Brainstorm a (Small) Religion

[roguerouge]

Krissbeth spoiler alert! Please don't look!

[SBLOCK]
I'll be introducing, at some point, a demi-god of bad luck. My player's character, a bard, is the chief agent for the demi-goddess of good luck and will need an opposite number as an antagonist, at some point. [/SBLOCK]

If you can offer suggestions on any or all of these topics, I'll be very, very grateful:

What should this god's name be?
What rituals should be common to those who worship him?
Why do people worship him?
Why do people become his clerics?
What powers should his clerics get?
What would a typical cleric be like?
What would the leader of this sect be like?
What are his rituals like?
What's the favored weapon?
Where are his "churches," or centers of worship, if any?
Any prominent themes or symbols in iconography?

 

[Ze]

Why do people worship him?
Why do people become his clerics?
<snip>
What would the leader of this sect be like?

I believe those are the key points for building up a consistent cult.
The motivations of the leaders and of the worshippers, as different as they may be, will be certainly basic to the other points you listed - rituals, cleric types and powers, and so on.
That said, I still have to produce any decent idea, sorry.

Regarding the name, I don't know the flavor of your campaign, but if an Italian word could work in it, Bad Luck translates as Malasorte, Sventura or Sfortuna. For what it's worth.

 

[InVinoVeritas]

Here's an answer:

[sblock=Not For Krissbeth!]
Cobal is the Champion of Ill Fate, Lord of Misfortune. He is also known as Black Jack, or the Fell Sprite. Legend tells of him as a wicked gambler, regularly playing betting games with kings and with gods. Whenever he wins... you lose. Some people say that he plays fair, others say he cheats, but no one doubts his gambling skill or the power of his bets. A pair of black dice with skulls for the 1 position is his symbol.

He is not normally worshipped by people, but feared. Most people have a few superstitious rituals to keep the Fell Sprite at bay. Some hang garlic at the window, some place sour milk at the back door, some regularly sweep their home. Many people feel that if the Fell Sprite pays a visit, misfortune follows, so people try to keep him at bay with the rituals. Many people worry if they see a small black imp or strange shadow, for fear that it may be he. Soothsayers and interpreters of omens will try to understand how Cobal feels, and see if he might be coming in a flock of birds or an oddly shaped tuber.

There are a few worshippers who seek him out, though. They are the spiteful, the wronged, and the wicked. They wish for some misfortune to befall some rival or enemy, and so pray to him to try to get him to pay them a visit and gamble. Only the most wretched would dare worship him full-time, and they are loathed by society when known. They are banned from most civilized places, but especially at gambling-houses.

Cobal's high priest keeps the closest thing the religion has to a temple: a remote cavern deep in the forest called the Ultimate Casino. There, the most unlucky, desperate and destitute can try for one last chance at greatness. For those who have lost everything, the priests at the Ultimate Casino can find one more thing that can be gambled away, up to and including one's soul. The stakes are the highest possible, the odds are terrible.... but some have prevailed and have found treasure, notoriety, luck in love, whatever they gambled for.
[/sblock]

It's a start, I hope.

 

[Set]

Nice one InVinoVeritas.

I see that sort of god appealing to the jealous. We all know people who had too many 'good breaks' in their lives. Born beautiful, born rich, ended up with the girl we wish we had, whatever. It's easier to think that they have somehow stolen these possibilities from us and to want to take their happiness and success and beauty / wealth / fame / family away from them. Envy and spite, pure and simple.

The only thing that the crowd loves more than a hero is to see a hero fall. Because if we can't be the hero, why should anyone? And so the followers of the god of misfortune wish bad things to fall upon those who have the things they crave for themselves (and, all too often, lack the motivation to actually strive for, content to sit around and complain about what other people have, rather than earn such things for themselves...).

And then there are the others, the miserable and forlorn, who have already suffered so much ill-fortune that they are convinced that the goddess of luck has abandoned them or that the god of misfortune has singled them out. (And the worshippers of the god of mischance may encourage this by picking people to torment, attempting to win more 'converts' by convincing them that the bad luck will end if they propitiate the god of bad luck, which, 'miraculously,' it does! God of bad luck and protection rackets!) Lured into the service of the god of bad luck, they have been convinced that so long as they serve him faithfully, they will avert his 'evil eye,' and no longer be plagued with the miseries that have afflicted them so far. Some people are hopeless on their own, and bounce from one bad situation to another, always making the worst choices for whatever reason (usually pride, sometimes fear, other times greed, and, quite frequently, love). 'Saving' these people from their seemingly cursed lives, the cult gives them new purpose and indeed does 'save' them from the force that has been derailing their lives, their own awful judgement.

So we've got the down-on-their-luck sorts, hoping to avoid the bad things that have happened to them (a mix of people who genuinely got a bad break, those who have colossally poor judgement and benefit from *anyone* telling them what to do, and those who have been deliberately plagued and tormented by the cult, in 'protection racket' style) *and* the malicious and spiteful worshippers, who actively want to torment and punish others who have 'undeserved' riches or fame or status or whatever, that the envious sorts want to take from them.

 

[BKS]

Ptolus has:
"For example, worship of the god Destor, a god of destiny and chance, was
banned in the city approximately sixty years ago for its focus on ensuring that calamity happened
to others so it did not happen to you. This happened specifically after a number of fires in the city
were traced directly back to the followers of Destor."

 

[Ze]

If fiddling with your own goddess is an option, I would do this:

[sblock]The Demi-Goddess of Luck is commonly worshipped as an incostant but rather benign entity.

The Demi-God of Bad Luck is worshipped by few. They curse the whole world and invoke Bad Luck upon both their friends and enemies alike. (Hexer PrC?)

What only a very small number of initiates know, though, is that the Demi-Goddess of Good Luck and the Demi-God of Bad Luck are two faces of the same powerful entity, whose role is spinning the thread of people's lives, which has been woven by Fate, or whatever God of Fate you may have in your campaign.
They are the two opposite sides of the one Agent of Fate, who is depicted by the few in the known as one person with two faces, the feminine on the front, and the masculine on the back.
Sort of like this, reminiscent of the roman god Janus.[/sblock]

Bye.

 

[roguerouge]

FWIW, info on the demi-goddess of good luck:

Myna, the CG demi-goddess of good luck, has been role-played as a rather flighty, extremely femme goddess. Her chief representative on this plane is the lone PC of this campaign, a bard privateer. Due to the PC's actions, she recently added sex/love to her portfolio (a.k.a. "getting lucky").

Her holy symbol is a bull's eye, which leads some wags to make comments about how lucky her followers have to be to have a bull's eye draped on their necks.

Followers pray for good luck. Active worshippers have to happen upon her name accidentally. So, the PC has taken to randomly seeding communities with her holy symbol to be found by happenstance, although others have "happened upon" the information from her while adventuring with the PC. The PC has also used her bardic performances to spread the good word of lucky adventurers like herself, to spread the belief in good luck.

As an idea of what the goddess herself is like... When the player rolls a 20, Myna shows up briefly as a voice in the PC's head to "check in" on how the PC is doing. Sometimes she'll make accidental prophecies as asides, such as stating that the PC's brother and BFF will have cute babies or for the PC not to get too attached to her current lover or just giggling over what the PC's future will bring, while refusing to spoil the surprise.

In a fight the PC witnessed between Myna and the demon demi-goddess of monstrous births, Lamashtu, Myna's attacks consisted of:

• idly kicking a pebble, which tripped Lamashtu.
• completely avoiding Lamashtu's attacks with casual steps and slides.
• a little stamp causes part of the dirt ceiling to fall.
• takes a disguise kit and blows glitterdust in Lamashtu's eyes.
• summons a swarm of pixies.
• takes a handful of dice from her attractive purse, which becomes chaos hammers thrown.
• her white Persian cat leaps out from her purse at the right moment to distract her opponent.
• when she finally gets hit by Lamashtu's swords, she frowns and decides to borrow the PC's rapier and fences.

 

[roguerouge]

Thanks, this is a great start! Any more ideas?

 

[hamishspence]

Beshaba/tymora similarity

your demigoddess soulds rather like Tymora, right down to the flightiness.

That said, it depends what you want out of it. if you wish to avoid creating a male Beshaba clone, a good start might be making the two deities on cordial terms. The idea that all luck is needed, both good and bad.

 

[roguerouge]

your demigoddess soulds rather like Tymora, right down to the flightiness.

That said, it depends what you want out of it. if you wish to avoid creating a male Beshaba clone, a good start might be making the two deities on cordial terms. The idea that all luck is needed, both good and bad.

Who?