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IMO, Priests are rarely the embodiment of their faith and are only =
that if all else fails. The role of a priest is to gather (and keep) as =
many worshipers for his / her god as possible. Many priests come to =
understand the failings either in their deity or his ideals, but remain =
as a 'spiritual leader' for one of several reasons. Firstly, the =
self-centred will see that the more followers the deity has, the more =
power and or gold they have. Secondly, sometimes they have the wisdom =
to see past the failings and encourage the flock towards the ideals and =
the challenge of their role is to lead the flock around the failings. =
Lastly, though there may be other reasons I haven't thought of, the =
belief that 'the people need to believe that'.
Each deity should have the champion of the faith; warrior gods =
definitely should have Paladins, but under particular (uncommon) =
circumstances, the other gods should have Paladins too. The champion of =
a god of thieves would be a master thief, a god of the seas would have =
possible a master pirate / privateer depending on the preferred =
alignment of the deity and so on. The Paladins of these latter faiths =
would either be misled (?), potential priests that saw the failings of =
'The Church' and instead looked for a more direct way to defend their =
faith, or more likely 'chosen' by the deity or an agent thereof for the =
protection of the faithful.

I know fantasy concepts cannot be explained away with RL examples, =
but... (BTW these are only examples from my viewpoint, I'm not meaning =
to offend anyone's RL faith); The Christian (and in particular =
Catholic) Church used both fear and ignorance to control the masses =
(when only the clergy are educated - dark ages - there is little choice =
but believe their explanation things that happen). The early Jewish =
leaders found that the only way to enforce health regulations was to add =
to a warning - "God says so" - pork and the combination of meat and =
dairy could not be easily kept free of bacteria so were outlawed. Wicca =
and Druids of the time tended not to be leaders of their people, but =
rather healers, educators and advisers. Druids were known to rally =
common people into an effective defensive fighting force when needed =
(low level Paladins?). The Knights Templar have differing histories =
depending on who you go to, but either could be seen as an example of =
Priests of a LG warrior deity, or protecting Paladins of any other.
I think I need much further explanation to cover my examples here, let =
alone further examples that could be used. I hope I've been of some =
assistance without offending anyone.

Regards,

Dubhghaill (Doyle)
Victoria, Australia, 613 9563 5085 enq@completesystems.com.au
"Violence, and on a larger scale - war, is just the stop-gap solution =
when you don't have time for diplomacy" - Graewolfe

- -----Original Message-----
From: Binagran [SMTP:Doug_Clutterbuck@bigpond.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 1998 5:03 PM
To: birthright@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: [BIRTHRIGHT] - Paladins for Everyone (long)

Priests are the embodiment of their faith???

Hmm, then how come you can have corrupt priests stealing from the temple
coffers, killing their fellow worshippers, leading insurrections against =
the
regent, and this is only in the "good" churches. And yet after doing =
all these
things, which you can only assume would be against the wishes of their =
god, they
still seem to receive their spells.

For a pretty good example, check out the Hierarch Taril Herad of the =
Chosen of
Khirdai in Aftane. This guy ruthlessly eliminated any and all =
opposition to his
order, supports the "suspect" rulership of the Red Kings of Aftane.

Now if you can explain to me how this particular priest is the supreme
embodiment of his particular faith then good for you.

As a side not, I think in the particular religions of Cuiraecen and =
Haelyn (both
being very militant orders) the paladin of each faith would probably be =
seen as
being the ultimate symbol of the faith. Brave, Pious, Strong, etc, many =
things
you might not find in the general temple clergy.

Binagranataboclanorane


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