me:
>> When flying to Kero Fin, I assume that everyone is giving
extraordinary
>> support to the ritual leaders,
>
>This is reasonable for the Sacred Time rituals, but not for an
>initiation, where at best you have the extraordinary support of the
>candidates' immediate relatives.
As I see it, children, in Heortling eyes, are part of the wealth of the whole clan. Yes, their immediate kin will be most concerned, but if a boy's initiation fails, that's five year's worth of young men lost; an immense disaster for the clan. I think extraordinary suopport is not unreasonable.
>> plus they are probably using a very specific
>> myth (getting bonuses or represented by an ability no player character
>> bothers to learn "[Your Clan Here] Sacred Time Rituals and Myths" that very
>> quickly gets to be several masteries).
>
>The rules do not mention the existence of these skills.
>'quickly getting to several masteries' simply does not happen, using
>the HW rules, especially if it is something you do only once a year
>(Sacred Time or girls' initiation) or even once every five years
>(boys' initiation).
I don't think these are weird "specialty myths." The special rituals of the clan are going to be part of daily life. Parts of them will be told at every hearth, every day. When you take the sheep out as a young man, your dad (or uncle or foster-dad) will say "that's Havrd's Rise, where Havard the Poet raised the scorn-pole against the Elderbroom clan so they dwindled and died." In the Loom House, where the girls are learning the first steps of weaving, their female kin will tell the stories of Ernalda and her family and how they blessed the tula specially. All the children will be raised with the secret stories and the public stories about their homes and the daimons and spirits that live there. These stories may have hidden meanings that are explained during the preparations for Sacred Time and other rites, but the rough outline of the myth should be very familiar. I suspect that "stay at home" priests have very high skills in "local myth."
If we can accept KoDP as a model, it's the big myths whose secrets are often unknown, because how often does a clan need to do "Orlanth and Aroka?" On the other hand, the rituals and heroquests that are part of the life of the clan, I suspect the god-talkers of the clan know those very well.
>> And, of course, holy place and time bonuses.... Frankly, I can't imagine a
>> more sacred date than your clan's annual visit to the Great Mountain Mother
>> or a more sacred place than the spot your clan has used for that purpose
>> for 200-300 years....
>We included those for the breakthrough.
>But 10W3 is a big resistance, and the possibility of failure is very
>real ACCORDING TO THE RULES.
>
>I did not think to include the ritual, time, place and support
>bonuses for the return to the mundane world.
Well, I think they should be. "The clan always begins and ends its Sacred Time journey from the top of Thunder Hill. It's a holy place, you shouldn't go there unless the god-talker blesses you. The clan shrines to Ohorlanth and Hedkoranth sit on the slopes beneath the summit. At the foot is the pool that the priests drink from and the children bath in before the journay that leaves childhood behind." Every tula should have at least a couple of "power spots" which are sacred for different purposes. Rediscovering one could be an adventure. Maybe the clan had a lot of Humakti at one time, who worshipped at the Burnt Tree; your character wants to find an reconsecrate the spot to help bring the blessings of Humakt to the clan's warriors.
That's a little off the subject though. I see no reason why date and place modifiers should not be figured into leaving the Godplane. It's part of the quest, after all.
Peter Larsen
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