"At least on Golarion, animating a corpse with death magic does bind the soul to the corpse even though the soul does not participate much in making decisions for the undead thus animated. It's not impossible in principle there is a non-evil version here but I would tend to be wary.

"I think there are conquests Iomedae approves of but they are not many. There's nothing so concrete as a necessary and sufficient condition list in the Acts, unfortunately."

"Six thousand years ago, Crelers, one of many monstrous species birthed by the corrupted lands of Rhir, overran and nearly destroyed the world. After the Creler Wars, the Blighted Kingdom was founded on Rhir to retake the continent and contain the threat at its source. Its greatest opposition is the Demon Kingdom, a coalition of monstrous beings native to Rhir which resists the Blighted Kingdom's conquest. I do not know if they are the same type of being as the demons of your Abyss, but it is indeed believed that they torture and eat people, enchant people against their allies, experiment on prisoners, destroy cities and are expansionist.

"Do you think Iomedae endorses the Blighted Kingdom's work?"

"As you describe it, probably, but if I had landed on that situation instead of this one I would have considered it incumbent on me to assess it for myself in more detail, as Iomedae does not have a church operating here whose conclusions I could take as read, and many potentially peaceful neighbors have equally vile habits and different underlying natures."

Klbkch seems to take that as informative. He shifts his stance.

"How do individuals and nations not under the rule of a god relate to your gods? You said that theocracies are unusual."

"Most nations have no single state religion, but they tend to restrict which gods are permissible to worship or proselytize for, since for example some gods are Evil or Chaotic or both and most nations prefer not to harbor Their followers, and not all gods are popular in all parts of the world for relatively mundane reasons. I believe most people make it to services of their favorite or the most conveniently available god on most weeks and pray to a handful of others besides. Iomedae's church is more organized than most, but insofar as a church is organized it might be expected to have diplomats or advisors placed with the governments of countries where the god is popular, for moral guidance and some spellcasting support."

Klbkch now has additional questions.

Does Blai have a chalkboard, or just some paper, so Klbkch can make a list.

He has lots of paper for translating the Acts onto and will yield a sheet.

• Worship
• Services
• Favorite, popular
• Pray
• Moral guidance
• Followers vs. cleric vs. church vs. religion
• Iomedae vs. chaotic evil gods

Klbkch reviews the list to make sure he has everything down.

"I do not understand the use of 'worship' in this context." He takes a few seconds construct what he means by this: "The meaning I am familiar with is to engage in an obsession with or abnormal devotion to another person, typically in the context of romantic infatuation. It generally connotes an unhealthy mental disposition."

"- well, it would tend to be, with another mortal, I wouldn't advise worshiping a mortal. The word I'm translating there means - all of the things that a god's followers do to confirm to themselves, each other, and their god, that they mean to serve the god and live out Their philosophy. It can take forms ranging from singing to reading important books like the Acts to petitioning the god for various boons."

Klbkch's antennae wave as he clicks his mandibles.

"I will briefly skip to the sixth item, as it may be part of my misunderstanding. What is a 'follower' of a god?"

"Someone who is attempting to act in accordance with the god's teachings."

"What things do gods teach?"

"- well, it depends on the god. Their alignment, as a first pass, but Iomedae and Erastil are the same alignment and Erastil prefers that people live in agrarian villages getting married and having children and Iomedae was famously unmarried all her life and exhorts people to find the largest and most pressing problem they are able to tackle or become able to tackle and focus on that, which are very different approaches to life even if both are Lawful Good."

Klbkch takes a second to digest.

Then he takes another second to digest.

"What is the purpose of these teachings?"

"- the purposes also vary, pretty closely with the teachings themselves. I think it's useful for - coordinating, a culture; a village of Erastilians will tend to be kinder and happier than a village of atheists and not just because the village priest of Erastil could cast spells."

"It is a political philosophy," clarifies Klbkch.

"That's at least a close approximation. It's possible religion is just hard to understand if you've grown up without it."

"Yes, the step from that to the concept of 'worship' is not clear to me. Do the followers believe that the god will make them a cleric if they are a follower, is it required to receive services, or do they simply believe that the philosophy is effective for them?"

"There are probably churches that will only provide spells and such to their followers but I think it is not usual. Most people do not become clerics and most worship is not aimed at becoming one, though there are smaller boons it's possible to ask for that are sometimes granted. I think many believe the philosophy is effective for them and also benefit from everyone around them knowing that they are trying to follow that philosophy."

Klbkch does not really grok Drake and human politics, so this direction of inquiry is unlikely to be very productive.

"You mentioned 'favorite' and 'popular' gods, from which I infer that it is permissible to 'worship' more than one."

"Yes. Clerics do this less than most people but it would be very normal for someone to pray to Abadar for wealth and Shelyn for a spouse and Desna for respite from nightmares and Gozreh for good weather and Pharasma for the souls of the dead, possibly even all on the same day."

"What is 'praying'?"

"- speaking, singing, or thinking with a god as the intended audience."