[crossfire] [Rebootworld] Priests and prayers and cults

[Lalo Martins]

Some thoughts on Rebootworld religion.  This is mostly to set
priestly types further away from magic-users.

- Devotion and priestly magic will go by cult (religion) rather
  than god.  Some cults may have multiple gods, or none.  Think
  Devourers in 1.x.

- POSSIBLY (still thinking about it) conversion happens on a
  different object, not the altar.  So praying on the "wrong"
  altar just means you get no benefits.  (Except -- you'd lose
  grace rather than gaining it.)  This means altars "in the wild"
  and in particular random maps won't allow you to convert to a
  religion you'd otherwise not have access to and short-circuit a
  quest :-)

- No prayerbooks.  Prayers will be learned in the temple and
  different for each cult.  (Sometimes it will be the exact same
  spell but with different name; same internal spell code but
  different archetype.)  The only spell off the top of my head I
  see pretty much every cult having is Cult Monsters (which will
  probably have a better name though).  Maybe Word of Recall.

- Prayer names to be thematic, reflecting the mythology.  This is
  the place to make heavy use of individual gods.

- Some cults may be "specialized".  For example... let's say...
  Valkyrie, Sorig, Gaea and Ixy are all part of the Imperial
  pantheon, so a priest of the Imperial cult can switch to the
  cult of Sorig without punishment, other than becoming unable to
  cast some prayers.  Going back does incur a punishment, though.

  Ideally, I think "branch" cult followers should be able to pray
  at "parent" cult altars, but I  don't know how hard that would
  be coding-wise, and it's not a huge loss if they can't.

  The idea here is that these cults wouldn't be available for
  starting characters, but as you progress you can specialize
  more and more, getting cooler perks.  (Not only godly perks,
  but also things like access to cult facilities.)

  In story terms, your religion is still the same (Imperial), but
  you've been induced into Sorig priesthood... compare with
  general Olympian devotion in heroic Greece as opposed to being
  ordained into, say, the Order of Apollo that ran things at
  Delphi, or the temple of Palas-Athena in Athens.

- The Imperial Cult would be the social norm, and at least in
  Scorn, there should be minor social drawbacks to being openly a
  follower of anything else.  Minor villages may be even more
  conservative, or then again they may follow a different cult.

  It will be a pretty standard polytheistic cult with 12 major
  gods (nice number with a lot of significance) and innumerable
  minor deities.  Not every god has his/her own order, and not
  every order is centred on a god, tho.

- Statues and frescos and shrines aplenty around the city...

- "Valrielism" is a somewhat old religion that never really
  caught on but never really died.  At times in the past it was
  even majority, and there have been Valrielist kings.  Based a
  lot on Zoroastrianism and the cult of Ra, not so much
  Christianity and Judaism, despite the angels.  Like
  Zoroastrianism and most Christian branches, it's superficially
  monotheist but really, in essence, bitheist (by putting evil,
  in this case Gorokh, below Valriel but above mortals).

  Gorokh cultists are officially and publicly Valrielists, and in
  game terms, the Gorokh cult is a branch of Valrielism.

  Apart from that particular bizarre case, branches would focus
  on light, summoning, enchanting, cold, and healing, off the top
  of my head.  (Not sure I want to keep the cold association
  though.  It strikes me as a solar cult.  Angel = cold was
  originally because demon = fire, I think, but maybe there's a
  better way to do that.)

- I don't really think orcs, goblins, etc should have an
  organized religion.  I'd like at least one species to scoff at
  gods in general.  Others should be more shamanic or animistic.

  What of poor Gnarg then?  Well, he can get the Loki/Set seat on
  the Imperial pantheon, focusing on his focus on poisons,
  assassins, and treachery in general.  Most people don't worship
  him as such, just pray/sacrifice to appease him and keep him
  out of your business.

- "Evil" cults should be really underground and hard to find.
  The Cult of the Devourers, the Brotherhood of Gorokh, and the
  Order of Gnarg start the list.

  Devourers... I'm uncomfortable with there being such an easy
  and cheap way to get all the undead benefits.  Maybe you need
  to be undead *before* you can join.  Or maybe joining doesn't
  make you undead, it's just... encouraged.

  Gorokh I've written about above.  Note that going on the
  Zoroaster direction, this is really literally an evil cult; the
  Valriel/Gorokh religion will have to have a clear and clean
  definition of good and evil, and followers of Gorokh quite
  simply believe in doing what they see as evil.

  Gnargites are, of course, to be found between thieves and
  assassins, and if there is such a thing as a guild of thieves
  or a structure of organized crime, it will be strongly tied to
  this cult, although probably with "religious tolerance" towards
  the other "evil" cults.

  This concept is a pretty good source of villains and quests.

- Elves and dwarves should have their distinct cultures and
  religions, although of course many Elves and Dwarves are
  tenth-generation Scornians or more, so they may have converted
  to other religions.

  I'd like to make dwarves monotheistic, just because I'm really
  in love with the dwarven creation myth I wrote years ago.

  Elves I'll leave for later... maybe someone will chip in while
  I'm doing other stuff :-)

- More and more interesting options should be available as well.
  Some shamanistic option sounds reasonable, native-American
  style or Taoistic.  Some form of ancestor worship/Shinto.

- No meta-fiction.  No Builders, no legends that reflect the
  history of the game itself.  If you want to introduce homages,
  like making Skud an ancient hero or, say, Peter M. a god, do so
  in a way that fits the setting, the "believability" rule.

- Make the cult more present on character life.  One thing could
  be a reaction modifier depending on how "far" apart your cult
  is to that of an NPC.  This modifier could be made stronger by
  an attribute (on the NPC's praying skill?), so that for
  example, a stout Valrielist may decide to deny service to a
  Mostrai follower.

  But that requires not simply being in the cult, but showing
  it.  Maybe by wearing some kind of holy symbol/emblem.  (So
  that people can be Devourer cultists or Gorokhists in secret.)

  It would be cool if there was some kind of reputation/gossip
  system so that if your allegiances got out, soon everyone would
  know it.  But that's coding, and not top priority, so let's
  shelve it for now.

best,
                                               Lalo Martins
-- 
      So many of our dreams at first seem impossible,
       then they seem improbable, and then, when we
       summon the will, they soon become inevitable.
                           -----
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