Clerics of same faith killing each other?

[Jon_Dahl]

Here's a scenario:
Your campaign world has a Chaotic Neutral deity. All clerics of that deity are either CN, CE or CG.

One of the CG clerics finds out that a CE cleric of the same faith has perpetrated a horrible crime, which does not directly violate their common ethos. CG cleric has the option and also the resources to track down and kill/imprison the CE cleric. Most likely the evil one will not surrender easily and if imprisoned, he will surely be executed by even the gentlest of authorities.

How would you handle this? Would there be ramifications?

 

[Dandu]

When in doubt, kick ass and chew bubblegum.

 

[Wyvernhand]

Its not uncommon for D&D deities to have various sects within the ranks. St Cuthbert in Greyhawk, for example, tends to field clerics who are on a "smite first, speak with dead later" type mindset. They also tend to be the "church of the common people", hence the good tendancies of that church and the fact that many clerics tend to be LG rather than LN. The smiters tend to be a bit more zealous and extremist, which the good aligned clerics tend to frown on. Now, they probably wouldn't lead to outright bloodshed, like in your example, but it could lead to a fair bit of political tension. Among lower aligned deities, it could potentially be accepted or even encouraged. Clerics of Lolth kill each other all the time, assuming they think they can get away with it and think they are in favor and the other cleric isn't.

 

[anest1s]

He believes to a God, not to his followers...even if he is one of them himself. Clerics of the same God and the same alignment can kill each other as well.

 

[Lawful Good Garagos]

The Faerun God of War Tempus is Chaotic Neutral.

During a war, both sides often have Tempus worshipping Clerics fighting each other.

Even if they kill each other, as long as they uphold Tempus' teaching, the deceased Clerics are viewed favorably by their God.

EDIT: It all depends on what the teachings of your Chaotic Neutral God are. In Tempus' case, having his Clerics die in honorable warfare pleases him.

If your Chaotic Neutral God is a God of music for example, and the Chaotic Evil Cleric composed a lot of songs in his God's honor, the God should be very displeased if one of his Chaotic Good Clerics kills the CE cleric.

 

[Empirate]

I'm positive there have been priests or monks in the middle ages who were sentenced for their crimes by an ecclesiastical court. Worshipping the same god has never stopped christians from mutual MDK, why should a CN (as opposed to LG) fantasy god's followers handle their conflicts any differently?

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

People kill people, for various reasons, in real life and definitely in D&D. As a DM, I'd expect something like this is pretty likely to occur.

The question to ask is what does this specific CN deity think of the act, according to that deity's point of view? Have him or her respond, and therefore the rest of the church at large, according to that.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Knowing nothing else about the deity, other that its CN-ness, I don't see any particular reason the one cleric couldn't hunt down the other. That kind of "infighting" seems nice and chaotic to me, not to mention neutral in a Good v Evil sort of way.

Unless the deity wants that particular CE cleric alive for some reason, it doesn't seem especially problematic; of course, that would really depend on the specifics of the deity and the campaign.

 

[Celebrim]

CN values individual liberty and the respecting of individual liberty above all things. As a short cut, I describe this stance as, "Harm no one; do as you please.". Presumably the CN deity values the independence and willfullness of his clergy. Presumably he wants clerics that take initiative and stand up for what they believe. As he doesn't particularly favor either the CE or CG fronts of his church, he probably views their quarrels in a pragmatic way - it cuts down on the number of individuals straying dangerously away from the true path of nuetrality.

I see no reason why he would back or fail to back either side. What do you expect, for the god to be a hypocrite and start smiting those who don't practice the virtue of being laid back and really super tolerant of everything?

The only thing here that I see the CN deity frown on is the CG cleric not getting the job done himself, and instead passing the responcibility on to 'the authorities'. If you are going to act, don't try to get someone else to act for you. Both tyranny and slavery have their root, he would believe, in people abdicating responcibility for themselves.

Interestingly, it's concievable to have two different CN groups murdering each other over what is the correct interpretation of CN thought. For example, what would you get if a branch of the church with a world view comparable to Ann Rand's objectivist followers started having fights with a bunch of hippies? Both of them believe in fighting the system (often by dropping out of it), 'if it feels good do it', and freedom of expression. But they take those beliefs in very different cultural directions, at least on the surface. And sometimes, for the purpose of hating each other, it's just the surface that counts.

 

[MadLuke]

I think there's nothing wrong with it. The problem is not the god revenge, but his friends one. As in common life, the victim could have more or less powerful friends who could get angry for the insolence of the PC.

Bye, MadLuke.