Church of Tah Expansion Supplement

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shadowmane
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Re: Church of Tah Expansion Supplement

Post by shadowmane »

As Smoot said, nothing is wrong with multiple gods. Its just that this is a supplement for the Church of Tah from the Morgansfort Module, which is monotheistic.
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Solomoriah
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Re: Church of Tah Expansion Supplement

Post by Solomoriah »

And it should be noted that the Western Lands is not without its pantheists. See the part about the Hundred Gods in the module for more information.

I'm in agreement with Smoot about keeping it simple and small, by the way. Too much background information may hamstring the GM, not to mention going unused. I'd rather plant seeds than distribute trees.
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shadowmane
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Re: Church of Tah Expansion Supplement

Post by shadowmane »

Yeah, I'm still trying to find that balance. I may need to get someone from this community to play editor for me ultimately, just so it remains a supplement and not some kind of world book.
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shadowmane
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Re: Church of Tah Expansion Supplement

Post by shadowmane »

I took a real good look at an aspect of Shi'ia Islam today while reading about Iran and came up with some ideas that might be useful here. In Islam as a whole, their clerics are interpreters of the Koran, the Hadiths, and Sharia Law. This is what they go to school for to become a Muslim Cleric.

The Ancient Jews had a system that was very close to this during the periods when the Temple was active. Since the destruction of the last Temple in 70 AD, they have not had this.

Christianity never really developed this idea as much as the other two mono-theistic religions, though it is there to an extent. All three religions teach about moral law, and have consequences for not following it.

Looking at the Bethite Church, and the Reformed Church in the Tahist religion, would it make sense if the clerics of that religion (not the class, but the religious leaders) were the law keepers? Would that create another class in the mix? You have the Judge, Priest, and the Holy Warrior. That would create the base three classes. Then you would have to go further and make the Reformed cleric fill the roles of both Judge and Priest, which can create all manner of wonderful problems to be solved by characters.

The Heirarch of Beth would be the arbiter of all law for the Bethite Church. For the Reformed Church, that would be the local clergy, or the regional clergy (depending on whether the church uses the episcopal/heirarchical or the council/presbytyrian or the democratic/congregational style of polity).

So how to go about developing the three classes for the Bethite Church. The three classes would be Priest, Judge (for lack of a better name), and Holy Warrior. The only PC class of the three would be the Holy Warrior, which would be the actual "cleric" class. Then you would have to add in the whole Monastic detail, which is quite different from the "secular" details. For the monastic, the Abbot (combination Priest/Judge class) would be the arbiter of all religious law. A Monk (combination Monk/Priest, or a Cleric with Priest as a quasi-class) would follow the rule of his order, and be subject to the Prior of his Abby, and/or the Abbot of his order.

For the Reformed Church, the classes would have to be Parson (a combination Priest/Judge class) and the Fundamentalist (a combination Holy Warrior/Judge class). Instead of Monastacism, they would have "societies", and the Fundamentalists would be members of these societies. The societies would work much the same as the Monastic Orders, though they would be named not for specific Saints, but for Religious Ideals held within Tahism.

I'm thinking of making a setting agnostic version of this, and breaking it up into layers, and making a few different supplements for the different layers. In the first layer, you have the simple religion, to be thrown into the setting and used as is. The second layer would be at a higher level, telling how the religion effects the world around it, and how it deals with other religions and sects. A third layer would be how the religion effects the universe around it, and the immortals that run that universe.

At any rate, I'm currently working on developing in my mind the ideas of the different classes of cleric within Tahism. Up till now I've been focused on the history and structure. I would like some feedback and suggestions if anyone has any on the different classes.
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SmootRK
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Re: Church of Tah Expansion Supplement

Post by SmootRK »

Nice to see you back at this one.

I am anxious to see the classes you have in mind for these factions/sects (or the modifications for these). I think it will be cool to have pretty wide distinctions in how cleric/priests/monks are presented.
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shadowmane
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Re: Church of Tah Expansion Supplement

Post by shadowmane »

Okay, I had a 5th draft done up, but decided to do some major re-working. Therefore, I present tonight, the 6th draft.

I totally reworked the history section, cutting it way back, and giving back control of the setting to the GM. I also expanded the Cult of Shaitan section.

Up next will be adding some classes to it, and perhaps a village setting. I would also like to create a cloister for the Bethite Church, as well as some sort of a grove, or arbor monastery for the Druidic Orthodox Church of Tah. I also want to work up something with the Cult of Shaitan expansion I made here.

Of course, all of that could be done in adventure supplements, which I may begin writing once I get my thoughts collected on it. Enjoy.
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shadowmane
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Re: Church of Tah Expansion Supplement

Post by shadowmane »

I've finally solved the riddle of the "judge" vs "priest" thing. I looked no further than the Massachusetts Bay Colony. If I base the Purists on the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay, and the Reformists as a whole on the Continental Reformation (most likely Lutheran with the German electors covering for them), throw a few twists in there, I have the system I'm looking for.

With the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the clergy were barred from holding political office. However, magistrates were required to be members of the church, and so was anyone who held office.

To translate that to a place like the Western Lands; if we take Morgansfort as an example of a Reformist settlement, then Baron Morgan Rathwynn and/or Halden would take the place of a German Elector-Prince. Fr. Thelbain would hold his office as the Priest at the chapel directy from Morgan, and not from the Reformist Church itself.

Now lets say there is a settlement to the south of Morgansfort, on the banks of the lake shown on the map. Lets say that settlement is a Purist settlement instead of one aligned with Morgan, and it has its charter from Duke Helsung II of Slateholm. Lets also say that Morgan and his son Halden are named as the ones granted the Charter on behalf of the Purists. The colony would be from Morgansfort, established on the authority of Duke Helsung, but established on the charter by the Purists themselves, with their own Governor and Deputy Governor and the Court of Trustees (or whatever it would be called).

So now we have the seed of a settlement that can be fleshed out into something the characters can play around in. A Massachusetts Bay Colony type setting, complete with hostile natives (Goblins, Hobgoblins, Orcs, Kobolds, etc.) and a land that needs taming.

Yes, I'm still working on this slowly but surely.
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