God (WOD)

Various classic World of Darkness games offer interpretations of whether or not God exists.

Vampire: The Masquerade opens up with Caine cursed by God for murdering his brother Abel. Cainite mythology holds up to a high degree, with the story of Caine and Abel recognized by vampires that predate Judaism, and in certain cases recorded by Vampires at some time before Judaism. Special mention of this is made in Demon: The Fallen, where the stories of a certain desert tribe turn out to be unusually accurate - if, from Lucifer's point of view, biased. Obviously, Demons believe in God as much as they believe in themselves. Demons knew God, but their interpretation of God is tied up in a complex love/hate relationship represented by their Torment. Whatever Demons knew of God, however, they don't know what God is doing right now.

The Kuei-jin believe they know the answer to that one, however. According to the Wan Kuei, the August Personage In Jade turned his face on them when he cursed them, much like he did to the Yama Kings when he cursed them. The Wan Kuei believe in a God, they just don't necessarily believe that he's a unicorns-and-fairies happy friendly God. They know this because they know God isn't happy with them.

Which leads us to the Hunters. Imbued by agencies called the Messengers, Hunters may believe they're on a mission from God. The answer is a bit more complex: according to Hunter: The Reckoning, God has abandoned the world. Whether permanently or impernanently is open for debate, but the Messengers are God's assistants and are trying desperately to patch up the world before the damage is too severe.

Garou and Mages, ironically, have the easiest explanations. The Garou are used to trafficking with spirits, and if an unusually powerful Celestine should decide to call him-, her-, it- or that-self God, then fine. The Garou aren't the warriors of God, anyway, they're the warriors of Gaia, and that's already a big enough task. Mages may have faith in some God, the Celestial Chorus is based on it. However, being mages, they view the One as ineffable, and ultimately incomprehensible except outside of Ascension.

Of course the Mage's interpretations of God vary as much as Mage's interpretations of everything else. Certain Traditions (notably the Celestial Chorus) grow in power and enlightenment through a greater understanding of the nature of God, while others such as the Order of Hermes would see Ascension as an apotheosis with Godhead, an act of becoming Godlike, or even unifying with God himself. Others might believe strongly in the existence of God, but see that existence as secondary or even unrelated to their path towards enlightenment (i.e. The Technocracy's "Single White Jesus")

An interesting but not widely discussed interpretation among certain Gnostic Mages stems from the belief that the Awakened Avatar of the Mage is a Godspark, or a fragment of God, and that through the Mass Ascension, a shattered God is reunified as those Godsparks within all humanity are able to transcend itself. But then again when dealing with Mages as a whole, anything is open to debate and potentially true.

Ironically, the ones the living consider the closest to God, the wraiths, vary in their viewpoint almost as much as the living. Heretics tend towards Transcendence as the final answer, though whether this is actually related to God is subject to the individual Heretic. Many more wraiths find their spirituality crushed by the Shadowlands; this is not the heaven or hell they were told of in life, and as a result they abandon their faith to search for answers on their own. But there is also the Ferrymen who might or might not take worthy souls through the Tempest to the Far Shores which are rumored to reflect individual myths of an afterlive, like Heaven, Hell or Nirvana. But nobody, except the Ferryman, returns, and he doesn't tell.

The answers never come easy; even after the Sixth Great Maelstrom, the ghosts of Orpheus maintain belief in a higher power. For some though, it is not God so much as Grandmother.