From: RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RQ Digest Maintainer) To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (Daily automated RQ-Digest) Reply-To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RuneQuest Daily) Subject: RuneQuest Daily, Tue, 28 Jun 1994, part 3 Sender: Henk.Langeveld@Holland.Sun.COM Content-Return: Prohibited Precedence: junk --------------------- From: 100102.3001@CompuServe.COM (Peter J. Whitelaw) Subject: Taskan Empire Notes pt.8 Message-ID: <940627205118_100102.3001_BHJ83-3@CompuServe.COM> Date: 27 Jun 94 20:51:18 GMT X-RQ-ID: 4868 TASKAN RELIGION ================ Part III Zygas Taga The Cult in The World The cult of Zygas Taga is the principal religion of the Taskan Empire. His worshippers come from many peoples and all walks of life, bonded by their citizenship of the greatest Empire in history. Although individuals often join, most recruitment is by the submission of whole communities to Taskan rule. The alternatives for a conquered people are often rather undesirable. Initiatehood To become an initiate of the religion requires only that the candidate be free, and 'willing' to make the required sacrifice of a point of current Pow. The examining priest will most likely exact a tribute of about 100 pennies in money or kind, or as much as he thinks the supplicant can afford. An initiate is a citizen of the Empire. He/she must never act against its interests, and should always report any threats to the state to his priests. In return she/he receives nominal protection and privilege and full rights under the Taskan legal system. He/she can be called upon at any time to undertake some service to the state in keeping with their abilities. The initiate cannot sacrifice for one use Divine Magic, and does not receive the benefits of Divine Intervention. No special skills are taught by the cult and none are proscribed. Initiates are not taught any magic by the cult but may learn any spirit or sorcery spells from other sources. Priesthood The priests of the Emperor-cult are the administrators and governors of the empire. In each province or district the priests are organised into a college, which forms an executive council that encompasses both civil and military administration. The high priest of a college is chosen personally by the Emperor, whose preference is usually for the most powerful sorcerer in the college. For a new priest to be appointed there must be a vacancy in the collegiate, caused by the death or retirement of a current member or the expansion of its number. A candidate must have at least 50% ability in Orate, Human Lore, Read/Write Tarsenian and Speak Tarsenian. He/she must also be a master in some field of expertise useful to the government - usually a pertinent knowledge skill. The preferred candidates for priesthood are priests of compatible cults and adept sorcerers or magi. Common Divine Magic Excommunication, Extension, Find Enemy, Sanctify, Soul Sight, Warding, Worship Emperor Special Divine Magic Absorption, Charisma, Command Human, Command Salamander, Contact Emperor, Emperor Bonding, Melding, True (Weapon), Shield CHARISMA: 1pnt, Temporal, Reusable This spell increases the user's APP by half again its original value. For the duration of the spell the recipients Orate and Fast Talk skills are doubled. EMPEROR BONDING: 2pnt Ritual Enchantment, one use Only the High Priest of a temple may learn and use this spell. The ritual is performed within a sanctified area, using a mirror of polished copper. The mirror becomes a channel to the consciousness of the deified Emperor, so that anyone who knows the Contact Emperor spell can attempt communication with him through it. The first point makes the enchantment, the second provides a condition that only priests of the Imperial cult can use it. Communication is audio-visual, images being seen in and sound emanating from the mirror. CONTACT EMPEROR: 1pnt, Ritual Summons, Reusable The Contact Emperor Spell is a supplement to the Emperor Bonding Enchantment. A casting of this spell through the mirror gives the user a POWx5% chance of attracting the emperors attention so that communication can take place. This is the only spell that can be cast through a temple's sacred mirror. MELDING: 1pnt Ritual Ceremony, reusable This ritual is designed to allow members of a college to pool magic points and free INT in order to cast spells of great power and duration. All participants must Sacrifice a point of POW and succeed in a ceremony roll to establish the meld when the meld leader casts the spell. When the meld is in place none of the participants except for the leader may do anything but concentrate on it. If the meld circle is broken in any way or if any ceremony roll is fumbled, all the participants must fail INTx5 or be befuddled for 1D20 rounds, and all personal magic points except 1 dissipate as if cast. The meld leader may draw on one point of free INT from each participant, and any number of personal (but not stored) magic points. The meld remains in place until cancelled by the meld leader or the meld circle is broken. Bast. The Cult in The World Bast's cult has a universal hierarchy, whereby the chief priest of his temple in Pryjarna is recognised as Patriarch by the priests and congregations of all other temples. He receives no worship through the dictates of tradition as to most gods of the Tarsenians, but only as an act of personal devotion on the part of the worshipper. Bast is the exceptional character of the Tarsenian pantheon. He is the only god who can still effect changes in the human condition, because he is the only god whose myth is still unfolding through the lives and deeds of his followers. In this he rivals the Emperor Zygas Taga, who can effect such changes because he is a man, and exercises his power in human terms. Both Bast and Zygas Taga can create new rituals, but only Bast can modify the old ones. Nothing is certain any more because of this god. Only Bast's cult has a dualist doctrine of good and evil as two warring forces, and in this its teaching is akin to that of the Sanekite monotheists. Initiation Bast has many lay worshippers, because, like the Emperor, he hears petitions from people who want his help. One who has attended services regularly for a year might be accepted to his following. Initiation into his cult is no easy process, and is the occasion for an elaborate ritual. In Pryjarna, the candidates for initiation take part in a foot-race which takes them on a circuit of the Holy City of Bast, starting and ending at the temple. Along the way crowds of spectators pelt the runners with garbage, stones and whatever other missiles come to hand, and strike out at them with punches, kicks and even staves. Although there is a prize for the winner of the race, those who demonstrate selflessness in helping along injured fellow-runners are held in high esteem by the spectators as much as by the priests. Following the foot-race the competitors are feasted and given the attentions of prostitutes from Tethis' temple. The following morning begins the greater ordeal, in which the candidates are shut for three days within the temple of Gomorg without food and water. During this time they might have many visions, and receive visitations from the land of the dead. At dawn on the third day, the priests break open the seal on the temple, and welcome the new initiates into the light. A great breakfast feast is held, and the initiates then receive individual instruction from the priests in the lore, traditions and taboos of the cult. The final Pow sacrifice is made, and the initiates then participate in the procession which marks the climax of Bast's 5-day festival, at the end of which those candidates for initiation who perished during the ordeals are restored to life by the priests. The chief benefit of joining Bast's cult is that the initiate gets a Power Gain Roll on the god's annual high holy day, and the chance of recieving Divine Intervention as per the Runequest rules. Additionally, the initiate has the assurance that he will be spared an eternity in the Halls of the Dead, for one day Bast will defeat Death, and all his worshippers will be resurrected. To this end it is important that the corpse of an initiate is interred intact. If burned or dismembered, resurrection in the flesh is made impossible. Initiates of the cult also receive the benefit of membership of a community, for devotees of Bast are accustomed to extending filial love, respect and hospitality to one another, even if they be strangers. Initiates are commonly asked to tithe 10% of their income to their local temple. To those initiates who have a magic bonus of 10% or more, the priests will provide the instruction and facilities for initiates to learn the following sorcery spells: Glow, Mystic Vision, Spirit Resistance, Spell Resistance and Treat Wounds. The priests will teach the intensity skill to a level of 25%. Initiates may not learn the spell Tap. The cult also teaches the skills of First Aid and prepare corpse. Priesthood Priests of Bast are teachers, healers and morticians. The emphasis placed by the cult on resurrection in the flesh in a culture in which cremation is the standard practice means that the priests are entrusted with the management of an alternative system of funerary and burial rites. Candidates for priesthood within Bast's cult must be initiates of at least 5 years standing. The cult also expects the candidate to have a POW of 18 and at least 50% ability in the following skills and spells: Ceremony; First Aid; Mystic Vision; Orate; Prepare Corpse; Spirit Resistance; Treat Wounds; World Lore. There must also be a vacancy in the hierarchy of the local temple, or else the candidate must have sufficient means to provide a meeting place for a congregation of his own, such as a good-sized chamber within his house. The prospective priest must then sacrifice for the divine spell Worship Bast. A priest of Bast is expected to know sorcery, but should not spend his time on offensive or combat oriented magic. A priest may learn Bast's special spells, which gives him the power to restore life to the dead. This is usually only performed on initiates and priests of the cult who have been promised it in return for the performance of some deed or service. It is said that there are maverick priests of Bast around who have sold their services to wealthy outsiders. Using a Preserve Corpse ceremony spell, the priest prevents the corpse from further decay. Then, using the Restore Corpse enchantment, the corpse is made whole again. Through this spell the caster sacrifices to the corpse a point of any characteristic - including hit points but excluding INT and POW - which is currently zero, from which the corpse gains 1d6 points of the characteristic(s) in question. The priest then summons the spirit of the deceased from the halls of the dead. This is the most dangerous part, for if the summons is failed there is rarely time for second chances, and if fumbled the Death God will be only to pleased to despatch one of his demonic minions to put an end to the presumptuous spellcaster. The spirit must then be commanded into the corpse using a Dominate Ghost spell. The spirit can only be returned to its original body, unless a ghost binding enchantment is prepared. These spells are freely available to a priest of the cult if he can find a teacher and the time to study them. Other magic available to the priests includes the Divine Magic spells Excommunication, Sanctify and Turn Undead. Samanse [the notes have only been developed this far] You're on your own! Have fun. Hope you enjoyed them.