POVERO Campaign OOC

[Zilfer]

Any particular's for background? Should I make up anything for this? City based? Country based? Ect? I was picturing a background of CG sort of steals from richer/ne'er do wells and give sparingly to the poor or less fortunate. We'll see how that works out.

You can come from a rural area, another city, etc.

Just so long as you are a recent arrival in Povero. No regular employment yet.

Sounds good, maybe I have too much of a reputation in previous town that I had to skedaddle or risk getting caught/ identified from a town or two over.

[alhoon]

Just so long as you are a recent arrival in Povero. No regular employment yet.

If I may ask... what's Povero? I know literally nothing about the setting.

[Zilfer]

^good question!

[ewancummins]

Gods vary by city, principality , etc.

Here are some common major deities, with names/ titles common,y given them in this part of the world.

The Winged Victrix
LG

The Speaker in Storm

NG

The Fleet Maiden
CG

The Blind Judge
LN

The Green Corpse
N

The Pallid Dreamer

CN

The Brutal Master
LE

The Mistress of Poisoners
NE

The Flame of Anarchy

CE


Numerous minor deities may exist.
The major deities are not brings you would ever expect to encounter, although minor deities and their servants do sometimes appear in the mortal world. Or so it is said by many.

The alignments listed above are the most common alignments for the clergy of those gods. But these are trends, not absolute rules.
Please note that the set up is not henotheism. It is polytheism. Even a cultic devotee of the Brutal Master might call upon the Fleet Maiden when fleeing enemies.
Just in case!
Good aligned people are obviously not interested in promoting the worship of evil gods, yet they may leave small, clandestine offerings. This serves to propitiate the dark powers and thus avert their baleful gaze.
You can choose one deity as a special patron, but it would be very strange to deny all the other gods.


Povero has an old domestic religion. People practice rites at home in honor of ancestors and household (petty) gods.
Farmers and tradesmen also practice customs associated with their professions.
You may liken that to the old Roman pagan religion.

[ewancummins]

Note

The major deities above were created by me for this campaign.

Some should seem very familiar. That is meant to be so, because I drew from archetypes to create the list. The Winged Victrix and Blind Judge images are probably two of the more obvious ones. The Brutal Master is inspired by a drawing a friend made, with that as the title (not a god, nor for gaming).

If anyone has specific questions or comments about a major deity, fire away.

Minor deities, demigods, hero- saints, geniuses of persons and places, etc will figure in, as noted. I usually include this sort of thing as an open ended way to introduce new cults, new myths, deific beings you could perhaps encounter at higher levels, and so on.

[Zilfer]

Cool.

[ewancummins]

Cool.

Thanks.

RE patrons

Don't be afraid to list " none" or to choose a major deity with an associated alignment different from that of your PC, although one strongly opposed would be an oddity.
If you think two or three gods would be of special interest, list them.

And if you want to introduce a petty god, deified ancestor, etc as a primary or secondary patron, go right ahead. You have considerable freedom in this respect; I only require you to submit it it to me so I can make it work in the setting. The old Judges Guild book, "Unknown Gods", might help in this respect. Ditto "Petty Gods", a free gaming book you can download.Some of the deities in these books might be silly, but most are not. And touches of whimsy seem fine to me.


Philosophers have developed the concept of an overgod or Primal Source, but this is not something that clerics get spells from. Is it real? Who knows?
Attempts at divination cannot determine that.

[ewancummins]

Science, magic, and technology

There is as yet no clear distinction between science and magic.
Nor is science all that " scientific."

(Not that it matters much to play, but my thinking is that, without an equivalent to the theological developments on Western Europe during the latter half of the Medieval Period, scientific development has been haphazard and slow.)

But there are some universities. A city to the north, Ferrantio, has one with a library of over a thousand manuscripts.

Povero is a center of printing and the book trade.

Metagame note; Don't forget that your PC is illiterate (or maybe semiliterate at best) if he does not take the Read/Write NonWeapon Proficiency

One slot for wizards and priests

Two slots for most others

[steveflam]

Note about Gertie,,, if anyone is as close to an atheist , it is most probably her until she is proven contrary,

Unsure but in Thieves handbiook is read/write a 1 not a 2?

[ewancummins]

[ewancummins]

Note about Gertie,,, if anyone is as close to an atheist , it is most probably her until she is proven contrary,

Unsure but in Thieves handbiook is read/write a 1 not a 2?

RE thief R//W

I go by kit for that. See if it is required or recommended for the kit.

Some guys just fake it with a few points in read languages % at higher levels.

RE atheism

Sure, if she is either insane or dumber than a bag of hammers.
Pretty much everyone believes in the gods. Major deities do not appear in the middle of the street demanding worship, but they hardly need do that.

Kooky philosopher denies existence of the gods.
Some impressionable youngsters start to take him halfway seriously.

Cleric curses him with donkey ears for being a jackass.

Atheism disproved again, as far as most folks are concerned.

[Zilfer]

Those hammers maybe useful.... Would you mind if I "borrowed" those? XD

[ewancummins]

This is not to say that there are no impious or skeptical types.

A cynical thief might say " religion is a racket and those clerics are magicians with good stories to sell it." He might think much of what was said about the gods was made up. But if pressed, he'd likely still admit that the empowered clerics were indeed tapping into some kind of supernatural forces/beings beyond the scope of mere humanity.

(Not every religious functionary or clergyman is a true cleric, of course. So it is possible your PC has not seen such powers in action and for some individual reason did not credit what she'd have learned from others in her community and/ or family growing up.)

So, Stevil, if you want to play a character who openly refuses to worship the gods, feel free. Just know that announcing it in public will tend to make people think poorly of her. Clerics will refuse to help her. Pious thieves may blacklist her.
Superstitious thieves may decide to do worse.

If it is a private opinion that she does not advertise, that is different.
The Brutal Master is unlikely to send chain Devils to rip her into pieces.
The gods have better things to do than squash eccentrics.

[steveflam]

Oh it would be a private thing if I so decide to do it.... makes for fun roleplaying for sure

[ewancummins]

Another possibility is to be from a place where temples, holy relics, clerics , and all that are rare.

If she grew up in a town with no spell casting clerics, maybe she thinks stories of magical healing and such are a bit exaggerated.
As a first level character, she is not all that experienced, so she may be ignorant of some things.