I understand. I am asking a lot of players. This is just me asking for them to share the load of worldbuilding. With the nature of this podcast AP, I am unable to read through the whole adventure to find out where it is going. I have to get the players to let me know what they want in a setting and who their characters are, then bridge the gap between this information and the adventure plot I am being given. Somewhat like improv, and I am going to go with pretty well whatever comes up, and hope that it isn't too difficult to make it all make sense. This will also take some effort on the part of the players. It can be a lot though, so I understand, and I appreciate the fact that you are fourthright about it. Better than having to deal with issues later.
I also want to address the monotheism thing. I hope that we can keep it pretty generic. The "inquisitor" theme was an idea that evolved amongst everyone involved, and I feel like it has a lot of potential. I think that it gives a sense of shades of gray for the campaign, where there isn't necessarily a good guy/bad guy thing that is clear cut. That makes it necessary for characters to be a little more involved and not just one dimensional "I am a Hero" types. I think it will be fun to explore that.
I would like to differentiate between the idea of a less than pristine Church and the "diety" itself. The Church is active, has only recently become controlled by the fanatical "inquisitor" sect, and may have alienated many devout worshipers. They are a political force masquerading as a religious one, using religion to garner legitimacy. There are many religious persons who view the current Church as acting innappropriately. The "diety" is good, but uninvolved in the affairs of mortals. The Church has no monopoly on spirituality, but they would like people to think so, and it isn't even as homogenous as the statements about it so far would indicate. I hope that we can make it generic, but complicated, if that is possible.
I was sorta thinking of a Three Muskateers sort of dynamic. The Church may be an antagonist, but "God" certainly isn't, and there are people with mixed motivation on all sides. It just gives you an idea who the players are in Lindinis, what the political climate is, what their assumed motivations are, etc... Who knows how much or how soon this will come into play, or what this will evlove into, but it is background, and it helps to ground the characters in the story.
Hope that helps.
