Thread by @TheEdVerse

1)
Sure. Pre-Time of Troubles: no change to Bhaalists or Myrkulytes, Cyricists of course don’t exist, and:
BANITES were widely feared, because they were not only evil and martial (quick to organized, efficient, ruthless violence),
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https://twitter.com/jayeedgecliff/status/1179332137331376128

2)
…but because they served the Lord of Tyranny by being tyrants to all within reach. For this reason, their urban temples were few except in locales where they locally (secularly) ruled; wherever there were kings or ruling…
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3)
…lords, they acted against such secular authorities until they prevailed or were ousted.
Clergy of Bane lived in a strict hierarchy, superiors being ruthless to inferiors but never resorting to deceit or trickery, as Bane…
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4)
…frowned upon deception (not His way or portfolio). Weak (“wavering in faith”) Banites were demoted, cast out, maimed, or slain, but those who capably carried out orders were rewarded with food, drink, diversions, and…
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5)
…increased rank. From time to time, the Black Lord watched over rising or possibly erratic clergy closely, speaking in their minds and to those of his clergy around them—but then would turn his attention elsewhere for…
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6)
…frustrating-to-mortals long times, leaving “his rats to gnaw each other,” as Elminster once put it.
The Church of Bane over time became like an army, dwelling in grim black stone-and-painted-steel fortress-temples, its clergy…
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7)
…being well-armed and having black armor at the ready, and its way of open violence (not intrigue) forcing its daily activities increasingly into a militaristic style. Although it never used our real-world lingo of…
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8)
…“Operation [Codename],” its endeavours followed the same model, with various priests directly tasked by the god to carry out this or that operation (co-ordinated series of missions), all intended to increase the reach and…
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9)
…influence of the church; Bane observed the results and rewarded or punished individual priests accordingly.
What kept the Church of the Black Lord from conquering most of the Realms was Bane’s delight (abandoned after his…
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10)
…return from death, when he saw that this strategy was self-defeating) in pitting his clerics against each other. Pre-Time of Troubles, he encouraged infighting among his clergy, allowing them to form competing sects and…
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11)
…make war on each other, for he saw this as desirable to eliminate the weak and keep only the strong in his service. (After his return, Bane stamped this out by personally slaying, swiftly and publicly, all who strayed from…
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12)
…hierarchical obedience, and encouraged a new style in which Banites achieved more through threats and offering non-Banites “carrot and stick” treatment to increase the faith’s reach and influence without open violence.)
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13)
To sum up: Pre-Time of Troubles Bane was positively gleeful about fomenting and watching infighting in his church; post-Time of Troubles Bane is more about getting and holding on to power, without open warfare but through tyranny.
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