"I hadn't heard of Buddhism before," Anders noted. (If he had, he hadn't paid attention.) "There's no God or Maker or whatever you want to call it? Just ... people?"
It sounded appealing, but not much like the religions he was familiar with. He kept petting Kathy's hair as he tried to find the right words to describe his own.
"And no, it's not touchy, but it is complicated. Basically there are a bunch of gods in the Fade -- elven gods and old gods people used to worship and demons who think they're gods -- and then there's the main god, the one who made everything. The Maker." Andrastians had been creative with that appellation, yes. "The Maker thinks humans are sinful and has turned away from us. About a thousand years ago, a slave woman named Andraste started getting messages from Him and telling everyone around her that we needed to be better so the Maker would stop ignoring us. And she used that message to raise an army and bring down the old empire. We call her the Bride of the Maker, and most mages believe she was one of us."
He drew a breath, hoping Kathy had been following. "But after the revolution, Andraste's human husband betrayed her and she was executed. And ever since the Chantry has been trying to spread her teachings, the Chant of Light, to all the beings in the world so the Maker will come back. There's more, but that's the idea. And yes, the hierarchies within the Chantry are what fucked it up."
no subject
It sounded appealing, but not much like the religions he was familiar with. He kept petting Kathy's hair as he tried to find the right words to describe his own.
"And no, it's not touchy, but it is complicated. Basically there are a bunch of gods in the Fade -- elven gods and old gods people used to worship and demons who think they're gods -- and then there's the main god, the one who made everything. The Maker." Andrastians had been creative with that appellation, yes. "The Maker thinks humans are sinful and has turned away from us. About a thousand years ago, a slave woman named Andraste started getting messages from Him and telling everyone around her that we needed to be better so the Maker would stop ignoring us. And she used that message to raise an army and bring down the old empire. We call her the Bride of the Maker, and most mages believe she was one of us."
He drew a breath, hoping Kathy had been following. "But after the revolution, Andraste's human husband betrayed her and she was executed. And ever since the Chantry has been trying to spread her teachings, the Chant of Light, to all the beings in the world so the Maker will come back. There's more, but that's the idea. And yes, the hierarchies within the Chantry are what fucked it up."