There was a fun conversation happening in the Owlcat discord a while back where someone just could not understand why Iomedae is so against any mythic path that isn't Legend or Angel.
The two factions were Team 'Stupid Lawful Iomedae' and Team 'Stupid Writing' and unfortunately both of them are wrong. Trust me, my cousin's a lawyer.
It's not that being Lawful makes Iomedae stupid, it's that being Lawful means that she has to do some pretty heinous, backhanded shit to secure the legitimacy of her worship - and this is because that's what her church wants.
Throughout the game's narrative it's made abundantly clear that the Crusade isn't about preventing loss of life or retaking the blighted lands or even just saving people from horrible demise: it's about 'restoring order' and 'returning to the status quo,' for the purpose of insinuating Cheliaxian law on that region of Golarion. It's always been about expansion and conquest "done by the right people." It was convenient to sit for years letting the indigenous Kellids and Sarkorian population die out when the Wound first opened, so a Cheliax-backed conquering force could move in from their already established bases and annex all of that land for themselves.
That's why Lady Konomi is always pushing for the Knight Commander to kowtow to the Capital and the Capital's Allies in Cheliax. Mendev is excellently positioned to become an "ally" (read: vassal state) to Cheliax and secure their holdings in that central region - something that had already been in motion.
If you played Kingmaker, it was heavily implied (if not outright stated) that Pitax was the Chelaxian wedge in the River Kingdoms; losing that land to the suddenly extraordinarily successful barony-to-kingdom would have been a HUGE blow. Pushing even harder to have Mendev pick up the slack - especially with them being neighbors - would have been a major priority. It has never been about saving people.
Yes, by Gods, the Angel path does a lot of lip service towards the cause of the righteous, the inherent horror and sympathy of Galfrey's position, and the relative powerlessness of the Angelic Host to do much of anything without a mortal champion at the tip of the spear. But that mortal champion must also be aligned with the wants of the church, which are the wants of Cheliax. That mortal champion cannot be tainted by, say, a personal belief that slavery is wrong even if it is the law. Even if the Angel by their side also carries that belief*.
Demons are chaotic, and their hierarchy is lawless, therefore it MUST be Iomedae and her Crusade that heals the worldwound because that proves the rule of law. It doesn't matter to Iomedae and her followers that the Azata are often THE guys to go to for stopping demon incursions** - it's about proving that their method is superior, righteous, and good. Even if that means allowing slavery, standing by as an indigenous population gets wiped out, and outright stalling the war effort if it gets in the way of political landgrabbing.
@thedosianexplorer also makes a good point about how the Crusade in-game reflects the real-world historical attitude of 'Crusading as an Act Of Love:' "if the good townsfolk die while we're not stopping this demon incursion, as long as they already loved and followed Iomedae, so they're saved, so it's fine."
All this to say, I don't think this is a case of Stupid Character or Stupid Writing - it's very deliberate. I also personally theorize that the other reason Iomedae('s Church) is so obsessed with proving her legitimacy is because Iomedae personally took out Aroden to 'prevent him from falling to darkness.' Iomedae and her church are very 'if you have bad thoughts you are a bad person' so I feel as though presuming that starts with her icing Aroden because he was having Dark Thoughts isn't totally out of line here. Iomedae needed to kill Aroden because what else would she be if her God turned out to be corrupt?
*The Hand of the Inheritor's downfall during Act 4 is my favorite ingredient of this whole fucked-up recipe: He left the service of an angel that had risen from being a devil only to find himself in the service of a mortal-turned-god from the Slavery Is Good And We're Bros With Asmodeus Country. No wonder he freaks out so bad.
**I find it deeply compelling that even in our own real world cosmology, it's essentially Yazatas vs Demons and Angels vs Devils. So having the Angel faction come in and say 'actually we're way better for this job than you, and we're going to prove it and then everyone will see that the real righteousness is the righteousness of law' is a WILD narrative choice that I really jive with.
2087
romaincrisis
germansingergirl
kaledo-art
gummygunk
