(06-12-2017, 12:34 PM)Alastair Helyous Wrote:(06-11-2017, 01:31 PM)Momo Wrote: (Sounsyy is our resident Lore expert expert, like there are lots of lore experts, but none come close to the amount of time and effort put into his work~)
While we do not know how Thaliak and Athylk are worshiped, we can infer a few things if you would like to have something to add into your RP. They aren't really given lore, but some of the best religious RP practice, is going to be the practices that RPers come up with themselves using the clues we get.
In the Dravanian Hinterlands, runs the Thaliak River. It is likely no coincidence that Sharlayan lands bare the name of the Scholarly God of The Twelve running through them, and that the people of this nation of seekers of knowledge built one of their greatest collections of knowledge on the banks of it: The Great Gubal Library. I am not sure we can really infer that the Sharlayans truly worship Thaliak, only because they are of very advanced knowledge and it is likely they know more about the Twelve than we know and that they do not view them as gods to be worshiped. We could infer however, that all scholarly pursuit, the discovery of new lands, the revelation of secret knowledge, and the workings of life in all forms are all major pursuits of someone who dedicates their life to Thaliak as their patron. I have some ideas on rituals or common practices of religious people of Thaliak if you would like to hear them, note me~
Althyk, The God of Time, has many things attributed to him in the lore of the Twelve in the game. As the god of time, he is viewed not only as one who can recall all time, present, past, and future, but also a god of creation and destruction, with particular focus on him in death rites. Therefor we could probably infer that he is a god which is called upon at both birth and death, to ask for longevity of life and also safe passage for all time in the afterlife. Trials of memory and also any of those told by bards are often summoned up by a call to Althyk. Honestly there are lots of ideas that one could derive from these things, hope that any of this helped!
(I see! I will really enjoy it if he shares the contents of the well of his knowledge <3 )
To be honest I'm not so sure the Sharlayans don't worship Thaliak in a literal way. I picture the Egyptians who had a very extensive knowledge of everything and still were as zealous with their gods as possible.
On the major pursuits of someone who worships him, it sounded very similar to D&d 3.5 God Boccob. Would they then be similar deities on philosophy and methods of worship?
I apologize that I haven't gotten back to you until now, I took a little bit of time to read over the god you mentioned as I am not well-versed in DnD lore, but it seems he would be similar yes!
Not to be too spoilery...but the point I was trying to make, is that we do not know exactly who The Twelve are by standards of gods and primals and in the company of Hydaelyn and the like. The Sharlayans, above even the Allagans as far as we can tell, have come to closest to touching realms beyond our own and collecting knowledge of the deeper workings of the world. From what we have gathered, a major piece of the lore being revealed in HW by Tiamat specifically if I remember correctly, seeks to undermine the place of the Twelve as actual gods, and there is a good chance that the Sharlayans understand this, and as such wouldn't really "worship" Thaliak as much as they would pay respects to all that he stands for, and perhaps even keep archaic practices alive to show respect to the path of the scholar.
I agree with Vex, likely things such as sacrifice would be viewed as barbaric and unneeded and perhaps even if it were something that was once part of their culture, they would likely have dropped live sacrifice for rituals involving more symbolic and metaphoric forms of sacrifice. The solemn vow of the Sharlayans to learn of the world, but try not to affect it as it is still living, is something that would probably steer how they see and practice their rituals as well.
Either way? This is a really fun and interesting topic, the pursuit of knowledge and the fine edge of the blade, which may fall to the side of breaking a vow or keeping, but always strikes some sort of blow, is an endearing and alluring prospect, and one that certainly makes for interesting RP!
