My first town: Bloom Valley

[chris_moore]

 Is this gonna grab 'em? Lay it on me.

Bloom Valley is a small but growing Branch in the fertile mountain foothills. 

Pride:  The Steward, Brother Joseph, takes great *you know what* in both the agricultural and... reproductive abundance this Branch currently enjoys.  The families are growing as quickly as the pears in the young orchards.  The Steward and his wife, Sister Hannah, have no children of their own.  All four of their babies have been with the King since birth.  Brother Joseph, however, goes on and on about the other families and their many children.

Injustice:  Sister Hannah, feeling lost and neglected, secretly blames the old half-Mountain woman convert, Sarah, for her childrens' deaths. 

Sin:  So, when Sarah died last year, Sister Hannah enthusiastically took over as the Branch midwife, with the blessings of her husband.  Her positions as midwife and Steward's wife give her a great deal of influence within the Branch.  She has used this influence to help or hinder those who she deems worthy or unworthy of life's blessings.  For example, she has spread slander about the old midwife's son, Jeremiah, which has caused him great difficulty in courting Sister Elizabeth, a daughter of one of Sister Hannah's cronies.  (more injustice..)  Jeremiah has recently learned of Sister Hannah's actions, and has taken to drinking. 

Demonic attacks:  An increasing number of livestock have given birth to horribly deformed and unviable young. 

False Doctrine:  Sister Hannah has decided that the King of Life has taken her children away for a higher purpose; to be the "Branch Mother", granting boons to those deserving, and punishing those she considers "bad for the Branch".

False Priesthood:  Sister Hannah has confessed this belief to a few of her close women friends, and they believe her (or fear her wrath?)

Brother Joseph wants the Dogs to praise his Branch's productivity, and heal the animals.  He doesn't know about Brother Jeremiah's drinking.

Sister Hannah wants the Dogs to bless the babies and leave well enough alone.

Brother Jeremiah wants justice for the destruction of his good name.

The demons want the followers and opponents of Sister Hannah to rip eachother apart.  They want Brother Jeremiah to start off the bloodbath by killing Sister Hannah.  They want the Dogs to leave immediately.  They might cause mayhem that would endanger or overwhelm the Dogs. 

If the Dogs never came, Jeremiah would kill Sister Hannah, and the town factions would kill eachother.

Thanks for reading this, Chris Moore

[IMAGinES]

Hi, Chris,

This is good! I really like the cult of the Midwife.

I hope you'll accept some suggestions from someone who's never ran a town himself (but boy do I want to), so I may well be picking at nits here:

Demonic attacks:  An increasing number of livestock have given birth to horribly deformed and unviable young.

Although I see how the above ties into the general ideas of fertility and birth, and is a pretty good, "Oho, demons are afoot" type of Clue, I'm not really seeing how it makes anyone in particular's situation worse. It's just sort of... there, if you know what I mean.

My thoughs: Does Everybody Know this wouldn't be happening if Sister Hannah weren't peddlin' her heresy? Is someone else being scapegoated for the problem? Does Everybody Know that no-good haff-breed Sister Sarah pronounced one o' them Mountain Folk curses on our land? Does Everybody Know that the Dogs, bein' the good servants of the King they are, should be goin' over to Brother Jeremiah's place and breakin' up his still, 'cos them chemicalls in it is sure why the cows gave birth to them poor sickly foals with their twisted frames?

False Doctrine:  Sister Hannah has decided that the King of Life has taken her children away for a higher purpose; to be the "Branch Mother", granting boons to those deserving, and punishing those she considers "bad for the Branch".

False Priesthood: Sister Hannah has confessed this belief to a few of her close women friends, and they believe her (or fear her wrath?)

Hmm. I think you've missed a step - 3b. Corrupt Worship. What actual practices is Sister Hannah introducing / performing? Is she warping proper churchin' to suit her twisted desires?

And, as I don't think you can have False Priesthood wihtout Sorcery, and it looks as though you've not yet named the other members of Hannah's cult, I'm tempted to suggest leavign it after Corrupt Worship. That'll give you plenty for your players to have a go at!

The( Demons) want the Dogs to leave immediately.  They might cause mayhem that would endanger or overwhelm the Dogs.

Rather than just killing or getting rid of the Dogs, could the Demons want the Dogs to make things even worse themselves, somehow? (If you like, think of the Demons as working merrily away at destroying the town through Sister Hannah when - Oooh! Look what just rode in! A passel of post-pubescent, pistol-packing priests, all piss-and-vinegar! Oh, we are going to have so much more fun now! What lovely chaos can we work through them?)

[Ben Lehman]

I want to hear about what Sister Elizabeth things, what her mother thinks, and what her father thinks.  I can't imagine that that family is united.  Also, they are prime "blood relative" material.

yrs--
--Ben

[Mikael]

Is Sister Hannah discussing matters of Faith with her husband, the Steward? Are they actually deciding who´s good and who´s bad? Does the Steward realize this?

If you take things up to Sorcery, Sister Hannah could actually decide which pregnancies are successful and which not. And the demons focus on her, the mutilated calves stop appearing - which Hannah takes as proof that she is doing the right thing. This would easily lead to Hate and Murder as well, as more and more couples are deemed unworthy... And if Sister Hannah decides to help herself, the baby needs to be a monster (almost a staple in Dogs, it seems).

Cheers,
+ Mikael