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- Prydania
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I am proud to kick off the TNP Ministry of Culture's RP Seminar series. It is the hope of the Ministry that the seminars posted here will both encourage TNPers to join our RP communities of Strangereal (the RMB) and Eras (the forum) and to do so with confidence as they dive into the sometimes daunting world of an active RP community.
Seminars will be posted and authors will answer any and all questions within the thread. In addition to that? Authors will have the choice to opt into a Voice Chat Q&A at a time of their convenience.
So, to start this off? I have decided to brush up and enhance my Creating Mythology and Religion seminar from GD/TNP RP Convention from last year. More seminars on a wide range of topics are planned, from TNP's wide array of experienced RPers.
I will be available in the Voice Chat of the TNP RP Server tonight at 7:00 pm EST to answer any questions. And of course, questions here in the thread are welcome!
Creating Mythology and Religion
A RP Seminar by Prydania for the TNP Ministry of Culture's RP Seminar Series
Introduction
It can be daunting to create a national mythology and/or religion for your RP nation. All of us tend to look to real world mythologies and religions that we are familiar with as a starting point, but even this can seem intimidating. What we recognize as complex mythologies and religions today are the by-products of thousands of years of cultural, linguistic, dogmatic, and philosophical changes.
So yes. It can seem daunting. Do you need to work out a complex lineage of religious or mythical forefathers or gods just to lay the foundations of your hypothetical religion or myth? The answer is no. And I’m going to help it seem a little less imposing and broad.
I hope to touch on the following topics over the course of this seminar...
- National Mythology vs Universal Religion
- Scaling Everything Back: Using the Euhemerist Method
- Integration into the Wider Mythology of Your RP World
- Universal Religion and Integration
We first have to contend with the overlapping terms “religion” and “mythology.” Simply put? All religion is mythology, but not all mythology is religious.
Now we can tackle the difference between national mythology (which may or may not be religious) and universal religion.
A national mythology speaks to its people. How the nation is born, who its forefathers were, and how their exploits gave birth to the nation in its present form. It will also contain, if it is also religious, how the god or gods of the nation helped shape it history and destiny.
A universal religion often has its origins in one culture or “nation,” but is instead focused on a “universal” truth for all of mankind.
That is not to say that universal religions are unconcerned with national character, but we will get to that later.
Real world examples of national mythology would be the tales of Norse or Greek gods (religious mythology), or the King Arthur legend (non-religious mythology).
Real world examples of universal religion are Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism.
Judaism and Hinduism fall somewhere between the two.
Scaling Everything Back: Using the Euhemerist Method
As stated above? What we recognize as mythology and religion today are stories and belief structures that have changed over the course of thousands of years, reacting against and with changing social norms, political norms, and value systems.
Most players do not seem to realize this, and they fall into the trap of trying to create a mythology from the top down to better reflect what they see as mythology and religion around them.
There is nothing inherently wrong this idea, but in order to succeed with a top-down approach? The RPer in question must first understand that what they know as mythology and religion today is a "finished product" so to speak. It's been built on and changed over thousands of years, finally emerging in the forms we recognize today. Replicating this properly with a top-down approach can be daunting. It's for that reason that I recommend the opposite approach; the Euhemerist Method.
Euhemerism is the idea that a myth, religious or otherwise, has a kernel of truth at its centre. This method allows the RPer to strip their ideas for mythology and/or religion down to the basics. Instead of working from the top down (working from modern day to the past) it allows the RPer to work from the bottom up (the past to the modern day).
The Greek philosopher Plato explored the concept of Euhermerism in his work Phaedrus.
excerpt from Phaedrus by Plato:
So, the question is therefore “what’s the kernel of truth to your mythology?”
The key to developing mythology is working from the beginning. Create a believable historic event that impacted the early peoples of your nation and then develop the means by which it becomes extraordinary, or even supernatural, over time as the story is told and retold.
Ultimately you need to understand human motivations in primitive societies to fully understand what events could inspire our mythologies. So, what would motivate your nation’s early inhabitants?
- Tribal security (ie protection of the tribe for purposes of resources and land).
- Protection against the elements. Extreme environmental events can often lead a cultural memory that persists as mythology.
- A quest for knowledge (often religious) elsewhere that inspires a journey.
- Conflict as civilization marches on. The development of agriculture puts hunter-gathers in conflict with those who establish fixed settlements that become farms, towns, and cities.
Here are some examples from the real world, to better illustrate how the above events can inspire religious or mythological stories.
The Norse legend of Ragnarök, specifically the Fimbulvetr, is believed to have been inspired by either the sudden and rapid drop in temperature across northern Europe in 535-536 CE or the earlier shift in global climate that saw the then temperate Nordic countries get considerably cooler around 650 BCE.
Either way it's very possible that a rapid cooling of northern Europe, and the inhabitants' struggle to survive and thrive in the cooler climate, lasted as a cultural memory. One that would then inspire the apocalyptic Fimbulvetr winter from the Ragnarök story.
Either way it's very possible that a rapid cooling of northern Europe, and the inhabitants' struggle to survive and thrive in the cooler climate, lasted as a cultural memory. One that would then inspire the apocalyptic Fimbulvetr winter from the Ragnarök story.
The Book of Genesis is a highly stylized retelling of events that occurred in 2nd millennia BCE Sumeria.
Cain and Abel is a retelling of the struggles between nomadic hunter-gatherers and civilization emerging around the first cities.
Noah’s Ark is the story of a great flood in Sumeria that’s been retold again and again.
The story of Abraham leading the forebears of the Israelites out of Mesopotamia to eventually settle in Cannan is likely a retelling of religious conflict between competing sects in Mesopotamian city-states leading to a migration into the Levant.
Cain and Abel is a retelling of the struggles between nomadic hunter-gatherers and civilization emerging around the first cities.
Noah’s Ark is the story of a great flood in Sumeria that’s been retold again and again.
The story of Abraham leading the forebears of the Israelites out of Mesopotamia to eventually settle in Cannan is likely a retelling of religious conflict between competing sects in Mesopotamian city-states leading to a migration into the Levant.
King Arthur, if he does indeed have any basis in real history, was likely more akin to a tribal chieftain who unified Celtic tribes against Saxon invasion, rather than high medieval royalty. Camelot, if it did exist as a real place, was likely an earthen fort rather than an imposing castle.
Egyptian mythology claims that the sun god Ra fought the embodiment of chaos, Apep, daily. This is depicted in art as Ra atop a solar barge fighting Apep as a giant snake.
In this case archeologists have confirmed that fishermen on river barges shoving aside snakes figured heavily into early Egyptian art that pre-dates the development of the Apep/Ra story.
We see here that the daily realities of fishing on the Nile helped shape Egyptian mythology.
The daily tribulations of the Egyptian fisherman became the template for ancient Egypt’s story of light and creation battling against darkness and chaos.
In this case archeologists have confirmed that fishermen on river barges shoving aside snakes figured heavily into early Egyptian art that pre-dates the development of the Apep/Ra story.
We see here that the daily realities of fishing on the Nile helped shape Egyptian mythology.
The daily tribulations of the Egyptian fisherman became the template for ancient Egypt’s story of light and creation battling against darkness and chaos.
The pre-historic Chinese had long been using stylized depictions of animals such as pigs, snakes, and fish in a coiled form to signify status. This eventually lead to those stylized designs amalgamating into the Chinese dragon, which became a symbol of Imperial authority.
The first non-divine Emperor in traditional Chinese history is Yu the Great, of the Xia Dynasty. According to the legend Yu pioneered flood control and became a great ruler as a result.
Now consider where the Xia are traditionally held to have lived. Along the banks of the Yellow River. The historicity of Yu and the Xia is almost inconsequential. Regardless we know that Chinese civilization developed along the Yellow River. It's therefore unsurprising that one of their earliest culture heroes, one of the few Emperors of China to have the epithet of "the great," is a man who supposedly figured out how to control the flooding rivers of which that early society was dependent upon.
Now consider where the Xia are traditionally held to have lived. Along the banks of the Yellow River. The historicity of Yu and the Xia is almost inconsequential. Regardless we know that Chinese civilization developed along the Yellow River. It's therefore unsurprising that one of their earliest culture heroes, one of the few Emperors of China to have the epithet of "the great," is a man who supposedly figured out how to control the flooding rivers of which that early society was dependent upon.
Integration into the Wider Mythology of Your RP World
Successful NationStates national RP rarely, if ever, exists in a bubble. You are likely to have neighbours. Furthermore? You are likely to have at least a few nations on your map that roughly share the same culture as inspiration that you use. It’s when these issues arise that you want to consider how your own history and mythology integrates into the wider history of your RP world.
The first thing to consider is that you’re going to have to be flexible with everything you’ve created. That’s ok. RP is fundamentally a collaborative effort. The person you’re going to have to make adjustments to accommodate will likely have to make adjustments of their own.
Don’t feel so tied to your own ideas that you refuse to budge on any of them. Both you and the person you’re collaborating with should be working towards a stronger history and mythology for the entire RP community.
So, after you’ve committed to being flexible? You’ll want to look for easy points of contact.
Let’s say you get a new neighbour on the map. You should reach out and attempt to work out a shared history of cultural exchange and warfare (warfare is, indeed, the most successful vehicle for cultural exchange in human history).
You’ll also want to consider looking for what I call “connective tissue.” Don’t be afraid to speak up if you see someone else talking about their own mythology. Even if they are not neighbours.
If there are elements in theirs that match yours? You ought to work with them to discuss a possible common origin to the similar myths.
The gods Týr, Zeus, and Dyaus occupy pantheons from Scandinavia to Greece to India, and yet they’re all based on the same proto-Indo-European deity Dyeus.
So, don’t be afraid to reach out to your fellow RPers to reconcile similar mythologies. Even if you are a bit aways apart on the map.
Universal Religion and Integration
Back to universal religion. Universal religions are shaped by the cultural that births them, but they draw less on cultural myths and more on promoting a “universal” doctrine for all mankind, regardless of religion.
Often the central element of the faith will actually be stripped of original cultural trappings to appeal to as many people as possible. This often coincides with the universal faith adopting elements of the culture or cultures it spreads into.
This is key. Often RPers who want to explore the spread of a universal religion view it as a matter of imperialism. Forcing a foreign belief system on a conquered population. Often the opposite will occur, with the religion changing to accommodate native culture.
Christianity is the best example of this in the real world. It was born in first century Judea, but many of its Saints were based on European pagan deities. European artists depicted Christian stories, including those of the Hebrew Bible, using contemporary European art styles. This led to pieces of art meant to depict events that occurred in the Middle East reflecting European cultural touchstones.
A European city even served as the headquarters of the largest unified Christian denomination up until the Reformation of the 1500s.
That is not to say that Christianity was subsumed by European elements, however. Christianity has been adopted by nearly every ethnic group in the world, and all of them have taken the Christian belief structure and have passed it through their own cultural filters.
When dealing with universal religion supplanting a population's native religion? Think of it as a two-way street. Yes, the outside religion will change some things on the new population. Still? You ought to consider how the population will impact and change the universal religion.
Conclusion
Mythology and religion are collectively a huge, daunting topic. So much so that many RPers don’t even bother. This is truly a sad state of affairs, we mythological and religious world-building can lead to a richer and more realistic RP world.
Ultimately the best way to tackle this task to work backwards. Myth is an embellished story derived from human action. Human action is derived from motivation.
By understanding human motivation- what would have driven, inspired, and otherwise left a mark on your nation’s early peoples- you can begin to craft a history that you can than build up into a myth.
Thank you.
Q&A is welcome and encouraged, either here or on VC at the time and place specified above.
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