The Great Spirit

The overwhelming majority of Aquaticus believes that the Great Spirit is the only true deity in the world.  Worship of the Great Spirit takes many different forms depending on the most common needs/and or ideals of the worshipers.  While many holy people exist and lead worship services only a small number of people in Aquaticus are called clerics.  These few people are said to be so devout in their beliefs that they can petition the Great Spirit to give them powers to do miraculous things.  It has also been noted that when a cleric does make the commitment to the The Great Spirit that they are given their powers in one aspect of worship.  Most choose to worship the some aspect of the Light of the Great Spirit, gaining abilities to aid others in doing things that generally improve the world in some fashion.  A smaller portion focus their worship on the dark aspects of the One True God.  These worshipers tend to carry out the punishments or ill will on others that believers understand that the Great Spirit uses to show his displeasure.

There are also a smatter of other “deities” that are worshipped.  These deities, if they even actually exist, are most commonly tied to some form of nature worship, the sun or moon, animals or plants.  While worshippers claim that their deities also grant them wondrous powers none ever approach even the most basic powers clerics of the Great Spirit can demonstrate.

## **The Great Spirit**

The Lore Keepers say that the Great Spirit has always existed and always will.  The Great Spirit is neither male nor female.  The Great Spirit created the world and everything in it.  Each race has a slightly different story of how, when and where they came to be from the Great Spirit.

The Lore Keepers and most of the holy people who are dedicated to the Great Spirit say the the Great Spirit is in all places at all times.  As such the Great Spirit has an interest in everything that happens great or small.  The Great Spirit has not pre-determined what is to come in the future but can, and most believe does, influence things for reasons beyond mortal comprehension.

As such, most people in the world ascribe both wonderful and terrible things to the will of the Great Spirit, although rarely does anyone try to say why the Great Spirit brings about these things.  It is also widely believed that the Great Spirit created special beings to enact the Great Spirit’s will.  For generally good things people believe that there are a number of celestial beings that can do powerful and wondrous things both directly (usually associated with appearing to one or more people), and indirectly (miracles just happen).  This second belief comes from the people being aware that at any given moment innumerable great things happen as by design.

When terrible or evil things happen people still agree that the Great Spirit is the source of these ills, though again why is beyond understanding.  The people believe that there is host of malevolent beings known as demons and devils who carry out these acts.  As with the celestials, people claim to have seen these beings at times but other times great and small tragedies just happen.

## **Worship of the Great Spirit**

There are all manner of sites to worship the Great Spirit throughout the world.  They vary in some lesser aspects of how worship is to be conducted, but almost everyone in the world does pay homage in some way.  The most common divisions have to do with the focus of the worshippers.  About half the houses of worship in the world allow for offering worship in more than one way or for more than one area of influence attributed to the Great Spirit.  The remaining houses of worship are dedicated to a specific aspect of the Great Spirit’s influence.

The vast majority of religious leaders are not blessed with any significant divine powers that they can regularly manifest.  Those few that are so blessed are referred to generically as clerics.  These people come from all races, backgrounds, beliefs and other demographic differences.  Most use their divine gifts in and around the location of the house of worship the most closely associate with.

An even smaller subset of clerics claim they are tasked by the Great Spirit to travel the lands and minister to people as they find them.  Most often these clerics end up with a company of others who choose or feel driven to seek out adventure in the world.  This symbiosis allows the cleric protect and companionship.  In return the cleric uses his or her powers to aid their friends when there is a need.

As a general rule clerics powers are focused on a particular aspect of the world.  They call these domains of the Great Spirit.

## **The Lore Keepers**

A group of sages that have taken it upon themselves to keep the historical records of the world.  They have guild houses throughout the known world and are rumored to even have some secret ones in the wild areas of the world.  The lorekeepers are almost universally revered by everyone as they considered impartial in recording the history of the world in as much detail as possible.

There are ranks of leadership that are largely only know to members of the Lore Keepers guild.  These leaders insure that there are members of their guild on site for as many events as possible.  With this being their goal, lore keepers are everywhere it seems.  Occasionally they will ask to tag along with a group who are planning a trip that might prove informative.  Most have regular sites they keep records of.  Lore keepers are in every community they can be.

It is said that they have the power to send their knowledge to special creatures that no one outside the guild’s hierarchy has ever seen.  It is said that these creatures either are immortal or at least have extremely long lifespans.  Lore keepers can also access the memories of these creatures to recall information requested of them.

The guild has a set of strict regulations on what a Lore keeper can speak of when doing so might unduly influence the actions of the requester.  They also charge fees for anything beyond general information.  The rarer the information, the higher the cost to learn it.