Zangsabaar wrote:One thing I wanted to bring up was religion. IRL, the most influential and organized religions in the world are Abrahamic, with Dharmic (or, Indian) religions being a distant second place. Historically, as soon as Christianity was adopted in the European world, it pushed out pagan religions with a few centuries and underwent many splits and reformations. Similarly, Islam's influence in Eastern Europe, Iberia, North Africa and Arabia (which was one of the more advanced parts of the world prior to Mongol conquest and crusades), also lead to Islam becoming an extremely influential force. Through merchant trade, Islam expanded down the Swahili coast, through India and to Indonesia. Through colonialism, Christianity spread throughout the world. Buddhism, on the other hand, was spread through religious teachings and mostly remained localized in South Asia, Central Asia, East Asia (where it merged and adapted to spirituality) and Southeast Asia (where it replaced Hinduism). Hinduism historically spread but now is almost solely concentrated in and around India.
Basically, I think that in Tiandi the South Asian religions would play the role of Abrahamic religions. Instead of originating in a place of power, they grew to dominate another area on its periphery (in this case Jungju instead of the Middle East) and spread into the centre of power, largely merging with and displacing native religions (in Sinju instead of Europe). This would allow for these religions to be fundamentally altered from the culture of origin (think about how different Assyrian and Palestinian Orthodox Christians are from American Protestants) and internalized, to be spread through colonialism.
Furthermore, other south asian religions could take the place of Islam, with it being spread mostly to less-developed regions (like Miju and Gungju) through trade and merchants, combined with converting local kingdoms to spread prior to colonialism. This would likely mean places like Gungju may retain pagan religions, much like how India IRL retained Hinduism.
What do you guys think?
I don't think it's necessary for organized and evangelical religion to be a force in Tiandi, nor do I think that any such religions are somehow more indicative advancement or development. In fact, I thought that religion taking a backseat in sociopolitical and cultural affairs would be one of the major changes from a Western-dominated to an East Asian-dominated world order. I don't think East Asia had ever seen a major religious conflict prior to the Opium Wars.
This actually makes me interested in how freedom of religion would be seen in Tiandi; the idea of freedom of religion developed in the West due to constant conflicts and bickering over differing religious beliefs. However, in East Asia, differing religious traditions largely blended into one another, and religious organizations were generally seen as a threat to the state if they got too powerful. Would modern governments have tried to stamp out various religious ideas it saw as outdated, such as those regarding the creation of the world?
I would prefer if religions and religious organizations were historically suppressed if they were seen as too powerful, as that is what happened IRL. I still think Buddhism should have spread from the South Asia area (which is Southern Yoju, haha) into Sinju. While Sinju states would not have attempted to spread these religions, and people attempting to spread religions like Buddhism would not find much support from their governments, I think that individual colonists or small groups may have attempted to spread these religions.
In regards to religion, I think for the most part it should be up to the player, as long as it works with canon. I honestly think it's a lot of fun having Christian terrorists we call "crusaders" from Gungju, and would love to keep that, as I'm sure others would as well.
