Campaign of the Month: January 2013
DANgerous Kalamar 4
Peacefully settling disagreements is the primary aim of the Peacemakers. The clerics who rise within the hierarchy are helpful, easygoing people who are willing to solve problems in the name of peace. Clerics and followers of the King of Comfort work hard at making their homes and lives tranquil. They stress calm, rational thought over emotional impulsiveness.
Duties of clerics include seeing to the health, peace and comfort of their parishioners and their community. Training for clerics includes the teachings of the Master of Serenity, mediation and arbitration techniques, meditation, and the use of weapons for self-defense. Friends include anyone of a peaceful disposition and foes are any aggressors.
Two distinct and strongly disagreeing sects exist within the Peacemakers: the Pacifists and the Preachers of Peace. The Pacifists believe that peace can come only from within, and that total peace can never be achieved through violence or aggression of any kind. The Pacifists will never take up arms; they will not even lift a hand to defend themselves or their families. They feel that becoming a martyr is the highest level of devotion one can show for the King of Comfort. Pacifists usually remain cloistered, resolving local disputes.
In contrast, the Preachers consider it their duty to travel the lands promoting peace. The Preachers tend to be adventuring types who travel the world to make it a safer, more peaceful place to live. The Preachers of Peace believe that the enemies of good must be converted or controlled if Tellene is to be blessed with total contentment. They sometimes lead, organize or fund expeditions to overthrow evil governments.
There is little crime or violence in communities dominated by clerics of either sect of Peacemakers. However, due to their passive nature, Pacifists often become victims in less civilized areas. For this reason Pacifists and their followers prefer small rustic communities far from any conflict.
The Preachers, on the other hand, prefer the opposite. They view their role as the vanguard of peace; they spread tranquility to regions steeped in conflict. Depending on the nature of the conflict, they will mediate between foes, or throw in with one side to force an end to the strife.
In both sects of the faith, there is a growing desire for some sort of reconciliation. In a faith devoted to peace, the open division is embarrassing and shameful to an ever-increasing number of followers. Both sides are so zealous in their views, however, that it is unlikely that any sort of convention or discussion can be arranged without outside influence.
Adventures: Adventuring Preachers believe in creating peace by killing all violent people. They wander the countryside, looking for dangerous monsters and damsels in distress. In foreign cities, they pick at the scabs of society – murderers, rapists and kidnappers. However, Pacifists adventure as well, in an effort to show the faith’s other side – that of the quiet martyr, willing to suffer harm and death in the name of justice.
Characteristics: A high Charisma and strong force of will are useful for finding a peaceful end to strife before it becomes violent. When all else fails, their divine magic allows them to heal the wounds caused by violence.
Background: Peacemakers decide to devote themselves to the tenets of peace after a particularly traumatic experience, usually in which they were a victim. In a few cases, the characters are cowards, hiding their fears behind a mask of virtue.
Races: Elves, halflings and gnomes are the largest nonhuman practitioners of this faith, and they make up the majority of the nonhuman clerics.
Relations With Other Classes: Peacemakers attempt to work with all people, but characters with violent tendencies test their patience. Barbarians and their tendency to fly into berserk rages violate every tenet of their faith. Even overzealous paladins need some restraint in their pursuit of evil.
Relations With Undead: Clerics must destroy undead, and those that associate with them, at all costs. Animating, creating, or otherwise associating with undead may bring excommunication. The faith allows for little flexibility with this rule.
Role: A Peacemaker fulfills an important position in a city; he is an unofficial arbitrator. In an adventuring party, he can prevent characters from making rash decisions that might harm the party in the end.