Which is why my mc is just going to shatter the church, smash the caste system, kill the eclects and ecclesiasts and cut the Xthonics off from state funding. The former Diakons are free to form as many new, lawful versions of the religion as they want and since they are cut-off from state funding the way they can do so is by actually ministering to their supposed flock who must be convinced to fund them of their own volition now. Furthermore leaving it up to former Diakons who have little experience with independence means the faith is almost inevitably going to shatter itself into 1234 different denominations because first of all the former Diakons would actually need to start interpreting religious texts and doctrine themselves, which will inevitably lead to significant differences, absent unified guidance by a church hierarchy and secondly they must now compete with each-other for funding and followers. Lastly my mc is going to open up the religious market for competition by any lawful religion and try to resurrect a few, such as the druids of the forgotten gods and foreign missionaries, except perhaps from Halassur will be welcome to preach too, provided of course they don’t preach slavery and a caste system.
We’ll see in the next game I guess. I still think that for a helot the difficulties of founding your own religion or cult of personality and the unrest it causes will not be very different from trying to take over the church when you’re just a dumb animal to most of the ecclesiasts even the patronizingly “sympathetic” ones like the late Olynna. As, again, people like her are preaching more for “animal welfare” than helot rights.
No doubt, but that will take time and I really do think that, particularly for helots, going with the church is a trap. I think I’ve already said it before the high-int mc might be able to create a coherent new doctrine but will lack the charisma and persuasiveness to ram it down the church’s throat without irrevocably shattering it, while the high charisma mc will be easily duped by shrewd and evil “advisers” on the reform of doctrine and reduced to nothing more than a mouthpiece for the slavocrats if they’re not very careful.
I still think that’s only going to apply to the aristo mc, if it applies at all. The only way to see is to wait for our dear author to write it, but I think this may just be one of those real differences between helot and noble mc’s that Havenstone alluded to.
I’m also not sure about that, you’d face fierce resistance from skeptics and the anti-clerical populations, just as much as my mc is facing it from the church hierarchy.
If you go moot or apella it is surprisingly easy to introduce that thirst into our own band and they’re mostly helots who have never been able to decide anything at all for themselves. Other populations like the nominally free city drudges and the merchants may hunger for it even more, as they are currently also denied a say in their own affairs by the nobles and the priests.
That’s why my mc would only step down at the end of the period of political tutelage when the new system is ready to take over. Much like the KMT would, theoretically and according to their own documentation, have been prepared to hand over the reins if outvoted in favour of another after the end of political tutelage.
I will agree that going for Grand Apella without a (possibly lengthy) period of political tutelage and reforms by the provisional government first is tantamount to suicide, real and political. Fortunately magically enhanced lifespans can be long indeed so if successful my mc might still live to step down peacefully, even if it takes a century to get to that point.
Non-theurgic learning and technology are indeed important cornerstones, nevertheless I think my mc will have the education system teach at least the fundamentals to anybody willing to learn, as much like the air rifles it may be vital in transitioning from a “warrior caste” to a population of citizen soldiers.
