Tairnadal and Reincarnation [Archive] - Wizards Community

Tairnadal and Reincarnation [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Syltorian
03-10-07, 06:35 PM According to Faiths of Eberron (p.143), a growing number of Tairnadal believe in actual reincarnation. They emulate the ancestor to awaken the memories of past lives. Rather than letting the ancestor live again in a more indirect manner, by basically enacting him, one actually is the ancestor, and has been from the beginning.

While I like this idea, I do have some problems with it that I might need some help with before I implement it in my own Eberron:

First, as far as I know, a hero of the past can have many avatars amongst the Valenar, who are all living at the same time and often compete with each other to show they are better at emulating the hero than any other descendent is. Unless they also believe that the hero's soul is spread out over the generation like the Quori spirit of a kalashtar, the growing cult of reincarnation would be bound to believe that there can be only one incarnation at a time. Everyone else pretending to be so would be either a pretender or sadly misled and living his life trying to regain memories he never had, while failing to recover those he did have.

Second, this would also mean that the current incarnation would have memories of many lives. Would he have to emulate more than one, if not all of his past lives? That is, trying to live the lives of one ancestor who fought the giants, another who warred against the goblins before being recalled to fight off the dragons, and yet another who helped throw House Vol out of Aerenal - instead of just one single ancestor. This could be rather confusing. Trying to do too much at the same time means nothing gets done well enough - and an ancestor has to be emulated perfectly. At the same time it could make the most recent incarnation more versatile and less predictable.

Third, how are the traditional religions going to react to this - in particular the Keepers of the Past, but also the other elven religions (the Undying Court and the Blood of Vol). The latter would not be very happy about this, since it's effectively eternal life without having to go through the sacrifice of unlife. Regarding the Keepers, I suppose it would depend on whether or not a spirit can be reincarnated into more than one person at a time; if it can't, you are essentially calling the Keepers of the Past liars (at worst) and deluded fools (at best) who tell you to follow the wrong ancestor.

Does anyone have any idea how I can incorporate the reincarnation belief into the Valenar without causing a religious war in Tairnadal territories (and by extension, Valenar)?
DarthMidget
03-10-07, 11:25 PM Errr...I dunno I kind of like the idea of a religious war. :cool:
Syltorian
03-11-07, 12:19 PM While I agree that the idea of a Valenar/Tairnadal religious war is interesting, I think there would be too many side-effects. They'd stop being a threat to their neighbours, if they turn on each other.

Couple an important cause (how you relate to your ancestor) with the fact that elven warriors are the greatest challenge around, and they'll most likely ignore Q'Barra, the Talenta and Karrnath.

Unless both sides agree that no matter how you relate to your ancestor, killing other elves is just unacceptable either way. Then their "war" would be simply trying to surpass each other, proving one's way is right by actually achieving its goal... and the warbands could have even more of a cause to attack others around them in their contest.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Syltorian 03-10-07, 06:35 PM	According to Faiths of Eberron (p.143), a growing number of Tairnadal believe in actual reincarnation. They emulate the ancestor to awaken the memories of past lives. Rather than letting the ancestor live again in a more indirect manner, by basically enacting him, one actually is the ancestor, and has been from the beginning. While I like this idea, I do have some problems with it that I might need some help with before I implement it in my own Eberron: First, as far as I know, a hero of the past can have many avatars amongst the Valenar, who are all living at the same time and often compete with each other to show they are better at emulating the hero than any other descendent is. Unless they also believe that the hero's soul is spread out over the generation like the Quori spirit of a kalashtar, the growing cult of reincarnation would be bound to believe that there can be only one incarnation at a time. Everyone else pretending to be so would be either a pretender or sadly misled and living his life trying to regain memories he never had, while failing to recover those he did have. Second, this would also mean that the current incarnation would have memories of many lives. Would he have to emulate more than one, if not all of his past lives? That is, trying to live the lives of one ancestor who fought the giants, another who warred against the goblins before being recalled to fight off the dragons, and yet another who helped throw House Vol out of Aerenal - instead of just one single ancestor. This could be rather confusing. Trying to do too much at the same time means nothing gets done well enough - and an ancestor has to be emulated perfectly. At the same time it could make the most recent incarnation more versatile and less predictable. Third, how are the traditional religions going to react to this - in particular the Keepers of the Past, but also the other elven religions (the Undying Court and the Blood of Vol). The latter would not be very happy about this, since it's effectively eternal life without having to go through the sacrifice of unlife. Regarding the Keepers, I suppose it would depend on whether or not a spirit can be reincarnated into more than one person at a time; if it can't, you are essentially calling the Keepers of the Past liars (at worst) and deluded fools (at best) who tell you to follow the wrong ancestor. Does anyone have any idea how I can incorporate the reincarnation belief into the Valenar without causing a religious war in Tairnadal territories (and by extension, Valenar)?
DarthMidget 03-10-07, 11:25 PM	Errr...I dunno I kind of like the idea of a religious war. :cool:
Syltorian 03-11-07, 12:19 PM	While I agree that the idea of a Valenar/Tairnadal religious war is interesting, I think there would be too many side-effects. They'd stop being a threat to their neighbours, if they turn on each other. Couple an important cause (how you relate to your ancestor) with the fact that elven warriors are the greatest challenge around, and they'll most likely ignore Q'Barra, the Talenta and Karrnath. Unless both sides agree that no matter how you relate to your ancestor, killing other elves is just unacceptable either way. Then their "war" would be simply trying to surpass each other, proving one's way is right by actually achieving its goal... and the warbands could have even more of a cause to attack others around them in their contest.