Post by Stix on Nov 17, 2005 11:34:04 GMT -5
Faction Philosophy. To these characters, all things are godly. All things can ascend to greater glory - if not in this life, then in the next. Patience, that's all it takes. See, here's the chant: Everything - primes, planars, petitioners, proxies, the whole lot - is being tested. Survive, succeed, and ascend - that's the goal of all beings. Fail and get reincarnated to try again. It's pretty simple and straightforward.
'Course, it ain't that easy either. First off, nobody really knows what the tests are. Is a body supposed to be good, evil, or what? Godsmen are trying to figure that out. Second, a fellow just might go in reverse - mess up and come back as a prime or something worse in the next life. It could even be that those who do really badly return as fiends. Finally, there's one last step nobody even understands. Getting to be a power ain't the end of the cycle. There's something beyond that, something that powers, themselves, eventually ascend to. Cross that threshold to the ultimate form and get released from the multiverse forever.
Now, there's a fixed number of beings out there, and sooner or later we're going to run out, when everybody's ascended. A lot of the worlds on the so-called "infinite" Prime Material Plane are already pretty thinly populated. When a prime ascends to the next level, then there's one less prime in all the multiverse - unless, of course, a planar somewhere fails and falls back a rank. But sooner or later, everybody's going to attain the ultimate goal, the final ascension, and when that happens the multiverse ends, closes up shop, fades right out of existence.
So you see, the Godsmen calculate that's the whole purpose of the multiverse. The Prime Material, the Inner, and the Outer Planes - they exist to test and purge. It's just a matter of figuring what's being tested and how. When that happens, the Godsmen can hasten the end of the universe and get on with some new existence.
Primary plane of Influence. The Ethereal. The demiplanes of the Ethereal, formed by powerful wizards and the like, are evidence to the Godsmen that their philosophy is correct. In Sigil, the Godsmen maintain their headquarters at the Great Foundry, the symbolic forge of the planes.
Allies and Enemies. Since a central belief of both the Godsman and Athar philosophies is that there's some greater thing than the powers, those two factions often find themselves allied. Likewise, the belief in the ultimate end of the multiverse sits well with the Doomguard, although any alliance between the two groups is always temporary. Both the Bleak Cabal and the Dustmen take exception with Godsman philosophy, and they're considered foes of the Godsmen's cause.
Eligibility. The Godsmen are open to all races, classes, and alignments. However, priests and paladins of specific deities suffer a -1 penalty on all saving throws, for lack of utmost faith in their high-up man.
Benefits. Because they believe that all things have potential, Godsmen are generally well received throughout the planes. They gain a +2 bonus to all reaction rolls with planar beings. All Believers are reincarnated after death, as the Source allows them to continue pursuing the tests of divinity.
Restrictions. In addition to the restrictions on religious characters described above, Godsmen can't be raised or resurrected by any means.