D66 Religious Taboos

Well met one and all! This week I bring to you September's RPG Blog Carnival article on religious taboos. Beneath Foreign Planets brings us this months prompt on Anthropology and Archeology, a subject near and dear to my heart. After reading over their article, I decided I'd write a table that can expand on the anthropological phenomena of religious taboo. Religions of all kinds are replete with taboo and verboten subjects. What a culture deems worthy of exclusion says as much about them as what they deem worthy of inclusion. Enjoy this weeks article! Check out last month's Blog Carnival post on organizations, an evil cult generator. There is also last week's excellent sailor class if you're looking for the right class to add to your next nautical campaign. 

D66 Religious Taboos

A religious taboo is a religious custom prohibiting or forbidding the discussion of a particular practice or association with a particular person, place, or thing. Many faiths ban specific foods, clothing, or acts, and they ban these things for a variety of reasons. Religious taboos are as varied as religions, and it will be up to the game master to contextualize these prohibitions within their own campaign world. Below you’ll find a handy table that you can use to add verisimilitude and richness to your own campaign’s religious groups. This table goes particularly well with my evil cult generator and my abandoned temple generator.

 

*Religion, by Charles Sprague Pearce, 1897

The Practitioner:

11. Cannot wear a particular color of clothing or garment. (1. Crimson 2. Saffron 3. Indigo 4. Chartreuse)

12. Cannot wear any color of clothing other than: (1. Crimson 2. Saffron 3. Indigo 4. Chartreuse)

13. Cannot wear anything on their feet.

14. Cannot grow out their hair.

15. Cannot eat foods of a particular type. (1. Bread or Grains 2. Meat 3. Root Vegetables 4. Legumes 5. Alliums 6. Eggs)

16. Cannot shake hands with: (1. Anyone 2. Men 3. Women 4. Demihumans)

21. Cannot cut their hair. (1. All of it 2. Their forelocks 3. Their facial hair 4. Their ponytail)

22. Cannot enter a house without an invitation.

23. Cannot sit unless eating or sleeping.

24. Cannot light fires.

25. Cannot eat until all others have received food.

26. Cannot speak out loud.

*William Charlton Wright, between 1800 and 1899

31. Cannot speak unless in rhyme.

32. Cannot touch blood or other bodily fluids.

33. Cannot sing towards the: (1. East 2. West 3. North 4. South)

34. Cannot sleep during holy days.

35. Cannot travel at night.

36. Cannot travel during the daytime.

41. Cannot eat during the daytime.

42. Cannot touch weapons of any kind.

43. Cannot wield or touch: (1. Swords and Daggers 2. Maces and Clubs 3. Bows and Slings 4. Axes and Spears)

44. Cannot cast spells during a specific part of the day. (1. Morning 2. Afternoon 3. Evening 4. Nighttime)

45.  Cannot cast spells against a particular type of foe (1. Humans 2. Dwarfs 3. Elves 4. Goblins 5. Gnomes 6. Orcs)

46. Cannot use magic to directly aid nonbelievers.

*An engraving of Pope Joan, from a 17th-century book by Alexander Cooke

51. Cannot drink water.

52. Cannot sleep under a roof.

53. Cannot own personal wealth.

54. Cannot directly aid another faith.

55. Cannot wield metal weapons or armor.

56. Cannot imbibe alcohol.

61. Cannot harm someone wearing a particular color. (1. Crimson 2. Saffron 3. Indigo 4. Chartreuse)

62. Cannot travel without carrying dirt from a specific holy place on their person.

63. Cannot bathe.

64. Cannot pass a holy place or shrine without stopping to pray for at least an hour.

65. Cannot take off their clothes.

66.  Cannot knowingly state a falsehood.