Arenok |
Hey, everyone. I've been wondering - I know Urgathoa is a Neutral Evil god, but her alignment range includes all sides of Evil including Lawful. This has me wondering - given Urgathoa's is about gluttony/hedonism/indulgence, as well as disease, undeath, and, well... DEATH... how would a Lawful Evil character - be they a fighter or a guard, a wizard, or a Cleric - go about worshipping the Pallid Princess?
For example - say the LE character was a wizard from Cheliax, maybe even one that's on the way to joining the ranks of the Hellknights and their Signifers. What would a Chelish Urgathoan's mindset be in this case - given the prominence of Asmodeus worship there, even if most gods are allowed to also be worshipped (until this is rescinded at the crown's discretion), as well as the general nature of the Hellknights.
Would a Urgathoan Hellknight - most likely a Signifer - be feasible? I'd imagine they'd stand the most likely chance of existing in the Order of the Gate, but still...
I digress - I look forward to reading your responses. :)
DeathlessOne |
We can answer that by looking into what Lawful Evil is defined as in the game system:
A lawful evil villain methodically takes what he wants within the limits of his code of conduct without regard for whom it hurts. He cares about tradition,loyalty, and order, but not about freedom, dignity, or life. He plays by the rules but without mercy or compassion. He is comfortable in a hierarchy and would like to rule, but is willing to serve. He condemns others not according to their actions but according to race, religion, homeland, or social rank. He is loath to break laws or promises. This reluctance comes partly from his nature and partly because he depends on order to protect himself from those who oppose him on moral grounds. Some lawful evil villains have particular taboos, such as not killing in cold blood (but having underlings do it) or not letting children come to harm (if it can be helped). They imagine that these compunctions put them above unprincipled villains.
Some lawful evil people and creatures commit themselves to evil with a zeal like that of a crusader committed to good. Beyond being willing to hurt others for their own ends, they take pleasure in spreading evil as an end unto itself. They may also see doing evil as part of a duty to an evil deity or master.
Lawful evil represents methodical, intentional, and organized evil.
So, we can see that any such LE worshipper of Urgathoa would be methodical in their gluttony/hedonism/indulgences. They would favor structures or organizations that allow allow for the safe and/or frequent dalliances of their favored hobbies.
As far as living out the tenants of the Pallid Princess, they would likely be focused on restricting the all out wantonness that some of her followers engage in that make life (and hobbies) more difficult to those like themselves that are more restrained in their activities. Imposing a bit of order on the chaos for the better access of all her worshippers.
You would likely find someone like this in the Order of the Gate, the Chain, or the Nail... depending on which particular focus they'd like to lean on. Personally, I'd lean towards the Gate or the Nail.
Boomerang Nebula |
This is my take on Asmodeus when I am GM.
Asmodeus is the most power hungry and conniving of the inner sea gods. The gods derive most of their power from the souls of mortals. The gods return some of that power back to their most loyal followers (like clerics) in order to encourage them to recruit more souls.
Asmodeus doesn’t care who a mortal professes to worship as long as he can claim their soul. Hell Knight initiation involves promising one’s soul to Asmodeus. Ideally the Hell Knight would give their soul energy to Asmodeus and siphon power from another god by worshipping another, but no other god would be silly enough to allow that.
So, a Hell Knight who claims to worship Urgathoa is either knowingly lying, or will get a rude shock when they die and their soul winds up in Hell. A Hell Knight divine caster is actually getting their spells from Asmodeus, regardless who they say they worship. But that is just the way I rule it. I’m not sure what is official.