"Danalin- Angel of the Water (Water), worshipped indirectly by the Octopus Overlords (Danalin is sleeping and his nightmares are being influenced by Hastur and other demons under Mammon's control)"

Ive always wondered why is Danalin sleeping, who is Hastur, and why is Mammon doing that to him? There should be some sort of "Awaken Danalin" thing for OO to help reguvenate their slumbering god. Just a thought.

Seek out the literary works of H.P. Lovecraft (and various others inspired by him) to see why waking Dan is probably a Bad idea, why you do Not want to know much about Hastur, and why such enquiries are dangerous. :)

Well i view each religion as having their own agenda. AV wants to bring hell, Order wants to exterminate demons, fellowship wants to preserve the forests... OO seemed like it is lacking that which would make sense if their god is asleep.

There is very little sense to be found in the actions of OO followers. Their deities are fearsomely malevolent and frequently insane. The followers act out of misguided greed, their own insanity, or compulsion which might include the first two. The 'agenda', if there is one, would be nearly incomprehensible and no good can come of it, but there is a big clue in the term Overlords.

The story is even foggy to me, Id have to search through my old modules to see if I could find it. The short of it is that Danalin lost hope. There was a race of people that were special to him, beings like elves but who breathed water as easily as air. They were beautiful and peaceful creatures, withdrawn from the world as Danalin has always been.

During the Age of Dragons Danalin was one of the most passive gods, he would freely enter creation and roam the seas, visit his creations and tend to the tides and storms and depths that were his providence. He didn't war frequently with other gods even in that violent time, and the other gods largely left him alone.

He held little opinion either way on the compact, but he agreed to it and withdrew from creation. It applied to others more than to him.

His people missed their lord, but as seperate as the oceans made the lands from each other, those beneath them are even more apart. And they made no attempt to change this. Eventually though, war came for them.

I dont remember what the threat was. But there was one man from that race who set out to find some help, who traveled the world while his people fought a losing war. Hoping to gather the support of another army or gain enough skill at magic to save his people.

He met the people of other gods in his travels, spoke with Cassiel and learned about the position the world is in. Fought beside the Umberguard of Kilmorph, fulfilled the prophecy of the Amurites and turned their desert home into a lush grassland.

In time he stood before a gate to Danalin's realm and had the option to allow Danalin into the world, to provide the power to save his people. But he also knew the cost of it, that the world would be returned to the godswar. So he closed the gate and died in his peoples last stand.

At that Danalin wept, his tears becoming silver drops that follow the moon through the night sky. Then he fell asleep, no longer caring about the state of creation.

Each god has a curator, or archangel. For Mammon that is Hastur. When Danalin fell asleep Mammon sent Hastur to gain access to him, to attempt to subjugate him. Even in slumber a god is not weak and Danalin isnt controlled by Hastur, but is effected by him.

The old religion that worshipped Danalin is gone, abandoned by its god. But during the Age of Rebirth a new religion began, dedicated to the seas. The prayers heard by Danalin and answered by his power are malformed and chaotic. This is still the power of the cool ocean depths and the endless waters, but Hastur has twisted it. It is not his to control, but he chases the dreams into dark places.

O ok, i was always confused as to what OO really was. i think it would be really cool if there was a way to vanquish hastur or awaken or gain access to danalin and therefore changing the alignment and effects of the religion. kind of a religious transformation.

Incidently each god has an archangel (I was never consistent about what I called this second angel, I really should define a name for it) that is responsible for their most important tasks. This beings were often more active than the gods and had more interaction with humanity, though the compact also bared them from entering creation. Many are already known.

Sabathiel is the archangel of Junil, Cernunnos was the archangel of Sucellus and eventually became a god himself (and is worshipped by the Fellowship of Leaves), Cassiel was the archangel of Dagda and abandoned him after fighting over the compact, Basium was the Archangel of Arawn and abandoned him at the compact as well.

But there are others we haven't covered yet. Brigit the Shining was Bhalls archangel, she remained holy and lead an small group against Bhall when she fell. Her army was quickly defeated but Bhall couldn't bring herself to kill her most beautiful creation. Instead she trapped Brigit within the northern wastes, far from where any creature of fire could reach her. The strange colors in the northern sky are said to be the reflection of Brigits light. Some say Bhalls mercy towards Brigit is evidence that some good part of her remains to be redeemed

Taranis the Unchanging, Splendor (mentioned briefly in one of the peda entries), Baelious, Maponos the Young, Iaegus, and many more. There was this ancient tower in Erebus, poking out of the mists that stole memories. The players found it after getting horribly lost and found a cracked painting inside that showed the archangels waiting outside of the seven fir's, where inside the gods negotiated the compact. That moment always stuck me as monumental, these amazing characters sitting and waiting on what would be decided. Basium hating the truce that was called for this, eager to get back to war. Cassiel who wanted even more withdrawal than the compact dictated. For some reason that moment always stuck out so strongly to me.

I hadn't realized before, but Cassiel and Basium probably hold each other in a good deal of contempt, even though they are both opposed to the goals of the evil gods.

Maybe they should be listed as each other's enemies. Also, Amurites and Illians should be enemies-Mulcorn probably doesn't like the man who killed him.

Yay, more lore from the D&D campaign! This is wonderful, thanks Kael!

I hadn't realized before, but Cassiel and Basium probably hold each other in a good deal of contempt, even though they are both opposed to the goals of the evil gods.

Yeah, from Cassiel's perspective there is little difference between Basium and Hyborem.

It`s very interesting ;)
Perhaps you could save this lore somewhere and make it public with the mod or at least here in the Forum as a sticky or something, so people can get deeper into the stuff without having to ask and wait
and without you having to post it over and over again for only some ;)
Or perhaps in the wiki if not in the mod?

Say, that gives me an idea. If the overlords themselves are an illusion, just dreams produced by Hastur, how about a quest in Shadow or Ice to crash Hastur's party?

<snip> so people can get deeper into the stuff without having to ask and wait
and without you having to post it over and over again for only some ;)
Or perhaps in the wiki if not in the mod?


Wiki is meant to be easy to add to, or is the privelege to add an article restricted (I haven't tried yet) ? If it is open, just cut and paste, and viola! :)

I've always liked the word "Principality", which also just happens to be the order of angels above archangels in that celestial hierarchy... perhaps considering borrowing some terms from there to clarify things might be a good idea?

Say, as an example with four classes of angels:
Angel: Any being originating in or having transferred to a heavenly realm, excepting only gods. Good people may become angels after death. The opposite to demons.

Archangel: Any angel in a position of authority: Everything between regular angels and right up to (but not including) the gods. Includes principalities and dominions.

Principality: The greatest archangel of a god, often seen as a second-in-command of sorts. Example: Sabathiel.

Dominion: An archangel of power equal to or greater than a principality, but not currently in the service of a god. Almost always a former principality. Examples: Cassiel, Basium, Brigit, Cernunnos before his ascent to godhood.

It`s very interesting ;)
Perhaps you could save this lore somewhere and make it public with the mod or at least here in the Forum as a sticky or something, so people can get deeper into the stuff without having to ask and wait
and without you having to post it over and over again for only some ;)
Or perhaps in the wiki if not in the mod?

Yeah, thats a good idea to start adding stuff like this to the wiki. If for no other reason than to give the writing team a common place to go pull ideas from.

Are there any plans to further develop OO? I really think that grabbing all these tidbits of lore from the forums should be stored somewhere.

Wiki is meant to be easy to add to, or is the privelege to add an article restricted (I haven't tried yet) ? If it is open, just cut and paste, and viola! :)

Everyone can. That is whe whole idea of wiki, isn't it? That anyone can contribute. And the more people actually contributing to it, the more updated it is.

I don't mean to be a boob here, but is there any plan to change the name of the OO to something more serious. I think it is just the alliteration that bugs me, but it really does.

I don't mean to be a boob here, but is there any plan to change the name of the OO to something more serious. I think it is just the alliteration that bugs me, but it really does.

It annoyes me too...

Octopus Overlords sounds cool. Do not listen to them!

I think the Cthulhu-style OO are great. That may be because I'm a crazy Lovecraft fan, but I like them anyway and would hate to see some quest which could turn them into some goodly people, even if they once were so.

Just my thought on this whole idea of breaking hastur's party: Having continuous nightmares for millenia is probably not healthy for your mind, even if we are talking about the mind of a god. If there was some kind of awakening quest or something, I think Danalin should awaken completely insane and make his religion even more cruel than it already is. Think about a Cthulhu Dawn scenario and you'll be preety close to what I'm thinking.

Besides, turning OO into good if you awakened the god or something would require a ton more work. They'd need a different civic (Slavery will be gone, of course), and some way to force all civs who have it as a state religion either to convert to the new "good OO" or become no-state-religion, the old heroes would have to be killed and new ones be available for building (You dont really expect Danalin to like Saverous if he awakens sane, do you?) the asylums everywhere would have to be destroyed and replaced with something else...

Woah, lotta work. Much more effective to just spawn a ton of shoggoths for however made the ritual or something

I totally agree, the names do not have to be changed. All of them sound cool and they kinda natural for FFH right now.

I think the Cthulhu-style OO are great. That may be because I'm a crazy Lovecraft fan, but I like them anyway and would hate to see some quest which could turn them into some goodly people, even if they once were so.


I think that is what people are getting wrong. They weren't once good. That religion died when Danalin popped one too many Lunestra. This is a new religion altogether.

Plus, I think an awakening of Danalin would require a God's interference, or at least some kind of super hero such as Kyorlin.

I like the name Octopus Overlords, I don't see why so many people have a problem with it.

I like the name Octopus Overlords, I don't see why so many people have a problem with it.

Like I said, I think it has to do with the alliteration. And it reminds me of Octopus Ink, from the old TMNT cartoon...

It would be like calling the Ashen Veil, the Dastardly Demons... or the Order, the Angelic Army ...

the Deep Ones, Tentacled Ones, Tentacled Overlords...

Like it was said, read some H.P. Lovercraft and I bet it wont remind you of any cartoons any more. ]:->

'Call of Chutulu' was the best RPG rule book there was till 'Mage:The Ascension' cam out. :D

the 'Cephalopod Charm' religion.


the OO religion backstory should remain 'clouded' in their 'agendas'. Their affinity to haphazardly drive perspective and designated meatbags insane is the reason why I love and worship those cantankerous, mind-*ing P.

_Valis;5180552']Like it was said, read some H.P. Lovercraft and I bet it wont remind you of any cartoons any more. ]:->

'Call of Chutulu' was the best RPG rule book there was till 'Mage:The Ascension' cam out. :D

In the spirit of Lovecraft, I gave my suggestion. It is just the nomenclature that bugs me. Nothing else, it is merely cosmetic. I think Lovecraft would have given them a far more colorful name, and uncomfortably long... the Tentacled Masters of the Inky Briny Black or some such thing, perhaps with a rather archaic term or two, and distinctly Briton-ized in type.

CoC was quite a fun RPG, I was a big fan of Pendragon (another game by Chaosium). For those who really hate their characters try mixing CoC with Cyberpunk2020...

"Octopus Overlords" is actually a reference in and of itself. I'm fairly sure that's not what the D&D religion was called - it's the name of another gaming-related website that Kael posts at.

I could be wrong, though. Has happened before.

"Octopus Overlords" is actually a reference in and of itself. I'm fairly sure that's not what the D&D religion was called - it's the name of another gaming-related website that Kael posts at.

I could be wrong, though. Has happened before.

You're right. Its the name of the website I spent most of my time at before I started working on FfH and started posting here (I had about 200 posts here when I uplaoded the first version of FfH).

Although I like the homage for all of my OO friends, if I had to do it all over again I probably would pick another name. At the time I named the religion after them I assumed that only a handful of people there and a handful here would be interested in FfH.

heh heh... looks like the joke was on you then! lol or the overlords!

Are there any plans on involving any of the locations and angels Kael spoke about here with FFH? I think the tower that stole memories sounds awesome and the seven firs would be a good thing to add as well. I always wondered if there could be a religion that kept following Brigit the Shining after Bhall fell. The followers wouldnt have as strong priests or temples since they are only following an angel but could have more unique warrior units.

Yeah, there are a load of cool religions that theoretically could be in FFH, every single god could have a religion, some like Danailin for eg, could have several. The OOs, some sort of cult trying to wake him up etc. I always wanted a religion for the Orcs. But, no more religions will ever be added into the main mod, ever. Everything has to be in threes and sevens, there are 7 religions and seven guilds, three different alignments, 21 gods (7x3) and 21 civs and 21 mana spheres, there are loads more as well.

So, the answer is to either make it yourself as a modmod, or wait until the Ice phase. Then the actual mod will be finished more or less and people can make scenarios for all the cool bits of FFH lore and stories, like the fall of Bhaal and Brigets last stand etc.

would a way aorund that 3, 7, 21 thing is make 21 religions but only make it so 7 are availble per game? that way you get the variety without the deluge of religions per game. it would also make each game much more unique. i think that would be relatively easy to do as you can already choose to remove a religion from your game via the game options.

Yeah but you dont want every other tech to be a religion one and each religion would be far less unique then the current ones. There are only so many things they can do...

i suppose it would be difficult to make 21 unique and fun religions, however i had also asked about the world improvements like adding the seven firs and that tower that stole your memories. the tower could have like a 33% chance of turning any unit that went on it into a barbarian.

You're right. Its the name of the website I spent most of my time at before I started working on FfH and started posting here (I had about 200 posts here when I uplaoded the first version of FfH).

Although I like the homage for all of my OO friends, if I had to do it all over again I probably would pick another name. At the time I named the religion after them I assumed that only a handful of people there and a handful here would be interested in FfH.

I appreciate the homage. Never change it (http://www.octopusoverlords.com). :(

Edit - And yes, I realize most of this thread is nearly a year old.

I cant believe it someone is borthering with the name of a religion at all :lol:
I enjoy octupus overlords always when i play lanun, the name is fine, actually it does fit in the game very well. From the rpg view i can imagine fisherman who hear the voices and start worshipping this strange power from beneath, as they are certainly not very well educated this name reflects the lack of knowledge of the old times.

Now that Slavery has been made available for all civs, will there be any new benefits for OO?

It seems to be far weaker than the other religions at the moment.

How would you wake up a god that chooses to be asleep? You don't.

"Octopus Overlords" sounds fine to me. Can't think of a better name. The real issue I have is why don't you simply say that the religion worships Mammon. Now that Danalin is asleep, what has it got to do with him at all? If his thoughts were all twisted into nightmares, then it really isn't his religion anymore right?

I would even call them an evil religion, but remember in this evil world, you have to be *very* evil to qualify for that.

I like Octopus Overlords as a name, though I hate alliteration. An event in which a group of priests realise Danallin is asleep and controlled by Mannon would be cool. You could either kill the priests for blasphemy or change your alignment 1 towards good.

Danalin isn't contolled by Mammon, only influenced. His dreams are being distorted by Hastur and other angels of Mammon, but they don't really have power over him. What Danalin dreams is an eclectic mix of Danalin's memories, his imaginings, of Hastur's influence, of his reaction to Hastur's influence, and probably some influence from the real world as well.


Danalin isn't actually dreaming of the Overlords, but of another effective dreamer like himself: Hemah. It is Hemah's dreams that created the Overlords.

Folowers of the Overlords aren't really worshipping either Danalin or Mammon, but various the superstitions they themselves created to explain the creations of Hemah's dreams.

You're right. Its the name of the website I spent most of my time at before I started working on FfH and started posting here (I had about 200 posts here when I uplaoded the first version of FfH).

Although I like the homage for all of my OO friends, if I had to do it all over again I probably would pick another name. At the time I named the religion after them I assumed that only a handful of people there and a handful here would be interested in FfH.

A few here and a few there? Kael, half the people on this forum worship you as their GOD!

I play OO most of my games as it has the only additional sages without going all out evil, also they remind me of the Kraken Society which is sadly never featured in the BG-Series. For balance reasons I would be aginst another good religion anyway.

Good thing you can now eliminate some religions to add new twists to your games.

Names:

Abyssal Dream
Deep Truth
Resurface of Power (like Renaissance)

:D

BTW cult of the Dead God or Drowned God described by George Martin feats OO good.

Going back a few posts, Brigit being imprisoned in the frozen north could make for an intersting special improvement (Yggdrasil etc). Like the Lentus, it needn't have any actual effect, and could be lore-based scenery. Perhaps (if this is even possible) it could only spawn on floating ice, so it couldn't actually be reached.

On the OO subject, I like the name and see nothing wrong with aliteration in moderation! One of my favourite religions, although I am currently fighting an Esus addiction. The theme of the religion works well (sure, you can learn more, but it may turn you into a gibbering loon), which is Cthulhuesque without too directly lifting from Lovecraft.

Danalin isn't actually dreaming of the Overlords, but of another effective dreamer like himself: Hemah. It is Hemah's dreams that created the Overlords.

Folowers of the Overlords aren't really worshipping either Danalin or Mammon, but various the superstitions they themselves created to explain the creations of Hemah's dreams.

This throws up some questions for me... Does Danalin actually care if anybody worships him? Would he care if the world is consumed by demons and mankind extinct? What would happen when he realises that his mind has been tortured for eons? This leads me to the idea that there should be a possibility to awake danalin. There should be a wonder that requires like 12 temples to build and the necronomicon, maybe some sort of upgrade to it like the altar of lunnotar. Even if danalin does not care there could be some benefits like gifts in form of water resource spawns, free kraken units, and eventually an avatar of the god.

going back to the awake danalin quest, what could be done is make a totally new religion because people stick to their old ways. Like in real life when christianity was discovered it didn't obsolete judaism.

Octopus Overlords is my favorite religion. In my first game of FFH (0.23), I founded the religion just to have access to slavery. When I heard their music, I was hooked (and I laughed, because the rest of the song is just not appropriate to them).

I agree that Octopus Overlords is not a particularly fitting name in the company of Ashen Veil, Fellowship of the Leaves, Runes of Kilmorph, etc. It fits but it seems like a joke (and the alliteration is not a problem for me; I love alliteration). Unfortunately, I cannot think of a name I like better (considering the traction OO has already gained; I also like that OO looks like someone is surprised - "You worship what?").

Meh, I don't have any specific problems about the name. IMO, something like ''The Deep'' would have been better though. I think the OO could do with something extra actually, esp' since they lost slavery, maybe a unique evil naval unit, Or some sort of Pool of the Overlords, can only be built in coastal towns, summons krackens, turtles, sea serpents, leviathan (LOL!).

Isn't the OO religion actually worshipping the octopus overlords, not danalin/mammon? Of course, the overlords are only gaining their power through the corrupted dreams of danalin (via mammon), but noone but the overlords themselves would know this presumably.

Well, there's no need to change OO.
If you want to be the most authentic, you can call it "The Ancient Ones", as Lawcraft called his ancient aliens, or "The Deep Ones", as was mentioned in some fanfics and games.

I also think that people worshipping OO are worshipping Octopus Overlords, strange terrible Rulers From Beneath. It's even reflected in the religion's description - the people leaving near coast hear voices from beneath and become mind-controlled.

I want to ask Kael - what made you to call the Lanun capital directly "Innsmouth", you took the original name for the city but not for the religion/deities. Well I just want to know what made you to do such a strange and nice thing :).
{{The first time I saw Lanun I almost yelled: Look, it's Innsmouth!!!}}

Deon: I fairly sure that the Ancient Ones and the Deep Ones are different entities.

As for OO: I really like the name and resist any changes to it.

I want to ask Kael - what made you to call the Lanun capital directly "Innsmouth", you took the original name for the city but not for the religion/deities. Well I just want to know what made you to do such a strange and nice thing :).
{{The first time I saw Lanun I almost yelled: Look, it's Innsmouth!!!}}

Its an homage to Lovecraft. They arent the most "piratey" names but the Lanun has such a nice synergy with the Overlords that I slipped in a few Lovecraft names for their cities.

i never read much lovecraft and i have seen a few movies based off his work, but what reminds me of OO is the cult of the dark one from quest for glory 4 (yes i know it is a lovecraft homage in itself) but i was thinking rather than having the necronomicon as the holy building (its a book)for OO perhaps have something like the cult's cave in QG4 (for those who never played the game it looked like a giant folislized squid/octopus type creature

Well, the Holy Shrines are mostly Holy Relics in truth. And thus subject to stealing once Shadow is done from what I gather.

Octopus Overlords is my favorite religion. In my first game of FFH (0.23), I founded the religion just to have access to slavery. When I heard their music, I was hooked (and I laughed, because the rest of the song is just not appropriate to them).

Now I want to hear the rest of the song. what's it called?

How much are OO powerful? I mean: "Can God dream of a stone so heavy that he cannot move it?"

Now I want to hear the rest of the song. what's it called?

Sting-Desert Rose (http://www.radioblogclub.com/open/153890/desert_rose/Sting_-_Desert_Rose)

Thanks, and your right, the rest would never work for the overlords

Are those pieces copyrighted? Will they be replaced later?

(Because I have an awesome idea for the OO movie and music...)

Are those pieces copyrighted? Will they be replaced later?

(Because I have an awesome idea for the OO movie and music...)

No we probably won't replace those tracks.

zxcvbnm, please post your suggestion. i'm curious...

The AV Buddha looks quite funny, that was the original reason why I began to think of alternate religion videos.

The idea for them would be, that they'd show something of a religious ritual, like in vanilla civ. For the Octopus Overlords, that would be something like this:

[hollow-sounding drums, in the background]

[whispers of zealot names ('the great one has watchful eyes', 'those in the deep will never sleep', 'i can do ventriloquism lol', 'beware the might of the overlords', etc.) repeated all the time, in the background]

-The black begins to withdraw here, showing a OO-mana node-like structure inside a temple, with those slimy green-grey chains. (I love those chains:p)
Between them a dreamer is chained[?] in place, with all those burning wax needles and all-

[about here strings, a bit like in the opening slideshow but higher-pitched and faster, but not too dominant (I think the slightly techno-like Desert Rose, while sounding good, is slightly out of character for medieval fantasy, so I'd use older instruments but a similar melody could work perfectly)]

(the camera zooms slowly over the ritual)

[here, singer comes along, singing some gibberish from the overlords (no, no inspiration taken from the Desert Rose at all:p)]

-behind the dreamer, there is a cultist standing in front of the squid picture-

[end the singing to a couple of seconds instrumental only, then something that would sound like what the overlords say through the dreamer, in a suitably weird voice, volume lowering gradually to silence]

(the ending screen is a large picture of that OO squid, the religion symbol)

There should be some sort of "Awaken Danalin" thing for OO to help reguvenate their slumbering god. Just a thought.

I really like this idea...

they don't worship danalin, but the twisted products of his dreams

Well, the products of the product of his dreams; Danalin is effectively dreaming of Hemah, who is Effectively dreaming of the Overlords.

And if Hemah is killed? What would happen?

What I meant was a sort of 'Danalin Awakens' event, when he realises what's been happening and so on.

What I meant was a sort of 'Danalin Awakens' event, when he realises what's been happening and so on.

And the other gods awaken too and then the godslayer is regained when
############################[censored]#############
and they kill them all off and the Grigori win the game!

Sounds good, when do we start?

I think that'd be too big for a Random Event. It would be like having a Random Event that goes, "The One just says 'Screw it!' and personally appears on Erebus. All of creation is instantly undone, and The One starts over from scratch. You all lose!"

Yeah, I was also going to suggest putting it into a whole new phase, but I knew they wouldn't do that. It'd be nice to have another effect like armageddon though; good acts not just reversing the effects, but actually transforming the land into heaven when the counter drops below zero.

It would indeed be nice to have several Armageddon-type events, but the heaven idea sounds a bit boring to be honest. A better idea might be to have some additional forces of good show up to fight the evil civilisations.

Another fairly obvious Armageddon-type sequence for Ice would, ofcourse, deal with the Illians and the possibly return of the Age of Ice; Octopus Overlords could have some nice events with floods and madness-induced anarchy. I suppose the Fellowship of the Leaves could have an extended rebellion of nature against civilisation as well.

Yeah, that probably would be cool. Anyway zxcvbnm, i like that.

I think that most of those would be better implemented as (religion or civ specific) rituals designed to hurt your rivals.

True. We could always use more rituals.

How would you wake up Danalin? He chose to sleep until the end of time, because he does not wish to live with the sorrow of losing his people. You can't force one of those great angels to wake up when they decide that they won't.

What I don't understand is how the evil religions could give people hapiness. A better way to do it is to reduce unhapiness, but honestly, other than the possible exception of the Balseraphs, what "morbid entertainment" could come from the prospect of a religion like the OO?

Mind Stapling!

"The Overlords protect us from the evils of the world. Evils like the Bannor. We are at the Bannor. We have always been at war with the Bannor. Bannor doubleplusungood. Let us now commence with our Hour of Hate for the Bannor."

What I don't understand is how the evil religions could give people hapiness?

Good. That speaks well of you.

But without getting into that, keep in mind that a point of "happiness" in Civ is, in game terms, "Willing to tolerate more stuff I don't like before I stop working." That willingness could be motivated by fear as much as happiness and.... well, might not really be "willingness" at all.

It's more like resignation, really. Bear in mind, vanilla cIV lets you station troops in cities under Hereditary Rule to increase happiness. The citizens aren't exactly celebrating the new and improved police forces.

Back when I actually considered suggesting a renaming of their religion, I came up with "Cephalo-Gods." Then I realized that was far more stupid and cheesy than the original, and just gave up.

At any rate, however, that is my favorite religion. It may be a fraud induced by smoking too much seaweed, but its results speak for itself--siccing the drowns and Stygian guards on the Barbarians of the world is the way to build an awesome naval empire. Besides, octopi are adorable!

octopi

Octopodes. Octopus is from the Greek okto = pous, it is not a Latin 2nd declension noun..

Besides, I'm not a native English speaker but pushing Latin plurals into English, like bonus/boni, just sounds dorky.
In Croatian, foreign words are still subject to Croatian grammar.

Octopodes. Octopus is from the Greek okto = pous, it is not a Latin 2nd declension noun..

actually I think it should be Octopuses....

and in some dictionaries Octopi is listed (whilst Octopodes is not).

From Cambridge English dictionary

Definition
octopus Show phonetics
noun [C] plural octopuses or octopi
a sea creature with a soft oval body and eight tentacles (= long arm-like parts)

However Oxford English Dictionary

octopus
<snip>

— USAGE The standard plural in English of octopus is octopuses. However, since the word comes from Greek, the Greek plural form octopodes is still occasionally used. The plural form octopi, formed according to rules for Latin plurals, is incorrect.

and they have a FAQ entry on the word (and other oddity plurals)

http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutgrammar/plurals?view=uk

So in summary with English being a Borg-like language even experts in the field can't make their minds up..