The Old Faith

The Neutral Faith:

Neutrality

• Mother Harvest (Lady Life)
• Father Want (Lord Death)
• Lord Gift (Lord Fecund)
• Grandfather Mystery (Lord Dreams)
• Grandmother Change (Lady Time)

The Neutral Faith is associated with rustics and peasants from regions that were not civilized before the advent of the Church of Law. While not the religion of Fairy, it is associated with those who live in around regions strongly touched by the Fairy Realms. It is associated with wise elders, mystics, and Druids.

Grandfather Mystery and Grandmother Change are rarely worshipped on their own, being viewed as distant and closely connected to Fairy.

The faith often exists in a sort of class stratified unity with the Church of Law. In such places Lord Gift usually absorbs the devotion formerly given to Father Want. Where the Church of Chaos is dominant, or where both Churches exist in competition, the Neutral Faith combines elements of both into its devotion. These elements focus on the agricultural rites important to Mother Harvest (Sister Mercy) and Father Want (Master Void). Witchcraft is actually as common a step of the disgruntled follower of the Neutral Faith as it is of the oppressed devotee of the Church of Chaos—a fact of which the Church of Law takes keen note. However, the Neutral Faith is not Witchcraft. 

There are no Clerics devoted to the Neutral Faith; it is based on customs handed down rather than a unified collection of doctrines. In border regions and rural areas, Druids may still be consulted, but most villages within civilization have resort to the village priest of whichever Church is the local one. Generally the Great Church is favored and she considers such rustics as her charge.

Hook: The Neutral Faith represents the general outlook of the Neutral alignment (but there are other faiths so aligned). Druid characters are either adherents of the Neutral Faith or the Barbarian Religion. Other characters friendly toward, but not exactly members of, the Great Church tend to be part of this, the “old faith”. It is her traditions that hand down the Neutral Tongue.

The Neutral Faith also provides for the odd practices encountered in a local village. Do these peasants still intend to appease Father Want? Is that what the strange giant wicker sculpture is for? Why are they feasting us? Is there an old prophecy that is finally coming to pass? The peasants probably remember something about that. An old shrine needs locating? Grandmaw once warned me about the hollow in the next valley.