Deacon of Celestia should be able to restore Devotion in excommunicated characters

Aodfionn

Title says it all. Have been thinking about this a bunch over the last couple days, and for the life of me, I can't think of any reason why it is the way that it currently is.

As it stands, for Necromancy, Sartan or whatever patron divine picks a mortal to be the Dread Eclair, and then the Dread Eclair can go around Anathematizing necromancers who don't behave according to factional standards. That character can also restore the life-essence regeneration in people they have previously Anathematized. 

For Devotion, Deucora picks a mortal to be Deacon, and then the Deacon can excommunicate Devotionists who don't behave according to factional standards. The Deacon can't do shit-all about giving Devotion back; if someone is seeking to get the excom lifted for whatever reason, I have to pass them along to Deucora, who then will have me observe them for a while and make reports back to them on whether or not restoring it is a terrible idea. It's awesome that we have active and engaged patrons; but at the same time, this is Achaea. It's not hard to envision a future where Targ, much like Apples/Horns-era Mhaldor, is left with two dormant or inactive divine. Making the process of getting excom lifted 100% reliant upon Targ having an active divine doesn't do much good for the playerbase. 

Proposal: Give the Deacon the ability to lift Excommunication, same as the Necro equivalent.

Sarathai

I always thought it was kind of odd that anathema could be lifted by players but excommunication couldn't.

Jeslyn

Speaking as a devotionist who has no idea how she did -not- get excommed during her 30 year stint, I feel like I have a better time dealing with the deacon as a devotionist. He/she is the one that would have a better idea of what the devotionists status is and should be able to make the decision whether or not to restore/sever. However, on the flip side, let's say Aodfionn is not the deacon forever and ever and ever. But gets replaced by a not so patient dictator, I would want all those future rebellious priests/paladins to have another person (god in this case) they could plea to to get it restored. Only downside is if the God isn't active, it could lead to a long wait period.

Kiet

IMO it's not even that hard to not get excommed, people/characters are just stubborn and that obviously has a price.

That said, not sure why anathema would have a reversal option and not excom, so no reason to not have them equivalent.