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skychrome
Senior Scribe
713 Posts |
 Posted - 19 Apr 2010 : 15:36:14
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A few days ago I was wondering about what happened to Mask's faithful after he got... hm... desintegrated(?)/fused(?)/died(?)/hostile takeover'd(?) ??
Did they get turned over to Shar?
Or to put it more general: what happens to a god's faithful and his domain/realm, when he dies (or gets out of business for whatever reason)?
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"You make an intriguing offer, one that is very tempting. It would seem that I have little alternative than to answer thusly: DISINTEGRATE!" Vaarsuvius, Order of the Stick 625 |
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Tyranthraxus
Senior Scribe
Netherlands
423 Posts |
Posted - 19 Apr 2010 : 15:45:14
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| I guess followers of a dead god are absorbed by a similar religion, or they might go mad or pick up an other profession. i.e. A priest of Mask might continue as a thief. |
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Cleric Generic
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
565 Posts |
Posted - 19 Apr 2010 : 15:57:01
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| Shar could put on the, er, 'mask' of Mask and take on his church as if he were an aspect of Shar. As for the souls dedicated to him that were in his domain prior to his disappearance, you could have them lost and wandering through the Shadowfell/Shadow plane, or spirited away by other gods / spiritual agencies. |
Cedric! The Cleric Generic and Master of Disguise!
ALL HAIL LORD KARSUS!!!
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
Posted - 19 Apr 2010 : 16:03:50
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quote:
Originally posted by skychrome
Or to put it more general: what happens to a god's faithful and his domain/realm, when he dies (or gets out of business for whatever reason)?
This is a rather complicated situation -- simply because it's often very rare for a god to actually and completely "die." As Ed explains below:-
"January 25, 2005: Hello, all. Ed answers Elf_Friend:
Regarding dead gods: mortals of Faerûn don’t know the true “current body count,” or where the residue of the divine essence of a dead god lies.
In part, this is because it’s very hard for a god to truly die unless very carefully destroyed by another god: otherwise, if some mortal of Faerûn still worships them or discovers them and starts worshipping them, later (even centuries later), they ‘rise’ again, albeit as almost powerless ghostly awarenesses (at their weakest).
The arguments among churches (about what god did what to which other god) confuse the average inhabitant of the Realms (who to believe?), but I’d say that among humans, most are aware that Bhaal, Iyachtu Xvim, Leira, and Myrkul are ‘dead.’ Only sages and some priests and wizards have even heard of, say, Karsus, and most folk accept that there are countless ‘godlings’ worshipped by various ‘cultists’ here and there across the Realms (from Savras and other half-remembered names to the beast-cults to “those dangerous folk who worship the skeletons of DRAGONS if ye can believe it, aye?”).
So some of them are dead and gone ‘forever’ (although one can then debate just how long ‘forever’ is, of course :}), but most are, as you say, “just dead, ready to be revived thru some epic act or worship.”
So saith Ed, Creator and Supreme Loremaster of the Realms. Also Champion Belcher of Colborne, I trow.
love to all,
THO"
Also:-
"So there’s constant worship going on for almost every divine being, rumored-to-be-divine being, half-forgotten and misremembered godlings... and even slain divine beings linger on as demigods or divine sparks that can “come back” if the right conditions occur. It’s hard to fall from the ranks of demigodhood, once attained: one simply becomes a weaker demigod. Mortals in the Realms are always whispering prayers to “forgotten” gods, in hopes that the grateful deity will give them a lot of aid, swiftly, either out of eagerness to have a new mortal worshipper to command, or simply because they hear and heed the prayer (where a more popular deity may miss or have scant regard for that one prayer, amid the deafening chorus of so many)."
...
In the instances of actual dead gods, however, worshippers often find their prayers will sometimes instead be answered by other deities with similar portfolios. Or, in the case where a rival deity has killed the deity in question, the faithful may find their prayers taken up by the conquering deity -- who perhaps claimed both the fallen deity's worshippers and portfolios [similar to the Bane and Cyric situation, for example]. Another possibility is that the faithful many suddenly find themselves without divine attention -- and their prayers and powers will immediately lose their purchase on the Prime Material Plane. In this case, the fallen deity's faithful are simply left to wander on their own, or find another similar deity, or simply give up their faith and join another church.
As for a fallen deity's domain... They can fade, or change [due to the absence of the ruling deity], or simply "fall" and merge with other similarly-aligned planes. Alternatively, a deity [either as the conqueror or ally] with portfolios similar to the fallen deity may subsume that fallen deity's former domain in an attempt to either preserve whatever remains of that deity's former power or merge it with his/her own. |
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Edited by - The Sage on 19 Apr 2010 16:05:30 |
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skychrome
Senior Scribe
713 Posts |
Posted - 19 Apr 2010 : 16:19:50
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quote:
Originally posted by The Sage
As for a fallen deity's domain... They can fade, or change [due to the absence of the ruling deity], or simply "fall" and merge with other similarly-aligned planes. Alternatively, a deity [either as the conqueror or ally] with portfolios similar to the fallen deity may subsume that fallen deity's former domain in an attempt to either preserve whatever remains of that deity's former power or merge it with his/her own.
Hmmm... so one could assume that uf they fuse their domains, then also those souls will be taken over.
Is there really no info on what happens to the souls of such a lost god, no matter if he disappears only for a rather short time or longer? |
"You make an intriguing offer, one that is very tempting. It would seem that I have little alternative than to answer thusly: DISINTEGRATE!" Vaarsuvius, Order of the Stick 625 |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
Posted - 19 Apr 2010 : 17:06:51
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quote:
Originally posted by skychrome
quote:
Originally posted by The Sage
As for a fallen deity's domain... They can fade, or change [due to the absence of the ruling deity], or simply "fall" and merge with other similarly-aligned planes. Alternatively, a deity [either as the conqueror or ally] with portfolios similar to the fallen deity may subsume that fallen deity's former domain in an attempt to either preserve whatever remains of that deity's former power or merge it with his/her own.
Hmmm... so one could assume that uf they fuse their domains, then also those souls will be taken over.
Is there really no info on what happens to the souls of such a lost god, no matter if he disappears only for a rather short time or longer?
If the deity simply disappears for a short time, then it's likely that there's enough residual energy from worshippers [as Ed indicated above in those replies I posted], to keep both the souls of the deity, and his/her domain intact for the most part. But if anything were to impede on that tenuous relationship... or the deity suddenly found itself unable to return to its position of power, then the circumstances I outlined above in my earlier post, would probably eventually come into effect. |
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Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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The gods' faithful
