Anyone else spice things up by having some of the Zenitians still follow the Islamic faith? I can see why the developers didn’t go there but it kind of makes sense to me. Of course, they can’t call on the icons in skill tests. There should also be some in society who see the Icons as new prophets of Allah or similar.
I follow the way things are described in the setting without any reference or takes from the religions of our time.
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Yes that’s certainly an option but certain things around the worship of the icons are clearly based upon Muslim practices. Plus, an Arabic based culture makes no sense without the unifying force of Islam. Without Islam every “Arabic” country is different culturally and any sort of empire (that might become spacefaring) is nonsensical
In my sci-fi games, unless stated in the setting in other way, I treat religions the way many writers approached this topic in their books:
The religions who managed to survive the transcendence of the humanity from Earth-bound to spacefaring civilization had to adapt and change, otherwise they would have faced the same fate as their outdated, limited and lost they way religions of old. The religion the way I depict it is more of a philosophical view and no longer involves that many supernatural, transcendental, or spiritual elements.
Now, in Coriolis I find the theme interesting and made me read more on the Islam and the Arabian cultures. I will not discuss any religion topic, this is for me, but with the “Darkness between the stars” motive in the game, I like the mix of old and new.
The religion is never focus in my games, I keep it light and the only religion heavy games Warhammer 40K and Necropolis 2350… and the religion there is taken to a more different level 
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I’d disagree on that. In fact one of the best interpretations of 1001 Nights in RPG format didn’t even use monotheism. The old Al-Qadim setting for AD&D had fate play a unifying force, with a polytheistic pantheon worshiped by all. Still the setting had all the hallmarks of the source material, scheming nobles, mighty spirits, rags to riches stories based on bravery and wit. It even had references to real world movements like the almohads of the medieval Morocco or the mamluks. All without a single drop of Islam.
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The Middle East isn’t as culturally homogenous as you imply with the above. Few muslim nations are, either.
Every muslim middle eastern culture has a significant minority Christian presence, and many have small populations of Zoroastrians, Samaritans, and sometimes Gnostics (of the Jewish, pre-Islamic Arabian, or Christian flavors). I can see easily those subcultures being offered passage away from the middle east in a minimally fatal pogrom without ANY Muslims aboard… well, none once the course is set.
Muslims colonists face one other huge hurdle: The Hajj cannot be performed unless travel back to Earth is practical. That prevents one of the 5 pillars of Islam.
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the Hajj: Unless, theres a new way of doing things, and Islam, like usually other religions, adapts.
Islam, unlike most, has no central authority to authorize changes. This makes adaptation risky in terms of being declared heresy by the neighbors. The only authority in Islam is the Quran and, if your sect accepts them, a set of Hadith. There is explicit bar on revising it, even on using languages other than Quranic Arabic for study of the Quran.
It’s a tightly knit set of cultural checksums… and a ban on a central authority other than the book itself.
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If Mecca gets wiped out or is inaccessible, Islam will surely adapt.
The world oft coriolis can be as arabic without Islam as warhammer
fantasy can be european medieval without christianity. It needs some thought and imagination, but its absolutely possible.
Both game might have been unplayable if realworld religions would have been used.
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I picked up Coriolis based on its Arabian inspiration, and the rave reviews of the setting. But for me, it feels odd to draw on the Arabian Nights but not include (or even acknowledge) Islam. Especially since the Icons are so heavily promoted - if religion had little presence overall, like in Star Trek, I don’t think it’s absence would have stuck out to me.
I appreciate the complexity of presenting real world religion in a fictional setting like this, especially if none of the developers are Muslim, or from the Middle East. And it’s better to have no depiction of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism than bad ones. But I’m having a supremely difficult job connecting to the lore when a substantial part of the inspiration is being loudly ignored.