Musings on Epitomes - a technology for building religions

[Spectrum]

I'm developing the religions of my world. One race, the suchians, worship something they call Epitomes. An Epitome is not a conscious being; rather, it is an impersonal disembodied force.

Each Epitome represents a virtue of thought and behaviour - bravery, honesty, fairness, generosity and so on. When you worship an Epitome, you gradually develop a connection to it. Worshippers give up small amounts of mental and bodily energy. This energy is stored in the Epitome on the spiritual "plane" where it exists.

A person can be connected to many Epitomes. When you're connected to an Epitome, it rewards you with a boost of energy and well-being wherever you act in accordance with the Epitome - e.g. when you do something brave or honest. Thus the Epitome "pays back" its worshippers. Similarly you get "punished" with anguish and fatigue if you violate your principles. Both happen automatically as long as the worshipper genuinely believes he is doing the right/wrong thing. (The Epitome cannot judge the virtue of actions. It is not intelligent. It just responds to people's thoughts and feelings.) This is not complete mind-control - a worshipper can disobey the Epitome, it's just psychologically hard and painful to do.

The Epitomes did not always exist. They were created. A sufficient congregation of worshippers, led by learned mage-priests, can create new Epitomes. Epitomes grow stronger and weaker depending on how much they are worshipped.

Religious practices and rituals can vary widely; the important thing is just the faith and emotions of worshippers. Beliefs can also vary - some people (rabble and clergy alike) may falsely believe that their Epitomes are conscious gods who created the world.

An Epitomes can be built on any virtue, code or principle as long as it's based on thought and behaviour - you can't have an Epitome of strength or fertility or wealth because those are not behaviours; they're not a choice.

There exist hundreds of Epitomes worshipped by various cultures. Some are near-universally revered while others are controversial. E.g., one nation might revere Vengeance as an Epitome whereas another insists that Forgiveness is a virtue and that Vengeance is an evil Epitome that should not be worshipped. Epitomes can range from very general ("Loyalty", "Fairness") to very specific ("Loyalty to your commanding officer in war", "Fairness towards employees and servants").

I'm thinking about how this could be used on a large scale.

Epitomes can function as a kind of indoctrination or brainwashing. A ruler who wishes to change the world can introduce new Epitomes and discourage the worship of others, and thus gradually literally change the minds of his people. One of my characters is like that: A ruler and mage who seeks to change the world - for the better, as he sees it. To that end, among other things, he introduces and popularizes Epitomes which he believes will help spread his influence and further his political ends.

What do you think? Do you have any good ideas for how this could be used and abused, or any pitfalls I need to think through?


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[.matthew.]

It sounds really well thought out already. You've already got how it can be used and abused.

Perhaps add some cults?

I guess the only pitfalls would be risking having too many exist and potentially whether someone could worship counteracting ones (like Vengeance and Forgiveness) so you'd be damned if you you, damned if you don't type thing.

 

[Parson]

Interesting idea. --- I've nothing to add, save a quick perusal of Hinduism might give you some insight. As I understand Hinduism the multiplicity of Gods and Goddesses, and the cross purposes and relative verneration of some Gods might be enlightening.

 

[The Big Peat]

Seems well reasoned enough.

How is somebody connected to the Epitomes and can they be connected to more than one of them at once?

Also, Revenge and Forgiveness are pretty 'out there' traits if they're all somebody pursues all the time.

And what happens if somebody convinces all the followers of the Epitome "Treat all your servants fairly" that fairly means letting them sleep and only one flogging an hour?

 

[Astro Pen]

Something that crossed my mind reading that was the Victorian girls "virtue" names - Verity, Hope, Faith, Chastity, Felicity Trinity, Patience etc'.
They had already made an abstracted transition from the names of physical saints and biblical characters to impersonal qualities of being and behavior much like your Epitomes.

 

[sule]

I had a few question that occurred to me and I'll list them out here. These are not critiques of your system (which I think is brilliant) but rather just nuts and bolts queries that occurred to me. I'm mostly just asking them because I am genuinely curious.

How does a person change their allegiance among Epitomes? How difficult is the process? Is regular switching between Epitomes a common thing? Is it frowned upon or encouraged? Does it affect how much power you can receive from an Epitome?

What happens if a person is connected to two Epitomes and does something that acts in accordance with one but contradicts the other? Conversely, if they act in way that fulfills two Epitomes do they receive an increase in power compared to only acting in accordance with one? Or do they receive power based on how much they harmonize with an Epitome, rather than how many Epitomes they harmonize with?

Along those same lines, can a person be connected to two Epitomes that might seem like they would regularly be in conflict? Are there 'forgotten' Epitomes that a person could unknowingly be connected to, or can you only be connected to one if you explicitly choose it?

Could someone become the most powerful creature on the planet by convincing themselves that they acted in accordance with every Epitome?

Are there any special abilities that a person is granted through connection to a specific set of Epitomes? If so, are there certain combinations that are sought out for personal gain? Can a person selfishly seek out Epitomes to connect with, or can they only connect to an Epitome through pious observation?

 

[ginny]

I've been studying the American Nations an they have something similar to this but in essence nothing like it.(In my limited knowledge.)
What I mean by that is that they have several spirits in their culture that they honor and when they do the honor properly it can help them.
When they dishonor the spirit or fall away by forgetting to honor the spirit then it is no longer helpful, because they are no longer in full harmony with the world.
You might benefit from reading about the Nations; keeping in mind to only look for qualified works from people in the Nations.

One reason I mention this is because their unique outlook puts a different value on vengeance and forgiveness.

 

[Spectrum]

Perhaps add some cults?

Could you please elaborate what you mean here?

I guess the only pitfalls would be risking having too many exist and potentially whether someone could worship counteracting ones (like Vengeance and Forgiveness) so you'd be damned if you you, damned if you don't type thing.

That can happen. Such a dilemma will feel like a "trolley problem" where both options feel necessary but also awful at the same time.

How is somebody connected to the Epitomes and can they be connected to more than one of them at once?

I don't know what you mean by "how". It's a supernatural spiritual link, sort of like a spell cast on you.

It is possible to be connected to multiple Epitomes, yes.

And what happens if somebody convinces all the followers of the Epitome "Treat all your servants fairly" that fairly means letting them sleep and only one flogging an hour?

If you truly believe that flogging your servants every hour is virtuous according to your Epitome, then you can flog them and gain the benefits of adhering to your Epitome. The Epitome cannot judge outcomes, it merely resonates with your thoughts and emotions.

Something that crossed my mind reading that was the Victorian girls "virtue" names - Verity, Hope, Faith, Chastity, Felicity Trinity, Patience etc'.

They had already made an abstracted transition from the names of physical saints and biblical characters to impersonal qualities of being and behavior much like your Epitomes.

In my world, I plan to have most Epitomes named after a historical person who was considered to embody that virtue. The person can be thought of as having "ascended" to a spiritual plane and become a disembodied Epitome after death. (This is not literally what happens, BUT during the creation of an Epitome, some spiritual essence can be drawn from a recently dead person's soul and used to strengthen the new Epitome.)

 

[The Big Peat]

I don't know what you mean by "how". It's a supernatural spiritual link, sort of like a spell cast on you.

It is possible to be connected to multiple Epitomes, yes.

How difficult is the spell? Is it a significant act, or something the right person can knock out in a few minutes? Is it possible for somebody to commit to the appropriate Epitome for a few months then move on when the purpose is fulfilled?

And what happens if somebody is tied to mutually conflict Epitomes i.e. revenge and forgiveness?

If you truly believe that flogging your servants every hour is virtuous according to your Epitome, then you can flog them and gain the benefits of adhering to your Epitome. The Epitome cannot judge outcomes, it merely resonates with your thoughts and emotions.

Do people want to change that? Have people tried?

 

[Spectrum]

How does a person change their allegiance among Epitomes? How difficult is the process? Is regular switching between Epitomes a common thing? Is it frowned upon or encouraged?

Good questions you have.

You connect to an Epitome by worshipping it. This costs some mental energy, which gets transferred to the Epitome. Your connection automatically fades with time, so you need to pray regularly to maintain it. If you stop praying to one Epitome and begin to worship another, your connections will gradually shift. How quickly you can drop a connection depends on how long you've been worshipping the old one - it could be a few weeks if you're young, or years if you've been worshipping for many decades.

I suppose there are also a kind of "repentance" rites that you can perform in order to sever your connection to an Epitome.

It's worth noting that Epitome-wise, religious rites are entirely "psychosomatic". The Epitome doesn't care how you sing, dance, dress, fast or feast, but all those things can help a congregation of worshippers FEEL the presence of the Epitome and thus strengthen their connection.

How this is viewed socially depends on the Epitome. In a culture, certain Epitomes may be considered so important as to be mandatory (not worshipping them makes you a weird outsider) while others are considered optional, so that people are allowed to more-or-less freely drift between them.

Does it affect how much power you can receive from an Epitome?

The amount of power you get depends on the strength of your connection and the strength of the Epitome itself. You can have multiple strong connections if you're pious and pray a lot, but you'll need to devote a lot of time and energy to maintaining them.

Epitomes themselves also vary in strength, depending on their age and how many worshippers they have. This is not linear; there are diminishing returns. An Epitome with 10.000 worshippers doesn't give 10 times as much power as one with only 1.000 worshippers, but it might perhaps give twice as much.

What happens if a person is connected to two Epitomes and does something that acts in accordance with one but contradicts the other?

It depends on the strengths of your connections and of the Epitomes. If both are equal, the power boost will cancel out and you'll get the mental anguish of a trolley problem.

Conversely, if they act in way that fulfills two Epitomes do they receive an increase in power compared to only acting in accordance with one? Or do they receive power based on how much they harmonize with an Epitome, rather than how many Epitomes they harmonize with?

Epitomes do stack, but with diminishing returns. If you act righteously in the names of two Epitomes at the same time or in rapid succession, you don't get double the power boost, but maybe an extra 20%, say.

Along those same lines, can a person be connected to two Epitomes that might seem like they would regularly be in conflict?

You can, yes. It seems unlikely that a culture would encourage the worship of two Epitomes that conflict OFTEN, but it seems very likely that a culture would encourage worship of a bunch of Epitomes that would OCCASIONALLY clash.

Are there 'forgotten' Epitomes that a person could unknowingly be connected to, or can you only be connected to one if you explicitly choose it?

Well, your connections fade in time when not maintained, so I would say no.

Could someone become the most powerful creature on the planet by convincing themselves that they acted in accordance with every Epitome?

As mentioned above, you CAN benefit from multiple Epitomes, but they stack with diminishing returns, so that already limits how much "righteous" boost you can get.

It's possible for a delusional person to harvest more Epitome boost than he "deserves", but there are also limits to this. As a person grows more delusional, his whole mind gradually becomes abnormal and weird, and the Epitomes begin to reject him. A man who believes he acts in the name of many dozen Epitomes at once is likely to be such a basket case that the Epitomes don't recognize him as a proper worshipper.

Are there any special abilities that a person is granted through connection to a specific set of Epitomes?

There are no special abilities granted by the Epitomes per se, but there might be certain spells or magical items that only work when you channel certain Epitomes.

If so, are there certain combinations that are sought out for personal gain? Can a person selfishly seek out Epitomes to connect with, or can they only connect to an Epitome through pious observation?

Well, you have to genuinely believe in an Epitome to benefit from it. But there might exist controversial Epitomes that are sought out by villainous types. E.g. "willingness to do anything to achieve greatness" could be considered a virtue by some, but many others would reject it as villainous behaviour.

Does that answer your question?

Good questions!

 

[.matthew.]

Could you please elaborate what you mean here?

I guess I meant that if new Epitomes can be created through belief, there would be people looking to exploit that. A charismatic personality could convince a whole bunch of people to live and worship a certain way, and in a world where that belief has tangible benefits, could quite easily get out of control leading to all sorts of political problems etc.

 

[Spectrum]

How difficult is the spell? Is it a significant act, or something the right person can knock out in a few minutes? Is it possible for somebody to commit to the appropriate Epitome for a few months then move on when the purpose is fulfilled?

And what happens if somebody is tied to mutually conflict Epitomes i.e. revenge and forgiveness?

I think I answered this in my post above. Did I answer your question sufficiently?

Do people want to change that? Have people tried?

You mean fashion "smarter" Epitomes that can judge people's actions and reject misguided worshippers? That might be possible in principle, but I think it's unfeasible with the technology the suchians have.

Even if you succeed, what would get would no longer be just an Epitome. It would be an intelligent being, a god. The creators might lose control of it. It's a dangerous can of worms to open.

I guess I meant that if new Epitomes can be created through belief, there would be people looking to exploit that. A charismatic personality could convince a whole bunch of people to live and worship a certain way, and in a world where that belief has tangible benefits, could quite easily get out of control leading to all sorts of political problems etc.

Yes, definitely. One of my characters is just such a leader, and there would likely be others such as him attempting similar things. I need to brainstorm on what Epitomes they might encourage and discourage and what consequences that could have.

 

[The Big Peat]

I think I answered this in my post above. Did I answer your question sufficiently?

You mean fashion "smarter" Epitomes that can judge people's actions and reject misguided worshippers? That might be possible in principle, but I think it's unfeasible with the technology the suchians have.

Even if you succeed, what would get would no longer be just an Epitome. It would be an intelligent being, a god. The creators might lose control of it. It's a dangerous can of worms to open.

You did answer the questions, aye.

I guess I'm less interested in whether it'd work as whether people would try it. Or to put it another way - how is this idea going to serve your stories as a source of drama, of conflict, of wow?

Don't get me wrong - it's a neat idea where you have all the answers and kudos. But it's how worldbuilding supports and drives a story that really gets my attention after a bit.

 

[Joshua Jones]

Interesting construct. I’d recommend looking into platonic ontology related to forms, modern Neoplatonism, and virtue ethics; these are very similar to what you’re describing, albeit without the fantastic elements to it. Here are some articles if you are interested. Fair warning; they are not written for the faint of heart or the philosophically uninitiated. Feel free to ask if you need help with them.

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-metaphysics/

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/platonism/

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-virtue/

 

[Joshua Jones]

Regarding how this could be used/abused, the abuse potential is astronomical... Say someone creates a set of Epitomes like "Abduct non-believers in (insert cult name here), "Torture non-believers in (insert cult name here)", "Impregnate female non-believers, with consent or otherwise", "Indoctrinate children of (insert race here) into (insert cult here)", and so forth... you can quickly create a system that gets really dark, really quick, and produces a sizable boost for the practitioners. And, if the mental energy expended does stack, even though the boost doesn't quite stack, the one behind all this could effectively make the practitioners mindless...

 

[Spectrum]

I guess I'm less interested in whether it'd work as whether people would try it. Or to put it another way - how is this idea going to serve your stories as a source of drama, of conflict, of wow?

Don't get me wrong - it's a neat idea where you have all the answers and kudos. But it's how worldbuilding supports and drives a story that really gets my attention after a bit.

Regarding how this could be used/abused, the abuse potential is astronomical... Say someone creates a set of Epitomes like "Abduct non-believers in (insert cult name here), "Torture non-believers in (insert cult name here)", "Impregnate female non-believers, with consent or otherwise", "Indoctrinate children of (insert race here) into (insert cult here)", and so forth... you can quickly create a system that gets really dark, really quick, and produces a sizable boost for the practitioners. And, if the mental energy expended does stack, even though the boost doesn't quite stack, the one behind all this could effectively make the practitioners mindless...

Thanks for the replies, both of you. (Sorry for being slow to reply. I have a small child.)

It is definitely possible to abuse this system, and leaders would want to do it. This could definitely be the basis of plots. Moreover, such abuse has undoubtedly happened in the past. It's conceivable that some cultures in the past used Epitomes so egregiously destructive that anything resembling it is now universally taboo - comparable to the Butlerian Jihad taboos from Frank Herbert's Dune. Thanks for the idea!

Another thought: Epitomes can be constructed deliberately, but they are also memes. It's conceivable that a "parasitic" Epitome could spread because people think the Epitome is a good idea, even though it is actually destructive. I should think more about that...