Religious Service

[Zoken44]

What do you imagine religious services of various gods to look like?

For Arazni I imagine it looks somewhat like an AA meeting, but the things they share are "how did you assert your dignity" or "What did you do to survive." Those who feel shame for what they did for survival were welcomed not to say, but were reminded that they are worthy of survival, and "By Any Means Necessary" does not mean just violence.

And of course, they are encouraged to meditate on what they will do to their abuser/oppressors when they get the chance.

[mortalheraldnyx]

This is something I like to think about, especially because at times details for the services of churches show up in 1e and 2e materials. There’s a lot of deities though, and more are made over time, so not all of them have material for me to build off of. Off the top of my head though…

I don’t think of Aleth’s followers necessarily always having a physical church, like what you might find for Abadar or Iomedae. So,I think in devout areas people involved in the faith tend to rotate whose house they’ll hold service at. It’s always at night. There’s focus on being a good host and guest, and probably speculation about mysteries left to search out and prayers to Aleth are thrown in.

Izuyaku’s described as expecting followers to both exercise the body and rest/relax to avoid harm, and temples to them seem to be around hot springs and saunas. So I feel like in my head I’ve ended up picturing services that resemble hot yoga lmao. I feel like a lot of religious services would focus a lot on maintaining and improving physical and emotional wellbeing, both in yourself and for others. I think clerics for Izuyaku though would also see the physical and emotional needs of the worshippers they tend to as very individualized and not a one size fits all sort of recommendation thing. So there’d probably be a mix of bigger and more personal services too

That’s what comes to mind right away anyway.

[Simeon]

A few of the core 20 that gave me instant ideas were:
Cayden Cailean, essentially a drunken singalong of hymns to the Drunken God.

Irori's services would likely look similar to Buddhist prayer services, with ritual chanting of mantras. I could even see ceremonial martial demonstrations.

Erastil's services would probably look the most familiar to us in the modern day, with townsfolk gathering in the temple of Erastil to hear stories about their god and hear the good that can be done by community and honest effort.

[NoxiousMiasma]

I would think Erastil's services are less like a Sunday service at an Earth Christian church, and rather more like a church potluck plus community discussion - feeding everyone is an excellent exercise in community-building, and he's always struck me as more of the works than faith sort of deity. Still with stories of the deity, but with a certain amount of shared meal and possibly small-town town hall stuff as well.

As for other core deities, I think that Shelynite temple would have a wide range of art... not quite classes? Like, life drawing sessions, potter's workshops, and (rather improvisational) music events. Not super structured, but there's a signboard by the door with a schedule, and just about anyone can talk to the priest to add something within their own creative talents.

[Morhek]

At least in my games, where I've tried to incorporate some positive Zoroastrian and Islamic influence that offsets the Jihadist tropes that the old Cult of the Dawnflower used to play into, Sarenites are an extremely diverse lot. Just about the only thing they agree on is the importance of the solar cycle, with prayers in the morning, at noon, and at dusk. But as the worship of Sarenrae has spread across Golarion, it often adapts to its local environments, rather than the other way around.

The most conservative and traditionalist congregations come from Qadira, influenced by the oldest traditions from the Padishah Empire (and even in the empire, Sarenites are divided into a dizzying number of sects who all fiercely disagree on what seem like small differences to outsiders), with large fire temples where people gather to revere the eternal flames they keep burning. Many of them have stories about one angel or another descending to light it personally, and the flames are often considered miraculous (though easy to imitate with a permanent Continual Flame enchantment). Qadiran Sarenites tend to think of themselves as the ecclesiastical Elder Statesmen among Sarenites in the Inner Sea, and assume other sects should simply defer to their "experience" and get frustrated when Sarenites from other lands don't pay Keleshite culture as much respect as they should. In Avistan, Sarenites have a lingering distrust of the Qadiran orthodoxy because of the history of persecution that associating with them earned their ancestors from Taldor's distrust - the collapse of the empire didn't do away with all that distrust, especially among Chelaxian authorities who see Sarenites as natural revolutionaries against the Asmodean order, and many Sarenites prefer to emphasise their own roots in Avistan than their god's Casmaron origins, devout Sarenites but loyal citizens. In Absalom, which largely stayed out of Taldor and Qadira's conflicts, Sarenites have historically been torn between a bunch of conflicting pulls that have strangely balanced out over time, and people haven't forgotten that it was a coalition of local Sarenites who rooted out the extremist Cult of the Dawnflower there. There are various sects who reflect phases when Absalom was more influenced by one side or another, Keleshite-style temples and mosques and Taldan-style churches, some differences in liturgy or ritual, but most Absalom Sarenites keep their international politics and their religion a separate matter and don't consider Sarenrae to take sides unless people are suffering.

Now for the parts I've done the most thinking on. Across the Golden Road, the worship of Sarenrae was spread by Keleshite travellers, traders and immigrants, but as they put down roots they adapted to different regions in different ways.

Thuvian Sarenites, simply because of their proximity to Rahadoum, but also some lingering influence from the Cult of the Dawnflower, are more militant than most, but are trying to instead focus on more local matters - Sarenite cavalry, not quite knights but light and mobile archers who once raided the borders of Rahadoum in the name of Sarenrae until she recently made her displeasure known and disbanded the cult, now turn their attentions to the bandits and Water Lords, or at least the Water Lords who refuse to allow travellers access to their oases, or prey on vulnerable travellers. As disenchanted Dawnflower cultists turn to darker patrons to continue their extreme agenda, or turn out to have always worshipped them and were using Sarenrae as a front, these also earn the wrath of Thuvian Sarenites. They also tend to be a bit more polytheist than the mostly henotheistic Qadiran organisation, incorporating more Empyreal Lords into their personal pantheons alongside Sarenrae, and use ancient dances to work themselves into a fervor like Norse shield-biting berserkers did - such dances were once a prelude to battle, and some date back to days of the Tekritanin League in modified form, but are now done to keep the traditions alive. Thuvia has a few temples in the cities built in the Keleshite style, but most ceremonies are held in the open air, especially among the desert clans.

In Osirion, the ancient traditions died hard and took a long time even stripped of royal patronage and national funding, and the worship of some gods never truly became extinct as the new Keleshite rulers tried to stamp out what they mistook for the superstitious worship of Rakshasa-like demons. As Keleshites put down roots there, the Cult of the Dawnflower - more aggressive in their proselytisation and more willing to consider new methods and new ideas - made Sarenrae more acceptable to the local populace by adapting the cults of sun gods like Ra and Horus, converting temples with open courtyards to let the sun shine in, and depicting Sarenrae in local fashion often with Ra and Horus standing behind her with a hand of endorsement on her shoulder (whether either god ever officially had any ties to her, or why she would need their endorsement, is something the modern Sarenite priesthood refuses to be baited into answering). But what was originally meant to be a tool to ease the native Garundi into a more "civilised" Keleshite culture, not a permanent tradition, backfired and over time, especially as Pharaonic culture has had a resurgence under the Forthbringers, the worship of Sarenrae as if she were one of the Gods of Osirion has become the norm. Traditional Keleshite-style worship is associated with the former rulers by both the Garundi and the remaining Keleshite populace, neither of whom have forgotten their resentments against Qadira - Garundi for being conquered by it, and Keleshites for being mistreated as a colony rather than an independent satrapy in its own right. On the other hand, local Sarenites are also suspicious of the neighbouring militant sects of Thuvia and Katapesh - not that they're cowards, or overlook injustice, but they of all people remember what an excess of zeal and too little foreplanning accomplished, since Osirion still struggles with its legacy, so Osiriani Sarenites come across as more reserved, quicker to urge caution and slower to act, but like a crushing tidal wave when finally roused to anger. Most Sarenite ceremonies in Osirion are carried out by a professional and trained priesthood, rather than having congregations, and on the summer solstice the cult image of Sarenrae is paraded through the streets sitting on her boat held atop the shoulders of her priests, but the average people pay their respects at shrines and continue the traditions during the solstices, including the sword dances, folk songs and plays reenacting episodes of Sarenite mythology, sometimes with an Osirian god or two thrown in for flavour - there's a lot of emphasis on Horus leaving the world to Sarenrae after he led the other gods to leave Osirion, solidifying her as a legitimate successor rather than a usurper.

In Katapesh, Sarenites became more esoteric and mystical, and have adapted the smoking of pesh to induct religious trances. Katapeshi Sarenites get side-eyed even by other Sarenites and have a (unfairly exaggerated) reputation as drug-addled hermits. But outside of Thuvia, who also bear the Dawnflower's complicated militant legacy, they're also the most willing to take up a sword and hunt down evil, since they're often the only ones willing to. They're also a lot friendlier with local Iomedean knightly orders than Sarenites elsewhere, who usually consider Iomedeans too unforgiving. It was Iomedean knights who rode to the defence of Solku's Sarenite defenders from a seige by gnoll slavers when nobody else would, and even though every knight died, the Sarenites have never forgotten. Katapeshi worship is often self-organised, or in small groups who democratically elect their leaders, and they pair their religious veneration with active community patrols - if the Pactmasters aren't willing to deter or investigate crime unless it's profitable, then a rag-tag citizen-militia will - and there's more of an emphasis on the flame that burns within than any flame that burns without, drawing on local Badawi traditions. The pesh mystics become more insular and reclusive over time as they lose touch with the concerns of the mortal world and pursue higher spiritual truths, which isn't entirely approved of by Sarenites who consider it their duty to put right the injustices that exist in this world before seeking the next, but their spiritual investigations are often important and highly respected.

Further south, you get to the Impossible Lands - Nex, Vudra, Alkenstar - where most Sarenites are traders or immigrants from Qadira, so Sarenite worship is a little more traditional and conservative there. The average Sarenite tries to keep their head down, build trade connections between the local merchants and family connections "back home," and be good citizens, and other people regard them as a quirky but mostly harmless minority. The wizards rulers of Nex, on the other hand, regard the cult of Sarenrae as the thin end of a wedge that Qadira might someday choose to push, the same way Nex feared Khiben-Said might have if he'd put down roots, and keep a wary eye on them. There are some scattered sun temples in the cities, but they resolutely stay out of Geb (at least officially - Pharasmins aren't the only ones who send covert agents across the border to stir trouble for the undead rulers).

[QuidEst]

People tend to focus on the big, elaborate Kuthite performances. I imagine the humbler churches tend to have long sermons where the faithful kneel on uncomfortable surfaces. It's a realistic and manageable amount of pain for the common laypeople to get used to. In Nidal, that's probably the bare minimum lip service that can be paid to Zon Kuthon, and I imagine that the expectation is that there would at least also be a monitor to dole out punishment to those who did a poor job of it. Outside Nidal where attendance is more voluntary, I imagine those extra steps are rarer.