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I am playing an aasimar cleric of Erastil (part of the Medvyed family, "Noble" trait) and 2/3 of the way through the first book. I know that our village will be founded soon, and the goal is for the village to grow into a city, and then kingdom.
So, I am looking for other experiences in wrestling with the dilemma of having a cleric of community, family, farming, and nature be comfortable with an urban lifestyle (as one of the leaders in the realm).
My character does have political motivations (he was forced into the church of Erastil, since Erastil is the Medvyed deity of choice), so things (i.e. deity of worship) may change, but I am curious how other players (and GMs who NPCed Jhod and his church) dealt with playing clerics of Erastil.
Cheers!
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Erastil isn't some hippy granola nudist vegan nature god.
He's the God of exploiting, taming and civilizing nature for the benefit of simple, honest folk. He is fine with cities where they benefit all but doesn't care for the greedy, self-centred and ultimately self-destructive excesses that go along with them (too much drink, too much poverty, too many vices that get in the way of building stable families and strong communities). Think pragmatic social conservative.
I would see a priest of Eratil tend to be most comfortable looking after the villagers and the outlaying settlements but will also fight to keep excesses like brothels or too many taverns from his land's cities. He's a nature god in that it doesn't make sense to burn down a forest if it can supply hides, meat and wood for generations but clearing underused land to build farms and pasture to benefit the most people makes sense.
If you're more on the NG side, the emphasis is more on helping individual groups and hunting, if you're more on the LN side, the emphasis is more on conformity to what makes the community strongest.
I am playing an aasimar cleric of Erastil (part of the Medvyed family, "Noble" trait) and 2/3 of the way through the first book. I know that our village will be founded soon, and the goal is for the village to grow into a city, and then kingdom.
So, I am looking for other experiences in wrestling with the dilemma of having a cleric of community, family, farming, and nature be comfortable with an urban lifestyle (as one of the leaders in the realm).
My character does have political motivations (he was forced into the church of Erastil, since Erastil is the Medvyed deity of choice), so things (i.e. deity of worship) may change, but I am curious how other players (and GMs who NPCed Jhod and his church) dealt with playing clerics of Erastil.
Cheers!
Oooh, clerics in Kingmaker whose alignment and personal goals, or lack thereof interfere with politics - count me in!
Just have to say that you're going to meet a NPC soon enough that may shed some light on this issue you are having with your character.
Wrestling with the whole community and farming thing does not mean that you have to be diametrically opposed to a growing kingdom. You did not mention alignment, but cannot be that far from lawful good. Your cleric has the unique opportunity to influence laws from the ground up, laws that will benefit the "low-folk" and their communities, and agriculture, and protect nature. Regardless of your role in the kingdom (my cleric of Sarenrae occupied the office of Grand Diplomat before commmitting to High Priestess as her political goals have changed) it is your cleric's duty to assign value to those things that your god is concerned with. He could work to preserve those uncultured tracts of natural beauty, or towards heavy subsidies for those who engage in agriculture. Concerned your capital is getting out of hand with urban sprawl? Lobby that you fill an entire district with parks.
I am rather curious about your character's reasons for wishing to change his god. Is he more inclined to chaos than Erastil permits? I should think that if it were simply pressure on part of the family, having removed himself from that situation by casting himself into the Stolen Lands to kick butt and punch out bears would have manned him up a bit. I do have some RP experience with giving up a patron deity, not with a cleric so I do not know how they work, but I can tell you that those issues are pretty taxing.
I am currently playing a LN cleric of Erastil who is a bastard noble and current Count of our kingdom. The High Priest is a cleric of E, the Marshall is a paladin of E and the Warden is the paladins cohort.
- country is LG
- we don't build Tenements.
- we don't build Brothels.
- we build a shrine or temple to Erastil in every city. Other good/neutral churches are allowed, but no evil.
- as a quirk, we have intentionally left the temple of the Elk city surrounded by undeveloped forests as a religious pilgrimage location.
Defining any settlement that the players manage to create as "urban" is a bit extreme. Unless the scale of your particular game is rather long, settlements in Kingmaker aren't going to get past 3 horse town...really nice three horse town, but urban it ain't.
I certainly agree that this isn't a conflict at all. Maybe a cleric of Gozreh would be a bad fit, but Erastil is all about community and stability. Conveniently, that's exactly what your kingmakers should also be about. It just gives you a different focus than, say, a highly social bard. But that's all right -- the PCs should have different focuses and motivations. The fighter/general should do, and want, different things than the cleric/high priest and the wizard/magister. That doesn't mean breaking the party or anything, it just means that everybody will have their eye on a different piece of the kingdom, making sure that piece is healthy and thriving.
The fun comes when you fit all those thriving pieces together. :-)
Currently, in my campaign, worship of Erastil dominates the year old Barony of the Elk and its capital, Venice, which is still pretty rustic. I anticipate, as the capital grows larger, the influence of other faiths will rise correspondingly. Eventually, if venice becomes a real city, Erastil worship might become more common in the smaller towns and outlying rural areas than in the capital. Perhaps not, however, if the PCs are able to maintain the frontier spirit and family values of erastil even in a city setting. Like a lot in Kingmaker, it will depend on their actions, and how they choose to develop their towns and kingdom.
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Thank you for your comments everyone. Food for thought.
My cleric is NG, and the focus is definitely more on the individual's right within the group, although the group/community is still the important "meta" relationship. His domains are Animal (feather) and Community (Home), although he is not a proponent of "everyone must get married. NOW".
I like the idea of making the rules and laws of the city as it grows. Much influence can be had then. Ah, good ol'Community Charter. Nice.
I like the idea of no tenements. Brothels would be acceptable by my cleric, with certain guidelines. A classy brothel that allows men (and women) to release stress and therefore be more stable at home is better for the community. A lot less domestic troubles (arguably). Of course, my cleric may get into hot water with the church over this...
Much obliged, and if others have thoughts, please keep on writing :)
(Final note: I probably won't shift deities, some excellent opportunities came up after last session, when other churches got some scandals)