Re: Religion

Rob McNeur (ROB@ccc.govt.nz)
Wed, 26 Aug 92 12:59:38 GMT+12:00

Ricahrd Peters (petersr@ccc.govt.nz) on Tue, 25 Aug 92 said :-

>One thing that has not been discussed is religion and how it would work in
>Olympia.
> .........etc.........

I think religion is a great idea for a developing world, however, in order
for it to work, there would have to be some worthwhile benefits for the
religious followers. At present, there is an ad-hoc religion to the great
Ghod Atnerks, and any time we have a problem in the world, we offer him a
quick prayer via his earthly contact in skrenta@blekko.rt.com. The benefits
are that often things get fixed, either immediately or in the next change
to the world picture.
However, this is not really complete and, in a game sense, is vaguely
unsatisfying. (Sorry Rich !)

(Richard Peters and I have discussed this previously so some of these ideas
are his rather than mine. )

I would like to see a religious system similiar in a way to the original
Guild system as it was initially implemented.
Several Gods are added outside the world, and a character joins the
religion of his choice, depending on the benefits they would prefer.
The joining of any religion is ALWAYS optional and the acceptance or denial
of any or all of the Gods is encouraged.

The Gods never appear in the world, but their affects do.
The Gods involved would fit the current skills systems, whereby their
influence is directly mainly towards the followers skills and abilities.
e.g. we have 4 or 5 gods :-
a Woodland God (influencing Forestry and Equestrian skills)
a War God (influencing Combat and Terrorize)
a Sea God (influencing Shipbuilding, seamanship and sea travel)
a Wealth God (influencing Trading, Industry and thieving skills)
etc

The religion's benefits fit within the context of their influence, by
temporarily increasing the worshipper's skills in that region. Hence a
follower of the Woodland God acts as though his current Forestry and
Equestrian skills are either 2 levels higher than currently, or as though
they have a minimum of level 1 (if untrained) etc.
Also, any unit that is a follower of a god is treated by other followers of
the same religions as though their declared attitude were 2 values higher
than specified. Hence if a unit following the god is listed as being
declared Neutral, they would be treated by other followers of the same
god as though they were friendly.

The costs are that a follower MUST regularly give donations to the
appropriate church. The form of the donations suits the appropraite god.
Followers of the War god need to kill others at least once a turn or loose
favour, followers of the Wealth God must donate money etc.
Also, the different religions do not like each other, so any unit that is a
follower is treated by followers of other religions as though their declared
attitude were 2 values lower than specified. Hence if a unit following one
god is listed as being declared Neutral, they would be treated by followers
of another god as though they were hostile.
And any follower who forsakes his God and turns away from them will be
treated by other followers of that God as an enemy.

Each religion has a number of Temples in different locations, each guarded
by guardians appropriate to the religions. The temples may NEVER be entered
by an unbeliever. Their guardians NEVER check morale and always defend to the
death. All guardians destroyed during a month are automatically
replaced/healed at the end of the month if the Temple has not been entered
by unbelievers :-
War God's temples are guarded by squads of fierce fighters (combat 10, plate
mail etc).
Sea God's temples are on distant islands guarded by ship loads of pirates,
sea monsters, tidal waves etc.
Wealth God is guarded by mercenaries of whatever type is appropriate and
assasins.
Woodland God is guarded by faeries, savages, trolls etc.

Anyone who destroys a temple belonging to a rival God automatically
receives a prize (artifacts (Where else do they come from ?), money, ships
etc) and the friendship of the religion. Also the emnity of the God who's
temple was destroyed.
Gods who do not get many worshippers can periodically visit divine actions
upon the land (sort of similiar to the current plague !!), These can be
regional earthquakes, lightning strikes, tidal waves, the death of ALL
horses within a couple of provinces etc.

Just a few more ideas to throw around !

Kaspar [581]
Aka Rob McNeur
Rob@ccc.govt.nz


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