My group is having trouble trying to wrap our brains around the whole The Church of the Ecstacy is both a state religion complete with temples and cathedrals and daily services, and at the same time a not so secret, secret society. Can anyone lend a hand?
My group is having trouble trying to wrap our brains around the whole The Church of the Ecstacy is both a state…
My group is having trouble trying to wrap our brains around the whole The Church of the Ecstacy is both a state…
In our game we had a first tier (public face) and a second tier (secret inner circle as described in the book, enter filthy demons), maybe we will find out that there a still more tiers to discover. We’ll may play to find out in season two, maybe. This will depend what the table finds cool and fun.
It hasn’t really come up in my game, but I’ve been thinking of it similarly to Stefan Struck, with the church putting on a public face of being wholesome and righteous (whatever that means in Duskwall) while the clergy is “secretly” riddled with corruption, vice and other things that would be scandalous if they ever came to light. “Secretly” meaning many people suspect, but no one can prove for sure, since the Bluecoats are loath to investigate structural problems in such an influential organization, and any individual priest who gets caught doing whatever it is they do behind closed doors gets promptly disavowed, written off as an isolated anomaly rather than a symptom of something deeper, and probably meets with a tragic but convenient accident not too long after.
Danke!
I think of it like some of the Dan Brown books, with regards to the Catholic Church. There’s the humble priest in the village parish, and then there’s the secret Order like Opus Dei.
Every table differs but at my own the state religion is venerating the emperor. The church differs because its a self improvement religion that allows for the exsistance of a god emperor. The church is after transcendence and and those who give more money would have access to the demon stuff.
We’re wrestling with this too. Currently we have an outward facing part of the church, that’s pretty much “The Gods abandoned us, we must be the good in our own world.” The message is that spirits and ghosts are known for their violent emotions, so violent emotions and things that give into your spirit are bad. Meanwhile, things that help your body are good.
Meanwhile, there’s an inner circle, that is researching how to remove the spirit in a way that leaves the person intact. Basically they create hollows and then try to figure out why the person isn’t themselves any more. It’s very much like His Dark Materials.
I’m currently debating a few things, like is it just a crazy sex cult (ecstasy of the flesh) or is it a “sex is passion is bad” Vulcan sort of thing. Mostly I’m trying to decide how uncomfortable I’d make my players, I think either read on it works.
Pretty much, though, it’s just another way the upper class, in this case the clergy, of Doskvol exploit the poor.
I created a new state church called the First Church of Edison. On a parish level they minster to the masses, distribute the dole and gather the spirits of their parishioners for the church. On a grander level they vie with the nobles for the Empire’s energy market.
Also inspired in several aspects by His Dark Materials.