[b][u]Religions available only to Celtic characters:[/u][/b]

[b]Celtic Paganism:[/b] also commonly known as Druidism, Celtic Paganism is the mainstream religion among the Celts. Followers worship various tribal deities, including some of the more pan-tribal deities such as Teutatis, Taranis, Lugh, Nuada, Brighid, in a fashion which has not changed much since the early Iron Age. In addition to these deities, they also place an emphasis on their ancestors and local nature spirits, often associated with stones, trees and bodies of water. Special connection to nature in Celtic Pagans' religion is also illustrated by the importance of sacred trees (especially oaks) and the usage of mistletoe as sacred medicine. In social life, the most important feature of the religion is the central role played by its clergy, the Druids, in maintaining religious and social cohesion. They are responsible for organizing worship and sacrifices, divination and judicial procedure. They preside over complex rituals revolving, for example, around sacred banqueting and animal (sometimes human) sacrifices, following a calendar based on Moon cycles. Although Druids prefer keeping away from the sphere of politics and abhor putting any sacred lore in writing, or maybe because of that, their spiritual aura goes much beyond those following the Celtic traditional religion and is widely respected, even by worshippers of other cults. Druids are also law-speakers, poets, and doctors, thus playing a fundamental role not only in the religious sphere, but also in everyday life. A typical Celtic symbol is the triskelion or triple spiral, found in many artifacts and emblems in the Celtic world. The old ways of the Celts remain strong especially in Ystrad Clud, Dál Riata, Fortriu, Rheged and Caledonia in the North, Powys in Cymru, and the western half of Éire.

[b]Celtic Christianity:[/b] also called Hibernicism or Cúchulainism, Celtic Christianity is the result of the syncretism between Christianity and the local Celtic traditions. Christianity arrived in Britain in the beginning of the 4th Century, but as the Roman Catholic presence started to become unstable, local clerics reinterprated Christianity in a fashion more in line with their own Celtic traditions, creating a new variant of Christianity. Old Celtic traditions kept alive by Druidism slowly became more and more intertwined, and as a result, Hibernicism developed into an ever-changing, peculiar synthesis between its fading Christian background and the revived Celtic belief system. In particular, characters of the Christian Saints and Celtic heroes influence each other, to the extent that the historical figure of Jesus of Nazareth is often merged into one of the most prominent characters of the Celtic sagas, Cúchulainn. Celtic Christians do not have an organized clergy or unified church: their priests and bishops are much more similar to the druids of old than to their Catholic or Pelagian counterparts. However, they do refer to the whole of their community as the "Church of Saint Patrick". The most common symbol of the Hibernicist faith is the so-called Celtic Cross, standing tall in many Celtic monastries and churches. Today, Hibernicism has many followers among the Celts, especially in the kingdoms of Alba, Gwynedd, Brythonia, and the eastern half of Éire.

(2/5)