Religion and the Hill Cantons Part Two: the Outlier Deities

Following up from the last post on religion and the HC campaign, the remaining two “outcast” deities of Solarism and the pagan old gods of the Pahr. The last post will finish the series up with the myriad godlings and inimical gods (and an “Appendix N” of all the various half-baked sources in the cosmology mix).

Habeka the Celestial Lady

A spurned and feisty female deity (also called the Lady, She Who We Shall Not Mention, or the Triple-Goddess) whose now-heretical followers seek to restore her place in the Divine Family. While her relative divine status is disputed, her location and lack of mobility is not: she is currently chained to the Great Hearth constellation—a situation she and her followers greatly resent, naturally. Men of learning attribute the nourishing twice annual Blood Rains to the Lady's periodic revenge beatings of the Sun Lord with her star-forged silver chains.

Her followers are divided among three bickering secret societies: the Evening Star, the Morning Star, and the Starry Void lodges. The first two societies are mostly moderate and socially egalitarian factions with a strong base artisans and denizens of the Borderlands. The Starry Void is a zealous, secretive, and lotus-addled crew who are rumored to dabble with the Mysteries of the Outer Void.

A: Neutral (Evening Star), Chaotic Good (Morning Star), Neutral to Chaotic Evil? (Starry Void)

B: Darkness 15' foot (3), Commune (7), Meteor Swarm (15)

C: All classes but Clerics and Druids. Magic users, Monks and Assassins only for the Starry Void.

D: Co-Ruler of All Creation, Mystery, Motherhood

William Blake's The Night of Enitharmon's Joy (often called Hecate)

The Antagonist, The Fallen Demiurge, Ha-Vul

A third malicious yet lawful entity, carefully never called directly by its true name, is often attributed to the Solarist religious grouping. Some in the borderlands believe that the god has no real substance and is merely a folk legend maintained by the Sun Lord's spiritual lords to scare some moral purity into the dullard minds of Corelands folk. Others say that this entity is the collective spirit of that fell domain known as the Anti-Cantons and a brave few maintain that he may even be a wayward, malicious aspect of the Sun Lord himself.

A: Lawful Evil only

B: reversed spells only. Cause Light Wounds (2)

C: (Anti) Clerics

D: Rigidity, Corruption, Being a Dick

Pahr “Old Gods”

The gods worshiped by the Pahr people of the Overkingdom and Kezmarok before their conversion.

Svat the Four-Faced

Distant, vaguely warm Father Figure god, head of the Pahr Pantheon but greatly diminished in power to the point of his fading from existence outside of the four-faced wooden pillar shrines. It's unclear what we does all day and when he gets home he sits by the fire, smiling distractedly. 

A: Chaotic Good in some aspects, Neutral in others.

B: Pass Without Trace (2)

C: Druids, Fighters

D: Formerly all things. Unclear what current domain is other than his veneration by the unemployed and harassed Pahr fathers.

Radegast

Old Pahr name Radhošt. He is still widely revered during harvest rituals throughout the cantons as a folklore symbol even by Sun Lord worshipers.
A: Chaotic Good

B: Resist Drink (1), can voluntarily elect to drink three times as much as normal without becoming inebriated. Friends (2). Cheat Fate (5): Reroll a single die roll. Otto's Irresistible Dance (15)

C: Fighters, Rangers, Thieves, Mountebanks, Magic-Users

D: Hospitality, Games, Ludic Activity, Generosity, Fermented Drinks and the “Dionysic Soul”.

Storm-Child

Reputed by certain esoteric orders to be merely the half-human offspring of one of Radegast's many dalliances with the female half of humankind, he is undoubtedly the most beloved of the Lord of Hosts' children and his cult flourishes to this day in the backhills of the borderlands. His followers' abodes are instantly recognizable by the littering of children's toys, many teeth-marked, throughout their living space. Not one for subtle interventions Storm-Child demands the attention of mortals he encounter. Many of the “touched” ruffians, mountebanks and picaros that style themselves “adventurers” spread too-consistent tales of hearing the godling's howls carried by a far wind while deep in the Weird.

A: Chaotic Good

B: The Squalling (2), Shocking Grasp (4)

C: Fighters, thieves, half-ogres

D: Thunderstorms, Willfulness, and Dice

Religion and the Hill Cantons Part One: Sun-Lord Sects

I continue to plug away at Live Weird or Die, the obsessive compilation of house rules, variant classes, and Hill Cantons setting whoha. As the project grows it becomes unclear who I am actually writing for. The players? A broader audience? Or just myself?

At any rate I find it a pleasureable place to go in my mind when work gets overwhelming and it's helped fill in the holes during play so I take it as a good place to “procrastitask”.  And because the players have been recently eager as of late to suss out the various big-ticket cosmic mysteries in the campaign, I have been pounding the keys on the religion chapter.

Below is part one of that chapter, headed up by the simple system I am using to spit out the necessary D&D mechanical information. You will note my moving away from Clerics as a universal class for deities and one specifically tied to the ostensibly monotheistic dominant religion detailed here.

The first painting from Mucha's Slavonic cycle

Sect Characteristics

Attributed Alignment (A): the hyper-powerful beings called gods exist beyond the human-derived theoretical framework called alignment. In fact, many stories of the antics of the gods clearly show them acting in ways inconsistent with alignment behavior and it's not an infrequent occurrence for many of the most powerful gods to have distinct aspects, manifestations, or incarnations that act wholly in a different alignment mode (though never in the one directly in opposition). Of course, that doesn't stop humans from attributing a single, approximate alignment to the deity and an aspirational doctrine for followers.

Bonus Spells/Powers (B): Special bonus spells and powers granted to faithful clergy or other temporal agents beyond their normal spell range. The number in parenthesis represents what level the power is granted. All powers are useable once a day unless otherwise specified.

Priesthood Class (C): Clerics are only found in the ranks of the most supreme of all humanity's gods, the Sun Lord. All other clergy are vocational posts (with special powers/spells) eligible to certain classes as per their deity.

Domain (D): What humans consider the deity's area of control. Again the actual deity may consider his or her's brief to be something wider and may share or battle another power for jurisdiction.

Solarist Sects

Most of humanity in Zěm (the world that the Hill Cantons reside in) lives nominally under a single, yet highly fractious and localized religion called Solarism. As the centuries have rolled on this body of religious doctrine has been thought by sheltered Coreland practitioners to be the single “theologically correct” world view ruled (or at least dominated) by a single godhead, the Sun Lord. Though open to fierce debate two other “entities” the Celestial Lady and the Antagonist are recognized--to varying degrees--as part of the religious umbrella.

Paradoxically the more monolithic Solinaity has grown the more hyper-nuanced, locally-differentiated, contradictory, contested and absurd it's actual real world practice has become.

A: Lawful Good (with odd, rare Chaotic Good and Lawful Evil aspects)

B: by sect below

C: Clerics only

D: By doctrine all things human, but Illumination, Glory, Warmth, Sustaining the World, Heroic Activity, All Things Related to the Sky and the Sun,.

It is known that in the post-Hyborean period that the Sun Lord roamed the world conducting great feats. Achingly similar stories of his virile prowess and —the bullwhipping of the Unachus, the jilting of the White Goddess, etc--are told throughout the known world. One school of contemporary thought maintains that the Sun Lord was merely a mighty folk hero, a fleshy mortal sac like you and I, another that the many and diverse manifestations are the work of many separate local heroes. The more orthodox hold that he was an existent god, who manifested himself everywhere as hero and concealed his divinity as a test of humanity's worth.

The Sun Lord (his true name is banned from mention) drives the Chariot of the Heavens along the wheel-rutted troughs of the Dome of the Cosmos daily. The god spends the winter months dining with the ancient divine “space god” luminaries of Hyperborea. Some savants believe that the god is in reality a godhead of 313 “Rays” and that many old gods have been said to be usurped, absorbed or even eaten this way.

The faith is currently divided into 31 Houses of Orthodoxy over seemingly absurd doctrinal differences (whether sign of the sun is clockwise or counter, how many fingers used, the number of wheels on the Sun Chariot, etc.)

The Sun Lord grants special favor to his servants that walk the path of prim and orderly weal (LG), they gain access to the full range of spells and bonus powers. Clerics that have lapsed into Chaotic Good can use the full range of spells but not the bonus ones, while those who have decadently slipped into Neutral (a sad majority of this class, really) are limited to the first 3 levels of spells. Perversely Lawful Evil clerics gain access to all levels of only the reversible spells—though clearly they gain such nefarious power from secret affiliation with the powers of the Anti-Cantons or Ha-Vul the Antagonist (see Part 2). Chaotic Evil clerics do not exist.

Supernal Orthodox Temple of the Puissant Sun Lord

The official religion of the Overkingdom with an established and widespread hierarchy through most of human civilization. Projecting itself as a monotheistic (if syncretistic) religion, the Temple ostensibly dominates the Overkingdom spiritually. The Temple itself holds a tight monopoly on the manufacture and distribution of the Seed of the Sun (gunpowder), which does not work in the Weird.

A: as above

B: Light (1), Continual Light (4), Disputation (6): priest lays down such a mighty and byzantine line of theological polemic that the listener must save as vs. a Confusion spell, only usable on humans who understand Vulgar Hyperborean (the common tongue of the realm)

C: Clerics

D: as above

The Ultra-Orthodox Patriarchate

The official religion of Kezmarok with the Patriarch as its supreme spiritual head. Though astoundingly rigid in its doctrine and intolerance of other sects of the Solianity, they are shockingly tolerant of other “apostate” religions to the point of allowing their open (if regulated and taxed) worship.

A: as above

B: Smell Heresy (2): priest can smell out in a 20-foot radius followers of other houses, Continual Light (4), Disputation (6) as above.

C: Clerics

D: as above

Minor Houses

The Thousand-Faced Myrmidons

A martial order of clerics and lay-brothers who emphasize and centralize the hero-cult manifestations of the Sun Lord.

Brothers of the Other Mother

Orthodox monastic order that promotes the veneration of a less divine “Marian” like mother-figure to the Celestial Lady.

Followers of the Cleansing Rays

An ascetic order of ultra-orthodox followers that believe one must drop away all care of the material world and devote yourself to full-time basking in the rays of the sun and other devotional acts.

Brethren of the Supernal Skies

A mystical and martial order of monks devoted to a heretical reconciliation—cosmic “remarriage”--of the Sun Lord with the Celestial Lady. Nominally at war with the Other Mother cult.

The Quadraligists

An orthodox sect that dogmatically maintains that the Sun Lord's chariot has four wheels and four wheels only. In mutual and heated conflict with the Two-Wheeled School of Immanence and the Troikaites (who go as far as to say at times that the chariot could be in fact a sled).

The Fustians

It's unclear what they actually believe other than a highly contrarian worldview that involves the shouting down of opponents.

Primitive-Reconstructionists, Heimtbach Conclave

Orthodox sect that maintains that the Sun Lord has a single aspect to be venerated among all others. There is internal confusion however on what that aspect is, paralyzing their spread.

By This Axe Skirmish Rules Ready for Playtesting

Last week I promised that I would be releasing both a Skirmish and Campaign supplements as free PDFs for folks picking up copies of my mass battle rules By This Axe. The good news is that that work is steadily on track. A working draft of the skirmish rules are reasonably complete and poised for playtesting.

Basically I have taken the mini-game that handles duels in the larger battle system between strutting champions and extrapolated a dice-pool melee system that allows you to make individual tactical choices for warriors each combat turn. The scale is downshifted from the 1:5 and 1:20 system of the battle rules to a 1:1, unitless scale (though complemented by a simple command and control system). They seem to work reasonably well in my solo-testing for forces of 5-25 figures a side, but you know we will see as we get further in.

Anywho if you have picked up a copy of BTA (the draft rules will make very little sense if you don't have a copy) and are interested in playtesting or just giving me feedback drop me a line at kutalik at the gmail dot com and I will pleased as the proverbial punch to send you a copy of the draft.   

Save the Date: GuadaComaCon August 17

Looks like we are jumping back in the water again and doing a third South Texas mini-con. The date is set for Saturday August 17 at our usual digs, the styling New Braunfels convention center.

More updates later, but expect a solid day of miniatures and rpg action hosted by the local crew.  

yeah, yeah last year's logo

Two Freebie By This Axe Supplements Coming Down the Pike

Sales of By This Axe broke 100 yesterday (overwhelmingly the PDF) for which I am greatly appreciative of. Yay supporting advocacy work for autistic children.

One thing I wanted to flag the attention of for the folks who have ponied up their hard-earned dosh for BTA, I have plans for releasing not just the one campaign supplement that I promised earlier but two.

The campaign supplement will roll out as planned hitting the points I teased a few days ago (and adding a few more about tips on how to integrate the system with an ongoing rpg campaign) . Kicked in the butt by a new design inspiration flurry, I will also be releasing in the next couple weeks a free skirmish rules set (and yes, an errata) that extrapolates the duel “dice pool” mini-game in BTA into a more detailed one-on-one combat system.

Best of all to the frugal wargamer both supplements will be available for the “right price”, free, for all people who purchased either the PDF or print copies of BTA. Yay cheap asses.  

Ruling by the Axe

This just in from the Seers Guild...

By his axe, the Decade King doth rule again on the occupied Kezmaroki island of Jorfyrr.

Mercenary forces retained by the Decade King have routed the army of Lykutaa the Cackling Satrap in a battle this morning on the isle. Veteran mercenary captain Mahk “the Knife” leading a mixed company of knight-exiles, black hobbit infantry, gladiators and cantonal bowmen shocked the Southlands with his surprise landing yesterday. Swiftly leading his forces inland he was met by the quick muster—and sorcerous summonings—of the demi-lich tyrant that usurped power so many long centuries ago.

For two grinding hours the two armies were locked in a see-saw battle. An artist's recreation with cast metal figures follows below.

Satrap phalanx works up a battle frenzy.

Melee in the center.

Knight-exiles lock swords with the giant lizards.

Cantonal bowmen decimated by Cloudkill.

Vexor the Underwhelming vanquished in a duel with Mahk.

And now the rout begins in earnest. A highly perturbed demi-lich tyrant tries vainly to rally his center.