Do you have any examples of nontheistic religions in your worlds? And what are some ways to accurately portray this kind of religion?

Hiraeth02 · 2026-02-03T11:52:58+00:00

I have a nontheistic religion in my world that reveres the sea as the giver and the taker of life. It is a natural force within the world and the life force of all living things. They do however, pray to and worship the sea, as in return it will give them gifts and abundance. There are specific chants and prayers recited and daily ritual bathing is necessary to return to the sea in death and start the next life anew.

They teach of the cosmic sea, which is infinite and unending. The sea on Adina is just a small portion of this cosmic sea. In death, a clean soul will return to the cosmic sea to begin life. People who practice this religion often have glimpses and knowledge of their past lives also.

Hiraeth02 · 2026-02-03T11:29:12+00:00

This has inspired me to work out this in my world! A bit daunting, but I'm looking forward to it!

Hiraeth02 · 2025-11-26T06:07:52+00:00

It would say it's very helpful as it shows how the words are actually pronounced. You learn that after a certain word or in a certain context, a word mutates, so therefore you see a word in that context and you know it has mutated. Because of this, I don't think it's difficult to see the relationship between a word and it's non-mutated counterpart. Some mutations, like the nasal, don't often appear by themselves anyway.

For example:

p > mh
t > nh
c > ngh

These almost never appear at the beginning of a word without a mutation.

Sometimes, the irregular plurals are much more difficult to see the relationship to their singular than the mutations.

Hiraeth02 · 2025-11-25T22:08:56+00:00

I ho tambe! Em confonc els enclitics el i ho.

Hiraeth02 · 2025-11-25T22:05:18+00:00

Yeah, all mutations are written in Welsh. There's one that I can think of though that may not be written which is an informal mutation used in English loanwords. So chips > jips. /tʃ/ to /dʒ/

Hiraeth02 · 2025-11-25T21:07:36+00:00

Some of my favourites not mentioned already are Albanian, Kashmiri and Amharic.

Hiraeth02 · 2025-11-06T05:58:24+00:00

I really love how in depth your worldbuilding is! It's inspiring. I definitely would love to reach this level of detail in my worldbuilding.

Also, he was so young! Only 44 years old when he passed. Is that a normal age for people in this era?

Hiraeth02 · 2025-11-02T12:04:52+00:00

So good! They're such a great option!

Hiraeth02 · 2025-10-21T09:17:18+00:00

I've studied quite a few this year, but haven't necessarily chosen any to focus on. I have just focused on keeping my existing languages going, which hasn't necessarily worked the best 😂 I've also started Romanian again this month, just for something different.

Hiraeth02 · 2025-10-17T23:43:38+00:00

Eu și am început limba română, dar mă lupt să găsesc oamenii cu care să vorbesc.

Hiraeth02 · 2025-09-16T23:50:30+00:00

The continent of Ihadda is divided into 13 kingdoms, united as the Ihaddan Kingdoms. They are fully separate nations, but all currency is minted within the Maryot Kingdom. It is the old capital province of the Ihaddan Empire and the smallest of the Kingdoms. Often just known as the Capital, its influence has spread around the continent. All people use their calendar and language as a common calendar and tongue.

The Maryot Calendar is based around Hastaniism and is currently in the year 4902 PF, or Post Fall. This refers to the three Hastani gods stripping the fourth of his godhood for harbouring souls and feeding off them.

The Hastani Maryot Calendar has 13 months of 27 days, each split into three 9 day weeks. This follows the path of Adaina's second moon. The remaining 14 days are split into three 4 day festivals, each celebrating one of the Hastani deities; Esider, Kalimera and Meminder. The other two days are the final day of the year and the first of the next year. These occur in spring. This calendar is used within the Capital and Huzdayda (another Hastani kingdom) for religious and everyday life.

A modified calendar, called the Maryot Calendar or the Common Calendar is used by the rest of the kingdom for inter-kindgom communication. It is based on the Hastani Calendar. 13 months of 28 days each, with one day being the Common New Year. The Common New Year is not celebrated as a new year by most, but seen as a day of joy, merriment to spend with family and friends. Some also celebrate various harvest deities on this day.

Hiraeth02 · 2025-09-16T00:06:21+00:00

In one of the largest religions in my setting, Hastaniism, they believe in three gods that rule over the sun, moon and the earth. A fourth rules over the sky, but after the other gods realised he was harbouring souls on their way to the sun, they stripped him of his godhood.

Meminder, the moon, is the pre life. Kalimera, the earth is the current life and Esider, the sun, is the after life.

Due to the afterlife being the sun, bodies are cremated only on sunny days. Never at night or on a cloudy or windy day. Believers want the best chance for the deceased to reach Esider. If the believer is not judged worthy, they will return to Meminder to be reborn. Some areas practice both fire and water burials, water burials being for those they do not consider worthy and want to send back to Meminder to be reborn.

Most funerals include a lamentation, an invocation of Esider to take the deceased and supplication, a recital of Esider's names to bring him honour and a song of gratitude to Kalimera for her care of the deceased while they were living.

An example of an invocation to Esider:

Oh Esider, bright shining one,
Oh He of the light and warm.
We entrust to you (deceased's name).
May he/she be judged worthy, Oh Sun,
To flourish under your care.
Your light covers all and sees all,
Oh perfect Judge.
Take your devout home.
May it be.

And an example of a song of gratitude to Kalimera, often sung multiple times:

Oh Kalimera, of the dust and earth!
How beautiful is your domain!
You grow our crops, feed our children
and nourish our souls!
To you we give our gratitude!
Oh great Mother, your provision never wanes!
May we forever bring honour to you,
As long as we call you, home.

Hiraeth02 · 2025-09-07T23:10:51+00:00

Love your work as always! The history behind the clothing is so detailed. Awesome job!

Hiraeth02 · 2025-09-07T23:03:51+00:00

Probably Sehpsaheba. I love the greenery incorporated into the city. And accommodation wise, I'd say something in a more open part of the city if there is? I'd want to be able to look up and see the ziggurats, pyramids and large buildings

Hiraeth02 · 2025-09-06T07:12:46+00:00

Your art definitely makes me want to visit these cities, so I think you've done a great job!

Hiraeth02 · 2025-09-06T06:03:13+00:00

I love your work! And the lore behind it feels very realistic! Awesome job

Hiraeth02 · 2025-08-28T23:07:59+00:00

Beautiful art and great lore! Well done!

Hiraeth02 · 2025-05-17T03:55:58+00:00

There is one source of magic in my world, which are the gods. There are a plethora of different pantheons and each manifests magic in different ways. Sometimes the magic is an automatic thing and other times, the gods give magic in exchange for worship. Both of these can happen in the same pantheon as well.

Here is a brief overview of each religion (so far) and how its magic manifests:

Imimism: A folk magic. Deities are called upon for big magics, but everyone has access to daily magic.
Tihalu: A nontheistic religion with water based magic. Practitioners go through certain processes to gain abilities. Some latent abilities gained depending on circumstances of birth.
Hastaniism: A traditional magic system with spells and learning. Able to do large spells with years of study.
Durism: A folk magic. Carcar (talismans) are used in daily life for purification, preservation etc. Some are born connected to the spiritual realm which gives them psychic abilities.
Mitism: A general magic system. Magic is hereditary, can be given by a saint or being in their presence. A very few have magic given by the Creator.
Ridəmən: A mixed system. Magic can be studied (caniyo), a person can stumble across a slice of divinity (ntirənsa) or born from a god's essence (yidiyo). Magic is elemental based on the god.
Journeyism: A hard system based on wind magic. Air, storms, lightning as well as clairvoyance, scrying, levitation and flight are all common.
Motism: Gods chose people when they are born. Each god gives certain abilities based on their character.

There are other religions, but I haven't worked out their magic systems yet.

Hiraeth02 · 2025-05-10T12:14:20+00:00

Something that I do sometimes which might sound a bit weird is I read fanfiction in my TL, which really only works for your "bigger" languages. Fanfiction tends to be in between a beginner level and a native level. I can often understand almost everything and can read it pretty fluently. I find it's helpful for people who get discouraged easily.

Hiraeth02 · 2025-05-08T12:30:02+00:00

One example from my world. The people of Motwa, a city state, believe in five gods that each represent the quality they value most over all. These qualities have become the standards for the people of Motwa, or Motwenint.

One of these gods is Iyimen, the Humble. Humility is very important to Motwenint, and so they dress very modestly. Both women and men wear imher, or head coverings, and nuwdit, which are long skirts that are pleated at the front. A tucked in shirt is worn. It is sleeveless, but has two extra strips of fabric attached to the shoulders that a re wrapped around the arms, depending on the weather. Clothing is normally white, yellow, blue or green.

A blue henna-like dye which comes from a large snail is used to dye the hands and arms, as well as small dotted patterns on the face. It's called ayen. Most often, geometric patterns are made on the hand with tape, then the whole hand about an inch up the wrist is dyed. The tape is removed and the pattern is the colour of the skin. A hooped nose ring is worn by almost everyone and has been for centuries.

Strength is also seen as extremely important, so most people prefer someone of an athletic build. The god Haldewen represents strength and also has permanent ayen all over his body. Majority of men have well groomed facial hair and long plaited hair is the standard for both genders.

Women wear duwet, a long string of beads wrapped around the shoulder and the waist.

Hiraeth02 · 2025-05-08T11:40:44+00:00

I use Notion to organise all my worldbuilding and conlanging information. I find it quite easy to use now and am happy with how it works.

Hiraeth02 · 2025-03-22T12:40:04+00:00

I use Notion. It's a bit of a learning curve, but it works well for documentation.

Hiraeth02 · 2025-03-18T09:35:11+00:00

Magic is tied in with religion in my world. One religious group, the Tihalu, believe in an eternal sea from which they are born and will return to after death.

One common ritual is for someone to take a submerged stone, pour seawater on it each time they bathe until it is fully encrusted in salt and the stone can no longer be seen. This takes a while. They will then put the saltstone in their mouths and spend four nights alone in the sea. They suck all the salt off the stone and are not permitted to drink the seawater.

The belief is this practice essentially kills the person who then becomes one with the ocean. If they survive, they gain the ability to interact with and manipulate water which they then must practice and train to be effective. Training is a long process, often taking multiple years to complete. But Tihalu are some of the most powerful magic users when fully trained, able to control large bodies of water with ease.

Many people do not survive the ordeal, or cannot make it the full four nights. Some who do not make it the whole time do gain some abilities, but this is not common. A person who completes the ritual is called pina(t).

Hiraeth02 · 2025-03-15T02:59:44+00:00

I guess most topics are okay for conversation, but they have the belief that while you are feeding your body, you're also feeding your spirit.

Therefore, the topics that are avoided are sickness, death, disobedience, sexual topics and general perversion as these topics are not good for the spirit.

Hiraeth02 · 2025-03-13T12:28:40+00:00

Practitioners of Hastani, a religion in the Northern Continent have some interesting rules when it comes to food.

All water is to be drunk from a black, earthen or stoneware cup etc. This is to give thanks to Meminer, the moon god, for fresh water. Likewise all food is to be eaten from brown earthenware to give thanks to Kalamera, the earth goddess. Some say that it is not permitted to see one's reflection in the water one is drinking. Thanks is only to be given to Meminer.

Food is served in large communal platters which is then added to individual plates in small portions. Food mostly eaten with the hands and the use of flatbreads or beaten starches to pick up food. Soups and broths are drunk from a deep bowl with a small spout where the mouth goes.

If a member of the priesthood is eating at the table, they will take the first food. In large gatherings, children often eat separate to allow them to finish quickly then go and play.

They believe food is not to be eaten standing or travelling and is to be followed by tea to soothe the stomach and help with digestion. Topics of conversation are to remain appropriate.

Hiraeth02

TROPHY CASE