Thanks for the reminder
I brought it up as a discussion point on the GM forums and discussed the pros and cons for granting this requests of rank, as well as the greater picture on whether or not we should allow this in principle.
The short of it is that Gilshem the character would be an Acolyte of the Hammer, so the lowest rank of the clergy.
The longer answer and reasoning is as follows.
The "new" Dorand lore has been around since first half of 2010, so quite a while. The old lore, while not having as clear of a hierarchy, mentioned that it spanned from Acolyte to High Hammer.
Since we always say that character development is the responsibility of the player, any increases for rank would then have to be through CDQs, which could then have happened since last year.
Another principle is that character level doesn't equate or translate into rank in a church or organization.
You could of course build a case like you did on how a character could potentially qualify for a higher rank. However, if we allow that, then we would have to go down a route of allowing this for anyone and the GM team having to review and determine for each request whether or not a higher rank would be reasonable. This would have some subjectiveness in it depending on the amount of "proof" a player would be able to provide.
So based on those two reasons, Gilshem the character would be an Acolyte. You are of course completely free to pursue CDQs to increase his rank, and since clergy progression in the church of Dorand is based a lot on crafting, he should be able to progress to Apprentice and Journeyman quite rapidly.
If you have any questions, just let us know.
