Shattered Kingdoms

I understand that there are varying behind the scene levels in a religion, I've not found any post or helpfile that helps describe the system in a general sense.

Based on what I've read it seems to me that there are different tiers from:


like:

Dedicated - The initial step of devoting to a god
Accepted - Inducted into the Religion at a base level
Trusted - I think this distinction is more for religious based characters, giving them more responsibility in the church
Maybe higher levels?

And there are church leader flags which allow people to be inducted into a church?

HOWEVER I'm having a hard time understanding how the mechanics work based on my in game experience, and I'm not seeing any concise explanation of the system anywhere.

I'd like to understand this better for a couple reasons, the least of which is to help place myself in the context of the church's general structure in the game, or if none exist to help propose some general structures / titles within the church itself. Any help with this would be appreciated.

F3 - High Follower (all F2 benefits plus ability to invest, blemish and attone)
F2 - Favored Follower (cannot be blemished, can create holy symbols)
F1 - Basic Follower



Anything else, for flavor, is based upon the individual religion and is subject tob change on the whims of current leadership, as it should be.

F0 - Blemished

For priests and paladins and hellions, there are certain spells you cannot use if you are not in a religion. For shamans, there are certain spells you cannot use if you DO join a religion.

So if you're a non-priest, non-paladin/hellion, non-shaman class, you can either join a religion and gain access to RP and protection, or you can stay a pantheist and gain access to spirit aura.

There's also a sacred armor suit - one per each religion, and one for pantheists. But usually the higher followers/higher level characters have the sacred armor.

I take it there is no state, then, of "dedication but not accepted" other than in the general RP and attitude of the petitioner?

Thanks so much for all your replies!

That is correct. The common term is Seeker for someone who is seeking to join a Religion, but that is just used in the character's title to signal members of the church so they can get the appropriate people involved when they can, but mechanically, there is no Seeker position.

If you're worried about not being accepted into a religion, don't be. Unless your RP blatantly goes against what the church believes, high followers really can't deny seekers. Are you having trouble getting invested into a religion, or are you wanting to dedicate yourself without the mechanics of having a flag?

If you want to be a dedicate of a religion, there's no real way anyone can/would really take interest in stop[ping] you. There are several reasons why someone might not wish to formally join a church, and as it is in real life, a character's faith is between he or she and his/her deity[ies].

Since I know you actually already have a religion, at least as the character that shares your forumID, you should know that Jennbo is absolutely correct. As an F3, you have to make a decision about members pretty much on the spot. There's not any room in the game for a formal "seeker" position. Once you make contact with a prospective follower, you should RP to determine his or her worthiness and finish an investment ASAP.

You also can't invest/blemish in one fell swoop if you dislike some aspect of their concept or role play. You have to give a character the chance to conform to the faith . . . people disagree with me on this one, but I see the organization of a religion as a binding thing. If you join, you're bound to the leadership of the leaders. If you are a dedicate, you get to make your own rules, but you won't have the benefit of a symbol, sacred armor, et cetera. However, if you're going to be on board, then you have to be on board, in my opinion: It's an organization; organize or GTFO.

No the reason I asked, was mostly because in a previous muds I played there was a difference between devoting and being accepted by a god, both were part of the religion but one denoted a higher level.

And I'd seen more elaborate versions of the holy symbol that made me think there might have been a distinction to be had.

Thanks again everyone! I've got it straight now.

The holy symbol spell itself is the same no matter what, as long as your priest at least has f2. c "holy symbol" will always create the basic symbol of that religion.

However, there are ways you can get different symbols within your church - it will vary by religion! For some religions you can change the symbol no matter what your flag is based on a key word, and some people's symbols change automatically dependent on what flag you have. Some symbols don't change at all. However, I think it's fun to discover what the symbols do within the church yourself, so talk to your high priest if you have any questions.