Delcan
2006-11-06, 09:25 PM
Valor. Healing. Death. War. The power of the great gods rings in these words, and battles of philosophy and dogma are waged every day over their weight. The most powerful forces of the heavens and hells clash their blades, their ideals, and their followers for every last hold on every last worshipper.
It goes without saying that smaller gods are so often overlooked. While they may not have as many followers, they treasure and bless the ones they do have all the more carefully... and some might say that it's the Small Gods that truly care about their flock. And while you won't find as broad a quality as Goodness, or Justice, or even just Luck among the Small Gods, you'll find a precision of philosophy that the prime churches of the Prime Material often forget.
So bear with me, as we wrench the cleric class out of the hands of powergamers - and back into the hands of people who want to roleplay a character who BELIEVES, with every fiber of their being, in a cause greater than themselves.
-----
I look at the world and it's heavenly!
I see a miracle place to be
Why is it anyone has to die?
Did they ever ask you why?
When will you talk about being free,
And pain isn't all that it's meant to be;
Hanging another one out to dry -
Is there any reason why?
-Seal, "Heavenly (Good Feeling)"
FIERAI
The Death-Defiant, The Eternal, Lifeblaze
Lesser Deity
Symbol: An infinity symbol framing a flight feather, both ablaze
Home Plane: Arborea
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Portfolio: Rebirth, flame, life at any cost
Worshippers: Healers, bodyguards, the fanatically optimistic
Cleric Alignments: NG, CG, CN
Domains: Fire, Healing
Favored Weapon: Ranseur
Fierai is the phoenix embodied - a denial of mortality itself in every blaze that remakes her essence. Her eternal message is a bold and heinously rebellious one that never fails to leave a mark: noone should suffer, noone should grieve, and noone should die. Ever.
Fierai's clerics are called the Death-Defiant, in respect to her title as well as their fanatic devotion to prolonging life and happiness as long as mortally possible. They are often hyperkinetic, intensely emotional, and fickle creatures to deal with, but those on the side of prolonging the existence of the spark of Life will find themselves instantly allied with their cause. Those who would raise a sword against life, however, are often paradoxically met with righteous, blazing fury. The Death-Defiant are always healers, often caretakers, and often holy warriors - they stand and perform wherever a life may be rescued from the grave, or if necessary, dug up from one.
Fierai is illustrated in scriptures as a great phoenix resplendent in rainbow hues, often rising from the fires of her own destruction.
The Death-Defiant are fond of holding fund-raising festivals lasting many days, in which several dozen of Fierai's clerics hold games, dances, feasts, and most importantly mass healing of all who come to ask of it. Payment and donation for healing is based on either a flat price, or on what the afflicted is capable of donating; proceeds go to funding the next festival and various other church endeavours, especially potion-making and the like. Death-Defiant are almost always welcome in any community because of what they represent to the unfortunate.
What they represent, however, also tends to garner negative attention from many other faiths. Even Pelori clerics devoted to healing the sick and injured preach that eventually there does come a time to die; the fanatic stance of the Lifeblaze is misguided at best, and heresy at worst. Outside the faith, Death-Defiant prolong natural life in every conceivable way, sometimes to the point of fighting to steal a few seconds from the grave. Within their own ranks, priests of Fierai slavishly pool their resources towards the even greater goals of stretching out life longer than naturally possible. Their eventual goal is immortality itself.
Death-Defiant venture out into the world to heal the suffering and give hope to those who fear death. They have no qualms about slaying the beasts and barbarians who would do harm for their own good; to them, life is a holy and sacred thing, and to harm corrupts and defiles it to uselessness. And of course, every follower of Fierai quests for the glorious secret of eternal life.
Peculiarities of the Faith:
Raising: Fierai doesn't just encourage raising - she requires it, if you're capable. An adventuring party with a Death-Defiant cleric need not worry about moral scruples when a member dies; if they've got the funding necessary, the priest will positively demand it.
Killing: If you kill or cause pain for pleasure, for gain, or for any other selfish or evil reason, the Death-Defiant will open fire on sight. To them, such cruel and thoughtless action is tantamount to destroying your own soul, and is considered a crime against everything that is Life and Good - a crime worthy of a burning death.
Attrition: It can be hard to keep the faith when everything around you seems fated to die no matter what you do. A disproportionate number in the ranks of the Death-Defiant fall away from the church and its ideals simply because they've given up on trying to stave off death. It's a tough lifestyle to uphold, and it makes keeping hope alive a difficult matter. The most devoted and powerful clerics of Fierai are the ones with the most indefatigable faith, the ones who will praise her name right up to the point of their own death... if that day does indeed come for them.
Enemies: It goes without saying that the Inevitables simply cannot stand the Death-Defiant. A cult which proclaims that one of the sacred laws of the multiverse is not just wrong, but can be tossed aside with impunity, obviously must have no respect whatsoever for universal order. Unfortunately for the Inevitables, one must be caught in the process of attempting to unnaturally prolong life, something which the Death-Defiant have not been powerful enough to do on a grand basis - yet.
Death churches, particularly those of Nerull and Wee Jas, despise and revile Fierai's name and frequently conspire to kill or at least rebuke the Death-Defiant at any opportunity. About the only support the priests get is from the churches of Pelor, Heironeous, and other good-aligned gods, and frequently little support at that.
It goes without saying that smaller gods are so often overlooked. While they may not have as many followers, they treasure and bless the ones they do have all the more carefully... and some might say that it's the Small Gods that truly care about their flock. And while you won't find as broad a quality as Goodness, or Justice, or even just Luck among the Small Gods, you'll find a precision of philosophy that the prime churches of the Prime Material often forget.
So bear with me, as we wrench the cleric class out of the hands of powergamers - and back into the hands of people who want to roleplay a character who BELIEVES, with every fiber of their being, in a cause greater than themselves.
-----
I look at the world and it's heavenly!
I see a miracle place to be
Why is it anyone has to die?
Did they ever ask you why?
When will you talk about being free,
And pain isn't all that it's meant to be;
Hanging another one out to dry -
Is there any reason why?
-Seal, "Heavenly (Good Feeling)"
FIERAI
The Death-Defiant, The Eternal, Lifeblaze
Lesser Deity
Symbol: An infinity symbol framing a flight feather, both ablaze
Home Plane: Arborea
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Portfolio: Rebirth, flame, life at any cost
Worshippers: Healers, bodyguards, the fanatically optimistic
Cleric Alignments: NG, CG, CN
Domains: Fire, Healing
Favored Weapon: Ranseur
Fierai is the phoenix embodied - a denial of mortality itself in every blaze that remakes her essence. Her eternal message is a bold and heinously rebellious one that never fails to leave a mark: noone should suffer, noone should grieve, and noone should die. Ever.
Fierai's clerics are called the Death-Defiant, in respect to her title as well as their fanatic devotion to prolonging life and happiness as long as mortally possible. They are often hyperkinetic, intensely emotional, and fickle creatures to deal with, but those on the side of prolonging the existence of the spark of Life will find themselves instantly allied with their cause. Those who would raise a sword against life, however, are often paradoxically met with righteous, blazing fury. The Death-Defiant are always healers, often caretakers, and often holy warriors - they stand and perform wherever a life may be rescued from the grave, or if necessary, dug up from one.
Fierai is illustrated in scriptures as a great phoenix resplendent in rainbow hues, often rising from the fires of her own destruction.
The Death-Defiant are fond of holding fund-raising festivals lasting many days, in which several dozen of Fierai's clerics hold games, dances, feasts, and most importantly mass healing of all who come to ask of it. Payment and donation for healing is based on either a flat price, or on what the afflicted is capable of donating; proceeds go to funding the next festival and various other church endeavours, especially potion-making and the like. Death-Defiant are almost always welcome in any community because of what they represent to the unfortunate.
What they represent, however, also tends to garner negative attention from many other faiths. Even Pelori clerics devoted to healing the sick and injured preach that eventually there does come a time to die; the fanatic stance of the Lifeblaze is misguided at best, and heresy at worst. Outside the faith, Death-Defiant prolong natural life in every conceivable way, sometimes to the point of fighting to steal a few seconds from the grave. Within their own ranks, priests of Fierai slavishly pool their resources towards the even greater goals of stretching out life longer than naturally possible. Their eventual goal is immortality itself.
Death-Defiant venture out into the world to heal the suffering and give hope to those who fear death. They have no qualms about slaying the beasts and barbarians who would do harm for their own good; to them, life is a holy and sacred thing, and to harm corrupts and defiles it to uselessness. And of course, every follower of Fierai quests for the glorious secret of eternal life.
Peculiarities of the Faith:
Raising: Fierai doesn't just encourage raising - she requires it, if you're capable. An adventuring party with a Death-Defiant cleric need not worry about moral scruples when a member dies; if they've got the funding necessary, the priest will positively demand it.
Killing: If you kill or cause pain for pleasure, for gain, or for any other selfish or evil reason, the Death-Defiant will open fire on sight. To them, such cruel and thoughtless action is tantamount to destroying your own soul, and is considered a crime against everything that is Life and Good - a crime worthy of a burning death.
Attrition: It can be hard to keep the faith when everything around you seems fated to die no matter what you do. A disproportionate number in the ranks of the Death-Defiant fall away from the church and its ideals simply because they've given up on trying to stave off death. It's a tough lifestyle to uphold, and it makes keeping hope alive a difficult matter. The most devoted and powerful clerics of Fierai are the ones with the most indefatigable faith, the ones who will praise her name right up to the point of their own death... if that day does indeed come for them.
Enemies: It goes without saying that the Inevitables simply cannot stand the Death-Defiant. A cult which proclaims that one of the sacred laws of the multiverse is not just wrong, but can be tossed aside with impunity, obviously must have no respect whatsoever for universal order. Unfortunately for the Inevitables, one must be caught in the process of attempting to unnaturally prolong life, something which the Death-Defiant have not been powerful enough to do on a grand basis - yet.
Death churches, particularly those of Nerull and Wee Jas, despise and revile Fierai's name and frequently conspire to kill or at least rebuke the Death-Defiant at any opportunity. About the only support the priests get is from the churches of Pelor, Heironeous, and other good-aligned gods, and frequently little support at that.