Tharman
The Fist of Fury
Mythos & History:
Tharman was a minor God during the Godtime, a son of Larnste. His life was one of peace and tranquility. He spread harmony and understanding with his words and deeds. Many in Genertela were helped by him to achieve an understanding of themselves.
Then the lesser darkness came, and like Arroin, Tharman gave selflessly of his gifts. However the release of Death changed the patterns of harmony forever. Tharman saw his friends die and his loved ones suffer as the Universe trembled beneath the feet of the warring Gods. This was repugnant to him and he concieved a desire to fight back, to save the weak.
When chaos came, and the Greater Darkness began, Tharman had taken the concept of Death unto himself as a defence against the Evil rampaging accross the Universe. Seeing that Death need not be a weapon but could be an expression of the Soul, and through it, the body, he spurned weapons, believing the thirst for them to have corrupted many of the warring Gods. Instead he saw the Harmony in the union of Death and Movement. His Fists and Feet became simply an expression of that deadly Harmony and those who followed him were taught this Way of the Fist.
Like many Gods he did great deeds against Chaos and his suffering and that of his followers was great, for even their great skills were often insufficient when faced with the Maw of Entropy. Yet more of the poor folk of the world came to see Tharman as a leader that taught them the skills they needed to survive in troubled times. The greater Gods ignored these forgotten souls, but Tharman did not. When all seemed lost Tharman's people played their part. They stood with their God in the I Fought, We Won battle and with the other forces for order in the world they triumphed, proving their place in the Compromise.
Tharman's Runes are Mobility, Harmony and Death.
Cult Ecology:
Tharman exists to provide the skills necessary to fight and survive, without the need to be wealthy or powerful enough to be able to afford or have the right to own weapons and armour. His disciples need no weapons to be effective and their pride in their strength is a strong motivating factor in Tharmani behaviour.
The history of the Tharman cult has been one of struggle against repression and support of the ways of honour and justice for all, not just the powerful. This naturally leads many authority figures to think of the Tharmani as rabble rousers and trouble makers and they are often persecuted.
In death a Tharmani can look forward to an existance of Harmony with one's fellows, where a man can exist and function with honour, without the need to attain physical wealth. Heaven to Tharmani is a place where a man's worth is measured by his soul, not his posessions.
The followers of Tharman are often individuals, struggling against some inequity, often they have been persecuted and bullied when they were weak. Through Tharmans teachings they become strong, yet just. That is the Way of Tharman.
The Cult in the World:
Since the Dawn, Tharman's cult has remained small. He attracts a solid core of fully active initiates and a looser following of those in need of help and training for whatever reason who are considered associate members. In lands where the nobles are oppressive or rebellion stirs among the poor masses, Tharman is strong. Because oppression and bullying will always be part of rule, Tharman will always be part of society. In several lands the Fists have been a part of the military establishment in an associate capacity for some time. The Lunar Empire sponsers several Fists in its Spoken Word training program, though the cult in the Empire has been thoroughly Lunarised and is despised by cultists elsewhere.
Style is important to Tharmani. Different Fists teach different approaches to Tharmans inner secrets and morality. Often tests of skill occur between these differing styles. A tournament is held between the different Fists and their schools every few years, the last being in 1619 in Nochet. Currently the most prominent styles in Dragon Pass are: True Dragon Claw (based in Wintertop), Sword Hand (based in Nochet), Jumping Foot (based in the Grazelands among the Vendref) and the infamous Bat Fang school of Furthest.
Lay/associate Mebership
Lay or associate members basically pay to learn the fighting aspect of Tharman. Often a Fist will make his livelyhood from these payments. Actual skills taught and costs incurred vary considerably with the Fist in question but they will rise in costs as the skill level progresses.
No cult magic or special abilities are taught.
Initiates:
To be an initiate, a Tharmani must prove himself to his superiors by training in the ways of Tharman at a Lay member level. When a request is made to become an initiate, the Temple Fist will test the Lay member in his cult knowledge, spar with him and test his forms to make sure he understands the basic secrets of the cult. A point of POW must be sacrificed if the application is successful.
An initiate will be supported by the Temple if such support is possible, but they must give more time to their cult in return, mainly in training the beginner classes of the lay membership. Training in all the Tharman skills is available for free if there is time to teach it. Cult spells are also taught at half price and Ironhand is taught free up to the highest level available.
Cult Battle Magics: Ironhand, Strength, Coordination, Vigour, Endurance, Protection, Spirit Screen, Disruption, Mobility, Healing.
All initiates must take at least one Geas. A maximum of three can be taken. As the initiate performs deeds for the cult, more may be taken.
Gifts and Geases:
(1). +5% to Attack with chosen cult weapon.
Geas: Never use one type of non-cult weapon. (Cult weapons are natural
weapons only, all other types may be taken as the Geas.)
(2). +20% in a cult related skill (non-attack), such as acrobatics,
jumping, dodge, first aid, scan, blind fighting, arrow cutting etc.
Geas: Remain silent one specified day a week. (includes casting spells).
(3). +10% to defence or dodge.
Geas: Wear no armour in one specified location.
(4). Increase a raisable characteristic by one point.
Geas: Pay double tithing each Holy Day.
(5). Increase a non-raisable characteristic by one point.
Geas: Sacrifice one POW to Tharman each year.
(6). Gain one point of Chi Focus permanently.
Geas: 1st, Never Lie, 2nd Never Drink, 3rd Total celibacy, 4th Never
participate in ambush. (Four is the limit for this Geas).
(7). +4 effective Con vs poison or disease.
Geas: Never use poison.
(8). All natural weapon attacks do double damage against a chosen
species (once armour is penetrated).
Geas: Accept no battle magic healing spells.
(9). All natural weapon attacks do double damage (once armour is
penetrated)
Geas: Accept no healing magic.
(10). Recover fatigue at double speed.
Geas:Protect the weak from oppression.
(11). Recover magic points at double speed.
Geas: Never refuse a one to one challenge.
Rune Masters (Fists):
Fists are the leaders of the cult, spiritually and physically. They lead by the example of their excellence. To be a Fist one must have mastered a range of skills that give the rune master an insight into his God. Fists are sought out as righters of wrongs where the authorities cannot or will not help. They serve their lay members and initiates in this way and in many others and in return are supported by the cult.
A fist must have 90% in any natural weapon attack and have four more skills at 90% from among the following: any other natural weapon attack, arrow cutting, acrobatics, first aid, scan, blind fighting, martial arts, jump, leap kick. He must have a minimum of 50% ceremony and 10 points of Rune magic.
They can take as many gifts as they want when they become a Fist
Fists gain full Rune master Divine intervention, an allied spirit and instead of Iron armour, usual in many war cults, the new Fist will get an armouring enchantment from each individual Fist in the Temple.
Common Rune Magic: Dismiss magic, Excommunicate, Sanctify, Worship Tharman, Extension, Armouring Enchantment, Matrix enchantment, Magic Point enchantment, Strengthening enchantments.
Special cult Rune Magics:
Deathfist 1pnt
Temporal, Stackable, Reusable
Each level of Deathfist adds 1d3 to Fist damage, every two levels add 1d6
to Kick and 1d4 to Headbutt damage.
Acrobatics 2pnt
Instant, non-stackable, Reusable
This spell allows the caster to perform one impossible acrobatic feat. The
limits to the word impossible are within GM discretion.
Chi Focus 2pnt
Ritual, Stackable, Non-Reusable
Each stacked point of this ritual spell permanently gives the caster 1
point of Ironhand which is stackable with normal Ironhand spells. This
spell can be cast many times. There is a large amount of tatooing
associated with the process. To activate these permanent points, the
wearer must use 1 magic point per point of Ironhand permanently
attatched. Unlike normal Ironhand, this lasts 1 hour.
Storm of Fists 3 pnt
Temporal, non-stackable, reusable
This powerful spell turns the recipient into a whirlwind of destuction.
Instead of only two actions in a round the caster has a number equal to
his Dex divided by 5 (rounded down).
Cult Special Skills.
Acrobatics: Allows many varied forms of unusual physical movement such as rolls through closing doors etc.
Arrow Cutting: Allows the practitioner to block missile weapons. A special success allows the weapon to be caught or another weapon to be blocked in the same combat round. A critical catches the weapon, allows it to be thrown back and another weapon to be blocked, all with the same action.
Blind fighting: This very difficult skill allows the practitioner to fight literally blind. A minimum POW of 16 is needed for this skill as this represents the practitioners sense ability.
Leap Kick: A very powerful kick attack,
End of Glorantha Digest V2 #167
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
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