Mouse religion

Hello.

Having read nothing of the comics I was wondering if there’s some kind of religious belief (a dogma or church or even spirituality) in the “Mouse world.” Same applies to any other intelligent species in the Mouse Guard universe (eg. weasels).

Thanks
G

Ferris, anyone, anyone?

G

As far as I know (haven’t read the comics), there is no aspect of religion in them.

Isn’t that peculiar?
Most cultures have/had at least one major spiritual creed. Maybe Mr Petersen didn’t want to offend, somehow.

I was wondering if anyone else would inject this level to their games… Fishing for ideas, also!

I am toying with a variation on the Aecer cult (from the rodens).

Thanks
G

Check the Hacks thread for MG. Someone was looking at spirituality.

Well… if you really want to put religion into Mouse Guard, you might want to have an answer to these questions:

– What is the meaning of life (to a mouse)?
– Why is it that we (the mice) suffer?
– If there is one (or more) creator, then why are we (the created-mice) near the bottom of the food chain?

The answers are a bit different from a human perspective because of how humans would phrase that last question (ie, humans are not anywhere near the bottom of the food chain). I’d say that you better have a really good reason why a god (or gods) would choose mice as followers/worshipers.

Of course, you could adopt the Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy viewpoint where some of the mice are extra-dimensional super-sentients who are conducting an “experiment” …

YOU have crystallised my thoughts eloquently.

G
Thanks

I seem to remember from the comic forums (that are now gone) there was a talk about this and some were adapting a more Shaman or Druid or Wicca religious aspect. I cannot speak for David Peterson but I think this is an area he either has yet to touch on in the comics or it was left out on purpose as it really is not important to the overall struggles of the mice.

I would think that mice have to be really pragmatic.

If a higher power did not have an immediate effect while they ran from an owl or a weasel or a fox, they’d just stop praying and concentrate on running. Their world is too damned dangerous and hungry for their meat for anything else to really make sense.

Another thought:

Take a cue from Norse mythology – the gods are there so the norsemen (well, in this case, the mice) can blame something for all their suffering.

Damn that Thor, always raining on my parade …

Damn that Loki, playing tricks on me again …

etc

Damn Crom, on His mountain…!:rolleyes:

G

I think you may be on to something here. And I could definitely see the mice of Sprucetuck being rather pragmatic. And given the world the mice live in er…I mean survive in I think this would be the road to take if one so wanted to explore the “religious” portion of mouse way of life.

Now I want to incorporate aspects of Norse and other pre-Christian Northern European religious traditions into my game. Not that I think it needs it, but because it could add a little more depth and variety to the different towns (if they have different patrol gods and traditions).

Belief systems and such would definitely be a good “depth” aspect.

Just keep in mind that there really shouldn’t be any “magic” or “supernatural” powers at work. There might be some natural explanations for “magician tricks” that you can use; but going to a completely unnatural power is dangerous. Even going the mutant “x-factor” can be dangerous. I’m pretty sure Luke Crane has said that these can easily break the game as it currently stands.

I have always been wary of adding a strong religious factors to stories of this nature… I feel like no matter what adding religion to mouse guard in a very specific way could only hender the fan base. Chances are… that you are going to have people with strong moral beliefs that will view a religion in a game as a reason for their children to not par-take in it. Seems silly, but I feel that it is true. I really have no qual with religion in games… i play a couple d20 games that dabble in many many many religious beliefs. I found mouse guard to be a refreshing change from the gritty world of DnD… it has really grown on me.

It does mention in the RPG book that the mice view moose as some type of God… i mean seriously though… i would worship a moose if I were a mouse… come on really?

:slight_smile:

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