Just A Heads-Up
Posted by Pax on 07/02/18
I want to make clear the general purpose of that recent emit: this is less about shamanism itself, and more about people taking on the Faith.
The vast majority of the Compact -- and indeed, a fair number of Abandoned -- do not believe in shamanism. Even those devout followers of the Pantheon who believe the spirits exist generally do not think them akin to gods, and view those who worship spirits that way askance.
To most people, being told 'shamans will no longer be serving in the priesthood and Discipleships' is a bit like a Catholic church being told 'Tibetan monks will no longer be leading our Sunday mass; this service will now only be performed by Catholic priests'. Not only would it make sense to most Catholics that mass will be held by their priests, there'd probably be a bit of confusion as to why there were monks leading Catholic mass in the first place.
To hear a response that is basically people telling the Faith they're wrong -- and in some cases, people insisting that shamanism is the one true way -- alarms the vast majority of NPCs. It's like if your devout Catholic villagers hear you insisting that no, those monks will by gosh be holding mass and they /will/ be listened to. It has the populace uneasy, and looking to the Faith for guidance on how to respond to this.
How much unease varies from fealty to fealty; in the Oathlands, a domain whose lord or lady goes up against the Faith is going to be grounds for /manifest/ alarm by the populace and censure by other noble houses. In the Northlands, there's much less confusion or unrest, but it's still considered unwise to call out the Faith.
The short form is that while staff is perfectly willing to let this play out however players try to resolve it, we want to make sure people know what they're getting into thematically. The Faith is one of the most powerful organizations in the Compact; it is one of the only ones that holds significant power in all the fealties, /especially/ in the Oathlands. And while the Faith cannot stand against the combined might of multiple high lords, individual houses who come into conflict with the Faith can find very bad things happening to them as their populace loses faith in their leadership: there may be hits to social standing to start, but unrest, population moving to other houses causing loss of population/income, and other impacts to dominion are all possible.
Play as you will, but we just didn't want people walking into this blind and then being upset at consequences!
The vast majority of the Compact -- and indeed, a fair number of Abandoned -- do not believe in shamanism. Even those devout followers of the Pantheon who believe the spirits exist generally do not think them akin to gods, and view those who worship spirits that way askance.
To most people, being told 'shamans will no longer be serving in the priesthood and Discipleships' is a bit like a Catholic church being told 'Tibetan monks will no longer be leading our Sunday mass; this service will now only be performed by Catholic priests'. Not only would it make sense to most Catholics that mass will be held by their priests, there'd probably be a bit of confusion as to why there were monks leading Catholic mass in the first place.
To hear a response that is basically people telling the Faith they're wrong -- and in some cases, people insisting that shamanism is the one true way -- alarms the vast majority of NPCs. It's like if your devout Catholic villagers hear you insisting that no, those monks will by gosh be holding mass and they /will/ be listened to. It has the populace uneasy, and looking to the Faith for guidance on how to respond to this.
How much unease varies from fealty to fealty; in the Oathlands, a domain whose lord or lady goes up against the Faith is going to be grounds for /manifest/ alarm by the populace and censure by other noble houses. In the Northlands, there's much less confusion or unrest, but it's still considered unwise to call out the Faith.
The short form is that while staff is perfectly willing to let this play out however players try to resolve it, we want to make sure people know what they're getting into thematically. The Faith is one of the most powerful organizations in the Compact; it is one of the only ones that holds significant power in all the fealties, /especially/ in the Oathlands. And while the Faith cannot stand against the combined might of multiple high lords, individual houses who come into conflict with the Faith can find very bad things happening to them as their populace loses faith in their leadership: there may be hits to social standing to start, but unrest, population moving to other houses causing loss of population/income, and other impacts to dominion are all possible.
Play as you will, but we just didn't want people walking into this blind and then being upset at consequences!