So I'm starting a Pathfinder campaign.
My current Pathfinder GM has done such a good job making the roleplaying actually feel like roleplaying*, and I have a large group of people who have proven themselves to want to show up for events, (and I want my GM to feel a little less like a forever-GM) I decided that it was high time I actually bit the bullet and got into GMing myself, since I've wanted to do it since high school.
I dug out my old Empires setting, which I'd always wanted to make a campaign out of, and adapted it to Pathfinder (which was A LOT more flexible than adapting it to D&D had been), got Wonderdraft, Dungeondraft, Foundry, Forge, a bunch of battle maps, etc. We've already done a session zero and I am planning on running the campaign during the downtime of our current campaign.
So back to the picture: this is a riell, one of the 12 ancestries for my setting. I've been a little obsessed about getting this campaign together and this picture stuck in my head, so I had to make it happen.
*AND NOT:
- Tricking players into making bad decisions and punishing them for it
- Giving no time or space to actually get invested in the scenario
- Giving the players no authority to actually create their own stories
- Equating roleplaying with describing how you hit the monster really hard on every roll
Seriously, I was pretty certain I wasn't into TTRPGs for the "roleplaying" aspect until this campaign. Though maybe part of it is that we're doing an all-furry campaign and I'm hopelessly furrypilled, so maybe I just needed that?
Okay, it isn't literally about it, it isn't a fan song, but it is so perfect in every conceivable way, it might as well be. And I'm going to dissect every line of its lyrics to pledge my case, because if I don't rant about it, I'm going to explode.
First, the lyrics themselves:
RIELL - King
I’ll make you a king
And I’ll be your
God
It's lighting the sky, it's stirring the sea
The power I am, electricity
You're feeling me rise, is that fear in your eyes?
Are you scared of me?
Deep in your bones, sirens screaming
You're feeling exposed, something animal's taking control
It tells you to run, there's nowhere to hide when I'm on the hunt
Born in the black, I was raised in the blue
Blood running red, I drank from my wounds
Got a taste for the pain, doom and the gloom
Now I've got a taste for you
I'll make you a king
And I'll be your god
Material things
Got nothing on what I'm made of
Sinner or saint
They all come around
Predator or prey
One by one, watch them all bow down
Dressed in white
The sacrifice
Here comes the groom
Now I’ve got a taste for…
I was a saint, I had a god
He pushed me from grace, my wings got cut off
I rose again from the ashes and dust
I took my revenge for what I lost
Keep it in mind, it’s a warning
You better think twice before crossing me
It costs your life, it’s pointless to run
There's nowhere to hide when I'm on the hunt
Like calls to like and I know who I am
Do you recognise? We’re lions, they’re lambs
Join me at my side, King of the Doomed
‘Cause I’ve got a taste for you
(He loves me yes, he loves me no, he loves me or not)
For you
(He loves me yes, he loves me no, he loves me or not)
For you
(He loves me yes, he loves me no, he loves me or not)
For you
(He loves me yes, he loves me no, he loves me or not)
I'll make you a king (Make you a king)
And I'll be your god (I'll be your god)
Material things (Material things)
Got nothing on what I'm made of
Sinner or saint (Sinner or saint)
They all come around (They all come around)
Predator or prey (Predator or prey)
One by one, watch them all bow down
Now I've got a taste for you
Like. You see it, right? I can't be the only one who heard that and immediately jumped to CotL. I mean, I guess you need to know about both to connect them, and this song has surprisingly little views, but… Well, no matter, I saw it, and ooh boy, do I have some associations!
Let's freaking go.
"I’ll make you a king and I’ll be your God"
The game begins with Narinder positioning himself as Lamb's God and bestowing them with the Red Crown - making them his vessel and the cult leader.
"It's lighting the sky, it's stirring the sea"
After a quick beheading, Lamb opens their eyes to find themselves before the Gate of Afterlife - a very white, bright place with rippling water ground.
"The power I am, electricity. You're feeling me rise, is that fear in your eyes? Are you scared of me?"
There, they meet The One Who Waits for the first time. The power - specifically electricity - is associated with life, with resurrection. And at this point Lamb is just a mortal, who was executed mere seconds ago and met Death, so they are intimidated in the presence of this imposing divine figure.
"Deep in your bones, sirens screaming, you're feeling exposed, something animal's taking control"
Then, Lamb accepts the Red Crown, and its power transforms them into something else. No longer a mortal, but a tool for a God. Also, the mention of "animal" here, for one, can be read as alluding to the fact that everyone in CotL are literal animals, but also, that Lamb is getting new, more predatory instincts.
"It tells you to run, there's nowhere to hide when I'm on the hunt"
This isn't addressed to Lamb anymore, but to the heretics who killed them, as they return to life and immediately jump into their first vengeful crusade. Hunting their assailants as the cultists of the Old Faith run in fear, but of course, it doesn't help them.
"Born in the black, I was raised in the blue"
I don't have direct associations for this one, although I guess it can be interpreted as "I was born in secret and then raised in sadness" - because. Well. The sheep genocide.
"Blood running red, I drank from my wounds. Got a taste for the pain, doom and the gloom"
The aforementioned first crusade and Lamb's feelings about it. How they spilled their first blood, their first kill, how they get to touch the death power and point it at their enemies.
"Now I've got a taste for you"
And, of course, their feelings about their God. Adoration, devotion, and in my interpretation for the song, the start of something romantic.
Then we have the chorus, and it's a bit more abstract, but I see it from the POV of Narinder.
"I'll make you a king and I'll be your God"
This one was already discussed - Narinder is a God, and he made Lamb a leader of his faith in a deal they (literally) couldn't refuse.
"Material things got nothing on what I'm made of"
Alludes to Narinder's inner power and persistence. He is Death, he is patient, he is inevitable. He will outlast anything and everything - so the chains won't stop him, not forever.
"Sinner or saint, they all come around"
Narinder was imprisoned in the first place because he invented ressurection, a way to circumvent Death, and wanted to study new things outside of his immediate domain - something his siblings feared and condemn as a sin. But regardless of whether he's truly a sinner or not - he would make them regret their decision.
"Predator or prey. One by one, watch them all bow down"
As already stated, he now has Lamb as his vessel - a prey animal turned predator - and they would deliver his revenge, slayng all the bishops, untill the Old Faith is reduced to nothing.
"Dressed in white, the sacrifice, here comes the groom, now I’ve got a taste for…"
This. Should I even comment on this? I actually didn't hear this part properly at first, because it's intentionally a bit faint and wispery, but then I grabbed the text of the lyrics to explain my thoughts on them, saw this gold nugget, and felt so much more validated. I said that line was romantic in my interpretation, but this isn't so much subtext as just plain text.
Okay, the next verse is more complicated, because I imagine it as changing the POV not between paragraphs, but between individual lines, as a dialogue. It's because I view it as happening in the final confrontation, when Lamb refuses to die for their God and challenges him instead. So.
"I was a saint, I had a God"
Lamb in the moment of their defiance.
"He pushed me from grace, my wings got cut off"
Narinder, reacting to the betrayal and refusal to return his power. Also, in this moment in the game, there is actually an animation of Lamb getting red wings, so it checks out - and foreshadows Narinder's defeat in this battle.
"I rose again from the ashes and dust, I took my revenge for what I lost"
Lamb, referencing their resurrection and quest of avenging the genocide of their kind, by which they mean "Death has no power over me, I didn't stop then, and I won, what makes you think I would stop now?"
"Keep it in mind, it’s a warning, you better think twice before crossing me"
Narinder's response to that is an open threat - the last chanse to back down, but we all know what happens next.
"It costs your life, it’s pointless to run, there's nowhere to hide when I'm on the hunt"
The stage is set, the decision is made, and they both rush into their fateful battle.
"Like calls to like and I know who I am. Do you recognise? We’re lions, they’re lambs. Join me at my side, King of the Doomed. ‘Cause I’ve got a taste for you"
This is very overt as well. Like. VERY. They both have a claim to the Red Crown now, and Lamb already chosen who they want to be. It directly calls out lambs, and lions are just big cats. King of the Doomed is Death, and I don't need to explain what asking him to join them at their side means. And of course, that last line.
"(He loves me yes, he loves me no, he loves me or not) For you"
This is just a straight up confession. But it also reflects Lamb's thoughts, their feelings and their doubts, as they duel and eventually win. They did it because they wanted to stay with Narinder, and if to usurp him is the only way - so be it. But they also a bit afraid to hurt him too much and to be rejected in the end.
And then it's chorus again, but this time, it's from the POV of Lamb, so interpretation of the same lines is a bit different.
"I'll make you a king and I'll be your God"
Lamb ascended as the new God of Death, and they're welcoming Narinder to the cult. Preferably as their equal partner, who would still be in a position of power and be treated as king under their care.
"Material things got nothing on what I'm made of"
Kinda the same meaning as before, but applied to Lamb now, as they establish themselves as a new deity. What I think is most important here, is that this new status makes them much more resilient, so the previous threats are no longer dangerous to the same extent. That may or may not include some assassination attempts from a certain disgruntled cat.
"Sinner or saint they all come around"
More to the same idea. The whole betrayal ordeal was a difficult decision to make, and Lamb isn't sure if it was the right choice, but it was the only one viable for them. So now they have to live with it, but they're hopeful that Narinder will calm down and forgive them eventually.
"Predator or prey, one by one, watch them all bow down"
This one, again, about the bishops, but this time referencing how Lamb is tasked to save them from Purgatory in the second half of the game, after which they can join the cult as followers.
"Now I've got a taste for you"
And of course, it all ends on their love, with Lamb getting what they wanted and Narinder returning their feelings - with "taste" meaning a long awaited kiss.
Aaaand, that's the song. I am not crazy. It's just. There.
Now someone just needs to make an animatic for it. Honestly I would make it myself if I didn't suck at animation (and also actually was in this fandom). So the only thing I can do is cry about it to the internet to trew it out of my sistem. So... Do with that what you will, I guess?..
