Religeon in Deadfire

[SonicMage117]

Will the sequel see the same overly induced religeous treatment as the original?

 

Dear God, I hope so! As my other thread stated recently in the PoE1 section, my absolute favorite thing about PoE1 was the basis and foundation set Eora on Religeon an how Religeon always brings communities together rather than divide them - much like real life.

 

This, I believe (no pun intended) is a crucial theme to continue within the world of Pillars. Will it continue the righteous path? Or will it stray without conviction. My heart tells me that Religeon will play an even bigger role... one can hope!

[Sedrefilos]

Since the gods aren't real in Eora, at the end, I'd like to see how this affects religious population as it starts to be revealed to more people (if so - I hope, at least, we, as watchers with this knowledge, can see to it).

 

Also, irl, religion tends to unite communities of the same religion, usually against the communities of a different one

[injurai]

I hope their communities are tossed once again into chaos and we can see how people regather in the ashes.

[SonicMage117]

I believe the watcher has a necro spell for dat

[daven]

RELIGION

 

Sorry it was burning my eyes.

[Wormerine]

RELIGION

 

Sorry it was burning my eyes.

Religious pigeon - Religeon

[daven]

I dislike portmanteaus as well. RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE INSIDE ME!

[Lephys]

 

RELIGION

 

Sorry it was burning my eyes.

Religious pigeon - Religeon

 

 

Religeon is evolving into... Religeotto!

[algroth]

 

 

RELIGION

 

Sorry it was burning my eyes.

Religious pigeon - Religeon

 

 

Religeon is evolving into... Religeotto!

 

 

Is Religeon the middle-form between Religey and Religeotto? Is there a Religeot? Are their gusts the power of God? Are they Holy Ghost type?

Edited January 2, 2018 by algroth

[Lephys]

Religeots are simultaneously pigeons, religious, and zealots. . They're so full of zeal, they fight with an extraordinary amount of GUST-o.

[rjshae]

Hmm, my guess was that a religeon is a portmanteau of religious galleon. Beware of proselytizing pirates, my friends...

[SonicMage117]

How dare you all mock my favorite thing about the game....

[PneumaticFire]

It's actually an interesting take on religion in Pillars 1 and where we currently stand with the story going forth into Pillars 2. 

 

I'm also a little wary of a growing trend I personally feel is happening in current popular media, to dismiss, downplay or to outright villainize anything that mildly resembles the positives of organised or communal faith and religion, both historically and contemporarily.   Or that of theism, which is substituted for a bland extreme relativism and bleak critique with no positive alternative other than jaded deconstruction.

Personal agency and deriving meaning from our own feelings and thoughts on something are wonderful things, but I'd like to think, in such a wonderful world, there are powers (whomever they may be) that are above and beyond our personal convictions manifested, even if its powers or sources beyond the gods as they are known in the game. 

 

I don't intend to make this a sociology piece or philosophy thesis!

So in short, there is a nice ground where mature themes and shades of grey can be explored, without taking away the magic, wonder, or aspects of high fantasy/good and evil, which are appealing and cause a sense of wonder, even in a non high-fantasy game.   Please don't go too far down that path!

 

Edited January 4, 2018 by PneumaticFire

[Sedrefilos]

Well, in a fantasy setting you can justify gods and whatnot, that's for sure

 

@PneumaticFire, dismissing religion is not a trend. It's happening since centuries.

Edited January 4, 2018 by Sedrefilos

[Valmy]

@PneumaticFire, dismissing religion is not a trend. It's happening since centuries.

 

That was not what he was saying. He was talking about exploring the different aspects of organized religion, rather than just blandly deconstruct it.

 

It is the blandly deconstructing things he is saying is the trend, not dismissing religion.

Edited January 4, 2018 by Valmy

[Witness41920]

I was genuinely pleased by the way religion is handled in Pillars of Eternity. On the one hand you have the positives of organized religion being demonstrated such as the strengthening of a sense of community and fellowship, faith found through hardship, strength in conviction and so on. You also have the negatives of organized religion being demonstrated such as fanatical interpretations and beliefs leading to great evils, outright hostility to different or opposing faiths and the kind of mental deterioration that comes when an individual or group of individuals fails to challenge their own beliefs and instead has them shattered by opposition. 

 

I would really like to see the series continue to treat religion with the respectful stroke it has kept so far while being willing to tackle some of the problems that can come from it. 

[Qumi]

Gods in Pillars are real, though. They have been created by people, but as stated in the game, their power and influence is real. It was one of the more interesting points within the game. They might have been made by people, but they transcended mortals. 

[Wormerine]

Gods in Pillars are real, though. They have been created by people, but as stated in the game, their power and influence is real. It was one of the more interesting points within the game. They might have been made by people, but they transcended mortals.

 

Are they real though? If they have been created by people should they have that influence over people? Is,their positive influence enough to justify cruelties done to gain their favour (roderick). The finale leaves a lot of doubt and raises questions and I can’t wait to see how Obsidian will delve deeper into the subject in Deadfire.

[Qumi]

 

Gods in Pillars are real, though. They have been created by people, but as stated in the game, their power and influence is real. It was one of the more interesting points within the game. They might have been made by people, but they transcended mortals.

Are they real though? If they have been created by people should they have that influence over people? Is,their positive influence enough to justify cruelties done to gain their favour (roderick). The finale leaves a lot of doubt and raises questions and I can’t wait to see how Obsidian will delve deeper into the subject in Deadfire.

 

 

In other settings you have mortals who become gods, gods power is relying on human worship. Nobody questions whether they are gods. Just because they were created doesn't mean their influence isn't real. They control the wheel of souls and many aspects of life. They have huge powers, as visible in the game. Their influence doesn't have to be positive because they aren't necessary positive. Gods in fantasy worlds are more or less beings of higher power, influence and level of existence. Other than that, they have very similar motivations to humans.

[SonicMage117]

Does a god bleed? Is a god false if it does a group of people believe they do nt exist? These are great questions that Pillars will ask.

 

I remember many people complaining about religeon in the first game but look at where we are now. Hee, this discussion is beautiful. I'm glad to hear that they will only be building upon it and expanding the foundation. Religeon is and will always be oe of the most interesting and important things for the future of this franchise

[Sedrefilos]

They don't mess that much with regilion, tbh, as more about what gods are and how they act. This is different that dealing with relegious topics.

 

(I assume religeon = religion, so I'm not off topic eh? )

[Wormerine]

There was a real neat interview with Eric Fenstermaker about PoE and there was an excerpt about themes and faith which I found super interesting - how much writiers perspective and origin of an idea differs from what I would expect. As it touches “faith” in pillars and where it came from I think it’s worth reposting. Full interview can be found here:

 

http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=10231

 

“We had two major themes we wanted to work with, both of which seemed natural and important to discuss for this particular story and setting. I'll suggest that people who think one of them is about faith might want to broaden their perspective a bit. Both themes are present in the player's story and at least one is present in each companion's story, though which theme it is varies. White March (taken as a whole) puts a spin on both, but tends to focus on one in particular.

 

Part of the genesis of the Pillars story in particular was the observation that in most fantasy settings, the gods are taken for granted. You know they're up there on Olympus or in the heavens or wherever, and you have some idea of how your afterlife is going to look, and what steps you have to take to improve your standing in that regard. Characters in these worlds, on some level, aren't quite human if they don't have to wonder about these things. It's a romantic and appealing fantasy to have all of that figured out and to only need to worry about killing your enemies and pleasing your gods and boning other similarly carefree and attractive violet-eyed adventurers, and that's resulted in the prevalence of that kind of setting within the genre. But if you go that route you miss out on one of the best ways to test your characters and see what they are made out of, and you also miss out on a powerful source of relatability that just about every other genre has access to (and futuristic sci-fi often thrives on).

 

This wasn't an idea that came about immediately, even when writing what would become he final treatment, but when it did, it led to the game story as you see it now.”

[SonicMage117]

They don't mess that much with regilion, tbh, as more about what gods are and how they act. This is different that dealing with relegious topics.

 

(I assume religeon = religion, so I'm not off topic eh? )

Yes I mispelled

[Messier-31]

 

(I assume religeon = religion, so I'm not off topic eh? )

 

Yes I mispelled

 

Religeon > Pigeon

[Lord_Mord]

 

I'm also a little wary of a growing trend I personally feel is happening in current popular media, to dismiss, downplay or to outright villainize anything that mildly resembles the positives of organised or communal faith and religion, both historically and contemporarily.   Or that of theism, which is substituted for a bland extreme relativism and bleak critique with no positive alternative other than jaded deconstruction.

Personal agency and deriving meaning from our own feelings and thoughts on something are wonderful things, but I'd like to think, in such a wonderful world, there are powers (whomever they may be) that are above and beyond our personal convictions manifested, even if its powers or sources beyond the gods as they are known in the game.

 

How wonderful it is to know, that no matter how far you've come, how independent and developed you are, how much you found out about the world around you, how elaborated your moral values, that there is always someone above you in the chain of command to have the last word. Keeps unwanted responsibility away very effectively.

 

 

 

They control the wheel of souls and many aspects of life.

 

As far as I understood, they do not. It was always there, the engwithians just sucked souls from it to create and feed the gods. The Gods are nothing but artificial parasites. Just like in real life.