Actions of an "Unbound" Solar?

[bill2825]

Within the campaign I am currently running, I have a situation that I would love to present to the community at large for some feedback. The party will encounter a significant NPC within the over-arching plot again, and I have some space to fill in regards to how this NPC has/would respond to the world outside of the necessities of the plot. While I have some thoughts, I am interested in the community’s thoughts on this as well.

First let me lay the groundwork for the NPC. If you will, consider a Solar who has been serving Heironeous (Justice, Valor, Chivalry, Honor) essentially since creation. Now remove Divine Obedience, Alignment, and Divine connection (removal of Divine spells, oversight by its god, and the ability to commune). Essentially the Solar had its true name destroyed (true names in this campaign define the “being” and “structure” of powerful entities), but was “freed of constraints” instead of destroyed itself. The Solar does retain all of its innate abilities however.

This Solar has had some time (several months) to await the arrival of the party within the most cosmopolitan of cities within the world. Religion takes a lower priority within this city, treated as a recreational service and ranked 4th in importance behind Guild politics, Trade, and Conventional Learning and Arcane Research. As an added note regarding this city, the Church of Heironeous within this city has lost their ability to provide Blessings (they have lost their connection to Heironeous), which is known by the Solar but hidden from the general populous.

So the question that I would raise is this:

What actions would this Solar take during the several months in this environment?

 

[gfunk]

This is an interesting campaign scenario.

But I guess the obvious question to ask would be: what is the Solar's current alignment? Since he lost his divine connenctions, he must have severely displeased Heironeous in some way. If this is the case, you may wish to use models of other fallen Solars such as Adimarchus (from the Dungeon adventure Test of the Smoking Eye) or Iblis (from Green Ronin's Book of Fiends).

Both Solars displeased their patron deities in some way and were cast out of Celestia and both retreated to the Abyss and Nine Hells respectively and set up kingdoms and armies that suited their new evil alignments.

One thing to keep in mind is that Solars are portrayed as extremely arrogant and self-centered. The only thing keeping them in check is their patron deity who gives them orders. Without this restriction, I think there is little a Solar would not do to further his own causes -- it's easy to rationalize deeds if you are as powerful as a Solar.

A couple of options:

1. The Solar could be experiencing intense self-loathing becuase he failed in Heironeous' eyes. Perhaps, to maintain his identity and to try to re-enter the good graces of the god of valor, the Solar tries to level the local temple which has failed in Heironeous' estimation. Possibly, the Solar could re-form the temple into his own vision of what mortal worship should be.

2. Alternatively, the Solar could be simply filled with hatred towards Heironeous or gods of good in general. He could crush the leadership of the city and take over himself. He could then cultivate the worship of evil deities or even force atheism on the populace.

 

[Felix]

Hey ya Bill. You might want to put a [my players bugger off] tag on the title if you don't want me checking in on this thing. But since we had this conversation I'll chime in and then leave the thread alone.

So. This solar (who has not fallen from grace as gfunk thinks, but rather has just had his obligations to H removed) has been protecting human kind for aeons. He has fought demons, devils, traitors and even humans to protect human souls. He has done all of this unquestioningly.

As a highly intelligent creature, I think he would be more curious than anything else. He would want to know the nuances of human life he didn't see while executing his duty to H. But considering his power, he might behave in some situations like a curious child does with a fragile toy: the toy won't last long, even if the child's intentions were not to break it.

So having had a few months to kill, and coming at the human metropolis with the mindset of an curious and objective obersver, I think the Solar would have by now figured out what he shouldn't do in terms of interaction with people (you will get me another cup of coffee for free, human!) and what the basic social norms are.

Were he to observe college soceity, he will have watched and played beerpong, streaked the lawn, stayed up all night writing a dissertation on the mutative properties of parareticular unctities, eaten Moons Over My Hammy at Dennys, egged a professor's house, etc. He will participate in all those activities that humans do because they want to, and from that he will try to enhance his understanding of the human condition, and at that point decide on what he wants to do.

Of course, his time horizon being much longer than anyone else's, he might possibly still be perfecting his flip-cup technique when the party shows up.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

See, I look at taking the good out a Solar the same as taking the evil from a Pit Fiend or Balor. It can't be done, it is what they are and it defines their reason for being. IMC, mortal races (yes, including Elves because they can still die due to violence) alone have the ability to choose to be good or evil (the nature of having a soul). Even the mightiest Solar was created as a servant being, their whole reason for being is to serve the cause of good. The same goes for Pit Fiends and Balors. I believe that a Solar removed from the presence of the god he serves would still work toward the ideal of good because that is what gives his existence meaning.

Then again, to fend off any flame wars I'll put in the disclaimer that this is only my personal view. Do whatever you want in your campaign.

 

[bill2825]

The idea of "Created as Good. Defined by Good" was thought about when this particular Solar came to his current state of being. What makes this situation interesting is that while that is true, the Solar's "definition" has been removed, yet it finds itself (due to strange circumstances) still in existence. In a very real sense, its true name (that which defines its existence and thus defines its 'servant' state and 'good' state) has been destroyed but the Solar has continued to exist beyond the destruction of its True name.

As a little more background, Felix is correct in stating that the disassociation of the Solar from Heironeous is not due to a fall, but more due to outside interference. The current upper ranks of the Heironeous Religion currently view the Solar as an abomination. No one identified as yet knows why the Solar has been “disassociated”, including the Solar.

The Solar understands what it was, and also what its supposed to be. It finds itself without the restrictions of its “nature” and can actually freely think now. That is what I am exploring, how would a being in this state react/act in a cosmopolitan environment?

Two thoughts occur to me reading the above threads. First, with the above scenario, what are the chances that the Solar turns to Evil, since it can? Also, with a being who’s nature is anchored in Goodness, and no longer has that Anchor, what types of things might it do to strive to do further good, especially with the normal alignment guidelines being removed?

 

[Krieg]

You have two primary courses of action...

1. The former Solar falls back on what is comfortable/familiar & continues to act very much like he did before. He sees himself as a champion of his god etc etc....of course now that he has no divine direction his good intentions may not always be governed by great wisdom. Of course given Solar's propensity for arrogance, "his" way is the right way...even if it isn't.

2. His newfound freedom is seen as...well freedom. He does what he wants merely because he can. This doesn't necessarily mean he will become irredeemably evil, but there is a very good chance that he will turn to hedonistic selfish pleasures. Partaking of that which was denied him before
(there's nothing quite as disturbing as a Solar chain smoking & throwing back shots while playing poker in the back room of a brothel ).

Regardless it is very likely that said solar will fall afoul of local law enforcement (in whatever form it may take). The individuals charged with upholding the law will not look kindly on a being of the solar's power loose in their town. A "goody goody" solar may very well be even more of a problem as it is likely to take the law into it's own hands.

 

[Zappo]

Intriguing. It is impossible to truly "determine" what he will do. He is an individual now; there are infinite directions his life may take. It really depends on what he values most, what he thinks of his situations, and many other factors. A few examples...

He may decide to keep serving Heironeous, even though his power is greatly reduced. This is actually fairly likely, especially if the Solar is aware that the removal of his power wasn't a decision of his god. He has no reason to be angered at Heironeous, and serving him is what he has done for thousands of years.
Naturally, the form of his servitude will have to change. As a very intelligent creature, he will probably decide to stay hidden among humans for a while to learn their customs and society. With most of his divine power removed, he can't afford to just go Old Testament on them to get them to do what he wants. As an immortal being who has already lived for eons, "a while" could very well mean a century or two.
Unless an emergency presents itself, or unless he has the occasion to find out more about his condition. Both these situations would force him to come out of hiding and do his part - but he would still be very careful. Again, he is extremely intelligent and he probably realizes that he is not used to act (and especially fight) without his powers.

He may decide to keep serving Heironeous, but be so confused by his condition that instead of doing the most sensible thing and keep a low profile until he learns more, he decides to act flashy and mighty. The reasoning behind this could be to try and get his god to renew his powers; or it could be that he simply realizes that Heironeous has always held him back in the crusade against evil, and now he can fight with no holds barred. Razing the church, or simply appearing in his full celestial glory to the priests and ordering them to return to the right path, could be a good beginning. Then he may start visiting rulers (he's still LG) and maybe try to turn governments to a fundamentalism based on Heironeous' worship. He is still an extremely powerful being, and unlike the Solar of the previous example, he is probably overconfidant. He can probably get away with this long enough to get used to his lack of powers. But there is a solid chance that some evil being challenges or tricks him into his doom.

In this situation, the Solar's personality could further evolve by overdoing his preaching and smiting. He may become angry at these mortals that just can't stay on Heironeous' path for more than five minutes; this could lead him to become more heavy-handed in enforcing holy law (pushing him to LN and eventually some form of Evil), or to stop trying to influence organizations and concentrate on individuals (pushing him to NG and eventually CG).

Another case entirely is the one where the Solar just gets drunk on freedom and says "screw Heironeous and goodness, I'm going to do what I want now". He may even think that trading his power for freedom was a good bargain! In this case he may still decide to keep a low profile for a certain time, or maybe not. He may decide to just live as a human and stay out of trouble (could be a nice change after smiting evil for eons). He may decide to become an adventurer or a mercenary; assuming that he doesn't get killed through overconfidence, he has the numbers to become pretty good at these jobs. He may decide to take over the world, or at least as much of it as he can. Again, he will be overconfidant for at least some time, and during this time he will be weak.

 

[Stone Angel]

Very interesting. First I ask you this, what would a being of immesurable power do when after all of those eons of being denied the pleasure of earthly things is suddenly swimming in them. Much like the college kid gone wild analogy. What if any are the instructions of the church of Justice concerning this Solar. Rejection might play a factor.

Have you considered just making him apathetic to everything. Yeah that girl is about to get ran over by a carriage but....SPLAT...That was interesting.

The Solar might have ideas about his own indestructability, since this is a thing that is supposed to destroy beings and he has survived he might just go on a rampage waiting or seeking his own defeat.

He could become lazy, decadent, gluttoness, finding the pleasures of the flesh very enticing for a time . Dabbling in all sorts of things, drink, girls, boys, food, gambling, sleeping all day.

The Solar could draw his own worshipers and start his own cult of fanatics.

Hope this helps. Let us know how this turns out.

The Seraph of Earth and Stone

 

[Sir Whiskers]

The Solar understands what it was, and also what its supposed to be. It finds itself without the restrictions of its “nature” and can actually freely think now. That is what I am exploring, how would a being in this state react/act in a cosmopolitan environment?

Just a couple of random thoughts:

1. If the restrictions of its nature were removed, does it have any ability to resist temptation? Think of it as something that never learned to "just say no" because it never before had a choice. Talk about a lamb among wolves...

2. I'm having trouble putting this into words, but with its restrictions removed, does it begin to question its former beliefs? For the first time in its existence, it can choose to act outside of its programming, so to speak. It would likely try to continue acting as it did before, but now it can react to the consequences of these actions - for example, what if it defeats an evil creature, but in so doing, some innocents are hurt. What does it do the next time?