Voriof

From: Andrew Behan <ajbehan_at_maedhbh.maths.tcd.ie>
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 20:49:58 +0000 (GMT)


This is an -old-, non-canonical write-up of the Voriof cult I did a few years back. I hope it's of some interest.

Voriof
Runes: Water, Air and Beast.

Mythos and History
Voriof is the son of Ernalda and Orlanth. When Orlanth rescued Heler from the belly of the Blue Dragon the rain god gifted him with sheep: the cloud animals. When Voriof came of age Orlanth sent him to Varnaval the herdsman who taught him the ways of beasts. Ever since Voriof has guarded Orlanths sheep.
Since time Voriofs worshippers have been a sub-cult of Orlanth, they observe Orlanthi burial rituals.

Cult Ecology
The cult is weak except in areas threatened by Telmori. Most of Voriof cultists are youths or old men.
The Voriof cult opposes the Lunars, Sky cults and Chaos. It is also hostile to Telmor. Voriofs High Holy Day is Windsday, Movement Week, Sea Season when traditionally lambing begins.

The Cult in the World
Voriof is worshipped in The Barbarian Belt, Vralos and Enklose. He has a few permanent shrines in wind swept and rainy locations.

Initiate Membership
A cultist's child is automatically accepted, otherwise the standard requirements must be satisfied. Proficiency must be demonstrated in Animal Lore, Listen, Scan, Track and World Lore. Cult spirit spells are Detect Sheep, Peaceful Cut and Slow.

Wolfskin Membership
Telmor attacked Voriofs sheep and dismembered them often. Therefore Voriof sought the Mammal Mothers Umble soup. He drank and became a wolf. He went amongst the Telmori, defeated their king, and ruled them until his sheep had lambed eight times. To become a Wolfskin a candidate must complete the Umble Soup Sacred Quest and know that ritual. He may eat no meat but lamb or mutton, he may not shelter from rain and must donate 10% of his time and money to the cult. Cult Divine Spells are Berserk, Bless Sheep, Excommunication, Heal Wounds, Sanctify, Soul Sight, Spellteaching and the Umble Soup Sacred Quest.

The Umble Soup Sacred Quest
4 points, ritual, ceremony.
Each High Holy Day the last local to complete the quest cooks a cauldron of sheep offal, sacrafices a boy child to Voriof and stirs his guts into the soup. All local Voriof initiates with at least POW 15, Orate 50%, and Animal Lore, Listen and Scan 90% must gather by a stream and eat the soup. Each sheperd recieves a D100 roll. The character recieving the highest number beneath their POWX3 is served the gut. He howls, hangs his skin from an oak, swims the stream as a werewolf. He may transform at any time in the quest by spending 1 MP. As a wolf he keeps his human CON, INT, POW and APP. To find his wolf-form STR, SIZ and DEX he must multiply his original scores in each by 2/3 and add two, three and ten to these totals respectively. In wolf-form base Dodge, Bite and Track scores are 25%, 25% and 80%, Move=7, AP=2 and Manipulation skills are unusable.

The Stations of the Quest
(i) The quester reaches the present resting place of the wolves or Telmori
who prey on his tribe and their sheep. Telmori must be approached in human form, wolves must be approached in wolf-form; the quester must make an Animal Lore roll to convince them that he is also a wolf.
(ii) He must kill their leader in single combat and make an Orate roll to
convince the pack to follow him.
(iii) He must lead the pack in search of prey. A Scan roll and a Track
roll locate suitable prey.
(iv) Later he is tempted to hunt human prey. To resist this urge he must
make a Temperate roll (or a POWx3 roll, if you don't use traits). If the Wolfskin eats human flesh he becomes trapped in wolf-form permanently.

If the quester fails to complete any station of the quest the entire pack attacks him. If he is killed his skin crumbles and falls from its tree. The tribe must try again next year.

A successful quester returns to the tribe a full Rune Lord. The following skills improve each year the quester lives with the wolves. Animal Lore x1, Scan x1, Track x1, Understand Beastspeech x5, Hide x2, Sneak x2 and Bite Attack x3.
- -----
Andrew Behan


End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #230


WWW at http://rider.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html

Powered by hypermail