So I keep plugging away at the Guide to the Hill Cantons.
So I keep plugging away at the Guide to the Hill Cantons. Given yesterday's discussion I thought the Religion chapter (not done but a lot of work in it) of interest. There are a few "public secrets" about the campaign mixed in there
Solinaity is my dumb place holder name for the religious umbrella of the Sun Lord, likely to change.
ReplyDeleteThe note about Neutral Sun Lord clerics being both a majority and weakened in spellcasting is pretty genius.
ReplyDeleteAlso this explains a lot, and shows many paths for the future. (Though I am still committed to the Feral Shore for the moment, and I'd bet there is much related to be found there as well.)
Do you have an idea of the process by which current characters can attune to the divinities? Or is that a new character / native character / member of an in-game organization only sort of thing?
Thanks. "Neutral" hypocrisy or moral apathy is pretty much where most of humanity is at in the Hill Cantons.
ReplyDeleteYep, the Feral Shore is packed with a lot of potential info-treasure as Robert Parker would call it (actually can't remember the exact phrase). Some of it fairly "big ticket".
I've been thinking a lot about how a PC or NPC actually becomes a god. The latter is easier for me to imagine the steps as its not mechanical and driven by what happens in the campaign.
The former is "in progress" but probably just comes down to:
1. gaining a really high level (what I don't know yet, but much lower than what a lot of D&D games, say perhaps something like 13-16).
2. having XXX number of sincere followers and clergy.
3. having some religious infrastructure (temples and the like).
It's unclear yet if the Blood Jesus has achieved a real apotheosis in the Hill Cantons world.
ReplyDeleteI assume it is much easier to usurp a divinity than to create a new one.
ReplyDeleteVery true and even harder when you don't exist in the first place.
ReplyDeleteLevels, followers, clergy, and infrastructure are all good, but I would also have:
ReplyDelete1. Anchor Points: If my theory is correct and there are sites / individuals which are "anchor points" of reality, and gods are "tied to the land" in the way that most appear to be, then establishing regional footholds could dictate where a god's powers (and clerical powers) extend to.
2. Theft: As Anthony Picaro just said, devouring gods or subsuming their divinity into your portfolio (or pantheon, for mutually beneficial pacts) could be a quick step up in power.
3. Deeds: For a more mythological spin, you could also allow characters to put another notch in their 'divinity belt' by accomplishing great deeds which spread throughout the land.
All three are ways NPCs have attained godhood for sure. I would consider them as mitigating factors for a PC.
ReplyDeleteA supplemental idea to anchor points: Accomplishing divine immortality (where mortal forms are avatars) is only possible by carving out a piece of the heavens and establishing anchor points there.
ReplyDeleteDeceased followers and spiritual cohorts must defend this heaven, which is the actual 'body' of any godhood powerful enough to hold such a space; losing it through divine warfare means that the current avatar (presumably an anchor point in itself which represents a significant investment of divine energy) is the sole representative of divine power and if it dies the god's power is lost forever.
Interesting. A bit at odds with the cosmology of the campaign but in the ballpark.
ReplyDeleteChris Kutalik Well, since there are "gods" and "godlings", I assume that there are tiers of divinities based on all the factors above; 'divine levels', if you will. Perhaps you unlock different 'stages' of power based on which factors you have in play?
ReplyDeleteSo, if I've done a number of mythical deeds, have a couple anchor points, have 1,000 followers and are 12th level, I would have 'divine level X', which would increase or decrease based on how these resources grow or shrink.
Obviously this is way off, but it is interesting stuff.
Love it, consider it provisionally adopted (with all due credit).
ReplyDeleteI would reveal too much if I explained what the "heavens" actually are. Suffice it to say for now that there is a tie in with the Weird and that some significant answers lie close at hand.
Thanks dude.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the 'heaven/hellcrawl'.
That's totally going to happen a year from now if we are still playing.
ReplyDeleteAny suggestions for something other than Solinaity?
ReplyDeleteRadianity?
ReplyDeleteAtomism?
Ein Sof and his Rockin' Sefirot?
Transcendental Heliometry
ReplyDeleteAnthony Picaro Badass.
ReplyDeleteamusing: solidarity, solipsism
ReplyDeleteserious: heliocentrism, solarity, solarism