Zharyth over on the RM Discord server asked a good question:
Can someone help me understand the Priest Yarthraak? They pretend to be good priests but of what faith? Do the messengers pretend to be good?
There are a number of evil Priests (of the Unlife) in the Shadow World books that present themselves as benevolent priests and/or have actually infiltrated established religions. (avoiding spoilers here!). In fact Terry uses this situation quite a bit as the Unlife is meant to be a shadowy, mysterious existential threat. We’ve had endless discussions about the Unlife but Zharyth’s questions raises 2 distinct issues:
- How do the Priests of Unlife hide their “evil nature”; especially within a hostile religious organization?
- If they are representing themselves as a “good” Priesthood, who is their God, or who do they represent their God to followers?
“Veiling”. Clearly the Priest of Arnak or the Unlife should have spells that hide or block their evil nature. Terry never made that list but I have! (Dark Veils). I also vaguely recall that the Priest’s rings provided some type of protection against scrying, but I can’t seem to find that!
“Channeling, from whom?” In Priest-King of Shade I have a similar situation with the Cult of Morloch. Morloch is a powerful Demon that plays a role in Kulthea’s history and a following has grown up around him over thousands of years. Morloch is not a God, so who, or what, are his followers “Channeling” their power? In this case, the Cult is actually drawing power from Moralis, but this isn’t readily known by most of the Cult but instead one of the Higher Mysteries of the Cult.
In the specific case of the Priests of Yarthraak, what might be a working solution? As Zharyth notes, Terry never provided any details on what the pretend religion was. I would note that Shadow World has a lot of demi-gods, fey spirit and local gods; many quite powerful and able to provide some channeling power. It wouldn’t be unusual to the populace for an unknown or emergent God to suddenly appear–many people could be converted by a more concerned clergy than the often aloof Priests of Orhan? Clearly religions and Gods are not monolithic and the average Kulthean won’t be steeped in religious lore. Would they reject an unknown God represented by a friendly helpful Priesthood?
One solution is that the Priests of Yarthraak are just lying about their God. Perhaps they say they are Priests of Shaal (given their aquatic aspect) but ultimately their followers are seduced and are tapping into the Unlife.
Another option. The Priests just have a “False God” and their church is just a harmless cover for their more secretive activities. Their followers aren’t channelers themselves, so there is no need to explain where they are obtaining channeling powers.
While I don’t provide a specific response to the “Priest of Yarthraak issue”, I do discuss various aspects of Gods & Channeling in my Shadow World: Channeling Guide. (pages 4-8)