The Church and Mortal Online

Structure of the Church
The Hierarchy
Clergy Titles
Spiritual Orders
My brothers and sisters in Faith:

As the church moves forward in preparation for Mortal Online, there will be some fundamental changes in the accepted dogma and lore of our faith. We will be moving away from the Aventurine-created Darkfall lore and will be adopting our own unique religion. There will be some similarities between what was and what will be, as the Mercian faith was based on the worship of a solar deity and both Wessex and Hyperion have roots in that concept.

Mortal Online promises an in-depth religious system that will provide the Clergy of Wessex with previously unimagined opportunities. The most prominent of these is the ability for players to create their own particular deity that will provide its followers with additional benefits as more and more people choose to worship it.

Darkfall was very much focused on conquest, and uses did not exist for any play style that did not focus on this. In that respect, being part of the Clergy felt artificial, and like trying to fit a square peg through a round hole while being assaulted by a swarm of mosquitoes. This is why, as Bishop, the most important goal to me is to ensure that the role of the Clergy fits into the game-world environment and that we utilize the tools available to create an enjoyable and immersive experience.

As already discussed, the more followers a religion has the greater the benefits bestowed by it. By placing our focus on sending out missionaries to educate and convert people to our faith and by the use of crusades to propagate and defend that faith, both in friendly and hostile lands, we will be playing to Mortal Online’s game mechanics.

This means that the role of the Clergy will no longer be simply to copy-and-paste a sermon into chat once a day nor to spend every waking moment grinding one spell school. The clergy will, however, still be responsible for tending to the spiritual needs of those who fall within our Diocese. There will still be an expectation for clergy members to role-play at the same level as Gentry members *(or to be willing to learn how to do this) and progression from Friar or Deacon to Priest will require good knowledge of the Church lore.

In order to achieve all this I plan to create a Military Order that will be the starting point for all Wessex Clergy. This order will be all-encompassing as it can provide a home to the more militant friars, to those who prefer to focus on role-play or to those who wish to focus on a craft such as herbalism or Alchemy. The Clergy is, in essence, its own society in Wessex and so has many opportunities available. There is no reason why a Brother cannot give a sermon in the morning, bless a child in the afternoon and then crusade in the evening, to come back to a nicely made meal by one of craft-focused friars.

Over the coming weeks I will add further details on the Church Hierarchy, the mythology and lore of the Church in the world of Mortal Online and details on the planned Military order. I would be grateful if you could reply with any questions you may have so that I can create a ‘FAQ’ of sorts or PM me if you are interested in knowing more about joining the Clergy.

Faithfully Yours,

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/9305/malsign.png

With thanks to Lepida Nuykani, Herald; for her assistance in proofreading this document.

Some great idea's Your Excellency and very insightful.

Here is my quick question. What are the benefits of being in the clergy and what would be the responsibilites of a new member of the Church?

Also, great analogy :D

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Originally Posted by Malachi Drake

In that respect, being part of the Clergy felt artificial, and like trying to fit a square peg through a round hole while being assaulted by a swarm of mosquitoes.

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Originally Posted by Elagost Thego

Here is my quick question. What are the benefits of being in the clergy and what would be the responsibilites of a new member of the Church?

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Your quick question is actually best answered with a long reply which is why I have not rushed in replying. I am going to put up another post the touches on the Churches ‘Hierarchy’ and then I think this will open the discussion up better.

Oh and, thank you!

Malachi.

I have posted several new threads that go into depth about the structure of the Church and now that those are done I can try to answer your question:

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What are the benefits of being in the clergy?

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Oh where to begin? There are so many that I can only hope to give you a brief overview without running the risk of setting off the forum flood alert.

By joining the Clergy you get the opportunity to be part of a deep and immersive gaming experience that welcomes the development of role-play skills. You get the chance to escape from the tediousness of the secular society and become part of a higher purpose; to serve the Church and honour the teachings of our Heavenly-Lord. The Clergy regulate its own affairs and so Church members will be judged by the ecclesiastical courts rather than the secular ones; granting protection to those who follow the laws of our God.

The clergy also has a unique chance to affect the entire game-world around us through the in-game religious system. This opens up such wonderful storytelling opportunities in the form of pilgrimages, missionaries and crusades. The Church welcomes almost every play style so whether your aspiration is to become a Church Knight slaying infidels and demons, becoming a Priest and leading the flock through role-play or even becoming Friar Tuck and making lots of great wine, you would find a home in the Church. In fact, one of the only player concepts that would conflict with the Church is the seeking of personal greed; a dangerous sin.

The Church is also Tax exempt in the traditional sense; with members pooling resource for the betterment of the collective clergy and the Church. I don’t think I have done justice in describing the benefits of joining the Church but in short, it’s a unique gaming experience unlike any other.

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What would be the responsibilities of a new member of the Church?

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There are different positions that members can join the Clergy at based on their secular position and depending on if they prefer to show their abilities in a practical way or by taking a written exam (which is to be re-written). But each shares similar responsibilities.

The specific responsibilities will be governed by what Order you choose to join and in the run up to Mortal Online there will be one pre-made Order with the opportunity for Clergy members to make more as we grow. An order is governed by a Rule that may cover things such as having to commit charitable acts, leading people in public prayer, gathering resources for the Church or training for Combat on a regular basis.

But the fundamental responsibilities will be to study the Dogma of the Church (still in construction), obeying the rules of their Order, assisting Priests and other Clergy member in tasks and having fun.

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The role of a Friar will be heavily influenced by the rule of the Order that they are a member of, but in essence, a Friar is to the Church what a Villein is to the secular society. As long as a Friar follows these rules and does not break their holy vows they will find that they can peruse almost any avenue.

As examples: a Friar may choose to join the garrison, may serve as a minister or officer of the court, can peruse a craft or hobby, spread the faith as a missionary or take up arms in a crusade. In fact, as long as it is done in God’s name, a Friar has great freedom. Friars will serve the spiritual needs of the community by reminding people of our faith and warning those who are straying from the path.

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Hi, I got a question.

I've been reading the various clergy threads, and several times it is mentioned that a member of the clergy is not allowed worldly possessions. That ofcourse sounds very good, but it got me wondering how we plan to make this work in a MMO game?

For instance, in an mmo, even a peacefull deacon is likely to take up a sword at some point and go slay some monsters. Is he then allowed to keep some of the loot he might gain for himself, or will he be required to hand it all in to the church?

And if it will be so, how then will personal character advancement in the church work? We can expect that it will cost some sort of resources to improve your characters skills, how will that be handled?

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I've been reading the various clergy threads, and several times it is mentioned that a member of the clergy is not allowed worldly possessions. That of course sounds very good, but it got me wondering how we plan to make this work in a MMO game?

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Thank you Duncan, this is a very good question.

In traditional sense a member of the Clergy would not have any worldly possessions and would be taken care of by the Church; so not even the clothes on the back of a monk would belong to him. But, as you point out, this is not practical in a MMO environment where people have their own inventories, will acquire items through questing and will need funds to progress their skills. My motto has always been that a Clergy member should always have enough resources (money and equipment) to go about their daily business, advance their skills and enjoy the game. But beyond that I hope to encourage a form of “communism”.

The exact process will be governed by the “rule” of the Order a clergy member joins but I imagine this will be achieved by having a fixed contribution amount for each member (proberbly on par with the Tax rate) with the option to donate more as a sign of dedication and faithfulness. This pooled money would then be used to support the Church and its members. Long term I hope for the Church to be a tight-knit, well structured and almost self sufficient community where people will gather resources together, share their craft skills and pool resources to the betterment of all.

It is worth noting that this will prevent a clergy member from holding land and a personal house and instead we would build communal buildings (Such as Churches, Abbeys and Monasteries) that each member of the Order can contribute to and benefit from. Personally I think that this collective effort will have better rewards than to have individual property.

I hope this answers your question clearly.

I hope this is the right place to post this question. I've spent much of the afternoon trying to track down information about religion mechanics in Mortal Online. I cannot seem to find the original source where Mats mentions the system. All I can find is a 6/28/09 interview on MO Radio saying that most of the system will not be in for release.

My question, though, is pretty basic: how would a Friar go about trying to convert people not in the guild? There seems to be very little incentive for a player in another guild to convert to our religion when doing so will hurt their own guild's religion. It seems likely that many (if not all) guilds will have their own religion. So will religious conversion go hand-in-hand with guild recruitment?

Another possibility would be for allied guilds to share the same religion, so the Friar's job would be to try and convince friendly guilds to convert. But here, too, I run into the same problem: if the friendly guild does not convert as an entire unit, then those individuals who do convert will be hurting their guild. So the conversion of friendly guilds seems to be a top-down decision best handled by top-level negotiations by guild diplomats or the Bishop.

Is there any way to preserve the Friar's role in converting other players?