Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 9 Dec 2005 to 10 Dec 2005 (#2005-228) From: MYSTARA-L automatic digest system Date: 11/12/2005, 19:00 To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There is 1 message totalling 110 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Mystaran Churches ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 10 Dec 2005 12:53:04 +0100 From: Giampaolo Agosta Subject: Re: Mystaran Churches Steven Carter ha scritto: > > About 1000 to 1500 years ago the Immortals entered into a > treaty/alliance/pact to found One Great Church. Why? Perhaps it was > to preserve religious artistic expression, religious culture, > literature, or even an overly ambitious and optimistic attempt at > detente - to attempt to steer Mystara away from paths of destruction. This might have been the case if the Immortals feared Alphatia's > madness (the spiteful, purposeful destruction of their homeworld) > could be repeated on the Immortals' cherished globe. Or maybe they needed some more control on clergy, to avoid new Nithian crises. > Some of the others are: > >> Eastern Orthodox Church of Dawn (on the Isle of Dawn) >> Eastern Orthodox Church of Dawn (in Alphatian lands, a minority in Ochalea) >> Reformed Church (of Minrothad, but has spread elsewhere, began as a populist movement in those islands, founded after Minroth's departure by those who promoted his veneration) >> United Churches of Darokin >> Holy Catholic & Orthodox Church of the Blessed Immortals (in Karameikos, aka the Church of Karameikos, the CofK) You mean these as different branches of that same unified cult? BTW, Birthright has a similar setup, though there it is required by the limited number of gods available in the setting: while originally there were only few churches, when the major empire of that setting was destroyed (politically) powerful priests vied for power, leading to a number of schisms. Often the doctrines are not that different (since it's still the same Power they're answering to), what change are allegiances to political powers, or simply the ability to defend their holdings from rival hierarchies. > Immortals are fickle. This we know. They aren't omniscient or > omni-present (are they? I don't think so) No, they have significant limits to their abilities. For example, even the most intelligent Hierarch cannot keep more than 20 plots running at the same time. They need spells such as Immortal Eye to see what's going on in the Prime, and so on. Limitations of the same kind are present in AD&D. > In that case I imagine that should the Immortals agree to a One Great > Church pact/alliance/treaty then: > 1) The One Great Church will fragment into several purpose-specific > churches that are loosely aligned with one another on a doctrinal > basis. Definitely: how would this church keep the different beliefs (Entropy vs. everyone else, but also Time vs. Energy, etc) together? Some Immortals may feel less represented than others -- e.g., True Neutrals may like the unified church doctrines more than Immortals of extreme alignments, due to the amount of compromises that such doctrines would include. Followers of LG (or CE, etc) Immortals will tend to branch off, form specialized orders within the church or simply go rogue. > 2) It is possible for all mortals to transcend the mortal coil and > become Immortal. This means that Immortalism is actually clearly recognized as such, though. Now, my personal opinion. IMO, this kind of church doesn't fit well with many gazetteer lands: how would a church modeled on european middle ages fit with, say, Ylaruam, Ethengar, Atruaghin or even Glantri? OTOH, a unified origin could be conceived for the churches in Thyatis (including the HK and the Thyatian dominions, with the exception of Ochalea), Darokin, Karameikos and maybe Ierendi and/or Minrothad. In this case, probably this church does not need to include all Immortals, but simply those Immortals who are popular in the "core" Known World regions. This would make for a more stable church. Alphatia is a different matter, though. Alphatians have a different approach to religion: originally, they had no priests (they were all wizards), so their churches were formed later, when non-wizards appealed to Alphatian Immortals (and later also non-Alphatian Immortals) to gain magical powers. So, they should have a different origin and organization. I could envision two different setups for Alphatia: 1) Most Alphatian priests follow the Alphatian Immortals (Razud, Alphatia and Koryis), and there are organized churches of these Immortals; sometimes, though, a power-hungry Alphatian makes a deal with a foreign Immortal, becoming a "rogue" priest. 2) Alphatians have accepted as many Immortals as they could find in their pantheon, in order to maximize the number of priests: in this case, there are dozens of different churches, both monotheistic or pantheistic. Bye, GP ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 9 Dec 2005 to 10 Dec 2005 (#2005-228) ***************************************************************