What should a ceremony to Pelor be like?

[StreamOfTheSky]

First off, sorry if this is the wrong forum, wasn't sure if it should be in Plots and Places.

I need help. In real life, I'm not that uh...religious. And now I'm running a group where half the party of four are divine casters or the same god, and a third PC is one of their converts, with the major plot based around their god. I have no experience with religious ceremonies in game, either.

Background:
[sblock]Their god, according to his dogma, was the primary creator of the material plane out of shadow stuff (being the god of shadows). However, the other gods then turned on him out of fear of his power and ambition, sealing him inside his fortress on the plane of shadow when they were unable to outright kill him. The party's ultimate goal is to free him and help bring about the end of the world, so he can "start over." Party has a cleric and favored soul devoted to him, one character was converted to the faith, and a fourth worships a god of murder and lies, who I'm making an ally of the others' god. All evil party, if it wasn't clear.[/sblock]

The first session involved waylaying a procession bringing a special holy symbol to a large temple of Pelor for an annual ceremony. On the wish of their deity, the party succeeded in slaying the guards and taking the symbol, as well as capturing the priest transporting it alive. The next step involves using the situation to get an "invite" -- the two humans likely posing as survivors of the attack, devotedly finishing their mission to bring the symbol, one member posing as the one who found them near-death, and the other simply sneaking his way in.

I don't know what exactly to have happen at this ceremony, or what its significance should be. I know a few baselines to cover, though. The major part of the ceremony must be closed to the public -- hence the need for playing this charade to get in. The ceremony should have an important "official" function in addition to, unknown to almost everybody in the general populace which are ignorant of the "true" creation story, having a role in maintaining the seal. I figure this will be part one of a many layered effort to peel away its power. That said, stopping the ceremony can't be enough. If it were, it'd be pretty easy to accomplish, just run away with the holy symbol. No, in order to accomplish their mission, I want them to have to actually (and in subtle ways, to avoid being revealed for who they are and facing certain death) ruin every single portion of the ceremony, instead of just preventing it from happening. My reasoning is that if it doesn't happen, the seal is only weakened, it'd take several missed ceremonies in a row to wear it away. So instead, they really have to mess things up.

So...any ideas?
It's ok if their true intentions are discovered towards the end, then I suppose they could have an escape plan set up. But not before they finish the job.

Party make-up, if it helps (gestalt game, level 4):
[sblock]Whisper Gnome Cloistered Cleric / Ninja (homebrew, ToB stuff added) - Sneaky, good at scouting, spontaneous Illusion domain casting
Human Bard / Gladiator (homebrew beefed up Fighter, limited ToB maneuvers, light armor, fights better around allies) - party face, tactician, and has deadly charges.
Human Rogue / Swordsage - good sneak, terrible senses, party's "striker"
Half-Giant Favored Soul / "Martial" Hexblade (basically maneuvers instead of spells) - Some social skills, very good at tripping and setting sun throws w/ a whip[/sblock]

 

[LostSoul]

So the PCs have to corrupt the ritual and use it for their own dark ends? Sounds cool.

Obviously it takes place at noon, when the sun is at its highest. (Maybe give the Pelorites some kind of bonus based on this.) And if this is a big deal...

This ritual takes place on noon during the winter solstice. Its purpose is to renew the seasons and make the sun rise again, make summer come back and bathe everyone in Pelor's light.

The holy symbol is sacred to Pelor - a relic, a part of the god - and they need it for this ritual. He gave it to his priests as part of a deal, that summer would always come.

So basically they go through the motions of some moment in history: When the shadow god was at his strongest, but at that point in the war when the tide turned and Pelor gave his supporters his word that he'd always rise again.

They have to corrupt this ritual, and by doing so make winter endless.

How will they do that? I don't know. Let the players figure that out. If they come up with something cool, roll with it, and if they don't they fail. Too bad.

 

[greyscale1]

Depends how you want the church to be in your world. I'm sure you want the church to be 'good', the question becomes, how should they go about the good in your world?

I find there are several ways of doing religion with blanket statements that players rarely take the time to disseminate.

Fiercely Dogmatic: Like the Catholic Church. With complex rituals, deep seated power structure, more commands to follow, etc.

Hippy Hip Freeling: Here are my commands! Do good amongst yourselves, amongst your neighbors, and amongst your enemies. Go home to your fields and look to Pelors radiance. Let it's warmth be a constant reminder that all can be right in the world, if we do good.

Zenny: Bhudism, subdued, at least OUTWARDLY pacifistic, perhaps hiding a deeper more dogmatic and worshipful core.



DONE WITH THAT.


As for my recommendation, you should go with a more catholic, dogmatic style. This event could be a meeting of cardinals (their equivalents) to transfer some sort of power to the new pope (Leader guy, Primary guy in charge of subduing shadow god, etc. Can be scary for your characters because he might have special resistance to shadow, damage against shadow, and an unstoppable fervor.

You can pose as cardinal whatevers to get in and disrupt the ceremony that would make him the new antishadowguy (maybe the previous one you killed and didn't know it? Old age? Whatever, he is dead or too old to fight)

Suffice it to say if you disrupt the ritual, he might get a good deal of the power, but not all. Maybe this guy, when he is all full of holy power, only then will he be able to cast the spell to seal the seal or whatever they are trying to do.

This would allow you to have a series of fights with him where he had a significant boost in abilities between each (level him up with your characters AND boost verisimilitude)

As for garb and decorations, large staves with sun shaped lanterns at the tops, a censure with a sun theme, lots of yellow and shining gold. Where a cross might go instead a golden (leafed at least) visage of Pelor.

~My two cp~

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Depends how you want the church to be in your world. I'm sure you want the church to be 'good', the question becomes, how should they go about the good in your world?

I've been thinking about that a lot since we started putting the campaign together, how in general the forces of good should be portrayed. Considering the backstory of their deity and the fiercely religious nature of the party, I think it'd be a mistake to make the forces of good look any more sympathetic than necessary. I'm leaning towards a somber tone among those that even know about it, that it was "for the greater good," almost an acknowledgment that their anger is justified, only to be rebuffed by a stern "however, it was necessary and I will not let you undo it."

As for my recommendation, you should go with a more catholic, dogmatic style.

I agree. It's what i had in mind up to now, basically.

This event could be a meeting of cardinals (their equivalents) to transfer some sort of power to the new pope (Leader guy, Primary guy in charge of subduing shadow god, etc. Can be scary for your characters because he might have special resistance to shadow, damage against shadow, and an unstoppable fervor.

You can pose as cardinal whatevers to get in and disrupt the ceremony that would make him the new antishadowguy (maybe the previous one you killed and didn't know it? Old age? Whatever, he is dead or too old to fight)

Suffice it to say if you disrupt the ritual, he might get a good deal of the power, but not all. Maybe this guy, when he is all full of holy power, only then will he be able to cast the spell to seal the seal or whatever they are trying to do.

This would allow you to have a series of fights with him where he had a significant boost in abilities between each (level him up with your characters AND boost verisimilitude)

As for garb and decorations, large staves with sun shaped lanterns at the tops, a censure with a sun theme, lots of yellow and shining gold. Where a cross might go instead a golden (leafed at least) visage of Pelor.

~My two cp~

Thanks for the suggestions, I usually put appearance and garb as an afterthought in my planning, just always been that way with me, so I especially appreciate the ideas for clothing and symbols. As I say below, not looking much for combat ideas, though if you want to suggest anything I generally make all the main villains gestalt, as per the PC's own creation rules.

I don't know how well they could pose as high ranking church members, most people there would have a good chance of recognizing that as false. That's why I figured posing as surviving guards heroically finishing their mission to be a better cover. Then they'll be gusts of honor and since they were no-name guards, no one will really notice that they're fakes.

Also, while Pelor's forces will be a major antagonist, this event is meant to be more of a first step, the party's way of declaring war on the current world order, if you will. The largest enemy will be revealed later, a homebrew goddess of time and order used in a previous setting (Etina, LN greater deity). That way, I can bring back my old PC; a militant, foul-mouthed dwarven cleric of her that two of the current players were previously in his party and rather enjoyed his persona. He'll end up being the major recurring villain.

So the PCs have to corrupt the ritual and use it for their own dark ends? Sounds cool.

Thanks!

Obviously it takes place at noon, when the sun is at its highest. (Maybe give the Pelorites some kind of bonus based on this.) And if this is a big deal...

This ritual takes place on noon during the winter solstice. Its purpose is to renew the seasons and make the sun rise again, make summer come back and bathe everyone in Pelor's light.

The holy symbol is sacred to Pelor - a relic, a part of the god - and they need it for this ritual. He gave it to his priests as part of a deal, that summer would always come.

So basically they go through the motions of some moment in history: When the shadow god was at his strongest, but at that point in the war when the tide turned and Pelor gave his supporters his word that he'd always rise again.

They have to corrupt this ritual, and by doing so make winter endless.

How will they do that? I don't know. Let the players figure that out. If they come up with something cool, roll with it, and if they don't they fail. Too bad.

Good suggestions, it will culminate at noon for sure. I should probably make it clear, though, I don't expect there to be much combat involved. I'm looking more for a "schedule of events" and role playing ideas. I'll certainly keep some stats in reserve in case things go violent, but I'm go to make it pretty obvious to the party that it would be a bad idea to attack. The first two sessions have been literally nothing but wholesale slaughter (which is fine), but this is a gestalt game. They have the breadth of ability to do subterfuge and handle social situations, so now I want to challenge them in that area.

 

[Janx]

a bunch of good ideas listed already.

I'd recommend looking up wiccan, jewish, muslim, catholic holidays (each has a lot of holidays) for exampls of reasons to have a holidy (and thus a ceremony).

You could also expect, for a big church, to have a public ceremony, and private, where the real power stuff happens. (could be the private ceremony draws power for a big mass blessing for the big audience at the public ceremony).

you can find a lot on pagan sites on writing your own rituals (might use one as a guide). However, it might be a bit boring to narrate the entire ritual. Might be easier to hand wave the sections. It might be easy to do that if the words are in a ancient language (like latin), because you can say "the high priest begins chanting in an ancient tongue), without having to say everything. If a PC knows the language, you can summarize.

Much like enworld's policy on "no religion" topics, I'd try to keep some parts vague. Don't try to truly invent a religion, just have enough flavor so it seems like the characters are participating in a religion. Too much detail might come across as actually performing a ritual, which might be tabboo for some players.

 

[knightofround]

The cool thing about choosing Pelor is that light can banish shadows...however if light is not used properly, it can also strengthen them So how about this.

The seal is unperfect. The priests of Pelor periodically perform this ritual to cleanse the world of the shadows that leak out of the shadow god's prison. However, if there is an eclipse in the middle of the ceremony, the ritual has the opposite effect and the flow of magic reverses; stuff from the shadow plane is vacuumed into the primary plane, rather than blown out. Even worse, if the ritual isn't ended properly the flow doesn't cease. The clerics don't leave the vortex open all the time because if its left open too long it will suck out more than just shadows.

Since the party is so low level they probably can't arrange an eclipse =P However, this eclipse thing only works if the priests of Pelor can't immediately cast the ritual again when the eclipse passes. This is where the PCs come in. It could be the PCs to interrupt the ritual before the clerics of Pelor can hit the "off" switch.

The next part of the campaign could be delaying the casting of this ritual for as long as possible; the longer they can delay it, the more influence their God can have upon the world. You could even say that after X days the vacuum effect gets to the point where the God is forcibly sucked from his plane and shoved into the primary plane.

Another take on it that you could do is that every religion has a ritual that somehow effects the shadow god's prison, and the PCs have to disrupt enough of them that the shadow god can muscle through the rest.

Another take is that the PCs could somehow dismantle the off-switch, and by protecting the portal for long enough they can ensure that the entire world is sucked into the shadow plane. Why bring a God to a world when you can bring a world to a God? =)

 

[grodog]

There are a wealth of articles about Pelor on Canonfire!; check them out at
Canonfire! - Search

I also added a Greyhawk tag to your post, so you'll likely get some more GH fan input

 

[MerricB]

Sunny.



Cheers!

 

[haakon1]

Sunny is the celebration for the laity, at the dawn of the day of the winter solstice.

The real ceremony is held secretly at midnight the night before. (The PC's need DC20 Know: Religion to figure this out, or they have to wait a year.)

(I'm basing this on the Jewish and Catholic calendars, where holidays start at sundown the day before -- thus Midnight Mass for Christmas in Catholic tradition, and Orthodox Jews need to go home early -- before dark -- on Fridays in winter.)

The ceremony involves a bonfire. (Getting this from ancient pagan traditions for winter solstice, still carried on in Norway and some other parts of the world, including Louisiana. The Norwegian explanation is that it's to attract the sun and make "the sun turn around". Fits well here.) Into the bonfire, the high priest steps and must cast Flame Strike, upon himself. Because it's cool -- human sacrifice and all that.

That's all I got. Nobody expects a Pelorite ceremony at midnight. Which is why you gotta do it!

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Thanks all for the ideas. Ran it tonight, and things went pretty well. I stuck with the dawn-noon time period, though I did have one event the night before. It was something I had planned on doing from the beginning, mostly cause it'd be funny to mess with that player's head.

Did a soldiery march with weapon drill, foiled by liberal use of the grease spell, a candle lighting by magnifying glass focusing the sun's rays foiled by an invisible rogue blowing on the glass to fog it up. And a ceremony to harness the sun's light into the holy symbol interrupted by a silent image dark cloud. Then, I didn't need to do the final private ceremony, since over the course of the two days the head priestess had (thanks to some sense motive rolls) become suspicious of the returning "hero" and the guy who found him and helped him get to the town alive and well, having an invisible Musteval detect evil on them. It worked, doors were shut for the supposed ceremony, and instead she aggressively pursued the issue with them, battle ensuing.

[sblock]I was just happy I managed to make the rolls a surprise even though it was open rolling in a chat room. I had the one telling the false story to an admiring girl (who wanted to believe it too much to doubt him) roll bluff, but instead of rolling sense motive for the girl, did it for the priestess. Likewise, made it seem like when I asked for d20 rolls when entering the chamber, used the description of it to think it had something to do with a passive magic on the room, not that an invisible stranger was peeking at their minds. They were actually shocked when SHE basically declared battle, having expected to walk in there and take her by surprise! Made me almost as happy as the first session when a bunch of average human warriors (level 1) brought half the party (gestalt level 3) to the brink of death.[/sblock]

I'll have to make a more elaborate ritual some other time they deal with Pelor or a similar god and use some of these other ideas.