[CK3] The Church of Eilistraee on Earth

[Mags]

[[Welcome to my first CK3 Let's Play. Not sure where to post it, so I posted it in this forum. I know the rules say others may not comment, but I would like to waive that, as I'm going to ask for voting on certain decisions later. Was trying to get a mod with drow working, but didn't manage to, so I guess someone has to be turned into a human to get sent to earth. ]]

A Chronicle of the Beginning by Nendra, Prophet of Eilistraee on Earth
May you be blessed, all who read this. This is the first written down testament of the Church of Eilistraee on Earth, about two dozen years after the Sending. I am Nendra, I had a family name once, but it is no matter in this realm. I was not born on Earth, rather on Toril, a realm as forgotten to Earth as Earth is to there.

I lived my first life in the underground city of Menzoberranzan, becoming one of its finest scholars. I was, as my parents said, "cursed" with an abundance of compassion, which I soon learned to hide well. In my youth, I turned quickly from the worship of the cruel goddess Lolth to following her daughter Eilistraee, the Dark Dancer. Her worship was forbidden, and I hid my feelings throughout my life, only offering compassion and trying to spread Eilistraee's teachings when it felt safe. It was rarely successful, but every time I tried, I heard Eilistraee's melody and I knew I did right. I tried to escape the city thrice, but was soon considered too valuable a scholar to not be under guard constantly.

My death occurred when I tried challenging a Lolth priestess on a particularly callous course of action. She saw through me, goaded me into revealing my true goddess, and brought Lolth's wrath down onto me. The spiders! Oh, all the spiders! They were my doom. I do not wish to think about them.

Then my soul met Her. She danced with me, offered to guide me to the afterlife, but she also had another offer: a portal to Earth had recently opened. If I chose so, I was to be reincarnated as a human, for I was drow before, and sent as Her prophet to establish her church in this realm. I wondered if a human lifespan would be enough to establish a church among the ignorant, and she smiled and promised me a body so hale as never seen before.

And so it was I found myself in Nyland, with only the knowledge of the language, divinely provided.


[[This is us. We are 16, healthy and bisexual.

The icons below that mean:
- Generous - a personality trait; lowers income, but makes us liked more
- Compassionate - a personality trait; lowers intrigue and dread, but makes us liked more
- Forgiving - a personality trait; lowers intrigue, but makes us liked more
- Erudite Oracle - a tier 5 (highest) education trait; boosts learning a lot
- Journaller - a lifestyle trait; helps us deal with stress
- Intelligent - a tier 2 inheritable trait; decent stat boost
- Amazonian - a tier 3 (highest) inheritable trait; huge health boost

Below that are our stats (about the same range as D&D stats, yes, our learning is god-like):
- 15 Diplomacy (for interacting with title-holders)
- 15 Martial (for leading armies)
- 15 Stewardship (for making money)
- 8 Intrigue (for doing cloak and dagger stuff, as well as resisting it; being compassionate and forgiving doesn't help here )
- 26 Learning (for religious stuff and tech)
- 15 Prowess (for personal combat)

Then there are our religion and culture, but we know that isn't true and we're just pretending to fit in.
On the right, there is our dynasty shield. We're currently the only dynasty member.

Next time: The Lay of the Land]]

[Bhaern Quel]

Moved to General Discussion. That way the topic can be discussed.

[Mags]

[[Thank you! I'd be glad to hear what people think. Remember, sharing feedback is a kindness that Eilistraee will likely reward in some way. ]]

The Lay of the Land by Nendra, Prophet of Eilistraee on Earth
When I exited the portal reincarnated, I was overwhelmed. It was thankfully night, so I did not have to adjust to the sun quite yet. The full moon was showing, but having spent my entire first life underground, the stars, the wide open space, it was beautiful beyond measure! I now understand why Eilistraee wanted to bring us drow back to the surface! The flowers! The smells!

But none of that matters now, for here on Earth, there is no Underdark. The night I arrived was not only lighted by the moon, but also by fire. A small band of raiders had fallen onto unsuspecting villagers, pillaging their way through the village, most of them running in panic, and their chieftain looked up in his stronghold with his followers, leaving his people to fend for themselves.

I arrived naked, sword in hand, accompanied by music, and everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at me. Her voice told me to strike down the raider before me and rally the villagers, and so I did. We chased them off, we doused the fires, and then we confronted the chieftain when he came out of hiding. A callous and sadistic man, he showed no compassion, no remorse, and I struck him down as well, and took his place. Too shocked to challenge me, his followers accepted me at first, but I knew that would not last.

You see, where I come from, women rule men. But here, it is the other way around. A female chieftain was not unheard of, but unusual, especially one as young as I seemed to be. As such, I had to prove myself, and quickly. To do that, I first took stock of the situation.



The village I was in was called Porvoo, capital of Nyland, to which the villages of Hämeenlinna and Sysmä also belong. The region I was in was Finland. Porvoo was located at the shore of a gulf, and easy target for raiders. Raids were unfortunately very common here, one happening every five to ten years. The people were mostly fishers and hunters, the latter of which could double as archers in battle. The neighbouring chiefdoms were similar, not prime suspects for conquest to show my strength. I needed a different idea.

Word traveled fast, and people from the other two villages soon appeared, to gaze upon me. I used this opportunity to send out a call for volunteers, to strike back at the raiders. My plan was to sail the gulf, find a raid in progress, strike down the raiders and take the village from its lord. Not the most compassionate way of going about thing, I admit, but I needed to establish myself first before I could turn to spreading Eilistraee's love.

It took few weeks of sailing, but I found my target: the village of Lindanisa, across the bay in Estonia. Raiders were engaged with the chieftain's army there, and winning. We swooped in, killed the raiders, declared our intent to conquer, rooted the remains of the army and took control. They had no choice, but to accept.

Pleasingly, the Estonians immediately turned the whole thing into a song. I so missed that! See, the Finns don't really have much of a use for music, or the arts in general. They are more about being stoic huntsmen and fishermen, who don't interact much with outsiders.



The Estonians, on the other hand, have a musical heritage. I believe I won many hearts that night by dancing to their songs. I tried to encourage the Finns to take part, but most did so only to humor me. They scoff at everything Estonian, and I see it will not be easy to change their culture to something more spiritual, more pleasant from the pure survivalism they are now showing. But that for later.



[[I thought I could get Musical Theorists into my culture for cheap by hybridizing Finnish with Estonian, but apparently I can't. Well, I guess I'll have to do it the hard way. Which means prestige, lots of prestige. Which I have all been spending on a high clip...]]

Here, I also made another windfall: the Estonians had forges, which the Finns lacked. I finally could add proper swordsmen to my armies! I also instructed them in the construction of onagers. Siege weapons would be essential for my next steps.



[[That's where all the prestige went. For tribal rulers, you don't pay the army in coin, you pay in prestige. Those swordsmen are expensive. But really really good.]]

One man in my army was standing out to me especially: Seppo. He showed a great understanding of strategy, logistics and tactics, the men respected him and he respected me. I made him my marshal and gave him the order to train a group of champions, elite fighters who could lead and train their own groups of warriors. Granted, I do not like him personally much, he is quick to anger and tends to shout, but at least he does have some appreciation for the arts. The culinary and sexual arts, mainly, but he did enthusiastically join into the singing and dancing in Estonia.



[[Seppo has the following traits, in order:
- Ambitious, Arrogant, Wrathful (personality)
- Brilliant Strategist (education, T4 martial)
- Eager Reveler, Hunter (lifestyle)
- Organizer (commander trait, army moves faster and takes fewer losses)]]

With my position secure, I settled in to consolidate and plan my next moves. It was time to focus on the well-being of myself and my people.

[[Thank you for reading so far!

Next time: The Fragility of the Human Body]]

[Irennan]

I'm really enjoying this journal. I wasn't aware of this game before reading your post, but it seems pretty cool in the freedom it offers you with cultures.

The idea of bringing Eilistraee's faith to Earth sounds fun, and even pretty doable when it comes to the Middle Ages, because many of the Eilistraean rituals may sound familiar to people who are already engaged in certain IRL religions. The angle about empathy and finding the beauty in the broken may be very hard to teach, given that people in that age had very different kinds of worries (namely, surviving, which in Faeraun is much lessened, due to the avavilability of healing magic and magically conjured and/or purified food and water among communities built around a priest(ess)). But that makes your journal all the more interesting.

Also, I'm looking forward to see how Nendra will handle reconciling Eilistraee's ideals with the military and political side of things. She seems to have chosen an utilitarian route as of now, which makes a lot of sense, given that Lolthite society must have left some kind of mark on her.

Thanks for sharing this with us!