Difference between revisions of "Free From The Yokai Church Notes"

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=Church Magic=
 
=Church Magic=
 
I envisage the ‘natural’ magic of the land to be a contract or pact and/or transaction (or obligation) between people and a spirit of the land.
 
I envisage the ‘natural’ magic of the land to be a contract or pact and/or transaction (or obligation) between people and a spirit of the land.

Latest revision as of 11:00, 24 September 2020

Main Page Church Main

Church Magic[edit]

I envisage the ‘natural’ magic of the land to be a contract or pact and/or transaction (or obligation) between people and a spirit of the land.

These spirits of the land are…genius loci, or a broadly networked class of similar spirit (that might individually be classed as genius loci) OR a type of disembodied spirit with a similar background (e.g. people lost at sea).

These rituals and compacts allow people, if they observe the proper practices and sacrifices, to enact broadly repeatable effects. Not necessarily without cost, mind, but broadly repeatable!

Imperial magic – Church magic – operates differently.

Practice, faith, and sacrifice – the energies of worship – are channelled at / toward culturally shared iconography: i.e. the symbols of the church. These are captured by the tools and structures of the church designed for this explicit purpose. The aim of this is to ‘create’ a nascent genius loci within the confines of a church structure. This directionless mass of energy, never given the space to generate its own identity, is moulded into a tool of the Church: perhaps you can think of it as a mass of psychic energy that inducted clergy can tap into to perform their miracles?

(The inducted part is important. There's no discreet entity to contract with and gain access to this power as there would be in land magic. So the church invents a role and appoints an individual - the Shining One - to be the individual who can make the pacts necessary to use the energy - i.e. they appoint other members of the clergy and invests them with the authority to use Church magic. There are probably rituals to fix things if, say, the Shining One dies or some such).

More importantly, this formless, energetic mass is stitched into the wider Church network: all these concentrations of energy all interlinked in a web of such energy that the properly inducted clergy can call upon to perform their miracles. Functionally, the more churches there are in an area – the larger congregations of the faithful exist – the more powerful church magic becomes.

(this taps into their wider understandings of the power of human effort / the soul, and the things that the vital energy of people can accomplish, but that’s not entirely relevant to church orthodoxy).

(it will be, however, relevant to my starting character! Who sort of bridged the gap between clergy and imperial sorcerer and was considered a heretic because of that. In that a lot of the pomp and circumstance isn’t necessary – though a lot of church practice is there to protect those involved – even if it isn’t necessary!)

But the long and the short of it is: a lot of people can get together and be convinced to do amazing things. And the more people who believe the same thing, the more they can do! So the entire church is kind of twisted around that idea. This makes people don't worship church faith 'bad' because they actually detract from imperial power! And the church also doesn't particularly care about the health of the land because it's only concerned with the number of people worshipping at their properly designated location.

Like, I think there's a lot to unpack there. Even if the church is notionally helping a lot of people, its core tenants are not necessarily great for the land, you know?

IMPORTANTLY I think there is a lot of this kind of energy that the church does not capture. And there are also the natural spirits of the land that might be caught in the crossfire of this kind of exploitation. The church views these shadows, off-shoots and formless ephemera as 'daemon' - it uses them, frequently, particularly in more offensive uses of its magic. But they're still dangerous and a cross between the ordinary spirits of the land forced to do certain things and the toxic, homeless cast-offs of ordinary church belief.

Like, seriously, church belief is super human centric. It's not harmonious with the land. It's just as expansionist as its parent polity! Whether that is harmful or positive overall I leave to the scholars studying this period of history three centuries hence!

So the Church can summon / bind the spirits of the dead because it has your blood / a piece of you / the memory of your community. And they can bind that spirit into a vessel representing you. Or they can heal you because 12 acolytes chose to take your injury and share it amongst themselves. And probably bigger thing besides (like healing your dead body and binding your spirit back into it perhaps...!).

There's also a fire and shadow theme going on...but this is all about that shared iconography thing becoming a source of magic. It's not, like, super relevant to modern church doctrine, but....it's associated with church doctrine, and present in most of its public rituals, etc so that's just how it goes with the rules I've laid out!

Family Creation[edit]

THE ANCIENT PAST[edit]

Landmark: the Old Gods, carved into a mountainside, now weathered, hidden and defaced.

STATS[edit]

Reach -1, Grasp +1, Sleight +2

The church stems from the Imperial Faith everyone had to follow – a religion we’re now trying to redefine and reclaim in the Empire’s absence.

CUSTOMS[edit]

Rule: The Shining One is the Church’s divinely-annointed ruler.

Populace: people in every walk of life are God-fearing to the last.

Culture: the joy and wonder of life is celebrated in extravagant clothes and rites.

THE IMPERIAL OCCUPATION[edit]

Landmark: an ancient monastery – toppled by the Empire. A place of learning and diverse beliefs from a time long before the church. The teachings and secrets it used to contain may now be hidden in the church’s vaults…

HISTORY[edit]

How did the Empire treat your House?

We were feted in Imperial Culture, the face of the Empire’s faithful and its shadow cast over every community (Favour -1, but gain an extra Surplus)

Which far-off country brought the Church to these lands?

It was the distant Empire that brought the church here. They preached with missionaries and paid labourers by the thousands to construct our churches as proof of the Empire’s wealth and power. By ancient custom, people sometimes still mingle blood to seal oaths or mark alliances – though these days cloth dyed red and used to tie people together is a convenient substitute.

Which House sheltered your people when the Empire persecuted them?

When the Church began attempting to protect the people during the rebellion this was not always taken well. Who then protected us from the worst of the retaliation? They gain influence on the church.

Which House has refused to allow your clergy to preach in their holdings?

They say why they don’t trust you, and you lose any Influence you have on each other.

THE NEW LAND[edit]

Landmark: the Island Monasteries, home to many ascetic communes always seeking to refine the faith, and improve our rituals.

DOCTRINE[edit]

Comforters: we have a God-given duty to provide aid to those in need. When providing meaningful aid to those in peril, gain Influence on whoever caused their hurt. If you break the Arbiter’s laws while doing so, you don’t lose Favour.

LIFESTYLE[edit]

City of Pilgrims: our centre of power is also a centre of pilgrimage, drawing believers from far and wide. If you start a season with a Favour of 0 or higher, gain Surplus: Coin or Surplus Prestige.