Nierite wrote:
Divine Magic is you memorizing specific spells by rote until they are burned into your mind forever, and it is your faith in the Gods rather than an innate spark or someone giving you the power which fuels your magical abilities.
For a Divine Caster, you are taught the spells BY the Church, which means that no matter what your background is you have to be a member of that church because nobody else would teach you their super-secret magical knowledge. In a similar way to leaders in the past not actively supporting the spread of literacy and knowledge among the peasants, if the Church simply publishes their unique magical traditions for all to see, it removes a lot of their power and authority over the populace. After all, if anyone can manipulate the word of the Gods, what's so special about a priest? The way I see it, if you are a Divine Caster, but without a church background, it means you were raised 1) By the Church, or 2) Were sent to a specific Church-school where you picked up. Either way, you are a member of THAT church.
I can see the logic of that, but didn't think it was that clearly supported by the system. It would seem that if there was no means for a divine caster to learn spells except through their church, and then exactly as their church teaches it, that there would be a lot fewer schisms, cults, and heretics running around with spellcasting power. I mean, at some time when someone says to themselves, "I want to worship a dark aspect of Illiir!" and actually does and starts casting spells from that aspect of Illiir, you have to ask yourself where he learned to do that? At some point, there has to be a way for one to find out exactly how a god requirees a spell to be done to have it work without a church being involved, or there would be a lot fewer churches/faiths/divisions