Structuring of Religion

In a world where the gods themselves make themselves very well known to the mortal sentients, religion often takes interesting forms.

13 Deities and Dragis

Of the 13 deities, 7 of them operate as worshipped gods, those being Meneus, Entimeneus, Estra, Inegus, The Grand Illuminous, Gernan, and Tolo. The two abominations have their own unique followings, and the four mothers garner their collective temples. Dragis the lost dragon god maintains a very loose following.   The Worshipped Gods have Missions and Churches. Missions are set up with the express intent of carrying out the will of the deity they follow. This often is not in line with the domain of what the god represents. For example, Meneus' (the God of Knowledge) missions are dedicated to destroying knowledge in the material realms since Meneus fears others ascending to his power. Churches are established independently of the deity they represent, and are much more aligned with the domain that the god represents. Their goals are out of line with the goals of the deity they follow, rather they aim to harness the power of that deity to enact their own goals. For example, churches of Gernan work to align themselves with the natural world and connect society back to nature, whilst Gernan himself is in favour of reigning wild beasts and abyssal creatures. All of this is not to say that missions and churches never align in their goals however. Missions often attract paladins and warlocks who make pacts with the deities for power in return of being their hand on the material realm, and they also attract or are lead by Aasimar. Churches on the other hand are much more appealing to clerics who are lead by a head priest based upon their own goals.   The abominations of life and death have their own strange followings. They do not have churches or missions, but rather temples where clerics gather to worship and make sacrifices. The abomination of life also selects individuals to grant druidic powers to, forming its own druidic circles. Druidic circles are not constructed to enact the will of the abomination directly, as nobody knows what its will is. The abomination of death does not actively create followers, as it knows that time is the ultimate equalizer, and it boasts lethargy as it accrues more power as the abomination of life does.   The four mothers accrue their followings into one larger following called the Matriarchy, which is led by four women corresponding to the four divine mothers themselves. The four matriarchs are chosen representatives by the four mother deities. They decide upon matters as a council related to the broader world order, and give out decrees that they expect women everywhere to follow. Clerics of the four mothers are representatives of their will, and are dedicated to using the Mother's power to follow their will. This usually includes tasks such as deciding who to back in civil conflicts, or even social reform.   Dragis the lost dragon god is only hypothesised amongst most societies since nobody has seen a dragon in recorded history. Dragons are merely legend, and Dragis merely even greater legend. Most people believe that Dragis was a folk tale that got mixed up with religious texts and eventually became a footnote in holy books. Despite this, some small cults revolve around Dragis the lost dragon god, and they do gain minor power, so dragis must exist out there somewhere...

21 Devils

The 16 essences are devils divided into their four subcategories for each alignment, led by 4 archdevils representing the alignments themselves, and one more for those of true neutrality. Very few individuals actually worship the devils, and rather small cult followings grow around them. The devils mainly command fear, yet they do very little to demand it in the lesser realms aside from occasionally sending minotaurs to instill panic amongst societies. What some societies do do however, is hold feast days for each devil, in which they try to exhibit that essence to the best of their ability. For example, on the feast of Borboritrus people will tell secrets and be open about their misdoings, or on the feast of Phitunden people will try to act more confident and develop their social anxieties. Of course the devils themselves take no notice of this at all, as their main concern is with punishment in Hell.   Cults that form around specific devils try to exemplify that specific trait to such a degree that they draw the attention of that devil. The purpose of this is to draw their attention, whether it be for some greater plot, or just to communicate with them. Most often it is to try and form a pact with the devil to gain power or escape punishment in the afterlife. Devils notoriously never come through on these deals of escaping punishment, partially because they aren't allowed to and partially because they don't want to. Since the 21 devils are creations of Meneus, they are extensions of his will, so they do not favour the collectivisation that takes place in their cults, so they aim to discourage them as much as possible.  

Higher Beings

The universe is not limited to merely these beings however. There exists even greater beings that are extra-planar and exist outside of time. The most well known of these are Primus, the embodiment of time. Although there is most certainly other eldritch horrors that not even the gods know about that have existed before time itself, not bound by the ebbs and flows of reality itself. These beings rarely gain any following unless they specifically reach out to a mortal to imbue them with power, or a mortal somehow discovers them and strikes a deal. One such example is a great beings called simply The Outsider who once maintained a small cult of warlocks who grew to immense power before destroying themselves after realizing their own doom. Higher beings are the subject of great fear of the deities, and are one of the main threats they perceive to their supremacy alongside mortals and demons.  

Demons, Fey, Liches, and greater mortals

The final worshipped beings we come to are the greatest beings that each of the material planes has to boast. Greater Demons from The Abyss, Archfey from the feywild, and Liches from the Material. None of these beings were born with their power, in fact on the Abyss creatures aren't created but rather spawned. Rather, these beings are powerful due to years of struggle to accrue their power. Greater Demons have came out on top of centuries of endless turmoil and combat in the Abyss, gradually absorbing the life forces of lesser demons. Archfey have harnessed the inherit chaotic nature of the Feywild and used the patterns that prevail underneath the randomness to bring themselves to greater power. And Liches have become so well versed in magic that they have achieved power almost rivalling the gods. All such beings are condemned and are under persecution by the deities and devils as they pose the most threat to their reign. Although that does not stop them from gaining disciples. Once again, these mainly take the shape of small cults or circles, but are usually much less reliable and much more dangerous that other pacts.  

Traditional Religion

The best way to conceptualize the aspects of religion is to think of Churches, Missions, and any other group which deals with the higher powers as institutions with a benevolent CEO which may or may not be indifferent to the will and needs of its employees. What best analogues real world religions would be Spiritualities and Followings. These do not place much if at all focus on beings of the greater realms, but rather on mortals and their various actions, needs, desires, and quarrels. What best defines Spiritualities from Followings and vice versa, is that Spiritualities focus on the common, and Followings on one  

Spiritualities

  Spiritualities focus on the question of ethics and morals, and the maintenance of society or oneself. Many people who swear themselves to one religion will take up a spirituality, as they are not seen as mutually exclusive systems of belief. Spiritualites take the shape mostly of monasteries, but also as temples, seminars, cults, and various other organisations. Spiritualites fill in the gaps in ethics and morals that the major religious worships leave behind, and have just as much conflict in following in society. They boast many great prophets who conjured methods to inner peace, produced ideological manifestos, and gave life changing speeches. Spiritualities sometimes invent fake gods that they follow, or worship important beings in their history, or dedicate themselves to actual objects that hold some significance, leading many to confuse them with Followings. The key difference being that the worshipped and deified beings are not founders or entirely central to the group.  

Followings

Followings are organisations that deify a single or small group of individuals based on some particularly great deed they have (or will) do. They will particularly aim to emphasise the morals and ethics that their leader represents, and try to enact their will to the best of their ability, or to follow those teachings just as well. Followings do not necessarily have to follow someone living however, they can and often do deify the dead, although many would argue that this has great crossover with Spirituality. Followings often coalesce into small nations if they can gain enough traction, with their leader at the helm manning the throne. The tenets of a Following are not always that beneficial for the greater good however, as great necromancers such as those of the Cabalakar are a prime example of, and the members of a Following will often stop at nothing to bring about what is best for themselves, the organisation, and the leader.