I think it's fair to say that there's more to it that picking a Rule off a list and remembering not to break it. After all, when young Harsalter was forced to break a geas, fighting the Red Emperor, he dropped dead on the spot. And I don't believe the Sword next to him executed him, either.
How about this? The geasee (new word?), with the help of a priest if needed, goes through a ritual - meditation, trance, HQ, whatever - that puts them in touch with one of the Truths of their deity. At the end of the experience, they have effectively aligned one part of their soul with said deity, and a certain pattern of behaviour, characteristic of the deity, has become obvious and natural to them. Maybe Yelmalio's relationship with birds became clear to them, particularly birds and Fire, and the idea of eating a bird in Fire Season now seems unnatural and unclean.
If they break the geas, what attacks them is their own guilt. In the case of a Humakti with a Sever Spirit handy, this can be lethal. A Yelmalion discovering that nice stew had chicken in it might throw up, might choke (to death?), might even take his own life in remorse. Or something.
Of course, as we all know, there are people who actually enjoy doing things which they themselves regard as unnatural, unclean, etc. I can't say I understand this, but it happens. Geases will get broken, sometimes deliberately, sometimes accidentally, sometimes just because the survival instinct takes over for a moment.
Maybe the geasee changes with time, and the geas no longer fits the way they think so well. The guilt will stay, but the automatic tendency not to break the geas would not.
How does this relate to Invictus and Vega? Well, the geas you get will have to be one that "fits" the way your mind works. It'll be in tune with your subconscious. So for Invictus to realise that carrying on with a fellow Yelmalian is unnatural, and an Earth Priestess would be a better idea, isn't really all that difficult. You don't need to cheat on that one at all. The only "fiddle" was the idea of him going for an extra geas at all, when it was so obvious which one he would get.
Of course, geases can be fiddled and are. It's a poor priest who can't manipulate a credulous initiate's mind so that he gets the geas he's meant to get.
What do you think, people: does this work? I hope at least it's an improvement on that D20!
Jane Williams jane_at_williams.nildram.co.uk http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~janewill/gloranth/
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