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Thread: Greg's loyalty to Hel
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2017-08-15, 11:26 AM (ISO 8601)
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Greg's loyalty to Hel
Hello, everyone !
Re-reading the discusion between the Thorsaken and the Exaargh in 1087, I started wondering : How loyal is Whiskers in the Dark to his dark Mistress ?
Durkon original recipe loved is patron Thor with all his heart (in a stricly heterosexual-buddy-kind of way), but if Durkon putting others before himself means Count Durkula is a selfish unlegitimate offspring it should mean that the Low Priest of Hel has nothing but scorn for her, should it not ? In that case it would mean that he only serves her as a mean to an end, namely his revenge against Dwarfkind and Roy.
But as shown by the LG polar opposites must have some likeness to each other and maybe Darkon truly is loyal to Hel.
What do you think ? Should his loyalty be tested in a "either kill Roy or fulfill Hel's plan" scenario what do you guess would Phyrnglsnyx do ?
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2017-08-15, 01:21 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2008
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Re: Greg's loyalty to Hel
Don't get caught up too much with ideas of opposites. That way lies madness. After all, Character X wears clothes doesn't translate to Evil Opposite X is a nudist. Think of him less as opposite than as a dark reflection. There is much to recognize of Durkon in his evil counterpart, including his devotion and loyalty to his deity.
Last edited by jidasfire; 2017-08-15 at 01:22 PM.
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2017-08-15, 01:37 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2015
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Re: Greg's loyalty to Hel
Yeah, "you on your worst day" is sometimes simplified to "your opposite" in this here forum, but that's not how it works. Vamp Durkon doesn't seem to be merely Hel's puppet, he has his own goals and desires, but so far there's little reason to suggest that makes him any less loyal to Hel. I do think he could (and perhaps will) become sidetracked and lose sight of his end goal, but that'd be because he'd get carried away, not because he'd consciously choose to defy Hel's orders.
ungelic is us
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2017-08-15, 02:13 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2017
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Re: Greg's loyalty to Hel
I think that this is a false distinction. As much as Durkula resents Roy, his biggest motivation is revenge on the Dwarven people. Because that's what Durkon wanted in his darkest moment. This can't be a competing priority against his loyalty to Hel, because completing Hel's plan is the greatest revenge against the Dwarven people conceivable.
I think that his own goals may indeed be more important to Durkula than bare LE-cleric loyalty to his deity. But those goals are practically identical, so it hardly matters.
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2017-08-17, 05:39 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2010
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2017-08-17, 06:17 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2007
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- Manchester, UK
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Re: Greg's loyalty to Hel
I asked why Malack worships Nergal, rather than some other deity, back when the reveal of how vampirism works in OotS first happened, and the Giant basically said, "He could have continued worshipping a god who despised him and wouldn't grant him any spells, or he could go with the one who would let him keep his power". The same applies to Durkula, I think--what god other than Hel would want him and would grant him his spells? So, it's kind of a moot point whether he's loyal or not, because he's not going to go against the person who provides his power.
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2017-08-17, 08:17 AM (ISO 8601)
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2017-08-17, 10:11 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2007
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- Manchester, UK
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2017-08-17, 11:27 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2009
Re: loyalty to Hel
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1006.html
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1007.html
Hel is the key to getting the revenge Durkula craves.
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2017-08-17, 11:34 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2009
Re: Greg's loyalty to Hel
He could worship Nergal...
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2017-08-17, 12:06 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Sep 2014
Re: Greg's loyalty to Hel
There are options. He doesn't actually need a god - he could choose to worship the Negative Energy Plane, or vampirism... or ROCKS!
(Yes, trying to provide atheistic options for clerics in a setting where gods are provably real and clerics' magic comes directly and personally from a god is weird as hell. But there it is!)Last edited by Reboot; 2017-08-17 at 12:06 PM.
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2017-08-17, 12:27 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Greg's loyalty to Hel
I don't know, I think that atheism makes more sense in a world where an eternal-reward style afterlife is a proven fact and some "gods" are well known to be ascended mortals. The belief that the gods are ALL actually no more than very powerful mortal souls seems likely enough. The gods say that they created the universe, (which seems like a capital-G God thing to do) but we really only have their word for that...
Last edited by alwaysbebatman; 2017-08-17 at 12:28 PM.
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2017-08-17, 01:43 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Sep 2014
Re: Greg's loyalty to Hel
Sure, that's a perfectly valid viewpoint for a wizard, sorcerer, fighter, bard, etc to take - accept the power of these beings, but reject their divinity.
But for a cleric? Divine powers are the powers of these beings. It feels like a cheat to be able to worship a concept or physical object and expect them to grant those powers. It's like wanting a wooden kendama, but rejecting the idea that wood comes from trees and saying you should be able to get wood by refining and polymerising oil.
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2017-08-17, 02:11 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2017
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Re: Greg's loyalty to Hel
Hmm, in OOTS terms it sounds like an accidental backdoor to accessing divine magic via the domain agreement...
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2017-08-19, 01:29 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2007
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- Oregon, USA
Re: Greg's loyalty to Hel
FeytouchedBanana eldritch disciple avatar by...me!
The Index of the Giant's Comments VI―Making Dogma from Zapped Bananas
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2017-08-19, 06:22 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2017
Re: Greg's loyalty to Hel
The vampire isn't a mirror opposite; he's Durkon, bit on a really bad day. Sort of like reverse Berrocca.
Also, as Evil Earthworm Jim said when a similar argument was made, 'stop being so literal minded'
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2017-08-19, 09:52 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2009
Re: Greg's loyalty to Hel
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2017-08-19, 10:08 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2004
Re: Greg's loyalty to Hel
It is absolutely true that, if all clerical magic comes directly and personally from a god, it should logically be impossible to get clerical magic without getting it directly and personally from a god. Therefore, the logical conclusion is that clerical magic need not come directly and personally from a god; assuming as an unquestioned premise that it must seems to have no purpose except to point and go "look at the goofy rules!" without actually being justified in so doing.
Orth Plays: Currently Baldur's Gate II
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2017-08-22, 03:46 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2016
Re: Greg's loyalty to Hel
As I see it, D&D gods tend to draw their powers from impersonating some principle. D&D pantheons are often based on the "evil god of murder" / "godess of fire" specialist gods (with an exclusion priciple working : You don't get another "god of magic" until the previous one bites the dust), rather than the more fuzzy "god who was a sorcerer bad guy, wielded fire and murdered/tricked some other members of the pantheon" that is found in historical pantheons. Worshipping them is a way to access the energy of these principles.
Atheistic clerics simply skip the middleman, and find/learn a direct access to the source.