epweissengruber wrote:
>
> I came across a really neat anthropological factoid that just cannot
> fit into my game. I am trying to think of a Gloranthan (Orlanthi,
> specifically) situation that might accommodate the following ritual,
> but I am stumped. Can you lot help me out?
>
> "Masks are surrounded by rituals that reinforce their power. A
> Tibetan Mask was taken out of its shrine once a year and set up
> overnight in a locked chapel. Two novice monks sat all night
> chanting prayers to prevent the spirit of the Mask from breaking
> loose. For miles around the villagers barred their doors at sunset
> and no one ventured out. Next day the Mask was lowered over the head
> of the dancer who was to incarnate the spirit at the centre of a a
> great ceremony. What must it feel like to be that dancer, when the
> terrifying face becomes his own?"
A Ty Kora Tek Ghostmask ? Always used by an Asrelia initiate/devotee, strangely enough. All women see this as perfectly normal. They are one, a Secret Man Has No Need to Know. With this on your face, you see dead peoples going around in the village. On Ancestors Day (Dark Season, Death Week, Wild Day), probably, but it may well work on other day. The ceremony you describe remind me strongly of some Orlanthi Sacred Days. In that case, the mask appears as a grey woman face, with long white hairs and strangely transform the bearer voice (or else the bearer has to take an elderly voice to use the magic in the mask).
It could give a good bonus to your Soul Vision ability or even give you a Soul Face ability, to talk to spirits (as long as they are from dead peoples).
Or a Gor Mask, inhabited by the mad soul of a Babeester or Maran (or
Ana) devotee. You sure need to appease it with blood, fresh meat, lots
of dancing and drumming. May be good for any woman to avenge the Earth,
or may be part of the Red Woman Ritual, to become a temporary initiate
of Vinga (ST p. 175)
In that case the Mask is an horrible face made from skin, with red hair
and burns everywhere. Gives the bearer a grumbling voice.
A last possibility is a Kolat Mask, specifically used to bind spirits.
It can only be used by a chaman, to bind spirits into it or to free them
to help the clan. A sort of big charm/fetish thing, bu with many spirits
in it, part of the clan regalia.
The mask is then made from tree and animal parts, all taken in the wood
outside the clan lands. You have to get it out in the wilderness once a
year to give him new 'parts' (acorns, etc.)
Philippe
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