Good Gods, Evil followers

[Silence among Hounds]

This is something that came up when I was thinking of having the Church of Iomdae in Taldor run by a sanctimonious bishop who's entire goal is to lead genocide against 'monsters'.
Now his definition of monsters is anyone who is not an elf, halfling, dwarf, human, gnome or aasimar.

So my question is it possible for someone to worship a God but corrupt their teachings?

Would the evil queen who murders all those more beautiful than her not revere Shelyn, that matron of beauty?

[Alleran]

I think it might be Sarenrae's church that's been having some problems somewhere (Qadira? Osirion?) where the views/politics that the "sect" there are espousing happen to be in disagreement with the rest of the Dawnflower's faith, and that something's going to have to be done about it soon.

Incidentally, I'd half expect that evil queen to be plotting to kill Shelyn somewhere and somehow. There can be only one "most beautiful ever" in the multiverse, after all.

[ANebulousMistress]

Blasphemy makes any church interesting. Go for it.

[Mikaze]

Alleran wrote:

I think it might be Sarenrae's church that's been having some problems somewhere (Qadira? Osirion?) where the views/politics that the "sect" there are espousing happen to be in disagreement with the rest of the Dawnflower's faith, and that something's going to have to be done about it soon.

The Burners of Mendev are living proof of worshippers of good gods getting it horribly wrong.

Iomedae herself is not a fan.

Caydenite sects going off the rails while being led by Bacchae are easy to imagine too.

Re: Evil queen idea, perhaps one with a heavy element of forcing a "happy ending" on everyone, no matter what it took or what they actually wanted?

[Alan_of_Q]

Remember that in order for the Bishop (a Cleric)'s powers to function, he must remain within one alignment step of his Patron Deity. In this case he must be LG/NG/LN.

If he becomes evil (such as preaching / inciting / actively participating in acts of genocide) he will lose all his powers, as will clerics / paladins who follow those instructions.

However, if he's just taken a bump to the noggin or otherwise truly misguided or deceived (alternatively replaced by doppleganger or other illusion/shapeshifting), it is possible that he may misinterpret the cause of the loss of his powers. eg "We're being tested by Iomedae, we must eradicate all of these beasts of evil to regain our Lady's blessings!" He's still lost the powers, but he might ramp up the genocide rhetoric.

There may be some insanity/madness related traits & feats that allow you to fake an alignment or otherwise gain cleric powers without the proper alignment. Haven't got my source books on hand ;) But another trope from literature is that if the deceit is coming from a suitably powerful evil outsider or Deity, they may grant the powers to the cleric/bishop once Iomedae ceases (often without the cleric's immediate knowledge).

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

Remember also that every SKR god writeup includes a laundry list of unpleasant minor omens that the god can inflict on worshipers that displease.

[Jeven]

Alan Buchbach wrote:

But another trope from literature is that if the deceit is coming from a suitably powerful evil outsider or Deity, they may grant the powers to the cleric/bishop once Iomedae ceases (often without the cleric's immediate knowledge).

I can easily imagine demon lords or arch-devil manipulating this situation by granting spells to the corrupted priest/inquisitor of the good god. The corrupt priest might fanatically believe he is following his god's will but is unwittingly being tricked by a darker power.

One problem is the Detect Good/Evil spell which makes things so absolute. Its a pity that spell works on priests as it makes it hard to set up interesting scenarios like this.
But then again evil arch-devils and gods aren't stupid so they could use a otherworldly form of the misdirect spell to camouflage these false priests.
If the evil priest casts detect good and he detects himself, he could further be convinced that his evil actions are actually good and willed by the good god he believes he is still following.

[Jeven]

Silence among Hounds wrote:

Would the evil queen who murders all those more beautiful than her not revere Shelyn, that matron of beauty?

She would probably start out as a follower of Shelyn, but her obsession and desperation (as she begins to age) would drive her into the arms of darker powers.

Countess Elizabeth Báthory, a real-word C17th noblewoman, was believed to have made a pact with the Devil and would bathe in the blood of murdered virgins, hoping to preserve her beauty from the ravages of time.

[Tarvi]

Jeven wrote:

Countess Elizabeth Báthory, a real-word C17th noblewoman, was believed to have made a pact with the Devil and would bathe in the blood of murdered virgins, hoping to preserve her beauty from the ravages of time.

The reality is probably just that she was a serial killer, it's also noteworthy that there was no testimony at the trial of her bathing in blood and it first appeared in print over 100 years after she died.

(There's also a suggestion that the entire thing was a political plot to weaken a group of nobles who opposed the Hapsburgs and it's worth noting that the king owed her a great amount of money and because of the charges against her he didn't have to repay it)

[SwnyNerdgasm]

Dont forget the evils a LN cleric can inflict when he follows the exact letter of Iomedae's laws and ignores the spirit

[JoeOutside]

Alan Buchbach wrote:

Remember that in order for the Bishop (a Cleric)'s powers to function, he must remain within one alignment step of his Patron Deity. In this case he must be LG/NG/LN.

If he becomes evil (such as preaching / inciting / actively participating in acts of genocide) he will lose all his powers, as will clerics / paladins who follow those instructions.

However, if he's just taken a bump to the noggin or otherwise truly misguided or deceived (alternatively replaced by doppleganger or other illusion/shapeshifting), it is possible that he may misinterpret the cause of the loss of his powers. eg "We're being tested by Iomedae, we must eradicate all of these beasts of evil to regain our Lady's blessings!" He's still lost the powers, but he might ramp up the genocide rhetoric.

There may be some insanity/madness related traits & feats that allow you to fake an alignment or otherwise gain cleric powers without the proper alignment. Haven't got my source books on hand ;) But another trope from literature is that if the deceit is coming from a suitably powerful evil outsider or Deity, they may grant the powers to the cleric/bishop once Iomedae ceases (often without the cleric's immediate knowledge).

Does the bishop have to be a cleric? The office of Bishop is a rank within an ecclesiastical system rather than a rank within a class. The bishop could be a wizard, summoner or even monk or bard (or even an adept!) with ranks in Knowledge: Religion and Profession: Clergy, using diplomacy and manipulation to get his way a la Cardinal Richelieu. With the cult of Razmir extant there are feats and options to help pull this off even more cleanly.

[Haladir]

Remember that in Golarion, the term "priest" refers to an official or leader in a church, not necessarily any particular character class. A Priest of Iomedae could very well have levels of Fighter, Inquisitor, Paladin, or Aristorcrat rather than Cleric. And, as other posters have said, it might be possible for a character with divine powers to misinterpret the signs from the gods and take it to mean that he should double-down on heresy, rather than correct it.

A real-world example might be the Munster Rebellion of 1534-5. Radical Anabaptists took over the city of Munster in Germany in a bloodless coup d'etat from a coalition of Catholic and Lutheran elders who had ruled the city. Their prophet was likely insane, and truly believed that the Voice of God spoke to him. The Anabaptists, believing that they were doing the work of God and brining a New Jerusalem instead destroyed the Catholic libraries and artwork, burned all books that were not the vernacular Bible, and then started executing those who they deemed "heretics" (i.e. non-Anabaptists). And then it got weird.

[darkwarriorkarg]

In baseline Golarion, no. Unlike Eberron, with nonexistant dieties, you MUST remain within one step ofyour diety.

A LN extremist cleric of Iomedea might be influenced to go to go close to that extreme length by an uncrupulous aide (an inquisitor (infiltrator) who can conceal his/her alignment and allegiance)

The inquisitor simply pushes things up to a boiling point then has the priest assassinated in a way that frames the targeted group. The inquisitor, loyal aide of the one who preached about the evils of the "monsters", takes up his fallen master's "cause".