Writing a 'Prayer'

[mersted]

In my world, humans are beings that are scorned by the other races for their lack of magical ability, but they do have a God they worship, one that's named as the God of Balance, who could grant anything that a human would desire but would require a price that's equivalent to their wish. However, the price they pay must belong to them only, not another's, and not shared with or by another.

My problem is that one would first need to pray to the God for him to grant whatever you wish for, but i'm not sure how the prayers should go.

I had the idea of doing something like: 'O, God of Balance..' but it's a bit too dramatic for my taste.

 

[WooHooMan]

Well, it would basically be a verbal contract. So you would want something that specifies who the sacrifice is for, what is being sacrificed, by who and what they want in return. And probably a term length or deadline of some kind.

“To Balancegod, the god of balance: I, John Smith, grant you this goat if you would grant me a calf of equal size within the next week.”

Something like that. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to start with some flowery praises to butter-up the balance god so that he might be more inclined to accept the offering. Maybe throw in some epitaphs like “To Balancegod, most righteous and merciful god of balance, perfect in every way, better and more handsome than all other gods: I, John Smith, your lowly but loyal and trustworthy servant, grant you this goat yadda yadda”.

 

[Rosemary Tea]

It could be something as simple as "God of Balance, I invoke you. Grant me ( x ). In return, I offer you ( y )."

If the God of Balance grants x, he presumably finds y an acceptable offering.

 

[Chasejxyz]

How organized is this religion? How old is it? Is it "orthodox"-y or "reform"-y? If it's more of a personal spiritual connection, then the prayer should be reflective of your character and their relationship with the god ("Oh god, master of the universe, only you can help me" vs "If you're there, please hear my prayer and save me from this crappy situation"). If things are organized/formal there is probably a "standard" way of doing so, which may use Ye Olde English (or whatever) or otherwise language that the average person wouldn't use (O, God of Balance, hallowed be thy name). Maybe your character even reflects on how artificial or anachronistic it sounds.

 

[CupofJoe]

Does the god have an every day less formal name? They may be the God of Balance but they might be known by another name? Something like Trutina or Libra if you wanted a Latin vibe...

 

[Malise]

In my own experience as a sorta practicing folk religionist that used to this kind of stuff semi-regularly, as long as you light a stick of incense to invoke the "essence" of the god/spirit/ancestor with their image/name nearby, you can basically say/do whatever to the spirit.

Ex.
I used to ask for good grades from family members in the underworld, in exchange for promising to be a good little kid for the rest of the year. And it basically went like "Yo Grandma, Great Grandpa, My Dead Fish, God of the Dead, anyone, help me, I'm failing math with an 85", which I have to admit is a really sophisticated prayer for a 12-year-old.

Then, the next day my family would burn some ghost money to send to the bureaucrats in the underworld to make sure that message goes through. Then the next time they light incense, an ancestor spirit would come into the house and theoretically help me with my homework.

(P.S: We don't actually believe in any of this stuff, it's mostly just set dressing for the folk religion's holidays. But yeah, most of them involve summoning ghosts.)

 

[Rosemary Tea]

Does the god have an every day less formal name? They may be the God of Balance but they might be known by another name? Something like Trutina or Libra if you wanted a Latin vibe...

Libra will make readers think of the astrological sign. I wouldn't use that name unless you're intentionally connecting the religion to astrology.

 

[cak85]

My questions is do they need to have an actual verbal prayer?

Could they use symbols of trade instead? For example - maybe a person wants a healthy goat, so he or she builds a "goat" of sticks and then burns it or whatever they do send the gift to the god of balance.

I sometimes feel like prayers and words can feel a bit forced in fantasy. That's why I try to look for symbols.

 

[Prince of Spires]

How tricksy or understanding is this god? It can be that he offers you what you need and what you mean, or it can be that he offers you exactly what you ask for.

It's a fairly common Djini story trope that you wish for something and you get your wish granted exactly as you ask it. But you either left too much room for interpretation, which means that you get something completely different or you asked for something and got what you asked, but it wasn't what you needed or intended. If that is the case, the prayers will be very exact and specific. They would read almost like the specifications for an IT system, with clear deliverables, deadlines and payments.

On the other hand, if it's a benevolent god actively out to help people, then you can be a lot more vague.

 

[S J Lee]

You could have an order of priests who mutter waffle in an ancient Latin-ish language and priests handle the yakk and the POV character has no idea what they are really saying.

OR

You could take an influence from Matthew 6 (I think) -- >Jesus said to his disciples: “In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. ....but you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will ..."

After all, this God can grant wishes but cannot read human minds? No need for anything to be said at all. You could have Elves muttering, "beware the hatred of a silent human, it may strike home..."

 

[WooHooMan]

My questions is do they need to have an actual verbal prayer?

Could they use symbols of trade instead? For example - maybe a person wants a healthy goat, so he or she builds a "goat" of sticks and then burns it or whatever they do send the gift to the god of balance.

I sometimes feel like prayers and words can feel a bit forced in fantasy. That's why I try to look for symbols.

The value of the sacrifice seems to be a major factor. So a fake goat made of sticks can’t be as valuable as a real goat. So burning a pile of sticks probably wouldn’t be worth a healthy goat. They would probably need to sacrifice the health of two or three chickens to get a healthy goat.
And if this is a pagan kind of god, he probably can’t read minds so there would need to be some kind of clear indication from the worshipper that the point of the ritual is to get a specific thing from it. When dealing with specifics, clear language is just the best way to do it.

 

[cak85]

The value of the sacrifice seems to be a major factor. So a fake goat made of sticks can’t be as valuable as a real goat. So burning a pile of sticks probably wouldn’t be worth a healthy goat. They would probably need to sacrifice the health of two or three chickens to get a healthy goat.
And if this is a pagan kind of god, he probably can’t read minds so there would need to be some kind of clear indication from the worshipper that the point of the ritual is to get a specific thing from it. When dealing with specifics, clear language is just the best way to do it.

Who knows. Maybe this god needs a lot of sticks because he wants to build a really big pen to house his goats? Kind of joking but not really

Anything can have have value, it all depends on what the other person wants.

 

[WooHooMan]

Who knows. Maybe this god needs a lot of sticks because he wants to build a really big pen to house his goats? Kind of joking but not really

Anything can have have value, it all depends on what the other person wants.

Good point actually. Maybe his priests are basically a bunch of economists and marketers who determine the value of things relative to each other.

 

[Rosemary Tea]

Does this God of Balance have priests? Or is it a case of, everyone is a priest/ess, when they need to be?

Depending on the kind of tradition you're looking at, gods might be perfectly approachable, no priesthood needed. Or there might be a complex system of priesthood that intercedes with them. Or anything in between.

The way the OP described the scenario, it sounds to me like it's on the no priesthood necessary end of the scale.