Musings on a new Cluster

[HyperionSol]

I've been surfing the net and just letting my mind wander when I came across a video of the various bosses of Blasphemous II. As I watched with interest of the bizarre and haunting imagery, it kind of made me ponder how many of the bosses or characters could be inspiration to new Domains and even a new Cluster. But this one would be different

This is bare bones, like, very bare bones, but bare with me.

This Cluster would be derived from the same land. A land of religious zealotry and self-flagellant action as the people wallow in guilt over the many acts that they are told are sinful. All of this overseen by the deity known as the Holy Wills, the force of penitence, righteousness, and virtue to lead the people of the land to spiritual salvation. They hear the prayers of the faithful and answer with powerful miracles that, while answering those prayers, grant them in strange or even painful ways which keep the recipient's spirit humble and act in line the the flagellent style of worship the people follow.

In truth, the Holy Wills were born through the deep worship of the people and abuse this position, ensure the continued suffering of the people, keeps them afraid and constantly creates new saints, martyrs, and edicts to ensure the people feel as if they are constantly in sin and thus continue their destructive style of worship, ensuring the Holy Wills remain powerful and no other voice leads the people astray.

Then the Pope of the church committed an Act of Ultimate Darkness, and the Dark Powers scooped him away, creating the first domain of what would become the Gray Procession Cluster.

The Holy Wills were displeased with this, another symbol of their power and a means of ensuring it's control was suddenly taken away. But that individual was one of many tools it could use and so let it go. And then corrupted individuals, zealots, those that abused their powers granted by the Holy Wills began to be scooped away. More to become Darklords, other following trails the Dark Powers left behind, ending up in Ravenloft.

The Holy Wills felt slighted and angered that another was stealing away their followers, cutting them off from it and supplanting that power with their own. They began to try and take back their 'flock', clashing against the Dark Powers for the control of the Gray Procession. To no avail, but enough to glimpse into what had become of their followers. In the GRay Procession, each domain has become a faction, a splintering of the Holy Wills faith, fixating on one aspect, or following a new holy figure the Holy Wills did not appoint. This deviation, this slpintering, could not be allowed! Were it to spread, the Holy Wills themselves could falter and splinter, lose power, be left behind!

The Holy Wills and the Dark Powers continue to clash, even as the Holy Wills attempt to usurp control of the Cluster and either destroy it, or force those within back to the faith it wishes for, remaining absolute, unquestioned, and powerful. However, the Holy Wills is a very young (relatively speaking) deity and the Dark Powers are ancient, not that they allow the Holy Wills to know this. So they allow the Holy Wills to rail and throw their trantums, unaware just how out of their league they are and how pointless their struggles are in reclaiming it's lost toys.

[alhoon]

If I may, why a cluster? The local factions could co-exist in the same domain.

[HyperionSol]

Hm, a good point. Admittedly when I get ideas for new Domains, I get a trail of ideas and it ends up sounding better as a cluster. On the other hand, this could just be a large Domain, like Darkon-size, which is split between factions. I just thought if I used Blasphemous as the initial inspiration, many of the bosses or prominent characters in both games seem to have the presence to inspire Darklords, but they could be faction leaders too.

[IanFordam]

(Disclaimer: I know nothing about Blasphemous II. My questions below may be implicitly answered by the inspirational material.)

In deciding whether this new place should be a cluster or a single domain, I would recommend thinking about how the potential darklords would interact. If you want them to be able to meet face to face (whether in conflict or something as mundane as a council meeting) then they cannot be darklords according to the usual rules. As a consequence, the actual darklord would be the supernatural superior to the leaders of other factions, which may or may not fit in with that you're planning. However, if direct confrontation is not necessary, then the faction leaders could interact strictly via their representatives, and so a cluster of domains becomes viable. In this case all of the darklords would be roughly equal in supernatural power. As a third alternative, you might decree that the domain operates something like Darkon during the Necropolitan years or the island of Liffe as it was described in the Nocturnal Sea Gazetteer. Both Darkon and Liffe had a number of competing demilords vying for more power.

Your initial description makes reference to a pope-figure who becomes the first darklord of the cluster. However, otherwise it focuses upon the conflicts between the Holy Wills and the Dark Powers. That may be interesting background lore, but I'm more curious about what's happening in the Land of Mists. What are the factions? How do they interact? Most importantly: How might the player characters fit in?