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Author Topic: worshipping megabeasts  (Read 968 times)

joostheger

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worshipping megabeasts
« on: June 14, 2022, 03:42:27 am »

I've read in de devblog, that dwarfs may worship megabeasts and even start new religions. Is this already in the current version or is this a new feature? How does it work? Which creatures can be worshipped? Are they worshipped as a creature of as a species? Is there some interaction between the worshipped entity and its followers? What happens to its religion when the thing is killed?
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brewer bob

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Re: worshipping megabeasts
« Reply #1 on: June 14, 2022, 04:17:44 am »

Sometimes historical figures start worshiping megabeasts after their attacks during world generation. Don't know if it happens after world gen, but I've had a couple time dwarves migrate into a fort with a megabeast listed in their relations list as a deity. Couldn't build temples to them though, as far as I recall?

PatrikLundell

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Re: worshipping megabeasts
« Reply #2 on: June 14, 2022, 07:21:34 am »

As mentioned, megabeast worshiping exists in the current version, but there is no interaction, not even when the creature is kept in a cage in the fortress or killed in it (worship is on the individual level, such as the Roch X Y the Terrible, and characters can worship multiple megabeasts at the same time (in addition to gods from multiple panthea). I think worship is restricted to megabeasts, but I definitely won't claim semi megabeasts can't be worshiped, but I'm fairly sure named creatures can't be.

Actually organizing worship is what would be new. Thus, the questions about what will happen to that can only be answered by Toady (and he probably doesn't know either, as much of it probably hasn't been implemented yet).
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Starver

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Re: worshipping megabeasts
« Reply #3 on: June 14, 2022, 10:24:31 am »

I think (to rationalise the situation with headcanon rather than delve into the source procgenning of these things as actually done) worshipping is much more of the Idea Of The Thing, whether that has been based upon such an extant corporeal being or a mere of a conceptual placeholder appearing in the entities list.

And if you did encounter an avatar of one's own god and found it to be imprisonable/killable, it probably would not shake the true believer. Either its a disposable incarnation of the actual target of your belief, possibly sent as an imperfect shadow of the perfect Original that cannot be so easily bounded by such obvious flesh(/non-flesh MAT-stuff), or possibly even an inferior copy sent by an opposing SPHERE of power to try to test to breaking point the truly Faithful of the genuine godhead. So it really need not be a problem to see the MB/FB/Clown/whatever in the flesh (or equivalent!), and not even if it is killed in front of you. Either it Dies For Your Sins or it is revealed as a mere superficial carbon-copy. It need not shake the determination of the steadfast follower and (either way) could even reinforce the ideology.
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Egan_BW

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Re: worshipping megabeasts
« Reply #4 on: June 14, 2022, 04:35:26 pm »

Toady mentioned it more as a simple bug fix or accidentally unimplemented feature, rather than as a brand new involved feature. So I wouldn't expect to see much new behavior, the new megabeast-religions will probably work identically to existing religions, just being founded by worshippers of megabeasts rather than gods.
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FantasticDorf

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Re: worshipping megabeasts
« Reply #5 on: June 15, 2022, 01:32:51 pm »

Id imagine its a [POWER] interaction, so if you didn't want it to occur (because heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerreeesssssssy!) you could edit it off the creature.

Clowns left to roam the land near fallen fortresses after a player game over of digging too deep could possibly also be valid. Or it could lead to the ones that lead towers being dietfied like the ways they could before if it was broken this way. It'll be interesting to see how it goes.
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A_Curious_Cat

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Re: worshipping megabeasts
« Reply #6 on: June 15, 2022, 05:29:01 pm »

The way I understand it, megabeast religions were supposed to already be in the game.  However, none were forming because religions are started by prophets in world-gen and prophets weren’t generating for megabeasts.  That bug has now been fixed.
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