Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ry" data-source="post: 3563641" data-attributes="member: 8314">Lothian's BackstoryAs mentioned above, Lothianism is going to be one of the major religions of my campaign.  The church of Lothian is Monte Cook's analogue of Roman Catholicism, and having it in the campaign - even alongside other faiths - adds compatibility with material that uses Catholic motifs or requires a powerful medieval church.At the same time, Lothianism doesn't jive with me on the "coolness" factor - the material in the Ptolus hardcover suggests that Lothian was a PC adventurer who found a way to become a god.  After establishing a sizeable cult, Lothian began speaking out against Castian, a lawful good god of life.  Characters fighting for Castian nearly stopped Lothian's ascent, but were tricked in the end into bringing about his godhood.  That sounds like a villain from a Conan novel more than a being worthy of worship.  I want Lothianism, even if corrupt, to be centered on something good, so I tried writing a different backstory for Lothian, which also rewrites the story of Castian's end.FYI: This is a short story designed to make Lothianism more appealing to game masters.  That's different from straight-up game material, which I will return to later.  This is designed to fix the "coolness" factor for Lothian, though what I think is cool may be wildly different from what you think is cool.[sblock]Castian was a good Prustan god of life and kingship, known as the King-God.  He was noble and just, but - being a god - saw humility as an affectation, and believing his own view of the good to be on the order of his mighty powers, often inadvertently caused strife and violence in his quest to rid the world of evil.  However, Castian was an incredible tactician, defeating evil time and time again when it arrived on his doorstep.Lothus was a beggar and a thief among the Prustan cities who had no interest in religion until the day he saw seven stars through the Ankh of Castian, the largest and holiest relic of the ancient Castian faith. Lothus began to do good works, and after many years gained a few followers, though he did not ask for them.  All he would ask of his followers was that they cared for their souls, which when cleared would show the needs of the good.Lothus began to care for the most desperately afflicted in society - those vagrants and minor criminals who had been infected by terrible diseases, but which the church of Castian had rejected on account of their past evil acts.Accused of being a criminal and a carrier of disease, Lothus was cast out of the Prustan cities. Many tales of Lothus' path to enlightenment have been lost, but they are tales of the striving of a student of wisdom - not an instant master. Most importantly, even where they show Lothus as fallible, they expound his boundless compassion.At some point, however, Lothus saw injustices committed in Castian's name, and saw that the god could be unjust, despite his power and goodness. When he returned to the cities, his followers asked him to teach them, and - feeling he had learned enough to teach - he finally relented. But Lothus went further than to preaching that the gods were fallible - he attempted to preach this doctrine to the gods themselves, even in their own temples. He preached that it was not any one man or god, but the agata, or "the good" that all things must strive to follow, regardless of their might or weakness.  This angered the priests of Castian, who called Lothus a heretic and drove him from the Prustan cities.  Lothus had few followers, but those followers were persecuted by Castian's church in the name of strenghtening the forces of good.Lothus was not to be dissuaded, and had learned from his time in the cities to find the signs that Castian was listening.  In trying to teach Castian of the good, Lothus endured many trials - the King-God drove Lothus from the mountaintops and forests and temples whenever Lothus could find the god listening.  All the while, Castian's great wars had finally unified his enemies against him, and a great Sea God joined ranks with the demons who fought against Castian's forces in this world and the next.With so many foes arrayed against him, Castian's forces were slowly whittled away.  Castian's mastery of tactics saved many soldiers, but they also showed Castian that his time was running out.  As the war went on, defeat became assured unless drastic risks were taken.  Whereas once he had lead armies, Castian left his people to rout and retreat, taking up a dark cloak to hide his divinity as he struck the enemy gods like an assassin.The floods of the wretched Sea God eventually came to Castian's holiest city, where Lothus attempted to defend the multitudes abandoned by Castian's now negligent priests.  As demons were borne into the city by the Sea God's tide, Lothus was taken prisoner.Seeing Lothus' untarnished goodness, the demons delighted in blinding him, cutting out his tongue, and crucifying him upon the very Ankh of Castian that had inspired Lothus the beggar so many years before.  The greatest of the demons gathered with the Sea God to watch the tormented prisoner writhe on the Ankh.  Though repulsed, the Sea God hardened his heart against this sight, for he knew that without the demons he could not battle Castian, who had humiliated him with past defeats.  While Lothus hung upon the Ankh without fear or anguish, the demons feared that they had acted too quickly, and their prisoner had succumbed to shock. So they waited for their prisoner to realize his fate, believing delectable torment would soon begin.Now Castian had come to his city disguised, to assassinate the great Sea God. As he approached, he payed little attention to the carnage around him - a city that was literally drowning, like half of the Prustan nation, in the onslaught of the Sea God and the demons. But as he reached the great square of the Ankh of Castian, he saw Lothus, not writhing, but staring with intent and purpose directly at the King-God. Lothus' head, within the circle of the Ankh, was haloed by seven stars, a perfect circle completed by Lothus' sightless eyes. In that moment, Castian understood all that Lothus had said, and saw the path of compassion open before him.Surrounded by demons, Castian removed his cloak, and offered himself in exchange for Lothus' release. The demons, hardly believing their fortune, quickly accepted, and it was the Sea God himself who mounted Castian upon the Ankh crucifix. The demons, now with both god and prophet at their mercy, did not release Lothus, but rather kept him alive, torturing both man and god to the point where both would expire. But neither cried out, and Lothus and Castian continued to gaze at one another, even after the frustrated demons plucked out Castian's eyes. Being demons, they could not see the light emerging from Castian's eyes, but the Sea God was perturbed by what he saw as a searing brightness that seemed to emerge there.How long Lothus and Castian endured at the Ankh cannot be known, for the skies had been blackened by the soot and storms of the demonic army. But it came to pass that the demons realized that Lothus had survived far too long - and that the god of life upon the Ankh was sustaining him. "DO YOU ENJOY HIS TORMENT AS WE DO?!" screamed Baphomet, the most powerful of the demons "WHY DOES HE STILL LIVE?" Castian's reply was barely a whisper, for the god, his sightless eyes fixed on Lothus, was himself about to expire. "He remains so that I might learn."Filled with a sudden terror which they could not name, the demons set upon Lothus in a frenzy, tearing him limb from limb, sundering his skull, and rutting in his blood.  But the heart of the Sea God sank, for the light that had been in Lothus' eyes now moved freely to Castian. Joining now in a perfect perfect circle of eleven stars, the Sea God looked about him and in the bloodsoaked ruin of this flooded and demonwracked city, saw that he was damned, and struck at Castian with desperation. Castian was rent asunder, and in that moment died a true death. But rather than extinguishing the lights within the Ankh, they only grew, joined, at last, but a twelfth star that emerged from where the Sea God's trident had pierced Castian's heart. In the light, some of the few wretched human prisoners saw Lothus, and some saw Castian. The prophet-god's gaze fell upon the demons, and they became only dust.  The Sea God, wretched and weeping, prostrated himself, asking "What are you, God of Gods?"The light replied: "I am nothing."The Sea God fled.[/sblock]</blockquote>

Verification