Thinking about making a cleric of Norgorber in pathfinder society (more about secrets not assassinations and poisonings) and I'm wondering what peoples opinion is about what exactly "god of secrets" means. What I mean by that basicaly how should approch secrets. Am I trying to know all secrets or do I help keep secrets even if it means I'm not always privy to the imformation. I was thinking somthing in the middle, wanting to know all secrets but will help others keep theirs from ANYONE else, including my faction because I'm loyal to my church first and my faction next and it IS still a secret, as long as they tell me the secret.
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The Pathfinder Society is all about uncovering old secrets, both lore and power, long-buried. But it is also about *keeping* certain secrets, hidden away in vaults, and at least one entire chapter of the Pathfinder Chronicles was recalled and destroyed, to keep a particularly dangerous (scandalous, whatever) secret.
As a Cleric of Norgorber, the goals are two-fold. To ferret out secrets, and benefit from their acquisition, gaining power, secular, arcane or other, and to conceal information that it serves one's own interests to keep hidden.
Was there a diety with a domain relevant to thievery or politics before Norgorber passed through the Starstone like a prickly-edged kidneystone? It seems unlikely that there was not such a diety, and yet his (or her) name is obscured. Perhaps, while exploring, the Cleric of Norgorber finds suggestions on some tomb wall or fragment of an old inscription to that diety, and while it would make a useful addition to the Pathfinder Society's records, it might be even more prized by the Church, who will destroy that information, so that the name of the previous god(dess) of thieves remains locked away from human memory. Or the Church might *want* that information released, to bolster the reputation of Norgorber, planting evidence to suggest that the God of Murder didn't just replace the previous patron of thieves, but actually was required as a final post-Starstone confirmation of his new status to kill the previous holder of that particular dominion...
And if that information cannot be found? Perhaps it must be *planted,* to be found, a cunning magically-enhanced bit of forgery, written in 1000 year old ink upon 1000 year old parchment in an area shielded from magical scrying, so that most forms of identification fail to reveal the forgery.
Even that might be more subterfuge than any specific low-level Cleric of Norgorber will necessarily know about.
Your own character might spend *years* as a low-level Pathfinder Society agent, specifically instructed to cultivate a reputation of dependability to the Society. There might even be a planted find that your superiors would *expect* you to turn over to the Church before the Society, some scrap of information that suggests as to the identify of the man who entered the Starstone, and came out as Norgorber, thought to be the greatest secret of the faith, and your character be directed to hand it over to the Society, instead of attempting to destroy it or steal it. When questioned on this matter, your character admits truthfully, "I think it was planted to make me seem more dependable. It's not even remotely accurate information, and probably the only use it would be is that whoever Norgorber was before the test, it wasn't anything like the person this text describes..." giving the leadership *exactly* what they expect from the Church of Norgorber, subterfuge and layers of deceit, and an acolyte who doesn't seem to be 'playing that game.'
Indeed, it might be fun to play up the reputation that comes with the Church of Norgorber, and have the Cleric act completely furtive and paranoid, keeping a journal that is written in some sort of cypher, with the key to the cypher kept on an inscribed metal strip kept on a cord around his neck. Anyone going through all the trouble to decipher his secret journal, which he glares at anyone who even looks at, will find that it's utterly banal recountings of local scenery, or his affections for a pretty barmaid, and scribblings of bad goth poetry.
Or he could go the exact opposite route. He's got the wisdom and talent for the clergy, and the Church wasn't about to send him off to join the temple of Shelyn while they could still make use of his potential, but he recognizes that the Church has a reputation for skullduggery and doesn't bother living up to that reputation, since he has not a single rank in Bluff. He is all about deciphering secret codes with his Linguistics training, and can write in cypher as well, for secret communiques, serving as an encoder (or decoder) of secure cyphered communications. But verbally? He sucks at lying, so he doesn't bother. He's more interested in codes, numbers, etc. When a Pathfinder group he's with has discovered something fantastic, and they don't want anyone else to find out before their own allies, he can encode the letter back to the Venture Captain, whom he'll have already provided a key to break the code.
Dealing with the other domains of Norgorber;
Poison - He could take samples from toxins used by creatures found in the wilds, and use Craft (alchemcy) to produce *specific* anti-toxins for explorers in that location. He could also send samples of both toxins and anti-toxins from the diverse places he travels to his superiors.
Politics - He could seek out information on various systems of governance and political machinations of cultures both long-dead and currently-extant, taking advantage of his travels to study and document the advantages and disadvantages of diverse cultures, and, particularly, their weak points and how they might be exploited, being more interested in documents the Borgias and Graccus' and Machiavellis of the various cultures he is studying than the Lincolns and the Mandelas.
Murder - He could study codes related to death and murder, from the most sophisticated and respectful funerary traditions to the most savage and bloody sacrificial rites.
Even if he has no interest in these latter things, he might still recount and document each, to trade with other Norgorberites who might have found information on his own preferred area of focus.
Wow Set... that's A LOT longer and more detailed reply than I thought I would get. Thanks for the reply and the large amount of time you obviously spent on this. Well either that or you had already thought about and in that case thanks for sharing.
Anyway, bolth seem very fun to play. The first one more so if you can build and play him correctly, though some of the rollplay for him can be situational. The second one is pretty easy, just cares more for secrets then other people, affiliations, or just about anything else. The second one semms kinda skill heavy which can be difficult to do with a 2+ int class though I channel neg so really dont need a great charisma for that build. I'm thinking about the trickery and thought domains so those fit thematicly for bolth.
Thanks again for the post.
Wow Set... that's A LOT longer and more detailed reply than I thought I would get. Thanks for the reply and the large amount of time you obviously spent on this. Well either that or you had already thought about and in that case thanks for sharing.
That's because Set is the man... or god... or whatever.
Wow Set... that's A LOT longer and more detailed reply than I thought I would get. Thanks for the reply and the large amount of time you obviously spent on this. Well either that or you had already thought about and in that case thanks for sharing.That's because Set is the man... or god... or whatever.
That he is
There was another thread around here a month or two ago that dealt with how a non-evil cleric of Norgorber could stay non-evil in the long run, due the the requirement to either participate in, or at least observe, an annual ritual where a random innocent was grabbed off the streets murdered in the temple. There were lots of posts in it and I do not think I followed it til it died out, so I am not sure of the final conclusion. I think Set was posting in that one too, so what he posted here may have been something he worked up for that thread. But either way, he definitely put a lot of good work into his thoughts.
Edit:
OK, this is the thread I was talking about.