| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 01 Jul 2012 : 19:58:39
I was just wondering how people utilise gods in Realms. I know the different gods have different levels of involvement and interest in various aspects of the Realms, but do people use them as the main enemy/ally in campaigns and their servants help advance the plot in various ways.
Or are the gods just background flavour where you can throw in the odd name of a god and his temple in order to make the campaign more Realmsian.
Im asking mostly because i am toying with the idea of an endgame for a campaign. Maybe its due to my atheism, but it seems that all the deities in the Realms and DnD in general are more like cosmic parasites than a god.
They use their servants and power in order to gain yet more worshippers and power by whatever means necessary to continue their own existence, they have even twisted death so that should someone die and he does not believe in one of them then he is sentenced to become part of a wall of faithless souls and tortured for eternity. If a person did believein a god in life then when he dies he goes to the deific Realm of his god where he serves that deity until his energy is depleted and he becomes part of the deific Realm (and therefore the deity himself).
The whole thing reeks of one big conspiracy cooked up by powerful beings to keep themselves alive and in power from the hard work and eventual death of the living.
So the idea for my endgame is to have the PCs find some way to subvert this order and escape having their souls leached when they die.
Anyway its just an idea, not quite sure how you could beat all the gods together, but its an endgame so it should be an impossible task. |
| 3 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Irennan |
Posted - 01 Jul 2012 : 21:22:01
quote:
Originally posted by dazzlerdal
I could have sworn i read in one of the many many sourcebooks that over time a petitioner merges with the plane he dwells upon, but i could be wrong. Although if they dont merge with the plane then it begs the question how do they all manage to fit onto said plane. Take Chauntea for instance, after millenia of worship her realm must be exploding with petitioners.
If the wall was created by Myrkul, what happened to the faithless before that, and why hasnt Kelemvor removed it since it seems an entirely evil device used only for torture.
I havent played NWN2 to completion and never played an expansion, could you elaborate what happens in the expansion.
Petitioners definitely become creature of the plane they go to inhabit (I remember this from PGtF 3.5e, which even describes the kind of creature they become). About the issue of space, I recall most outer planes being infinite.
The Wall doesn't get much attention, and I've read in another topic here that it disappeared and reappeared across the editions. So, I think this is just overlooked. Still you could try to have your players destroy this abomination in your campaign. I guess that before the wall was built the faithless became petitioners of the plane that best reflected their alignment, or their personality traits (after all, the outer planes aren't exclusively divine domains), or that their souls went to the ethereal plane, or something along these lines.
Of course, if you like the idea of having all the gods in the Realms being parasitic bastards (some really are, tho) and having your players trying to subvert this order, none will deny you this possibility.
About the NWN2 expansion: it was a game I enjoyed, so I suggest you to play it, instead of reading spoilers. However, if you wish, here you go: Spoiler
I don't remember the details, but basically what follow is the main element of the game. After the events of NWN2, the main character awakens in a cave in Rashemen, afflicted by a curse and, after some events which ''trigger'' it, finds him/herself in the constant need to feed over spirits of any sort (place spirits, elemental, incorporeal undead...) in order to stay alive. Later he/she finds out that the curse consists in having his/her soul replaced with the one of a certain Akachi the Betrayer.
Akachi was a loyal priest of Myrkul, but after having lost his lover to the wall of the faithless, he tried to bring it down and free her, but his crusade utterly failed and, to punish his insolence, Myrkul fed him to the wall. However, in doing so the god unleashed a curse on Faerun: the partially consumed soul of Akachi would jump from individual to individual (called spirit-eaters), swapping its place in the Wall with his victim's soul. The cursed person would need to consume spirits in order to avoid having his/her very identity obliterated. The game then -through various investigations- leads the main character to achieve the knowledge to reattempt Akachi's crusade to free his/her soul, but -alas- it won't let you destroy the wall. |
| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 01 Jul 2012 : 20:48:38
I could have sworn i read in one of the many many sourcebooks that over time a petitioner merges with the plane he dwells upon, but i could be wrong. Although if they dont merge with the plane then it begs the question how do they all manage to fit onto said plane. Take Chauntea for instance, after millenia of worship her realm must be exploding with petitioners.
If the wall was created by Myrkul, what happened to the faithless before that, and why hasnt Kelemvor removed it since it seems an entirely evil device used only for torture.
I havent played NWN2 to completion and never played an expansion, could you elaborate what happens in the expansion. |
| Irennan |
Posted - 01 Jul 2012 : 20:42:37
Hm... not all deities consider their followers as mere tools to support their existence. They are basically concepts embodied and some of them represent and stand for things which lead them to care about mortals.
As for having one's soul leeched, I totally agree with you about the Wall of the Faithless but, AFAIK, when someone goes to a divine domain, he/she isn't consumed until fading in the deity, but becomes a petitioner of that plane, a creature belonging to it but keeping its identity.
Besides, the Wall is not some sort of universal rule or conspiracy, but it's simply Myrkul's work (if I recall correctly). So, to answer to your request, you could device a plot to destroy it, giving way more freedom about the choice of worshiping deities or not in the Realms (which is something that I -persoanlly- dislike about the setting), removing the only thing that force mortals to ''feed'' the deity, even the (many) ones who do not deserve it and are parasitical, with their dedication. Yeah, it is pretty unoriginal after that NWN2 expansion, still you could adapt it to your needs, making it unique for your campaign.
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