Choosing A Religion
The need to identify what type of religion that would be best for the nation that you are creating is a matter that cannot be properly delved into without personal consultation. The choice between paganism, spiritualism, ancestor homage, monotheism, transcendentalist Cthulhu worship, and praying to toenails is a matter for each person to conclude for themselves. More narrowly people should realize that they can quite properly determine how violent, how organized, how decadent, and how unique their doctrines is on their own. There is no need to be bound by what you see happening in current world. Instead, innovate on what you believe would make sense for your own nation. The sky is the limit on how much you customize a brand new faith on NS.
Additionally, there is nothing wrong with revamping existing practices as well. Add a bit of flare to it so that it can go along with what you are making your nation into. The only rule is that you should accept that there is no single recognized head who lords over the members of a particular religion unless if rpers consent to it. Nationstates is in effect a completely free market in religious authority given to anyone who wants to rp as having it. Though as a rule of thumb if someone else made something you wish to adopt you would be advised to contact them beforehand. Otherwise zombies will find you.
The most important thing to remember, this is a point which a lot of people need to have hammered into them, is that religions take on all sorts of forms. There is no truly perfect way to describe the parameters of what makes something truly Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, or shamanistic. So long as they retain a semblance of connection to them rpers can link all sorts of developments to them. The main thing that would be advisable is working out some series of events which lead to a drastic departure from the norm of a real religion. That way you can more readily identify what made the religion evolve along certain lines. Without this clear progression it is quite likely to seem backward.
Foundation
The ultimate core of a religion should be the creation of a singular mythos which is used to provide a compelling narrative to explain the core questions of life. However, the purpose of let us say birth and death, the events at the core of humanity, are things which have invariably been immensely different throughout history. Even explanations vary quite greatly in the Christian faiths as seen in the different opinions espoused by the earliest believers of the church (compare the various movements deemed heretical by the councils of the 4th century to modern doctrine of those groups which profess the Nicene creed). These predilections in turn lead people into a state where it is difficult ascertain what is the best course of action when creating your own religious traditions. Countless possible developments in turn create a circumstance which can make it hard for rpers to conclude the best path.
The most reasonable step would likely be to just focus on a consistent message for the religion being generated. Have a basic origin story, an answer to why humans exist, determining what is good vs evil, and where people go when they die as well for what reasons they might end up in different locales. Without a core that is interwoven the faith being created is ultimately incapable of providing good background material to work with. Therefore it is essential to get these concepts firmly established before beginning to rp the religion on NS. Once these points are out of the way it becomes much easier to deal with more random issues you wish to address. Writers can move into worship habits, dietary restrictions, and preferred music..
The core precept that should be remembered is never put in the cornerstones after you already had started construction. You need to start from the ground up when constructing something as essential as the religion that you.
Once you have worked out the core principles that you want your religion to advocate you can more readily begin to focus in on the more minute details. You can begin to think of the regulations for day to day activities such as attire, schedule perhaps, and diet. You can establish regulations for the conduct of the clergy, musical preferences, greater canon, stance on marriage issues, the need to accept the Book of Erid, the capability of average people to access the inner workings of the religion, the idealized family structure, when to worship, feast days, and so much more. You can essentially build on the characteristics which define the customs and traditions of the faith thereby giving it its own character. It is these smaller details which will appear regularly in your rps and inform.
Relations With Other Religions
Something that is rarely acknowledged in modern contemporary societies is that religions typically establish themselves as the ultimate arbiter of truth. Monotheistic religions are largely mutually exclusive (with Buddhism being a notable exception and has a tendency to syncretism). This inherently lends itself over to conflict as a fairly typical result of different religions coming into contact is for them to duke it out for control. With there often being no real victor as conflicts span generations.
Polytheistic religions are a different sort of case. There tends to be an understanding that each people will have its own set of deities to govern over them. Though there is no inherent acknowledgement of their legitimacy. The circumstances within the boundaries of such faiths tend to see a multitude of different cults exist with each other. They accept the existence of competitors for they view each god as providing an essential role within the dynamic of the greater religion.
Conversions
The means by which people can convert can be as simple as getting baptized or reciting a testament of one's faith. There also are real life examples where conversions can take years of careful studies and require that you adopt the mannerisms of a specific sect before a person is finally welcomed fully. Additionally, there are sects which refuse to accept the conversion of any outsider. Essentially, there is no perfect answer and the rites associated with joining can vary however you really want. So have fun and be creative with it. There is no perfect rule to be judged against .
Theocracy
The general nature of a theocratic state is when a religious organization is given the means to enforce its doctrine as laws. This typically sees them enforce moral codes on the populace, regulate what is allowed in public discourse, and actively marginalize or outright suppress competing groups. There is however no inherent need to have the clergy exist as the governing force in a society for it to be a theocracy. The more essential thing is that the state will often combine efforts with the clergy in order to lend itself more authority and approval from the devotees.
The nature of such nations is that religious authorities intervene in all manner of things outside those already mentioned. What has topically been seen in real life is that the clergy will begin efforts to purify society of sinful influences. Such a propensity is manifested often as prohibition on drugs, the banning of sinful entertainment venues, regulations on attire, the persecution of deviant sects, the prevention of the free intermingling of the genders, mandated time off for religious holidays. These actions though are typically rooted in efforts to more widely enforce the doctrine of the religion on a population which has been believed to have sunk into practices considered sinful.
Internal Factions and Divisions
Every great religion will have various sub-groups within it. These factions will tend to have varying opinions on doctrine and at times these issues can create enough trouble to cause a schism to break out. In such an event it is normal to see the laity of the religion tend to break down along whatever cleric they follow rather than make informed decisions based on doctrine. This is largely due to many religions laity not being active so much on the theological front and they rely on their local leaders to guide them.
Under normal circumstances it is quite typical for debates to be had on dogma. Such events take place due to everything from different readings on a piece of scripture to new technologies offering new challenges. Generally the disputes will go on until one side is able to convince a lion's share of the people to agree. In other cases different groups will retain different guidelines on issues, but cooperate on everything else allowing for the religion to remain unified.
Heads of Religion
The most successful religious movements tend to have, or had, a single body of individuals who are able to apply the full resources of the religion on a narrow focus. These types of faiths also retain the advantage of ensuring a standardized doctrine and suppressing efforts to get overly picky about specific points of belief. Such groups typically are lead either by a hereditary head, an elected leader, or a body of highly regarded folks in fun hats.
The general rule of thumb is that the procedures that govern their decision making process are themselves holy and above rebuke by the laity.
Insular Religions
By no means is a religion tied to the need to convert outsiders. Many different faiths will effectively seal themselves off from the outside world due to them viewing the rest of the world as corrupt or just due to a desire to preserve an ancestral identity. Often these are ethnic religions which practice endogamous marriage customs.
Outward Looking Faiths
The largest religions in the real world are those which claim a unique message that must be shared with all for their own good. They believe that by spreading their religion to the ends of the Earth will be the ultimate test of their faith and those who partake in the mission will be especially blessed. The means by which it can be spread have veered from peaceful to militant often. So icly rpers can go between both at a drop of hat as the situation develops. Covert responsibly kids.
Member Privileges
Some of the most effective means of retaining and obtaining members has been offering material benefits to people. By serving as a place of social gathering, providing charity to the needy, offering care to the sick, etc religions show people that their overall concerns are quite broad. Through giving services to their members religions are able to provide value beyond spiritual relief. Thus earning a deeper sense of loyalty from many of their followers. This is due to them being able to see the material benefits of retaining loyalty to them and out of a sense of gratitude in a fashion.
Places of Worship
They can quite literally be anything you want: temple, shrine, body of water, field of grass, volcanoes, caves, etc. There is no constraint on what path you can take with this. The only real constraint is that there should be some sort rationale behind you choosing a particular style. For example: you choose a certain style of building due to sacred geometry, preferences of the divine, or symbolic meanings.
Holy Sites
The sole parameter that really dictates this is one's own ability to explain what made the site holy and what rites are unique to it.
Clergy
The usage of a formerly trained body of people to preach the faith to the masses is a fairly constant thing. Be they Catholic priests, Druids, or Buddhists monks each comes from a tradition which has developed means by which skills are passed between different generations of clerics. There however does exist a potentiality in styles of ancestor worship for things to just be commonly accepted precepts used. Though these tend to be a rarity in the real world due to a competitive disadvantage seemingly. Their authority usually comes from their command of knowledge on matters of faith.
Recommendations
1. Do not be afraid to try something new.
2. Be willing to have internal disagreements icly.
3. The people who speak for the faith should be fully convinced of its validity unless you are rping people who specifically question it.
4. Try not to develop doctrine solely to make your religion seem more radical.
5. Not every person of faith will want to be a martyr.
6. If you have any questions feel free to ask.
