New religion idea for Dwilight: Agrarian Faith of the Ancestors (working title)

[Penchant]

Sounds like a perfect recipe for a successful character on Dwilight!!  ;)

For a character sure, but not for a religion.

[Penchant]

One thing should have been obvious to me but apparently it was not. To even get the whole thing going one needs some momentum besides a few encouraging comments on the forums. Mirabelle is a mere stranger in Niselur with no IG history. She would first need to build some reputation and credibility.

If Niselur needs a new religion, they are perfectly capable of making it themselves. I do not seem to have the time available for the effort required. Thanks to all who contributed.

I really hope you continue on this but its of course your decision. Two things, you don't need that much credibility as you could simply request a lordship to found a religion, I have seen it done before IIRC, and I doubt Niselur could just come up with a new religion if it needed one. Your ideas might not be perfect, but they are good and I hope you continue on with this.

[Tiridia]

I really hope you continue on this but its of course your decision. Two things, you don't need that much credibility as you could simply request a lordship to found a religion, I have seen it done before IIRC, and I doubt Niselur could just come up with a new religion if it needed one. Your ideas might not be perfect, but they are good and I hope you continue on with this.

It's IRL mostly that gets on the way. Right now I just do not have the time to spare on promoting it as it should be. Founding something like this in such circumstances might turn out to be a lonely road for quite some while. Still, who knows, when and if the situation changes, I might return to the concept. Right now though all I have time to do is pretty much sitting at the academy and training. Not very interactive and exciting, I know, but it is at least manageable.

If anyone feels like founding a new religion and wants to use this concept or bits and pieces of it, it's quite fine with me. Heck, if it were to happen in Luria, I would have my character be the first humble follower and do what I could to support the head honcho.

[Vita`]

For what its worth, the AP religion just died, so several lurian nobles and lords are without faith. I do prefer luria religiously plural...

[Perth]

For what its worth, the AP religion just died, so several lurian nobles and lords are without faith. I do prefer luria religiously plural...

What did AP die out anyway? Wasn't it doing really well at one point in time?

[Wolfsong]

A few conversions to SA for political reasons, coupled with suddenly every single elder of the faith migrating/auto-pausing at once.

[Chenier]

A few conversions to SA for political reasons, coupled with suddenly every single elder of the faith migrating/auto-pausing at once.

Doesn't the game auto-promote someone in that case? Pretty sure we have/had AP lords in D'Hara.

[Anaris]

Doesn't the game auto-promote someone in that case? Pretty sure we have/had AP lords in D'Hara.

Doesn't help if none of them are (or quickly become) priests.

[Chenier]

Doesn't help if none of them are (or quickly become) priests.

So... is the faith dead, or dying?

[Anaris]

So... is the faith dead, or dying?

Dead. Its last temple in Askileon just closed down, and Alanna got a several-hundred-gold windfall from it.

[Chenier]

Dead. Its last temple in Askileon just closed down, and Alanna got a several-hundred-gold windfall from it.

Oh well, one less hollow religion, I guess. VE may very well be next, wasn't really anyone dedicated to it anymore when I left it, and the destruction of Caerwyn, followed by the Long Winter in D'Hara, basically killed it off, spiralling the church into excruciating deficits as there were no peasants left to finance all of the temples, and no priests left to reconvert all of the new peasants popping in to replace the starved ones.

[Perth]

Oh well, one less hollow religion, I guess. VE may very well be next, wasn't really anyone dedicated to it anymore when I left it, and the destruction of Caerwyn, followed by the Long Winter in D'Hara, basically killed it off, spiralling the church into excruciating deficits as there were no peasants left to finance all of the temples, and no priests left to reconvert all of the new peasants popping in to replace the starved ones.

What does that leave? Triunism is as small and inactive as it ever has been, though it's been that war for years.

Besides Cult of Bloodman.... what's left?

[Tiridia]

It seems that very few religions can survive the departure of the founder. I suppose if Torpius were still around (when the heck did he leave?) AP would be alive, not only because there would be an elder priest, but because he seemed to take the religion roleplay quite seriously. The founder of SA is still around, isn't he? Is there an example of a faith in Dwilight that has survived losing its prophet?

Thus, to steer the discussion back to the topic a little, one feature of this ancestral faith is that it can mold into anything that the more active members make it. Sometimes I wonder if it might be so that once you found a faith, you put a lot of yourself into it and the others never feel like it is truly theirs. With the organic nature of the ancestral religion it could recreate itself time after time.

I am beginning to wonder if the concept might benefit from scrapping the agrarian part and keeping just the essential core. The name would be simply "Ancestralism" or something similar. The sects themselves would make up the taboos and similar things such as the emphasis of rural regions and so forth. There might be a sect that did all this "rural region union" stuff, while other sects would choose other things to focus on. The sects themselves, as I see it now, should really be secret societies, which would help adding in some mystery to the religion.

Essential to the sects would be to choose one divine noble to follow and pick one or two political goals as well at least one taboo that was somehow represented by game mechanics. Nobody could be certain to know who else belonged to this or that sect, but all full members had to belong to at least one. You could be a member of more, of course, but it would make a challenging life with all the taboos and different goals to work towards.

This would make Ancestralism a template of whatever aspect one desired, with often competing interests with the members. They would all share the basic value of ancestral worship, but other than that, it could become anything the players wanted. The political intrigue and such would also be there, but more behind the scenes with the secret societies. If you wanted to learn what everyone else were up to, you would need to join all the sects and advance there according to their individual paths.

This is the core of the religion. It appears to me sufficient for the purpose and pruned of any unnecessary burdens. Any thoughts?

[Wolfsong]

VE is still alive last I saw. There's at least one elder priest who is too stubborn to quit.


I've been contemplating taking my character on Dwilight and going down a religious route with him, but that can't really happen until certain things resolve themselves first. I've been toying with a religion that caters to both adventurers and nobility, sort of a dualistic nature with callbacks to AP in parts.

[Chenier]

VE is still alive last I saw. There's at least one elder priest who is too stubborn to quit.


I've been contemplating taking my character on Dwilight and going down a religious route with him, but that can't really happen until certain things resolve themselves first. I've been toying with a religion that caters to both adventurers and nobility, sort of a dualistic nature with callbacks to AP in parts.

It's still alive, but hollow. It's a walking corpse. I don't think that priest (Baal, right?) has done much for the faith for a while. Machiavel was basically carrying the church for years, making promotions, sending a few messages now and then, overlooking temple finances. But the Long Winter made it a huge financial drain, and it just wasn't worth putting even more effort into something that was obviously never going to rise again.

But I would say that VE survived and grew considerably after the departure of its founder. It's later, as others left, and as Caerwyn fell and SA became more important in D'Hara, and that Machiavel had too many other political responsibilities, that it started really degrading.