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The Spider Cult

trentonian7

Troubadour
Okay so I've been working on a regional cult and I want to make sure it makes sense- it technically is part of a larger faith but it mantains its own leadership and several differing views and this is the part I'm most concerned with.

Background: the overarching faith in this island nation is one of spirit worship and belief in a higher creator god that now sleeps, having exhausted himself in the creation of the world. This religion lacks common churches but utilizes temples and monasteries with hundreds and hundreds of small rural shrines. Monks makeup the priestly class with an elite class of magically gifted shamans making executive decisions from the Great Temple in the nation's capital.

In the city of Daelyn, however, resides a regional cult often termed "The Spider Cult." The nickname derives from their reverence of a spider spirit whom the city and outlying lands have traditionally worshipped for centuries. She takes the form of a woman with six arms and wields magical spider thread.

The shamans and faith at large believe in their spirit, however, they don't attribute the same significance to her that the cult does. In addition to gifting weaving, spinning, and net making to man, the cult believes their patron spirit weaves the fates of man. This is in direct opposition to the shamans, who attribute fate only to the creator God.

(This difference is where I'm struggling and I don't know if it's really strong enough; what did gods of fate do traditionally anyways? The whole concept of fate confuses me. I'm considering making it that they don't believe in a creator God and that they believe she spun the world into existence instead, but I don't know.)

Daelyn, a major port city, contains two temples- a traditional shamanic temple, and an even larger temple belonging to the cult. The shamans see the cult as a direct threat both ideologically and economically. Though most in Daelyn visit both temples, the influence of the cult is great- many townspeople wear medallions engraved with a spider. The cult has its own clergy which care very little for the shamans and that collect their own tithing, thus the economic threat. Particularly of note is that for hundreds of years, Daelyn coins have borne a spider on one face. Rumors outside of the city claim the cult practices human sacrifice, however, the cult adamantly denies this.

Just to reiterate- I'm unsure about the differences in ideaology and any input is appreciated.
 
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WooHooMan

Auror
Here's a suggestion: as the all-powerful god of the orthodoxy has been inactive since creation, there is no predetermined fate. The mainstream religion believes in free will as oppose to the spider cult who believe in fate.

The general idea of fate (very broadly speaking) is that there is only one way the world could play out: the way the world does play out. Individual choice is irrelevant because they would/could not have chosen anything else (even if they appeared to have an option).
The usual appeal of fate is that it absolves individuals of responsibility over the actions they make or their position in life. If their lives are bad, it's because their god made it bad and can, presumably, fix it and make life good. If they commit a crime, it's not their fault since they didn't have the option to not commit the crime.
Some people also take comfort in knowing that their life is planned-out for them but that usually only applies to a religion with an explicitly benevolent god.

So, this spider spirit would have to have the power to control some circumstances (the environment, luck, people) to cause existence to go in the direction she wants. The cult's goal would be to gain her favor so she moves fate in their direction.
 

scribbler

Dreamer
The three Moirai from Greek mythology fit in well with your spider cult. They spun, measured and cut the threads of fate. Maybe the shamans feel that the spider goddess dictates how a life begins and when it ends, but not how it gets from one point to the other. On the other hand maybe she spins and infinite web of possibilities and the thread that a person follows depends on their choices.
 
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hunthor108

New Member
Does the sleeping god the shamans believe in have sway over the actions of the people who worship him? Or is he just dormant, and people pray to him (or something along those lines). If the situation is the former, then I like what scribbler said with threads dictating beginning and ending of life but not things in between. The two gods could focus emphasis on different aspects of morality, ie one during life one for the afterlife or some similar dichotomy.
 
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