Ilsarans and Skalds

[Carillon]

I would very much welcome any GM input or discussion on this thread here, or specifically on the issue of how PC and/or NPC Ilsarans, especially clerics, should treat skalds, and what interactions, if any, are looked upon with displeasure or explicitly forbidden by their goddess.

My thanks in advance!

[Makashi]

Yes, I see no problem what so ever with a cleric travelling with a Skald, of course there should be some things in the RP that reflect the clerics distaste to the skalds abilities, and if they were not friends and had just met, yes then that may cause some issues, bad first impression etc.

I imagine Ysaline does care about Sil'via a lot, but blessing/raising her should only become an issue if you have just witnessed something that does not go well with the beliefs of ilsare.
At the end of the day Ysaline is a priestess of ilsare, who is supposed to be promoting joys of the heart etc, I don't think any cleric of ilsare should be causing grief of it instead.

Hope this helps a bit

[Acacea]

I would suggest not taking to heart OOC the IC sighs of Ilsare not accepting skalds, etc, turning away from them, and so on. In my opinion it is really more about the paths of an individual ilsarian - seeking harmony and artistry for the life of the soul and all that. It's a very different path than a skald, but hardly worth a holy war. It's simply an individual's choice to pursue that over what the clergy is taught to embrace.

I could kind of see it as a master glassblower who only sells some of his work, most often doing it simply for his own sake in crafting things of beauty... meeting someone who quickly takes a $5000 vase, breaks it on the bar and uses it to stab an orc. No artistry, no beauty, no harmony - just destruction.

Perhaps a little less personal, but still. I don't think there should be any deity-level punishments whatsoever for associating with them, though. It's not like they are on a mission to destroy artistry and harmony and inspiration - they have simply eschewed that path for themselves when in offensive mode, right?

[Carillon]

Thank you both for your feedback. I look forward to hearing from anyone else who wants to comment as well.

The reason I asked in the first place is because there seems to be some confusion about the issue, and I thought we might all benefit from a little clarity. It's been suggested to me that no Ilsaran would give a skald aid, which seemed a bit extreme, so I thought I would seek an "official" stance from the church to work from, and then take my own individual RP from there.

Many thanks for sharing your thoughts, both of you.

[EdTheKet]

Quoting myself from a discussion in the GM forums form a while ago:

Ilsaran faith/dogma and the discordant and destructive abilities of the skald cannot be reconciled. It is not possible to profess that you follow her teachings and then use the destructive capabilities of a skald.
The fact that the skald abilities are not divinely powered does not matter. Nobody will believe that somebody follows Ilsare after they've seen that somebody use skald abilities.

That's for Ilsarans who want to be skalds.

Now, as for non-Ilsarans who are skalds and them associating with Ilsarans.
Skalds can do many things which Ilsare would like, telling stories, singing songs, stuff like that.
However, they also use, or can use, the power of sound to kill, hurt or maim. This is what Ilsare wouldn't like (and why you cannot profess to be AND a follower of Ilsare AND a skald). Her clerics would therefore frown on skalds, and would not associate with them.

I wouldn't say they'd never help one that's in need, but I don't think the cleric would associate with a skald a lot, because of the distaste of what they do or can do with sound, which is very un-Ilsaran.