“They are constantly evoked in Rumithia as people ask for their favour in battles. They never actively intervene though and retain an air of distant omnipresence.“
I must admit, in the strange, complex and random way worldbuilding occurs, at least for me, I’d not really given much thought to the role of religion in Rumithia in my initial drafts of both Traitor’s Eye, and the first book of my as yet untitled series, Gongore’s Prophecy. I had briefly mentioned that one of the characters that figures in the backstory, Mother Gyi had been sent by the Gods, but had given little thought as to who those Gods were, or what they were about.
In my recent revisions, I’ve made a choice to expand on this idea of religion in Rumithia and the presence of Gods, and I wanted to share what the Gods are like in Rumithia, and what role they play.
Influence of Ancient Greece
As the image I have used denotes, I’ve taken a lot of influence for my fictional theology from Ancient Greek mythology. Instead of the 12 Olympian gods, I’ve gone with six, half of what the gods of Ancient Greece were. I did think of going with seven, the number the Greeks considered to be the perfect (hence seven wonders of the world), but George R. R. Martin got there first, so I thought I would stay away from those comparisons to the Seven.
The lead God is named Dionore, inspired by Zeus’s name in Greek (Δίας) the Goddess of Wisdom, like in Ancient Greece embodied by a woman, I’ve gone with the name Sophia (Σοφία) literally meaning wisdom in Greek. Given its a feature of Rumithia, I’ve also included a God of war Poláimon (Greek word for war is πόλεμος and a play on the name Panteleimon), one who receives regular prayers, especially in the Faction Wars! Nekarion is the God of the underworld, the name drawn from the Greek word νεκρός, (nekros) meaning dead. These four are the main gods that feature in Traitor’s Eye, but the other two are Hibba the Goddess of love (from the Arabic word Hib for love), and then the final Goddess, Evimeri, the Goddess of well-being, based on the Greek Goddess Demeter.
Within Rithagow, there are monuments and temples built in their honour, where worship, prayers and offering to the gods take place. Belief in the gods is universal, even though a theme that will run through my writings is that this belief is challenged by evil characters who develop god-like complexes. Felim, the giant and first ruler of the giant dynasty is the only example I can give here to avoid spoilers, so drunk on his own power and so convinced of his own supremacy, that he has a god-like complex that leads him to become king. Needless to say, that doesn’t go well for him.
Less Interventionism
While I’ve taken the inspiration from Ancient Greece, the Gods of Rumithia are not exactly similar. In Rumithia, in Traitor’s Eye the Gods are regularly invoked as characters will the gods to side with them in their endeavors. However, the Gods were very active in Greek mythology, in my writing, it’s quite the opposite. Their most active intervention involves Mother Gyi, who is sent to Rumithia by the Gods. She is a demi-God, her name is essentially Mother Earth, Gyi is an Anglicized way of saying Γη, which is earth. She is later called back by the Gods and leaves the Guardians to rule in her wake. However, she seeds Rumithia with magical powers, she provides a key gift to the Guardians, one which I can’t reveal now, but this is a gift of great favour and one that plays an integral role in Rumithia and Traitor’s Eye.
However, they are constantly evoked in Rumithia as people ask for their favour in battles. They never actively intervene though and retain an air of distant omnipresence.
I will continue to consider the role of the gods in Rumithia and my fiction writing.
In my next blog, I want to take on a key trope of fantasy fiction and talk about why I want to challenge it, and how I will do so in my writing, so stay tuned for that.
