Prominent Organized Religions

[Industrious1]

Outside of Cheliax and their state enforced devil worshipping, what are the main organized (churches, military orders and the like)religions of the "civilized" regions of Golarion?

Tried doing a search for the most popular religions in the Paizo universe but it mostly seems to be a scattered hodgepodge for the most part (information-wise).

[Set]

Industrious1 wrote:

Outside of Cheliax and their state enforced devil worshipping, what are the main organized (churches, military orders and the like) religions of the "civilized" regions of Golarion?

Tried doing a search for the most popular religions in the Paizo universe but it mostly seems to be a scattered hodgepodge for the most part (information-wise).

Apart from Asmodeus in Cheliax, the closest thing to a theocracy is the Zon-Kuthonite dominion of Nidal. Indeed, the Kuthite church seems to be even more monolithic than the Asmodean church in Cheliax (since the Asmodeans begrudgingly share influence with the churches of Abadar and Iomedae, while the Kuthite church in Nidal is more of a state religion and doesn't accommodate other religions, save perhaps some lip-service to Asmodeus, as they are a vassal state to Cheliax).

The church of Sarenrae is huge in Qadira, and pretty big in Osirion, Taldor and Thuvia, as well.

Iomedae in Mendev and Lastwall, Irori in Jalmeray, Torag in the Five Kings Mountains, Urgathoa in Geb, Nethys in Osirion and Nex, etc. all seem pretty entrenched. Other gods, particularly chaotic gods like Desna and Cayden Cailean, might be big names in Varisia or Andoran, but don't seem to have the sort of 'big church' structure to their faiths.

[Deadmanwalking]

The Church of Pharasma is very entrenched in Ustalav, as well as in several places in Garund (especially Osirion) and is basically the official state religion of Thuvia.

The Church of Abadar is also a big deal in Osirion, as well as several other Lawful places, or places that like to think they are (such as Absalom or Taldor).

Nethys's faith is pretty organized in northern Garund, with large formal church hierarchies everywhere from Osirion to Nex.

Sarenrae's church is, as noted, highly organized in the whole area around Qadira.

Those four sorta form an informal pantheon of 'the common deities' in large portions of Northern Garund, actually.

Torag's worship is pretty universal and decently organized in the Five Kings Mountains.

Iomedae's church is formally organized in Mendev, Lastwall, and Cheliax.

Cayden Cailean's worshipers are pretty organized in Kaer Maga, and noted as running orphanages pretty much everywhere his worship isn't illegal.

Gorum's faith is surprisingly organized in the River Kingdoms and points north and west.

Calistria's faith is common everywhere, and usually pretty organized (they run the brothels, do not mess with them).

Urgathoa's and Norgorber's faiths are underground cults basically everywhere, but seem like pretty organized underground cults based on their presentation.

[SirGeshko]

You should check out Inner Sea Gods, or Pathfinder Wiki.
The wiki has a section under each major god (the big 20) The Church of X that talks about nations and areas where that god's worship is common. In reverse, each nation has a section on their sidebar that lists dominant religions in their borders. For instance, Andoran lists Abadar, Cayden Cailean, Erastil, Iomedae, and Shelyn as dominant religions.

[Industrious1]

Yeah I checked all of that out but I didn't really get an idea as to the religious structures of these various Gods...it was more just like "These regions worship these gods" and I was more looking for an actual breakdown of how these gods were worshipped.

IE: How their churches work, how many followers they have, do they have militaries of their own? (I know Iomedae has her Knights), are these various religious orders subservient to the various rulers of the realms or do they operate independently? Who runs their day to day affairs (pope/patriarch types)?

Deadmanwalking, has given some good info though and I will mull over some of this and decide how to integrate it into my current campaign.

For the record, I'm trying to run a campaign that resembles an old PS1 game called "Final Fantasy Tactics" in which a young protagonist is branded a heretic by the major Theocracy in the kingdom and even though he does good is considered a villain by the masses under church dominance.

[Fromper]

Some of the books that focus on the gods have a lot of detail on their worshipers. These days, Inner Sea Gods is probably the best place to start.

[Scarletrose]

Another one of the most enforced religions is the prophecies of Kalistrade in Druma.
It's an atheistic religion, but still a religion.

[Lloyd Jackson]

Iomedae's church is hierarchical and well organized. Think Roman Catholic, but no pope, only council of cardinals. Most active members of a congregation would know where their 'bishop' is located, even if they aren't too familiar with him/her personally. In Lastwall and Mendev, the church is organization more like a mediveal militant order, think Teutonic Knights.

Abadar is an interesting one, as each bank is both independent, and part of the same organization. Banks actively compete against each other by investing in businesses, sponsoring adventures, and offering services. Money equals points. However, they also work together to combat counter-fitting, promote civil projects, notably roads and other transportation system, and ensure stable economies. Think conspiracy theory finance-industry/federal-reserve/strategy-gamers whose goal is more money for everyone, everywhere, but I bet I can grow my economy faster than yours! The more I think about Abadar, the more he grows on me. "What are you so smug about Mike?" "Remember that 'ill-fated' adventuring party you've been ribbing me about." "Yeahhh." "They may have dropped a cavern on themselves and the lost city of Dorado, but that collapse also opened a new pass through the barrier peaks!" "What? No!" "Yes! Double-digit gdp growth for the next decade at least! Suck it Gary!" "Well, congratulations. Guess you'll be hosting the next quarterly bankers' council." *Hurries off to look into collapsing his local mountain ranges.*

[Industrious1]

That is exactly the sort of info I've been searching for, LLoyd. Thank you!

I wonder if it would be too egregious to combine the two of them (and maybe a couple other lawful gods) into a sort of Pantheon Church that has spread across the land and embodies a number of these ideals and infrastructure?

That would make it an extremely powerful and influential organization that kind of represents the story foil I have been searching for.

[Lloyd Jackson]

Hmm. Personally I'm leery of using good churches as antagonists. Very easy for them to become good in name only, but if done right it can be really cool.

Combining them into a influential pantheon church would be a serious departure from the setting as written. That is assuming you're using Golarion/Inner Sea. However, it's your Golarion, so go to town. I'd look to the Hellknight Order of the Godclaw for some ideas on how it might work. They combine Iomedae, Torag, Irori, Abadar, and Asmodeus into a chapter specific pantheon.

[Major_Blackhart]

Also, other religions that are organized, depending on location, are Gorumite faiths in Lastwall and Belkzen and the Realm of the Mammoth Lords as well as Brevoy, and Rovagug faiths in Belkzen specifically, as well as Lamashtu to a lesser extant. In Belkzen, while we have little description of life in any of the settlements or religious habits of the Orcs and Half-Orcs, we know that their nihilistic and violent view of the world certainly influences their practices.

Many times it has been mentioned that Gorumites in Lastwall are becoming more aggravated as they see more and more of Gorum warpriests in the orcish and half-orc ranks. We can also assume that, Gorum being the choice god of Half-Orcs, many of whom at least pay a lip service to him, that Wyvernsting is a major source of Gorumite worship within Belkzen, considering Hundux Half-Mann's influence, his alleged parentage, and the fact that the Murdered Child Tribe is comprised of more half-orcs than any other in the entire nation, and more are flocking to his banner daily.

[Industrious1]

Apologies, I should have been more concise in what I am doing.

I have my own campaign setting but want to borrow the deities from Golarion, as I like the flavors of them and don't want to wholesale create dozens of gods with their own foibles on top of all the regional maps, cities, and rulers I already have made. I know it seems lazy after everything else but I have a fear of seriously unbalancing my worlds clerics with poorly chosen domains and such...

So yeah, I basically wanted to see what gods Golarion was using as their main religious infrastructure before I moved onto how I wanted my own campaign setting (Cedara) to be constructed. I may be lazy and unoriginal...but I do want things to work correctly when I put the wheels into motion :P

[Lloyd Jackson]

Ah. In that case no worries. As for other organized faiths, I'm not recalling any at the moment. Sarenrae's faith, particularly in Qadira and the Kelish Empire, is somewhat organized. Sarenrae and Qadira draw a lot of inspiration from Islam, so that could be a good source to check into. From what's canon, they've got churches, priests, militant orders, sub-cults, etc. However, unlike Abadar and Iomedae, there isn't a leading council or head arch-banker. Priests move between temples easily, but it seems more a personal thing between a priest and the temples in question rather than a organized thing. My guess is in areas where it is the state religion or has a strong presence, churches organize into semi-offical groups based on schools of thought. Particularly influential priests whose followers become priests in turn likely preside over extensive networks.

What deities were you thinking of making into this pantheon? The empyreal lords are sometimes regarded as saints within Sarenrae's faith, and might fulfill the same role in yours. With a few major deities, and a host of saints, you could have a very powerful, monolithic even, church that covers the gambit.

[Industrious1]

I found the empyreal lords intriguing but I couldn't find a ton of information on many of them, which was disappointing as I thought they fit very well with the theme I am going for in my setting.

If I was going to use them though, it would be as you say...with them being servants or "saints" rather of the principal deities rather than actual objects of idolization themselves.

As for principal deities I'd like to have Abadar and Iomadae as the heads of this religion as I feel they mesh pretty well with each other. Gave some serious thought to Erastil in Abadar's place but it just doesn't seem to fit in my mind as well as the "god of civilization". Also thought about Saranrae in place of Iomadae but she seems better suited to having her own off-shoot religion which is a bit more "flexible" than this major theocracy that I have in mind.

Thoughts? Minimum for this religious grouping would be two, maximum that I think I would like to allow is 4...don't want to hog too much religious goodness into one pantheon, especially if numerous empyreal lords could serve the same function as 'minor' deities.

[Lloyd Jackson]

chronicle of the righteous is your best source on the empyreal lords, as is inner sea gods for the deities themselves. Tons of good information. You're right Erastil isn't a good fit for a large, hierarchical church of civilization.