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Experiences of playing Chalana Arroy cultists


Jape_Vicho

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On 10/9/2020 at 7:52 PM, Darius West said:

Milixia was always a pretty bad person.  She was an ambitious brat from the squalid alleys of Nochet. Any charity or decency was beaten out of her by Nochet's class war. I always assumed she joined Chalana Arroy because of the social advantages it provided in Esrolia.  She couldn't get that far joining Ernalda unless she had the social contacts (which she didn't).  It was either Chalana Arroy or Lanbril, so she opted for a bit of column a and a bit from column b.  I checked if with my GM if he could cope with me playing a morally reprehensible Chalana Arroy character, and we discussed a number of points about the cult and its restrictions prior to me playing Milixia.  In retrospect I think he gave too much ground on what constituted Healer's Protection on sleeped npcs. I don't generally play "bad guys", and Milixia was a memorable change of pace.

I got the idea for Milixia many years ago when GMing Borderlands for friends.  One of them had a hazia addicted Chalana Arroy girlfriend at Horn Gate. He would visit her when on long range patrol for Raus.  The gf did some fairly questionable things over time and it began to dawn on me that a Chalana Arroy could have dimensions most combat oriented characters never really developed.  I had seen other players have really greedy Chalana Arroys before, but the notion of a truly morally reprehensible character who traded on favors and cash appealed to me.  I didn't expect Milixia to be quite as successful as she was, but I had run the GM through a number of intrigue heavy campaigns in the past, and he really seemed to rise to the occasion.  I think he was a little disappointed when we agreed to let Milixia and the boys die.

Chalana Arroy has always seemed to me to be a greedy cult. Unlike in D&D the Resurrection spell uses no expensive material components, but it's still an expensive spell. What does the cult do with their mountains of silver?

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6 hours ago, Brootse said:

Chalana Arroy has always seemed to me to be a greedy cult. Unlike in D&D the Resurrection spell uses no expensive material components, but it's still an expensive spell. What does the cult do with their mountains of silver?

There's still the economy of Rune Points and of time. Resurrect'ing someone costs 3 RP, plus maybe some more for other stuff (healing the body, getting rid of disease or other infection, etc). It expands MP and takes time for the ritual (including extra preparation to help with success). Sure, Chalana Arroy initiates and priests can get a few RPs from associated cult seasonal holy days, but there's still a limit to how many healings you can perform each season, especially when you consider that Resurrect isn't the only thing CA template provide (I assume the vast majority of a healer's business is for reattaching limbs and curing disease). The cost of something isn't equal to the cost of the materials, otherwise a lot of art would be super cheap.

As with many things in Glorantha and in the world, there's just no single simple answer. Take inspiration from real-world charities: there's going to be a mix of idealistic good people, former-idealistic-but-now-disillusioned people, and some bastards who are taking advantage and pocketing money and loot for themselves (either because they were always bastards who joined the charity for that purpose, or because they grew into it by getting gradually jaded at the depressing state of the world, and figured they should get something for themselves and all the work they did). There's a lot of room for many interesting takes on CA cultists.

Ludovic aka Lordabdul -- read and listen to  The God Learners , the Gloranthan podcast, newsletter, & blog !

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9 hours ago, Brootse said:

Chalana Arroy has always seemed to me to be a greedy cult. Unlike in D&D the Resurrection spell uses no expensive material components, but it's still an expensive spell. What does the cult do with their mountains of silver?

I'm sure they tell themselves they're using the funds to help those without wealth. Meanwhile, that's a really nice temple...

Edited by Akhôrahil
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On 10/15/2020 at 4:12 AM, Brootse said:

What does the cult do with their mountains of silver?

If I was running the cult I would be using that wealth to play a political game in the :mundane realms that would make the Bene Gesserit look like pikers. It's a little extra assistance to help a pacifist cult survive in a war-like world, Oh, wait a minute, I do run the cult seeing as I world's organizer and GM.

Bwahahahahahaha!

... remember, with a TARDIS, one is never late for breakfast!

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 10/15/2020 at 9:12 PM, Brootse said:

Chalana Arroy has always seemed to me to be a greedy cult. Unlike in D&D the Resurrection spell uses no expensive material components, but it's still an expensive spell. What does the cult do with their mountains of silver?

They live like queens with fawning admirers in palaces of course.

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On 10/13/2020 at 2:30 AM, French Desperate WindChild said:

"Murderhobos" would appreciate the first ones, if the cause is the group AND if the cultist can heal but would not like to be stopped by their healer to kill someone before trying to convince the target to go elsewhere / decide differently (second case)

Thanks, but Milixia was not a murderhobo.  She was the leader of a crime ring with an entrenched criminal enterprise, but she seldom even had anyone killed.  She preferred to have them beaten within an inch of their lives, and then charged them for her healing services, and then only if they were already behind on their debt repayments.

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