Sean K Reynolds wrote:
Kevin Andrew Murphy wrote:
I think it's something like this.
Erastil seems like an old widower to me. He had a wife, but that was in the past, and she was the love of his life, but she died, and he's not going to defile her memory by starting up some new relationship in his old age. I mean, if mortals can do that in one lifetime, imagine what it must be like for a god.
The fact that only he remembers the name of his wife is enough. His pain is private, but it's also mixed with memory of joy, which is why he so strongly believes that marriage and family are good for everyone. When he sees some happy young couple or middle aged couple or old couple, it makes him smile, because it reminds him of the life that he had. When he sees someone else alone, he is displeased, because it reminds him of his current sadness.
I like this as well.Nicely played.
My own wife is playing a female cleric of Erastil in my Kingmaker campaign and I've been trying hard to reconcile the chauvinist sentiments of the God with female adventuring clerics.
I came to the idea that his female clerics are, in fact, his wives/consorts - sort of a 'brides of...' style character and that different convents held slightly different foci, with some focussed on education, some on women's lore, herbalism, etc. I imagine small forest convents a la Marian from Robin and Marian, or Sister Fedelma mysteries. In each convent, certain young women are trained for a wider reaching mission and sent out to represent their sect in the world, perhaps someday establishing a new convent.Some may be widows and retire to these places to live out their days.
I imagine they create a pact for a period of time with their God and that they sometimes set up 'double houses' (medieval custom) with a priest where they run the place as a communal family and eventually raise children, possibly their own but possibly others (orphans, helping others, etc)
I imagine Erastil seeing the female priesthood as a kind of necessary way of dealing and incorporating those women who don't fit his standard image. In a way, it lets him take a more direct hand in their activities and keeps them from disrupting his vision of a community, incorporating them as he sees fit.
still fleshing it out, but so far it feels ok
