Reputation is a religion's bread and butter. A high reputation allows more influence and funds while a low reputation invites reprisals from rivals.
Reputation is accrued through the season and "cashed in" at the end of it. Every 100 population of the settlement (as a whole, of all faiths) takes 5 Reputation. The existence of rival
Proselytizers reduces the faith's Reputation score by the same amount.
At the end of the Season, all excess Reputation is gathered as GP on a 1:1 basis, usually then used to pay salary and upkeep on buildings, but a high reputation is a fast path to building more
Edifices.
Reputation Boosters
Charities- Soup kitchens, healing the sick, homebuilding, etc. Anything that makes life better for the settlement, particularly for the least of society. Every GP spent on these endeavors gains 1 Reputation.
Lawgiving- Bringing outlaws to heel, mediating disputes, and imposing ecclesiastical law are all good ways to assert the faith as an authority in a settlement. For every action that alters Control +1, the faith gains 20 Reputation.
Sermons- Priests usually give weekly sermons, extolling and teaching the virtues of the faith. Additionally, missionaries of any rank may also provide such a service. Each sermon gives 15 Reputation for each person present, typically all of the faith's Practicing, Devoted and Zealots in an area. Each priest can't benefit their faith more than twice a week in this way. Hierophants giving sermons provide double the Reputation.
Plutarchy- Wealthy patrons of the religion will throw parties and dedicate part of their own
Plutarchical deeds to the church. Each
Plutarch aligned to a church boosts its monthly reputation by 40 each Season.
Deeds- Monster slaying, great acts of sacrifice, heroic last stands, any noteworthy act that improves the community and has been dedicated to the faith can add to the Reputation. The rewards obviously may vary, typically between 1 Reputation all the way up to 50 for extremely consequential actions.
Miracles- Divine spells can have an impact on the people of a settlement. Every spell cast above level 3 adds a number of Reputation equal to its level times the number of witnesses.
Reputation Killers
Breaking
Vows - If the sect of a religion is known for its holy vows and members break them in public scandals, the loss of Reputation is 6 per incident of breaking. This Reputation damage is halved if the infraction is publicly and severely punished by the faith hierarchy, and doubled if they are notably lax or attempt to cover it up before it breaks.
Violence- Most religions suffer if they result in violence against the community. For every civilian killed in sectarian violence, the religion loses 10 Reputation.
Vandalism- In most cases, destroying or defacing an Edifice is a good way to leave a rival religion vulnerable. If the damage is traced back to a particular religion, however, it can result in lost reputation. The reputation lost is equal to 5 x the value of the Edifice (including any bonuses for relics).
Greed- Attempting too many fundraising actions in a Season can have an impact on the perception of the religion. One per month is expected, going beyond that likely damages the reputation on a 1:1 basis with GP. In financial emergencies, "cashing in" on good reputation may seem like a good or necessary thing.
Propaganda- Sometimes, instead of boosting their own Reputation,
Proselytizers can preach against another. A Sermon dedicated to this can damage the Reputation of another group, reversing the same score as above.
Pogroms, Ascendency, Decline, and Schism
If the dominant religion has a lower Reputation than a lesser religion, the dominant religion is considered to be in Decline. A Declining religion has a 10% chance each Season it's in decline to develop a splinter sect, which takes 1d100% of the religion, potentially altering the power structures of a settlement. The lesser religion in this scenario is considered Ascendant, takes all of the Lapsed members of the Dominant religion.
If a nondominant religion ends a Season with fewer than 30 Reputation, they lose their Lapsed and 50% of their Practicing members. If they end up with 0 or lower Reputation, a pogrom will occur, either at the direction of the dominant faith or spontaneously led by zealots.
Schism- A splinter sect considers members of their parent religion Apostate, as the parent religion considers the splinter. The splinter sect takes new members exclusively from the parent religion until it takes over a settlement entirely, and then they take on all of the trappings and authority of the parent religion and will usually then be accepted (albeit reluctantly) by the church hierarchy at large.
Pogrom- When a dominant religion wants to make an attack against a lesser religion in a settlement, the zealots of the dominant religion may move against the lesser. The suppressed religion suffers the following penalties and effects:
-Their members cannot make wealth rolls – their assets are tied up with repairs, stolen, or squirreled away.
-The religion loses all Lapsed and Interested members, 3d20% of Performative members, and 1d10% of Practicing members.
-Any religious buildings cease to serve as Edifices until they are repaired (10% of their building cost).
-Zealots of the dominant religion kill 1d10 if the target is a Rival religion, 2d10 if they are Antagonists, 3d10 Infidels, or 4d10 Apostates and lose 1d10 of their own number in reprisal attacks and self defense. Zealots kill zealots first.
Bottom Line
At the end of each season, each Religion in a settlement adds up all the Reputation gained and/or lost for that season. The religon loses 100 Reputation for each of the population of that settlement and subtracts the Proselytizer score of all other religions in the settlement. Refer to the table below for the results.
Reputation |
Result-Dominant |
Result-Lesser |
#<1 |
100% chance of Schism |
Pogrom by the dominant religion |
1-10 |
50% chance of Schism, loss of 50% Lapsed |
Loss of all Lapsed, 50% of Performative become Lapsed, 25% of Practicing become Performative, and 10% of Devoted become Practicing. |
11-20 |
20% chance of Schism, loss of 10% Lapsed |
Loss of 50% Lapsed, Downgrade 10% Performative, 5% Practicing |
21-50 |
No loss |
Loss of 20% Lapsed, Downgrade 5% Performative |
51-100 |
Gain 10% Uninitiated |
No loss |
101-150 |
Gain 20% Uninitiated |
Gain 10% Uninitiated |
#>150 |
Gain 30% Uninitiated |
Gain 20% Uninitiated |
Other notes:
Edifices prevent a loss of faithful equal to the Edifice score of that faith in the Settlement. All Lapsed lost become Uninitiated, fair game for
Proselytizers of other faiths.
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