[During any of these ceremonies Magic Points should be expended in order to get any results at all. The more the better. MP are after all an aspect of your Will]
Offerings to insure good will and respect should be made regularly and often. The offerings need not be ostentatious but at least be of some value. Food and drink is in mu opinion commonest. Objects which have some metphorical connection with the situation is the next commonest.
Offerings could be hung up in trees for the gentle winds and forestspirits to get a comfortable passage through; placed on specific poles in the field or the fences of the boundaries for Barntar's gnomes to be rid of the weeds; put in a bowl in the shed for the housegnome to keep the peace; thrown in the river for the wise but capricious nymfs to get a safe passage across it.
A predator's head could be put up on a pole at a marsh to scare the bogwraiths from leaving the marsh. Ghosts could be warded away be burying one of Ty Kora Tek's seals under the threshold. Wolves could be warded by leaving a wolf's carcass on a flat stone in the woods.
A journey could start with leaving a coin to Issaries on the road or at the first crossroads (which explains those ubiquitous bowls filled with clacks hallowed to Issaries). If you don't want to lose your purse, a buried sacrifice to Asrelia would be in order. If you don't want a hangover next morning, be sure to pour a libation to Minlister before you drink any alcohol yourself.
A burnt offering to your ancestors is necessary if you want them to look after your children. Burn the offering together with a lock of the child's hair or a drop of its blood. To ward your sick children, make a doll and drop some of the child's blood on it, so to act as a substitute to lure the malign spirits away from the child.
Whenever a meal is shared in the house, some of the food must be shared with the housegnome, or it'll get pissed off. If you want to insure that the rules of hospitality be kept by strangers and host alike, put an image of the God of Hospitality above the entrance (on the inside). Breaking the rules of hospitality will incur the wrath of Orlanth himself.
If you want to protect the house, you should bury an object valuable to an ancestor in the house, or hang it upon a wall. If you want to secure the house from catching fire, make bountiful sacrifices to Mahome so she can keep her brother Oakfed from doing mischief.
I post this in order to encourage you to post your own ceremonies. I see these ceremonies as an important part of gloranthan daily life. It gives the world more life to be able to describe these ceremonies to players. If you agree with this you better post your own. The more the better.
Salvete,
Michael.
Powered by hypermail