Religions In Rifts
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From a 21st-century perspective, religion on Rifts Earth is a fuzzy ball of weirdness. Many faiths from our present day have survived in one form or another, but...
- From a Rifts Earth perspective, "our present day" ranges from ancient Sumer to the modern world, and...
- Those faiths have played at least a millennium-long game of Telephone, which has resulted in them being remixed and mashed together.
For example, folks calling themselves "Orthodox Baptists" may worship Thor, the Son of God who sacrificed himself in a pit of poisoned thorns, so that he could be sent to Hell where he battled Sekhmet to win forgiveness of our sins.
As such, players are encouraged to create their own spins on religions. However, because faith is a very serious part of people's lives in the real world, you must discuss your religious plans with the other players before moving forward. If anyone has an issue with it, you must change it.
Some canonical notes on religion and religious groups in Rifts follow.
Coalition States
The CS' official stance falls between atheist and anti-theist. After all, they expend a considerable amount of resources fighting devils, demons, self-proclaimed gods, and other "religious foes." And even those who worship seemingly innocuous gods are sometimes granted "miracles" — which are just another form of magic and thus a threat.
True Federation of Magic
As with everything else in the Federation, there is no standard or unified stance. Outright devil worshipers exist alongside peaceful hippies (assuming the latter has some form of defenses against the former), and a great many entities in the Magic Zone consider themselves gods and form cults of personality. The Cults of Dragonwright and Light (see below) are somewhat popular though.
A Few Specific Rifts Religions
- Cult of Dragonwright: They worship dragons as gods. Bitter enemies of the anti-dragon Society of Sages.
- Church of Light: For people who wish to generically worship "the good gods." Very few fanatic/dedicated members, but incredibly common.
- Devil/Demon Worship: Unlike the Church of Light, those who want to follow the bad guys tend to find specific ones and (poorly) negotiate worship for power.
- Druidism: Nature worship is really popular, ranging from peaceniks to xenophobic environmental warriors.
- Elementalism: Those who worship elementals and the raw elements themselves (which includes most Elemental Fusionists) are often referred to as warlocks.
- Shamanism: The veneration of spirits (often animistic) is common in the Spirit West, especially among Native American tribes.
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