Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Abdirak and the goblin loyal to Maglubiyet

I was wondering: Why would the cult of the Absolute invite a priest of Loviatar, when they imprison one of their own for not worshipping the Absolute? I talked to the Maglubiyet worshipper and he didn't say anything about attacking the others or some similar crime. According to him, his only crime was to not worship the Absolute. And then you have Abdirak with basically his own chapel amidst the cultists. What do you think, why would the cultists allow a priest of another god there? I can't imagine they are that desperate in need of an expert in torture.

Maybe the Absolute doesn't have any conflicts of interest with Loviatar, and they brought my husbando in as a consultant.

That was, what I was wondering - why would they bring in a unknown person from another faith, when they imprisoned one of their own for sticking to his old faith? The cultists didn't strike me as very open minded when it comes to other religions.

If the Absolute is Bhaal (or one or all of the rest if the Dead Three) then Loviatar is one of his old buddies.

They might also have hired and/or brought him there especially as an interrogator because Lovitatas are famous for their torturing skills.

Also the need to sideline Oglubgugmagliet is a major clinch in their plan to dominate and take over the goblin tribe (which is, if the mind-book on goblin culture and customs in the Nautiloid is anything to go by, a planned effort and not just something that they happened to do randomly). They imprisoned the priest because he refused to abandon Magogbligliet when the Absolutists couped the tribe. Since they're not taking over a group of Loviatarans the need to denounce her isn't as great and it doesn't matter if the Love priest gets to hang out and still do his thing.

Ok, that sounds logical. I didn't pay the book on the Nautiloid that much attention. I for once hope, it's not Bhaal again - the pantheon is big enough, surely they find another evil deity to be the Absolute. But the Bhaal-Loviatar connection does sound reasonable, I have to admitt.

I haven't looked up too much the popular theories on the Absolute but

Also, Loviatar was the consort of Bane indeed.

For what I saw the Absolute seems interested in some specific races: Drow, Goblins, Bugbears, that can use as cannonfodder to bring chaos in Faerun. Furthermore I think that as much as they are fanatics they still know about strategy and diplomacy, they already plan a war with a lot of neutral good, good, gods they for now don't want to make enemies between the chaotic neutral /neutral evil ones.

Furthermore Loviatar's followers are specialized in inflincting pain, that means that they can be useful as torturers (indeed Abdirak stats that his role there is to supervise the interrogators).

I'm aware, that Abdirak is at the camp as an consultant. I was just wondering, that those cultists are ok with him. I mean, he even seems to have made the room, he stays in into a chapel.
I mean, yeah, maybe the Absolutists are ok with other races worshipping different gods (apart from goblins, hobgoblins and drow), I just thought, that they came across as really strict about their new goddess, but granted, that could be my subjective perception.

Anyway, it's nice meeting Abdirak there, he is an inetresting character - and since he has a unique look, maybe we see him again on the road or in Baldurs Gate.

I always was under the opinion that the reason that the cleric of Maglubiyet was locked up was because he was actively hostile to the Absolute. Abdirak was pretty chill with it, while the Maglubiyetian was constantly denouncing the Absolute and calling Dror Ragzlin a fool. It's less that they have a problem with other religions, so long as they're cool with the Absolute (At least for the time being), it's that the Maglubiyatian was actively trying to persuade other goblins to turn away from the Absolute, and was locked up for being a threat to their power.

Just scooping up random(ish) people on raids could be leaving the Absolutes army with a few gaps in specialist positions.

So maybe invite a priest of Loviatar to camp, watch him for few days to see if he does have the skills to fill one of those gaps, and then Abdirak wakes up with a tadpole in his head.

That would be an interesting twist ...

Why did I read this with Dr. Frank'n'Furters' voice?

Because he probably would love Abdirak

Just to be clear I don't think the Absolute tollerate other gods, the name itself implies that there's no room for another deity unless is in a servile position. My point is that at the moment the Absolute and their followers don't have the strenght to afford a religious war with all the gods of Faerun's pantheon.

I wonder if in chapter two Larian will explore the repercussions of this new cult stealing followers from Maglubyet and Lolth, unless these two deities have allied themselves, for whatever purpose they have, with the Absolute I don't think they're pleased with a loss of followers, specially since the power of a god depends in the number of followers.

Moreover Abdirak can be also a first diplomatic liason, other than an interrogation consultant, to open a dialogue for a future alliance or non agression treaty.

I was wondering that Abdirak didn't comment on the Absolute, only on the goblins in general. Maybe he isn't really aware of, what's going on. It's not clear, how long he is tehre already, if he just arrived before us or if he is there longer.

I'm interesd too in seeing, how Maglubyet and Lolth react to the Absolute stealing their followers. I see us in the middle of a war between gods tbh.

He has a very interesting line if you talk to him after offing the goblin leaders -- he says that he's leaving because "the goblins have blood in their minds", which is an odd comment given how much he seems to enjoy suffering, pain and blood. He doesn't turn against the players even if you kill Spike in front of him either. My guess is that he was a bit of a Loviathar pawn -- she might have allowed him to be in the goblin camp as a consultant to assess the threat of the Absolute, and when he finally figured out that this pain and torture would in no way, shape or form benefit his goddess, he left.

On a meta-story level, I like the message he's giving to the player: pain is necessary to enhance a good story. If you try to avoid player suffering by scum-saving to get only the best possible results, you will miss out on the experience of surviving by the seat of your pants and feeling the despair of your character at certain points in the story, as well as the highs. Larian, making critical fails fun.

That is true. Tbh I often scum save because I want to fail some roles.

I thought Abdiraks line about the goblins having blood on their mind meant, that they are out to kill (which is probably true) and because dead people can't feel pain, he thought, his work tehre was done. I did get the feeling, that he has not much respect for the goblins from his dialogue - not just Spike and his crude methods, but goblins in general. It's the y way hey spits out the word goblin, when he greets you.

I didn't want to open another thread or necro an even older one, but since this came up a few times: They fixed the blessing of Loviatar, you now get an inspiration point for it. Which comes quite handy, if you want to intimidate Spike next door into giving up his information about Mizora without torturing the adventurer.