Spirits and Metaphysics

Isberia has no tradition pantheon (mantheon), and is instead inhabited by advanced tulpa known as spirits, who provide divine powers in exchange for worship.

Spirits
Instead of gods, numerous spirits of various levels of influence live across the continent. The spirits exist either as patrons of concepts, such as vengeance, hope, or despair, or as patrons of locations and the ideas associated with them. Spirits grow by belief, and as they grow they become more and more generalized. Spirits come from many sources. A shared belief, a source of natural importance, or simple fate can create the spark a spirit needs to claw it’s way into existence, and after that the entity tries to grow before eventually achieving true intelligence.

As spirits grow, they move into one of two categories: conceptual or locational.

Conceptual spirits represent ideas, such as vengeance, despair, or emptiness. They tend to exist throughout the land, but can fragment and attach to individuals with the right beliefs at the right time.

Locational spirits are attached to locations or regions. They’re generally more generalist than conceptual spirits, as they represent a wide range of ideas and object within an area, and as such are more conscious.

Spirits have an odd sort of consciousness. They aren’t truly intelligent, but instead the thoughts and beliefs of their more ardent believers are projected onto them.

BARGAINING WITH SPIRITS: THIS IS IMPORTANT

Clerics in Isberia bargain with spirits for power. Lower level clerics can get away with simple bargains, such as a lock of hair or an hour’s preaching, but as they grow more advanced, they get more and more vile and dangerous. The most impressive spells are earned with major sacrifices, such as one’s life and the lives of others, both metaphorical and literal.

With the way spirits think, they are assured a fair bargain, having the petitioner’s beliefs laid out clearly.

Afterlife and the Planes beyond
The afterlife is a complete mystery to Isberians. Those who return from death remember nothing of their time in the afterlife, and many different theories have sprung up, particularly in the past thirty years. Beliefs range from reincarnation, to complete emptiness, to a new life on the outer plane corresponding to one’s beliefs.

There are eight outer planes, each corresponding to an alignment. Scholars and theologians theorize that the material itself corresponds to neutrality. The material is also coterminous with the ethereal and shadow planes, and adjacent to the elemental whole sort of general mish mash.