Scam Religion: Difference between revisions

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* ''[[BattleTech]]'''s pre-schism ComStar (and after the split, Word of Blake) has aspects of this. Heavily shrouded in mysticism towards outsiders and definitely capable of inspiring religious fervor in its own members as well, ComStar is ''fundamentally'' just an [[Ancient Conspiracy]] hoarding technological know-how and waiting for the Successor States to bomb themselves so far back into the Stone Age that they can step in and take over for the ostensible good of all mankind. (They're not above stirring the pot themselves if it looks like things might actually settle down or quietly eliminating outsiders who might be on the verge of making scientific breakthroughs, either -- since they just so happen to control most interstellar communication under the guise of neutrality, they tend to be ''very'' well informed.) Interestingly, this is by many accounts not what ComStar's founder ever intended, for all that many members of the organization are prone to dropping supposed pearls of his wisdom into conversations at every opportunity; it's only under his ''successor'' that things rapidly started to take on a religious bent.

* The classic ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' adventure ''[[The Temple of Elemental Evil]]'' was this twice-over. Most cultists believed they were simply worshiping the destructive powers of the elements. However, it was actually a ruse by the demon lord Zuggtmoy, who designed the ruse in order to better recruit worshipers and gain power; few mortals worshiped her directly, because a goddess of fungus isn't all-too appealing. {{spoiler|However, only a very small inner circle of the cult knew that Zuggtmoy was also being played by a sucker by the true focus of the Temple, [[The Man Behind the Man| the mad god of destruction, Tharizdun.]]}}

* The cult of the god Zhakata in the realm of G'Henna, from the ''[[Ravenloft]]'' setting is one of the worst examples of this trope in RPGs (possibly the worst example ''period''). Zhakata is a god of famine and most of the food produced in the realm is sacrificed to him (and actually eaten by the [[Corrupt Church| corrupt priesthood]], naturally). His worship involves voluntary human sacrifice via starvation, among other such pleasant things. Worshippers hope that their sacrifice will mean that Zhakata will transform from his evil Devourer aspect to his benevolent Provider aspect, and reward them with an era of bounty. The thing is, even in-universe ''Zhakhata isn't real'' (Ravenloft itself grants spells to the cult's leaders), so people are killing themselves for no reason in hope that a fictional savior will come. Zhakhata is actually a delusion of Yagno Petrovna, the high priest. Yagno is aware on some level that his god doesn't really exist, and part of the [[Ironic Hell]] he has to suffer as a Darklord is living in doubt that his lifelong faith is a sham. Despite this, he [[Ignorant of His Own Ignorance| chooses to continue to delude himself]] and promote Zhakata regardless. This willingness to let people suffer and die for a lie is what keeps Yagno as the Darklord of G'henna.

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