A bit about gods

A while back Jeff over at Jeffs Gameblog made a post about how the miracle dispenser nature of Dungeons and Dragons clerics might actually kinda fit with how priests actually worked, back before newfangled stuff like the enlightenment and the industrial revolution.

Yesterday I was listening to a lecture from UCLA while playing Minecraft (because if I'm going to waste time playing Minecraft, I might as well get some brainfood at the same time). Towards the end, something caught my attention, given that it seemed relevant to roleplaying, and world-building.

The bit that caught my attention starts around here. But really, the stuff that caught me are just two short sections.

First there is this bit

Curses are really popular. Charms are really popular. Because this is gonna help the individual get on with it. If he wants to marry somebody, he better put a binding spell to make that person fall in love with him. If he wants to get ahead in business, can it hurt to curse his enemies?

And then there are this bit, about a curse being put on a charioteer, probably belonging to an opposing team.

I invoke you by the great names, so that you will bind every limb and every senew of Victoriques the charioteer of the blue team. And that his horses, that he is about to race, under Segundunes, Juvenes, Avacades, Rubules, etc, etc, And also bind any others who may be yoked with them, bind their legs, their armwrists, their bounding, their running. Blind their eyes, so that they cannot see, and twist their souls while you're at it, and their heart so that they cannot breath.

One might consider a world where this stuff is what the gods are all about. You worship not a god because he deserves it, but because he gives you stuff. I do think I might incorporate this in whatever new Fantasy world I might brew up (though not The City, since it already has a well-defined religious system).

Envision this; your cleric in battle, beseeching his god to blind his opponent. Calling upon his god, not expecting response because he is loyal servant of the god, but expecting response because he sacrificed a pig yesterday, and the god darn better come through on his part of bargain, or your cleric is going to go out and find a god that does appreciate a good sacrifice.