Monday, June 18, 2012

The Best Defense is a Good Offense

Question: It strikes me as a little odd that none of the Elohim have Guardian, especially when the Warden of the Walls boon seems to perfectly complement the Malak PSP. Is there a reason none of them have it?

There is a reason, and that reason is that none of the Elohim are even a little bit compatible with Guardian. It's just not something they do.

As a collective and as individuals, the Canaanite gods are just not defenders of anything. They're about war and breaking things and determining who's in charge. They're about kingship, authority and who has the most potent weapons. They're about killing monsters and, almost as often, killing each other, but they're not about protecting other people or places. Most of the cities that they acted as patron of sought their blessings for harvests or transactions and their strength in war, but they didn't regularly ask the gods to defend them; rather, they made offerings and sacrifices to prevent the gods from getting mad and punishing them. It's basically a whole pantheon that operates on the exact opposite principle from Guardian. (They do, however, have Vengeance, so while they will not save other people from getting murdered, they will by god avenge them after the fact if they get upset about it.)

It's basically the same reason that nobody in the Dodekatheon except Athena has Guardian, despite the fact that many of them had dedicated poleis themselves; they're volatile people who are concerned first and foremost with themselves and only with others when it affects themselves. The only god among the Elohim I could see with even a vague aspiration is Resheph, solely on the idea that he supposedly guards the gate of the Underworld that Shapshu passes through each day, but I don't know if that's enough for me all by itself.

It is indeed an odd conundrum, considering that Guardian would make the lives of gods whose PSP depends on a specific place and people a whole lot easier. I'd keep in mind that some of them probably have lower-level Guardian boons - up to Come Running seems only prudent - but that in general they have to rely on the powers of Malak itself to deal with their lands. It's only strange from a mechanical point of view: conceptually it makes perfect sense, as the Elohim aren't necessarily concerned with the individual lives and buildings of the cities they own, but rather with the fact that they represent their sovereignty and divine right.

In short, you can attack the Elohim all you want; they won't stop you, they'll just stab you in the face shortly thereafter.

2 comments:

  1. The lack of Guardians does leave a nice niche to fill for potential Elohim Scions, PC or NPC.

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