Priest

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How to Extend Rituals in WR&M

December 6, 2010 in Immortals' Wake, Rules, Seeking Feedback, WR&M by Fitz | 1 comment

Welcome back!

With a Divine spellcaster, the magical energy used to achieve an effect is channeled through the caster’s faith in a supernatural force. This force can be as straightforward as believing in a deity or more open-ended or philosophical such as the belief in a cosmic consciousness, the spirits of nature, or the ghosts of ancestors past. And though the end result of casting may be the same as a wizard, many Divine casters use personal rituals.

When we were working on Moebius Adventures we always loved the concepts behind ritual magic. These are the bigger spells that could only be done with larger amounts of casters, magical energy, components, or skill to gain bigger effects. For instance, a one-person Teleport spell could be transformed into a much larger Gateway to move additional people or equipment.

Rituals are broadly defined in WR&M as a way for participants to “pool their mana” to meet the DL requirements for higher circle spells that might be otherwise out of reach. Partcipants are still beholden to the mana cost for the spell and any spell enhancements, but the difficulty level is reduced by 1 if it’s done in the minimum time (1 minute for 1st circle, 5 minutes for 2nd circle, etc.).

Ultimately my question is this… Though this application of ritual magic is good – shouldn’t it be able to do more than that? Or am I looking at this the wrong way? Should it work more like there’s a 4th Circle spell – Mass Last Rites – with bigger bang that should only be performed by mighty powerful priests or a group of priests on the same mission?

For Divine magic, I’m thinking about rituals like:

  • Last Rites
  • Focus (Worry Beads, etc.)
  • Lay on Hands
  • Blessing
  • Inoculate (Cure Disease)
  • Detox (Cure Poison)
  • Protection
  • And so on

It gets more interesting when you look at how the effects are applied and how they stack if they’re done with friends.

For instance, let’s say a priest is delivering Last Rites to a dead or dying person. Perhaps this ritual helps their soul get to the afterlife. Perhaps it blocks them from rising as the walking dead. Perhaps it is nothing more than a way to make their family and friends left behind feel better.

If you take Last Rites into the wild where it’s simply a priest and the deceased, that’s one context. If you have a priest performing the ritual in a temple, church, or other holy place, that’s a different context that perhaps lends more weight or strength to the ritual. And if you add in more priests all performing the ritual at the same time, that’s yet a different context that lends additional strength to the ritual.

Let’s look at it from a different angle. What happens if Last Rites is a way to settle the restless dead – your textbook zombie? It may take a minute for a priest to do the ritual on a zombie – and it may require touching the zombie on the forehead with holy oil. Not necessarily a great position to be in obviously.

Perhaps if you and your priest friend both are doing the ritual, you can knock off the requirement to touch the body and affect a zombie at a distance. Add another priest and maybe you can affect a group of zombies. Add more priests and maybe you can affect a much larger group of zombies… Can you imagine a group of priests all performing a ritual while wandering through a town infested with zombies – and watching zombies fall around them like driftwood?

So maybe in the Last Rites example, there would be three spells – Last Rites (1st or 2nd circle), Last Rites in a Holy Place (2nd or 3rd circle), and Mass Last Rites (4th circle). And it would be up to the priest (or priests) to decide when to go it solo vs. with a group.

As you can see, I’m still trying to figure out how to best integrate some of these ideas with WR&M and am getting there slowly.

What do you think?

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Immortals’ Wake: The Trial

April 27, 2010 in Inspiration, World by Fitz | 2 comments

What follows is a continuation of the first vignette of Immortals’ Wake here. What would Maria do with the knowledge of a possibly demon-touched individual in the bazaar?

That night, all Maria could think about was the merchant’s magical bowl and the words of the deacon. Should she mention it to the guards just in case? She certainly didn’t want her inability to act to hurt someone, even indirectly.

After a restless night, she decided she would speak to a priest at the basilica before she went to work at the O’mani trading stall in the bazaar. Once inside, her worry seemed to attract one of the Sisters cleaning after the morning service. She introduced herself as Sister Wyland and asked Maria to sit.

“Tell me of your troubles my child,” she said gently. “We are always here to help.”

Maria spoke of the events in the bazaar, careful to leave out the merchant’s name until she was sure of a course of action. “Sister, what should I do? I don’t want to bring pain and suffering on his house, but neither do I wish for anyone else to be harmed should he turn out to be one of the… the… the demons…”

After a moment, the Sister spoke. “My child, ultimately is not everything in the hands of the Mother and the Maker? As vessels for their love and generosity, we cannot let our emotions cloud our judgment. Though you may not want this merchant to be harmed unnecessarily, would it not feel even worse if he was a demon sympathizer and brought destruction to the many innocents who travel to the bazaar every day?”

“I see your point Sister Wyland. Who do you recommend I speak to about this matter?”

“I can pass such information along to the guards for you my dear, so your involvement is further lessened. But you will know that this information will immediately get to those who can test this merchant properly and ascertain how he got this bowl of which you speak… So what is his name?” asked the Sister.

Maria rose, mentioned Eveni Georgia and where his booth was in the bazaar, thanked Sister Wyland, and headed to work for the day with the spring back in her step.

Later in the day, she heard and saw a group of heavily armed and armored men running through the bazaar in the direction of the market center. Her heart pounded in her chest in time to their marching steps. Maria knew where they were going.

Though the knights didn’t come past her booth, she heard descriptions of the two men they apprehended. One was the merchant Georgia, but she didn’t recognize the other one. If the authorities held to tradition, there would be a public trial and sentencing tomorrow at noon. She didn’t want to go, but knew she’d be there with everyone else.

Up to a few years ago, demon trials were just another story told to scare children. But in the last year alone there had been eight trials. And though they had yet to see any demons, eight men and women had been found not guilty after they died during the proceedings. Rumors explained that the families of the innocent would be repaid for the loss and heartache in gold.

Maria didn’t know any of the families to confirm such stories, but she and many others wondered about the truth.

Before the marketplace closed, A’Bas found her at her stall. “Did you hear what happened?” he asked, wide-eyed.

She nodded. “I caught glimpses of them as they ran down the next path. What do you think they’ll do to him?”

He shook his head. “I don’t really want to think about it Maria. Who do you think turned him into the guards?”

All Maria could do was look away and shake her head… “I don’t know, ” she muttered under her breath.

The next morning, as predicted, an edict was posted about the pending trial at Noon. Eveni Georgia was to be tried as a demon. If he lived, he would be proven to be a demon. If he died, he would be cleared of all charges.

The bazaar was deathly still all morning except for whispered questions and murmurs about the merchant and the trial. Maria had not slept a wink, her own betrayal eating away at her from within. Even the nightly sermon hadn’t helped, as the Deacon spoke of the captured demon and its possible meanings for the faithful.

She and A’Bas made sure to find space in the crowd witnessing the proceedings, but Maria cautioned against being where they might be seen by the merchant. Maria didn’t want him to be able to point them out in the crowd.

The knight in charge of the knights of the Order of St. Greggor presided over the trial – Lady Dagor. She looked strong and proud in her practical mix of plate and chain armor. Her knowledge of Church law sounded official to everyone in the crowd, including Maria.

Eventually she asked some simple questions of Georgia.

“Where did you get the bowl?” “Why would you carry such demon-touched merchandise in your stall?” “What contact had you had with the demons?”

The crowd was unable to hear any responses from the merchant, as he was locked in a small metal box suspended by chains above a small pool of water. However, what they saw made everyone back up a few steps.

The box began to dissolve around the man inside. And the merchant looked ready to spring at his accusers wearing simple metal armor and carrying a large sword, both of which appeared out of nowhere.

The lady knight did not seem alarmed by this at all. Making a small gesture, the box suddenly plunged down into the water and a group of knights secured a large wooden lid atop the pool, locking the man and what was left of the box inside.

The wooden walls of the pool expanded slightly as though the prisoner within was pounding on them with great strength, but they held fast. And after a few moments, all grew still again.

Now addressing the crowd, Lady Dagor spoke loudly enough to quiet the cries and shouts of alarm rippling through the people. “You see, that is why we must remain ever vigilant. That was an Earth Demon living hidden among us. He could have brought destruction on us all…” She paused. “But one among you spoke up and shared a concern with us so we could deal with him before anything bad happened. One person made a difference. Don’t ever forget that.”

“Thank the Mother and the Maker that we were prepared for this. We should all give thanks and ponder what we have seen today.” At that, she turned on her heel and went back to her knights who were dealing with ensuring that the demon would not escape his watery grave.

Maria was in shock, as were many in the audience. How could such a thing have come to pass? Why didn’t anyone know he was a demon? But she feared that many may suffer such trials in the future if the paranoia spread too far and fast through the people…

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