Chaotic Religions and Cheliax: How Chaotic?

[KnightErrantJR]

So I'm getting ready to start a Council of Thieves campaign in a few weeks, and one of my players asked me if Desna's worship is banned in Cheliax, and my initial response was, "why no, but you are pretty much repressed, in that you can't say anything that could be construed as being against Cheliax or the worship of Asmodeus," based on what I had read in Cheliax: Empire of Devils.

Then I noticed the reference that made him ask, which was at the end of the religion section, where it mentions that only the worship of demon lords or disruptive or chaotic god is banned outright. Hm. I had initially read this to mean gods like Lamashtu or Rovagug, but upon thinking about it, taken on its face it could also exclude Desna and Calistria (a goddess that another character of one of my players will be worshiping).

In the long run, it won't change their characters too much, since they'll be "underground" anyway, but I am wondering if I'm running them as "legal but repressed" faiths or "outlawed" faiths.

[A Man In Black]

What's more fun?

It really depends on the mood you want to set for your game and what you and your players enjoy. The developers don't know your players better than you do, and if later published material requires that Desna (etc.) worshippers are repressed, well, it's a new crackdown.

[Sunderstone]

Dont outlaw it. If that were to happen the dottari might want to arrest that character for merely brandishing/carrying a symbol of a chaotic faith.

I would however have the Dottari suspicious of characters carrying such symbols, they might even follow the pc for abit until they enter a shop or inn before walking off.... etc. Shopowners might know this and want to quickly deal with the "troublemakers" before the Dottari harrass them, or might not want to deal with them at all.
Might be interesting there too (though a PC should always be able to find what he needs from another vendor).

Just an idea or two :)

[James Jacobs]

There's no official church of Desna in Westcrown, but she's certainly got worshipers in Westcrown, and her worship is certainly not illegal. But if a Desnan DOES get all worked up in a public fervor, she'll probably find herself called out by the Hellknights or the government or the church of Asmodeus. A Desnan in Westcrown would have to be subtle and sneaky, and that's kind of fun. That, and teaming up with an outfit like the Children of Westcrown gives such a cleric a great support group... even though Iomedae's the main religion of that group, they're certainly welcoming of ANY good religion.