Religion

Ancestor worship is a part of every intelligent creature's religion in Sakuru. Every creature reveres his or her dead ancestors (who still watch over their descendents), and almost all pay fealty to one of the alignment gods. Those who do not choose Chaos, Evil, Good, or Law are making a statement, and taking their future into their own fragile hands. 

     The entire cosmology of the spirit world is too complicated for most people, who simply worship "the gods" with quick prayers and small sacrifices of food and rice wine. A settlement of any size will have a temple (though perhaps unstaffed in small communities), and most homes contain a small shrine dedicated to ancestors.

Cerics and druids dedicate themselves to deeper, more thorough religious expression. Clerics worship the pantheon on the Circle of Essence, while druids venerate the gods comprising the Circle of Existence.

      Although a cleric typically swears fealty to one primary alignment god, no god is strictly off limits; the entire pantheon is active and available to any supplicant. For instance, though Good and Evil are eternally opposed in means and ends, only a fool would admit to having only evil or only good within. The gods' sovereignty remains, regardless of an individual's choice.

     Furthermore, the gods themselves are not anthropomorphic, or particularly meddlesome in mortal affairs. They are remote from daily life -- real, but removed. Therefore, clerics approach the gods through Intercessors who speak to the gods on mortals' behalf. 

Returning to Life

Reincarnation is normal and natural in Sakuru. However, there are more spirits than mortal frames to inhabit. Anyone who dies can expect to return in some form (depending on that person's commitment to alignment), but will spend some time as a spirit first.

      This makes raising from the dead a sticky proposition -- it breaks the wheel of reincarnation, and angers the spirits waiting for a natural return to life. Intercessors do not normally grant spells to raise people from the dead; a cleric must petition her Intercessor, and complete a task to be granted access to the spell.

     Druids on the other hand, focused on more Material concerns, care less about societal norms or the will of spirits of the dead. Higher level druids can return sentient creatures to life using the reincarnate spell.

      Legend says that those who do return from the dead somehow are haunted by angry ghosts.