Question - how do people play (and, less importantly, build/stat) Imperial Orc preachers?
Obviously they can’t use liao or religious skills so that’s a range of activities excluded… but this actually frees them up to do other stuff? As the newest nation with the most to prove I’m thinking doing favours for/building bridges with the othet nations, especially within the synod. The preacher archetype page says they often spend a lot of time talking to humans from the other nations to correct misapprehensions and overcome prejudices. Also, what do they do with their liao? I assume trading for favours/bribes in the synod?
Finally, without the need for religious skills, how would you stat an orc preacher? Obviously they can do anything, I’d think either medical or magic skills (or combat to inspire from the front lines).
So a lot of preachers engage quite heavily in National Assembly, as it’s a small assembly (sometimes in single figures) each priest has more influence than in other nations. It also can’t really ignore individuals as just a few missing preachers and you can’t hit a greater majority. It is a bit different to other nations, and there is a real streak of Orcs who are not big fans of The Way, in various different ways.
I had a contract with a human group to exclusivly sell my liao to them, and they would perform any ceremonies I needed. I reccomend having go to priests with priest skills in case you ever need an aura. You will also want to save some up for use on mandates. I actually did quite a bit of work outside the nation, gathering liao for a mandate. That was actually very rewarding.
I’d say you can really make being a preacher your own, but as it’s a small nation I do reccomend really building bridges to the other nations, and doing stuff in your virtue assembly. There are a lot of humans who really appreciate an orc perspective, and if you find them there is a lot of game from having a different perspective on The Way.
The Imperial Orc Preacher game is often very driven by philosophy. While there are potions that let you do priest skills without consuming Liao, a lot of it tends to sit more with finding an alignment between a religion that is historically exclusively a human religion and the beliefs of other orcs and what appears to happen when orcs die.
Increasingly as more groups of orcs join the empire, Preachers are having to work harder to bring disparate philosophies together (Or push their own spiritual agendas).
In a lot of ways, this makes statting for Preachers very open, as you are broadly free to pick whatever you want, though Apothecary is an interesting choice.
Liao is normally used for Mandates, as there are fewer people with sources of Liao in the orc camp, it means Liao is often a struggle to get ahold of (and trading is difficult for liao as the price is relatively fixed, because it can be sold in downtime for 1 crown).
Its worth pointing out as well: it’s the synod’s job to get you on side, just as much as it is your job to get them onside. There are always going to be people who are looking to help and support you to do the things they want to do, and a lot of the time you will naturally find goals aligning (few people would benefit from an Imperial schism for example). That isn’t to say bribery is never necessary, but that its less common than you might think.
Wow, thank you both for the long and thoughtful answers! Seems to tie very much into the Orc’s small, new nation, figuring it out as they go along ethos.
I don’t think I’d considered them as iconoclastic before, I assumed if anything their priests would be insecure and therefore more orthodox, but the idea of trying to adapt to Way to Orcs with courage and intellectual honesty is (obviously) more interesting.
What is a priest? Is it someone who votes in the synod and gets involved in politics for the good of their virtue / nation? Is it someone who looks after the virtue and souls of their congregation, their banner or their nation? Is it someone who practices religious skills? Is it someone who seeks to explore how the Way applies to their nation’s unique religious practices?
Yes, to all of the above. The term priest is deliberately poorly defined to allow players to interpret it as they wish.
Orcs have two religious orientated priest archetypes: shaman and preacher. Shamans are defined as those who hear the ancestors more freely and tend to focus on the uniquely orcish aspects of religion. Preachers are orcs who are virtue-focused individuals, looking to the virtue of the nation and/or how virtue applies to orcs.
There have been both shamans and preachers orc cardinals and gatekeepers i.e. highly political priestly characters. There are preachers who seek to help their nation through national assembly and others strongly linked to their virtue, who conduct inquisitions or who are pastoral priests. The Bonewall banner (no longer active in play but mentioned on the Wiki in the Doctrine section) is credited with the change of doctrine which formalised the Doctrines of the Ancestors and of the Howling Abyss.
There is rich game to be had in the discussions of how the Way of Virtue applies to orcs, whether you have a congregation or not. Orc preachers may be consulted when considering how non-imperial orc peoples might join the Empire - look back at the Mournwold orc issues which have involved orc preachers discussing virtue and orc spirituality. Some are extremely orthodox; others are incredibly heterodox… just like in other nations!
The orc preacher cannot utilise religious skills (other than insight via a potion) as they cannot consume liao, but in all other ways are the equal of their human brethren. The lack of religious skills frees the orc preacher to take any other skill they choose: magic, artisan, apothecary or warrior, any and all could be valid choices. Even a congregation isn’t 100% necessary to have the preacher archetype - only to interact with Synod politics / National Assembly.
So speaking as someone who was both a shaman and Preacher, it’s good to have a rough idea of how you want to approach it, and why. Do you lean heavily into the shaman side and being an orc spiritual guide, or go hard into The Way and being a Preacher of the Way.
You sort of need to think “am I a synod member for political reasons or do I truly believe this?” “am I orthodox in a human sense or do I want to really lean into heterodoxy”. You don’t need to have answered those questions or even know what beliefs you want to take on before you hit the field and soak it in, however it’s really helpful to have that thought in how you approach it.
My charectar did a weird switch, he came in as a shaman and a mage with a mana site, then had an intense RP moment and exposure to a paticular exemplar, then swapped to a congregation and went hard into a paticular virtue. Got lots of great RP about the conflict between his orc heritage/ancestors, and the Way he was now strongly advocating, in the middle of a nation that is probably the least orthodox on the field (Marches are also not that Orthodox but it feels a bit different when you actually have different spiritual powers involved)
We’re a chatty bunch and this is a good question…