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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SHARK" data-source="post: 992246" data-attributes="member: 1131">Greetings!Great stuff, everyone! The discussion is really interesting! Perhaps some additional information about the deity and religion is in order. The deity, as Rhiannon noted, is a god of war and strength, among other things. The deity has an alignment of Lawful Neutral, (with good tendencies) and has followers ranging from Lawful Good, to Lawful Neutral, to Neutral Good and Neutral. The deity is in strong opposition to evil, and is one among the gods of the Vallorean pantheon. The Vallorean pantheon has deities in it ranging from Lawful Good, to Lawful Neutral, Chaotic Good, Chaotic Neutral, Neutral, and Neutral Good.Paradoxically, though the deity's headquarters and main temple is in Vallorea, the faith has spread to peoples and tribes that are *not* Vallorean. In Bronwyn's case, about three generations ago, a group of barbarians traveling the Vallorean Empire brought back the faith as converts. The new faith has established itself amongst the native deities of the tribes around Bronwyn's homeland, and her family from three generations back was one of the earlier converts. This of course has had some different ramifications as the people in Bronwyn's homeland have naturally interpreted the religion somewhat differently from the way that the Valloreans practice the faith. This also means that, say someone like Vandor, a Vallorean, and Bronwyn, from the Galdain Tribes, while both having the same deity in common, have distinctly different cultures--as well as differences in the way they interpret and apply the religion to their own culture and to their own personal lives. These factors have had an impact on their relationship as well, as Vandor is the product of a highly sophisticated urbanized culture that has developed away from its own barbarian roots some 2500 years in the past, while Bronwyn is from a rough feudal culture that is only three generations or so developed away from its earlier barbarian roots. These differences are highlighted in the way they view sexuality, gender roles, individual rights, and so on. Bronwyn is actually a very disciplined person, though paladins from her culture--as Celtavian deduced--are in fact rare, certainly rarer than found in the Vallorean culture. Bronwyn's culture is much closer to a fusion of Celtic/Norse/Germanic barbarian cultures, developing into an organized, heirarchical, urbanized one--but is still largely rural, with strong tribal ties and customs. Vandor's, on the other hand, is highly developed, urbanized, centralized, and alltogether lawfully structured. Bronwyn's remains more rooted in a highly chaotic, individualized tribal culture in comparisson to Vandor's. Though Bronwyn is Lawful Good, her culture exerts a powerful influence on her values, behavior, and on how she interprets the will and strictures of her deity.I'm still undecided about the cleric's response, as well as the deity's--and your responses and conversation are persuasive and thought-provoking!Plot-wise, I certainly see a struggle for the soul's of both Bronwyn and Ghandethar developing! As for some of Ghandethar's motivations, he certainly wants to convert her to the faith of the Dark Gods, and yet, he does not want to kill her; in fact, he too, has been experiencing doubts as to who is really *corrupting* whom! Is he drawing her to compromise, and subtley embrace the dark path, or is she influencing him to follow her ways? On one hand, he want to destroy her faith and her party, and yet he cannot deny his feelings of attraction and desire to devote himself to her love, either. Her proud demeanor, as well as her passionate defense of her faith, as well as her making love to him has increasingly got him tied up in conflicting desires and conflicting goals! In truth, he isn't absolutely sure what to do with Bronwyn!<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> He wants to dominate, conquer, and exalt his will and prowess over his enemies, and yet, when she embraces him, and speaks to him of love, friendship, and honour, his own focus and goals seem to cloud and blur. He too, wouldn't want his own warband to discover the depths and extent of his feelings for her, though he remains their leader. When he thinks of sacrificing her to the Dark Gods, or watching his companions slay her, or violate her in any way, he becomes enraged with himself and with such thoughts! In many ways, she is such a beautiful, strong woman who gives him feelings and emotions that no other woman really has before, he feels irresistably drawn to her.Problems, problems!<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Semper Fidelis,SHARK</blockquote>

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