civilization.

 

[Spinward Scout]

If I remember right, BITS has a 101 Religions.

Wasn't there a Patron Saint of Travellers or some such? That'd probably go over well in a game.

 

[The Thing]

I've thought about adding a group to MTU that is based on the ideas I had here. I'm fleshing it out but the basic idea is that they're mostly called "Place keepers" or sometimes "Babelists" and they are actually a large number of groups that vary widely on some issues, but have a few fundamental tennants that make them united, at least in the eyes of outsiders:

-They believe that some creator or creators created the universe and intelligent life.

-They believe that intelligent life has a role to play in the universe.

-They believe that intelligent life is NOT to take on the role of god or to aspire to ascend to godlike levels.

-They believe if intelligent life advances beyond what is acceptable to god (and the sects argue over what is acceptable a lot) then god will strike it down.

-They believe this is exactly what happened to the Ancients, and that their fate is a warning to all other intelligent life. The ancients aspired to godlike levels, and comitted the godlike acts of creating life, even intelligent life such as the vargr, and were destroyed by god for this.


The "place keepers" believe that intelligent life must keep in it's place, and that if it does not a terrible cataclysm will befall it as apparently befell the ancients. As such they are not above using violent actions to enforce their views.

Mainstream placekeepers, or babelists as they are sometimes called, advocate for laws limiting scientific and technical advancement. The more extreme aspects of the belief are willing to use more direct means and have done so.

Attacks on research stations, threats, assassinations of scientific advocates and cutting edge researchers have all been laid at the feet of the place keepers. Many groups proudly take responsibility for terrorist acts in the belief they are saving their species from the wrath of god.

Many placekeepers see exploring ancient sites with an eye towards discovering the secrets of their technology to be the ultimate sin, and to actually be inviting god to strike down the current crop of intelligent life in the universe as he struck down the ancients so long ago. As such expeditions to ancient sites and research stations working on reverse engineering ancient technology are prime targets for placekeeper attacks.


it must be stressed that the placekeepers are not a single organization but a widely varied array of groups who often fight among themselves over the details of their beliefs. They are lumped together by the media as a matter of course and convenience. Often two groups commonly labeled placekeepers or babelists will have very different views on the nature of the creator they believe in and what is and is not dangerous levels of knowledge to aspire to.

Some have theorized that placekeepers are often used as pawns by more sinister groups. Conspiracy theories involving megacorporations using placekeepers to attack the research centers of rival megacorps are common, as are beliefs that placekeepers are sponsored by governments like the zhodani to hamper imperial scientific advancement.


I'm sure that any good traveller ref's head is already abuzz with ideas on using placekeepers in his campagn, so I'll just say "have fun".

 

[The Thing]

If I remember right, BITS has a 101 Religions.

Wasn't there a Patron Saint of Travellers or some such? That'd probably go over well in a game.

Aren't the groups in 101 religions more like a bunch of little cultish groups, not really widespread religions?

 

[Spinward Scout]

Not sure - I didn't buy that one.

 

[Jeff M. Hopper]

If I remember right, BITS has a 101 Religions.

Yes, and it is a very good book, well worth the money IMHO. Not all of the religions detailed in it are small or cultish, there are several that are described as very mainstream in the OTU.

One that immediately comes to mind is the Church of Stellar Divinity, there was a very good article written by some nimrod about a monastery of theirs that orbits the Beta Niobe Nova in the last issue of Stellar Reaches - you should check it out.

:devil:

 

[The Thing]

I still wonder if the hivers believe in "the great manipulator" as a god figure...

 

[hunter]

After some backroom discussion with the other moderators, we've decided to pull this out of the Political Pulpit. It was originally placed there due to the topic (religion), but valid points were raised that discussing religion in Traveller isn't specifically stated as a no-no and that it's discussion should be able to continue without the interference of real world religious bickering.

So, please keep this flame free and on topic. I will personally bust anyone who doesn't and if it can't be stopped it'll be put back into the Pit. You have been warned

 

[The Thing]

After some backroom discussion with the other moderators, we've decided to pull this out of the Political Pulpit. It was originally placed there due to the topic (religion), but valid points were raised that discussing religion in Traveller isn't specifically stated as a no-no and that it's discussion should be able to continue without the interference of real world religious bickering.

So, please keep this flame free and on topic. I will personally bust anyone who doesn't and if it can't be stopped it'll be put back into the Pit. You have been warned

So, can you pull that warning aramis gave me?

 

[hunter]

So, can you pull that warning aramis gave me?

As a warning it has no real impact and passes in 10 days from when it was issues. But yes I can pull it.

 

[The Thing]

As a warning it has no real impact and passes in 10 days from when it was issues. But yes I can pull it.

Oh, Ok, it was just a principle thing. I really bent over backwards to make it a traveller only post, and implored people to keep it that way, so I felt a warning was a bit much even tho I didn't object to it being moved.

BTW, I'm glad I started this post as an idea that came to me from writing it is useful to a convention game I'm running next week at a major convention. I needed a cover for what was actually going on and was going to use an "unknown attacker" as the cover, now I'll use placekeepers and explain to the players what placekeepers are IMTU.

it fits in much better, and given the mysterious disappearance of the ancients I think the idea of the placekeepers fits into traveller canon perfectly. From the placekeeper POV, the ancients played god, and god whacked them. Humaniti had better learn from that.

Yeah, it fits into traveller canon pretty nicely.

 

[Droyne668]

I wonder if anyone else has made something like this as an official traveller religion already? I'd almost be astounded if they hadn't. Anyway, if anyone wants to grab this and jump it into their traveller universe feel free, I like sharing ideas with fellow gamers usually.

I've played/ran Traveller on and off since 1981 or thereabouts. I have to say that religion hasn't ever come up unless it was part of a pre-printed scenario (like, say, Divine Intervention) or a mention in passing of the Stellar Divinity guys. My take on it has always been vaguely like this:

(Warning - May contain more Heresy than Canon - YMMV)

1. Solomani religions - some of the old ones are around and are still recognizable. Others are substantially altered (similar to the religions described in the Dune novels). Some new ones are localized and mostly ignored by everyone else.

2. Zhodani - Treat religion as a "bad idea". Pray and the Thought Police take you away and make you all better.

3. Vilanni - More like the Solomani religions, but "odd". I always had this idea of a pantheistic religion with huge temples and gigantic statues that looked oddly like giant robots (i.e. the Ancient warmachines that ravaged ancient Vland). Lots of incense and hours of weird chants and really nasty sacred food that tastes like soured vegetable oil strained through a dirty sock and coated with armpit.

4. Droyne - No translatable concept. The coynes are a psionic focus that is used because, well, it's been used for 20,000 odd years. They're too practical, and mostly run on instinct or autopilot. As a species they don't spend any time on anything that's not directly related to their roles in their communities. They don't live long enough to wonder about things. If you have time to wonder about things, you're ready to commit ritual suicide and make room for the next bunch of hatchlings.

5. Aslan - Ancestor worship. Sort of. Doesn't translate well. More like long-running fan clubs. I like the idea of Aslan "worshipping" the possession of territory (males) or intellectual property (females).

6. Vargr - 20,000 worlds with 2,000,000 religions at least. Or ideologies that resemble religion. Sometimes. Until some guy with a Charisma of B comes up with something else to do in their free time. Too flighty for organized belief systems. The Church of the Chosen Ones is described in CT material, but doesn't seem to be terribly widespread.

7. Daryen - a sort of religion based on an odd little droyne-looking god with big eyes, like an ancestral memory of their time in the Gardens.

8. Hivers - no concept of religion. They've devoted thousands of years trying to figure out what it means, but have made no progress other than to build a huge library of the beliefs of others. The ultimate secular pragmatists.

9. K'Kree - CRUSH THE G'NAAK BENEATH YOUR HOOVES! SLAY THEM! DRIVE THEM INTO THE GREATER DARK, THAT THEY MAY PERISH OF STARVATION AND LONELINESS! But no religion. Its just the way they are. The imperative to kill G'naak via interstellar genocide is no more unusual to them than being curious is to a human. Its just an emotion that they experience in place of, say, happiness. Love is being with other K'Kree. Pride is biting another K'Kree until it abandons its retinue and flees away to the outer steppes.

etc etc

Heck, there are thousands of worlds that have been developing in the TU for thousands of years. There could be any number of religions, some of which would resemble those we know in the real world, others that would be pretty much incomprehensible.

10. If you really want to have fun, let your players land on a planet of Gozer worshippers (i.e. Ghostbusters). You don't have to actually have ghosts or demonic canine accountants, or anything like that. But you could still have a lot of fun working up the society that developed around the concept of waiting for the Destructor and protecting hereditary lineages of Gatekeepers and Keymasters...

But that's sorta my take on it. With the right gaming group and a good story, religion could play a central and vital role in a Traveller game. On the other hand, if one's interest is running a Jump-2 tramp freighter along the Spinward Main, the closest thing you'll come to religion is the colorful language used by the engineer when the drive starts throwing off sparks halfway through the jump...

Thing is - if it adds to your game and enhances the enjoyment of everyone involved, by all means do it. If it makes the game less enjoyable, don't do it.

That's my $0.02US, anway.

Best,
Will

PS - Meant to include this as a summary but got distracted...

IMTU, religion as we would understand it, is a peculiarly human concept. The Vargr are a little more like Humaniti, so maybe they have concepts that are closer to "religion" in their cultures. The Aslan are a little further removed, so maybe they have beliefs/customs/behaviors/ideas that seem a ~little~ bit like religion, but not exactly. Droyne, Hiver and K'Kree are so far removed from Humaniti biologically and behaviorally that they may appear to engage in religious beliefs, but they really aren't. They're expressing their own alien ideas. Even more "alien" critters, like the various hot/cold worlders and the floating inhabitants of gas giants would probably have even less in common with Humaniti, and be pretty much incomprehensible.

That doesn't exactly lend itself to easy roleplay, especially for someone that wants to play an alien, but it makes sense to me.

 

[Droyne668]

Differences in religious beliefs between species...

A dog thinks, "Hey, these folks feed me, love me, provide me with a nice warm, dry house, pet me, and take good care of me ... They must be gods!"

A cat thinks, "Hey, these folks feed me, love me, provide me with a nice warm, dry house, pet me, and take good care of me ... I must be a god!"

Very different conclusions from the same data set.

 

[BlackBat242]

Passenger encounter for the PCs in my last adventure (300 t merchant ship):

"Potential passengers are 7 Nuns (Sisters of the Order of Desdemona)."



The Order of Desdemona believes that space travel is the imperative of the universe... and they send out their female followers in groups of "7 Sisters" to teach all sentient species how to build their own spaceships (regardless of the Scout Service's rulings on tech transfer).

Their robes have the constellation Pleiades on the front and back.

They also bake some great cookies.



OK, anyone know where I got that one? :smirk:

 

[hunter]

Oh, Ok, it was just a principle thing. I really bent over backwards to make it a traveller only post, and implored people to keep it that way, so I felt a warning was a bit much even tho I didn't object to it being moved.

I removed it. The moderation and rules are fairly newly enforced and we are still ironing out the wrinkles and all getting used to how to handle things and deal with issues, including me. So bear with us If you get a warning or infraction in the future and don't agree with it, email me about it. I don't promise it will change anything, but I will consider what is sent. Also please understand that I will also tend to back the mods unless a good case can be made. These guys are volunteering to help and it can be a pain sometimes.

 

[Jame]

I've thought about adding a group to MTU that is based on the ideas I had here. I'm fleshing it out but the basic idea is that they're mostly called "Place keepers" or sometimes "Babelists" and they are actually a large number of groups that vary widely on some issues, but have a few fundamental tennants that make them united, at least in the eyes of outsiders:

*SNIP*

I'm sure that any good traveller ref's head is already abuzz with ideas on using placekeepers in his campagn, so I'll just say "have fun".

This is pretty much the opposite of my "progressive sophontism" philosophy, which places great emphasis on education and research (even though followers do believe that there are some behaviours which are good for people and others which are bad).

Put them together, I dare you!

 

[Andrew Boulton]

I've always liked the Disciples of the Bright Way.

http://traveller.wikia.com/wiki/Disciples_of_the_Bright_Way

 

[Maladominus]

One that immediately comes to mind is the Church of Stellar Divinity, there was a very good article written by some nimrod about a monastery of theirs that orbits the Beta Niobe Nova in the last issue of Stellar Reaches - you should check it out.

The Church of Stellar Divinity is probably one of the most widespread "stellar religions" in Traveller canon. In fact, an old LBB Adventure booklet (by GDW) was written with it in mind.

I forgot the name of the LBB, but it was one of those LBBs with the 'dual-sided' adventure format. Two adventures in one booklet.