Piety

Olympia: The Age of Gods PBEM (Oct 4 2000)

#### 3.3.12.4: Piety

        How strangely high endeavours may be blest,
        Where piety and valour jointly go.

            John Dryden

Piety is holy energy that the gods share with their priests so that the priests may perform miracles. The gods grant piety to the priests who most please them. There are two ways to please the gods: through devotional prayer, and by gathering followers for the god.

In devotional prayer, the priest removes himself to a holy place and spends a week contemplating the nature of holiness, praising his deity, and performing holy rituals. His god rewards this activity by granting him 2 additional piety. To perform devotional prayer, a priest should be in one of his god's temples, and use the ``Devotional Prayer'' prayer.

The gods are also pleased by priests who recruit new worshippers. Each month, the gods grant their priests piety based on how many followers each priest has. Followers are non-priest (and non-mage) nobles who have dedicated themselves to a priest (see Followers).

For each religion, each month the priest with the most followers receives the designation of ``High Priest'' and 12 piety. He also receives 10 angels (see Monster combat ratings) from his god. These angels will be in the High Priest's control until the end of the month, when they are recalled to the spiritual realm.

The two priests with the next most numerous followers receive the designation of ``Bishop'' and 6 piety. They also receive 5 angels each.

For skills and prayers which require a priest to be alone, angels are not counted. That is, a priest with 10 angels is still considered to be "alone".

Of the remaining priests, the half with the most followers receives 3 piety each. The other half receives no piety.