The faithful forces arent “good”. The forces of hell are a lot worse though (Especially should they win etc). Thats my reading im not super deep into the lore (yet).
Its not even a case in which I would say the church is jetblack evil like the imperium in 40k. Like for example the forces of the church are mostly volunteers (to be fair in a setting with real life miracles you would bet religious zealotry would drive recruitment)
I wouldn’t view it that way. First of all, there’s no fascism in the world of the game and I’m not even sure the ideology of fascism was ever invented in the world of Trench Crusade. A better comparison would be the USA during WWII—certainly not “good,” but I’m pretty sure many people, even on Hexbear, would give the USA critical support for their war against the Axis.
As for the faithful, their rigid religious beliefs blind them, leading to needless suffering in the name of a God they fail to truly comprehend. God in this context is more like a primordial eldritch being, not something that communes clearly with its followers or is all that benevolent.
One also needs to keep in mind that a lot of the lore so far is from the perspective of the church so unreliable narrators.
I read both of your responses and I think you make valid points.
I think I get where you’re coming from. Grimdark settings are often problematic, and it’s true that many fascists enjoy them. I can understand why people might find that off-putting or not be fans of them for that reason. It’s kinda similar to Starship Troopers or Helldivers—both are meant as satire, but reactionaries either don’t get the joke or simply don’t care.
With that said, I’m pretty sure you could create a grimdark setting with good politics, it’s just that, realistically, most people who create these settings fall somewhere on the liberal-to-conservative spectrum. As a result, they almost all end up with the same issues you’ve mentioned
I have to admit, though I’ve been a sucker for anything dark, edgy, and grimdark since I was a teenager, and that hasn’t changed. As a minority in the imperial core, grimdark settings appeal to me because they depict a struggle without hope in a doomed world. But I think there’s beauty in the struggle itself, even when hope is almost nonexistent. The idea of continuing to fight, even when there’s little chance of success, resonates with me deeply.
To be fair, Allah provided the faithful with a massive wall for their protection. Meanwhile, the Christians are left scrambling to scrape remnants of Jesus for cloning abominations and gathering relics of saints to receive fragmented messages they desperately hope are from God.
Like Trench crusade is cool but its christanity is a perverse blapsphemy. (Which is fun mind you)
Yeah, that does suck, but aren’t the muslims even better guys? It seems like a sort of lib way of making a “less” fashy grimdark game. It’s fucked that they keep making world’s were fascism is the only option, I completely agree with the critique you wrote elsewhere in this thread.
Sadly the art kicks ass and I love dieselpunk.
For sure, but you could still have other ideologies. Like the tau in 40k originally, until the imperium fanboys got mad there were a group that challenged their assertion that you had to be shit to survive
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The faithful forces arent “good”. The forces of hell are a lot worse though (Especially should they win etc). Thats my reading im not super deep into the lore (yet).
Its not even a case in which I would say the church is jetblack evil like the imperium in 40k. Like for example the forces of the church are mostly volunteers (to be fair in a setting with real life miracles you would bet religious zealotry would drive recruitment)
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I wouldn’t view it that way. First of all, there’s no fascism in the world of the game and I’m not even sure the ideology of fascism was ever invented in the world of Trench Crusade. A better comparison would be the USA during WWII—certainly not “good,” but I’m pretty sure many people, even on Hexbear, would give the USA critical support for their war against the Axis.
As for the faithful, their rigid religious beliefs blind them, leading to needless suffering in the name of a God they fail to truly comprehend. God in this context is more like a primordial eldritch being, not something that communes clearly with its followers or is all that benevolent.
One also needs to keep in mind that a lot of the lore so far is from the perspective of the church so unreliable narrators.
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I read both of your responses and I think you make valid points.
I think I get where you’re coming from. Grimdark settings are often problematic, and it’s true that many fascists enjoy them. I can understand why people might find that off-putting or not be fans of them for that reason. It’s kinda similar to Starship Troopers or Helldivers—both are meant as satire, but reactionaries either don’t get the joke or simply don’t care.
With that said, I’m pretty sure you could create a grimdark setting with good politics, it’s just that, realistically, most people who create these settings fall somewhere on the liberal-to-conservative spectrum. As a result, they almost all end up with the same issues you’ve mentioned
I have to admit, though I’ve been a sucker for anything dark, edgy, and grimdark since I was a teenager, and that hasn’t changed. As a minority in the imperial core, grimdark settings appeal to me because they depict a struggle without hope in a doomed world. But I think there’s beauty in the struggle itself, even when hope is almost nonexistent. The idea of continuing to fight, even when there’s little chance of success, resonates with me deeply.
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The faithful forces make clones of Christ that they can farm for meat, they are not “good guys”
To be fair, Allah provided the faithful with a massive wall for their protection. Meanwhile, the Christians are left scrambling to scrape remnants of Jesus for cloning abominations and gathering relics of saints to receive fragmented messages they desperately hope are from God.
Like Trench crusade is cool but its christanity is a perverse blapsphemy. (Which is fun mind you)
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Yeah, that does suck, but aren’t the muslims even better guys? It seems like a sort of lib way of making a “less” fashy grimdark game. It’s fucked that they keep making world’s were fascism is the only option, I completely agree with the critique you wrote elsewhere in this thread.
Sadly the art kicks ass and I love dieselpunk.
When you try to invent a setting with forever war, fascism is inevitably going to be baked in.
For sure, but you could still have other ideologies. Like the tau in 40k originally, until the imperium fanboys got mad there were a group that challenged their assertion that you had to be shit to survive
Iirc one of the non-hell factions farms jesus clones to eat, so it seems legit grimdark where everything is terrible for everyone.