Priest

PRIEST

Keys: Priest's key, Church key, Crypt key

Difficulty: Very hard

Supervisors: The Ten themselves, the Inquisition, the High Church

Duties: Follow your religion. Make damn sure the rest of Rockhill does, too. Heal and revive those deserving.

Intro

So you've decided to play Priest! I'm so sorry.

The Priest is the strict teacher in grade school that all the kids love to hate. You're gonna have to whack people on the head with a ruler - but it's for a good cause. Someone has to stop these idiots from biting each other. There are far bigger issues at hand!

Above all, you should expect things to go wrong. Very wrong. And to spiral out of your control. There are going to be rounds where no one shows up to your sermons. There are going to be rounds where no one answers your pleas for help. There are going to be rounds where you feel utterly powerless. Be prepared for this - and try not to lose your cool.

Expectations & Things to know

While there are many valid ways to interpret the teachings of the Ten, Priest is a role that has specific expectations. Let's go over them. I'll try to word this as simply as I can, so there's no confusion.

You're meant to be one of the most zealous in the realm, having been chosen by The Church of the Successors to lead the religious matters of Rockhill. Because of this, the Priest is not replaceable in the same way as a duke. A new duke can be crowned; the priest has no equivalent ceremony.

Being the zealous leader, chosen by the zealous goddess of order, who leads the very zealous church, it should be easy to understand that Inhumen heresy must not be tolerated, no matter its origin. How you deal with such things is up to you.

You should be within or near the church at almost all times. You're the leader of Rockhill's faith, after all. People will go to you regarding matters of the soul, and ask for you to heal their wounded.

Worship of Psydon is tolerable. These poor, misguided souls simply mourn His death. They still follow the Ten, if only by technicality. How - and if - you try to bring them to the light is up to you.

Lastly, remember always that there's another player behind each and every character. Be strict, be zealous, but be interesting. Instantly killing people is not interesting to them, nor anyone else.

Lore to know

"Ten? Isn't that a bit many?"

As a Priest, you obviously need to be very knowledgeable on the Ten, and the other religions of the realm. In addition, you should do some reading beforehand! There are numerous player-created books that you'll have to take into consideration. In particular, you should know the line of succession, and the Tome of Law.

You should also know that the Church (as well as the Inquisition) are both independent, and do not answer to the duke. The Church answers to a higher church in Kingsfield, and the Inquisition answers to the The Cult of Psydon.

Here it is explained in more detail, courtesy of lore contributor Centurion Salty (thank you!)

"The Church of Successors is an obligated ally of the Psydonic Inquisition from Zybantium, as a result of strong political pressure from Queen Auxesia the Righteous, the Queen of Enigma. The High Priest of the Church (in Rockhill) answers to an Episcopal Patriarchate/Matriarchate, of higher priests that function effectively akin to to a committee or a college, which interpret the overall will and direction of the Church of Successors."

Your tools

"You question the words of the mighty Jimmy?!"

With all that doom and gloom out of the way, let's go over what you have to work with. Your first order of business - outside of maybe a greeting announcement - should be to go to your quarters and retrieve The Book, your Staff of the Shepherd, and your mana potion. Maybe an outfit change if you're feeling it. Now that you have everything in your inventory, here's what they all do;

• Needle of Pestra - An infinite use needle. Very useful for closing critical wounds like arterial cuts. This will save someone's life.
• Cheele - A super-leech with a delightful smile. What a cutie! It will detox the blood of whoever it's latched on to, and feed them new blood, as well.
• The Book - Your holy text. Use it on someone to bless them - this gives a buff to fortune, and removes the stat debuff that comes with being resurrected. Use it if someone important to you is resurrected, and you want to be able to resurrect them again later. This has a limited amount of uses, so don't spam it. Also, you can open it and read from it. Good for sermons if you're not feeling creative.
• Staff of the Shepherd - Your badass scepter. Every proper leader has one. This has little use for offense. However, it has a very high defense stat. Combined with your polearms skill, you'll be able to parry enough attacks to hang in there until your templars arrive to save you. It is made from Silver as well, which causes a massive debuff to certain enemy types.
• Mana Potion - Drink to restore fatigue. Useful if you're not able to sleep for a long period of time, and there's a ton of wounded flooding in. Chug, chug, chug!
• Money - Don't forget to check your pouch and your SHYLOCK. Money talks. Set bounties, give money to your templars to upgrade their gear, etc.

Your miracles

"No, I'm not going to heal every burn on your body. Just sleep it off."

As a follower of Astrata, you have Her miracles. Use them wisely. It's ill-advised to use miracles on heretics, or anyone you would deem unworthy. Keep in mind - no one has an innate right to miracles of the Ten.

• Lesser Miracle - Heals.
• Miracle - Heals more.
• Sacred Flame - Sets something aflame.

Your clergy

"Good morning, ever- wait, they're gone. Ah, fuck."

Meet your new friends. Pray that they don't leave immediately.

Your clergy will consist of Churchlings, Acolytes, and Templars. You'll also work closely with the Inquisitor and their Confessors, in the common goal of rooting out heresy.

Templars are the Church's swords and shields. They should remain rather close to you, unless you send them out to fight. There are three Templar slots. Keep close tabs on them - you have little to no offensive power, otherwise.

The Inquisition works independently - though they may ask for your aid, or the aid of your templars. Keep in mind that their singular goal is the extermination of the Inhumen, and that they follow Psydon, not the Ten. If they deem you incompetent, they will show it.

Churchlings are your little servants. Send them to cook, clean, report on happenings in the town, and do try to tutor them. They may be new to the game.

Acolytes are your big servants. Shower them in lots of love and praise. What they can do depends on their patron.

• Astrata- Literally exactly the same as you, the Priest. They get advanced healing miracles and can light people on fire.
• Pestra - Can cure rot, and use the Diagnose miracle. Diagnose shows the Acolyte where someone is hurt, and how bad, which they can relay to you. Very useful.
• Eora - Can conduct weddings, as well as spawn Eoran Buds, which can completely pacify people.
• Malum - Can smelt metal objects, and craft new ones. They make for excellent smiths.
• Dendor - Druids aren't technically Acolytes. But if one comes by, they can farm and supply a ton of food.

Mechanics

Marriage

To marry two players, simply have each of them take a bite of an apple, then use it on a nearby cross. Praise the Ten and Praise Astrata! They are united!

Heretics Brand and Excommunication

You have to be standing near the altar to do both of these things. You can brand people as Heretics or Excommunicate them using the Priest tab in the top right. If someone actually IS a heretic, they will take massive stress from having a Heretics brand on them. Excommunication only works on members of the Clergy and Refugees that are able to use miracles, it severs their connection with the Divine and makes them unable to use their miracles at all, if any member of your Clergy defies you, threaten to excommunicate them. You can undo the Heretics Brand or Excommunication by simply typing their name again.

Some players may start the game with the heretics brand or excommunication, including non-miracle users, this is due to a Special that they rolled before the game started. Even though non-clergy members can roll the 'Excommunicated' special, you can't excommunicate non-clergy members.

The Ultimate Moral Quandary: Revivals

With Astrata's Power waning, there is no easy way to revive people from the dead. If a physician isn't able to revive them quickly after death, you have fifteen minutes (or longer if you have a Pestran with derot) before the body rots to make the ultimate decision: Do you Sacrifice the life of someone else to bring them back?

As a follower of Astrata, the Goddess of Order, maintaining the social order is one of your highest goals, but does that mean it's acceptable to sacrifice the life of someone to save another?

If you decide that it is, then you can use the ritual circle! Simply place a dead person on one side of the circle, an alive person on the other, place a coin in the middle and activate the circle! Boom, the coin flips and so to does their mortal state! What was dead is now alive and what was alive is now dead, Praise the Ten!

Misc Tips

• Don't ever just stand there. There's always something to be done. And if there isn't, hold a sermon, a festival, or some kind of event. Even if no one shows up, at least you tried, right?
• Don't fall into the trap of becoming a mindless healbot. How you do this is up to you, of course. Ask people what's happened. Demand a donation, a show of faith, something. Or refuse to heal people you don't like at all. Most shunned races are, after all, the spawn of the Inhumen. Or maybe you just think they're gross.
• Make sure to thank your beloved clergy.