Supplement #3
First Distribution: August 9, 1989
This supplement:
A Campaign Mythology (Part II) (Richard Nuttall)
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This is part 2 of a multi-part article on my campaign mythology.
Part 1 introduced the system and the cults.
This part covers some more of the cults in detail.
THOR, The Thunderer.
TYR, God of War.
BRAGI, God of Poetry.
IDUN, Goddess of youth and immortality.
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THOR, The Thunderer Rune : THUNDER (DEATH)
(This is not intended as a player-character cult, but could be played
as one.)
Thor is not inately evil! Rather, it is the scant disregard for the
lives of others that ensures his reputation. This is somewhat unfair,
since Thor was originally a good god. His reputation stems from his
dwarven followers (== dark elves in my game, an evil warrior nation)
who have frightened off all but the keenest of his other followers.
The attitude towards life stems mainly from the inborn attitude of
dwarves in general.
LAY MEMEBRSHIP
Lay Membership is open to all humans and dwarves. Any warrior dwarves
will pick this cult to the exclusion of all others.
The cult in general disregards other cults roughly equally, but hates
other warrior cults (TYR, VALI, HEL).
Temples are ALL underground, the deeper, the better.
Benefits : Protection, Lodgings.
Skills : Evaluate treasure (1/2 price)
Spot Trap (or Spot Hidden) (1/2 price)
Crossbow (1/2 price)
Great Hammer (1/2 price)
Thrown Hammer (1/2 price)
Masonry (free)
Battle Magic :
Darkwall (1/2 price)
Detect gold (free)
Protection (1/2 price)
Bludgeon (1/2 price)
Darksee (1/2 price)
All members must sacrifice 1 point of power every Festday (1/month in
my game).
INITIATE MEMBERSHIP
To join, the initiate must give a good quality weapon (preferably
Hammer, Axe or Crossbow) to the cult.
Hammer skill must be at least 60%.
Power must be least 10.
Must have at least 2 battle magic spells.
Must sacrifice 2 points of Power every festday.
After the weapon has been accepted, the new member must go through an
initiation ceremony. In time of war (most of the time if the they can
find someone to fight) the initiation will consist of taking front
rank in the next battle and bringing back the head of an enemy. If
this is achieved, the initiate will be allowed to hang the head
outside his tent/cave and will be acclaimed at the feast after the battle.
Benefits : 1-3 gifts and geases (as per Humakt in Cults of Prax).
Initiates will mistrust all non-cultists.
Initiates will get Elan for pro-cult deeds. (i.e. 1 point per enemy
killed).
Initiates are expected to have utter disregard for their own life as
well as the life of their enemies. They will not take prisoners unless
the want to torture and or rape them. The prisoners will be killed
shortly after the cult has had its fun.
In exceptional circumstances, the courage and bravery of an enemy who
has been captured may cause them to release the hero. The fact that
allowing oneself to be captured is seen as cowardly makes this unlikely.
RUNELORDS
(Player characters cannot sensibly become Runelords, since the demands
of Runelord membership mean that the character would need to spend all
his time devoted to the cult and at war. It might work if the whole
party are devoted to Thor)
I have not detailed the various aspects of being a Runelord of Thor
since player-characters are unlikely to become Runelords. NPC
Runelords will be high ranking military heros, with suitable combat
abilites/spells and trappings.
RUNEPRIESTS
(The same comment applies regarding PCs.)
Runepriests are a much lower status than Runelords, and are there
only to lead the various cult rituals. Since no warrior would chose to
become a Runepriest, is is common for priests to be ex-warriors who
have been invalided out of battle (missing arm/leg/eyes).
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Tyr, The God of War. Rune : WARRIOR
I have used Humakt from Cults of Prax for Tyr. I will assume everyone
has this or can get hold of a copy. A summary follows.
No particular centre of power. (In my game, an ex-PC, Lord Brovnik is
Runelord/Runepriest of Tyr and Vali and has a castle which contains
one of 2 known temples to TYR).
LAY MEMBERSHIP
All may join who swear to keep discipline and uphold the cult sense of
honour.
10% of income must be tithed to the cult.
Benefits : Sword, dagger, ride, hide, see, spot hidden at 1/2 price.
Battle Magic : Bladesharp, Coordination, Detect enemies, Detect
undead, Fireblade, Glamour at 1/2 price.
INITIATE MEMBERSHIP
1-3 gifts and corresponding geases.
Benefits : Bladesharp 1-4 free.
RUNELORD MEMBERSHIP
Must have 90% with at least 3 combat and 2 other skills.
Must have at least 15 Power.
Must take one new gift of choice and corresponding geases.
Gains an allied spirit and Divine Intervention.
RUNEPRIEST MEMBERSHIP
Subservient to Runelords.
Must have at least 18 Power.
Must take one new gift of choice and corresponding geases.
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BRAGI, God of Poetry. Rune : CONSTRAINT
(Not intended as a PC cult)
I have not yet filled out this cult in detail. It is intended only as
a god whom a poet, bard or minstrel might say a quick prayer to.
Thus, there are no temples and no cult as such.
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IDUN, Goddess of youth and immortality. Rune : YOUTH
(Not intended as a PC cult)
Worshippers of Idun are obsessed with remaining young and living
forever. They are obsessed with this to the exclusion of most other
things. Cult priests and initiates usually wander the world, trading
their skills for other people's youth.
There is no lay membership.
There are no temples.
INITIATE MEMBERSHIP
Becoming an initate is difficult and perverse. The main spell used by
the cult, Take Youth is only known by the priests of the cult. In
order for someone to become an initiate, they must first find a priest
who will teach them the spell. This will take 1 week. The problem is
to persuade the priest to teach the spell. The priest will want
payment. The normal payment to a priest of Idun for a serious job like
this is some years of youth, taken by the priest using the Take Youth
spell.
The initiate must therefore negotiate with the priest as to how many
years of youth are to be taken in payment. 10 is a suggested
reasonable number.
Thus, the new initiate is likely to start as an initiate 10 years
older than before he joined!!!
Benefits : Take Youth spell.
SPELL : Take Youth.
This spell takes 1 hour to cast. During the ritual that accompanies
the spell, the caster can drain years of life from the 'victim' of the
spell.
For each year drained, the victim ages 1 year and the caster gets 1/2
a year younger.
The victim MUST BE WILLING. The spell is usually performed to take
youth in part payment for a service performed.
***
As mentioned above, the spell is usually performed as payment for a
service by the initiate/priest. It is therefore important for the
priest to have sufficiently good skills that people are willing to pay
for the service with years of their life. Gaining these skills is in
itself a difficult task, and so the thirst for youth becomes all-consuming.
Healing 6, Resurrection, Regeneration are probably the more common
services required. Idun priests are reknowned for being good healers.
(An example from my game : A PC was caught stealing, and was sentnced
to have his hand cut off. Unfortunately for him (actually her, a
female character) the hand was not returned, so even Healing 6 would
not help. Having also been thrown out of town, the character came
across a priest of Idun (what a stroke of luck) who offered to restore
the hand at the cost of 4 years of youth. The character agreed and got
a hand back. Unfortunately the hand grew back as a gorgeous pink
colour which didn't go too well with her otherwise dark colouring.
Well, you can't have everything.)
If the players see Idun priests as an easy way to get healing ("What's
a few years?"), put the prices up. It should be a difficult decision
as to whether to use Idun priests, not a "Oh no, my legss been eaten
by a Troll again. That's the fourth time this week. Oh, well, back to
my mate John, priest of Idun, he'll have right as rain in a jiffy".
Priests are trustworthy themselves (to protect their way of life) but
are likelly to ask for payment in advance for some services, or do the
service and the Take Youth in the same ritual (as in the example above).
RUNELORDS
There are no Runelords.
RUNEPRIESTS
Initiates become Priests by sacrificing 25 years of youth to Idun.
(This means 20 years of the priest's youth, equal to 40 years of
drained youth.)
This may be done in stages, rather than all at once, so that the
initiate can remain on a fairly constant chronological age, while
sacrificing the occasional year to Idun.
After the first 25 years, each further 25 years sacrificed gains the
Priest 1 point of power.
Overall, therefore, priests of Idun that PCs are likely to meet will :
A) be old, but look young (commonly late 20s)
B) be on the look out for a way to Take Youth from the PCs (willingly
remember)
C) have several very high skills or spells. A particular priest will
probably specialise.
D) know of other priests who may be able to perform a service even if
they cannot. (they may have done deals to point customers in their
direction).
E) possibly join the party if their skills will be required. Payment
will usually be asked in advance.
F) have a high power. (In proportion to actual age).
G) not like danger.
Example : Ailisimiliarn is 430 years old. His apparent age is 28.
He has sarcificed 86 years of life to Idun, gaining 2 points of power,
(the first 25 made him a priest and he has 11 years towards his
next point of power). He has also had to drain another (430 - 28) * 2
= 804 years of youth from other people. In total, therefore, he has
drained (804 + (86 * 2)) 976 years of youth from people!
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Wait for the next installment of this multi-part series.
I would be very interested in any feedback, whether constructive
criticism or questions.
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Copyright Richard Nuttall 1989.
PERMISSON GRANTED TO COPY THIS WORK FOR PRIVATE USE. THIS WORK MUST
NOT BE SOLD IN ANY FORM WITHOUT EXPRESS PERMISSION FROM THE AUTHOR.
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Richard Nuttall | ukc!stc!datlog!torch!richard
Torch Technology Ltd. | richard@torch.co.uk
Cambridge England | 0223 841000 X 308