Humans of Rithera, knowing little of the true nature of their world, often turn to religion for guidance. But, unlike on Earth, the rise of humanity was preceded within historical memory by the golden age of another sapient species: the beastkin. While the beastkin were governed by the Five Great Beasts, humanity learned from them the trappings of civilization and the tenets of the Old Faith (the contents of which are described in "help cosmology").
Eventually, the beastkin fell to squabbling and the Great Beasts, like the gods before them, withdrew, realizing that their powerful presences only made the beastkin increasingly factionalized, arrogant, and vicious toward each other. Beastkin civilization disintegrated and humanity took advantage, expanding, driving the beastkin from their ancestral lands or integrating them into new societies. Reckoning with their own ascendance, human leaders concluded that the Old Faith must have been false: surely, they thought, the beastkin lied when they said that they were the gods' crowning achievement and that the gods had abandoned Rithera.
But as to what is true, humanity has never agreed. On the western continent, most humans are not members of any organized religion and instead adhere to what might be called the human folk religion, a set of commonly held beliefs that usually include the following:
* Like the beastkin say, there are three gods: Faleh the Creator, Sorion the Destroyer, and Eradina the Purifier.
* However, these gods did not abandon Rithera. The beastkin were misled on this by the terrible Great Beasts. The Primordial War merely tired the gods, who now rest behind the three Gates after perfecting their final creation, humanity.
* Because the gods did not abandon Rithera, they can still hear prayers and perform miracles for those who are faithful and good.
* The gods left many spirits and servants to watch over humanity. Humans should show the spirits respect but, as the gods' privileged children, have the right to fight and defeat monsters and other dangerous foes.
* The most dangerous of all these foes are the eidola, accidental incarnations of the violence of the Primordial War. Though they take many forms, they are all alien and horrible.
These beliefs are subject to local deviations that constitute a wide web of related but distinct religious communities. Most famously, in Oradia, the Queen undergoes a ritual at her coronation said to make her the avatar of the Goddess of Purification, which all religious communities are required to acknowledge in order to gather in her capitol. Across the western continent, many humans treat with or even worship intelligent spirits who dwell in the vicinity, incorporating these demigods into their folklore.
Only the Loremasters know that, technically speaking, all these higher spirits are "eidola": that is, they were ensouled accidentally while the gods fought, "distortions" produced by massive eruptions of aether. A minority of these eidola happened to end up relatively rational and became what humans know as spirits, immaterial beings with great magical ability. The majority of the eidola are those that are associated with the name: lacking fully formed intelligence, they drifted toward the Gates and, being exceedingly dangerous and incomprehensible, functionally guard them.
On the eastern continent, spirit-worship is significantly less common: two organized monotheistic religions founded by rival prophets hold sway and instill fear and hostility toward the more abundant eidola around the Gate of Destruction. In the Holy City Revonus, the worshippers of Aijanu believe the world was sundered when their deity battled a nemesis called the Great Deceiver who created the eidola; Aijanu defeated his foe by cutting him into three and sealing each piece behind a different Gate, where the eidola cluster still. Contrastingly, in neighboring Ashald, the worshippers of Khemia Waha believe the same victorious deity became their goddess and incarnated as the eponymous river that flows through their desert lands. Both religions and nations proselytize aggressively and wage crusading wars constantly. It is considered a special accomplishment to convert a beastkin, as their kind is associated with the supposed deceptions of the Old Faith.
Two other organized religions, though less focused on converting new adherents, are notable on the eastern continent. In the Korotus Empire, Emperor Algien has claimed to be the avatar of the God of Destruction and is developing an imperial cult. And in the Lomphan Kingdom, an order of monks believe that the process of purification continues still through the power of karma and strive for spiritual perfection in a community called the sangha, training in meditation and martial arts. Though this religion has not yet spread widely, with Lomphan on the verge of being crushed by Korotus, refugees have begun to bring the monks' distinct philosophy with them.