Discussion about guilds ( btw, I *HATE* the word, speakin of a church as a guild for example, but to make things clear now ) and how people view them and such is welcomed I believe. No actual facts how things work/etc, mind you, just views.
I for one, quite early in Geas started to see think of Geas as "Medieval dark fantasy with heavy emphasis on gods and some high fantasy aspects". It might be just me, or how the players have steered the mud, but gods of Forostar have a really big meaning for me when defining the game world. As such I as a player would love to see the churches to make their teaching more open to their followers. How is a good follower of Taniel expected to behave for example? ( all game/combat things aside ) Where are the respective "twelve commandments"( just an example ) of all the gods? What I would also like is age-old customs for different faiths, I mean it would take a lot to start worshipping a god differently. Given a strong norm how things are and were done, suddenly doing something differently would feel all the more drastic.
As for Crusaders, I think I had succeeded in comprehending what they were about from the start. Warriors resolved to do what it takes+new found faith=bloody fanatics. Ok, that is an overstatement but you get the picture. They never did advertise themselves as "goody-two-shoes" or having any knightly etiquette, nor did they ever behave as such. What I'd want is clearer picture what is Crusaders jurisdiction and what not, but I believe that is more an IC issue
.As a player with a Shaolin character I feel that I must say something about that too. With all that talk of "neutrality" and "balance" things have started to blur. I have felt that the "balance" between cosmic forces for the Shaolin is between Chaos and Order as opposed to Evil and Good. Given this the "neutrality" is about living relatively normal lives, not actively pursuing other agenda but seeking enlightenment and perfecting themselves, while being contributing members of the society. They are bound by law after all...but who's law? To which direction do the Shaolin bow? Arborea or Elvandar? Again some IC issues to be dealt with. I'm not saying every Shao should be a nice citizen monk but how I see them, I've always thought of them as educated too, atleast to some degree, given the fact that literacy is not that widely spread( or is it? ). Some feedback would be appreciated, on all topics.
Ok..I'll stop now before this spreads too thin and incoherent.