"The gods are many, and they remember." Paganism is a loose but deeply rooted spiritual tradition, comprised of Norse, Celtic, Germanic, and other ancient pagan faiths from the near nations. It is not governed by a central church, but by custom, kinship, and sacred places, groves, stones, rivers, and ancestral barrows. Rituals vary from village to village, but all revere nature, ancestry, and the unseen powers that shape the world. While driven underground or converted by force in many regions, paganism remains strongest in the Hinterlands, where the tribes of the wild and sole city of Æthelinga continue to uphold the old rites. The faith there is living, proud, and defiant, with local shamans, seers, and warrior-chieftains acting as spiritual leaders. Even in lands that now bear the cross, like Oberheim, Grauhoft, Høvekk, and Freahburh, the old beliefs linger, especially among the peasantries. These regions were integrated into the kingdom gradually, and while the nobility may bow to the Church, their people still often offer quiet prayers to the old gods at dawn and dusk. In contrast, radically christian regions in the south like Lunden, the Heartland, Zoutweide, and Forskeld view paganism as heresy. Inquisition and conversion efforts have been particularly harsh in Gransmark, where resistance was met with sword and fire.