I'll begin with a quote from Inner Sea Races, which explains Shoanti faith, though there are multiple quotes elaborating on it elsewhere.
The Shoanti live in a world of totem spirits—the animating force of animals, supernatural beasts, great rivers, the rarely glimpsed Athaureon that lights the northern sky, and even the deadly emberstorms that sweep the Cinderlands—all of which watch over and guide those who have the wisdom to heed them.
These totem spirits mentioned sound very similar to the Kami first mentioned in Bestiary 3. Nature spirits who inhabit and embody natural phenomena? That sounds very much like Kami descriptions.
Kami are ancient, mystical, and otherworldly spirits created eons ago by the gods. Originally intended as guardians of those parts of nature that could not protect themselves, kami have proven remarkably adaptive. As the nature of reality changes, so do the kami.
I personally think that this is indeed the case, that the spirits the Shoanti worship are Kami. They likely have their own word in the Shoanti language that describes Kami though, which roughly translates to "Spirit" in the common language.
Anyway, what do you all think?
Makes some kind of sense. Lots of animist religions have a similar concept. Would it have any in-game mechanical effect if they are or are not Kami?
Clerical Shoanti shamans worship their clan’s totems, which are typically of neutral alignment and grant domains as noted in the descriptions of each quah. The favored weapon of Shoanti totems is either the klar or the longbow.
It seems however, that when acting together and using the totems as a medium, these spirits are able to act as some quasi-deity.
I mused about this subject here.
Though I do like the idea of using Kami for this.
Dot
Creative Director
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They are not. Kami are not really present at all at this time outside of Tian Xia in any amount or presence that would spark worship.
The "totem spirits" the Shoanti worship are not defined at this point, but if anything, they're similar to the spirits involved with the shaman class.
(Despite what slipped into print in an older product or two, the intention was NEVER to have these spirits grant domains. Shoanti clerics worship deities, primarily Desna, when they exist, although the vast majority of quah religious leaders are instead shamans or maybe oracles.)
Hm. So, followup question then.
Could the spirits that the shaman class get its powers from be Kami? Not in all cases, just in some of them?
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Creative Director
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Hm. So, followup question then.
Could the spirits that the shaman class get its powers from be Kami? Not in all cases, just in some of them?
As written, no, since the shaman class doesn't really interact with kami (who are defined and have traits and stats and all that). You could certainly change things around so that they do, though, but since kami are specific creatures, they work better with something more akin to a conjurer or summoner if that makes sense?
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I dunno, maybe.
It feels, at least to me, that Kami as written slide really nicely into that undefined "spirits of nature" niche that hasn't been filled yet. I could easily see Kami, or at least entities that are very similar to them, as being of good way of representing all manner of different nature spirits that many different cultures on Golarion revere.