What larks. ^_^
A bit of backstory: My first D&D character was an elven cleric. She didn't have much of a personality, had a bit of a sob story as background that thankfully didn't come up in game, and was thrust into a roll-playing environment that did nothing to improve the few traits I did deign to give her. The DM wasn't exactly the best one around, but I can't fool myself: part of what made it a poor roleplaying experience was my own lack of skill and creativity. Furthermore, the theology of the setting? Nil. My character's divine power made her a spell-bot who also had pretty good stats, so could double as a tank or an archer as the situation called for it. Religion? Whazzat?
These days, I'm playing in Eberron. Our party of five is rather eclectic--a dwarf wizard/rogue, a gargoyle monk, a lizardfolk ranger, a warforged paladin variant and an aasimar cleric (yours truly). Yes, I'm playing a cleric again. Originally, this was a resigned decision: the group needed some healing power, and I wasn't feeling like playing a druid or another divine caster. Clerics seemed familiar, comfortable, if not exactly what I wanted to play.
Boy, was I wrong. This is fun!
Regarding the theology part, Eberron has several pantheons. One of them supposedly oversees the good things about man and civilization. Another is its darker shadow, a result of a schism back in the days. My girl, Aelo, is a young, rather pigheaded devout crusader of the 'good' half who wants to Make Her Mark In The World. Things did not go as planned and her guide to the outlands bailed, stealing her horse, leaving her on the outskirts of a village filled with a nasty cult. Along came the rest of the party, and she joined in because hey, that's what you do after pitching in in a fight against zombies and clawing your way out of said village together. Anywhere but here, right? And those people were doing the Right Thing. Especially a tall, massive warforged--essentially a sentient being of wood and metal. A steampunk robot elevated to Person status, if you will. They dug into said zombies and, between the five of them, made quick work of the undead.
Oh. Aelo's first strike? Decapitating a zombie in front of a dilapidated temple of her gods, wielding the characteristic weapon of one of her favorite deities, with a battlecry of said god. How's that for pride and Protected by the Gods? ^_^;
Cue some running away from the cult, including said warforged (named Mourn) carrying the winded Aelo when she started falling behind. Adventuring, etc., etc.. Aelo's greatest fear: wasps. When she was attacked by phantasmal/imaginary/invisible wasps (of course), Mourn jumped in and kept her from hurting herself. He seems to be the most grounded of the lot, with the best awareness of what he is out to do and how. He is practical and straightforward, to Aelo's eyes. He's the kind of guy you want at your back in a fight, or at your side facing off a giant necrophagous crab, or lifting said crab when it collapses atop you. (It was one of those days.) The Real World has been quite nasty to my young, reckless crusader, and has damaged her pride quite thoroughly, but the group has managed to keep other parts of her intact so far.
She's not infatuated with him. Mourn is a pile of metal and wood with no facial expressions, for pity's sake. But she respects and trusts him as an ally and, considering the short time they've been together as a band of adventurers (four days, I think?), a staunch companion who will do what is right. Among a lizardfolk, dwarf, gargoyle and warforged, the pile of gleaming metal is the one who seems to share more of her ideals and way of life. In game terms, they are both Lawful Neutral. Eberron is rather lenient on alignment terms. Following a god does not mean you follow all their precepts, nor that you are particularly good or evil.
Remember what I said about religion above? A pantheon, and its darker half. Aelo follows the light/good half.
Mourn, unbeknownst to her, follows one of the darker gods Eberron has to offer. He is the god of necromancers, of death and decay. Were one to ask Aelo, she would place said god in second or third place of the most abhorrent deities she knows of. Mourn has a symbol of said god engraved on his metal skin, and eventually she will find that out.
Meanwhile, this game has had some of the best metaphysical and theological discussions I've ever had. It's absolutely delightful. Without proselytizing too much (I hope!), I've been able to establish Aelo's views about the world and the gods. Tonight's session finished halfway through a burial in an old battlefield, and the snippets of theology shared (and not shared, at times) between the party members were very fun to play out. Mourn's silent, momentary glances as Aelo blasphemes against his god, the dwarf's questioning of the world and the mechanics of the occult, all of it. Sometimes it's subtle, other times not so much, but it seems to fit in well with the mood of the setting. Things are not white and black, there are many, many shades of gray. And Aelo and Mourn have so much in common, yet radically different views of how their ideals and actions play out in the larger picture.
I have no idea how Aelo will react once she finds out who Mourn worships. (Well, that's part of the fun, right?) In the meantime, I'm having the time of my life realizing how well they work together, and how this difference between them fits in with the inevitable shift on her views and ideals.
So thank you, my fellow Eberron players (and GM!), for such a good time at role-playing.
These days, I'm playing in Eberron. Our party of five is rather eclectic--a dwarf wizard/rogue, a gargoyle monk, a lizardfolk ranger, a warforged paladin variant and an aasimar cleric (yours truly). Yes, I'm playing a cleric again. Originally, this was a resigned decision: the group needed some healing power, and I wasn't feeling like playing a druid or another divine caster. Clerics seemed familiar, comfortable, if not exactly what I wanted to play.
Boy, was I wrong. This is fun!
Regarding the theology part, Eberron has several pantheons. One of them supposedly oversees the good things about man and civilization. Another is its darker shadow, a result of a schism back in the days. My girl, Aelo, is a young, rather pigheaded devout crusader of the 'good' half who wants to Make Her Mark In The World. Things did not go as planned and her guide to the outlands bailed, stealing her horse, leaving her on the outskirts of a village filled with a nasty cult. Along came the rest of the party, and she joined in because hey, that's what you do after pitching in in a fight against zombies and clawing your way out of said village together. Anywhere but here, right? And those people were doing the Right Thing. Especially a tall, massive warforged--essentially a sentient being of wood and metal. A steampunk robot elevated to Person status, if you will. They dug into said zombies and, between the five of them, made quick work of the undead.
Oh. Aelo's first strike? Decapitating a zombie in front of a dilapidated temple of her gods, wielding the characteristic weapon of one of her favorite deities, with a battlecry of said god. How's that for pride and Protected by the Gods? ^_^;
Cue some running away from the cult, including said warforged (named Mourn) carrying the winded Aelo when she started falling behind. Adventuring, etc., etc.. Aelo's greatest fear: wasps. When she was attacked by phantasmal/imaginary/invisible wasps (of course), Mourn jumped in and kept her from hurting herself. He seems to be the most grounded of the lot, with the best awareness of what he is out to do and how. He is practical and straightforward, to Aelo's eyes. He's the kind of guy you want at your back in a fight, or at your side facing off a giant necrophagous crab, or lifting said crab when it collapses atop you. (It was one of those days.) The Real World has been quite nasty to my young, reckless crusader, and has damaged her pride quite thoroughly, but the group has managed to keep other parts of her intact so far.
She's not infatuated with him. Mourn is a pile of metal and wood with no facial expressions, for pity's sake. But she respects and trusts him as an ally and, considering the short time they've been together as a band of adventurers (four days, I think?), a staunch companion who will do what is right. Among a lizardfolk, dwarf, gargoyle and warforged, the pile of gleaming metal is the one who seems to share more of her ideals and way of life. In game terms, they are both Lawful Neutral. Eberron is rather lenient on alignment terms. Following a god does not mean you follow all their precepts, nor that you are particularly good or evil.
Remember what I said about religion above? A pantheon, and its darker half. Aelo follows the light/good half.
Mourn, unbeknownst to her, follows one of the darker gods Eberron has to offer. He is the god of necromancers, of death and decay. Were one to ask Aelo, she would place said god in second or third place of the most abhorrent deities she knows of. Mourn has a symbol of said god engraved on his metal skin, and eventually she will find that out.
Meanwhile, this game has had some of the best metaphysical and theological discussions I've ever had. It's absolutely delightful. Without proselytizing too much (I hope!), I've been able to establish Aelo's views about the world and the gods. Tonight's session finished halfway through a burial in an old battlefield, and the snippets of theology shared (and not shared, at times) between the party members were very fun to play out. Mourn's silent, momentary glances as Aelo blasphemes against his god, the dwarf's questioning of the world and the mechanics of the occult, all of it. Sometimes it's subtle, other times not so much, but it seems to fit in well with the mood of the setting. Things are not white and black, there are many, many shades of gray. And Aelo and Mourn have so much in common, yet radically different views of how their ideals and actions play out in the larger picture.
I have no idea how Aelo will react once she finds out who Mourn worships. (Well, that's part of the fun, right?) In the meantime, I'm having the time of my life realizing how well they work together, and how this difference between them fits in with the inevitable shift on her views and ideals.
So thank you, my fellow Eberron players (and GM!), for such a good time at role-playing.