One of the things that becomes very clear reading accounts of actual pagan religion, is the fuzzy distinction, if not lack of distinction between pagan gods and the idols that represent them. In traditional OSR games informed by Gygax's aesthetic, clerics and paladins might on paper be worshipers of any number of pagan deities, usually in some henotheistic fashion that still was virtually indistinguishable from Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox structure, hierarchy, and praxis (with little regard for theology). Given that it was rooted in war gaming, and the role of cleric or paladin mechanically was to provide a different way to win at murder hoboing, this is understandable.
Be that as it may, looking at the way actual pagans treated their idea of gods was different. The idea of a god that actually inhabits a sacred grove, or spring, or tree feeds into the idea that an idol set in a temple can also be the literal inhabited body of the god. This has a few interesting implications for gaming priests.
1) The god is present where their idol is. Unlike the Judeo-Christian understanding of God who is spirit and to whom idols are anathema, pagans would carry their shrines and idols with them where they traveled, be these the deified ancestor shrines, or the more general national god shrines. A properly kitted out pagan priest should likely have variable levels of luggage with commensurate degrees of value to performing ritual petitions; a pocket idol for day travel and small petitions, a coffer sized shrine for short journeys for moderate petitions, and a cart sized shrine useful for longer journeys or semi-permanent establishment and more serious petitions.
Mechanically, this should probably be reflected in the power or scope of miracles available to be petitioned by the pagan priest, with larger shrines making for either easier petition, or greater powered miracles, or both.
2) Defeating your enemies in battle makes taking their gods (the idols in their shrines) as booty a particularly prestigious trophy. The logic is that if the enemy lost, then their gods were less powerful than your gods, and thus just as the enemy can be captured (if not killed) their gods too can be enslaved. For instance, in Samuel I and II, and Kings I and II, there are many examples of pagan peoples carrying away the gods of those whom they had vanquished in order to display them as servants at the feet of their larger and more prestigious home idols.
Mechanically, this should probably mean that captured gods (idols) reduce the power or likelihood of petitioned miracles. That is exactly why the cleric has reason to adventure with the thief; somebody has to go rescue those idols. The ramifications of this alone are grist for many possible side adventures if not main adventures.
3) Establishing shrines as nodes of power, and colonizing an area with more of your idols makes a region more potent for your god or gods. It may very well be that pagan priests could develop a sensitivity to the piety of a region, and the power level or the likelihood of petitions being granted, and this would provide a strategic value to the cleric in decision making that did not exist before. This could get especially thorny if the adventurers were in a land of foreign gods and their priests have the edge. The very real value in planning ways to corrupt their priests and desecrate their temples in order to tip the scales is a fantastic way to change the pacing and layers of story in a mission. Again, it makes a really compelling context for the priest to adventure in the company of the rogue who can grift the foreign priest into defiling themselves with drink, forbidden food, or other carnal infractions in order to block their access to the power of the idols, which in turn allows an opening to break the power of their temple.
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
27 October, 2016
30 August, 2016
Imaginary Pagan Religions
I have a problem with conventional fantasy games which take only a superficial effort to resemble the society they are meant to resemble. Gary Gygax at least began with war games which grew out of historian's interest in imaginatively speculating on how things might have been different had battles in history ended differently. It gets worse though when the people who play rpgs stop looking at history and just take whatever they see in a game book as good as history, and then others follow taking what they wrote till there is the current Pathfinder anything and kitchen sink approach to fantasy gaming. You find Vikings sailing along side 17th century pirate ships as if there is no influence between them.
The particular gripe I have (being the topic of this post) is that Gary was interested in many things and offered a whole bunch of ideas, and many who had less interest in history than Gygax took it up, including issues of fantasy religion. SO originally D&D introduced clerics as a character modeled on western medieval fighting clergy and martial orders like the Templars and Hospitalars. They were clearly modeled on the Roman Catholic Church with the spells and prohibitions that one would expect of such cinematic versions of those fighting priests. But with the advent of Deities and Demigods, bunches of pagan pantheons come into play, only the gods of those religions are merely treated the same as saints in the Catholic scheme, while the worldview does not cross over. Furthermore, there is no game mechanic for encouraging anything theologic for the cleric's motives, so religion is pretty squishy in D&D and most fantasy games of that kind.
I contend that the problem, is that Christianity is a huge anomaly in it's view of God, sin, origins, teleology, and ethics compared to anything that came before. Buddhism is the only thing that comes close, and it is problematic for other reasons. If you are going to make a fantasy religion for a game, it should have something that it answers about spiritual life, not merely what temporal powers it can give you to smite others. It should answer one or more of the following questions:
Where did we come from?
Why are we here?
What has gone wrong and why?
What do we do to live with that?
What happens to us after we die?
Not all real world religions handle all of these, but they should only believably exist when they answer some. They should also, in general, provide some useful benefit to society in general, including moral, ethical, and social grounding and unity. Anything that does not serve long term social value is unlikely to survive. Cthulhu mythos cults may crop up here and there, but such nihilistic stuff does not build, but destroys.
This all in mind, here is an idea that comes to me for a pagan religion that is both very alien in flavor from the Roman Catholic model, but does both offer a social benefit, as well as answering some of the spiritual questions. There is even a schismatic, heretical sub-cult.
Here is a sample of a realistic pagan religion, rooted in actual real world sects. They are very different in worldview from the modern west, but they are heavily modeled on real religion nonetheless.
Beliefs and Practices
A soul in fear, anger, hatred, greed, and obsession ("The Five Follies" at death will not find rest and will become a devil spirit.
To insure peace at death, one must learn to become free of The Five Follies.
This is done through a process of increasing asceticism, and confrontation with and embrace of taboo practices.
- They begin by living in cemataries, with initiates assuming the duties of grave diggers, and pall bearers, and those who accept and handle offerings for the dead
- Novices assist with mortuary duties - cleaning the corpses, preparing food offerings for the sect, excarnation (defleshing) of cadavers, and preparing ritual meals for the priests
- Priests perform ceremonies of pacification, inscribe the prayers on cadavers before defleshing, inscribe and bind the bones for burial, and burn what parts remain in order to collect the ash which they bless for ritual use
- High Priests spend most of their time in meditation, but do perform the rituals of pacification for the whole of the cemataries, and occasionally venture out to perform the binding of unquiet ghosts which they keep in spirit jars which they prepare and keep in the center of the communities
Initiates to the order are distinguished by their brown robes and shawls, their shaved heads, and the ceremonial shovels which they keep. This is the last time they will ever cut their hair.
Novices take gray robes, and begin to learn the inscriptions which they practice scribing with ink made of grave ash, lime, and resin onto their fellow novice's skin.
Priests receive their white robe - the last article of clothing they will ever wear. It will never be repaired or replaced. They begin to confront taboos more aggressively. They begin to practice ritual cannibalism, sleep a night with corpses before final processing, and begin to live more and more removed from daily affairs. They craft the skull bowls from which the order eats, drinks, and receives alms. They may be called out to do healings when other medicine fails, acting as "sin eaters" who take the wounds ritually upon themselves.
High priests have little contact outside the sect, and largely live in meditation, naked, covered in grave ash. They seek to destroy any fear and break every taboo to free their souls for the passage into death. The final barrier is denial of even food and water, sustaining themselves only on the flesh and blood of their own bodies in a ritual fashion. They prepare a final meal of their own flesh for those Priests that they choose to replace them. Their bodies are not defleshed or cremated, but are buried in ash pits to mummify. The new High Priests will eventually exhume the mummies, and place them in the Halls of Memory - catacombs below cemataries where the living priests may from time to time consult the dead through the mummies.
Schismatic Sect
A heretical branch practices more proactive rituals. They may actively go out at ritual high holy days to find those they have been observing as exemplary of individuals bound to the Five Follies, and ritualistically murder them. They perform ritual cannibalism, and then bind the ghosts into spirit jars in order to proactively prevent them from doing mischief in the future. They may also actively seek out haunted communities to perform exorcisms (spirit binding) for money, and possibly use captive spirits from previous victims to create haunted places. They also offer curses for money, and proactively seek to practice unspeakable rites, breaking taboos to speed their own ways to release from the Five Follies.
----------
Some other seeds of ideas:
A goddess of fertility, motherhood, and a tutelary household deity (surely a primary goddess for that society) calls all new brides to receive blessings by serving for a day as temple prostitutes (inspiration: Ishtar/Astarte)
A grain and harvest god of fertility and the fields, who also serves as a tutelary god protecting territory in a defensive war capacity calls for a spring sacrifice to consecrate the fields before planting by raising a chosen young man on a stake over the field who will serve as the vessel for the god to protect the field from ravage by beast or man; a bride is offered after harvest in thanks to the god for abundance (inspiration: several pagan religions, though not like any particular one)
-----------
Now these are not particularly savory notions to those who enjoy the ripples of Roman Catholic virtues, but they are more realistic in that they offer a perceived service to the continuation of the society, and imply some ideas about the relationships between god and man, god and land. Perhaps I will write more on this.
The particular gripe I have (being the topic of this post) is that Gary was interested in many things and offered a whole bunch of ideas, and many who had less interest in history than Gygax took it up, including issues of fantasy religion. SO originally D&D introduced clerics as a character modeled on western medieval fighting clergy and martial orders like the Templars and Hospitalars. They were clearly modeled on the Roman Catholic Church with the spells and prohibitions that one would expect of such cinematic versions of those fighting priests. But with the advent of Deities and Demigods, bunches of pagan pantheons come into play, only the gods of those religions are merely treated the same as saints in the Catholic scheme, while the worldview does not cross over. Furthermore, there is no game mechanic for encouraging anything theologic for the cleric's motives, so religion is pretty squishy in D&D and most fantasy games of that kind.
I contend that the problem, is that Christianity is a huge anomaly in it's view of God, sin, origins, teleology, and ethics compared to anything that came before. Buddhism is the only thing that comes close, and it is problematic for other reasons. If you are going to make a fantasy religion for a game, it should have something that it answers about spiritual life, not merely what temporal powers it can give you to smite others. It should answer one or more of the following questions:
Where did we come from?
Why are we here?
What has gone wrong and why?
What do we do to live with that?
What happens to us after we die?
Not all real world religions handle all of these, but they should only believably exist when they answer some. They should also, in general, provide some useful benefit to society in general, including moral, ethical, and social grounding and unity. Anything that does not serve long term social value is unlikely to survive. Cthulhu mythos cults may crop up here and there, but such nihilistic stuff does not build, but destroys.
This all in mind, here is an idea that comes to me for a pagan religion that is both very alien in flavor from the Roman Catholic model, but does both offer a social benefit, as well as answering some of the spiritual questions. There is even a schismatic, heretical sub-cult.
Here is a sample of a realistic pagan religion, rooted in actual real world sects. They are very different in worldview from the modern west, but they are heavily modeled on real religion nonetheless.
Beliefs and Practices
A soul in fear, anger, hatred, greed, and obsession ("The Five Follies" at death will not find rest and will become a devil spirit.
To insure peace at death, one must learn to become free of The Five Follies.
This is done through a process of increasing asceticism, and confrontation with and embrace of taboo practices.
- They begin by living in cemataries, with initiates assuming the duties of grave diggers, and pall bearers, and those who accept and handle offerings for the dead
- Novices assist with mortuary duties - cleaning the corpses, preparing food offerings for the sect, excarnation (defleshing) of cadavers, and preparing ritual meals for the priests
- Priests perform ceremonies of pacification, inscribe the prayers on cadavers before defleshing, inscribe and bind the bones for burial, and burn what parts remain in order to collect the ash which they bless for ritual use
- High Priests spend most of their time in meditation, but do perform the rituals of pacification for the whole of the cemataries, and occasionally venture out to perform the binding of unquiet ghosts which they keep in spirit jars which they prepare and keep in the center of the communities
Initiates to the order are distinguished by their brown robes and shawls, their shaved heads, and the ceremonial shovels which they keep. This is the last time they will ever cut their hair.
Novices take gray robes, and begin to learn the inscriptions which they practice scribing with ink made of grave ash, lime, and resin onto their fellow novice's skin.
Priests receive their white robe - the last article of clothing they will ever wear. It will never be repaired or replaced. They begin to confront taboos more aggressively. They begin to practice ritual cannibalism, sleep a night with corpses before final processing, and begin to live more and more removed from daily affairs. They craft the skull bowls from which the order eats, drinks, and receives alms. They may be called out to do healings when other medicine fails, acting as "sin eaters" who take the wounds ritually upon themselves.
High priests have little contact outside the sect, and largely live in meditation, naked, covered in grave ash. They seek to destroy any fear and break every taboo to free their souls for the passage into death. The final barrier is denial of even food and water, sustaining themselves only on the flesh and blood of their own bodies in a ritual fashion. They prepare a final meal of their own flesh for those Priests that they choose to replace them. Their bodies are not defleshed or cremated, but are buried in ash pits to mummify. The new High Priests will eventually exhume the mummies, and place them in the Halls of Memory - catacombs below cemataries where the living priests may from time to time consult the dead through the mummies.
Schismatic Sect
A heretical branch practices more proactive rituals. They may actively go out at ritual high holy days to find those they have been observing as exemplary of individuals bound to the Five Follies, and ritualistically murder them. They perform ritual cannibalism, and then bind the ghosts into spirit jars in order to proactively prevent them from doing mischief in the future. They may also actively seek out haunted communities to perform exorcisms (spirit binding) for money, and possibly use captive spirits from previous victims to create haunted places. They also offer curses for money, and proactively seek to practice unspeakable rites, breaking taboos to speed their own ways to release from the Five Follies.
----------
Some other seeds of ideas:
A goddess of fertility, motherhood, and a tutelary household deity (surely a primary goddess for that society) calls all new brides to receive blessings by serving for a day as temple prostitutes (inspiration: Ishtar/Astarte)
A grain and harvest god of fertility and the fields, who also serves as a tutelary god protecting territory in a defensive war capacity calls for a spring sacrifice to consecrate the fields before planting by raising a chosen young man on a stake over the field who will serve as the vessel for the god to protect the field from ravage by beast or man; a bride is offered after harvest in thanks to the god for abundance (inspiration: several pagan religions, though not like any particular one)
-----------
Now these are not particularly savory notions to those who enjoy the ripples of Roman Catholic virtues, but they are more realistic in that they offer a perceived service to the continuation of the society, and imply some ideas about the relationships between god and man, god and land. Perhaps I will write more on this.
Hardcore History
THIS is a really cool podcast.
I have been listening to the World War I series, and he is both a thorough and engaging host. The material is both dense, and each show tops 3 HOURS, so I have only begun part II after listening and re-listening to part I three times over the past couple weeks.
I have done a lot of reading and studying about WWII in the last couple years, so I am looking forward to getting a better grasp of the details of WWI. WWII is a gigantic subject, and I first got really hooked on it watching Band of Brothers, and listening to the audio book of The War multiple times driving between Augusta and Montgomery. I have had arguments about the generation that fought and came out of that era, and whether they really deserve the appellation "The Greatest Generation" or not... I am still persuaded they do. I think that while that generation may not have been led by as concentrated a pool of talent, genius, and moral thought as the Revolutionary War generation, WW II was still perhaps THE most devastating war in the history of the world. The generation that fought it was still composed of people who were grouchy, selfish, isolationist, racist, and whatever else you want to call them, that crucible was unlike any other in scope and heat. The rough ore that went in came out refined in a remarkable way.
Perhaps I will change my mind after studying WW I. Perhaps not.
I am also reading (very slowly, I confess) A Distant Mirror, being the accounting of the calamity of Europe in the 14th century. This was a horrible, horrible quagmire of civilization through the serial wars, insurrections, plagues, and schisms religious and secular that colored that period in red. Even this period, I think was not as pivotal in history as WW II. But again, fascinating read.
Anyway, good stuff history. Like a gluttonous feast for the imagination!
I have been listening to the World War I series, and he is both a thorough and engaging host. The material is both dense, and each show tops 3 HOURS, so I have only begun part II after listening and re-listening to part I three times over the past couple weeks.
I have done a lot of reading and studying about WWII in the last couple years, so I am looking forward to getting a better grasp of the details of WWI. WWII is a gigantic subject, and I first got really hooked on it watching Band of Brothers, and listening to the audio book of The War multiple times driving between Augusta and Montgomery. I have had arguments about the generation that fought and came out of that era, and whether they really deserve the appellation "The Greatest Generation" or not... I am still persuaded they do. I think that while that generation may not have been led by as concentrated a pool of talent, genius, and moral thought as the Revolutionary War generation, WW II was still perhaps THE most devastating war in the history of the world. The generation that fought it was still composed of people who were grouchy, selfish, isolationist, racist, and whatever else you want to call them, that crucible was unlike any other in scope and heat. The rough ore that went in came out refined in a remarkable way.
Perhaps I will change my mind after studying WW I. Perhaps not.
I am also reading (very slowly, I confess) A Distant Mirror, being the accounting of the calamity of Europe in the 14th century. This was a horrible, horrible quagmire of civilization through the serial wars, insurrections, plagues, and schisms religious and secular that colored that period in red. Even this period, I think was not as pivotal in history as WW II. But again, fascinating read.
Anyway, good stuff history. Like a gluttonous feast for the imagination!
14 March, 2016
Design Journal II: Geography and Politics
I am thinking through just what how much narrative weight to give to geography in my design. Furthermore, how much mechanical weight would it need then, and what mechanics would best support that idea?
At a glance, I am looking at some other design takes on political games, and none of them include geography as an element, and I'm sure that these games work well enough for the lenses and filters the writers chose. However, I have been thinking about what sort of game I want to play for a long time, and through to the current incarnation in a Fate framework, I keep coming back to the land as the stage for the play, and the stage the players play on matters to the kind of stories I am looking for.
I mean, imagine right off the top, Dune without the starkness of Arakis.
In real history, geography matters... a lot. Russia is a vast country and was even before the Soviets began gobbling up even more, but much if Russian history in the last two hundred years (and longer) has been shaped by the need for a port that didn't freeze in the winter. This was critical because in order to keep up with the advance of the industrialized world, it behooved Russia to not be land-locked into a backwater. The Russo-Japanese wars contributed to Japan taking control of Manchuria which was the springboard for the invasion of China decades later. The Soviet bear licking it's chops after the appetizer of eastern Europe in 1945 was not lost to the rest of the allies who saw it ready to gobble up some or all of Japan after the Japanese were defeated. More recent scholarship has given credence to the notion that the atomic bomb was at least as much to stop the advance of the bear as to beat the Japanese. All for want of a port...
When the Roman Republic went to war with Carthage in the Punic Wars, what started as a local squabble in Sicily, brought Rome and Carthage on opposite sides initially to settle things. The initiating powers were ultimately eclipsed by the Republic and the Empire who clashed for the first time, but not for the last. Ultimately, of course, multiple wars led to the fame of Hannibal, the Carthagenian who unimaginably marched an army including war elephants over Alpine passes difficult enough to traverse for experienced climbers, to harass the Romans for years before his defeat. That story matters in large part because Sicily was a cosmopolitan island crossroads, and the Alps an absurdly imposing obstacle.
Denmark and Sweden sit at the mouth of the Baltic Sea. In the era of the Hanseatic League, proxy wars with pirates were fought partly because control of the mouth of the sea gave the trading edge to whoever could safely enter and exit into the North Sea, and from there, on to business with ports in the rest of Europe to the warm and sunny south. Just add some chrome. Times change, people don't. And landscape matters to how people maneuver.
I have also recently been reading the book Revenge of Geography which I thought might be another fun study to add while I'm writing. So far there are lots of interesting points, including more on Russia. Being a huge country of vast steppes in the south and vast forests in the north, it faced the conundrum of being mostly indefensible whenever it wanted to expand civilization out of the forests into the warmer and more farmable southern expanses. Sure it could grow wheat down in the Ukraine, but then it had wave after wave of barbarian horsemen pillaging it over and over again, which aspect of geography led to a more aggressive expansionist way of expanding civilization. The book argues that the need to push back the frontiers for safety was part of what shaped the brutality of the modern Soviets. Greece is a mountainous region with very limited space or soil to grow grain, but suitable for growing tougher olive trees and grape arbors which grow in more marginal conditions. Also, the region is just full of excellent harbors. Becoming far reaching, inquisitive maritime traders with ships laden with wine and olive oil seems to have been destiny.
England and Japan, both island empires at some point, became so because they faced the choice of being annexed or relegated to insignificance by their larger neighbors if they did not take to the seas. They had both the benefit of a maritime buffer for safety, but not at such a distance that they could not easily trade with their neighbors if they became capable naval powers. The opportunity to enjoy the safety to grow, the need to capably expand and control other territory by a variety of means, and the access to the thassaline highway all made them the nations they became.
Now I want a good many other things to provide lenses and filters for my game, but this does explain why I think geography should not be left out, and furthermore, why it makes the stories better because it provides very tangible motives and methods and locations for interesting action.
At a glance, I am looking at some other design takes on political games, and none of them include geography as an element, and I'm sure that these games work well enough for the lenses and filters the writers chose. However, I have been thinking about what sort of game I want to play for a long time, and through to the current incarnation in a Fate framework, I keep coming back to the land as the stage for the play, and the stage the players play on matters to the kind of stories I am looking for.
I mean, imagine right off the top, Dune without the starkness of Arakis.
In real history, geography matters... a lot. Russia is a vast country and was even before the Soviets began gobbling up even more, but much if Russian history in the last two hundred years (and longer) has been shaped by the need for a port that didn't freeze in the winter. This was critical because in order to keep up with the advance of the industrialized world, it behooved Russia to not be land-locked into a backwater. The Russo-Japanese wars contributed to Japan taking control of Manchuria which was the springboard for the invasion of China decades later. The Soviet bear licking it's chops after the appetizer of eastern Europe in 1945 was not lost to the rest of the allies who saw it ready to gobble up some or all of Japan after the Japanese were defeated. More recent scholarship has given credence to the notion that the atomic bomb was at least as much to stop the advance of the bear as to beat the Japanese. All for want of a port...
When the Roman Republic went to war with Carthage in the Punic Wars, what started as a local squabble in Sicily, brought Rome and Carthage on opposite sides initially to settle things. The initiating powers were ultimately eclipsed by the Republic and the Empire who clashed for the first time, but not for the last. Ultimately, of course, multiple wars led to the fame of Hannibal, the Carthagenian who unimaginably marched an army including war elephants over Alpine passes difficult enough to traverse for experienced climbers, to harass the Romans for years before his defeat. That story matters in large part because Sicily was a cosmopolitan island crossroads, and the Alps an absurdly imposing obstacle.
Denmark and Sweden sit at the mouth of the Baltic Sea. In the era of the Hanseatic League, proxy wars with pirates were fought partly because control of the mouth of the sea gave the trading edge to whoever could safely enter and exit into the North Sea, and from there, on to business with ports in the rest of Europe to the warm and sunny south. Just add some chrome. Times change, people don't. And landscape matters to how people maneuver.
I have also recently been reading the book Revenge of Geography which I thought might be another fun study to add while I'm writing. So far there are lots of interesting points, including more on Russia. Being a huge country of vast steppes in the south and vast forests in the north, it faced the conundrum of being mostly indefensible whenever it wanted to expand civilization out of the forests into the warmer and more farmable southern expanses. Sure it could grow wheat down in the Ukraine, but then it had wave after wave of barbarian horsemen pillaging it over and over again, which aspect of geography led to a more aggressive expansionist way of expanding civilization. The book argues that the need to push back the frontiers for safety was part of what shaped the brutality of the modern Soviets. Greece is a mountainous region with very limited space or soil to grow grain, but suitable for growing tougher olive trees and grape arbors which grow in more marginal conditions. Also, the region is just full of excellent harbors. Becoming far reaching, inquisitive maritime traders with ships laden with wine and olive oil seems to have been destiny.
England and Japan, both island empires at some point, became so because they faced the choice of being annexed or relegated to insignificance by their larger neighbors if they did not take to the seas. They had both the benefit of a maritime buffer for safety, but not at such a distance that they could not easily trade with their neighbors if they became capable naval powers. The opportunity to enjoy the safety to grow, the need to capably expand and control other territory by a variety of means, and the access to the thassaline highway all made them the nations they became.
Now I want a good many other things to provide lenses and filters for my game, but this does explain why I think geography should not be left out, and furthermore, why it makes the stories better because it provides very tangible motives and methods and locations for interesting action.
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