I am looking for any references to the setup of the church of Iomedae in an urban setting.
At the moment I have:
- Faiths of Purity
- The Inner Sea World Guide
- Knights of the Inner Sea
- Paths of Prestige
Specifically looking for ideas about how the church would be organized in a city.
I have sketched so far:
- Organized by circles (ie 1st, 2nd, 3rd Sword Knight of the city)
- Connection to city guard, some knights might participate in bringing evil to justice and protecting against undead and evil outsiders in the city.
- PrCs available could include Holy Vindicator or Knight of Ozem.
Any suggestions?
Curse of the Crimson Throne has a deity write-up. Gods & Magic has a section on Iomedae. Don't remember if either of them talk much about the structure of the urban church. Council of Thieves discusses that, as a Lawful deity, Iomedae's worship is tolerated in Cheliax but her priests tend to focus more on order than justice (so they can coexist without being routed by Hellknights, presumably).
I had the Temple of Iomedae in Magnimar offering basic military training to any NPCs that wanted - Commoners included. Then encouraging them to operate as a church sponsored 'town patrol' in the local area - under the guidance of clerics from the temple.
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Curse of the Crimson Throne has a deity write-up. Gods & Magic has a section on Iomedae. Don't remember if either of them talk much about the structure of the urban church. Council of Thieves discusses that, as a Lawful deity, Iomedae's worship is tolerated in Cheliax but her priests tend to focus more on order than justice (so they can coexist without being routed by Hellknights, presumably).
Not just tolerated, but quietly celebrated. Despite Cheliax's diabolist government, it's still the land of Iomedae's birth, so she's a point of pride for them. She stands as a symbol of all a Chelaxian can achieve through discipline and strength. In fact, a number of Hellknights worship her, whether as part of the Godclaw or on her own as the personification of justice. You're right that her priesthood has to "hold back" to prevent getting into trouble, but tolerate implies that the church is one misstep away from being cast out, and Iomedae's got more street cred in Cheliax than that.
The Sixfold Trial adventure of the Council of Thieves has her official deity writeup with a lot of history and the organization of the church.
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I would love todo a campaign where the Hellknights and Iomedae's followers went to war. Hellknights think they're tough for killing a single Devil, Iomedae Paladins spend their entire lives fighting devils, demons and liches. Smite Chaos doesn't to squat to a Paladin, but Smite Evil would put down more that a few Hellknights lol.
I would love todo a campaign where the Hellknights and Iomedae's followers went to war. Hellknights think they're tough for killing a single Devil, Iomedae Paladins spend their entire lives fighting devils, demons and liches. Smite Chaos doesn't to squat to a Paladin, but Smite Evil would put down more that a few Hellknights lol.
I'd suggest being discerning with your choice of Orders of the Hellknights (the Order of the Gate, the Order of the Wrack, and the Order of the Chain come to mind as decent candidates in Avistan, while the Order of the Coil might be amazing against a Garundi-led Church) and which part of the Church you want (the Hellknights as a whole are not likely to wage war on those involved in the Mendevian Crusade, for example, and the Crusaders are likely going to leave the Hellknights alone because they've got bigger issues to deal with).
In any event, it could be a really cool campaign, but remember: Hellknights aren't automatically evil and a very few Orders (such as the Scourge, as surprising to me as that was) actually lean toward good.
Anyway, more on topic, there was a PrC in Council of Thieves (it was something like three levels long, I think), but I'll have to look it up.
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Oh, I love the Hellknights, originally built my PFS fighter to take HellKnight prestige, but decided that my weapon training was better than smite chaos for my purposes.
I think it would have to be something based in Cheliax with an outspoke Frist Sword Knight starting to spread a message of Justice being of the utmost importance to a society.
Sounds awesome.
In a related note, I'm actually really starting to dig the idea of a war between the Order of the Coil (possibly with Serpentfolk infiltration/manipulation, possibly not) waging war against the Garundi church of Iomedae as said institution cries out for social justice and equality.
Add in Wakena, serpentfolk, the demon-worshiping groups, Sargava's struggling government, and other fascinating complications and that could make an amazing story... for another time.