I'm glad you're enjoying the choices with Salyra! I never want to push people into forgiving her (personally, I wouldn't) so I know it's important for players as well 😊
I'm no time bending wizard, but I do like writing a lot at once and I code as I write so it saves a lot of time when I get down to the chapters. It's worked so far for me so I'm in no rush to change my methods now.
You don't get punished for being a non-believer. The only thing you'll get locked out of is awakening the divine blessings, but you won't be locked out of good game ends. That said, I'm more of a narrative than stat-focussed person so stats are there but it's more your choices that matter rather than how high your stat is. You won't die in this game 😋