Good inspiration for Intrigue within the Church

[Starman]

From history, check out the Western Schism.

The Western Schism or Papal Schism was a split within the Catholic Church from 1378 to 1417. Two men simultaneously claimed to be the true pope. Driven by politics rather than any theological disagreement, the schism was ended by the Council of Constance (1414–1418). The simultaneous claims to the papal chair of two different men hurt the reputation of the office. The Western Schism is occasionally called the Great Schism, though this term is more often applied to the East–West Schism of 1054.

From literature, check out [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Name-Rose-including-Authors-Postscript/dp/0156001314]The Name of the Rose[/ame] It's a murder mystery set in a 14th-century Italian monastery.

 

[NewJeffCT]

From history, check out the Western Schism.


From literature, check out The Name of the Rose It's a murder mystery set in a 14th-century Italian monastery.

The movie of In the Name of the Rose is supposed to be pretty good. It's one of those movies that all my friends that know me say I'd love, but I can never seem to be able to get around to watching it (the Shawshank Redemption is the other)

 

[Starman]

The movie of In the Name of the Rose is supposed to be pretty good. It's one of those movies that all my friends that know me say I'd love, but I can never seem to be able to get around to watching it (the Shawshank Redemption is the other)

I have not actually seen the movie, just read the book which I love.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

The book Name of the Rose was wonderfully well researched.

The movie threw much of that research out the window. (Inquisitor Gui was a real person, dammit! Would it have been so very hard to look up how he died? Especially since Eco had already done the research?!)

Look up the Borgia family - several famous popes and several famous poisoners. With some overlap between the two....

It might also be worth looking up Pope Sylvester II, who in legend may have founded a school of witchcraft in Rome. (A fun little legend involving a succubus. )

As mentioned, The Three Musketeers - Richelieu was a very real, and very scary person.

The Prince, by Machiavelli - it is possible that the book is more of a satire than most realize - most of the examples in the book had already come to bad ends before the book was written.

For random bits of Church Scary -
Bonfire of the Vanities - many irreplaceable pieces of art were destroyed with Savonarola's crusade against what he deemed 'sin'. (Central to the novel 'The Palace, historical fantasy with a vampire protagonist.)

Torquemada - No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!

And speaking of inquisitions and witch hunts - Matthew Hopkins - the Witchfinder General.

The Auld Grump

 

[Tonguez]

While your clicking links take a look at the Saints Index in the Catholic Encyclopedia

The history of St Francis os Asisi is interesting material for a game scenario or three, as is that of many of the others

 

[Mort]

Great ideas so far! Thanks.

 

[JoeGKushner]

C. J. Sansom's first book in the Shardlake series, Dissolution, deals with murder in the church and has a few mysteries in and of itself. Reads very good.

 

[Mort]

Bit of a new idea.

Still want church politics and will definately involve the players in that - but what about the 7 deadly sins as a focus?

Since my players are 4th level: I can do 1 sin (4-5, 5-6 etc.) per level jump culminating with, I think pride for 10-11 the jump to Paragon (and also dealing with their current ultimate threat within the Church Bishop Korzen in Eberron). This means I can do several factions - most with the appearance of good -but actually modelled on one of the deadly sins.

For example - the group is currently in the city of Thaliost and has discovered a plot to keep the city in a constant state of chaos and destabalization. They are investigating the root cause which, if they go the full route will lead to Archbishop (of the Silver Flame) Dariznu who is (not so) secretly motivated by wrath (mostly at the Thranish people who have supressed his beloved Aundair ruthlessely, but it has twisted him). Their (very broad) goal will be to stabalize the region - but I'm leaving this open for them - don't want to force the issue.

Thoughts?

 

[Mark CMG]

You could use the Seven Deadly Sins idea in conjunction with something else, like the ransom idea, in that there could be a non-church faction kidnapping church hierarchy member by member based on the accusation that each has transgressed in some manner related to each of the sins. The church might not want to pay the ransom and hires the party to rescue the members one by one. Alternately, the church could be cleaning house and having the party deal with the hierarchy that has transgressed. A third option might be to have some artifacts related to each of the sins need to be destroyed before they are used against the church. Just brainstorming here, of course.

 

[Mishihari Lord]

David Edding's Elenium series (the first one) is all about church intrigue. I'm sure it's not historically accurate, but it's a very easy read.