[RPG Carnival] Gods in Space Opera?

It’s my first entry into the RPG Carnival, and in line with this month’s topic of Religion, let’s take a look at the role that religions and gods take in a Space Opera setting.

All Part of the Genre:

While Sci-Fi occasionally might give the impression that it’s a godless, technologically driven society, that’s not always the case, especially in Space Opera.  Pulling on the usual suspects: Star Wars and Dune, both of these works have some form of “hokey religion,” whether it’s the Force, or the near fanatical genetic manipulations of the Bene Gesserit.  Even Metabarons had the Shabda-Oud, a cabal of arguably psychotic psychic whore-priestesses.

But why the belief in God?

It can be reasoned that a society has it’s need to find some meaning to existence amplified the moment that they have managed to reach the stars and come to the realization that there’s a massive amount of nothing out there.  While the presence of some Alien societies to muddy the waters a bit, there’s still a need to believe in something greater than what people could put together.

Not everyone in a Space Opera setting has to believe in a higher power of course.  Much like Han Solo’s “hokey religion” comment, most people are content to live their lives without accountability to some point system in the sky that counts your good deed vs. your bad ones.

My Miracles Can and Will Hurt You:

Unlike most of the religions in real life, Space Opera religions can and will hurt you if you get on the bad side.  Practicioners of the faith often display powers unexplained by the level of technology, often manifesting psychic powers such as telepathy, telekinesis or even the ability to shoot lightning from their fingertips.

Another cliche power for most Space Opera religions is some form of Clairvoyance.  Whether it’s precognitive abilities or some strange sense for things that go “wrong,” this is usually a good guy power, owned and exercised by the faithful in the party rather than with the bad guys.

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Space Opera is an odd duck.  By being partly a fantasy yarn dressed up in chrome and lasers, it’s still kept very close to all the tropes of fantasy, including religions and strange powers and abilities attributed to them.  It’s easy to forget this of course, so it’s a good thing for GMs to remember when they’re doing some world building for this genre to stop for a moment and consider what religions there are in the setting and how they influence society.