Mazes and Minotaurs Houserule: Minor Interventions

Gonna be going on a vacation with my WIFE (new development!) and her family, and the people want Greek mythology, so I'm gonna be starting a Mazes and Minotaurs campaign (or maybe just doing a one shot). As a ruleset, it's worth giving a look: It's unserious, creative, seemingly very playable, and full of little editorial blurbs talking about the spurious history of the game and of gaming as a whole. Also it's free, and well laid out (even with its hilarious and/or cringeworthy clip-art illustrations). Since I'm going to run it, I wanted to write down a little houserule before I forget.

While it takes a priest to invoke the mighty Divine Intervention of one of the Olympian gods, the lesser gods of earth and sky, of virtue and happenstance, may be called forth by any character. To call a god, a character must perform an invocation lasting a full combat round and naming (if only vaguely) the god they desire to appear, and then must roll a d20, modified by their Luck, Level, and (in the case of Magicians) their class's Magical Talent (Orphic Voice, Elemental Mastery, etc.), against a target number of 20. An unmodified roll of 20 always succeeds.

On a success, the god named (or another appropriate god or spirit of the GM's choice) appears, "stepping out" onto the scene like an actor from the chorus or from some unseeable backstage. The character who invoked the god has, of course, no control over them whatsoever, and they are by default a neutral observer to the events before them (the GM might also make a reaction roll, if the god is fickle enough). They may be propitiated, however, to make them well-disposed to the invoker's requests (or, by contrast, offended, or propitiated by an enemy). The powers of the lesser gods are not to be taken lightly, though they tend to favor less spectacular displays of power than the Olympians. At least, they may replicate any effect of mortal magic (though tending towards their domain), and several more powerful and subtle effects, and cannot be killed by any mundane means.

On a failure, the god does not appear before mortal eyes (though the gods are always watching in matters of their concern). They cannot be invoked again for a nebulous and entirely arbitrary amount of time. Magicians of all types (who, of course, deal regularly with such spirits) may expend their Power points to reroll a failed invocation: 3 power points will allow a single reroll, while 6 power points (equivalent to a true Divine Intervention) ensures that the lesser god appears.

However, Magicians can only reroll invocations to lesser gods over which they have sway: Elementalists and Nymphs have sway over the elemental and natural gods of their domains, gods of rivers, winds, or flames; Lyrists and Sorcerers have sway over the gods of the human heart, personifications like Death, Justice, and Rage, as well as the shades of the dead; and Priests have sway over the gods who act as servants of their Patron god, such as the clouds of Zeus, the muses of Apollo, or the furies of Athena (as well as those gods who are the servants of all the gods, such as Iris or Hebe).

Lesser gods may also be propitiated through longer and more expensive invocations. These longer rites take 10 minutes, and include a sacrifice of some equivalent monetary value (whether through throwing gold in a lake, burning expensive incense, pouring expensive wine, or the slaughter of animals or people). This starts at 1 Gold Coin for a +1 bonus to the invocation roll (and to the reaction roll, if the GM makes one), and increases to +2 at 10 gold coins, +3 at 100 gold coins, etc.

This houserule I think takes care of a few big gaps in the original rules. Firstly, the lack of non-olympian god representation (common in Greek myth content from the nerds of the 80s). I feel that the common appearance of the gods of all sorts is an integral part of the feeling of a Greek myth or a Greek drama. It is a poor representation of Greek myth that does not allow the river Scamander to take offense to Achilles, or Right Logic and Wrong Logic to debate in the Academe of Socrates.

Secondly, the lack of non-combat spells for many of the magicians. An Elementalist of Air can call up winds to serve as a shield, but has no power to fill the sails of a trireme. A Sorcerer can command the living, but has no ability to perform that most basic form of hellenic magic which calls up the spirits of the dead. The Astute and GLOG-minded reader will notice parallels to the most prototypical and elegant GLOG magic ability. The ability to transform a physical task into a roleplay negotiation is probably one of the most fun magic rules ever written, in my opinion, and should probably be included in whatever setting has room for it (the prospect of persuading a Warp Drive occurs to me, and tantalizes). Fair credit to Loch as well, whose Magos was not far from my mind as I wrote this.

GLAUGUST TAX: SPELL(S) OF THE EVIL KING

I cannot, I think, elaborate all the spells of the evil king, but I can write one, with some wifely help.

Turquoise Doom
R: Touch T: Object, creature, or concept weighing less than 10^[dice] pounds D: Permanent
Encases the target in [sum] layers of beautiful and indestructible eggshell, blue like that of a robin (and also the size and weight of a robin's egg, no matter what is contained therin). Each layer may only be broken by genuine tears of sorrow for the thing contained therein. For each layer, a different person must weep. The tears don't need to fall onto the egg: it suffices that they fall on any earth worked by human hands. Laughter is nearly weightless, and your own death is around 1000 pounds. The EVIL KING's death is trapped this way, though none know it, and he considers it safe, since who on earth would cry over his death?

LIBRA Houserules

Did some setting, now for some rules for my LIBRA game. Again, thanks to Archon. By the way, if you want more content easily insertable into this kind of game, check out some Black Books, Black Auctions, and Anomalous Media. Folks have been working on a lot of this sort of stuff, you'll have to search it out a bit.

---

COMPOSURE
Characters have an attribute called Composure (CM). Psychics and Apsychs get 2dr and Friendlies and Freaks get 1dr of CM per template. Most WIS saves are replaced by CM saves, especially for psychic influence, and CM goes down by 1 for each unsuccessful save. At 0 CM, the psychic influence overwhelms you. You become Connected with whatever psychic force was influencing you (or something else if nothing in particular was influencing you). If your psyche is attacked again, you gain one of these madnesses:
1. Phobia. Of whatever just happened probably
2. Minor Hullucinations. Senses (listening at doors, telepathy, etc.) become unreliable.
3. Vacillation. One character you loved you now hate, and vice versa.
4. Nonverbal. Hope you like charades.
5. Delusion. Paranoia, megalomania, glass piano, etc.

Connections represent footholds that outside influences have in your mind. The GM can always tell you what your Connection would like you to do, and you can always resist, but once per mission per connection the GM can make resisting reduce your next draw by 1. If you have more Connections than maximum CM, you become unplayable as your core psyche is overwritten. But if you are careful, doing the will of alien gods and nefarious agencies can get you some fun prizes, you know. Lore and paratech and more powers.

Composure can be restored by a good nights sleep in a safe place. Madness can be cured with a week of rest (you don't actually have that mental illness, its just a psychic effect). Connections require more difficult methods.

---

F R E A K
2dr HP, 1dr CM per template
A: Evolution
B+: Metamorphosis

Evolution
You get +2 to one stat of your choosing. Add 1 to a random stat for every mutation you have. You may start with up to 3 mutations.

Metamorphosis
When you gain this template, you gain as many mutations as you have mutations.

Note: If you ever have more mutations than your max HP, you become something totally inhuman (and unplayable). Also, unlike psychics, people might notice you just walking around. Writing a mutations list seems boring and there's already plenty of good ones.

---

CATCHING 77 WINKS
Most people visit the dreamlands about once every two weeks. Most people don't remember it. Psychics can. To enter the dreamlands, any character who is either psychically active or has been there before (and remembers) makes a check drawing 1 + their maximum psychic potential, drawing twice as much if under the effect of certain drugs. That character may "bring along" a number of other willing people in their vicinity equal to their psychic potential (who can then bring along their own, who can bring along their own, in a daisy chain). The exception here is Apsychs, who can't enter it at all (they should have a dreamlands specific character to play though).

The Dreamlands is essentially a sword-and-sorcery setting overlaid on the world. Great ones and earth-bound gods, elven civilizations, Ynn, Pagana, Carcosa, throw whatever in. Everyone in the dreamlands has +1 psychic potential. You can always spend a psychic potential to try to wake up, making a check with your highest mental stat or LUCK. Wounds gained in the dreamlands don't stick, but Madness and Connection does. If you die in the dreamlands, you never wake up.

Obviously you can't bring back treasure from the Dreamlands, with very few exceptions, but you can learn lore, make deals, meet other psychics, kill people with your brain, edit the collective unconscious, etc. And if you do want the ancient artifacts you find there, you might be able to learn the location of their real-world counterparts.

Time passes very differently in the dreamlands, so you can adventure for a whole week before the night is over. Even though time passes much faster while dreaming, it doesn't pass much while you aren't dreaming, so you mostly "resume" when you go back, unless a whole week has passed in real life. When you enter the dreamlands, make a check with your highest mental stat or LUCK. If you succeed, you may decide to enter where you left, or at a nearby "acessible" location (e.g. you can't dream your way past a locked door, but you can get back out of a dungeon). If you fail, the GM decides.

---

Excerpts from OSIRIS dossiers

Libra is a game by Archon's Court, where you play as psychic weirdos and the people who help them as they run from the government and investigate spooky stuff. I like it a lot, although the direction I want to take it is slightly different from the way that Archon took it.

---

The "Polestar" is the codename used by agents for the black octohedron of unknown composition hovering ~100 kilometers above the south pole. Manned missions passing too close result in brain deterioration, coma, and death. Remote viewing, either by visual, technical, or paranormal means, for extended periods produces what OSIRIS terms as "Theurges". Theurges display reduced creativity, emotional intelligence, and linguistic ability, increased levels of physical and mathematical knowledge, and psychic dampening, and are perceived by baseline humans as "soulless puppets". Technology produced in collaboration with Theurges is the backbone of OSIRIS R&D, and they are present in OSIRIS field teams, security, as well as OSIRIS high command and shadow council.

---

Psychic Phenomena are simply defined in opposition to Physical Phenomena. Where Physical Phenomena come about via physical means, the movements of atoms and the fundemental forces, Psychic Phenomena apparently do not come about by physical means. Often, this comes as a result of the influence of living beings, and comes in the form of causing change in a physical object at a distance (telekinesis) or perceiving something at a distance (telecognition) in a physically impossible way.

Paratechnology is any type of technology which works via means not currently physically understood. This includes Psychic means, but also highly advanced technology that functions via physical principles. OSIRIS strongly discourages staff from using the term "Magic" or any synonym thereof, to avoid superstitious and archaic attitudes which may prove inefficient or even deadly. Paratechnology is to be cautiously understood, not feared or adored.

---

OSIRIS is aware of multiple similar scientific organizations supported by national governments. The National Institute of Coordinated Experiments (N.I.C.E.), based in England, is a purely scientific organization with no political leanings. It has been totally subverted by OSIRIS since 1970, after Incident 280 ("The Elephant"). The main research interest of N.I.C.E. has been in contacting Macrobial entities and advancing human evolution. These projects are much smaller in scale than the LIBRA and VIRGO projects, and have been closely monitored and occasionally sabotaged by OSIRIS agents. OSIRIS High Command has designated N.I.C.E. a Eosphoros-class group.

The Technological and Scientific Academy for Neuroscience (T.S.A.N.) is a similar organization based in Japanese Taiwan. OSIRIS espionage and diplomacy has so far been unsuccessful in totally subverting T.S.A.N. to the same degree. T.S.A.N. research focuses on technological and paratechnological applications for the prosperity of imperial Japan. The technological advancements made by T.S.A.N. and their ability to detect and expel OSIRIS agents are likely due to Macrobial influence and significant precognitive ability throughout the organization. OSIRIS High Command has designated T.S.A.N. a Phaenon-class group.

---

The term "Macrobe" is a shortening of Macrobiological Psychically Active Entity, coined by the scientist François Alcasan in 1962 to describe creatures larger than humans which possess psychic influence at least equivalent to psychically active humans, though often their psychic influence is much greater. This term has a deliberately wide application, anything from a psychic bear to a universal intelligence. Other terms used for these creatures (by non-OSIRIS groups) are M-Psychs, cryptids, and gods. OSIRIS strongly discourages staff from using terms that promote superstitious and archaic attitudes which may prove inefficient or even deadly.

In contrast to M-Psychs, Macrobiological Non-psychically Active Entities are also known to OSIRIS. OSIRIS promotes the use of the term "N-Psych" for such creatures, though "Monster" is acceptable in practice. Though both M-Psychs and N-Psychs may be refered to as Macrobes, traditionally Macrobe refers to M-Psychs, the description of which led the term to be coined. Parahumans are creatures outside of the species Homo Sapiens which nontheless possess human shape. Parahumans are often (but not always) psychically active, and some parahumans may also fall under the M-Psych or N-Psych categories.

---

Luna, commonly known as the Moon, is a Macrobe in orbit around the Earth, and is the largest piece of pseudo-biological paratechnology known to humanity. She was built, or grown, for an unknown purpose sometime before the hadean era ended. Though possessing immense computational power and intelligence, her psychic field is comparatively weak for an entity of her size, and her personality appears to be mutable. She freely admits that she has been influenced strongly by humanity's perception of her over millions of years, and has become [a huge humanaboo lmaooo]. She does not drastically interfere with humanity, and apparently cannot do so, but appears occasionally through holographic projection (through fine manipulation of reflective moon dust), psychic contact, online personas, and physical avatars made by paratechnology given to devotees.

Known aliases include: Isis, Artemis, Diana, Gabriel (one of few male aliases), Princess Kaguya, the Lady of the Lake, Marilyn Monroe, Cate Blanchett, and indie Vtuber Annika Tsukihime. Aliases and avatars appear to be capable of independent action, and only able to communicate with Luna while the physical moon is in the sky. Luna is apparently in favor of the continued existence of human society and normalcy, though is willing to impart some knowledge to those who have already seen through normalcy according to her whims. She is an incredibly good actor, and none of her aliases have substantially broken normalcy in the modern day. She is most commonly described as bubbly, personable, coy, and condescending, and often appears as a dead female loved one, preferentially white European, or else as an woman pleasing to the taste of her collocutor.

---

Homo Abditus is a diverse mutated subspecies of Homo Sapiens. The most common English name for this group is "Elfs", though they are also called "Witches" and "Goblins", among other names. They are found globally in insular communities, hidden by paratechnological and psychic means. Anthropological studies suggest that Homo Abditus communities both manipulate and emulate local folklore to ensure that baseline humans perceived them as not real, not worth bothering, dangerous, harmless, and too mysterious to interfere with. Though Homo Abditus are a subspecies of Homo Sapiens, OSIRIS classes Homo Abditus as a Parahuman group.

Homo Abditus communities apparently all trace their ancestry back to a single source, a legendary ancestor or deity, possibly a Macrobe. The name of this ancestor in all communities seems to be linguistically descended from the obscure ugaritic deity Kothar Elhatu, the Wise Destroying-Lord of the Spear, who has apparently vanished "within". Their use of paratechnology relies on cryptic and closely guarded oral traditions. Interrogation of living specimens has proved unfeasible, and the paratechnology possessed by Homo Abditus communities is currently inaccessible to OSIRIS agents.

---

The LIBRA project was a series of experiments conducted to attempt the artificial creation of psychically active humans. These tests relied on paratechnology salvaged from the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, including psychoactive substances (Solutions B-F), paratechnological devices (Objects 54-60), and memetically active patterns (Motifs C1-C4). The LIBRA project was deemed a liability to normalcy in 20XX after [REDACTED] test subjects escaped. Subsequently, all test subjects still under OSIRIS supervision have been disposed of, and [REDACTED] escaped test subjects have been terminated.

Successful LIBRA test subjects display(ed) the following traits: Erratic Behavior, Narcissistic and megalomaniacal tendencies, increased artistic and theatric talent and tendencies, greatly increased psychic influence (both actual and potential), and being too damn annoying for a certain piece of self-righteous geometry. LIBRA test subject were all tattooed with a Libra constellation symbol on the nape of their neck, along with an identification number. LIBRA test subjects are all extremely dangerous. Sightings should be reported to OSIRIS security, and field teams without an OSIRIS Theurge present should not engage.

---

"The Sleeper" is an entity that has been identified by a OSIRIS as a Macrobe, located in the Mohorovičić discontinuity below the Shetland islands. The Sleeper's psychic influence represents a global "background radiation", overlapping everywhere with the Human Collective Unconscious, if the two phenomena are not in fact the same. This fact has led to the identification of many Sleeper-inspired figures in folklore, fiction, and religion. Analysis of this folkloric evidence leads OSIRIS agents to believe the Sleeper physically resembles an squat, radially symmetric decapod of unknown size. Accounts of psychically sensitive individuals allege that the Sleeper maintains a psychic para-reality, the alleged "Dreamlands". No direct evidence for this has been found by OSIRIS scientists, and it is suspected that this phenomenon is in fact random hallucinations caused by prolonged psychic vulnerability.

Dirt Simple Domains (OSE?)

 

dunno the source, alas

Thinking (as usual?) about clerics. You know that I like gods with some personality. But there's certainly an aesthetic space for something a bit more one-note. Sometimes all that is relevant to a game is that such-and-such shrine is dedicated to the god of fire, or my cleric worships the sword-god, or this blade is holy to the god of frogs. The assumed cleric of an old school game (I'm using OSE as the example, cause its easy) is devoted to the god (possibly God) of light or law or life or something, or conversely to evil/chaos/death. They don't often have strictures, at least not by default, that would prevent them from, say, graverobbing. They're just supposed to, vaguely, advance the cause of good.

So, let's think similarly about the cleric of the god of frogs. They aren't bound that "thou shalt always be slimy" by the trickster frog Glorn. They worship simply the god of frogs, and will try to "advance the cause of frogs", whatever that entails, but in the same vague way that the fighter wants to avenge their parents. When you have a cleric like this, here is what you can do:

First, determine if the deity is lawful, neutral, or chaotic. You can pretty much just let the player pick, or use whatever alignment they are gonna be. This tells you if they are going to use the normal or reversed version of spells, of course.

Then, pick whichever spell on the cleric spell list is least fitting to the god, and replace that with the most fitting spell from the MU spell list of the same level (or illusionist/druid spell list, if you are using the full rules). This can be a bit tricky with only the MU spell list since they can be a little generic, but remember that being old-school doesn't mean we are banned from reflavoring things. For instance, for the god of frogs, I would replace Light with Shield (I would choose Sleep, but we all know Sleep is a bit overpowered)

When the cleric reaches higher levels of spells, repeat this process with the new level, taking into account any fun flavor your cleric mentioned about their god. Our frog god at second level will lose Bless and get Hypnotic Pattern. 

Finally, if you'd like, you can replace Turn Undead with a category of creature that the god would be opposed to. You could also Turn that category as well as undead, maybe increasing the effective HD of the turned creature. I think the god of frogs would be neutral on the subject of undead, but would rather loathe birds.

I don't pretend that this is a new idea or houserules, I just wanted to write about it. I might write up a short list of simple gods like this just for fun later on. I think if I were to add clerics to Fifth Fantasy, it would be in a similar vein.

How to Win the Dawn War: Outsiders

More 4e

Outsiders are spoilers by definition. Players, don't read.

Arcana DC 15

Outsiders are creatures that come from outside the world. Angels (of Pelora) are not outsiders. Devils (of Ashmadeva) are not outsiders. Gods are not outsiders. Outsiders are evil creatures like Demons or Elementals who desire to destroy the whole world. Angels fight against them.

Arcana DC 20

Outsiders are creatures that come from outside the world. Generally, there are two types: Astral Creatures and Elementals. Demons are a kind of elemental, arising out of the Abyss where Tharizdun is imprisoned. They tend to be more intelligent than most elementals of comparable power, so a lesser demon would be smarter than a lesser elemental, and an archdemon would be smarter than an archomental (also known as a Primordial). Elementals are pretty easy to fight, since you can just beat them up until they crumble into dust/ash/water/smoke.

[Digression]

Demonic Cults are not uncommon, though certainly less common than Diabolic cults. Said cultists are often revolutionaries, cowed servants of some pseudo-immanent archdemon, or the foolish rabble that buy into the latest Tharizdun-based Heresy. They are very big into sacrificing the innocent and immanentizing the eschaton, as you might expect. The more advanced cults don't tend to go for the whole "plunge the curvy dagger into the beating heart" thing, prefering a ritual which vaporizes the sacrifice, body and spirit.

[/Digression]

Or at least they are easy compared to creatures of the Astral Sea (also known as the Far Realm, the Deep Heavens, etc.). Just looking at one can make you go mad, and often they are intangible or otherwise resistant to beating up. For some reason, they tend to be considerably tentacular. They may be combated with the Cerulean Sign, an arcane glyph that can stun or even banish them.

Angels, that is, proper Angels, also called Outer Angels, Primordial Angels (not to be confused with Primordials), and Birds (if one is speaking cryptically) are mainly concerned with fighting Astral creatures, not Elementals, which is normally the job of gods and their servants. However, some gods have a working relationship with the angels, and are able to request things of them. Namely, Pelora, Avandros, Ioun, and the Raven Prince are said to be on good terms with them. No one knows who created the angels. Some theorize they arose spontaneously, a creative and benevolent primordial counterpart to the Elementals. Others believe they appeared when the first Demons did, for similar reasons. They are faceless, glow brightly, have wings, and cannot lie.

There are other outsiders. Many have been spirited to a strange city, known as Sigil, which lies outside our world, between the Elemental Chaos and the Astral Sea. Wizards say it is the only other world in which people can survive for any period of time. Its only native inhabitant is the Lady of Pain, a silent and imperious presence who occasionally deigns to punish interlopers. They say she hates the gods, if it may be said that she feels anything, but may sometimes tolerate humanity.

Arcana DC 25

Outsiders are creatures arising from outside the world. Generally, there are three types: Astral Creatures, Elementals, and Angels.

Astral Creatures, also known as Stars or Elder gods are beings from the Astral Sea. They are creatures of thought and creativity far beyond what humans, or even gods, are capable of. They lie in contrast with the Elementals, beings of matter and destruction, though of course the Elder Gods have bodies (of a sort) and the Elementals have minds (of a sort). He Who Was, if Ioun is telling the truth, was an elder god, inventing by some eldritch process the many and varied concepts of our world. Ioun is one as well, and some hypothesize that Tharizdun might be one. Experience tells us that there are elder things much less powerful than the gods, perhaps servants or offspring of the greater elder gods.

The danger of the elder things is not mainly in their power, however. Just as He Who Was invented concepts like good and evil, colors and sounds, the elder gods invent concepts just as basic, just as obvious, yet totally alien. Further, in the words of Ioun, "The people of the starry city like to use fashion to express themselves". The appearance of even the lowest elder thing perfectly communicates the alien ideas that can overwhelm a weak human psyche like kudzu. The common idea that they are mostly tentacles describes only the one's least likely to fry your brain.

The Stars are generally too far away to be seen in any detail, however. Only with a powerful telescope is one in danger from the very nearest stars: Hadar, Delban, Gibbeth, and the rest. Light, almost a synonym of existence, appears to be one of the fundemental concepts of even the astral sea. Thus, all living stars shine with the light of their hyperreality. The stars, it is said, bring fevered dreams on moonless nights, which are blessedly forgotten by morning.

Birds, also known as Angels, are a mysteriously benevolent type of outsider. They may fly anywhere, and may be found everywhere: the freezing darkness of the Astral Sea, the depths of the Abyss, the city of Sigil... Every bird is an angel. Many birds that you commonly see are very little and weak angels, but they are still angels*. Some of them are in fact greater angels in disguise. The physical forms of birds were made by the gods, to reduce the memetic effect of angels on the world, apparently at the angels' own request.

(*The exception to this is chickens, which are in fact a type of genetically engineered bat. Ashmadeva made them out of spiteful humor.)

Various types of lesser birds have especial agreements with certain gods. Doves help Pelora spread peace. Songbirds help Avandros to inspire artists. Owls observe and collect on behalf of Ioun. Ravens, obviously, work on behalf of the Raven Prince (this agreement actually precedes the Raven Prince's godhood, which is why he is named after them.)

It was the Angels that developed the Cerulean Sign, in partnership with Ioun and the Lady of Pain. Its effect on astral creatures is something like a complex riddle, something like a legal document of protection, and something like pepper spray.

The Lady of Pain, is, of course, an elder god, just like He Who Was. Allegedly, she spoke with the Angels and asked them to defend the world. Sigil is her world, made after the death of He Who Was. Sigil is not the name she gave it (for she never speaks). It is the name people gave it, after the numerous heiroglyphics that cover the entire small world. It is also called the Stone Library, the City of Doors, the Maze, the Grey Market, and the Scarred World. The eponymous sigils are, apparently, fractal in nature: each "one" is made up of numerous smaller signs, and each cluster makes up a single discernable larger sign.

Commonly, wizards visit Sigil to study its glyphs and properties. However, to enter purposefully is much rarer than to enter by chance. Most of the people in Sigil entered by walking through an otherwise normal door, and will eventually exit the same way. If this is a purposeful act of the Lady, no one knows the reason.

Viewing the Lady of Pain does not have the same effect as viewing most elder gods. It has an effect, certainly (namely that, while viewing the Lady, it is impossible to recall seeing anything else. Some describe feeling like they were tortured for an eternity by the sight, but they are often none the worse for it). However, the ideas of the Lady were present at the beginning of the world, and are thus endemic to the human spirit. If He Who Was still lived, venture the scholars, then viewing Him would similarly have no maddening effect.

Next section is a major spoiler, and if my prospective players read it, the Lady will flay you.

Arcana DC 30

This is the heresy which all the gods detest

Tharizdun is called the chained god, and the father and mother of demons. To follow Ioun's example: When the Lady killed He Who Was, after his two sons emerged, his body became Tharizdun (who, perhaps, was god of Nothing). The children of He Who Was feared Tharizdun, or were ashamed, and he was banished, or imprisoned, or entombed in the Elemental Chaos. It was the dregs of this colossal impiety, this cosmic dishonor, that corrupted the Abyss and spawned the demons, not the evil of Tharizdun.

But the Angels fly even to the depths of the Abyss, and this is what the six-winged bird, the Angel of the chained god, has said: "He is returning."

"He has tested good and evil. He has tested war and peace. He has tested life and death. And He has found His answer.

He has spoken with Angels, and they have heard Him. He has spoken with Fire and Water, Air and Earth, and they have heard Him. He has spoken with His children, and they have not heard Him.

He is returning, and He shall end the War, and judge all things, and then shall go to the Eldest God and speak to Him a new thing, and there shall be no more Death. Let him who fears descend into His grave to speak and to strive. His fool is His herald, and shall reveal good and evil, and shall gather seven that He has lost. The great angel of the outer darkness shall watch the world until He comes. Let the Four, His sons and daughters, descend to meet Him before THE END."

For thrice ten thousand dwell on mother earth, Immortal (GloG: More gods for Adventurers)

 

The Twins (the Lovers, the Protectors of the Universe, the Wanderers)

A pair of messenger gods, male and female, who are probably not the same creature. They are considered subservient deities, receiving their power from many other gods. They are widely worshiped, yet have no cult-center. Being always moving, it is considered that one may worship them anywhere and receive their favor anywhere (albeit infrequently). They are thought of as intercessors, gift-givers, and patrons of humanity in general (as opposed to particular city states). It is said they invented mail, Angels, and bees.

(Digression on Angels: lower-case "a" angels, also called daemons, are spirits, animals, and minor gods in the employ of a god. They deliver messages and miracles (and MD) to people. They can generally look like anything. Upper-case "A" Angels are those guys with wings. They are also spirits, and mostly serve as lower-case "a" angels, but they have a union. Some Angels were once mortal).

The Twins are symbolized by Feathers, Mirrors, Eyes, Halos, Scales (both senses), and Honey

If you make an offering to the Twins by one of their shrines, there is a 4-in-6 chance each day that it will be taken by an angel to them, leaving in return an MD. If you try to make them your patron gods without actually offering to them in person, there is a 3-in-6 chance your offering gets eaten by one of their angels instead. The Twins know the following spells:

1. Cure Wounds
2. Featherfall
3. Message
4. Light
5. Paper Automaton
6. Mirror Image
7. Master Ludwig's Guiding Lights
8. Speak with Birds
9. Control Air
10. Grow Wings
11. Elegant Judgement
12. Resurrection

An Angel of the Twins knows (1d3)d4 of these spells, rolled with d12.

Laras-Ep-Korash (the Wise, the Opener of Ways, the Architect)

Laras-Ep-Korash is in many ways a typical god. He was a sphinx, deified in the city now bearing his name. He was a rather lawful creature before his deification, and so he remains. But as much as he loves laws, he loves loopholes, and as much as he loves riddles, he loves when they are solved. As such, he's rather fond of adventurers, even of a chaotic type, and especially wizards. He's considered the patron of several secret societies, both of wizards and of lawyers.

He is symbolized by Keys, Rams (both senses), and Floating Stone. He really enjoys long and repetitive poems praising him.

Laras-Ep-Korash has 7 MD. However, 4 MD are normally spent on various patronages. He has the following spells:

1. Lock
2. Knock
3. Deflect Spell
4. Orbiting Spikes
5. Wizard Vision
6. Wall of Stone
7. Track Leylines
8. Death Ward

Avikal (The Champion, The Nail-Driver, The Sudden)

Avikal is a hero, as well as a god. He was born, it is said, by the Father of Winds and Rains, and certainly has something of a meteoric nature. He blessed the city of Gorable with his patronage, but roves far and wide slaying monsters, and imprisoning those he can't slay. He was the one who imprisoned Pysoloth beneath Charpysos with his Lightning Stakes. There's a festival every year where people reenact his various conquests (both senses) in pantomime, often against papier-mache monsters (which might even be more gruesome than the originals).

He is symbolized by Nails (and consequently Hammers), Borders, Fur, and Dry Lightning.

Avikal has 6 MD and gives them out rarely to really cool people. He knows the following spells:

1. Hold Person
2. Geld Animal
3. Mighty Thews
4. Imprison
5. Magic Weapon
   
6. Lightning Bolt
   

Whoever You Be, Baffling our Efforts to Behold You (GloG: Deities for Adventurers)

 Some gods, somewhat arising from this. Probably I'll do more at some point.

Comus (the All-Great, The Heart-Kindler, The Night's Consolation)

Comus is the wildly popular living god of revelry, change, and adventurers. He lives in Ortom, where he was originally deified several centuries ago. He invented satyrs, and a considerable portion of his power was spent into creating the rite of Carousing. The Feste is held once a year in his honor, and thousands flock to Ortom to offer sacrifices and participate in the drinking and cross-dressing. It is said that he selects two people who attend and trades their faces (or, some say, their fates).

Comus is symbolized by torches, moons, flies, incense, and flint. And wine, obviously.

Comus is a greater god with several minor gods beneath him. He has the following spells: 

1. Disguise
2. Fear
3. Water to Wine
4. Flip Person
5. Control Flame
6. Moonlust
7. Grease
8. Charm Animal
9. Become Delicious
10. Forceful Boor
11. Sway Crowd
12. Polymorph

His minor gods have a selection from among these spells, and typically 3-4 MD. If you venerate him exclusively, you get these cantrips:

1. You can crowdsurf on any crowd. This includes hostile ones.
2. You can elect not to spill liquid from a cup in your hands, or to spill it selectively.
3. Once per night, you can cause moonlight to become bright light within earshot.

Pysoloth (The Chained-Calamity, the Misshapen, the Lament of Laughter)

Pysoloth is the god of Charpysos. He is depicted as a kind of hairless dog, or swollen snake. He was a demon, and it is claimed he is kin to Virs. He was semi-successfully placated and mostly imprisoned below Charpysos, and now acts as a guardian deity of sorts. He is a spiteful god of disaster and deformity, and one of several gods who created goblins independently. Superstition holds that speaking his name will cause a petty misfortune to befall you or (usefully) a nearby goblin. He thinks its hilarious.

Pysoloth is symbolized by dogs, snakes, lightning, birthing huts, and beards

Pysoloth is not widely worshipped, but powerful in his own right. He has 6 MD (4 on his own) and the following spells:

1. Sticks to Snakes
2. Stormcaller
3. Monsterize
4. Violently Depilate
5. Curse
6. Mutate

He may also grant the cantrip:

1. A misfortune befalls a goblin you can see. Works once per goblin.

Kerteras (The Fallen Sun, the Protector, the Weaver of Raiments)

Kerteras was once the god of an empire which stretched over much of the known world. His origin is highly disputed, but he took on the title of the god of the sun. When the capitol was eventually put under seige by the tactical genius Lyr, the flow of offerings was interrupted. Worshipers turned to their own local gods, previously subservient to Kerteras, and even those gods who were loyal had no way of communicating their power to Kerteras. This led to Kerteras losing most of his power, the capitol falling, and the empire collapsing.

The worship of Kerteras was forbidden by the occupying (now ruling) force, but the existence of remnant cults is an open secret. Most ruins of the old empire contain a shrine to Kerteras, and he is now revered as a god of ruins and hidden gold. 

Kerteras is symbolized by Suns, Gold, Robes, Eight-Petaled Flowers, and Eight-Legged Creatures

Kerteras is now a minor god with only 3-4 MD at a given time, though he has a Lot of MD inaccessible in shrines. However, being once-great, he possesses many spells:

1. Cure Wounds
2. Hold person
   
3. Summon Candles
   
4. Speak with the Eight-Fold
5. Entangling Web
6. Detect Gold
7. Force Field
8. Circle of Frost
9. Spiderclimb
10. Summon Vestements
11. Wall of Earth
12. Plague of Sunstroke

Kerteras also established cantrips for his followers, which still work for those who worship him exclusively:

1. Once per day, produce 10' of rope (from your fingers) or a bottle-worth of ink (from your tear-ducts). Both are flecked with gold (and illegal in the once-capitol). The rope rots within a few weeks, and the ink coagulates if unused.
   
2. Speak a one-word command. Any number of people you can see follow it for one round. Works once per person.
3. Create a tiny light as bright as a match on your fingertip.

Take Not Thy Thunder From Us (GloG: Priest)

 The gods do not hoard their power to themselves. As we give to them, they give to us. Thus, we have the priests. It's a good thing too. Those gods are a fickle and inhuman bunch, but the priest will always help the people.

A Cleric to go with the last post's gods

Class: Shrine Priest

Starting Equipment: Ceremonial Robe, Ceremonial Mask

Starting Skill: 1) Ritual 2) Law 3) History 4) Farming 5) Nature 6) pick any

A: Offerings, Divine Magic, +1 MD, +2 spells (1-6)
B: Blessing, +1 MD, +2 Spell (1-8)
C: Shrine, +1 MD, +2 Spell (1-10)
D: Pantheon, +1 MD, +2 Spell (1-12)

Offerings
You know the rite by which magical power can be given to a monster to turn it into a god. Generally this requires a food offering and the worship of at least 10 people (excluding you).

Divine Magic
You can cast spells as given to you by the gods. Work with your DM to create a list of 12 spells. These spells are given by your patron gods and should be split up amongst them. For instance, a priest who worships Virs, the Serpent of Usan, and Ulorin, the goddess of wisdom, would have a spell list like the following:

1. Lock (Ulorin)
2. Knock (Ulorin)
3. Package Neatly (Ulorin)
4. Control Rain (Virs)
5. Extract Venom (Virs)
6. Stoneskin (Virs)
7. Compartmentalize Mixture (Ulorin)
8. Cure Wounds (Virs)
9. Saw and Plane Tree (Ulorin)
10. Scorching Ray (Virs)
11. Serpents of the Earth (Virs)
12. Land Gate (Ulorin)

Your patron gods are located in specific places. When you go to those places, you get your Miracle Dice. Keep track of which MD you get from which god. MD can only be spent to cast spells from the god who gave it. Each level, you get +1 Maximum MD and +2 spells. To level up, in addition to other requirements, you must go before one or multiple of your gods. You may only receive spells from gods present when you level up, but you can negotiate for which spells you get.

(At the DM's choice, you might get Sacraments (cantrips) from your gods, or have specific blessings and bans imposed by your gods. The DM may also change these features and your spells at will, as the gods change their fickle whims)

Blessing
By sharing a meal with someone, you can bless them, giving them 1 MD and the ability to cast one of your spells.

Shrine
You can construct a shrine to one of your gods which can store MD. It takes about a day to construct a 1 MD Shrine, which is little more than an idol under a roof. It does not fill automatically: you or another priest must confer the power of your god from his presence to this shrine. Excessive requests for power will probably draw ire.

(This allows you to build a shrine. You can always draw power from a shrine, even before you get this template, as can anyone who worships and presents offerings to its god. Most people don't call on divine power without reason, but you can't always count on your Shrine "keeping its charge")

Pantheon
You can use the MD of one god to power another's spell. MD used in this way have their depletion range increased by 1.

Stigmata

A Priest's spells are less dangerous than a Wizard's spells. After all, they were made by creatures who actually are magic, rather than some insane mortal grasping at power. However, they are designed for creatures of power, rather than for humans, and the spells are imbued with their nature. When MD roll doubles, the priest receives an inhuman mark of that nature (for instance, slit eyes or scaly skin for Virs). When triples are rolled, a more drastic mutation takes place. The priest takes [sum] damage (save for half) and receives a notable change with significant drawbacks and benefits (e.g., a snake tail instead of legs, loss of all teeth with the ability to swallow things whole, eyes that no longer see light but instead see laws). When the priest acquires too many stigmata, they stop being playable and instead become an avatar or aspect of the god or gods they worship.

Mechanical Notes on the Shrine Priest

Build your own wizard school! With the downside that you'll have to head back to home-base pretty often, or else travel around to several different home-bases to get the MD for the spells you actually want. Will probably make for a more domain based game. You could probably allow some "supplicate the local god and they give you temporary spells" for a more hexcrawl based one. I think that allowing divine cantrips would be good for either someone with a lot of different gods (so that they aren't crushed by being unable to use 80% of their spells) or someone with only one god (so that they aren't crushed by having to use their MD quickly and heading back to town).

The Priest's MD are probably interchangeable with Orison Dice, if you have those. So a commoner praying at a shrine could probably use it like that. While gods might get mad at the overuse of their power on shrines, if you do it right you could get more worshipers for your gods, which means more power for the gods, which means more power for YOU. So don't get mad when people take your MD. It's an Investment.

I wrote this mostly thinking of independent gods. If you have a shrine priest that wants a god and that god's minor gods, you're gonna have to figure that out.

Darklings (Hypogeum)

 

A Darkling I encountered, who distinguished himself with a stately Tricorn. Unsettling, but amiable.

Darklings are inhabitants of the Hypogeum. They are, as I have previously said, seemingly related to Folk, and many possess carapace-like skin, or else are vaguely insectoid. They are generally more serious, dour, and skillful than the folk, though there are, of course, myriad exceptions. They possess a cultural inclination towards concealing clothing. This, and their already exterior, lends them the general appearance of two eyes on a spindly-limbed silhouette. But this is all common knowledge.

Where Folk are at their height of civilization with a town, Darklings have Cities. It is unknown whether the Darklings built their cities, or whether they were part of the Hypogeum from the start, but they are certainly fantastic. Most theories say that it was an original part of the Hypogeum, since the materials used to make them don't seem to have been mined or scavenged from the maze around them. They are gothic structures, very pointy and solemn. They are expansive, with many skyways and underground (well, "sky" and "ground") passages. Many Darklings never go outside in their lives.

Darklings are able to sustain themselves mostly without farming by, ironically, hunting and pastoralism. Darklings only inhabit sections (called "Stasarae", "Dwells", or "Abiders") of the city at a time, cycling through the whole city slowly while the rest are overrun by shadowbeasts and other creatures, which they hunt. As well, they herd herbivorous creatures through the Stasara to eat the moss that accumulated there since it was last inhabited. This almost exclusively carnivorous diet, as well as the skill needed to hunt shadowbeasts, has given them a fearsome reputation. Some folk even believe that Darklings became all dark and carapaced because they relied so much on darkbeasts for food.

While some darklings herd and hunt, many are more scholarly. Scholars study the notes left by previous generations on the walls of the the Stasara. They are in the process of continual archaeology: they come to a Stasara, study the murals and artifacts, write their findings as well as new developments down in the form of murals and artifacts, and move on. Darklings are secretive to one another, and very cryptic, so by the time that the tribe returns to the same place, the information written there was likely lost, and becomes new information. Every piece of writing on every wall becomes a fragmentary history of the entire civilization told by hundreds of authors.

Darklings similarly are as opaque as possible about their romance, though I do believe they have one. To them, seemingly, all romance is equally taboo, but all of them break that taboo as quietly as possible. Knowledge of both parents is rare. Depending on the community, either the mother raises them in conjunction with all the men (and others) of the community, a child is taken in by a mentor figure (who might or might not be their parents), a single communal parent or parental group raises all children, or the community as a whole raises them. The most brazen Darkling might leave a note as their tribe migrates to the next Stasara, and the child might find it when they are older or if they range far.

Like Folk, they work for the most part on a barter system, with every treasure approximately worth the same as every other treasure, and food mostly shared. However, Darklings are much more likely to have specific and obvious preferences. A certain Darkling might collect swords, while another collects hats, while still another collects artifacts of human culture, or skeleton bones! Though, perhaps he only wants to inter them. Even Darklings who are not relicseekers collect, though obviously relicseekers are more common among them. They won't trade the things they collect things away, but they'd give you a treasure for things that might otherwise be trash, or several treasures for one otherwise valuable.

This tendency for collection, and as well, for creation (for darklings like to make fine things), means that their tombs often contain goods important to them in life. While most treasures will be redistributed to the community, the most important treasure to a certain darkling will often be left with them in a Stasara. They believe that it takes until the tribe cycles back to the Stasara for all the life and magic in the body to dissipate, and to reclaim it before hand is disrespectful and dangerous.

If it wasn't apparent, Darklings do not bury their dead. They allow scavengers, mold, and moss to overtake it, leaving the body in the stasara but otherwise in the open. When they return to the stasara, they might clean up the remains (bone and carapace), putting it in a neat pile, if it is already fully clean. If moss lingers on it, they allow the creatures they herd to eat the moss and any remaining flesh, before cleaning it up the same. Or they might throw out the bones, or use them for divination, or use the carapace as further armor (which does not help their reputations). 

As stated elsewhere, the religions of Darklings are apparently more complex than their Folk counterparts. While they revere much the same natural forces, they more often personify them, or worship their servants and great ancestors. For instance, a cult of the Moss I encountered venerated the Great Teacher, whose words brought forth lush spores on an otherwise barren city, as well as his disciple, the First Shepherd. They do not, as a whole, believe in an afterlife, but they might believe that their force might be honored or placated by reminding it of the good relations they have had with it. They tend to pick a statue present in a certain Stasara and

The majority of Darklings are at least henotheistic. They are more aware than their Folk counterparts of the existence of others devoted to other Forces, whether or not those Forces are real or worthy. Notable groups are those that venerate all the forces, called the Arites, and those who reject them all, the Tergites (both pronounced with the e on the end). The Arites are known for their decoration of the cities in which they live, with many-colored prayer flags and many statues festooned with decorations and offerings. The Tergites are known for their iconoclasm and for their music and games, which, divorced from their religious context, have developed in ways both good and bad.

(The statues found in the Hypogeum only sometimes depict certain races. Just as often, they are abstract. Some cults favor statues of certain races. Its not known why.)

 

 

GLoGtober 5: Cultist (Hypogeum)

 

A Folk cultist approaches the Flame with trepidation

The faiths of folk are predictably simplistic, and perhaps monotheistic, revering a force of nature above others, often enshrining a representation of such attended by a priest or cult. The Flame, the Moss, the Dark, and the Maze are all common faiths. Each village is dominated by one, and Folk of different faiths tend to pretend other faiths don't exist. A devotee of the Dark and a devotee of the Flame, if they were to talk and broach the subject, seem almost not to notice that the other is talking about a completely different force. Even discussions of aspects of the force get parsed into their native faith. Its really kinda weird.

Darklings have a more complex faith, seemingly based on the same thing. They actually recognize other faiths and have theologies encompassing them. Again, they generally view one force as supreme, and other forces as either subservient or malign. While this is generally true, Darklings of some places revere all these forces, while Darklings of other places shun all of them. As well, Darklings are more prone to personification and a more personal religion, as well as more structure.

The signifiers of a devotee are usually distinctive. Often a garish hat or patterned "robes"; sometimes facepaint or a mask. You can tell when a cult is about when you see lots of folk with the same thing on, which is different from those around them. Folk devotees don't seem to have much fervor, beyond reciting some catchphrases (for fun?). Darklings are more secretive and devout. A folk cult is basically just a fun club. A Darkling cult is a serious investment in philosophy.

Link to Class

GLoGtober 1: Blue Knights Collaboration

 

The Knights Azure are a group of knights vaguely martial mounted scholars dedicated to knowledge and censorship. They ride from the Citadel of Flowing Wisdom, a monolithic fortress-archive atop Mt. Napirish in the south. They are known for their insight, their brutality, their vegetarian diet, and their ability to talk to birds.

 

The Citadel

The Citadel is Impregnable, Inhospitable, and Beautiful. It is a whitewashed octagonal structure adorned with intricate geometric carvings, tilings, and windows. The interior room is a wonder of light, design, and, most of all, water. Pools, pumps, pipes, sluices, fountains, and showers cover almost all the single grand room. This is the Archive of the Knights Azure. The water in this room encodes all the information they've gathered, all the secrets they've hidden, and many other things. Understanding the rudiments of the system (which includes manipulating the fixtures, analyzing eddies and currents, tracking the movements of individual drops, examining concentration of trace compounds, and many more mystic things besides) would take years, assuming they would tutor you.

The knights themselves don't occupy this room, which is too delicate (not to mention damp) for habitation. They occupy tents on the flat roof of the citadel. There it is dry, cold, and an area of congregation for their friends, the birds. The knights and birds share a love of singing, and those who understand their songs would find them surprisingly simplistic, tales of shepherd love or nonsense ballads. The birds, the rains, and the knights each serve to bring secrets back to their Citadel.

The Knights

They wear feathers, veils, and painted shields with a ring azure on argent. They shun other heraldry, and generally refuse alliance with temporal powers. They are wizard killers, inquisitors, archaeologists, and, occasionally, givers of knowledge. They are also pompous, international agents with almost no oversight. They are not always ascetic, and certainly not infallible, and some of them don't even know how to read in their own library.

They tend to either only swoop in when things get really bad, or kidnap people who've committed only thoughtcrimes. Mostly its just whatever issues are apparent to a knight errant. When out a-questing, they store the secrets they've found in poisonous cisterns built around the countryside for that purpose, and then send them back to the Citadel via rain.

Some of the secrets the knights keep are people.

Blue Knight Class

You only gain XP for delivering secrets back to the Citadel. Each template of Blue Knight gives you either (+1 MD) or (+1 Attack and +1 Perk) and one spell

A: Encode 

B+: Nothing

Encode

With an hour's concentration, you can dissolve any number of objects submerged in water, encoding their information. The whole portion of water must be poured by you personally (not by the rain or by a river, yes by a pump). At the end of the hour, the objects effectively suddenly transmute into an equal volume of water. 

Blue Knight Spells

1. Conduct Evaporation Target 1. cup/wisp 2. puddle/vapor 3. pond/mist 4. lake/cloud fully evaporates, travels to the location you direct, and condenses
2. Decode Target object emerges from the archives. Dice dictates clearance level. Alternatively [sum] in 20 chance of summoning an secret, object, or creature from an uncontrolled body of water.
3. Counterspell Destroys target spell with dice less than [dice] or sum less than [sum]
4. Water Slash Basically a sword beam, +[dice] damage on an attack, or [dice] damage straight
   

Blue Knight Perks

1. Speak With Birds self explanatory.
   
2. Read Flow You can tell by sight things like erosion, flooding, the effects of a single pebble in a river, etc. Also you can get the gist of most things in the Archives without decoding them.
   
3. Asceticism Half rations and you take no ill effects from cold or dehydration
   
4. Detect Secret Interesting things smell sweet, forbidden things smell dank, works on people's thoughts, books, murals, the Archives, courses of action, etc. 

A collab with the illustrious Zackary, check out their post on Oredon, a part of my Space Fantasy setting.

Legendary MOSAIC

Sword King

You were chosen by the Field of Swords and became the Rightful Heir of some long-dead kingdom.

Items: a Magic Sword of the Three Word Variety, Traveling Clothes, a Tower overlooking a Hamlet which has submitted to you. Also probably the Party, who are your backers.

Benefit: you are a King. If you state your Kingship, peasants who don't know your kingdom is long dead will treat you with all the deference necessary to get you out of their hair.

Drawback: You are basically viewed as a bandit lord by nobles and free legitimacy points by the false monarchs of today.

Sunderer

You are a Slayer, a Killer, and something truly Terrible. Rip and Tear.

Items: 4 Swords, 3 Spears, 2 Axes, and barely modest Rags.

Benefit: If a weapon is anything short of adamant, you can sunder it to deal twice the damage. For the rest of the combat, your Pure Killing Intent functions as that weapon.

Drawback: Combats do not end until either every creature you can reach easily is dead, or you are dead. You must attack so long as combat lasts.

Green Knight

Elven airs hang heavily about you, an atmosphere of repose and contemplation.

Items:  a Sword of strange metal, verdigris'd Panoply, a powerful Rune

Benefit: If you would be slain, and you still possess your Rune, you instead take a long rest. This still applies even if you are decapitated. For a year afterward, any attack can fell you.

Drawback: You have to rest twice as long as others. 

Red Knight

You've cultivated something of an image, and you wield yourself like a weapon.

Items: a Sword, a Halberd, a Shield with a prominent and well known Blazon, and fearsome Armor

Benefit: Everyone either loves or hates you. If someone is perfectly neutral, you get to choose.*

Drawback: You must save or reciprocate all reactions.

White Knight

Good people don't need as many rules as you do. Good people don't try so hard.

Items: a Sword, a Shield, a faithful Horse, a Lance, and a Quest

Benefit: You can declare something as impeding your Quest. If you've been a good boy, a miracle might happen, and the problem will be solved. Or maybe someone realizes they'd be interfering with a capital "Q" Quest, and respects that.

Drawback: If you act irreverent or frivolous, or kill a bunch of people, your Quest abandons you and you are left with the horrid knot in the center of your heart.

Black Knight

Items: a Lance and Horse, a nondescript Shield, and concealing Armor, 

Benefit: You get to kill people and get away with it.

Drawback: Several broad classes of people hate your guts.

White Mage

You are a student of the Art Radiant. A shard of LIGHT has wedged inside your soul.

Items: Dirt repellent Robes, a Big Stick, a Bow made from metal only you can wield, and a bunch of Tchotchkes and Talismans.

Benefit: You can make objects glow. This takes concentration, and can't be done walking, but doesn't actually require you to see. The light lasts as long for as long as you took preparing the object. It sheds light as a torch. You can half the time to make it twice as bright, or double it to make it half as bright. You can tenth the time to make it into any type of light you desire (sunlight, moonlight, octarine, jale, cosmogone, etc.). This light can slowly heal wounds if you focus it on doing so.

Drawback: When you attack a creature that is not a shadow**, you cannot make light for an hour. This stacks.

Sorcerer

You are a student of the Art Fulminant. The World ought bow.

Items: Impractical Robes, a Big Stick, and Orb of fine crystal, Notes on metaphysical realities and the natures of things, 10 uses of various Alchemical Salts.

Benefit: You can make a magical attack of any sort of element you choose. This acts like a bow. It can deal more damage than a bow, but is in proportion harder to use. This difficulty doesn't apply when targeting inanimate objects

Drawback: You are very obviously a sorcerer. Also, using one of these ranged attacks consumes an significant reagent of a nature corresponding with the element (alchemical salts count as any "standard" element). Really powerful spells need more than one ingredient. Ingredients for alchemical salts cost as much as 3 torches

Conjurer

You are a student of the Art Fantastic. Indeed, indeed, it is an Art.

Items: Formal Coat, a Wand, a collection of Mirrors, an elaborate brass Brazier, and a stately Pipe, and 3 Smoke Bombs.

Benefit: You may conjure illusions. The borders of the illusion must be defined by the mirrors you set out, and it takes time to appear according to the time it takes smoke from a special fire you set to fill the area. It can make moving creatures and effects that apply to all the senses. The mirror rule does not apply to illusions on yourself or another creature but the smoke rule does.

Drawback: The conjurations are obviously Fake, or at least obviously magical. You might make a jeweled palace but close inspection reveals it to be cardboard and paste-jewels, or all a trick of light. Conjurations can be made real, or seemingly so, if you know a secret fact about them and their inner nature (for instance, a demon's true name, a ghost's resting place, the origin of gold, etc.).

Witch

You are a student of the Art Malignant. By heaven, you do not mean to be!

Items: Tattered Wraps, darkling Shroud, a bronze Sickle, and a Familiar

Benefit: By glaring at a Person (and specifically a Person) for one minute, you can inflict them with a wasting curse which causes them to slowly die over the course of a week. People carry talismans against this sort of thing, so it doesn't always work, and if someone notices you they might say an incantation or use some other mundane means to stop you.

Drawback: When you successfully use your curse, you become more of a monster

Cultist of Storms

You have devoted yourself to the Winds and Thunders

Items: Plain white Robe, Gold Circlet, Straight Oak Wand, Stormy Eyes.

Benefit: You can tell precipitation a day in advance. You can call storms, which arrive in 24 hours. Unless there is a specific curse on the land, this always works, though you roll a d6: on 1, 2, or 3, it comes with the strength you want; on 4 or 5, it is a day long torrent which might sweep away villages; on 6, it is a either a biblical flood OR you get pregnant. You must stay in the area for it to take affect, and the storm follows you around for its duration.

Drawback: When it rains, you lose yourself in ecstatic frenzy. You can still vaguely direct yourself, but you are compelled to stay outside in the rain, and cannot do anything that doesn't abide by vigorous activity.

Cultist of Idols

You devote yourself to Worship

Items: a fancy Tunic, a Cloak, a carving Knife, Chisel, Hammer, resinous Incense, an Idol of some small god, and Facepaint indicating your holiness.

Benefit: You know how to make idols and shrines beloved by the gods, and the rituals to consecrate them. The level of materials required for an acceptable shrine or idol depends on the god. Shrines are like intercoms, Idols are like houses. Shrines (which are normally pretty simple) act as places where offerings can be made and communication had. Idols are the physical and local presence of a god. Sufficiently fancy objects of devotion tend to distract gods from whatever justice they were dispensing.

Drawback: You have to make an offering to every idol you pass by, or you lose your holiness.

Cultist of Mystery

Some break in your mind leads you to search for things beyond and below daemons and the dead, far out in the depths of the black cosmos and the unseen earth.

Items: Black Robes, a Mask with an eye on it, a Ten-Foot-Pole, a Lantern with a magic cover, a Feather of some import.

Benefit: If you use the magic cover on your lantern, it sheds a light only you can see, which reveals some traps (never all). You know a way to enter the land of dreams and shadows.

Drawback: Choose something that your fellows would want to know. You cannot tell it to them.

Cultist of Passions

LIFE burns in you: LIFE that fucks and kills and eats!

Items: Revealing "Clothes", Thyrsus, strong Alcohol, Honey, raw Meat, Poetry, and a Shortness of Breath.

Benefit: You get double benefit from all downtime activities that aren't rest or work. Your hands count as daggers.

Drawback: When there is any roll to see what you do, the DM may choose either the one rolled or one of the results adjacent.

Flamen

In the morning, the lauds. At noon, sacrifices for his health. In the evening, vespers. The tectonic clockwork of law. May his majesty be preserved, may he reign forever. It'll go on without you, you hope.

Items: Samite Vestements, an ornate Censer, a Book of Hours.

Benefit: You know a ritual for safeguarding a person. It takes an hour, must be performed thrice per day for full effect, and takes a day of intense expenditure to start up. So long as you perform it, the target will not die before his appointed end, and will generally find success and favor.

Drawback: If you don't perform the ritual after you start it, all fortunes are reversed. Might be avoided by loudly mourning and holding a lavish fake funeral for the target. Also the ritual is generally reserved for the local ruler only and is illegal for anyone else. Also you generally have somewhere else to be.

 

*Mechanically: When rolling reaction checks, results above 7 are treated as one result higher, and below seven are treated as one result lower, specifically towards you. On seven exactly, you get to choose exactly what the person thinks of you. (results higher than the highest might be worship or infatuation, and lower than the lowest might be undying hatred)

 **Purposefully vague

Thanks to Gorinich for being my local MOSAIC Strict addict and helping me abide by its principals.