Can you tell me more about Aphiliam's religion, it's ideology and goals? By my vision of Tarana's past there were attempts to indoctrinate her during her early education and that's mostly the only religion she knows in detail even if she never was a devoted follower
Aphilam is friendly towards Bree's view of justice and Sa'ada's pursuit of vengeance. Despite Ingram's tendencies to break the laws, Aphilam and her followers often use Ingram's followers to do jobs they can't afford to be connected with. She is friendly towards Mingan for his connections, despite his distrust of her. She will throw her support in favor of Darshendros, Shin, Tokee, and Sanoci when she finds it to her advantage, and has no issues with Camille or Illeni, who provide valuable services to be exploited. Her largest rival is Liagora, although she cares little for Coranthiir. She dislikes Malu and Arnum for their general resistance to her trickery, and has nothing but contempt for Yupoli.
She's manipulative. Think "Lawful Evil." Laws exist to be played with. One should generally obey the laws, but when they need to be broken, it is good to find a cats-paw to commit the crime for you, generally through intermediaries. She's a rules-lawyer goddess, with no particular sense of loyalty. There is only "Who or what can bring me what I want for myself?"
Her virtues include: Lust, hatred, greed, a desire for power, taking revenge on those who wronged you, obedience to the laws whenever possible, and deception. This does not mean outright lying, though; it means that you should give people false impressions, allow them to jump to conclusions, etc.
Her sins include: Love, compassion, loyalty, honor, poverty, and mercy. Your first loyalty is to yourself, your second loyalty is to yourself, and your third loyalty is to those who you think might be useful. There is no "honor", there is only the law and how you manipulate it for your own ends. There is no point to mercy - when you crush someone, crush them
utterly.
Her Defender of the Faith is never set - there is constant scheming, plotting, and occasional murder to take the position. It depends on her fickle whims.
Ross, can I also get some more explanation of Mingan?
His greatest allies are Bree, Sa'ada (reputedly his daughter and lover, respectively), and his brother Shin, although Shin and Sa'ada are not friendly towards another. Mingan is friendly towards Darshendros for his lack of strict rules and affinity with the dead, enjoys the natural laws of Malu (mostly to break them on random bystanders), admires Arnum's grasp of magic and scholarship, and will generally support the God of Neutrality in his efforts, however rare they may be.
Although he is opposed to Coranthiir on general principle and will interfere with his plans as much as possible, Mingan is politely disdainful of Aphilam's fawning and her pointed diplomacy, aiming to take her domain of Manipulation for his own. In addition, he scorns Camille for her domestication, thinking of her as a fool and her followers as sheep. Oftentimes, his alliance with Darshendros and Sa'ada will pull him into working with Ingram and Sanoci, as many of their schemes and plots often result in chaos and bloodshed. Although he is neutral towards Tokee and Ingram, the Chaosbringers are usually found with both the thieves and students simply for their appeal in unpredictability and their good nature towards his followers. As the god of necromancy, Mingan is often seen working to bridge the gap between all masters of death – he will negotiate between Liagora and Darshendros, as well as occasionally bringing Shin and Darshendros together for common goals.
It is rumored that Shin and Mingan were once mortal countless aeons ago, and rose to claim Divine power themselves through their mutual martial prowess.
He is Chaotic Neutral.
His virtues include: Loyalty, self-reliance, love, friendship, humor, lateral thinking, and victory. He values honesty to a point. Mingan is all about self-empowerment and freedom from the laws imposed on you by other beings and reality itself. True to his origins, he believes that finding allies is important, and that you should be as true to them as you are to yourself.
His sins include: Rape, betrayal, destruction of knowledge, harm to children, selfish greed, and cowardice. He may be a dick (aren't most of the gods, anyway?), but he is explicitly
not evil. He forbids his followers from taking the blood or life of the young or innocent- people who are not attacking you or causing you harm are not to be attacked without good cause. Likewise, one who begs for mercy is to be granted said mercy, although said mercy usually involves a quick death. There is a certain sense of honor to him; you make your choices and stick to them. You face death without fear. You can have a destructive sense of humor and stick up for yourself, but when shit goes down, your friends know they can rely on you to do your best.
His Defender of the Faith title is bestowed only on those who have personally proven themselves to him, or when he feels the urge to endow someone with Divine power for shits and giggles. Most of the time, this is reputed to be one of the Nine Demilich Generals.
A priest of Mingan, assuming that they're ready for ceremony, is generally seen in midnight blue robes closed by a leather belt with the sigil of the Lord of the Night in either jade (lesser priest) or silver (high priest). However, aside from the ritual clothing, they are allowed to dress as they like as long as they bear one of his sigils somewhere on or about their body. The sign of Chaos consists of a vertical line meeting a horizontal line at a ninety-degree angle downwards, with the vertical line being about a quarter of the length of the horizontal line. Upon careful examination, the entire construct is made of fractals. The sigil of Blood is a red pentagram. The sigil of Necromancy is that of a green dagger over a silver bowl. All combined, the sigil is a curved green dagger, dripping red blood into a black and silver bowl.
Many thanks sir vernal. Another question if I may: how does gaining proficiency, (levels?), in a piece of equipment work? (As well: more often or less often?)
The more you use it, the better you get at it?
I'm not going to say your character whose sole weapon experience comes from a few years of Adventurer training can't pick up a level of Swordsman on a whim, but I will strongly encourage you to have your character learning how to use them on their own, through watching others, or even hiring a teacher. What I am saying is that if you want to go in a certain angle, have some character development for it. Don't just have your character who never uses swords suddenly pick up proficiency out of nowhere.
Xanty, Xanmy, Zero.