ImagiNations - Backgrounders (Religion part 2)

The three major religions are each monotheistic, which is not surprising as they are closely related, no matter what their followers might say to the contrary.

Yahooists refer to their deity as the Librarian, naturally. Yarwegians generally refuse to say the name of their God, but a large number of rather cynical people have started to call their god, Yarweg. This is probably a simple matter of not knowing the name, and substituting the name of the ethnic group. However, it is rumored that the name, "Archivist," does have some religious significance to Yarwegians. This has yet to be confirmed.

Googlians are very matter of fact about what they call their god, the Curator. In fact, they often call upon their god throughout the day, even on non-worship days, at almost any time or under any circumstance. This may be indicative of a great deal of piety within the membership of the church, but the seekers of truth do not have enough evidence to declare one way or the other. However, Googlians are commonly heard to shout, "The Curator damn you!" or "By The Curator's hairy chin!" or pithily, "Curator!"

After the last post, a Yahooist librarian reminded me of another couple of societies that I nearly forgot about.

The Emojianists

Emojianism began as an offshoot of Yahooism, as a sort of accident. A number of deaf Yahooists were unable to fully communicate with the other members of their local library. They complained, via gestures and a few words drawn in the dirt, to their Librarian. The Librarian made the mistake of approving of the heresy of allowing the deaf members to translate the weekly citations from the information vaults, which were normally spoken aloud as part of the worship ceremonies, but of course the deaf attendees could not hear them.

Unfortunately, the practice became a cause of its own, probably due to a mistranslation or misunderstanding of what the Librarian had said (well, duh! They were deaf.) The result was that the group began their own weekly meetings, the day before the Yahooist worship day. They insisted upon "reciting" from the book, using certain enigmatic hand jestures and facial expressions, that no one else could understand. The Librarian could not put up with the apparent blasphemy by the deaf library patrons and refused them entry on their next meeting day. The group shrugged their shoulders and moved to a town with another library, but a few months later, they were againd refused entry.

Somehow, numerous copies were made from archives within the vaults of the Great Library, and the Society of Emojianists officially seperated themselves from the Church of Yahoo. The Society has expanded their practice to include creating little icons, the meanings of which are known only to the Society, that they show to each other during their worship ceremonies.

Mooglians 

Mooglians are an abberation in the region as they are the only religion known to be polytheistic. They believe that there are many gods, each endowed with a certain area of expertise or influence. Based on the many samples of idols and carvings of these gods, they are bipedal, but non-human. They do look similar to humans, but they are hairless, with large noses, a small pair of wings on their backs, and what can only be described as a "big ball" attached to the tops of their heads by some unknown means.

It is not known what the religious beliefs or worship practices of Mooglians consist of, beyond that which I have already stated.