Faith and Reason

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Alone in a small rented room, a man dips his finger in some ink and begins marking the pages of a book.

Faith and Reason
By Kasharto C'Tar

A First Draft

Sundren is a land torn apart between ideals. Like many nations its major conflicts are defined by the beliefs and convictions the locals hold in their deities. The fighting has been long and hard and still shows no sign of ending. It is my honest wish that such a conflict would come to end, for it is the everyone, the peasant and the worker who suffer the most for the beliefs of others.

The purpose of my research is to try and gleam a new insight into this great conflict, and perhaps find a means to end it.

A brief history of faith in the Valley

Mundus, the founder of Sundren, is an almost legendary figure renowned for his magic. Yet next to nothing is known about his own personal faith. Hailing from Waterdeep he was likely either a follower of Mystra or Ohgma. Since only Ohgma has a presence within the city I am lead to believe that was his chosen faith.

For a man like Mundus faith was likely complementary to his life rather than what defined it, allowing his own deeds to mark his place in history. Because of this he may not have included details on how faith should be in the city he was planning to build, and it is this oversight that would leave room for others to decide for him.

One of the most defining moments for Sundrens faith took place in the year 1232 with the arrival of a powerful deity. With the death of Mundus Sundren had been sent into a downward spiral of powers and conspirators all trying to seize power, while criminal gangs roamed the streets harassing all they came across. The situation could not be more perfect for the Helmites, who descended on the land in droves in order to bring peace and order.

While I cannot argue the new security would have been a major boon, it would come at the cost of major liberties. The so called justice that was inflicted was anything but, though their enemies may have been evil butchery without true due process is still butchery. The Helmites were only interested in a swift resolution, securing their place in Sundren permanently.

The second critical moment would come when the Orcs combined their efforts in order to drive out the people of Sundren. With two dynamically opposed faiths it was only natural that it would lead to intense fighting, marked only by the lulls between the on-going conflicts.

For Sundren however the dynamics would only grow more intense with the arrival of Bane. It was then a natural response that the Triumvirate would soon also arrive, unwilling to leave the forces of the Blackhand to act with impunity. It is these two factions that now define much of what occurs in Sundren.

Purpose

Some would suggest it is not the place for mortals to think on the designs of gods, and that there ways are not meant for mortals to know. I find this notion completely absurd, many gods were once mortals themselves, and history has shown that they can be as petty and ill-tempered as any mortal is. The only true rational difference between a mortal and a god is scope, for a god is able to gleam a huge amount of information with little effort while mortals must fumble in the dark for clues to their questions.

To help understand the conflict in Sundren we must question the gods purposes and intent. Recorded history would have us think not even the gods were really aware of Sundrens existence, which is hard to believe. Far more likely they were either unable to conceive a way to make use of the land, or it simply did not hold anything that they thought of value.

It was only when Sundren began to be populated did it garner the attention of many minor and powerful gods. Thus we can quickly conclude that if there is a resource in Sundren that gods want it is people. Either people’s faith, or people’s ability to extract value out of the land.

For a land created by the innovations of mortals, its future has been left for the gods to decide.

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Part 2

Faith before Reason

One of the things that stood out for me most during my study was the trumping of faith over reason. This is not to suggest people were not capable of thinking on their own, but when presented with direct command from ones god it is carried out. To me the important factor is not that the fact the act could be good or ill, but peoples abandonment for even questioning the action at all.

Deities are often regarded with the mantle of truth, regardless of their disposition. Essentially whatever a deity commands, or says, becomes truth for the believer. This is regardless if it comes in the form of written dogma or a divine verbal command.


I would not suggest it is wrong to do as ones god commands, but that it does not remove a person’s obligation as a thinking entity to question. To never question is the same as apathy, which is far more damaging then a cruel intent could ever be. Some gods are content with this form of belief, it is useful for getting things done in a timely manner. Thus they have little reason to dissuade their worshippers from acting otherwise.



For the vast majorly of deities it is not their responsibility to nurture critical thinking, this creates a mistaken impression that they do not want free thinking followers or that it is in some manner sinful. Many of our current gods did not gift unto us free thought, it is a special blessing that belongs to us, and so it is every sentient beings responsibility to see it is not wasted.

Types of Belief

Belief may take many forms and inspire different levels of devotion, but at their core there are two main types of worship.

The first is the most widespread which is complementary worship. For these people faith is a means to end to improve the life they already live. Many gods fit various lifestyle choices, or offer blessings related to everyday life or a difficult task, for mortals it’s then a question which blessing would be more useful to their situation.

The second is defined worship, wherein the faith sits as part of a person’s ego. This form of worship is most apparent with clerics, paladins or ‘true’ followers. Rather than assisting a person’s lifestyle choices it instead takes over that person’s life, wholly embracing their taught dogma and embracing the idea that their actions are an extension of divine will.

While complementary worship has its own issue’s it is defined worship that is more often to blame for the most bloody of conflicts.