On the Priest Background

Sunless Sea
1

So before tackling Sunless Skies, I’m working through all the Sunless Sea ambitions and background I never got around to playing before, which includes find father’s bones for each background.

When picking the priest background something caught my attention.

&quotYou fell from grace. There is nothing left ashore for you. An anonymous benefactor has found this way out for you. Perhaps, at zee, you can overcome your appetites.&quot

Err, is that last sentence supposed to make me think of what it is most definitely making me think of?

2

Oh my god (sic) Probably not intended, but that… is a very unfortunate phrasing for a priest background indeed

3

I know, right? I was thinking &quotDamn, Failbetter. I was expecting dark, but not quite in that way. And it’s a hell of an establishing character trait I don’t get a choice in.&quot

Most of all, I was surprised how a subsequent search online pulled up nobody ever commenting on it. I can’t have been the only person to think this, right?

4

I assume everyone just thought “great! I’m playing a charater who’s canonically a cannibal!” and got on with their game.

5

oh, cannibalism is definitely not an appetite one &quotovercomes at zee&quot, quite the opposite. At zee, much like in soviet russia, the cannibalism overcomes you, but we’re not talking about that particular hm, appetite

6

Most interesting. I don’t think they meant that though.

7

Isn’t the priest background the one where Your Father’s Bones is about your father’s relation to the Chapel of Lights? That would make it pretty clearly about the more literal appetites.

8

I think it’s a mistake to read too literally into something so vague.

&quotAppetite&quot could be anything at all, ranging from sexual fetishes to addiction to various &quotunnatural&quot predelictions like cannibalism or demon worship. Think Lovecraft.

Since it never affects the story in any way, it’s up to you to decide if it means anything at all.
edited by slickriptide on 8/31/2017

9

I assumed it was just a general hedonism thing. You like wine and sordid company a little more than a good priest should.

That being said… I think it’s up to you to really imagine your character’s background.

10

I’m fair certain it doesn’t necessarily have to be that. The responsibilities of a priest are as demanding as they are diverse. Your indulgences, errors, sins, scandals, oversights, or misunderstandings could be basically anything.

11

I always interpreted that as cannibalism, but it could be any number of things. Addiction to prisoner’s honey, perhaps, plus one too many public embarrassments resulting. Or, a little darker, to red honey.
We really don’t have to go there.
edited by HelenDamnation on 11/17/2018

12

If it was cannibalism you would start with Unaccountably Peckish, i think.