Ty Kora Tek
Queen of the Dead, Goddess of the Deep Dark Earth
Mythos and History
When the world was young, Gata gave birth to twin girls, Asrelia and Ty Kora Tek. Asrelia was beautiful and friendly, but Ty Kora Tek was neither of these things. While many came to win Asrelia's hand, none cast a second glance at her, and she grew more angry and jealous. One day, however, she was approaced by Kalimbros, a Darkness Spirit who cared little about her looks or her personality. He knew of a prophecy that she would be a mighty queen and he wanted her might for himself, and so he courted her with promises of his realm deep below the earth. He promised her that should would have all that he owned. Ty Kora Tek accepted and departed the surface world forever.
When they arrived in the great empty place that was Kalimbros' kingdom, Ty Kora Tek found neither riches nor subjects, but only a vast silence. Furious for being lied to, she left him and searched the Underworld, until she found the secrets of Death, hidden away where none other knew them. Long before Humakt was born, Ty Kora Tek knew the power of Death. Returning home, she slew Kalimbros on their own marriage bed, and then compelled him to serve her as a subject. With his aid, she crafted a vast hall in the Underworld.
When Humakt brought Death to the Inner World, the dead began to wander the Underworld, looking for a place of peace. She took these lost souls to her cavern and provided them with peace and safety, in return for their obedience. When her sister Asrelia retreated forever from the upper world, Ty Kora Tek promised to provide a refuge for all who served her sister and her sister's children, and thus all who worship the earth ultimately come to Ty Kora Tek.
Throughout the Godtime, she was a harsh and implacable ruler, moved neither by pity nor blood ties nor love. When the grain goddess Esra wnadered into her realm by mistake, even her neice Ernalda's pleas could not win her back, until Ernalda pointed out that to keep the living among the dead would surely disturb the orderly silence of her court. Even then she demanded that Esra return periodically, to pay honor to her.
Since the Dawning, Ty Kora Tek's cult has done little of note. Worshippers of Ty Kora Tek know that after death they will be taken down to her kingdom, to help her rule over and tend the dead until their Queen decided that the time has come forr them to be reborn.
In artwork, Ty Kora Tek is normally shown as a gaunt old woman, wrapped close with a shroud, often with a crown on her head. Her face is often a skull.
Cult Ecology
Ty Kora Tek is the Queen of the Dead. She guides, protects, and rules over all those who have died, ensuring that they rest peacefully. Her followers perform all the necessary funeral rites and supervise the mourning process, thus helping ensure the emotional stability of the community. They also act to separate the living from the dead, an invaluable service, since the unquiet dead can pose a serious threat.
She is also the goddess of the end of things and is often propitiated in order to make certain that something has come to an end. Thus people sacrifice to her after a disaster or plague, and at the end of the year, to keep evil influences from returning.
As the goddess of limits and boundaries, boundary stones are sacred to her, and her spirits sometimes can be found protecting the borders of a tula. She is an important spirit to invoke at the start of a heroquest because she has the power to make the passage to the godplane easier or harder.
As the goddess who controls the process of rebirth, Ty Kora Tek has a powerful influence over what the life of a child will be like. Thus pregnant mothers traditionally offer a sacrifice to her, hoping that their child will receive a powerful spirit.
Ty Kora Tek is associated with the runes of Death, Malign Earth (or Dust) and Fate. Her Holy Days are on Clayday of Illusion Week, with the High Holy Day falling in Dark Season. God Day of Truth Week in Storm Season is also sacred to her as the last day of the year before the Sacred Time.
The Cult in the World
The cult of Ty Kora Tek is small in most places, and she has few temples devoted solely to her. But the cult is widespread, since all communities which worship the earth have need of her services, and all earth temples have a shrine to her. Her greatest temple is the Grand Necropolis in Esrolia.
Her priestesses have very little political power, and they are likely to be feared rather than respected, because of their connections to the dead. Many people believe that it is dangerous to have too much contact with her priestesses, because this may cause Death to take notice of them. It is unwise to offend her cult, because the presence of a cultist at a birth, wedding, or other undertaking is a dangerous omen. Thus her priestesses are often given small gifts to keep them away from such ceremonies.
Lay Membership
All current members of any earth cult are automatically Lay members of this cult. Those who are not Lay Members may join the cult for a season for a fee of 50 Lunars. Lay members are promised a cult burial when they die, including the use of the Sacred Shovel, and may ask a priestess for help if they are troubled by a restless spirit.
Initiate Membership
Any adult woman may initiate into the cult simply by requesting it and sacrificing a point of POW. However, it is rare for any woman to request this before menopause, because it is generally thought to be dangerous to her unborn child for a pregnant woman to prepare a dead body. Those few fertile women who do initiate noramlly remain celibate.
Initiates must help prepare the bodies of the dead for the funeral and must help mourn the dead at the wake. They are required to help tend the burial places, and may be called upon to combat the restless dead, though this is rare.
Initiates may learn Prepare Corpse, Move Quietly, and Read/Write Own Language at half price. They may learn Detect Magic, Dispel Magic, Extinguish, Second Sight, Silence, Spirit Block, and Visibility at half price. They may sacrifice for the cult's special rune magic.
Prepare Corpse: This Craft skill allows the user to properly lay out a corpse and prepare it for final rites. It allows the user to know what rituals and spells are traditionally performed over the corpse. A success with this spell reduces the chance that the deceased will return as a restless spirit.
Rune Priestess Membership
In order to become a priestess of Ty Kora Tek, a woman must have reached menopause, have a POW of 18, and must know Prepare Corpse and Read/Write Own Language at 90%.
Priestesses of Ty Kora Tek are required to preside over all funerals that occur in their vacinity, and are expected to devote 50% of their free time to teaching initiates and helping those who are about to die.
Priestesses are allowed to take 1/10 of the grave goods as their fee for performing a funeral, and their assistants may take 1/20. They may ally a spirit, which is normally kept in a crypt or a sacred shovel.
Common Rune Magic: All 1 and 2 point spells. They may Summon Small Gnomes and Dismiss small elementals.
Special Rune Magic:
One point spells:
Bless Grave: Duration 1 hour. Range touch. Stackable. Reusable.
This ritual summons a spirit of Ty Kora Tek to escort the soul of a dead person to the Underworld. It ensures that the sould will not return as a ghost. Extra points of the spell allow more than one grave to be affected.
It can also be used to bury the effigy of a worshipper of Vivamort, in which case the spirit will seek out the Vivamorti and engage him in spirit combat
Bless Shovel: Duration instantaneous. Range touch. Reusable.
This spell may only be cast on a specially prepared ritual shovel. This shovel is normally used for the purpose of digging graves. When used this way, the shovel will cut through even the hardest packed or most deeply frozen ground.
However, the sacred shovel can also be used as a weapon. When wielded thusly, it uses the Axe Attack and Parry percentages, inflicts 1d6 damage, and has 10 hps. If the shovel successfully inflicts damage on a skeleton or zombie, the target is destroyed. If the shovel successfully inflicts damage on a vampire, the vampire will be unable to regenerate the damage and must heal it with magic, at the rate of 1 point per day.
Two point spell:
Summon Dead: Duration 15 minutes. Range touch. Reusable.
This ritual must be performed over the corpse, grave, or other remains of the individual to be summoned. The name of the individual must be known. If the person being contacted currently resides within Ty Kora Tek's cavern or the afterlife on any other Earth cult, his ghost rises from the earth. The ghost may communicate with the caster of the spell, but may only be compelled to tell the truth or perform a service if the caster can overcome his POW.
Subcults
Spirit of Reprisal: The Restless Dead
If any initiate or priestess of Ty Kora Tek offends the goddess, perhaps by desecrating a body, she will be hounded by the spirits of the dead until she makes recompense for her crime. Any time she approaches a dead body or a burial site, the spirit of the deceased will engage her in spirit combat until she manages to break off and leave the area.
The Gray Sisters: A few followers of Ty Kora Tek dedicate themselves to actively combatting the restless dead. When a Gray Sister dies, she continues to serve Ty Kora Tek by escorting the souls of the dead to her realm. Allied spirits are usually drawn from the Gray Sisters.
Kalimbros: Ty Kora Tek's husband provides her cult with Small Shades.
Associated Cults
Asrelia: Ty Kora Tek's sister grants her the spell of Hide Wealth.
Babeester Gor: The cult of the Avenging Daughter trains the Gray Sisters in Axe Attack and Any Shield. It also grants the spell Great Parry.
Ernalda: The Earth Mother grants her aunt the spell of Restore CON.
Maran Gor: This grim goddess grants her aunt the spell of Blast Earth.
Voria: The goddess of New Beginnings is often worshipped with the goddess of All Endings, and offers her the spell of Invigorate.
I kind of liked the suggestion that her husband was Grandfather Mortal, but the earth gods are supposed to be fairly old, so TKT's position ought to be established before Death entered the world, and it makes sense to me that the cult would claim to have known Death before Humakt was even born.
Just a couple of notes here. The GoG statement that only women over 50 join her cult seems problematic to me. The image of a bunch of old women wielding Sacred Shovels to dig graves seems a little goofy to me, so it makes sense that the cult has younger women to do the menial work while learning how to perform the rituals (sort of like apprentic undertakers).
The Cult has Sacred Shovels useful against vampires (or so Cults of Terror suggests), hence the Shovel spell. Since the cult has magic weapon against the undead, it seemed logical that they would have a subcult that used that weapon.
Reactions? Thoughts? Villifications?
Andrew E. Larsen
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