dlw6 on 24/11/2006 at 08:22
Quote Posted by Rhadamanthos
IN TDS, you can overhear a commoner saying "I hear the hammers will give you bread, if you just do a few chores."
That kind of "charity" seems much mroe likely, given their ethos. Given what we read about forced labor in Cragscleft and St. Edgars, you can guess what those few chores are like.
Verily, thou hast it right. For as 'tis a sin to sharpen one's chisel but leave one's hammer to rust, so shall it be with the Builder's charity. We feed the beggar's body with bread, but we also feed his soul with the rigors of honest labor, directed by our righteous hand for works that glorify the Builder.
Brother Don
cradle_curdled on 25/11/2006 at 14:08
Quote Posted by qolelis
The real reason I'm asking is that I had a certain idea involving charity that would solve a certain problem that I was faced in a certain situation, but after a while I got in doubt that this certain idea really was as good as I had fooled myself into believing.
If you're talking about an idea for a fan mission, or piece of fanfic, or somesuch, I'd say the idea's got a lot of potential; providing it was eventually seen that the Hammerites were actually benefitting from the "charity" a lot more than the recipients. Or even, if it turned out to be some sort of diabolical Trojan Horse, as with Karras and The Servants.
cradle_curdled on 25/11/2006 at 14:45
Quote Posted by Elentari
And yet, while they do not seem like the charity type. . .if they did not do *something* to at least make people feel/think as if they are. . .why would people keep donating?
Intimidation, fear and scaremongering, I'd suspect.
"You and your children will go to hell if you don't do x, y and z". That's certainly how the Christian churches of the Middle Ages (and beyond) retained their vast power and influence in Britain - by taking advantage of a scientifically-unsophisticated people and playing on their superstitions.
One question I always wanted resolved while playing TDS was just how much the Mechanist implosion had impacted the Hammerites. I assumed that, as might occur in our world, there would have been a negative public reaction towards the Hammerites, once word leaked about the cataclysmic mischief Karras was getting up to. I hoped to see a changed order; a visible reduction in Hammerite numbers, and their fanaticism (which might lead to a more charitable, forgiving outlook, in general), but there's no evidence that the question was even considered. Just a minor touch of flavour that, to me, would have made a big difference.
MrGenesis on 25/11/2006 at 21:33
I wonder if they should send out the Haunts to do the collections? Especially around Halloween or Christmas. Hell if one knocked at my door for a collection, I'd certainly part with a lot for them.. trouble is it wouldn't be money. :erm:
qolelis on 27/11/2006 at 12:24
Quote Posted by cradle_curdled
If you're talking about an idea for a fan mission, or piece of fanfic, or somesuch
Yes, it was/is for a fan mission. I don't want to talk about it too much, because it's far from finished, but the idea involvs putting up a public donations box in a Hammer chapel. I think that some (if not a lot of) nobles would donate their money as a gesture. They don't really care if the Hammers really hand the money out to the people in need or use it themselves. They just want to come off as "good citizens" who "care" about the poor, but it's really about showing off their wealth and pay their way into heaven. The donations box would be a kind of symbiosis-thing between the Hammers and the nobles.
The mission doesn't rely on this idea, so I can easily skip it.
Quote Posted by MrGenesis
I wonder if they should send out the Haunts to do the collections? Especially around Halloween
That's what I've always said: The Hammers are such suckers for candy... :)
cradle_curdled on 27/11/2006 at 14:31
Quote Posted by qolelis
They don't really care if the Hammers really hand the money out to the people in need or use it themselves. They just want to come off as "good citizens" who "care" about the poor, but it's really about showing off their wealth and pay their way into heaven.
Sounds good to me, as long as the above impression comes across successfully. Got to keep that healthy dose of Thiefy-cynicism when dealing with organised religion. :angel:
Best of luck with the mission.
qolelis on 27/11/2006 at 15:19
Quote Posted by cradle_curdled
Sounds good to me, as long as the above impression comes across successfully.
I hope I can do that or else I'll just skip the whole thing.
Quote Posted by cradle_curdled
Got to keep that healthy dose of Thiefy-cynicism when dealing with organised religion. :angel:
Yes, that's what I'm aiming at...
Quote Posted by cradle_curdled
Best of luck with the mission.
Thanks! :)
