Other Religions | The GemStoneIV TownCrier

Going hand in hand with this, if I were to forgo worshipping my mains deity, how does one go about converting to an “other” diety? It’s not like you can use a cleric and the spell and other requirements to convert, so how would it work mechanically?

Radeek Andoran
General, Drakes Vanguard
Defender of Wehnimer’s Landing
Black Raider of the Mir’Sheq

Only the dead have seen the end of war – Plato

CONVERT 999

or use intercession. You probably have to go to Zul to offer, but a cleric converted to 999 should be able to make a gem for you.

There are many spirits in Elanthia. Not all of them are Arkati.

I believe one of the best examples are the Tehir, and their beliefs are officially documented here…

http://www.play.net/gs4/info/races/cultures/tehir/VI.asp

-Marstreforn-
Icemule Trace Guru
Halfling Guru

Scribes, you speak of the letter or docs found in the bottle by a ship? I have read that and it is very interesting but it does leave the reader with the basic impression they are still the Arkati just seen differently. Something like Greek Mythology vs Vikings.

However, I really dont think too many have read it or even know it exists

>>I have read that and it is very interesting but it does leave the reader with the basic impression they are still the Arkati just seen differently.

Likely by intent. In Elanthia The Arkati are the gods, there are none other. You may worship a tree, a frog, or a rolton, but only The Arkati are gods.

>> The One (and all associated material) is an interesting concept to me. You can find it mentioned in the official histories.

I’ve always been really fascinated with portion of the docs and exploring it further through some sort of storyline has been on my GS bucket list.

GM Reidyn
Customer Experience Systems

> The One (and all associated material) is an interesting concept to me. You can find it mentioned in the official histories.

>>I’ve always been really fascinated with portion of the docs and exploring it further through some sort of storyline has been on my GS bucket list.

yes, please!

Pretty sure I saw an Aelotoi who seemed to worship L’Naere. I guess L’Naere is technically an Arkati (or…something) and perhaps also dead, but anyway it’s not an option on CONVERT so to me this is kind of the discussion.

I would actually expect a lot of Half-Krolvin and Aelotoi to choose an option not under CONVERT.

>An officer of the Sorcerer Guild arrives and glances around. “Ah, there you are, Vathon!” he says in a slightly agitated tone. “I have come to formally declare that your membership privileges have been revoked.”

Bumping this … cause.

I have a Half-Krolvin character.

I’d like her to worship one of the Krolvin gods.

Is there any chance of some of these ‘Other’ gods/spirits, such as the ones related to Krolvin/Half-Krolvin or Tehir, to make it onto the CONVERT list? Or am I destined to just use ‘Other’?

Seems rather sad to be delegated to rather bland non-specific messaging for gods/spirits that exist in the lore. I have a Tehir Cleric that might like to worship one of the Tehir gods/spirits, though not sure on the mechanical benefit of the ‘Other’ designation in the Convert list. At least my Half-Krolvin is an Empath, so I think only the Major Sanct look/flavor may be affected if she chooses ‘Other’.

I sympathize here, as I primarily play an Aelotoi.

However, keep in mind that with new options to convert would also bring a LOT of otherwise needed coding. All the various spell messaging, as well as conversion by clerics, etc. I feel like it would be quite a massive undertaking that is destined to cause errors with a large variety of systems that are in place.

I do realize it’d require specific messaging for the various Cleric/Paladin spells that link to a deity, as well as figuring whether it’d be Bane or Smite and what specific flares it’d use.

Though I can only hope!

I’d have to check on the wiki to see what choosing ‘Other’ does if you’re a Cleric/Paladin. I imagine it has some sort of default messaging.

One of my characters is set to “Other” because he is an Ur-Daemon cultist. (He happens to not really buy into the idea of Marlu as one of them, but would accept the thing imprisoned in the Glaes Caverns.) It is not as straight forward with him as someone worshipping an Arkati. But we know of specific Ur-Daemon at this point, at least a couple of them by name, and some have had physical remains in the game. I’m not sure about introducing any of them into the alignment system. Drawing power off an entity that is supposed to be dead, local, dormant, or otherwise cut off raises some question marks.

Is it possible for someone to channel a deity by one name, but “actually” be unwittingly drawing their power from something else? The Half-Krolvin gods might really be the Elanith gods with different myths surrounding them. In which case they are letting us believe whatever we want to believe varying by culture. Similarly, there is no reason a character could not believe we’ve got the theology all wrong, believing things like Jastev and Cholen are two manifestations of the same being and similarly about Lumnis/Fash’lo’nae, Luukos/Lorminstra/Gosaena, Kai/V’tull, and so on, or other weird syncretisms.

– Xorus’ player

>Level: 46
>Strongest foe vanquished: an infernal lich

An intriguing idea, especially considering that the spheres/powers attributed to some of the spirits are similar to the Arkati. Arachne and Luukos, for example, seem a nice match, and could easily manipulate their adherents into unpleasant confusions.

It would also present a sense of diversity to the environment, as it almost makes your character sound like a sinister animist, believing in the inherent power and energy of a manifestation, place or event rather than an articulated deity. Most of the alternate views on faith we’ve seen are on whether or not the Arkati are viewed as divine, since unlike reality, they obviously exist and we interact with them. It makes sense that there would be some differing point of views on other elements of worship, such as how they are presented in other cultures.

Also, one notices that there are some holes in the various forces of reality and what the various Arkati and spirits represent. There’s no particular one to attach a concept of time to, for example- perhaps the Chronomages could be seen as a potential cult for their use of such power.

-GK

Ysharra says, “One day, I’m going to have “What?” inscribed on your tombstone, with lots of helpful punctuation.”

>>Is there any chance of some of these ‘Other’ gods/spirits, such as the ones related to Krolvin/Half-Krolvin or Tehir, to make it onto the CONVERT list? Or am I destined to just use ‘Other’?

There are not currently plans to do this. Gonna address a few specific points:

>>However, keep in mind that with new options to convert would also bring a LOT of otherwise needed coding
Certainly the amount of additional messaging/coding that would need to be added for an expanded CONVERT list wouldn’t be insignificant — but I’m pretty certain that we could make it happen if we needed to. However, one of several roadblocks is picking and choosing who to add (someone’s not going to have their object of worship added), which also gets into INIQUITY’s post in the sense that some of the gods worshipped in other cultures coooould just be the Arkati with different names, spheres, and slightly (or sometimes quite significantly) changed natures (no different from older real-world religions or the cross-over from older to newer).

>>Drawing power off an entity that is supposed to be dead, local, dormant, or otherwise cut off raises some question marks.
This definitely poses problems. We sort of let players go with the flow here, but I’ve seen some forms of worship that I don’t think we’d ever officially support as actually being possible, or at the very least, having the ability to grant clerics/paladins/etc. the levels of power in some of their spells. Ur-daemons (since this one was mentioned) in particular are something we would probably stray very, very far away from, given our current track on where player items can get their power from. [Marlu is a whole other story, but then again, the question of whether or not he is/was really, actually an Ur-Daemon should always be part and parcel with him.] L’Naere, who definitely qualifies as an Arkati (and is oft requested), also poses problems in that her status is vague (She might be dead. But she might not be. But she might be.) — drawing power from her would require an official decision for her to most definitely be alive — but there are currently no plans to remove the vagueness of her status. The world needs mystery, and leaving it as an unknown gives your character at least the illusion that they’re worshipping/drawing power from wherever their beliefs lie 😉

While it may feel bland to not get the deity-specific messaging in some areas, such as spells, I really hope that isn’t hindering RP ability — if anything, it gives those characters who are set as Other a lot of freedom to ‘see’ what they wish to see and react appropriately; definition is great in some cases, but it does box you in more at times.

>>There’s no particular one to attach a concept of time to, for example- perhaps the Chronomages could be seen as a potential cult for their use of such power.
Haha. In my head, they’ve always been a cult 😉

~Kaikala

From nearby, you hear Ordim yell, “Dont eat meeeeee!”