When the White Council have banished Draxorith, one part of its essence was still on Khoras. That's why the banishement was not complete and he was traped between dimensions (I guess). In addition, priests of Draxorith usually obtain some power of their god (or at least they can speak to him).
So the question is : what happen for the priests when Draxorith was trapped? Did they still obtain powers (from which entity?)? Did they loose all contact with him?
Obviously the second solution would have terrific aftermaths for the conducting of Duthelm. If Draxorith priests are no longer able to obtain power of their god, all adeptes would have felt in desespair for the disapearance (perhaps killing) of their god. Ok it was not the case or it would deeply modify all the recent history of Duthelm (neither possible nor wanted I guess).
So what kind of explanation could be given for that? ??? Perhaps lesser powers can still be provided by Draxorith lieutenant, and Draxorith cult was globally weakened...? Perhaps priest knew what happened... knew that Draxorith was somewhere... but it doesn't explain from where they obtain their powers... ???
I would think that the priests of Draxorith still have power bestowed upon them as with other Gods and their priests. In my Avisarr campaign, the "Circle of Five," as our group has become to be known, just completed the banishment and Draxorith was sent back to his own plane of existence. This has had no effect on the Temple of the Shattered Skull or the priests of Draxorith.
Now, the emptying of the Shrine of Lost Souls is going to wreck havoc on the Temple as there is no more energy flowing into the Temple. The ramifications of this has yet to be determined.
In fact, I'm not sure that the complete banishement of Draxorith can change something. For me, the situation will be quite comparable to the situation before 2563 CY. Perhaps we can say that Draxorith is "further" but he is on
his own plane of existence, as before.
But... I don't exactly understand what you mean with your last sentence :
Quote from: Golanthius on March 19, 2009, 01:42:08 PM
Now, the emptying of the Shrine of Lost Souls is going to wreck havoc on the Temple as there is no more energy flowing into the Temple. The ramifications of this has yet to be determined.
In my game, priest have generally no power for themselves. They can obtain temporarely power by asking something to their god, but if the god is "elsewhere", they should no longer have these powers.
On the Citadel page it says "The Shrine of Lost Souls is much more than a static prison. It feeds off of the souls trapped within it. This energy is transmitted up through the shaft to the altar which is housed in the Temple of the Shattered Skull. The priests and knights of Draxorith power their spells from the altar thus powered."
The characters in my game were able to locate a spell in Sangran's Nine that released all of the prisoners at the same time. In so doing, there would be no energy transfer to the temple.
Edit
Although, I am sure the guards were able to round up most of the prisoners and Deth would have put them back in the obelisk. Therefore the temple would not be without energy for long.
Most D&D games and groups assume that clerics derive their power from their Gods, who live on other planes of Existance. If we assume that, then I would say that the banishing of Draxorith would not affect his priests. During the Avisarr campaign he is trapped between dimensions by powerful magic. At the conclusion of the Avisarr campaign, he is banished back to his own plane of existance. Regardless of his exact position in the multiverse, it's reasonable to assume that his priests still obtain their spells. So, I would rule that the priests are unaffected. At least, they can still cast spells. The social, religious and political ramifications might be extreme though. And that's up for you as DM to determine.
Although if you wanted to say that the priests of Duthelm suddenly suffered a great loss in power or even lost the ability to cast spells, you could do that. That WOULD be an extreme shift in power in Duthelm.
Nothing like that is happening in my game. In fact, Duthelm is amassing troops to the border of Kitar preparing for an invasion and siege of Myranor (hence the beginning of the Jaidor Campaign).
I mainly agree with you David. In my opinion the situations before 2563 CY and after 2711 CY are quite the same (Draxorith is in his own plane of existance). But in between? He is trapped between dimensions and shouldn't be able to "power any spell" of its priests...
Oh course as usual a DM can do what he wants. And I don't think my players, which are not deeply involved in such matters like Golanthius's, would think about that. But the history of Khoras has to be exact and coherent. If Draxorith is trapped, either there is still an inderect way to power the priest's spells, either these priests will be powerless. :-\ And I wonder what YOU decide for the official history. ???
I think I'd probably take a middle ground. During the years while the Avisarr was lost and Draxorith was lost (trapped between dimensions), the priests of Draxorith would have suffered a severe loss in power. Not a total loss of spells, but an overall decrease in power. After all, the priests were desperately searching for the Avisarr and the fate of their lord.
In addition, it's interesting. An entire faith suffering a great loss for years and then later regaining their god, their most holy artifact and all their power. That's actually pretty cool and would be an interesting chapter in the history of this church. So, I think that's how I would play it out. I may write something up along those lines.
Coooool
In fact I think it was the only possible way to write something about this part. It's coherent without modifying deeply the current history. I'm now searching for an way to describe it to my players...
Glad to help by pointing out strange things 8) ;D