As long as Maddie BELIEVES it’s a +5 helmet of whatever, she’s good. Even if it looks like a popcorn tub from a movie or a fried chicken tub. Now what’s her current weapon?????
Everyone is missing the most important reveal in this chapter: Derek’s religious system follows a form of caesaropapism. The Princess (a temporal ruler) has the ability to promote a member of the clergy!
It’s not necessarily a matter of Derek’s religion. It mostly means that the Princess’ realm is a caesaropapist polity. This is not entirely surprising – Derek’s religion does not appear to be very centralized (he’s clearly not working for some superior cleric) and the princess very much rules like an absolute monarch. It’s more surprising that the title and office of bishop can be bestowed at will but with the recent crises it’s not all that unlikely that the office has been vacant for some time. Another thing yet to be revealed is whether there is some sort of state religion or basically any cleric can fill the office of bishop.
And I’m pretty sure the same thing happened to me back when I first read thru that part. It happens every time I see mention of Yertle the Turtle, too XD
Madeline finally gets her wings! 😀
…
It feels a bit off that the Princess can confer religious ranks to me. It’s accurate, but a bit creepy that she’d also have that kind of power.
There’s definitely a lot of precedent for that. In the medieval Church, at least in England, the King, the Dean and Chapter of the cathedral in question, and the Papacy would all expect to be involved in appointing bishops: occasionally the arguments reached the history books (see Stigand for an example). Often the King would nominate someone and the other two parties would agree if they thought the nominee was suitable. After Henry VIII formed the Church of England, he made it clear this was now his responsibility: to this day, recommendations for diocesan bishops are made by the Crown Nominations Commission to the Crown.
(Diocesan=has a cathedral, is superior to a suffragan bishop).
Religion in D&D tends to be rather pragmatic. Often that religious devotion stuff is just a hurdle you have to pass through to get cool healing magic, rather than the reason for your choice in vocation.
And religion in this comic has been established to be even more pragmatic, not even worshipping specific gods or their teachings, so really, who else would have the authority to appoint bishops? Really, the main surprise here is that they even have a title called “bishop”.
The one L lama, he’s a priest.
The two L llama, he’s a beast.
And I will bet my silk pyjama
there isn’t any three L lllama.
— Ogden Nash (evidently a bard)
Princess switched games while we weren’t looking. She’s playing Crusader Kings II now, and she’s enacted Free Investiture. (Because of course she did — Princess won’t stand for anyone else telling her what to do.)
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A helm that looks like it might be a bucket? That seems to fit with the weapons that might be gardening tools.
She finally got her wings!
Especially if it’s a shovel she thinks is a legendary axe.
Now she needs a Woven Shield of Protection!
As long as Maddie BELIEVES it’s a +5 helmet of whatever, she’s good. Even if it looks like a popcorn tub from a movie or a fried chicken tub. Now what’s her current weapon?????
Are we sure this is really the Princess? That has GOT to be the most she’s ever spoken.
She was pretty talkative back in Level 1.
And she had ‘Nuff to say in Level 10
WIIINNNNGGGSSSS!
WWWWIIIIINNNNNGGGGSSSS! After all this time!
She should have had Byron present them. Red bull gives you wings.
Long overdue callback to level-2-5?
Ah, I had a nagging feeling there was more, but I couldn’t place it. critical-missives-36 🙂
Wow, good memory!
– This. Is a bucket.
– Dear GOD!
– There’s more
– No…
You want the bucket, don’t you.
– Fantastic. This was a huge waste of my time.
– You did not read my wish!
– Does it say “I want the bucket”?
– Yes!
Does she get the spear to go along with the magic helmet?
Spear and Magic Helmet?
SPEAR AND MAGIC HELMET!!
Had to look up Hyssop… now I get it.
Everyone is missing the most important reveal in this chapter: Derek’s religious system follows a form of caesaropapism. The Princess (a temporal ruler) has the ability to promote a member of the clergy!
And with that, I have learned a new word today
It’s not necessarily a matter of Derek’s religion. It mostly means that the Princess’ realm is a caesaropapist polity. This is not entirely surprising – Derek’s religion does not appear to be very centralized (he’s clearly not working for some superior cleric) and the princess very much rules like an absolute monarch. It’s more surprising that the title and office of bishop can be bestowed at will but with the recent crises it’s not all that unlikely that the office has been vacant for some time. Another thing yet to be revealed is whether there is some sort of state religion or basically any cleric can fill the office of bishop.
Note that, in addition to the office of Bishop, it is apparently also acceptable for clerics to hold the office of Captain of the Guard.
Nor is it yet clear what the role of bishop entails, apart from moving diagonally.
Now I have “Derek the Cleric” stuck in my head to the tune of “Charlotte the Harlot” 😛
Bishop, please!
He’s been Derek the Cleric since before he was introduced, when Madeline the Paladin talked about him.
And I’m pretty sure the same thing happened to me back when I first read thru that part. It happens every time I see mention of Yertle the Turtle, too XD
I would argue respect is more important than fear, but then this is Princess we’re talking about.
Who was Captain of the Guard before?
For some reason I thought Cube was?
Cube is an adventurer.
The position could have been vacant for anything from before the crises started to “oh no, those frogs killed the captain!”
Dorilys has been seen doing a lot of the ordering about. No Captain of the Guard has objected.
Which could imply that the Captain of the Guard isn’t an idiot.
Well, she isn’t. As the alt-text observed, dialogue is fun between Prestige, Cube, and Dorilys, because not one took Int as the dump score.
Madeline finally gets her wings! 😀
…
It feels a bit off that the Princess can confer religious ranks to me. It’s accurate, but a bit creepy that she’d also have that kind of power.
There’s definitely a lot of precedent for that. In the medieval Church, at least in England, the King, the Dean and Chapter of the cathedral in question, and the Papacy would all expect to be involved in appointing bishops: occasionally the arguments reached the history books (see Stigand for an example). Often the King would nominate someone and the other two parties would agree if they thought the nominee was suitable. After Henry VIII formed the Church of England, he made it clear this was now his responsibility: to this day, recommendations for diocesan bishops are made by the Crown Nominations Commission to the Crown.
(Diocesan=has a cathedral, is superior to a suffragan bishop).
And historically, that’s a low level of involvement from royalty in church appointments. In Rome and Greece, they were all politics, all the way.
Even when the priests were a caste, positions got say from the royals.
Religion in D&D tends to be rather pragmatic. Often that religious devotion stuff is just a hurdle you have to pass through to get cool healing magic, rather than the reason for your choice in vocation.
And religion in this comic has been established to be even more pragmatic, not even worshipping specific gods or their teachings, so really, who else would have the authority to appoint bishops? Really, the main surprise here is that they even have a title called “bishop”.
Religion in D&D, huh? In OD&D and AD&D, “bishop” was a cleric’s 6th level title.
… and upon reaching level 7, the cleric is promoted to lama. 😉
In AD&D, the cleric’s progression was:
1 Acolyte
2 Adept
3 Priest
4 Curate
5 Perfect
6 Canon (not bishop)
7 Lama
Much to my disappointment, the title after “lama” was not “llama” but “Patriarch.”
They did not offer obvious titles like “deacon,” etc.
I had to check what AD&D 1 material I still have, and I sit corrected.
Thanks!
I remember those days…the druids were promoted to Llama.
That is true, but it was at 7th level back then. In 5e, Wild Shape is available at 2nd level.
… and the bard is promoted to lllama?
The one L lama, he’s a priest.
The two L llama, he’s a beast.
And I will bet my silk pyjama
there isn’t any three L lllama.
— Ogden Nash (evidently a bard)
A 1 L lama is a mystic teacher.
A 2 L llama is a fuzzy creature.
A 3 L lllama is one heck of a big fire.
Only until he learned of a type of conflagration known as a three-alarmer.
Is that before or after he gets his new groove?
I’m glad they changed that, this would’ve made clerics even more OP in naval settings.
Although it does feel like “curate” is a good title for someone whose main job is to cure people.
Princess switched games while we weren’t looking. She’s playing Crusader Kings II now, and she’s enacted Free Investiture. (Because of course she did — Princess won’t stand for anyone else telling her what to do.)
Nah, this is just a domain-level game. Classic, really.
It took 15 years, but she finally made it.
And now, Madeline is probably fighting the urge to hug The Princess.
Unfortunately, monks tend to be better at grappling than paladins are.
Princess isn’t a monk, though. She’s got the “DM’s Girlfriend” class: https://rustyandco.com/comic/level-1-23/
I swear that half the commenters here don’t do their research first. Princess says “DM’s Girlfriend” is a prestige class in that comic, but her base class is monk. https://rustyandco.com/frequently-asked-questions/cast-page/
Half? That’s pretty impressive. Most places, nowhere *near* half of the commenters do their research first.
It’s nice to see Princess and Whitey having a decent relationship and while he’s still alive…
He also looks a lot better than he did when he first came back. Best he ever has, I’d say. Maybe she oughta consider getting back together with him?
I wonder if she had some notes for the cleric who brought him back.
I too would like to be rewarded with a bucket of wings some day. Extra spicy please.
Pass around a bucket of deviled bones and bottle of spirits and we’ll make it a party!