Symbols of Service

Here is another thought exercise I really enjoy. In worlds like Golarion that are pantheistic, the gods play a very important role. And although there are some write ups in books like the Inner Sea Gods book, a lot is left up to the imagination of the player with that in mind;

Imagine if you will you're making a character for a group. Your only instruction is that you must be a worshiper of a specific god. You do not need to be a divine casting class although you can be, but the groups purpose is going to be working toward the goals of this specific divine being. And I'd like not just a race class combo, but a little bit about why the character would choose to dedicate him or herself to this god. Feel free to make up secret or not so secret orders within the church. Or even sects outside of the church think might be interesting. With only this one piece of information that must be true let your imagination go wild with the rest.

Today's god

Lissala LE Goddess of Obedience, reward of service, runes

Lissala’s Pathfinder Wiki page 

A Lissala’s Archives of Nethys Entry 

This post was originally put to the pathfinder group a while ago so below will be a summary of some stuff we came up with. But let’s hear what you guys would do if you had to make your follower of Lissala.

One of the first things that came up in the discussion was this.

“I See her as a soldier’s goddess. Order and obedience to the chain of command. Monks that take a vow of silence and venerate obedience to the order to which they belong. On a more deviant tangent, S&M subscribers”

To which I came up with The Chained Ones whose fighting style incorporates attacks with the manacles they all have around their ankles. Even though it appears that shuffle along due to the restricted gait they can have they are actually quite agile in combat and move with surprising grace.

Then the discussion led toward a sect or secret cult. Lissala was worshiped in ancient Thassilon and she is mostly a forgotten god. The Runelords themselves venerated her with the Runelord of Sloth being her priest. And we came up with the New Runelords.

Seven cults each led by one of seven nobles trying to fashion themselves into the new Runelords. Each cult moves separately from the other but the seven nobles get together to discuss plans for their future as a whole. The seven worship Lissala together for guidance and then use that to lead their individual factions. Loyalty and service are well rewarded whereas failure and treachery (at least failed treachery) is punished harshly.

Each cult acts based on whichever Runelord that Noble fashions himself. The would-be Runelords are all exclusively human and bigoted against non-human races who they see only as pawns. The self styled Runelords sit a dark room around a table conspiring with each other. They each wear a mask, they don't even know each other's identities and can only tell each other apart by their symbol of office, the weapon of the Runelords they are emulating

What six of the seven don’t know is that one of them is a servitor of the Runelord of sloth, who was the original high priest of Lissala. He fashions himself as the new Sloth Runelord and brings along these other would be runelords for the ride. He's the only one who knows the identities of the six other members.

The servitor is a lich who had been trapped within his/her phylactery for these millennia without the means to find a new body. In recent times (after the Rise of the Runelords AP when knowledge of Thassilon was growing) tomb raiders, including a noble found a ruin, and the lich saw a chance and took over residence of the nobles body. After an accident of course.

Now that you've seen the end product I have compiled from what other people have come up with, what would you do with a worshiper of Lissala?