OK, James Frusetta's recent narcotic excesses got me inspired again:
Gallos's Hairshirt - Ulifilas, Lunar Heartlands By MOB
Gallos is the Dara Happan hero who was granted immortality and omnipotence so long as he did nothing. His star in the western sky now remains a fixed dot, never twinkling or moving.
The hero still has a following the austere Dara Happan city of Ulifilas, famous for its conservatism and moral severity. Gallos's disciples seek to emulate him in their daily affairs by remaining as implacable, emotionless and inert as possible throughout, with the most devout on retirement entering a motionless trance-like state in imitation of their hero, fighting the temptation to eat, drink or even breathe, until they finally perish.
As an incentive to remain sober and sedentary, Gallos devotees stick special leaves onto their skin. Known in Ulifilas as "Gallos's Hairshirt", they come from a tropical plant native to New Coast of southern Maniria. They are now grown in special greenhouses inside the city. The leaves contain a powerful toxin, which reacts to changes of temperature. Thus, when someone wearing such a leaf next to his skin becomes excited, angry, aroused, too hot, or even too cold, the leaf exudes the toxin causing an unbearably painful burning sensation. Only when the wearer forces himself to relax and his body temperature returns to normal does the pain cease.
The leaves of the Gallos's Hairshirt plant are broad and flat, covered with a tiny fuzz that is actually millions of minuscule hooks, each filled with the potent toxin.
The leaves are simply wrapped or taped to any part of the body - most typically across the back - often in way so that the wearer cannot easily remove it. A fresh leaf lasts up to a season if the wearer does not exert himself too much. Even when a leaf is removed, there may be enough of the tiny toxin-filled hooks stuck in his skin to continue affecting him for some time (1d20-1 days). It is possible to die from the effects of a Gallos leaf: the dignified silence of Ulifilas is sometimes rent by the screams of a fallen disciple desperately trying to tear the leaf from his body; by doing so all that happens is the victim gets hotter and hotter, and more toxin is pumped into him!
Each attack temporarily reduces the wearer's CON by 1 every round, until the temperature equilibrium is restored. Lost CON points are regained by 1 point every hour, unless there is another attack. If CON is reduced to zero during an attack, the wearer must roll under his original CON x3 or die.
Gallos devotees get their leaves for free, but they are not the only people in Ulifilas to use them. The city authorities have found a novel application for them in their punishment of minor sexual offenders, and certain elements in the Lunar Government itself are looking at the possible uses of Gallos's hairshirt in their interrogative processes.
Gallos leaves may be purchased by outsiders from the Gallos cult for a 5L donation, which includes compulsory fitting.
Cheers
MOB
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