Once, a reviewer dismissed Ironclaw as "yet another medieval fantasy." This blithe comment made me really sit down and re-consider, just what is medieval fantasy?
I have to give Erik Coons, one of our original authors, a lot of credit for inspiring us to look to literature on the Catholic Church, and how it grew in fits and starts whenever it bounced up against another religion. (Darn pagans giving out gifts during Saturnalia? It just so happens Christmas is at the same time! Are your locals doing a late-winter match-making ceremony while smacking virgins with februa [goat-skins]? You could celebrate St. Valentine's Day, which just happens to be in February! etc.).
I especially dislike a "Gygaxena" pantheon, where the gods are super-powerful personifications that can be interacted with directly, or even fought. There's no place for faith when the gods can be asked, directly, for their opinions. There's also no place for faith when "divine magic" can be witnessed first hand. I don't need to put my faith in God when I can see miraculous healing, resurrection, and smiting right before me.
The religions in the Ironclaw world are deliberately left as a matter of belief, and there's dissenting opinion about what is holy and what isn't. Miraculous magic tends to follow what characters personally believe, so faith becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Ironclaw's religions are more gnostic -- the greater someone's knowledge, the closer they become to divine.
Our historical medieval era is filled with splinter-cells of religion, with anti-popes, heresies, cults, mysteries, and a few successful challengers such as Protestantism and Islam. We wanted to capture that same essence of religion turning into institutions that cause for great debate.
We also wanted to show the power of the church and how it radically challenged society. Formerly, only nobility could own or lease land -- but indulgences to the Church of S'allumer made it an ever-lasting body not based on inheritance. The notion that land can be owned not by blood, but by some abstract institution, does not sit well with some folks. (The Avoirdupois book references the Crusade against the Marteau.) The enemies of the church thus aren't all evil -- some of them have a legitimate, political agenda.
We even have logical challenges to the church. For example, Vaslov Jakoba is both a necromancer and a paladin, something church-folk would prefer to say is impossible ... which is why Vaslov must die!
Naturally, I enjoyed Dream-Carver's portrayal of the Church of S'allumer as a political entity, not just short-hand for "good people". I could go on and on about religion in fantasy, but I just wanted to chime in on my little corner of that debate. :^)
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Date: 2007-08-01 12:19 am (UTC)I have to give Erik Coons, one of our original authors, a lot of credit for inspiring us to look to literature on the Catholic Church, and how it grew in fits and starts whenever it bounced up against another religion. (Darn pagans giving out gifts during Saturnalia? It just so happens Christmas is at the same time! Are your locals doing a late-winter match-making ceremony while smacking virgins with februa [goat-skins]? You could celebrate St. Valentine's Day, which just happens to be in February! etc.).
I especially dislike a "Gygaxena" pantheon, where the gods are super-powerful personifications that can be interacted with directly, or even fought. There's no place for faith when the gods can be asked, directly, for their opinions. There's also no place for faith when "divine magic" can be witnessed first hand. I don't need to put my faith in God when I can see miraculous healing, resurrection, and smiting right before me.
The religions in the Ironclaw world are deliberately left as a matter of belief, and there's dissenting opinion about what is holy and what isn't. Miraculous magic tends to follow what characters personally believe, so faith becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Ironclaw's religions are more gnostic -- the greater someone's knowledge, the closer they become to divine.
Our historical medieval era is filled with splinter-cells of religion, with anti-popes, heresies, cults, mysteries, and a few successful challengers such as Protestantism and Islam. We wanted to capture that same essence of religion turning into institutions that cause for great debate.
We also wanted to show the power of the church and how it radically challenged society. Formerly, only nobility could own or lease land -- but indulgences to the Church of S'allumer made it an ever-lasting body not based on inheritance. The notion that land can be owned not by blood, but by some abstract institution, does not sit well with some folks. (The Avoirdupois book references the Crusade against the Marteau.) The enemies of the church thus aren't all evil -- some of them have a legitimate, political agenda.
We even have logical challenges to the church. For example, Vaslov Jakoba is both a necromancer and a paladin, something church-folk would prefer to say is impossible ... which is why Vaslov must die!
Naturally, I enjoyed Dream-Carver's portrayal of the Church of S'allumer as a political entity, not just short-hand for "good people". I could go on and on about religion in fantasy, but I just wanted to chime in on my little corner of that debate. :^)