Lawful Evil deity for Human / Surface races

[Lareth]

I've a question for the GM team which came up while I've been trying to develop a little more of the background for my pc Alassir.. essentially his character background suggests that the predominant alignment of his family clan would be Lawful Evil, and therefore I'd assume them to worship a LE deity.  So looking through the Deities section of Lore the only LE god seems to be Sulterio (the other evil gods really don't seem to fit the background).  I read in Lore that Sulterio might be worshipped by other savage races occasionally  They do come from the mountains and so might possibly have had contact with the Duergar.. though I rather saw them as taking their God with them when they moved into the hills.  Would Sulterio have maybe a surface name that he'd go by?  I saw that he has aliases, but I'm not sure if they'd be the ones to use.

A main concern for me is if this would fit with the world itself.. a deep earth deity being worshipped by surface dwellers on Mistone?

[ycleption]

Remember that unless you're a cleric, you don't need to follow the one step rule... Have you thought about Branderback?

And the family could simply not worship a specific deity (although I understand deities are a  lot of fun for RP)

[ShiffDrgnhrt]

What about [LORE]Shadon[/LORE]?

[darkstorme]

It would be really hard to reconcile Shadon with Lawful... and he's not really "evil" either.  You may as well use Ilsare at that point.

[ShiffDrgnhrt]

Only Lawful Evil I could think of is Ca'duz, but hes Dark Elf only

[darkstorme]

Baraeon Ca'Duz is in fact Neutral Evil, Shiff.  And as Lareth posted at the beginning of this thread, the only Lawful Evil deity is Sulterio.

[Dorganath]

I think the question of which deity one's family would follow should have more to do with dogma than alignment.

[ShiffDrgnhrt]

Baraeon Ca'Duz is in fact Neutral Evil, Shiff.  And as Lareth posted at the beginning of this thread, the only Lawful Evil deity is Sulterio.

Never said I was good with the God-Lore  :\\

And I agree with Dorg

[Kirbiana]

If there is an emphasis on the Lawful over the Evil in the family tradition, perhaps Rofirein?

[lonnarin]

If there is an emphasis on the Lawful over the Evil in the family tradition, perhaps Rofirein?

Indeed, Rofirien does not care whether one is merciful, just that they are just and follow the law.  Any scheming political powerbrokers, lawyer types and the like would be ok by him.  Sulterio would be a bit strange unless they lived in Prantz, then it would be pretty likely that a scheming LE family would side with him to advance themselves.

Branderback is a really good one too if they are more concerned with gaining wealth than obeying the law.  The kind of people who'd try to "look good" for law enforcement, but steal and murder behind their backs, or overly exploitative merchants.

You might also have them godless and LE, as most would likely be, or even write in some sort of connection to dealing with devils if there was history of conjurers in the line.

Oh, and I suppose if they had some undead obsession or dark magic is the source of their power (like an enchanter buisinessman or a old ptriarch who extends his life by sacrificing homeless people and using their blood in longetevity potions) they could very well be Corathites.  Devil dealers and demon summoners would mesh well in this mold too.  One could plausibly be a good Corathite and be lawful, I think Rufus from way way back was one of the best in that respect. (man I miss that guy!)

Ultimately though, unless they truly believed in at least a slightly warped view of a god's dogma, they should probably be unfaithful.

The key is, explaining why they serve the god of choice.  Is it a tradition that is handed down from one of the most affluent anscestors?  Do they live, eat and breathe the code like zealots?  Do they pay open and constant lip service to it in order to get ahead in the society they are in?  Were they wronged by a follower of some other deity, so they side with this one in order to exact vengeance?  The RP reason is far more important than whether the god "fits".  Given the right reason, one could even make an evil follower of a good god, certainly not a priest since they would be wise enough to know that is not the gods will, but a less wise or even criminally insane patriarch might obsessively follow a good god in the wrong way.  A Goranite experimentor might do cruel and dangerous experiments, neglecting morality in order to further science.  An evil Lucindite might be so war torn from the drow invasion of Spellguard that they hate all drow everywhere, to the point of unyeilding hatred and genocide.  An evil Rofirienite or Toranite might hate crime so much that he goes vigilante and murders minor pickpockets on the streets, or use the code of law and duty to exploit others and advance themselves.  Voraxians can love their work too much.  Evil Deliarites who value wealth to an extreme of exploitation, Prunillites who steal children and cook them for walking on their lawn...  The key is, how does this fit with the family?  Why does the family side with the deity, and if they do, what code do they follow?

And please GMs... please run with the idea of an evil Prunillite grandmother who steals children who walk on her lawn and cooks them.  That would be an awesome villain!  "My grandchildren were starving, it was the Dark Ages... besides, it was ONLY a pickpocket.  A hooligan!  nobody would miss him."

[Lareth]

Thanks for the thoughts guys, to answer a few of the questions here...

Al's family background, and that of his people is one of a strict militaristic society, very cruel and unforgiving to boot.  So, with that in mind I was looking for a driver for such a society.. from my basic knowledge of social studies, thats usually either a political system or religious system.  As they're basically one big extended clan, I figured that religion would be the more fitting way to move it.

Al's actually a Rofi.. having been aided by the temple in Vehl after he fled his home.  The motivator for that was the appeal of the rigidly lawful nature of Rofirien's faith, but with it being based on a more just footing, rather than used to justify the oppression and cruelty of a society.. laws for the good of society if you like, sometimes hard and definitely rigidly applied, but working for the betterment of the people.  Quoting from Lore "Aid others whenever and wherever possible, as long as it is in accordance with the law and does not make way for acts of evil."

The feeling I'm getting is that I should play more on the society aspects for why they're evil and lawful than the religious ones... which makes sense being as they're in a fairly dangerous part of the land that they'd need a very rigid system of laws.  Religion would have just made for an easier way to bring that kind of thing across is all.

[Acacea]

Not to stray too far off topic but just to comment slightly aside - Lonnarin, I completely agree on the principles the evil person himself may claim to possess, especially in regards to following one's own interpretation of religious dogma... the most evil of villains are often those that believe what they do is for good, no? The whole "oh, evil is only out for himself" line is very tired as well as false. They may have a cause, a religion, anything from sacrificing to Corath to world peace and the end of poverty. Someone may very well do evil things in the name of a good god. The only issue that comes up though is that mechanical benefits come from being devoted to one in the deity-field sense. If I were going to be one of your examples and twist the dogma so dramatically, I would simply play someone with a blank deity field who had the ferocious devotion of a zealot, and yet one that was not validated by true followers seeking that connection and finding their god's approval.

Each of the gods mention have core principles that are tied to their alignments...stray too far and they are not only heretics to a church, but anathema to all that the god stands for. A LE Rofireinite is now considered not only acceptable but within dogma at cleric-level. A CN Rofireinite should probably never be validated mechanically, but could certainly be preached personally in a twisted way. Likewise, Deliar is not about wealth but about the freedom of true trade, traveling luck, etc... the fat exploiting merchants are exactly who they oppose, because they do not seek to acquire wealth at the expense of others - that is against the core of dogma and shouldn't be validated as "ally" yeah? But fervent lip service, certainly. Same with baby eating Prunilla worshipers. Believe personal interpretation of dogma and preach it? Absolutely, though few people in true right minds would go there. But I do not believe channelers of those deity's wills should get the message from their gods (via prayers and spell strengths) that those actions are cool simply because they are done in the god's name. If anything, that makes it worse, religiously speaking.

[stragen]

Sulterio would be a bit strange unless they lived in Prantz, then it would be pretty likely that a scheming LE family would side with him to advance themselves.

Any evil human family in Prantz would do well to follow the ways of Sulterio.  

The act of worship of any God other then Sulterio is fobidden in Prantz. Prantz is the largest city in Dregar, and the capital of the powerful 'Rael Kingdom'.  Half of Dregar is now under the influnce of 'Rael Kingdom', from Lor in the South to Dalos Lake in the West to Fort Love in the East.

Clearly the God Sulterio has made his presence felt on the surface.  

Citzens of the the surface bow your heads before the might of the Adamantine One.