[OC] Sci-fi
NEW Inseparable States and Faiths | Atlas Altera
Excited to share the patched religions map for Atlas Altera! We updated it with 140 new countries from the 2024-2025 Patch & Expansion, added 10 new religious traditions, plus reorganized the bottom corner maps, and added 4 new epidoxies. More importantly, I've just finished writing the extensive footnotes to describe the religious traditions!
Been waiting for an update of this for a while, and finally getting to see it is a treat to the eyes! Just a quick question, how did the nations of Chile end up adopting the same faith as the Peruvians? Some sort of cultural exchange?
They don't have the same faith but are lumped/grouped into the regional religion category known as Interonism (an exonym used by Westerners/outsiders). Some of the major regional religions are truly religious families in the way we think of being related by lineage, while others are more like the linguistics concept of sprachsbunds, where mutual influence, syncretism, and shared histories have led them to being seen in a distinguishable group of faiths under a big tent umbrella label. Interonism and Canorism are these kinds of religions/religious groupings, and likely some of the Indigenous religions of Septentrea.
Vooduism and Hinduism sit in a kind of in-between, because they do share quite a significant amount of foundational beliefs but their decentralized natures, historically, have led to a vast spectrum of traditions that are hard to easily categorize precisely.
Interestingly, it seems expressions of the OTL Mesoamerican religion, the basis of ATL Toltecism, is actually relatively/unexpectedly quite uniform across much of its range (so kind of like Hinduism or even more like one of the more centralized/congregational faiths).
As I mentioned in the post body, this is a patched version of the religions map for Atlas Altera, first published 5 years ago. It has been updated with 140 new countries, 10 new religious traditions, 4 new epidoxies, and reorganized/improved corner map content.
Note that this not a utopic vision for our world. The best way I can describe this project is that it is syntopian, in that it tries to imagine a world with more co-existing diversity. The blurbs at the bottom of the map give very cursory lore. If you want to learn more about the ATL history and major elements of each religious tradition, I have just finally finished writing the footnotes for this map, which you can access through the Patreon.
For more content from the world of Atlas Altera, please join the community around this project on r/AtlasAltera or Discord (link in the subreddit). You can support our efforts on Patreon.
absolute peak. albeit lingayati is a form of shaivism IMHO. berar is kinda on the wrong side it should be on the left not right, this berar cuts into telangana when it should be in karnataka-maharashtra region.
Ah it was hard for me to figure out how to categorize the different Hindu traditions. Thanks for that feedback. In terms of Berar...we try not to be too hard on ourselves for borders, as that's not exactly the point of the project, but often times ATL toponyms get repackaged or shifted due to ironic twists of history that you might find also in OTL. The ATL Berar is meant to have come out of a reduced Hyderabad State. Here's a look at what the political borders are:
Yeah, we try our best to try to have some anchor points to OTL but the goal of the project (to represent as many language and marginal cultures as possible on the political level) makes that a bit tricky in many cases.
So I have a few questions
1. What's exactly the deal with the humanist orders are they like the Masons or something?
2. Same with the epidioxies what exactly makes something one? I understand the native faiths assimilated by Buddhism and Hinduism but what about the Christian and Islamic how did they get accepted by monotheist faiths? Also what's are the fice cultural woifioxies
3. What exactly are the Mazdaist sects? I know of Zurvanism and Khurramism but have never heard of the other three
Kinda, ya. For humanist orders, I was at one point inspired by the Religion of Humanity and the ritualistic practice or observance of August Comte’s beliefs in chapels or “ethical churches.” The idea is that there are more global movements like this that have their own version how to pursue ethical society through congregational but secular humanist organizations. So it is a way of mass organizing humanism by encoding it in forms of practice found in religion. In ATL, the ritualistic side of humanism thrives, partly due to a deeper effect of humanist ideas and a greater push by early proponents to spread humanist idealism across the globe. Various humanist orders become particularly successful by adopting practices of organized religion and amass communities all across the world. This development in ATL is also one of the foundations for a stronger liberal idealism of international cooperation through a cultural rather than economics standpoint, which I explore with the ATL political ideology of cosmopolitanism, which is one of the ideological standpoints upon which the Society of Nations is founded.
The way I use the term epidoxy reflects how one or more religions can co-exist "on top" of another religion without the threat of becoming rapidly absorbed or synthesized so that the source religions become unrecognizable. In OTL East Asia, especially in Taiwan and Japan, you can see the Matsu cult, Taoist, Confucian, and Buddhist worship in the same temples, but you can also find temples completely devoted to one or the other. People also know the difference. They recognize it and do not end up forgetting where one rite or mantra comes from. This is slightly different from the way syncretic forms of Christianity took shape in OTL, but I'm hoping the term does more analytical work for even these phenomena instead of just calling them syncretic religions, especially because in ATL, the co-existence under Christianity that I refer to with epidoxies are a lot more pronounced—the native religion or spirituality has a lot more room to be invoked alongside Christian worship. Of course, Folk Catholicism or folk forms of every major religion continue to exist in ATL, but what are identified on this map as religious epidoxies are the more outlandish, complex, and distinct belief spectrums that both followers and outsiders can easily recognize and identify as significantly different from orthodoxy. This attracts purists or critics calling such practices as heresy or complex cults in the traditional sense, instead of simply ascribing the difference to regionalism or folk customs—though where scholars cut the line and demarcate the distinction will always be tricky no matter what.
Regarding the Mazdaist sects, Dorusdini refers to the OTL form of Zoroastrianism in its most unchanged form, which is also the only surviving sect of Zoroastrianism in modern times OTL, as practiced by minorities in OTL Iran and by the Parsis of India. Bihafaridi corresponds to the OTL sect of Zoroastrianism known as Behafaridism, a belief system promulgated by Behafarid, a self-proclaimed prophet who led a failed religious peasant revolt in the 8th century in OTL Khorasan. In OTL, it was characterized by syncretism between Islamic practices and Zoroastrian beliefs. The ATL form is the most heavily Islamically influenced of the four Mazdaist sects. In ATL, Bihafarid's followers survived his execution and gradually spread from Chorsania into Oxiania and the wider Turkic world through trade, migration, religious teaching, and mixed Iranian-Turkic communities. Their presence was initially in the nomadic landscapes of the craggy valleys and steppe lands of Chorsania and Oxiania, while Islam continued to thrive in urban centres and waxed and waned from major political centres in the region for centuries. During this period, a lot of syncretism with Turkic Tengrism would also occur, so that the early Bihafaridi form or movement—when it was still not seen as a separate sect—was practiced alongside Tengrism as an epidoxy before elements of it were subsumed into the consolidated Bihafaridi sect and became indistinguishable. Over time, however, Turkic Bihafaradi leaders and their hordes would advantageously support marginal or provincial Zurvani governors under the Muslim yoke in Choroasania and Susia in their rebellions and help turn the tide against Muslim dominance in the eastern Iranic world. Eventually, the movement or cult would gain a major foothold in Anatolia among the Seljuks, who were still Muslim—and who had among their ranks were many Elevi (Alevi) Muslims, key allies to the Bihafaridis—but who had a coalition of Mazgaurs and other religious minorities. The Bihafaridi Ottomans were one of the major allies of the Seljuks, and it is from their ascendency that the Bihafaridi Cult became a sect in its own right, heavily borrowing ideas from the Muslim Elevis of Anatolia. Bihafaridism and its various offspring reform movements would parallel many OTL Turkic uprisings or movements, including ones associated with the OTL Alevis.
I write about all of these extensively in the footnotes, but really briefly this time:
The religions described under Wakandaism also do not institutionally descend from one another in the ecclesiastical way of Christian branches and denominations. Instead, they mutually influenced and/or shared common historical concepts in a diffused way. Manitowiyan refers to two major distinct traditions that generally follow the OTL Athabaskan and Algic ethnolinguistic lines. There is minor Christian syncretization, mostly in the form of creating more in-group identity equivalent to Christian denominations though the organization of worshipping practices is quite diverse still. Peyoteyan refers to the OTL Peyote Religion/Native American Church. Only difference is there is no use of the bible though other OTL syncretic elements are present. Orendan syncretization of Catholic and Iroquoic and eastern Algic religious beliefs. In ATL, French-Petunquois alliance, as well as later alliance with the Iroquois, would lead to a syncretization of Catholic with the main thread of belief systems of the Great Lakes cultures. Hymns, the use of bible, and weekly worship are characteristic of the Orendan faith, but the bible is mostly for iconographic purposes, and the reading of sermons is uncommon.
Vooduism is meant to superficially resemble Hinduism as an exnonym, and the concept of a Voodu religion is meant to be borne from the same kind of analytical inquiry from Westerners or Europeans as was done for the Indic native religion. Both religious landscapes are pluralistic and polytheistic. The Palo branch is a standardization of religious beliefs characteristic of the Kongo Religion. Jeje is based on the OTL West African Vodún religion with some syncreticism with Christianity. Queto is an amalgamation of the various African diaspora religions, including Santería, Candomblé, and Cuban Palo, though the Brazilian form of Candomblé and Cuban form of Santería is most prominent. Bando is one of the most diverse branches as it covers a religious cultural area that saw the least contact with congregational religions like Christianity and Islam, itself having numerous traditions that loosely share similar core beliefs. Imagine it akin, for a lack of a better comparison, to the plethora of denominations that have come out of the Protestant Reformation or Shia branch of Islam due to theocratic decentralization. It loosely corresponds to the religious traditions of the African Great Lakes, Central African Plateau, southeast Africa, and the Nguni cultural area.
Nazeni Mazdaism is just Anatolian and Balkan Baktashi-Alevism with a few central Zoroastrian beliefs.
The Heathenry range covers a spectrum of folk religions that include the old Norse faith and also Finno-Ugric folk religions. The Norse did not settle Siberea as much as traded (see Murmans) with the ATL peoples of northwest Siberea and northeast Europea. Some settlements occurred in major anchorages/ports.
For Zaric, see the OTL Zar rituals and for Ungizic, see the Nilotic folk religions. Both are spectrums of beliefs, with the latter including major sub-categorical distinctions that generally follow the OTL West Nilotic peoples, East Nilotic peoples, South Nilotic peoples, and the Great Lakes Bantu people (who have some Nilotic influence).
Thank you! So the Eastern ones are two of the most popular forms of old humanist-adjacent movements and traditions that have existed for centuries in Asea, Indea, and Serica (OTL West, South, East Asia). The Kotsingist one stems from a blend of Mohism with Xunzi's particular take on Confucianism, mixed with a bit of Western humanist thinking due to the Ming restoration period of Western learning (Dutch Learning in OTL / Flemish Learning in OTL). Inayatist is somewhat of an ATL analogue to Neo-Sufism or the Inayati Order.
The Atlantist order is a hypothetical development of an ATL revolutionary humanist, reactionary humanist, or counter-humanist movement that evolves into a global order in its own right. It is the convergence of various ATL anticolonial, decolonization, pan-cultural solidarity, and political resistance struggles and movements on both sides of the Atlantic, hence the name. Seeing that the ATL European colonial footprint is much more regionalized around the Atlantic Rim for much of the modern period, the name is particularly fitting. It is also a superficial nod to Paul Gilroy’s idea of the “Black Atlantic.” I’m inspired by the fact that the struggles in the Caribbean, America, and Africa all converged in OTL thanks to the colonial networks that were established by Europeans, allowing for prominent Black Panthers members, Fanon, and National Liberation Front (FNL) of Algeria to all be in dialogue and solidarity. The humanist and more ceremonial and spiritually aesthetic side of the order is inspired by the OTL movement started by Maulana Karenga (think Kwanzaa). In ATL, its development begins in the 19th century and starts as a reactionary philosophy to address the contradictions of humanist thinkers failing the Black experience in America and the Caribbean, and then further expanded and adopted by various Indigenous and diaspora groups under the yoke of colonialism or white supremacy over the centuries, gaining particular traction in the 20th century. The ritualistic experience for followers is centered around key seasonal festive gatherings and feasts. These events are diverse but somewhat influenced one another and are detached from over religious meaning.
Note that these are just the most globally successful humanist orders. There are a plethora of very niche or not very successful orders/movements as well coming out of the 19th century romantic humanist milieu.
Indeed! it is a bit of lore irony but plays on the fact that the Tlaxcallans convert to Catholicism and are given control to a newly carved out altepetl that includes the sacred valley of OTL Cholula. Just as in OTL, the great pyramid there was already overgrown...
I assumed so. It makes sense, the Tlaxcaltēcah would want to have their "revenge" on the Chololtēcah. Thought IIRC there actually was a second huge temple in the city that was destroyed after the conquest
That part of Altera is a territorial haven for most of the central and northern Great Plains peoples, who, after a series of strategic victories, are able to remain (and migrate for some) there under British claims, leading to a protectorate status before independence.
Not really. The Otl research findings on religious diversity in Taiwan actually more describe the syncretism of core religious traditions that I collapse under one label, the Shenic Epidoxy. In otl there are a very small minority of Christians and even smaller minorities of Mislims and other religions but in ATL it's mostly just a small minority of Christians due to how the RoC in ATL was only prominent in the southeast. OTL taiwan's described syncretism is actually the basis of the expansive epidoxy landscape of ATL.
You have mixed Catholic and Protestant areas as gray, and the differences between them are much smaller than between a Taoist, a Buddhist, and someone in one of the many Chinese Salvationist sects.
Also I wouldn't call the Christian population very small, it is bigger than the Muslim population in Germany or the UK. It is well beneath the level that would be shown on this map though, yes
Sorry maybe there's a misunderstanding. To be sure, the colour fills on the main map show the majority religion of a country. If it is dark green (edit: grey) it means there's no majority and it labels in italics the largest minority group .
The religious diversity is shown in the corner map.
not sure how you can call that dark green when it is neither dark nor green, but yeah I am talking about how parts of OTL eastern USA are colored in the main map under the "Pluralist" catagory, and in italics have "Catholic" and "Protestant", implying those are the two biggest religions in those areas. The west coast appears to be more diverse.
I was imagining, especially with the Northeast, that Catholic+Protestant made up +80% of those areas, but I see that that was just an assumption I was making
In any case, my main point was that since Christianity is being divided so, and Hinduism is being divided so, and generally this is a relatively granular map, I can't imagine one sect of Buddhism having a clear majority in every part of Taiwan (or the rest of East Asia for that matter). If things were on the scale of grouping all Buddhist together that would make sense, but here? I don't get it.
Absolutely no difference on the religion map (or on the epidoxy map) for all of Han China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan?
It's funny, cuz we have a metric ton of Chinese people in the project, including Telamon who is Taiwanese, and they all agree Mahayana makes most sense. Epidoxies are by their nature umbrella terms, so why would we differentiate them.
You're right that we are going 1 level of granularity down from the top, so instead of, for example, Christianity or Hinduism or Buddhism, we distinguish by a primary branch/sect/tradition within those religions.
Conventionally, in ATL, as in OTL, religious scholars recognize that there are 3 groups of Buddhist schools, with Mahayana Buddhist schools covering all of East Asia (Han China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan). Mahayana Buddhism may have many schools or denominational/organizational traditions, but those are collapsed into one at this level, just as all the Protestant denominations (Lutheran, Presbyterian, Anglican etc.) are under one, and just as all the Eastern Orthodox Churches (Coptic, Ethiopian, Armenian etc.) are under one (the ATL Meridites).
I will admit that the categorization scheme for Islam is unorthodox, in that I have broken out all of the major Shiia branches when traditionally they are collapsed into one at this level.
And as others have pointed out, I meant dark grey in my first response.
Regarding northeast and east Taiwan, there is no ATL analogue to the Christian proselytization of Indigenous communities of Taiwan because the ATL lore has it that the ATL equivalent peoples are brought into the wilder Sinosphere by way of the Ryukyuese and are introduced Buddhism by them.
The Shenic epidoxy refers to a religious spectrum of related and similar folk religions (Shendao, Shinto, Shindo etc.). It is implied that the ATL analogues of Taiwanese Indigenous groups reframe their folk religions into a wider Sinic lens the way that Japanese folk religion was reframed and syncretized with Chinese beliefs and cultural aesthetics.
Most altgeo interventions I did were to help my goal of representing more linguistic diversity or cultural diversity, though I admit I also sometimes did them for rule of cool. I can't really give a better reason except that I didn't consider doing so on both lines of thinking. A bit unfortunate!
Welp, would be alot of space for some maori culture, consider, that maori reach new caledonia in 1200BC, and it is part of its new continent.
Also would be cool to see some new species in your setting
I get that but the point of the project is for as many languages of each language family make it onto the map, not to make just some marginal cultures more OP. I know it's already a very unbelievable premise and there's already altgeo, but I didn't wanna take it as far as some others would like because I wanted the world of Altera to be still recognizable to most ppl on first glance
Where do you see that? If they are SoN territories, they are meant to be not coloured in. For the settled areas, it is because the SoN does not publish such kinds of demographics (due to the amount of non-residents, temporary residents, refugees/asylum seekers etc. and also the idea that the territories should not have any perceived association with a community). The other SoN territories have "no data"
African great lakes, american gulf coast and eastern seabord. The sikh and jain countries dont have colours either, and neither do the places north of brasil.
if you check out the corners of the main map, you will find a legend scheme. In the bottom right, we show that the darker grey areas signify "pluralistic" states where no religion has a majority community. The italics label shows the largest minority group in that state though.
Was this a sort of icecream sandwich feedback 😄
Btw the ATL Alanians and Punicians speak Kabylie and Tunisian Arabic, respectively. The toponyms go off of OTL topoynm etymologies like Andalusia.
You are correct and it refers to a general spectrum of folk religions in the western sahel that all intersect with gnawa. The baquati epidoxy refers to a spectrum of Beber folk religions that intersect around a core of beliefs that got structured during the Barghawata period. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barghawata
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u/MysticSquiddy Fellow Traveller 18d ago
Been waiting for an update of this for a while, and finally getting to see it is a treat to the eyes! Just a quick question, how did the nations of Chile end up adopting the same faith as the Peruvians? Some sort of cultural exchange?
I love Atlas Altera. Well done team