Dualism and spiritual beliefs

So, in Duskwall, the main religion (i guess) is the Church of the Ecstasy of the flesh, which is a strange reversal of real-life religious dualism, and views the body as good, but the spirit as evil, or something. this, of course goes hand in hand with the need to destroy ghosts. i assume this is the prevailing spiritual belief.
however, it seems like all the PCs (that i have seen) go counter to this, what with consorting with ghosts, and the desire to become ghosts.
have you ever had PCs that fall on the anti-spirit side? or how have you incorporated this tension of belief into your campaigns?

2 Likes

In my own campaign, and some lets plays like the magpies; there tends to be somebody in the party who who is not as comfortable with spirits or possibly actively attempting to destroy them.

We have not explored the tension between our ghosthunter and whisper very much yet, possibly as in the first half dozen sessions this has been overshadowed by whether it is a good idea to release and be possessed by a demon. He is a surprise - it is a double edged sword.

I definitely think this can be an interesting source of tension within a crew. Certainly it is is drawn fell explicitly that certain groups in the city like the gondoliers and spirit wardens and silver nails are dealing with and putting down spirits where others like the dimmer sister’s and the reconciled are very much on the other side of the fence.

If you want to explore player characters who are are against weird things like spirits, perhaps look at at how the conan the barbarian in comics was set at odds with against magic.

1 Like

We have a Tycherosi whisper in our crew of smugglers. His player has decided that he views his people as superior to humans, as their demon blood naturally suggests. :roll_eyes: Human ghosts, therefore, are the lowest form of trash. 30 sessions in, he still refuses to take the Compel ability as that would sully him. He’s fascinated by (and all about) consorting with demons and forgotten gods, however, which has led to a lot of world-shaking fun.

Perhaps this is part of the reason the crew in general distrusts ghosts. They often use spirits as weapons (and their enemies have done the same against them), and have spent a lot of time investing in measures to protect their turf and claims from spiritual incursion. The leech invented a device that basically tortures a trapped spirit endlessly, sending its psychic pain rippling out through the ghost field as a deterrent to any spirits thinking about coming near. It has the side effect of messing with anyone who tries to attune nearby. Every member of the crew has Iron Will. The cutter has leviathan blood tattoos granting him the Ghost Fighter ability. The hound’s pet raven is trained to shred ghosts with its talons. They deal with ghosts a lot - but have always looked at them as a threat or a tool.

1 Like

I played a character that started out anti-spirit/ghost etc. that evolved into more spirit friendly over time. But I suspect it’s because the character wanted a whole new population to manipulate and deceive.