12-06-2019, 06:10 AM | #11 | |||
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
|
Re: Discussion seed - Beatification
Quote:
Quote:
Perhaps before magic returned to the world, before the gods awoke from their 1,000-year slumber, before the Great Evil stirred and the gods were forced to step up their game, or whatever, mortals were on their own with canonization or glorification (of which beatification is actually the second-to-last step). The gods might not perceive time as mortals do, but they probably aren't going to waste whatever resources gods draw upon to do a detailed review of centuries or millennia of what amounts to (from a divine perspective) silly little gold stars and participation trophies. Thus, these "early saints" remain on the rolls – probably over the objections not of gods, but of some fraction of mortals. That's exactly the sort of thing that could lead to schisms, reformations, etc. in the mortal church, explaining multiple denominations, inquisitions, and lots of other fun stuff. In a fantasy setting, it's quite possible that some or even most mortally canonized saints were in fact bad people who ended up in the Other Place. They were canonized not for good acts, but for politically expedient ones. Which means they might actually be demon lords or whatever today. More radically, if the gods suddenly start taking an interest and do decide to review all the gold stars and participation trophies, they might cast out certain "false saints," whose immortal essence may have accumulated enough power through mortals pleading for intercession (or outright worshiping them) that they're a pain in the divine rear-end and very attractive to Hell's recruiters. Note that if you subscribe to the whole "early saints were really pagan deities integrated into canon to convert people and keep the peace" theory, what we're talking about here is actually which gods are considered legitimate. That can lead to crusades and the like . . . years of fun, especially for mercenaries such as most PCs in FRPGs. Quote:
That part is important. There's nothing wrong in fantasy with ruling that saints literally ascend out of the mortal sphere as part of the canonization process. That seems logical in a world full of undead and spells like Summon Spirit. That does, of course, mean saints can't be resurrected . . . so PCs might become NPCs upon becoming saints. Once they obtain sainthood, they may well grow in power through the process of being called upon as intercessors or, if the faith permits, through direct adoration. Which means they're like "small gods" (thanks, Pterry), which raises the whole subject of conflict with the real gods, literal demonization, etc. that I mentioned above.
__________________
Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
|||
12-06-2019, 06:55 AM | #12 | |
Join Date: Jun 2013
|
Re: Discussion seed - Beatification
Quote:
For this to work, you generally need such ascendants to be vanishingly rare, so the gods will need to setup methods for extraordinary (but non-ascendant) mortals to become (lesser) saints and demon lords.
__________________
GURPS Overhaul |
|
Tags |
gods, holy, religion, role playing, saints |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|