Our campaign just wrapped up 491 and my pagan PK has married an extraordinary, very headstrong woman who is determined to make him convert to British Christianity.

This is wife #3 after the first two each died in childbirth. Then in 490 Sir Aedgar could not resist Ygraine's charms and tried to grab and kiss her - with her handmaid intervening. Cornwall decided to spare the young knight's life and instead have him apologize before the court (a difficult thing for this notably Proud pagan). This was the first Uther found out about the incident and he was understandably pissed and made Aedgar and his PK comrades serve night watch that hard winter. And during that strangely brutal winter, tragedy befell Sir Aedgar's family, mysteriously slaying not just his steward, but BOTH of his young sons!

So the Earl has him marry one of the Countess's particularly willful handmaids, who is a devout Christian woman who has sent a priest to convince Sir Aedgar that his sons perished due to his sinful Lust. During the following year, while he and his fellow knights slew Cornwall, his new wife bore him another son (and survived!) who he has agreed will be raised Christian.

I am trying to figure out the best way to play this. He is resisting conversion with all his Proud stubbornness, and if it does happen he will be a very bad Christian - he also has Lustful at 14 with a directed trait of +11 towards his now Queen Ygraine. He did negotiate that the priest teach him to read so he can peruse the Bible on his own, plus he is a slightly Pious pagan (11) and of course he has witnessed the Fae Realm with his own eyes. My thought was to focus on raising Generous and Energetic as they're valuable by both faiths and maybe work on Merciful and Just to set up his heir for at least a chance at being Chivalrous. He also has notable Love - Family so that should help him *try* to remain faithful to his wife, and if she should bear him a daughter it may shift his perspective on his lustful debauchery a bit.

Your thoughts? I'm enjoying this plotline (except for the child deaths!) and there's so much RP opportunity.

as GM I would let the son will be able to choice whether he picks his father traits or the default christian values (so 13 in christian values), [did he listen to the priest or his father]. I think that's even in the rules.
So the son could start with clean slate.
Energetic and Generous focus would be a compromise. If he is truly proud he would ignore those two and work on anti-christian traits.
So focus on being the (bad) Pagan and let your son denounce his father ways and start with proper christian values.

fg,
Thijs

Is he a Famously Proud (16+) Pagan? Then it could be that he resents the new meddling ways of the wife. Shouldn't a good Christian wife to be Chaste, Submissive and QUIET, for heaven's sake!? :P Who does she think she is, hectoring a famous knight such as yourself? It was good enough for your father, it is good enough for you, and it should be good enough for your son, too!

Of course, if he is not a 16+ Proud, he might figure that it is better for the family harmony to simply shrug and take the plunge. After all, he is not getting any pagan religious benefits with his Lustful 14 and Proud less than 16. So, just pay lip service and go to church regular-like, and see if that sweetens her disposition. Hey, might even net a politically-advantageous godfather (the Earl) if the wife is still in cahoots with the Countess, and earn some good will from the local clergy: everyone loves a convert!

Is he a Famously Proud (16+) Pagan? Then it could be that he resents the new meddling ways of the wife. Shouldn't a good Christian wife to be Chaste, Submissive and QUIET, for heaven's sake!? :P Who does she think she is, hectoring a famous knight such as yourself? It was good enough for your father, it is good enough for you, and it should be good enough for your son, too!

Of course, if he is not a 16+ Proud, he might figure that it is better for the family harmony to simply shrug and take the plunge. After all, he is not getting any pagan religious benefits with his Lustful 14 and Proud less than 16. So, just pay lip service and go to church regular-like, and see if that sweetens her disposition. Hey, might even net a politically-advantageous godfather (the Earl) if the wife is still in cahoots with the Countess, and earn some good will from the local clergy: everyone loves a convert!


That's exactly the problem - he has a 16 for both Proud and Love of Family (Valorous being his other famous trait), so he is conflicted. Political advantage is his main motivation for letting his heir be brought up Christian - he sees which way the wind blows and thinks it will help his boy's future career. Privately though he's horrified by the thought of his two innocent bairns (they were 4 and 1) burning in hell for his "sins" -- but at the same time he's disgusted by the concept of a "loving" God doing this to mere children.

He mostly worships the Sleeping Hero and sees Christ as another aspect of this god. He's having more thoughts about good vs. evil especially after some unpleasant encounters with Saxon Wotan cultists (bastards KO'ed him at Lindsay and have recently sacrificed women and children in one of their raids).

I can't see him letting his wife "win" but he is trying to think of a way to hedge his bets.

Knights are not very good at theology and since Religion is a really a mess, I guess most people in the Middle Ages would have taken the best of two worlds, i.e. they would go on worshiping various pagan gods, PLUS attend mass on Sunday occasionally and participate in Christian feasts & rituals such as a baptism. There is no state religion, so most people wouldn't really bother, not even the druids & Christian clergy. A son may be baptized and then raised in a traditional pagan manner, respectful of Christian morality. This should be no big deal, unless you portray the Christian Church as an aggressive institution which wants to conquer the hearts and minds of all people, like it was regularly the case historically. (For example, in my game about Charlemagne Christianity is the absolute norm, and paganism is firmly condemned.)

If you play in a tolerant and pluri-religious world like Pendragon, you shouldn't oppose Christian theology to pagan worship, I feel. Of course, wotanism does oppose Christianity and paganism, so these would be condemned as mutually exclusive.

He mostly worships the Sleeping Hero and sees Christ as another aspect of this god.


Well then, no problem. Just attend the church to add that 'magic' to your side, and honor the old gods during your own time to make sure they are not offended. Can't hurt, eh? So in all practical purposes he is still a Pagan, but with enough lip-service to the Church that things should be A-OK with the local clergy and the missus.

And that's basically how I played it....

He took communion after being tried for treason for helping Merlin kidnap baby Arthur. It's lip service and perhaps not coincidentally, he got a check in Deceitful which did go up.

He's also expressing Lustful through some inappropriate public displays with his wife - yes marital fidelity is usually Chaste but copping a feel in front of the court is Lustful even if you're married. ;)

We shall see what happens in subsequent sessions. One of the other PKs got his skin scrubbed off by monks due to not taking communion, and the other PK who is notably Worldly spat out the host the second he got out the door. Having an all-pagan party does make things interesting....