Eternity Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire + DLC Thread - now with turn-based combat!

[Lacrymas]

Delterius I'm sure every escaped slave in Eora will be thanking Skaen profusely too. There is also the Journal of Jonas -

My Son,
Tomorrow I become The Effigy, tomorrow I become Skaen's embodiment on Eora, tomorrow my master chokes on his own whip.

For months, we met by secret conclave to plot our landlord's demise, all the while working the fields as if our hearts were content. Skaen teaches us to plot with the mind while keeping one's face impassive, inscrutable - fair fights are for those with armies. The Quiet Slave is our whetstone, our focus - in his worship, our cause finds focus, clarity, and possibility! Tomorrow, my master chokes on his own whip.

By the time you read this, I will be dead. I pray Skaen does not abandon me for speaking of my plotting, but a son deserves to know how his father died. For I have volunteered to be the Effigy - Skaen will inhabit my body, using this old farmer's simple flesh as a puppet of godly rage. I have been shaved and anointed - tomorrow morning, I will be your father in name only, as my manhood will be removed, my nose and ears removed, and my useless mortal eyes will be replaced with flint stones through which Skaen might see the world.

My son, I am sorry for the lies I have told you these past few seasons, but Skaen demands secrecy - even your mother knows nothing of my furtive service to The Quiet Slave. Curse my name if you must, but never weep for me, for I die for the betterment of our community, to smite our lord's corruption from the face of Eora! Tomorrow my master chokes on his own whip, for tomorrow, I become the Effigy!

That last bit is quite important. People think they better the communities within them by worshiping Skaen.

 

[Parabalus]

It's an ideology where the weak overcome their lot by the only means they have, Skaen is on the side of the beaten, humiliated and the oppressed, strengthening them and pulling them up. It's a very Christian worldview and very interesting.

Lacrymas can you point me an instance of Skaen pulling people up?

Dyrford village, a sex slave with no future is given care and training for the promising vocation of assassin.

A clear step up the social ladder.

 

[Nano]

Dyrford village, a sex slave with no future is given care and training for promising vocation of assassin.

A clear step up the social ladder.

She wasn't a sex slave. Her uncle just wanted to impregnate her.

 

[Anonymous Wife Scholar]

Abydon sacrifices himself to protect the remnants of an old civilization and is willing to let kiths overthrow the gods in the name of scientific progress.

Abydon anon was based redpilled MADE IT kino anon anon in cute White March DLC anon but he was irrelevance toddler brain nonsense anon in Deadfire anon! It is true anon! It is! It is many such cases Deadfire franchise killer anon! It is true anon! It is!

 

[rusty_shackleford]

ah sweet, it's one of my favorite shows
lastchristmas posts some really dumb shit and everyone collectively facepalms

 

[Lacrymas]

Jesus Christ, Eothas literally challenges the entire pantheon to empower kiths and give them a chance to shape their destiny against the gods' will and you say Skaen is the only god with a worthy goal?

Abydon sacrifices himself to protect the remnants of an old civilization and is willing to let kiths overthrow the gods in the name of scientific progress.

You're discarding them only because they have nothing to do with cutting off dicks. Admit it.

The framing is quite different, however, and they do it because they want to and use their own power to do so. Skaen gives you the power and the right frame of mind. Every god can potentially do shit for you or save someone or whatever, but it never has the philosophical and theological drive that Skaen offers. Skaen is a religion for humans (kith) and their struggles, every other religion is about everything else but humans.

 

[NJClaw]

ah sweet, it's one of my favorite shows
lastchristmas posts some really dumb shit and everyone collectively facepalms

I would like to put on record that I'm not facepalming but gently caressing my pants around the dick area.

 

[Anonymous Wife Scholar]

Skaen gives you the power and the right frame of mind.

What! It is not give anon if it is trade anon for face and penis anon! Is not!

 

[AwesomeButton]

Will you have your revenge, or will you have your penis. Trick or treat.

 

[Anonymous Wife Scholar]

Will you have your revenge, or will you have your penis. Trick or treat.

I am cute heterosexual human male penis treat wife scholar! I am!

 

[Lacrymas]

The Effigy is just the Crucifixion. The Dyrford girl is the Immaculate Conception. Don't sweat it so much.

 

[Parabalus]

Jesus Christ, Eothas literally challenges the entire pantheon to empower kiths and give them a chance to shape their destiny against the gods' will and you say Skaen is the only god with a worthy goal?

Abydon sacrifices himself to protect the remnants of an old civilization and is willing to let kiths overthrow the gods in the name of scientific progress.

You're discarding them only because they have nothing to do with cutting off dicks. Admit it.

The framing is quite different, however, and they do it because they want to and use their own power to do so. Skaen gives you the power and the right frame of mind. Every god can potentially do shit for you or save someone or whatever, but it never has the philosophical and theological drive that Skaen offers. Skaen is a religion for humans (kith) and their struggles, every other religion is about everything else but humans.

Is it really about humans if he aids intragod rebellion?

 

[Delterius]

I'm sure every escaped slave in Eora will be thanking Skaen profusely too.

Some of them do yes. There is a shrine to Skaen in Fort Deadlight, which is pseudo anarchic community that is in favor of every crime in the world, except Slavery. But here's the kicker:

People think they better the communities within them by worshiping Skaen.

Guess what happened next?

A new lord took over right afterward.

There was no liberation. There was only death. Retribution, warranted most likely sure but at the end of day the whips were back, the nobles were in power, and the peasants still toiled the fields. In a way Skaen is no better than a cautionary tale for the nobility. An act of discipline that comes from below. That is why Eothas and Magran liberated whole nations, that is why Abydon liberated a whole civilization, while Skaen serves Woedica's agenda. That is why Skaen and Woedica form an unit: Tyrants have the right to exist. Peasants have the right to exist too. They each have their place in society, but if the former goes too far, they are removed by the Effigy and another takes their place. Hopefully with a little bit of fear in their hearts to moderate their actions until their great-grandson starts acting uppity again.

I am a fan of his because he's the only god in this world that has worthy goals or at least pretends to have worthy goals appropriate for a god. I think Christianity became the force it has and had the allure it did to people 2000 years ago because of the same things Skaen promises. Like Kyl von Kyll said in that thread, however, Saint Paul was more cunning than Skaen will ever be.

Which is why there's a big difference between what people take from their faith and what their faith actually promises them. Skaen never promised anyone anything beyond the immediate killing of their abusers. This does have its place as a form of closure to the abused. Your character was freed as a slave because the Effigy happened to kill the masters. So it makes a lot sense that your character would become a faithful of Skaen, or at least hold Skaen in high regard. And it makes a lot of sense as well that your character would see Skaen as a liberator. A romantic view of Skaen as a God of sacrifice that can deliver freedom would make a lot of sense in here. But that's not the doctrine of Skaen.

Let me put it this way. My character in PoE was also a former slave. But instead of finding solace in Skaen he became a Priest of Wael. My character believed Wael to be the only true and worthy God and to have liberated his soul because Wael, ultimately, doesn't require anything from their faithful other that they permanently be in pursuit of new experiences, of new knowledge. To my character that is akin to demanding only that people simply lead their own lives with a progressive/improving outlook. My character had lived under Woedica's morals and been a slave in Aedyr and to worship a God of Mysteries, however underhanded he turned out to be, served as a liberation from the old country and an anchor to his new life. Nothing in the lore or the doctrines of Wael as a God points to that interpretation, but that is a feature of my character in particular, much like Durance has very personal opinions of Magran, or how the peasants of Skaen may think that the effigy will liberate their communities. It won't. Not only because Skaen never liberated any place (that we know of), but because he does not care for that sort of thing.

In PoE1 we run into Dyrford, a village pretty much owned by the cult of Skaen. The Skaenites found out that a passing nobleman had raped and abused his daughter. They didn't save her. They mind-raped the rape victim and turned her into a slave to serial killing. You can save her, you can dispel the mind-rape and ultimately kill the rapist nobleman yourself. And Skaen does not care in the slightest. The only thing Skaen cares about is that you robbed people of revenge. Again, justice, however 'distasteful' it can get, can serve as closure to abuse victims. But that particular Cult of Skaen lacked the ideological framework to rise past that and change the world. Dyrford Village is still a cult of assassins in the middle of the Dyrwood, which is an oligarchic republic with a landed nobility. A fact about which Skaen couldn't care less.

It is possible that there is another form of Skaen somewhere else. Maybe the Skaen of Old Vailia is different and speaks to ideals, hence the republican tradition of its culture. Kinda like how Ondra and Ngati are two faces of the same God. But Skaen, such as we've seen in Woedica and Woedican dominated cultures is just not that.

 

[Lacrymas]

Is it really about humans if he aids intragod rebellion?

That just shows gods are people too.

 

[NJClaw]

The Effigy is just the Crucifixion. The Dyrford girl is the Immaculate Conception. Don't sweat it so much.

My favorite parts of the Bible:
- The Book of Genesis
- The Book of Kings
- Jesus Christ cutting off his face, becoming a dickless giant, and killing all the Romans in a bloody massacre

 

[mediocrepoet]

The Effigy is just the Crucifixion. The Dyrford girl is the Immaculate Conception. Don't sweat it so much.

This is one of the more retarded things I've read on this site. Amazing!

 

[Rinslin Merwind]

Jesus Christ, Eothas literally challenges the entire pantheon to empower kiths and give them a chance to shape their destiny against the gods' will and you say Skaen is the only god with a worthy goal?

Abydon sacrifices himself to protect the remnants of an old civilization and is willing to let kiths overthrow the gods in the name of scientific progress.

You're discarding them only because they have nothing to do with cutting off dicks. Admit it.

Common, don't forget to whom you are talking, it's Lacrymas. Leave Lacrymas to to decide which deity should people celebrate and revere - entire world will succumb and crumble under rule evil god. And this god will be so fucking evil - even fascists, slavery apologists and genocide deniers of whole codex would consider such divine rule "a bit too much for my taste". And Lacrymas will tell everyone that he protects oppressed *insert x group* by bringing this deity in world, despite blood of *X group* members flowing in rivers on streets alongside their supposed oppressors and survivors being enslaved.

 

[Efe]

why are you like this lacrymas?
is this some sort of sick roleplay?

 

[Lacrymas]

The Effigy is just the Crucifixion. The Dyrford girl is the Immaculate Conception. Don't sweat it so much.

This is one of the more retarded things I've read on this site. Amazing!

All the answers, as ever, can be found in the thread.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Abydon sacrifices himself to protect the remnants of an old civilization and is willing to let kiths overthrow the gods in the name of scientific progress.

Abydon anon was based redpilled MADE IT kino anon anon in cute White March DLC anon but he was irrelevance toddler brain nonsense anon in Deadfire anon! It is true anon! It is! It is many such cases Deadfire franchise killer anon! It is true anon! It is!

Abydon was a cool dude in the first pillars. He, Magran and Galawain wanted humanity to progress and develop.
Still ended up siding with Hylea though because my character had a high Benevolence stat and I figured returning the souls to the hollowborn would be consistent with his previous actions.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Still ended up siding with Hylea though because my character had a high Benevolence stat and I figured returning the souls to the hollowborn would be consistent with his previous actions.

I couldn't bring myself to seeing this as a good idea at all. Hollowborn have no idea how to function, many are already dead. Previous will cause incredible amounts of problems and stress, latter will make parents who put their hollowborn children down to kill themselves.

 

[FreeKaner]

I get where Lacrymas is coming from, but he is definitely carrying it a few steps too far. There are certainly going to be undercurrents of Christian thought and theology in any Western or Western influenced writing (and this is present even in atheist morality of most of the West). However I think it is just also partially just taking slave morality to its conclusion as well rather than being Christian as is.

 

[Anonymous Wife Scholar]

Abydon was a cool dude in the first pillars. He, Magran and Galawain wanted humanity to progress and develop.
Still ended up siding with Hylea though because my character had a high Benevolence stat and I figured returning the souls to the hollowborn would be consistent with his previous actions.

Thank you Spy anon! You are a good strong friend anon! Hylea was cute many colours many feathers bird mommy wife anon in Pillars of Eternity game anon but she was ugly stinky rainbow porcine face nonsense anon in Deadfire anon! It is true anon! It is! It is many such cases Deadfire franchise killer anon! It is!

 

[NJClaw]

I couldn't bring myself to seeing this as a good idea at all. Hollowborn have no idea how to function, many are already dead. Previous will cause incredible amounts of problems and stress, latter will make parents who put their hollowborn children down to kill themselves.

Hylea is a woman AND the goddess of birds, therefore she is clinically insane and all her opinions and proposals should be immediately discarded.