Learn What I Heard the Sea-born Seer Relate (GLAUGUST, M&M: Fates)

The lot has been cast, and my quest decided: the PRIMEUMATON spake that I must "Breathe New Life into an Old Post". So I shall, and This post seems apt for my Mazes and Minotaurs game.

Fate

The Fates sit before their hearth at the center of the world (which is everywhere), spinning, weaving, cutting, mending, all the twistings of the lives of men. They do this at the behest and consent of Zeus, king of the gods. Of course, he commands them only because he is fated to. Who can search out the workings of the gods?

All the gods (including rather minor ones) can reveal fated futures to men, and especially to their priests and special oracles (which can sometimes include horrible beasts like harpies or sphinxes). It is a bit of an effort. Way easier to just tell them things that were or are, rather than will be. Further, there is a difference between a thing prophesied and a thing fated. Prophesies can be conditional: You will surely die unless you eat that berry. Fates are absolute: You will kill your father and marry your mother.

The conditional nature of prophesy is not uncertainty in the future: the Fates know your future, inexorably. It's instead the choice of the god giving the prophecy to not give you the full story. They're still truthful, and probably more useful than a fate. But if you choose to eat the berry and not die, that was your Fate from the beginning. If you don't eat it and die, that was your Fate from the beginning too. But the god isn't telling you which one will happen.

When a character levels up, they roll to detemine if their Fate has been decided. Roll 1d10, minus the magnitude of their luck modifier, whether positive or negative. If this result is equal to or under their new level, their Fate is decided. A table of fates is given below, which can be rolled by the DM, modified by the character's Luck mod. Or the DM can simply choose which one they have. The gods have been known to play dice, but they aren't bound by them.

Example: Alexandros and Boops (it means "ox-eyed") level up to level 2, and have a luck mod (after ability enhancements) of +1 and -1 respectively. They both roll 3 on their d10 roll. The magnitude of both their luck scores is 1, so they both subtract 1 from 3 and get 2, which is equal to their level. Then, the DM rolls for their Fates. Alexandros gets a +1 to his result here, whereas Boops gets a -1 to his.

Fates (2d6)
≤2. You are going to (or have already) wronged the gods, and will die an ignominious death and have one of those special ironic punishments in hades.
3. You shall die by the sword. Which probably isn't news to you.
4. You shall die by your child.
5. You shall die in some circumstance (1d6):

1. Fire
2. Water
3. Under the earth
4. In the sky
5. On the horns of a bull
6. Due to Bees.

6. Roll again. If you roll this result again, treat it as 5. The result of the second roll is reworded to leave a multitude of interpretations.
7. Roll again. If you roll this result again, treat it as 8. The result of the second roll is complicated by the following factor (1d6):

1. You shall come within a hair's breadth of this fate, but it will not happen.
2. This fate will only come after you have wandered nearly the whole world
3. This fate will only come after you have lost what is dearest to you
4. This fate will only come if you devote yourself to one specific god.
5. This fate cannot come to pass until a certain person or monster is dead
6. This fate is surely impossible, and can be safely ignored! (until it comes down on your head)

8. You shall defeat the terrible [Monster/Evil wizard/What-have-you].
9. You shall learn a great secret.
10. You shall wage a war against [City-state] and win.
11. You shall found a great city.
12. You shall ascend to godhood.
(results 2-5 are "Fated Deaths" while results 8-12 are "Fated Quests")

While you possess a Fate, you cannot die until it is completed. You could be chopped into pieces, turned to stone, cast into the pits of Tartarus, wither until you become a grasshopper, etc. but you can't die. Mechanically, this means that while you could be incapacitated by damage, and "die", effects such as a Nymph's Kiss of Life or a Mithraic Priest's Divine Resurrection have no time limit to work on you, since you aren't technically dead (just mostly dead, and therefore slightly alive). You can also be raised by divine intervention, or even minor intervention (Thanatos will recognize there's been some sort of a mix-up, and bring you back).

However, if you would die, instead you lose something else. This starts at the edges of your life and works in. Maybe you lose your father first, then the rest of your family, then your good name, then that magic item you use all the time, then perhaps a level, then your sight or strength... This also happens if you ignore your fated quest for a year, or do something drastic to avoid a fated death (such as trying to kill your kid). At any time you may declare that you have "nothing left to lose". This stops the "clock" for your tragedies, but you'll roll twice and take the lower result for all rolls that don't work to fulfill your Fate, and you die as soon as possible after you fulfill your fate.

Just because you have a Fate doesn't mean the spindle of Clotho stops turning. You still roll to see if you have a new Fate each time you level up. However, while you have an unfulfilled Fate, your luck modifier doesn't affect the d10 roll (though it still affects the fate-table roll), and you roll an extra dice for each unfulfilled fate you have and take the highest result. Also, rolling a Fate from a level up doesn't tell you (the player or the character) what the fate is. You still need to find an oracle for that, and probably should do it quick before some oracular monster uses it to mess with your head.

Example: Boops levels up to level 3 while still having his fate unfulfilled. He rolls 2d10 to see if he has a new fate, and gets 3 and 8. His luck mod doesn't affect this at all, and he has to take the higher. 8 is higher than his new level, so he doesn't have any new fate.

Finally, none of the gods take kindly to being toyed with. If you use your outlandish Fated Death to do some dumb shenanigans, expect the sudden appearance of your paradoxically unborn child, or a mysterious swarm of angry bees.

Mazes and Minotaurs: d30+ Gods to Show Up for a Minor Intervention

Sometimes a player might make a Minor Intervention without being very specific, or maybe the god they named is busy at the time. Here's a vague list of gods, mostly historical, that might show up instead. I've tried to make it so that the neighbors of each entry are related in some way. The GM may of course decide how the god reacts, but a default behavior is also listed.

1. The Moirai, goddesses of Fate. Mostly just here to giggle, but might give prophecy.
2. Dike, of Justice. Stern and totally impartial, will cut a liar's tongue out.
3. Aedos, of Shame. A veiled woman with a diffident mien, but audacious in word, will reveal whatever people don't want revealed.
4. Nemesis, punisher of hubris. Sympathetic to the unlucky, spiteful if you've prospered
5. The Furies, punishers of sin. If you did kinslaying or breached xenia, will try to kill you. If not, sit around picking their noses.
6. The Graces, givers of gifts. Will cure one curse (of yours or the enemy), or double your Personal Charisma temporarily.
7. The Hours, of fruitfulness. Their mere presence speeds the growth of plants, but mostly they just dance about.
8. Calliope, of Epic poetry. Beatifically bored, wants to see or hear something interesting.
9. Clio, of History. Will tell you, at length, the details of local history and folklore. Mystic fortitude save to stay awake.
10. Euterpe, Erato, Polyhymnia, of Song. The game is a musical now, no more talking only singing.
11. Terpsichore, of Dance. Everyone present gets +3 to their Grace score temporarily.
12. Thalia, of Comedy, and Melpomene, of Tragedy. In an extended and lively debate about how this should end.
13. Urania, of Astronomy. Very agreeable, if sleepy, by daylight; Would like you to leave her alone at night.
14. Iris, of the Rainbow. If she actually shows up, she has a message for you. It's very important.
15. Hermes. Sometimes just shows up!
16. Pan, of the countryside. Will likely scatter everyone about, like they all got drunk and woke up somewhere random. After this, will randomly bother the scattered party members.
17. Eros, of sudden Love. Will select either the two most likely partners, or the two most unlikely partners, and target them with his arrows (which they might dodge).
18. Morpheus, of sleep. Will send all present to sleep, and give them a collective dream, which might be pretty helpful for conflict resolution (50% gate of horn, 50% gate of ivory).
19. Thanatos, of death. 50% he has come for a random person present. If he hasn't come for a specific person, might be persuaded to end someone early.
20. Hebe, or Ganymede, of youth. They (whichever is present) bear the cup of youth, and offer a sip from the worthiest (highest level) mortal present (they can then offer this to an ally). Restores all health and reduces their age by 2d6, down to 16 at lowest.
21. Heracles, of heroes. Gives 100 glory (mazes and minotaurs XP for fighters) to the hero with the highest glory.
22. Asclepius, of health. His first concern is the sick, dying, and dead; Will cure the most dire present (including bringing the dead or undead back to life).
23. Aristeaus, of bees. Believes the situation can be only improved with the addition of a considerable quantity of bees; They aren't angry but there sure are a lot.
24. A Nymph, of whatever is most prominent in the vicinity. Much older and more powerful than player character nymphs. Character (1d4): 1. Amorous 2. Dread 3. Innocent 4. Wise.
25. An Anemoi, of the Winds. Anemoi (1d4): 1. Bearded and grumpy Boreas 2. Youthful and refreshing Zephyrus 3. Warlike and Blustering Notos 4. Contemplative and sullen Eurus.
26. A Nephele, or more likely quite a few, of the Clouds. Delightful encouragers of philosophy and fantasy and apparent enemies of common sense; Will speculate for hours.
27. A Lampad, or more likely quite a few, of Torches. Silent, mischievous, beckon for you to follow (1d4): 1. into the underworld (maybe back out) 2. into a sacred grove 3. up to the starry heavens 4. to be hopelessly lost.
28. Hecate, of magic. Gives 100 wisdom (mazes and minotaurs xp for wizards) to the hero with the highest wisdom, and changes one curse, enchantment, or fate into something stranger.
29. Proteus, of the sea-change. All know his challenge: To the one who can hold him through 3 of his transformations, will tell the future or grant some (broadly beneficial, but possibly weird) change to their physical forms. If you can't, suffer mutation.
30. Chronos, of time. Unlike most gods, who are flighty and fickle and prone to their own desires, he is very patient, and will slow down time or stop it to hear and consider the situation. Surprisingly, perfectly willing to send you back in time. Resolving paradoxes (or choosing not to resolve them) is his job, and he loves his job.

You can and should comment more gods to add to the list. Default behavior is optional.

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?

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

In my quest to become the Worst OSR Writer, I have decided to run a game of Dungeons and Dragons Fourth Edition. 4e was released in 2008. That's 16 years ago! Clearly it has passed into the realm of "Old School" gaming, and is due for a Renaissance. 4e presents a good ludonarrative resonance, I believe, for a specific type of game. It does very badly at simulating medieval fantasy life, but does a great job of simulating cartoons about simulations of medieval fantasy life; that is to say, I hypothesize it does a great job with Isekai anime.

I always liked the 4e gods ("The Dawn War Pantheon"), even if I did not, in my youth, enjoy 4e, as I said in my previous post, which I shall now entirely disregard. However, I noticed that there is an issue when constructing a 4e Isekai game: Your main churchy gods of good, Bahamut and Pelor, are gods. The JRPG standard dictates that your benevolent good guy church must worship a goddess, or several. So a gender-swap is needed (and fits perfectly to patterns exemplified in, for instance, the Fate series). This set off a cascade of thoughts that might make the Dawn War Pantheon more interestingly boring (boringly interesting?).

The Pelor you wanted

In honor of 4e, I've sectioned this post into Lore DCs, a much beloved 4e staple. If you are going to play in my 4e game, read DC 10 and DC 15 only, the rest is spoilers. Content Warning for Divine-Typical freakiness.

The Pelor you got

DC 10

There are ten gods that rule the world:

Pelora, goddess of the Sun; Bahamat, goddess of Justice; Avandros, god of Luck; Moradi, goddess of the Forge; Erathus, god of Law; Ioun, god of Knowledge; Kord, goddess of Strength; Melor, god of Nature; Sehanine, goddess of the Moon; and the Raven Prince, god of Death.

There are seven lords that rule hell:

Ashmadeva, goddess of Evil; Lolth, goddess of Darkness; Vecna, goddess of Secrets; Bane, goddess of Conquest; Torog, goddess of Torture; Zehira, goddess of Poisons; and Tiamut, god of Greed.

The seventeen gods fought in a war at the dawn of time against the primordials, beings of elemental chaos that would have destroyed the world. They won, and now the world exists, and the gods fight within it for the spirits of mortals. Each race has its own god, who made it. Moradi made the dwarves, Sehanine made the eladrin, Avandros made the fauns, Bahamat made the dragonborn, and Ashmadeva made the cursed Tieflings. No one knows who made humanity. Most people think it was probably Erathus, or Pelora, or Melor, or the Raven Prince.

Whatever the case, pretty well everyone except the dwarves and the dragonborn mixed up together and that where you get halflings and half-elves and elves (though, "true" elves are born from the mixing of Eladrin and Fauns specifically)

There are a few other things, like how the orcs have no god, and only worship their warlord, but that covers most of everything.

DC 15

There are eleven gods that rule the world:

Pelora, goddess of the Sun, Life, and Family. She is the mother of men and angels, the god of six heavens, and by far the most popular god in creation. She is worshiped by the Church of the Sun, which teaches good old fashioned values, like love, honesty, and the ruthless eradication of the undead, demons, and devils. She is a little picky that you worship her only, but she is still friendly with the other gods. If you do well in her service, she will bring you to one of the heavens, where you will enjoy countless delights. There are many demigods of Pelora, and many saints and angels in her service. She also has avatars abroad in many forms, as men and women of all ages. You may recognize them by their golden hair, golden eyes, and unearthly beauty.

Bahamat, goddess of Justice, Nobility, and Dragons. She is the mother of dragons and the dragonborn, the god of the seventh heaven, the platinum dragon. She is worshiped by the Adamantine Order, the greatest order of knights and paladins in the world. Bahamat encourages strict discipline and paragon goodness. She is the greatest enemy of evil and chaos. She lives in the Amethyst Citadel in the northernmost parts of the world. She is served by the good dragons, the dragons of gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, mercury, and lead. They say there is a secret to becoming a dragonborn, known only to the Adamantine Order.

Avandros, god of Luck, Travel, and Pleasure. He is the father of fauns and elves, king of the fairies, and the patron of adventurers. Of all the gods who are, according to popular canon, good, Avandros is the most fickle. He is married (for a certain, non-exclusive definition of married) to Sehanine. Avandros possesses no divine domain of his own, sharing Sehanine's. Most inns (and brothels) are temples of Avandros, started by great adventurers who decided to settle down. Avandros is more often served by warlocks than by clerics, and is, of course, one of the two original granters of the Fey Pact. He travels the world in many guises. Fauns and Satyrs are his demigods, mostly male, and he sired almost all of them himself.

Moradi, goddess of the Forge, Craft, and Loyalty. She is the mother of dwarves. This, contrary to popular belief, is not a literal statement. There are female dwarves besides Moradi, and they are very important, the matriarchs of the mines, but they are both hidden from outsiders and look very similar to male dwarves. Moradi was instrumental in laying the literal foundations of the world, using sheer strength and skill to form bedrock from primordial chaos. Despite this, she's mainly worshiped only by dwarves, and really doesn't mind. Dwarves are her perfect creation, the completed form of the prototype known as ants. Moradin invented many things, from swords to weaving, but she is very selfless, and gave most of her inventions to other gods. 

[Digression]

Mechanically, Eladrin and Fauns are identical, except Fauns get a bonus to Dex and must choose between Charisma and Intelligence, and get a +2 to Nature and Bluff. Demigods of Pelora are mechanically just humans

[/Digression]

These are the gods that are known to all as the gods of Good. There are seven gods that remain neutral:

Erathus, god of Law, Civilization, and Technology. He is father of men. His divine domain is Erathus, the One City. To all knowledge, he has only one demigod, Erathus Rex, god-king of Erathus. Unlike most demigods, he is apparently immortal. I don't need to type all this up, just imagine Solomon David from Kill Six Billion Demons. That's exactly what both Erathus and Erathus Rex look and act like. Erathus built the Inevitables to act as their servants.

Ioun, god of Knowledge, Prophecy, and the Stars. They are the god of wizards, and the wizard of gods. Before Ioun came, there were no wizards, only clerics and warlocks, but Ioun taught the secrets of arcane magic to men. Ioun was not originally a god. They were, originally, a star, but they fell to earth. Ioun has no demigods, and has only one avatar, in which they appear as a robed and shadowy mage with a strange inner light. Their domain is the Tower of Art, surrounded by the Academy of Stars, of which they are the often absent headmaster.

Melor, god of Nature, the Ocean, and Animals. He is the father of monsters and spirits, and made Lakal, the World Tree. His domain is pretty much everywhere that doesn't have another god squatting on it. Melor has two avatars: Behemoth and Leviathan. Almost nobody worships Melor, unless they want an earthquake or tsunami or something. Druids and other primal types worship his children, the Primal Spirits. These aren't demigods, they are godlings, the children of Melor and the World Tree. His demigods, which he does not hesitate to sire, are the monsters that plague men. It is his job to protect nature, which often means crushing humans.

Kord, goddess of Strength, Courage, and Storms. She is the mother of Barbarians. Melor used to have three avatars, until Kord killed Anzu, the thunderbird, and ate it.

Sehanine, goddess of the Moon, Illusions, and Love. She is the mother of Eladrin and Elves, queen of the fairies. Sehanine's domain is the Lambent Forest, also called the Forest of the Moon or Fairyland, a dark forest dotted with glowing crystals. It is the home of the Eladrin, her demigods, mostly female, along with the fauns and the fairies. Within this forest is Melliora, the City of the Elves. While eladrin and fauns are the demigods of Sehanine and Avandros respectively, and elves are the children of those two races, fairies are the children of Sehanine and Avandros with one another, godlings in their own right, and numerous. In the Lambent Forest, these creatures mix, and lines become very blurred.

The Raven Prince, god of Death and Winter. He has no children. He appears as a young, handsome man to those who are dying, and they offer him a last prayer. Only few gods are known to have the power to take the spirit after death: Pelor and Bahamat might take the spirit to be reincarnated in their heavens, while Ashmadeva might claim them for hell, and Ioun might request them for study. However, these are only temporary, and everyone goes to the Raven Prince in the end.

Gruumsh the one-eyed is the warlord of the orcs and goblins. She is, or was, also the goddess of slaughter, one of the gods of hell. The story goes like this:

"Gruumsh was never a genial goddess, and once insulted Avandros during the Dawn War. Avandros took his bow and put out her eye. To spite him, Gruumsh took some elves and fauns and tortured them, corrupting them into her perfect warriors. Thus began the wars of elves and orcs. Gruumsh was so enamored with her "creations" that she devoted all her focus to them. They were very simple: they wanted war, and bloodlust, and victory. Humans were much more complicated, and had scruples about hearing lamentations of women and such."
"Before she knew it, she was so surrounded with idiot worshipers that she became an idiot herself. Her avatars and their warbands began to fight each other for fun, and now she is so weak that she is barely a goddess, possessing one avatar, the immortal warlord of the orcs. When she gets enough power, she immediately makes another avatar to spread more war, but her avatars just end up fighting again. An embarrassment to hell, they exiled her to the Fields of Blood on the mortal world."

There are seven lords that rule hell:

Ashmadeva, goddess of Evil and Tyranny, the Commander of Hell. She is the mother of tieflings and devils, and rules the lowest and worst part of hell. She (or rather, her emissaries) makes deals with mortals, conscripting their souls for hell's army in exchange for power.

Lolth, goddess of Darkness and Spiders, the Governor of Hell. She is the mother of the drow and the driders, and rules the borders of hell and the underdark. The drow pay their tithes to hell in food, blood, gold, and captives.

Vecna, goddess of Secrets and Necromancy, the Scholar of Hell. She is the spiritual mother of liches, and rules the Necropolis of Knowledge. As everyone knows, her greatest servants are her hand and her eye.

Bane, goddess of Conquest and Strategy, the Captain of Hell. She rules the Slaughter Grounds. She was once a mortal student of Gruumsh before the warlord fell from grace, so to speak, but she has now surpassed her master in every way. Some warlords of the mortal world pay tribute to her.

Torog, goddess of Torture and Biomancy, the Sergent of Hell. She rules the Hell of Hooks and Nails, where she experiments on mortal spirits. She is the god of hell most likely to kidnap the living, and it is held that merely saying her name will draw her to you.

Zehira, goddess of Poison and Conspiracy, the Spymaster of Hell. She rules the Lake of Sulphur from atop her tower, and her children are the Yuan-ti.

Tiamut, god of Greed and Dragons, the Treasurer of Hell. He is the father of dragons, who took form when his seed spilled upon the elemental chaos. Bahamat is his child, but she and her children rebelled and redeemed herself from her birth.

[Digression]

Heaven and Hell and the other divine realms are, for the most part, physical locations in the world that you can totally get to. The seven heavens are 7 cloud palace paradises*. Hell is below the underdark.

*Actually, one of them is the Sun. Relatedly, the Lambent Forest is technically on the Moon, despite the fact that you can walk right into it.

[/Digression]

But there is one more god, neither of the earth nor of hell: Tharizdun, the traitor god, the elder eye, the father and mother of demons, the chained one. He was imprisoned in the elemental chaos for a crime committed in the Dawn War, and longs to be free to destroy the world. His progeny afflict the world, and even the devils fight against them.

Spoilers past this point

DC 20

The Dawn War never ended. How could it? The Elemental Chaos is simply too vast, at least three times the size of the world, if not infinite. If you go to the edge of the earth and look over, it is just seething entropy further than the horizon. The gods are still fighting. Perhaps not desperately, for chaos acts against itself as often as it attacks the world, but they are not at peace.

The Pelor you got :(

Pelora has not had so many demigods without reason. I mean, she is certainly a horny bastard, but there's a purpose when her avatars solicit sex after healing your cancer. She is making an army. On earth, her demigods become her clerics, or get nepotism'd into another priesthood. If they become powerful enough, she spirits them away to her heavens to serve her as warriors and consorts.

There are three things called angels: Angels with a capital A, faceless, ethereal, terrifying embodiments of primordial good, who occasionally serve gods; Archangels, the godling children of Pelora and other gods who shall remain unnamed, and the angels of Pelora, the children of the goddess and her own demigods. Of the last, there are three kinds: Archons, who lead armies and, ahem, produce more angels with the goddess; Seraphs, who do battle with the forces of chaos; and Cherubs, who are either too weak, too young, or too old to perform active service, and therefore tend heavenly orchards or herd golden sheep to feed the armies. Don't get it wrong, Pelora loves all of them, and loves all people in general. Even in her divine supersoldier program, everyone is cared for tenderly in a literal paradise. It's just, there's a war going on, you know?

Bahamat thinks this is repulsive. Firstly the incest, but secondly, copulating with lesser races? Disgusting! Sure, we should protect the mortals, but there are better ways of going about it! Take, for instance, her dragonborn, produced by directly improving upon humans, rather than sullying the divine blood. Put them in a stone egg, expose them to the sacred fires for about a year or so, and they come out as though they'd never known the weakness of flesh at all. Bahamat and Pelora, despite their public alliance, are bitter rivals, and think each other as wicked as any of those gods that dwell in the Pit.

Avandros, Sehanine, and their fairy children are a little more lackadaisical about the war. They'll sometimes pop into the elemental chaos themselves, but only for a bit of sport. According to the other gods, they've grown far too puckish to care, and if they have any sort of plan, they haven't let it slip yet. Allegedly, they've taken to collecting odd bits of sentiment: dreams, love stories, adventures, children...

Moradi is long dead, or at least missing. Some say she went the way of Gruumsh, pouring too much into or getting too little out of her people, the dwarves. Others say she sequestered herself within them, each dwarf containing a minuscule shard of her power. Whatever the case, her clerics seem to still function, but are restricted to dwarves and those who are strongly dwarvish. The dwarves still produce legendary artifacts, deep within their mountain citadels.

Erathus and Melor have, together, the strongest claim for the creation of humanity, the greatest weapon of the gods. The spirits of men are like seeds taking root in the desert, holding the world firm and slowly imparting fertility and law. At their deaths, the Raven Prince, who was once a man himself but was raised to godhood for the purpose, disintegrates their spirit, scattering it like seeds to take new root in the bodies of new mothers. The greatest spirits produce thousands of seeds, but are also powerful in themselves as warriors against chaos. For this reason, the Compact of Spirits was made, to preserve for a time the greatest spirits in the heavens or the hells.

(Avandros, who is the main source of this information since it occurred before the arrival of Ioun, says that Erathus and Melor made humans during a brief and tumultuous, but passionate, affair. He is probably lying.)

Kord, The Raven Prince, Vecna, and Bane are the four gods who were once human. When Kord killed Anzu, Melor promised to share a third of his domain with her on the condition that she never do that again. Bane was given Gruumsh's vacant position by Ashmadeva. Vecna was a student of Ioun, but stole from them the secret of godhood. The circumstances of the Raven Prince's ascension are a very well kept secret.

There is, however, a fifth who was "mortal", so to speak, and ascended to godhood: Lakal, the world tree, was a godling of peace and beauty born of Melor and Pelora. The story is obscure as to whether she became a god before becoming a tree, and whether becoming the world tree was a punishment or a privilege. Despite her being truly a divine being like any god, she cannot answer prayers or grant powers. Because she is a tree.

Ioun, as is commonly known, was indeed once a star. What is not commonly known is that the stars are the bright guises of the entities of the Astral Sea, also called the Far Realm, beings of dreadful and incomprehensible thought. As a star, they were known as Caiphon, Ulthar, or Yoharneth-Lahai. They were curious regarding the world, and the great elder gods exiled them into it for their curiosity. The great, radiant bulk of their body lies beneath the Academy of Stars, buried by leagues of earth. 

(Ioun, of course, allowed Vecna's ascension. When asked, they said "[She] is the most intelligent being in this world, by far. Except for me, of course. But you'll have to grow up sometime.")

As for Gruumsh, one might wonder: is there such a thing as a good orc? In a sense, there is. But it is very rare. The Fields of Blood, you see, are impenetrably cursed. The whole expanse is haunted by millions of furious orc ghosts. Even the Raven Prince can no longer handle them, as they are so numerous that he might have to devote a century to the task at the expense of the whole world. When an orc is born in the Fields of Blood, dozens of orc ghosts latch onto their weak spirit and hold on with terrifying vigor, propelling the orc throughout its life in pursuit of sheer bloodlust. It would take an Archangel of Pelora to exorcise a single orc, and that might expend their power for a week.

Orcs born outside the Fields of Blood are not thus possessed, and are known as Half-Orcs (lacking half of what makes an orc). Many are known to lead very decent, even heroic lives, and they often devote themselves to Bahamat, Avandros, or Kord.

The duties of Ashmadeva and the rest of the gods of hell are, I hope, by this point obvious. Hell is the front lines of the War. Ashmadeva is the commander of the armies of hell, and Bane is her captain and strategist. Vecna and Torog search out new secrets and create soldiers to bolster the army. Zehira ensures the politics of the world do not interfere with hell's goals, and Lolth manages the home front, so to speak. Tiamut finances and, of course, makes dragons, the elite artillery of hell. (That thing about his "seed" is a lie he tells to stupid warlocks to piss off his sister. He makes them the old fashioned way.)

Devils of Ashmadeva (analogous in many ways to the Angels of Pelora), of course, get loose from time to time and cause havoc, so the good gods send them back to hell where they belong. Even if the gods of the world and the gods of hell are on the same side, you may be assured that the gods of hell are Evil. They are, to be certain, not Evil for Evil's sake. They are evil because they have no qualms, no scruples about the lives of humans or each other. They are utterly merciless, and have neither the time nor the energy for "happiness". Torture makes the troops fight. The goal of hell is to make carving a bloody path through the infinite fire-acid-claustrophobia of the Elemental Chaos the easy way out.

[Digression]

What is a Deva? A Deva is a member of the exceedingly rare constructed race known as the Imdeva. They possess strange bodies and spirits that may reincarnate fully formed in the domain of their patron, though they lose a great part of their spirit in the process. They tend towards extremes of good and evil. They were invented by the Sisters, Ashmadeva and Pelodeva.

[/Digression]

Tharizdun is truly said to be the father and mother of demons. The lie of Tiamut is truth in his case. It is commonly said that Tharizdun was an evil god seduced (literally?) by the Elemental Chaos, and his seed, the demonseed, grew into the Abyss, a tumor of evil beneath hell. But some say that he descended into the Elemental Chaos for some other motive. Some believe he was a god of Mercy, and sought to end the dawn war. Others that he was a god of trickery, and sought to turn the enemy against itself (and some say he succeeded). Others say he was a god of both life and death, and the gods were jealous of his power. Whatever the case, when he descended, the gods imprisoned him, and now there is no doubt as to his hatred and madness. The gods are silent on the truth.

DC 25

Here is a children's story that Ioun tells to his favorite students:

"Once, there was a man. We shall call him He-Who-Was, it is as good a name as any. He-Who-Was lived in a great city of light and darkness, where there lived many strange people who thought strange thoughts you would never ever think of. He-Who-Was thought many strange thoughts too, but they are things you might think of. He loved, above all things, multiplicity, and contradiction, and wonders, and he thought of things like law and chaos, good and evil, trees and cities."

"It happened one day that he met a woman, who we shall call the Lady. She loved simplicity, and logic, and was very strict. He-Who-Was fell in love immediately, because he loved contradiction, and she thought of all the things he couldn't think of. If he thought of colors, she thought of greys. If he thought of a billion, she thought of one. The Lady, it happens, loved him too, for he was only one thing, even if there was so many things in him. And He-Who-Was decided that they should move out of the city, and build a little place, a cottage in the wild places, away from the strange ideas of the city. It would be a place where there would only be the two of them, and their ideas."

"The people in the city laughed at him, because he went to live in the wild places and did not listen to their ideas, and they still laugh at him today. The beasts in the wilderness hated him, because he did not stay in the city, and brought his strange ideas to invade the wild places. But his cottage was strong, and far from the city, and the two of them lived happily."

"In time, He-Who-Was and the Lady had two daughters, twins. The Lady was horrified, and angry, because she wanted only He-Who-Was. She wanted one, and now there were three. She wanted the two of them to live together, and now there were four. Before she could think, she struck her husband, and tore him straight in two. To her shock, out of him came two sons, leaving the shell of his body behind. She could stay no longer, for the cottage was too full now of children and regret. She fled away, and built herself another cottage, even smaller and apart."

"The children were alone, and forced to keep the cottage against the wild beasts and hide from the strange city-folk. But the Lady was not heartless (though she would not like my saying so). So she spoke with the birds and sent them to watch over the children until they were grown, to feed them and warn them. And so, to this day, the four children (though there are more now) live in the cottage with the birds, and fight, and hide, and try to grow up, and the Lady lives apart, though now she so longs for her husband that she allows a few to enter her house."

"I tell you all this so that you might someday grow up too. And you may trust that I know what happened, because I saw it all. But don't worry about this story, because it is almost all lies."

Loch made this

god this post is so long.

Dawn War Remix: Avandra

 

4e has a warm place in my heart, though when I played it I railed continually against it. The dawn war pantheon in particular I find to be so generic that they wrap back around to being interesting. Some other people on the glog server also noticed this, and have been making some interpretations of the gods into their more odd style. So I thought I might.

Many-Faced Avandra, Opener of Ways, is the god of the roads. She is an interloper among the gods. Many believe that she walked into heaven, though few can ever agree where she walked there from. Many people also believe that she walked straight back out. She is the god of the foreigner, merchant and refugee and army. And she is distinctly abroad. Put her on your encounter tables.

The Peregrine God is worshiped by pretty much everyone in a token way, but some dedicate themselves to her. They are called Way-Priests. Some maintain the roads themselves, other maintain wayside shrine-inns (one room is always reserved. Other rooms might be taken by travelers, fairies, and angels.), others parade idols for miles and miles. The most sacred sacrament of Avandra is the Seek. The seeker makes a sacrifice of blood, and declares what they must find, and thenceforth can have neither home nor death till they have found it. No one makes a Seek lightly, because all know the legends of the tortured ascetic heroes, awful monsters, and legendary questants that Seekers have become.

Some wizards say that the Seek is far older than Avandra, that it led to her godhood, and that she is still seeking something. Others say that Avandra was never a mortal, that she entered this world from some secret direction that no one has yet discovered, that she was something no one has yet named. Yet others say she was a god in a world that ended, and fled its destruction. She has heard all these rumors. They make her laugh.

d20 Masks of the Peregrine God

1. Albatross

2. Old Crone

3. Young Boy on his way to ADVENTURE

4. Wolf

5. Sword-distributing maiden

6. Way-Priest

7. Merchant with Unusual Wares

8. Kord (She thinks this is hilarious, and does a very bad impression)

9. Deer

10. Huntress with Deer Horns

11. Pervasive fog that gets you lost (in the right direction)

12. Will-o-wisp

13. Crossroads Idol (if you stick around it for long enough, she'll get tired and vanish)

14. Runaway Princess

15. Beggar

16. Talking Bird

17. Boisterous Ronin

18. Lost Child

19. Very Large Centipede

20. Unicorn and/or Pegasus

d6 Intentions

1. Mess with you. Following her advice makes any journey twice as long.

2. Bless you, if she thinks you'll need it, with some fairytale boon.

3. Walk and talk with you for a while.

4. Inform you of some nearby quest that she thinks needs taking care of.

5. Roleplay. She honestly just wants to hunt, or merchant, or adventure for a while.

6. Speed your journey up. Following her advice makes any journey half as long.

 We're gonna pretend this counts for the "Patrons: their source of power/wealth and their goals in using the party." GLoGtober prompt.

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.

God-kings Rule the World: a Short Response to Cosmic

Cosmic Orrery made a post yesterday about Wizards. 3d6 Polar Bears responded to them. I have a few thoughts on both. Unfortunately, blogger is a glitchy mess and I'm not on the Purple Server, so my comments will have to be extended into Content. Not very long content though.

Cosmic's post elaborates on the theme of Wizards and their Domains, and how well a cyclical model of tiny witch-kings creates to the standard dungeons and dragons milleu. It's perhaps not a totally original idea, but I have never valued originality terribly highly. I prefer things to be well-crafted and thought out, so I welcome a post which makes clear the uses of a setting assumption. My thesis is, I think, similarly obvious, but similarly useful: The Wizards that Cosmic describes don't need to be Wizards.

I mean that they need not be scholarly, old magicians, or even skeletal liches. Rather, one can include quite a variety. Ambitious prophets of gods, dark or light. Sword-Saints with magical blades that can cut down 20 men. Some other third thing. All these are likely to seek out magic and wealth, carve out their domain, and fall like lightning. You could probably call them Wizards if you like. But it seems like the powerful tend to blur into each other. If your sword-saint can summon spirit-lightning, he's not so much different from a sword-using wizard. Kill Six Billion Demons has a lot of examples.

Can you spot the Wizard?

 So maybe it would be better to think of them in more general terms. They are simply the Powerful, the god-kings. Some have a scholarly bent, some make secret deals with awful powers, some use swords, some sneak unseen, all are terribly good at killing. All of them are gonna build weird dungeons, make weird creatures, leave weird artifacts, send you on weird quests, and make satisfying noises when you shank them. History is littered with their bodies.

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.

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