I suppose it all depends on the inherent benefits and drawbacks of having different and dissenting viewpoints in the kingdom/duchy. From the NPC standpoint it probably adds to unrest, from the player standpoint they probably prefer to play how they want.

I know some leaders who are dedicated to real-world values of inclusion in tolerance even in the game world with fictional tribes and cultures.

On the other hand I know leaders who would be happy to play a xenophobic intolerant faith bent on converting or destroying everyone else on the server.

It's a fantasy world in an online game and there's no real moral implications to how you choose to play your particular collection of pixels and database entries. Ideally there will be both types to add to the story and drama of the game.

Regarding the "would this population be considered Neran" question, I don't believe we have any precise answers yet, however I feel we can make some educated guesses.

We know that a character's look is based on their DNA makeup. It stands to reason that we will be able to see an "ancestry" breakdown of our character, showing the percentage of each race they came from (for example, 50% Neran, 25% Erishe, 25% Kypiq). We don't know if they will be labeled simply based on the most common heritage (in this example as Neran) or some other way, perhaps with a "hybrid" tag (like Neran-Erishe hybrid, or maybe just Neran hybrid).

It will be something I'm keen to see in the future once it's more fleshed out.

Posted By Beauvais at

Would that population still be considered Neran? Or would they be a new tribe/ethnic group, as their genetic makeup and religious background will have morphed into its own distinct identity over time?

If you use biome adaptation as the primary driver of tribe affiliation (and it is my understanding that this is the case), then the sort of mixing and matching you describe will result in the dilution of the genetic traits that grant advantages to any particular biome. So genetic mixing over time inevitably leads you to "Neran", the generalist tribe.

FWIW, the Neran are not of the Qindred faith but the Virtori faith, although they appear rooted in the same creation myth and you were probably just using that for illustration purposes anyway. Nevertheless, even within existing tribal cultures, there are "faithless" members of the tribe. They might be considered a "subclass" of the tribe and treated poorly, but they are still members of that tribe.

So faith alone does not appear to be a driver of tribal affiliation, at this juncture. But who knows how things will evolve over time.

How do you think this will affect players's societies and politics? Will rulers feel threatened by other religious groups in their realms? Will minorities be targeted by discrimination and violence? What if the ruler of a province follows a different religion than his subjects? What if his faith is different that his liege's? How will politics and religion mix in Elyria?

NPC attitudes will be influenced by religion and the AI will act accordingly, but PC attitudes are not predictable in that way. Therefore, anything is theoretically possible, so "yes" to all the above. I suspect politics and religion will mix in very similar ways to how they do in the real world. :)

I believe that players will be able to choose religious affiliations freely for their characters in the game, assuming all the religions have presences in the characters' starting areas. The tribal lore is supposed to be true of the tribes in their unmingled states, but by the time of Exposition, there will have been plenty of mingling. Now it is possible that in settlements and regions with a single tribe and little extra-tribal contact, SBS may decide to prevent the adoption of a foreign religion because the character is unlikely to have encountered a foreign religion. But in mixed settlements or regions with settlements of different tribes in close proximity, there should be no problem with a character adopting any religion that has a presence in the region. As other respondents have pointed out, characters may still face discrimination based on religious choice from NPCs, role-playing PCs, or government authorities that wish to favor or disfavor one or more religions for political reasons.

I am speculating based on what Caspian has said about mixed-tribe parentage. Since mixed-tribe parentage will be possible by Exposition, then a fair degree of exposure to multiple religions should have already occurred.