Polytheism in BR

[Birthright-L]

Gary said:

> Was Deismaar really the godly version of this thread with polytheism

> winning out? It`s not that hard to interpret that way....



I certainly see Deismaar as the clash between a aggressive empire that

sought to supress the worship of non-sanctioned faiths and various tribes

who sought to retain their patrons and pantheon *and* as the climax of

Azrai`s attempt to overwhelm his peers utterly. Perhaps Azrai was the one

who went explodo; perhaps he thought he could take it?



--

John Machin

(trithemius@kallisti.net.nz)

"Nothing is more beautiful than to know the All."

- Athanasius Kircher, `The Great Art of Knowledge`.

[Birthright-L]

Osprey said:

> [sigh] While I am tempted to throw up my hands and say, "Fine.

> You`re right. Monotheistic urges are ludicrous in the BR setting,"

> I`m still convinced that the idea of one dominant or all-powerful god

> could tempt any mortal human in any setting. And I have a hunch that

> one of the big reasons such an idea is distasteful to the posters

> arguing against it is that the idea is so distasteful in real life, and

> they don`t want it polluting the BR setting. But that`s just a hunch,

> which may or may not have any basis in reality.



I`ve got no real objections to monotheism in real life; I`m a monotheist

myself, I suppose.



I object to it because it goes against my sense of the setting. I greatly

prefer my own interpretations, which, though counter to some of the rules

of the game, are more in accord with the character of the setting. At

least, if you ask me. YCMV.



--

John Machin

(trithemius@kallisti.net.nz)

"Nothing is more beautiful than to know the All."

- Athanasius Kircher, `The Great Art of Knowledge`.

[Birthright-L]

Kenneth Gauck said:

> In responce to Osprey, I could reverse things (why we don`t like

> monothesists) and return to my formulation of March 9th, What would we do

> with monotheists.



To clarify a bit:

I certainly don`t think that extremist priests do not exist!

I believe that such people, to many -including priests of the same god-,

are irrational and probably to a certain degree insane; but they do exist.

I simply do not believe that they have the capacity to capture entire

provinces in a culture where polytheism is so imbedded. Therefore, I

abjure them to the realm of random (or planned) domain events. They are

hindrances, not mass movements in the making, much like (IMO) Cerilian

post-Deismaar democracy.



--

John Machin

(trithemius@kallisti.net.nz)

"Nothing is more beautiful than to know the All."

- Athanasius Kircher, `The Great Art of Knowledge`.

[geeman]

At 04:33 PM 3/16/2004 +1100, John Machin wrote:



>Perhaps Azrai was the one who went explodo; perhaps he thought he could

>take it?



Well, now that`s very interesting.... Bloodlines the result of Azrai`s

hubris and under-estimation (or lack of control?) over the energies he

released rather than self-sacrifice by the gods. Hmm. That`s got to have

some sort of connection to events that could inspire campaign material.



Gary

[Birthright-L]

Gary said:

> Anybody up on FR pantheon history who can chime in?



She`s dead, Jim. I mean Gary.



--

John Machin

(trithemius@kallisti.net.nz)

"Nothing is more beautiful than to know the All."

- Athanasius Kircher, `The Great Art of Knowledge`.

[Birthright-L]

Bjorn said:

> Don`t be mean to FR! It was my very first AD&D setting.



:|



> Here`s a scary thought for a BR/FR crossover. A lot of gods

> died/semi-died during the Time of Troubles. Bloodlines anyone?



>:|



> Agh, please, spare me....



No mercy! >:( )



--

John Machin

(trithemius@kallisti.net.nz)

"Nothing is more beautiful than to know the All."

- Athanasius Kircher, `The Great Art of Knowledge`.

[Birthright-L]

Gary said:

> Quite right. From the AoC, "Even the dwarves came into the war, for

> thought they did not care about the human presence on the continent, they

> most certainly cared about the power the humanoids stood to gain" p7. It

> doesn`t mention dwarves specifically at the battle, but it seems pretty

> likely that they were there given that they fought in the war in the first

> place and many were imbued with a bloodline.



Insofar as Azrai embodied a change in the order of things, I think that

the dwarves would be opposed to him. I use this as my explanation for one

of the reasons the dwarves got involved.



--

John Machin

(trithemius@kallisti.net.nz)

"Nothing is more beautiful than to know the All."

- Athanasius Kircher, `The Great Art of Knowledge`.

[Birthright-L]

Gary said:

> Well, now that`s very interesting.... Bloodlines the result of Azrai`s

> hubris and under-estimation (or lack of control?) over the energies he

> released rather than self-sacrifice by the gods. Hmm. That`s got to have

> some sort of connection to events that could inspire campaign material.



I don`t want to disparage the efforts of the allied deities; perhaps they

planned to make a final stand to resist Azrai on the mortal plane.

However, this might have been part of Azrai`s overall plan: he sought to

lure the other deities to the mortal plane to fight him, and the he was

going to obliterate them all only he, as you said, horribly misjudged it

all.



--

John Machin

(trithemius@kallisti.net.nz)

"Nothing is more beautiful than to know the All."

- Athanasius Kircher, `The Great Art of Knowledge`.

[geeman]

At 05:44 PM 3/16/2004 +1100, John Machin wrote:



> > Well, now that`s very interesting.... Bloodlines the result of Azrai`s

> > hubris and under-estimation (or lack of control?) over the energies he

> > released rather than self-sacrifice by the gods. Hmm. That`s got to have

> > some sort of connection to events that could inspire campaign material.

>

>I don`t want to disparage the efforts of the allied deities; perhaps they

>planned to make a final stand to resist Azrai on the mortal plane.

>However, this might have been part of Azrai`s overall plan: he sought to

>lure the other deities to the mortal plane to fight him, and the he was

>going to obliterate them all only he, as you said, horribly misjudged it

>all.



I don`t mind disparaging them if it makes for interesting play. One

option, however, might be to make this the philosophy/hypothesis of a

particular character or organization rather than to make it factual. The

adventure might then be based on proving or disproving it somehow.



Off the top of my head this situation might be the inspiration of an

adventure based on discovering the truth of the hypothesis, and I`m

thinking the most likely hook into the adventure level is that the answer

is to be found on the lowest level of the catacombs beneath the ruins of

the College of Sorcery. Perhaps the reason those still smoking remains

blew up in the first place is the kind of experimentation by human wizards

of the type that Azrai engaged in, but at a much larger (divine)

scale? PCs might have to find out the truth of the matter by exploring

those catacombs and retrieving evidence one way or another.



Gary

[RaspK_FOG]

The only thing I can safely mention, "so as not to lie by mistake" as we say in Greece, is that in Richard Baker's novel the Falcon and the Wolf, Mhoried has only one large temple, one dedicated to Haelyn. Moreover, Mhoriens refer to Haelyn whenever they are dumbfounded ("By Haelyn's glory!", "By Haelyn's shield!", etc.), while the Vos mercenary Madislav refers to Kriyesha: Madislav drew in a deep breath, letting the frigid air searhis lungs, and then stood in his stirrups to pull open his jerkin. Gaelin winced. Madislav grinned and struck his thickpelted torso with an exaggerated sigh of enjoyment. “When I was being small and my mother had no food, Kriyesha herself nursed me with an icicle!” he boasted.