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Player > Setting > Deities > Oras
Starfinder Core Rulebook p.488
CN god of adaptation, evolution, natural selection
Centers of Worship: Bretheda, Castrovel, Liavara
Symbol: A double helix
The galaxy is filled with a vast number of complex lifeforms,
both sentient and otherwise, but most of these
species evolved over countless generations from simple
organisms to their present state. All life undergoes change,
whether through genetic drift, mutation, natural selection, or
direct manipulation. If these changes are viable and successful,
then the new entities thrive; if not, they end. This is the course
of evolution, and Oras embodies this intricate process, from
the tiniest genetic mutation to the extinction of an entire
ecosphere. Oras itself is the product of this progression, having
evolved from some elementary organism to an unimaginably
sophisticated god of change.
Evolution is far from a random process, however; it occurs
in response to environmental pressures, and Oras teaches
that life-forms can create their own pressures to influence
their evolution. Oras’s faithful believe that adaptation and
evolution are the natural response to any stimulus, whether
harmful or beneficial. The only way to truly experience
existence is to constantly change, to explore new horizons,
and to deliberately reshape one’s self—mentally, physically, or
spiritually—to address any conflict. Some will inevitably fail
to adapt and will perish, but others will survive to pass on
their genes and traits to future generations, and all life will be
stronger for the progress.
Biotechnicians and scientists pay homage to Oras, working
in laboratories or in open nature to spur along the process of
evolution and change, and many xenodruids act as the god’s
priests. While most people think of Oras in terms of purely
biological processes, the Augmented have increasing crossover
with Oras’s faithful as they seek to improve themselves with
technology, and many Xenowardens blend the worship of Oras
and the Green Faith in their efforts to create more-robust and
sustainable systems or reduce their own ecological footprint.
What’s more, Oras’s ideals can be taken beyond the physical
realm as well, and people of all callings appreciate the ethos
of adaptability, from savvy politicians to unflappable monks to
military commanders on chaotic battlefields.
Oras’s worship is centered on the gas giants of Bretheda and
Liavara, whose natives long ago evolved conscious control over
their physical forms, but the faith also has a strong presence
among the scientists of Castrovel. Oras has few temples, for its
followers believe that observing the god’s handiwork in a petri
dish or writ large across society brings one closer to the Agent
of Change than any artificial structure, and those few temples
that exist are usually partially biological and constantly changing.
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