OOC message to SA, but I suppose I'll post it here, too.
Personally, what is frustrating is that the entire SA is being held hostage, RP-wise, due to the mechanics of BM's religion system.
There was little to no RP for the majority of the church leading up to the takeover. For the most part, it was mechanics. Jonsu returns to SA despite being a declared heretic, because the mechanics allowed her to. Enoch raises Jonsu to an Elder position, giving her mechanical powers to wield in the Church. Jonsu demotes most of the other Elders and bars those people from using those same mechanics against Jonsu.
We are then suggested to find an RP way out of this mess, despite the fact that it was a mess mostly done through the mechanics and not RP. We can RP all we want, but so long as Jonsu or whoever else has Eldership holds mechanical advantage in SA, RP will, at best, be a band-aid. Mechanics will (almost) always trump RP.
Well, what's done is done. At least certain issues in the religion system were exposed. Maybe Elders could not be demoted unless approved by a majority of the other Elders. Maybe Elders could only be elected by a majority of full members. Of course, that does mess with religions whose RP may not be as democratic...
In the end, I suppose, Jonsu wins. Players in religions can no longer expect a certain level of decorum when dealing with each other, since now someone has abused the position of Elder. The powers of the position have always been there, of course, but in the past its uses were tempered by the respect between the players who have access to it and those who do not. That has changed, and now I feel that the mechanics must be changed in order to avoid a repeat of this debacle. The trust between the players, though, cannot be replaced.
@Alaster
Except we can't fight back, unless Jonsu allows us to. There are no mechanics in place that allows full members from deposing Elders. As long as Jonsu keeps the Elder position within her followers, there is no way for the majority of SA to do anything about the hostage.
Mechanics got us here, and mechanics should be able to get us back. RP can only go so far.