by Max Barry

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Region: New Coalition of Nations

St Saratoga wrote:So I'm working to create my religion factbook, Divine Providence.

So the premise is that the Chamberlain & Saratoga families, mainly Joshua Chamberlain from back in NCON 1.0 and Saint Saratoga (name) from the Saratogan-Nedean-Moarfallian independence war, are god intervention into the matters of man to create an Israel-like state that became St. Saratoga the nation.

Divine Providence is using the pre-reformation Catholic Church as the model.

What I need help from y'all is:
A) how to create slick looking factbook for it
1) Maybe wikipedia style?
B) Help with creating the structure and holy book
C) Holy Places; should the new RP have Divine Providence holy sites? Rogerbei have a Vatican? NCON 1.0 map have the holy sites that no longer exist? That sorta thing.

So, for your people, the land of Saratoga represents a type of “promised land,” right?

This is a central theme of both Judaism and Mormonism. In both religions, a type of covenant is signed with a god whereby they are granted a promised land where they can live in peace in exchange for worshipping that god. This covenant and/or the promise (along with a utopian description of the land) is usually a major feature/theme of any religious text.

A promised land is more than likely something an (historically) oppressed people would pine for. This historic oppression would also be a major theme/feature of the text. As would the liberation from this oppression, the journey to the promised land (which is often difficult and dangerous, but full of miracles from the god that assist the people along the way), and then a history of the first days (or years or generations) in the promised land.

The religious text can be written by one “prophet” or be a collection (curated over time by a church authority) of smaller texts by several or many prophets. There can be a single definitive text, or a core text with many derivative texts authored over the years that have since been adopted as important secondary texts. (Often times these are metaphysical thesis expanding the core text to cover things like day-to-day practices and religious dietary or marriage laws.) Authorship can either be known or unknown. (Known more often if by one prophet, unknown more often if by many prophets.)

Of course, it should also contain any core moral tenets. And often reinforces these with stories of people that either succeeded by following the tenets, or failed because they didn’t follow them.

Holy places are likely (for a people that journey from a place where they were oppressed to a promised land) to be found along the path of the journey, and of course in the promised land itself. One major site being the very first place in the promised land the people touched. Another being the location where the first leader (the one leading your people when they reach the promised land) dies and/or is/was buried (or ascended to Heaven). As well as any places any prophets died and/or are/were buried.

A “Vatican” would be needed if the head of your church needs some sovereign territory in order to offer a bit of political distance between the church and the state (govt) of Saratoga. If there are lots of followers outside Saratoga, this might be a good idea to protect those followers from being accused of being Saratogan agents by virtue of their faith alone. If a vast, vast majority live in Saratoga, then they actually may get more protection from a union of church and state. Meaning no separate “Vatican,” BUT you can still give your religious leader a private campus/estate and even a whole city devoted to the church with lots of seminaries and other religious institutions like libraries, etc. (Basically a religious capital which can be different than your national capital.)

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