More gods than you can count!
The Numeric Faiths are a collection of related, mostly polytheistic religions with a common origin. They disagree (sometimes violently) on exactly how many of their gods belong in their shared pantheon. The Numeric Faiths are so-called due to the individual denominations that believe in a specific number of gods.
With few exceptions, the Numeric Faiths are organized into highly localized cults. A Tetrad in a riverine locale may view the Smith as a boatwright, whereas their cousin in the high desert may idealize them as a mason. Each visits their local shrine on a fixed, regular basis and provides offerings suitable to the local lens with which that God is viewed.
Tetrads worship four Gods, embodying four of the Elemental Courts (Iron, Thorn, Shadow and Solar). They are: The Smith (inorganics), The Great Mother (organics), Shindyne (magitek), Ohn (spirit). The Four are considered to have many demigod servants and para-mortal offspring and prefer to work indirectly. Tetrads believe the world fits into a classification of the four Elements. They regard Pentics as heretics.
Triads focus their worship on three Prime Gods, and believe all deities and supernatural beings are descendants (Aspects) of the Three Gods of Creation: Atalax the Gardener, Onendyne the Mason and Eizaleu the Artist. The Three each have three Aspects, which in turn have three Aspects, and so on.
Highly pluralistic, Triads believe that the other faiths are simply misguided followers of the Triad. They believe the gods to be highly personified, active and that they require sacrifices for appeasement. There are many sects of the Triads that worship one of the Aspect Triads primarily, these groups are referred to as Triadic cults.
Pentics share a pantheon with Tetrads but also believe in Muun as the Fifth, representing entropy and the Elemental Court of Rust. Unusually for Numeric Faithful, they worship her primarily, she is given greater significance than the other Four. The Tetrads consider them heretics. Pentics are particularly tolerant of the other Numeric Faiths and have common ground with the Horizon-walkers of Event Horizon.
The second-smallest of the Numeric Faiths, only exceeding Monads in population. Dyads believe in just two, all-encompassing gods: the Judge and the Temptor. In the Dyadic cosmos all things exist as an interplay of the binary of the two. Life and death, order and chaos, light and darkness. The most philosophical (and least literal) of the faiths, they are also the most hierarchal. Dyads do not believe in “something from nothing”, they believe magitek comes from the Temptor, exclusively. The Invisible Sea is both a plague of the Temptor and a test from the Judge. Anti-magitek sentiment is very high amongst them as a result.
A radical fringe group of Numerics, the Monads believe in one, all-encompassing Nameless God. They believe that the worship of other Gods divides the divine Body and prevents the unification of all life. They actively and enthusiastically seek to convert other Numeric faithful to their denomination; resistance only seems to galvanize them.
The only thing all other Numeric Faiths agree on is that they despise Monads as irritating proselytizers. (OOG note: “By the Gods!” is still in-character for Monads, as it is after all, a curse.)
Myriads are a term for followers of the Numeric Faiths who believe in more than four gods, or some other combination of gods not accepted by the other faiths listed here. Myriads are usually Triadic cults with Tetrad influences and are considered odd, but tolerated. The Pentic faith is technically Myriad, but is seldom referred to as.
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