Adversarialism

Adversarialism is a religion common in the northwest of Oleran and other parts of the world in different variations. The religion is based on the idea that there is a god that is not all powerful and that the god created man in order to torment them and cause pain. The god, named Balar by most, is the enemy of adversarialists and they see him as the source of all their woe. Balar is not all powerful, otherwise humanity would be living in constant hell. Most believe that Balar did not in fact create the world but is only a lesser being created by a true creator that does not interact with the world but instead created it and moved on. Another important aspect of the religion is their hero figure, Aranthor. Legend says that Aranthor was created by Balar and that he turned against him to aid the humans. He gave the humans free will, sentience, and intelligence.

Main Tenets
Adversarialism is based on the idea that their god is vengeful and wishes humanity harm. For proof they point to the immense amount of suffering in the world. The religion is most popular in regions with harsh climates where life is difficult. The goal of most adversarialists is to live a happy life despite Balar. They try their best to live in a way that ignores his best attempts to make them unhappy. Most believe that when a person dies they simply cease to exist. Adversarialists are some of the only people in the world whose orthodox doctrine is that there is not afterlife.

Aranthor
The many cultures that practice adversarialism have different stories and legends surrounding the figure of Aranthor, humanity's hero. Some claim he was killed by Balar for giving humanity the gift of sentience and free will. Others believe that he still exists in the world to help humanity and attribute the occurence of most good things to his benevolent intervention. The story that most cultures follow is that he was one of the many demons created by Balar to wreak havoc on the world, but that he disobeyed his master and turned against him.

Magic
Magic to adversarialists is a neutral force that was probably established by the original creator. They cite the fact that magic can be used for both good and evil. There are of course those who believe that only bad can come from magic and these people believe that it was designed by Balar. Most people do not follow this thinking as magic has many practical purposes as well as malevolent ones. There are also others who believe that healing magic was created by Aranthor because it appears to be a purely good thing in the world. However, this does not explain why a bad man is capable of using the power to heal himself or other bad people.

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