Topic: Clerics of Eissa, a few questions

[Atrox]

I would like to post one question here: Eissa is the Goddess of Death (and Rebirth). Her Clerics state that killing of any kind is Evil.
In earlier Sourcebooks it is stated that they are vegetarians.
How is that and why? She is the Goddess of DEATH. And yes, I understand about natural death and so on and so forth, what about self defense, or predators killing prey?
If they could save many (villagers) by killing a few (lugrôki) or even demons, what does their scripture say?

[egdcltd]

You could approach it from the Buddhist point of view, where not killing is a guideline and breaching it sets you back morally. They could have to do penance afterwards say. Would demons be considered life?

[Atrox]

Well, in my campaigns I usually exempt Outsiders from Eissas "Circle of Life", so in a way, No.
I do not believe in the whole 'sin first, repend later' philosophy. It reminds me to much of Terran Religions.
I would do away with the whole vegetarian approach as a requirement for Clerics, but since the setting does remind me of medieval times, most people will probably be eating vegtables anyway. But it would not be a rule.

Right now I am considering a branch of the sisterhood that specialises in confronting mainly Necromancers and similar shady spell-users. Kind of the personified Wrath of Eissa. I even have a catchy name for them: Bloodsisters. 
But I would not have them confused with an Inquisition. They would not weed them out per se, rather having Visions and Dreams or even required help from another Order, Reann or Vult for example.
But all actions would have to be authorized by the higher-ups of the Church of Eissa.

Of course everything is a work in progress.

[craggles]

The Powers of Light & Darkness book states regarding the Sisters:

Enemies: All Unlife servants, Undead.

and:

Restrictions/Rules/Requirements: Sisters cannot eat any meat, and must not kill except in self-defense or to protect other devout followers ... A sister traveling with a group who kills without pretty good reasons will soon run into problems...

and:

Goals: Largely apolitical and pacifistic, the Sisters will only take action against forces which clearly serve the Unlife.

They're not against killing per se - they just need clear provocation.

...but I really like your Bloodsisters Idea!!

[NuSoardGraphite]

My thought process is that since Eissa is the Goddess who guards the Gates of Oblivion and decides who can be resurrected and who cannot, I would think her adherents would have a mandate to not interfere with the natural life cycle of conscious beings...thus eating only meat and being self-defense pacifists.  They exist to keep death in balance and to oppose the forces of unnatural death (aka The Unlife).  Bloodsisters?  Thats an interesting idea and I could see them being a martial arm of The Sisters who's job it is to actively seek out minions of The Unlife and bring them to task.  I would assume they would be considered Paladins of Eissa.

[Vince]

I play the Paladins fighting against the Unlife to be under the leadership of Vult, as a section of the Church of Eissa.

Sort of independent sections working under the same team.

[NuSoardGraphite]

I play the Paladins fighting against the Unlife to be under the leadership of Vult, as a section of the Church of Eissa.

Sort of independent sections working under the same team.

I usually have my Anti-Unlife Paladins as servants of Reann or of the generic Church of Orhan faith and they pay homage to Reann, Cay, Kuor and Phaon with some prayers to Eissa from time to time.

[Cory Magel]

Just FYI, there's a brief example of how to setup a Priestess of Eissa with a "Paladin'ish" bent in the RM Quarterly 2 (which refers you to five Spell Lists found in the Channeling Companion and one of the Paladins base lists).  There's also a magical sword that would be appropriate for one detailed in there.