Religion

Since Samsara was created from so much diversity, people are often surprised that religion has become so divisive an element here. There is a reason, and it all ties back to the Plague of the Smiling Death.

The Smiling Death wrecked havoc on Samsara twenty years ago. It spread fast and especially favored children. As parents cremated their offspring, there was at first solidarity and failies gathered together to comfort and aid each other in their time of need. But as some families remained untouched by the plague, it was perhaps understandable that some parents felt anger that some families still had their children while they had lost theirs.

The general philosophy that was dominant at that time preached acceptance of all circumstances - fortunate and unfortunate as part of life. Some people could not accept it. They sought succor with preachers who had more radical views. The Lawgivers were all monotheistic, and believed that unfortunate things happen only when people veer from the way of the one true God and what He willed of his people. For years they had existed as one of the three hundred types of faiths in Samsara, except for one vital caveat- you had to "convert" into their faith, and you were born into others.

To be fair, the Lawgivers never preached violence, or that their members carry out justice in Rudra's name. However, some of their more "radical" preachers did not toe the line. They preached of the great evil that had been brought on this land because of the acceptance of other false faiths, and encouraged their flock to seek out and slaughter the worshippers of false Gods. The Lawgivers excommunicated these Priests, but it was too late. Many people were struck with a combination of grief, envy and anger, and were rallied into blood thirsty mobs. The excommunicated Priests thumbed their nose at the Lawgivers and named themselves the Pavitra- (The Pure) and remain to this day a radical organization which uses violence to achieve their aim of a world that worships Rudra and Rudra alone.

But the mob was energized and they clashed in the streets. Thousands more were killed. The King was fearful of intervention as it was impossible to tell who was protector and who was killer. Lawgivers advocated protection through subterfuge. They opened their temples to anyone seeking protection and shielded them from attackers. But the Mitraa- a secular coalition of faiths dedicated to protecting people from religious persecution did not agree. They insisted that only direct intervention could save the most innocent- the children. Defying the will of the people, and the King, they went out to rescue children, and shed blood- innocent and blighted alike. Though they saved many lives, the fact that they caused so many to fall earned them disrepute. They returned to a hostile kingdom that demanded that they go into exile.

The Mitraa released the children to their families or surviving relatives and the official word was that they disbanded entirely. But unknown to all, some of the few prominant members of the Mitraa remained in their Ashrama stronghold. There they sought out permission from some parents so that they may train a few children whom they had discovered had exceptional talents. Given the Asharam system, many parents agreed, and these children, about 35 in number trained under the legendary Guru Durvasa and his powerful fellows.

Then, slightly more than a decade ago, the Ashrama was attacked by a band of young men bearing the banner of the Pavitra. They were easily defeated, but worried about the safety of the children, the Mitraa entrusted each of their children to a guardian best suited to them and asked the guardians to split and scatter throughout the land. They were entrusted with three responsibilities- to protect the children with their lives, to train them to be the best warriors they could be, and to bring them back to a safe location when the year of Ekagriti dawned.

Around this time, three things happened that changed the religious landscape. The King lost his only child and heir and the kigndom quickly sobered. He then converted to the Lawgiver philosophy which settled many of the aggreieved who believed the King would never understand their faith, and lastly, the Lawgivers gained vast power and were able to quell the Pavitra.

Lawgivers are now the most powerful religion in the land and try their best to quell what they believe are false faiths. Fortunately, the Lawgivers do this by diplomacy and spreading the ideals of their faith instead of violence. Large pockets of other faiths remain throughout the northern and central provinces, but the Eastern provinces are almost entirely of the Lawgiver faith. The southern and Western provinces, smaller provinces are not strong Lawgiver strongholds. Expect resistance in these areas if you choose to become a Lawgiver, and strong support in the Northern and Eastern provinces. Expect the exact opposite if you choose to be a Mitraa. And if you go neutral, expect many to think a tad less of you as someone with no conviction.

Mitraa now no longer refers to the Secular army alone. People of other faiths often refer to themselves as the Mitraa to indicate that they are secular and they will fight for the right to maintain their own faith and for the freedom for other people to do the same.

The key differences between the two. Mitraa is basically the ultimate expression fo secular faith. They believe your actions are more critical than your beliefs, and that all faiths- even the most craven and horrifying must be accepted as long as they don't cause direct harm to others. The Lawgivers are monotheistic. They believe that unless there is codified behavior, people will fall into sin. So, they have more rules and laws to ensure people lead righteous lives. Their followers tend to be pious and law abiding, and rarely cause any trouble. They are also slightly concerned about the fates of those who have not discovered Rudra as they genuinely believe they have no chance of Salvation without him.

Both believe that the human soul is eternal and is reborn unless it has mastered the lessons of life. If it attains mastery, it attains Salvation and becomes one with the Great Spirit (or Rudra) and never needs to be reborn. If it does not, it is reborn and given another chance. The key difference here is that Lawgivers believe that all that is needed for mastery is a life that is led with strict adherence to what Rudra recommends for all mankind. The Mitraa tends to believe that everyone has their own individual will and path and will not be judged on their beliefs or on the basis of common ground.

The Mitraa belives of "God" as a formless, genderless entity they refer to as the "Great Spirit". It is beyond all dualities of Good and Evil and everything emanates from It. This reflects in their philosophies where life is a balance between elements of Satvik, Rajasic and Tamasic and all people are equal in the eyes of their creator. The Lawgivers envision the "Tawny Skinned, Matted haired Rudra" a specific male God who is terrible in His Wrath and merciful if you are obedient and submit to His Will. Thus, they see life as a struggle between the dualities of all that is good (Satvik) and that which is evil (Tamasic) and action takes man to one end or the other.

Both believe that the Great Spirit or Rudra intervenes in the lives of man through directly appearing to chosen mortals or appearing as a mortal Itself/Himself to help mankind.

How does this apply to you? Your playing style of course! If you are the sort who believes there is only one way, or playing such a character excites you, Lawgivers will excite you. Easy going egalitarians are better suited for Mitraa philosophers in the sense it will feel more natural to play them.

These do not have any effect on lawful/evil etc. Paladins need not fear being Mitraa and evil sorts needn't fear the Lawgivers because it is a philosophy. The deeds that you commit in their name will mark you in terms of the alignments I mentioned earlier, and it is pretty simple to spot the evil and good options. However, this does mean that you cannot play as a neutral character. Neutrality is simply a concept that will not gel in this setting and you will find that for neutral characters this game may seem like it is forcing them to go one way or another and it won't be as satisfying.

Thanks for reading. I'll post updates in my next blog.

The first area

In the tradition of virtually every RPG in the universe, you start off as a youngster in a small village. You are even a foster child...Groundbreaking, I know. Rudely awakened by the woman who helped raised you, you can set out to explore the village, earn some gold, win a contest, settle religious disputes and..learn a lot about the land among other things. 

There is just one story related quest. Everything else is optional, and there are many many optional quests. However, this is when you learn about alignments and how they work in the specific context of this game. You also get a chance to align yourself with the Lawgivers, the Mitras or to stay neutral. This will determine plot trajectories as well as joinable companions (some folks will not join you if you are well into being a Mitraa, and some won't if you are well into being Lawgiver). The first section is also purely solo. You are not in a village known for combat.

The Main Quest:

The visiting Lawgiver and the Village Priest both wish proof that a temple of Chandi maa once existed in the surrounding areas. Both want you to find proof and give it solely to them. The Lawgiver claims that Her worship involved ritual human sacrifice and other horrific ceremonies. The latter claims that he does not know what their rituals entitled, but that religion is seldom static and even if they once did terrible things doesn't mean it is going to cause them to revert to such behavior. Once you find the artifact and it is complicated, I'll tell you that- you can choose to align yourself with the Lawgivers by giving their priest the artifact. You can align yourself with the Mitraa, by giving the village priest the artifact, or you can stay neutral by not giving it to either of them, and by keeping it or giving it to the Monastery of Pranshula that you will encounter much later.

Once successfully completed, the style changes. For one,  you meet your guardian and she is very straight with you. No mysterious talk, no riddles, and no BS. You are going to the Ekadanta pass pronto, and for a very legitimate reason. She also tells you about how you came to be in her care. No, you are no orphan, or foundling. You have parents who are still alive, hale and hearty..even wealthy who entrusted you to your protectors for a very good reason.

You go to the Ekadanta pass and are met with nice, kindly folk who help you. No, not really. You meet your first super baddie, and the perfect example of the sort of people who give religion a bad name. Well, the dude wants to enter heaven with your crushed skull in his hands as an offering to God. If you let him, the game is over. But if you fight him and his minions, and defeat them- you can progress to section 2. But more on that later.

Optional Quests and Areas:

There are three optional areas and 17 optional quests that significantly increases your gametime by 10-14 hours or more. Some of the quests are serious, some are deliberately silly and over the top, but some of them, even the ones that seem somewhat goofy can have implications in later parts of the game, so read carefully. 14 of these quests are resolved in the first section, but 3 continue on for the entire duration of the chapter. The ones that are resolved in the first section are all done, written and scripted. (Please understand that the cultural implications mean some serious quests may sound goofy. A ritual blessing by a cow is a very proper thing to do given the setting, but players may find it kind of over the top.)

NPCs:

While some NPCs will give you quests, they are also a repository for information about the world if you choose to learn it. Some, like your village militia, know more about a specific war, while the Dwarf can tell you about Dwarven history in Samsara. The Lawgiver and the Village Priest can help you learn about their faiths respectively, and you can learn from the village headwoman about the traditions of her village. Most NPCs have something unique or important to say, an opinion, a clue to a quest or the like. Enjoy it, because in larger towns that follow, this sort of unique perspective is not always going to be possible.

Know, that the more knowledge you acquire, the more sense this game will make to you. Since the knowledge is in context for the most part, and available in multiple formats, from talk to discoveries, to books to inscriptions on ruins, it is not too intimidating. At least I didn't think it was.

All NPCs in Rudaali are almost completely scripted. There are two people left. One of them has copious dialogue, and he is only 80% complete. Ah well. The other is a bit of a pickle because he keeps re-occuring if you make a certain decision.

Did you like OWNING something in BG2? Well, just keep your eyes peeled for there is something in section 1 with immense "potential". You'll encounter more of such things later. (But they are not complex like the stronghold stuff in NWN2 was.)

Of course, I have no idea if anyone even reads this stuff, but if you do, please do consider joining the forum where we can discuss the mod. You can find it at tamasthegathering.freeforums.org/  It is a private forum, so you will have to register. Or else, I'd appreciate your comments here. Thanks!

So, there are clans.

Clans is just a start. Perhaps the easiest thing to explain because everyone in Samsara follows a clan. Your clan is traced back to a lot of generations depending on how diligent your ancestors were. Some Seekers trace back their family to more than 80.

But what else do the people of Samsara have in common? A complex form of government to start with. A lot of this is decentralized. People elect their own headman and replace him when they believe he is no longer fit, or when he dies. Female headmen are pretty rare except for certain communities and in the southern provinces. A group of villages often band together in a brotherhood where inter-village disputes are solved by a group of headmen sans the headmen of the villages involved.  Each group of villages reports to their respective Council which is equal to the King in legal status, even if the emotional status of the King is far greater.

So councils? Doesn't that complicate things?

Samsara was pretty traditional with Lords and a feudal system right upto about five hundred years ago. A king named Gokula was worried with the way his Lords were treating his subjects. One one hand it smacked of corruption and greed, but the people's loyalty seemed to be to the lord, and not to the King. He called for his Minister Sachi.

"Suppose you walk down a beautiful river bank and you see a man flailing in the water. He doesn't specifically scream "help", but he does not look comfortable. On one hand, he could be drowning and wishing your assistance. On the other hand, he may either be an awkward swimmer or wishing purposely to end his life, and wishing for you to go away.  If you delay too much, there might be disaster, or there might now. How does an observer know what to do?"

"The observer asks him." Sachi replied simply.

Over the course of his reign, Gokul wiped out the feudal system and replaced it with the council.

The council is described by the verbose King and his even more verbose head of Legal Affairs in an impressive tome called "Ask the People". It is is six feet long by four feet wide, a full eight inches thick, and embossed with some of the first rubies from the Dronagiri mines. It ends up making the council sound very complex.

In truth, this complicated process can be explained very simply by saying the chamber consists of 5 elected Province representatives who are elected by the people of their region and 9 representatives (navagrahas) who preside over the councils of Legal, Military, Finance, Culture, Education, Religion, Trade, Internal Security and Health.  Navagrahas are elected by Province representatives.  These people sit in their respective Council buildings for six months of the year and at the Capital city for six months of the year. 

Councils are very powerful because they have been vested with a lot of collective authority. Together, a council can declare war. They can change the laws of the land. Finally, they can unseat the King, or replace him if they have the will of the people by their side. The problem with this is that all 14 council members should act jointly. That rarely happens. While we have had two Chambers where all the Navagrahas were friends and cordial with each other, at no point in history have the Province Representatives been awfully kind to each other. This stems from attitudes that can be traced back to their provinces, itself.

Eager to visit the provinces? Me too. I'll post their "travel brochures" soon.