One of them is having gods that serve no purpose but "be there".
In my humble opinion, Morgion is the most egregious on that subject: That god's modus operandi is to contaminate someone with a disease, and then promise them with the disappearance of symptoms if they become a priest of Morgion, and they start contaminating others... in a universe where Mishakal can heal diseases. You might be forgiven if you think such priests might be fools. I know I do.
So, for my campaign... what to do with Morgion?
Constraints
All gods of Krynn must have an active, inspiring contribution and teaching to soul's evolution and learning. This constribution/teaching does not need to be pleasant, but it has to make sense, even in a twisted way.
The corollary is that priests of all gods should have a philosophy/teaching that makes sense, even in a twisted way: No one should become priest of Morgion by being coerced into it. If one thing, faith should be sincere.
The modified god (here, Morgion) should remain recognizable, and, perhaps, from casual examination, should appear like the original version. Only when digging deeper will someone (a reader, or a character) would realize the difference.
Inspirations
For our rework of Morgion, we need to look around to see if there are interesting concepts we could borrow.
Original Morgion
The wiki entry for Morgion is a bit light, but already goes where I don't want to go: Decay and entropy are not "active forces", they are "expected statistical outcome".
From the Holy Orders of the Stars sourcebook, we have the following attributes for Morgion:
- Portfolio: Disease, famine, poison, vermin, suffering, madness
- Worshipers: Crazed cultists, ratcatchers, corrupt druids
- Domains: Destruction, Evil, Madness†, Pestilence
Also:
... spreading his unholy message: only the strong will survive, for to survive is to suffer, and to suffer is to know the truth.
-- Holy Orders of the Stars, p102
This makes Morgion someone whose modus operandi is to inflict pain and suffering, for its own sake. Psychological pain, physical pain, it doesn't matter. The question would then be: Why?
Pathfinder's Zon-Kuthon
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| © 2014, Paizo Inc/Yu Cheng Hong |
Zon-Kuthon share many similarities with Morgion, actually: Both are considered mad, and both seem to enjoy the pain and suffering of others.
Kuthites [followers of Zon-Kuthon] run the gamut in their origins and motivations for joining the faith, whether they be evil sadists, demented masochists, or those whose spirits are so wounded that only overwhelming pain distracts them from their sorrows. Others who immerse themselves in spiritual darkness often find themselves drawn to his anthracite embrace.
[...]
Clergy tend to take their fervor for pain and agony to higher levels than lay believers, but are also experts at blending in with normal society.
[...]
Temples of Zon-Kuthon are, for all intents and purposes, torture chambers, and often function as such even when not in use for religious ceremonies. Because of the unique and often disapproved-of practices that take place in the church, temporary temples in caves or basements are kept fairly simple with decorations and tools brought in especially for services. The tools are often disguised as farming implements, should the secret cult be exposed. In more remote areas, believers might make impromptu shrines in places where violence and pain have occurred.
[...]
Kuthites are not bookish worshipers, often choosing to experience their faith rather than study it in a text.
-- Source: Pathfinder Wiki, https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Zon-Kuthon
This clearly makes suffering a tool of enlightenment, at least, in the minds of Zon-Kuthon's followers.
Silent Hill
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| © Konami |
The first and third installments are all about a cult trying to bring back some kind of (genuine) paradise through inflicting pain and torture.
The second is actually a self-inflicted hell, by people who have, consciously or not, committed real (or imagined) crimes, and whose guilt (real, or imagined) is now torturing them. There's nothing binary there, only gray areas. In a way similar to Ravenloft's Dark Powers, Silent Hill seems to twist reality to trap its victims, amplifying their pain.
Then, there's the body horror, and the monsters. All you have to do is to google "silent hill monsters" (warning, explicit/disturbing content: https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&safe=off&q=silent%20hill%20monsters), and you'll find the horrific, disturbing, and yet fascinating creations of Team Silent, the original developers of Silent Hill. (Also, the music... seriously).
Resident Evil
Despite what one may think, Resident Evil is about mutation. The "undead" zombies are a byproduct of a contamination with the T-virus or one of its variants. But the most important effects of these viruses and parasites are the exceptional and obscene mutations of some of the host bodies, turning them into a great variety of monsters, depending on circumstances.
You can find examples of these grotesque monsters in the following link (warning, explicit/disturbing content): https://www.google.com/search?q=resident+evil+monsters&tbm=isch&oq=resident+evil+monsters&safe=off
Unlike the other inspiration sources, the Resident Evil monsters are there only to provide a roster of creatures.
The Tzimisce Vampires
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| Vicissitude, by John Cobb |
Their main power, Vicissitude, is all about body modification, both of the self, and others. And Tzimisce do enjoy experimenting on others, finding there some kind of crazy spirituality.
Tzimisce are the stuff of nightmares, even for other vampires (who are far from being angels themselves). One would rightly prefer Final Death to falling into the hand of a Tzimisce, and those unlucky to find themselves the subject of Tzimisce's experimentations (or art creation!) sometimes come out "whole", even if joining their torturers in their cruelty and spiritual beliefs.
Other Sources of Inspiration?
There are other potential sources of inspiration, but they all fall back into one of the examples above. For example, the Cenobites from the Hellraiser movies, which are, arguably similar to Zon-Kuthon, above.
Partial conclusion
All these inspirations lead us to a variant of Morgion, which (hopefully) is more "active" and has a clear motivation beyond ruining everyone's day.
Morgion, divine power of Ordeal
Morgion represents the divine power of ordeal: Only through pain and suffering can one soul find true enlightenment.
Any kind of suffering will do: disease, madness, physical and psychological torture. And it is best when self-inflicted, even if unwilling subjects can still profit from a fraction of their "beneficial" effects.
Mercy is, in the disturbing mind of Morgion or his followers, an empty lie, leading to a stagnation of the soul. It is much better to foster its growth and self-understanding by pushing its limits beyond what it can tolerate. Some will never recover from the ordeal, falling into catatonia that won't really protect them from further abuse. But others will ascend into a higher understanding of the soul, and will become true paragons of Morgion's philosophy.
A victim of Morgion's acts might search for Mishakal for relief... or
might become so damaged mentally they now embrace their suffering. A
sadist might find in Morgion's teaching some kind of moral excuse to
indulge in their urges. A torturer or executioner might find solace in
"knowing" their victims will grow spiritually under their "care". Truth
is, Morgion doesn't really care about the original motivations: Both the
tormenter and the tormented will learn from the ordeal.
Of course, from the outside, Morgion's small cult of followers are best described as a group of cruel, sadistic and masochistic creatures, enjoying inflicting pain on themselves, as well on others. There are also rumors of monstrous, aberrant creatures flesh-sculpted from victims (or even leaders?) of the cult.
Conclusion
Followers of Morgion are not anymore coerced into having faith. They are not unwilling victims (at least, not anymore). They are active believers in some kind of deviant spirituality that is pushed into extremes, that leads to horrific acts, all in the name of spiritual enlightenment and ascension.
In the end, instead of dumb cultists to oppose our heroes, we can now have a wide range of either gory or sophisticated cultists, both primal and civilized, all hell-bent into sharing their vision of enlightenment with others, with of without their consent.
I sincerely believe this version of Morgion is more "believable" than the original one.
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