#is it because in fantasy the trope is that most protagonists don't care about religion and their temples are literally there for vibes?
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
swordscleric · 18 hours ago
Text
I can't stop thinking about the post from a few days ago about how Critical Role has been great at doing personal faith but didn't put the necessary work in to discuss the religious/god angle of c3 in-depth. Like the fact that Cardinal Respa was linked to both the Dawnfather and the Chained Oblivion is, on a personal level, very interesting (fallen/corrupted priest goes hard) but like does that mean that there's a Papacy somewhere in Exandria dedicated to the Dawnfather? If so, are there more cardinals who ordain the bishops of the Dawnfather? Are there Conclave-level intrigues going on in the Dawnfather's Sistine Chapel? Why is the Dawnfather so Christianity-coded in vibes alone if there's no actual outline of his religious organisations? With Downfall the Dawnchild/Dawnfather thing makes the allusions to Christ as Son of God co-existing with the Father textual - was there a Dawnfather Schism around whether the Dawnchild was a separate mortal? Was there a Reformation about how the Dawnfather's Pope kept selling indulgences? Is that why the priest of the Dawnfather Grog & Pike offer a drink to doesn't partake because of a cultural shift between Protestant-Temperance-League-coded and Catholic-coded Dawnfather congregations? Why do I have so many questions about the religious organisation of one of the most important Prime Deities in Exandria and to Critical Role's 3 campaigns? How on earth were the cast (and us as the viewers!) meant to care about the gods if all they had were "really tall kings" instead of interrogating how religious organisations provide both a place of healing and community to a wide range of people and also a place of horrific harm and abuse for a wide range of people?
#cr meta#cr discourse#critical role#it's just. maddening#i mean a college of cardinals who can all shoot god a quick dm and ask who's the best for pope is an absolutely hilarious image#makes for a great comedic setpiece tbh#but like seriously matt if your whole multi-campaign story needs people to have strong feelings about the gods beyond how they personally#affected them (keyleth vex and ashton come to mind as people who were negatively affected by certain gods due to personal reasons)#it might be a good idea to develop the religious organisations of these gods! let people see how these things work out instead of letting a#vibes-based approach to christianity rule the whole discussion! kord's whole deal about strong people is fascinating! are his priests all#body builders? do they have a central hierarchy based on strength? we don't know!#are the wildmother's clergy pro- or anti-alcohol? does she even have a clergy?#or are all the religious temples we have seen just set dressing because religious buildings in the real world just have cool designs?#is it because in fantasy the trope is that most protagonists don't care about religion and their temples are literally there for vibes?#i'm aware i'm getting way too close to stan-parasociality on that last point but if we have a cardinal “do we have a pope” is a logical#follow-up question. i'm aware there's not that much info in the campaign guides so that gms can do their own thing but in the#“the gods deserve to be eaten because they were mean to me” campaign surely a more interesting line would be “do the gods deserve us if#their organisations cause systemic harm as was done to bor'dor and........"#can you tell i don't want to do any actual work today. i sure can't#and yes i'm main-tagging this if people are hostile to me on the internet for this buddy there's a phenomenal button i'd like you to meet
24 notes · View notes