Zildrax said:
Hello, all. Seeing as I am playing a Sauran in two games, I was very curious what typical rhetoric of the race is like. For example, how would a Sauran Priest of Naeron sound when giving a sermon or when philosophically arguing his point of view? What things to they raise and harp on, what subjects do they avoid, and what kind of things do they consider blasphemous and disrespectful to say? In general, how does the race talk and what is their rhetoric like?
If the Paludosos GM or anyone who might know could tell me, that'd be great! I eat this stuff up, and if I am going to play a Sauran, I want to be sure I do it right. *smiles* Feel free to ask any questions if what I'm asking doesn't make sense to those reading this.
Hi, nice to see the Saurans getting some play. This one could take some time to answer but I will do my best. One thing I would ask is whether you have seen the Paludosus Gazeteer?
I must say I haven't given much though to exactly how they would sound but there are no subjects they would avoid and nothing short of direct insults to Naeron would be considered blasphemous, the religion is soundly based in truth and knowledge so if something is true it is a valid statement and almost anything is a subject for reasonable discussion and disputation. Unreasonable and stupid adherence to nonsense does tend to annoy Naeronites though so they can be unforgiving of what they see as "silly" superstitions.
Paludosan society is very honourable and lawful so those who have grown up there tend to like order and regulation, it fulfills a very basic need in their psychology as does being part of a group. The fact that duelling over matters of honour is legal and common in Paludosus has made the civilised Paludosans quite polite and reserved, until they are sure that they want to get involved when they can be very forthright. Conversely Paludosan society is very militant so you have that contrast of a polite restrained society that is quite willing to grab weapons and smite the enemy when needed.
The religion of Naeron has become less overtly aggressive since the gods removed themselves from the surface of Aerde, if I had to sum it up in a sentence it would be "Everything comes to he who waits, and death doesn't interrupt this". Currently quiet persuasion is the way that the Church of Naeron spreads its message, it is reasonably tolerant of most of the religions, except Trandim and Beher in particular although the other dominator/destroyer deities are held in low esteem and the church works to weaken their power and influence whenever it can. In the mortal world one of the greatest strengths of the religion is its gathering of knowledge, every single piece of mortal knowledge every known since the start of the age of the gods could theoretically be revealed by Naeron to his faithful, and vast amounts of mundane knowledge has been collected by the Church and the Servants of the Manuscript.
The religion of Naeron exists to gather knowledge and to strengthen and defend Naeron's worshippers. They also know that at an unknown time in the future there will be an apocalyptic event that will involve the ban against the Gods returning to Aerde being broken and some or all of the dominator and destroyer deities will make a final play for control of all of Aerde. Once this happens the faithfull will take up arms and fight to ensure that it is Naeron and his allies who come out on top and remake the world so that from the death of the age of kings come the birth of a new age.
How your priest would preach a sermon will depend on where he stands on the Orthodox/Animist axis within the religion. But the underlying core is that upon death your soul will pass into the underworld where you can live in paradise (Reverie). Until then work hard, support your fellow believers and the church, try and convert unbelievers by persuasion and example and be vigilant against the evil deities.
From the description of the Underworld.
"Reverie cannot be accurately categorised in any meaningful way as the experiences of any inhabitant are totally subjective and others may not affect this reality unless the soul so wishes. Within Reverie there are idyllic farms, great cities, peaceful forests, vast grasslands where countless wolves hunt, places of darkness and torment and many other individual heavens and hells. To travel between these places all that one must have is the desire to arrive at ones destination, if it exists the soul will travel to it, if it does not exist it will create itself around the soul. Knowledgeable Sages state that Reverie is actually the mind of Naeron itself and its inhabitants live within his dreams and memories."
So in a sermon the priest is quite likely to highlight the aspect of Reverie that appeals most to their audience as that will be the paradise they will get.
This perfect paradise is the reward of the faithful, but other rewards can be offered, the Dracon Ulstansi are the Naeron's army in the outer planes (something akin to the Valhalla myth of the Norse religions) and then there are his Dread Knights who are once-mortals given great powers and dispatched back to Aerde to aide his servants. Rebirth as a Dragon is another rumoured reward for the faithful.
Saurans do not have any Racial antipathies, they will accept any other race. Although they are aggressive towards many of the evil races it is because they are followers of the destroyer and dominator deities than just their race.
