Small Gods of the City (Local Faiths): Difference between revisions

The faith of the Lord & Lady is the organised religion of the Peerage Ward, endorsed by the Royal Archives and (supposedly) practiced by all members of the nobility and their sworn vassals.  The centre of the mythology revolves around the Lord Departed, who once ruled over the Peerage Ward but left to undertake a quest of errantry to vanquish a Great Evil, leaving his newborn child (often interpreted as a euphemism for the Peerage Ward) in the care of his Lady-in-Waiting - with a Promise made through the blood of their child that he would one day return to her.  Several different interpretations of this myth exist, though all of them revolve around this core plot and character archetypes.

Followers of the Nine Faced God doubt the existence of any other true deity and all, and instead ascribe all other over-powers everywhere as simple manifestations of their god's many faces and aspects. The God is understood not to directly have specific faces (or, indeed, to possess any true form), but rather manifest itself in nine separate metaphysical directions that influences reality. Faith is heavily based upon obscure numerological principles, with different interpretations of the importance and meaning of respective numbers hotly contested and debated. Many followers carry with them certain special nine-sided die that they roll to offer guidance and wisdom.

While followers will definitely argue and disagree about t he meaning of certain numbers, the following meanings are commonly ascribed:

There is no particular creed or ideology that comes with such a faith with followers tending to believe that the notion of trying to please a god through sacrifice or virtuous act is hopelessly naive. Instead followers of the Nine Faced God simply know that they must go their own way, influenced at every step by the God's Nine Faces, until at last they meet their final fate.

There are many legends and fables about Grandfather, each a different telling, but the local thieves and criminal element of Ring 99 in particular are quick to ask for a blessing from Old Grandfather before any heist or dark deed.

Of particular note is "Grandfather's Code," a somewhat murky and ambiguous code of conduct that is meant to keep Grandfather pleased and avert ill fortune.  Those thieves who disregard "Grandfather's Code" are said to always come to a bad end.  Notably, every thief seems to have their own version of Grandfather's Code.

There are many fables and legends about Old Grandfather. In some, he is an actual thief who can pass through walls and steal piles of gold and rubies from greedy merchants. Others speak of his many dark servants that he calls up from the underworld to enact justice on his enemies. In others, he is a kindly old man who turned to the life of a gentleman thief after his family's inheritance was stolen by wild brigands.  

Most consider this faith as a mere superstition, born from campfire tales and clung to by superstitious thieves and desperados, however there is no denying that the creed seems to have a certain enduring quality about it...

The great drive to become one of the Ancestors, to be judged worthy, has been known to drive some dwarves to truly insane, courageous and even vile acts all in the name of elevating themselves above the mundane. The faith itself is nested in a complex maze of legend, myth, superstition and ritualistic ceremony so deeply that it is hard even for those of the faith to keep them straight, perhaps in part leading to the practice of searching for a single Ancestor to devote themselves to.

Players of this faith should generally be superstitious to some degree. The legends of the Ancestors that currently exist in game will be grown over time and noteworthy PC dwarves of some obvious prominence will be added. It is highly encouraged for players of this faith to either follow one of the Ancestor legends already defined in the game world or to make up their own (this is in addition to a broader worship of the Ancestors as a whole) to further define their personal faith. You need not begin singling out one but it should be a goal to discover one to ascribe to more personally above others.

From the sacrosanct halls of House Nephezar to the meager almshouses of the Mongrelwoods, righteous men and women of holy inclination whisper their prayers to the God who once reigned in heaven, awaiting the day He shall return in all His glory to make right all the evils in the world. These desperate prayers take many forms, from pleading to bartering to invitation, but all address the profound absence felt at Heaven's heart. This absence is what they believe has allowed evil and corruption to take root.  

Yet while the Lord has gone from heaven, He has not gone from the world—or so those of the faith believe. By inviting Him into one's heart, and living a life of purity, faith, and righteousness, the faithful make ready God's throne for His renewed ascent.

Among men the objects which stir most strongly their faith are the primal and elemental forces they witness in motion every day. The most immutable and precious of these forces is the Sun. Accordingly, it is worshiped within the Rings by not one singular cult, but by several. It's followers deny the primacy of other sects, and often engage in ritualized contests to prove the virtue of their individual cult.  

The Sun in its aspect as a bringer of light and divine majesty to the Ring.  Also called "the Burning Lord," acolytes can invoke His wrath against the unclean, the unworthy, the unsociable, and the meek.  His followers praise bold action and noble bearing, and despise those who are meek or indecisive.  Magistrates, Inquisitors, and the prideful might call this faith their own.  

The Sun in its aspect as a fickle being of perpetual motion and change.  El sprints jubilantly to the horizon each morning, and races the winds across the skies each day, to rest behind the edge of the world each night, nestled in the arms of his gusty lover.  To followers of this flighty faith, the Sun and Sky are one—a divine wedlock of wind and light.  Acolytes of this faith can invoke powers of motion and movement, can quicken feet and summon warm winds.  The adventurous, the capricious, and the free might call this faith their own.

The Sun in its aspect as a bringer of morning revelations. He who Showeth the Way comes garbed in a robe of white light, and carries in one hand a gilded ankh whose shining loop unveils with utmost clarity the divine Truth of the world.  His is the power to unveil the strands of a man's fate, and His are the keys to unlock every door.  Acolytes of Sa'i can invoke great divinations, and are gifted revelations of the ways of magic.

The City of Rings is a lawless place; many of its wards are crowded with desperate bandits, hungry cannibals, and cruel local gangster-warlords that prey upon others. The Rings are filled with prowling monsters, unstable planar interlopers, and all kinds of deadly dangers. Faced with such dangers, there are plenty who turn to unsavory acts to stay alive: animating the dead, calling upon infernal allies, lying, theft, and worse...

So what is the solution? To kill oneself? No, the Monastery claims they know of a better way to escape suffering, one which also helps others and therefore is altruistic. They claim they have received the answer to this existential conundrum from a prophet centuries ago, and ever since then they have been the guardians and practitioners of this wisdom – a teaching that has the potential to save the entire world from suffering.

His worshipers include: artistic souls seeking inspiration, revellers, shapeshifters and changelings, enemies of the law, faeries and maniacs. Due to his unpredictable nature, drawing the attention of Pzatharun can be as dangerous as it is beneficial. One day his blessings might lead an author to write his greatest work, the next finding himself incapable of reading it.

Yevathax (or "Yevethax," as the exact spelling is disputed) is a minor deity in the city. It is one of a small handful of gods of undeath that are worshiped in dark corners and dusty cellars. Its faith is spread through rumors of exhausted planar prospectors having survived stumbling onto its plane of vast dry crop fields of pumpkin, wheat and corn that mature into terrible undead creatures that relentlessly attack the would-be explorers.  

Sometimes called "the Pumpkin Tree" the planar explorers who come across Yevathax often report a similar pattern of battling through a terrible number of undead creatures to finally make their way to a vast tree covered in pumpkins that sweeps down to give them an offering, as if it is surrendering to their prowess. If any have refused this gift, and attacked the tree, they are not around to tell of it.  

Those that offer prayer to Yevathax are not all evil, nor necromancers, and many in Ring 99 will place a pumpkin outside their door during days when necromancers roam in hopes that the favor of the Tree of the Dead will ward away evil spirits. However, all of the gifts of Yevathax are known to spread the seed of undeath one way or another and thus increase its own power in the City of Rings and almost all of them are marked by the bright orange or dark green of Yevathax's colors.  

The Followers of Yevathax tend to be more earthy necromancers than high wizards, or shadow conjurers, and often have less ambition than other necromantic cults. They tend to fall into the dark pacts of necromancy because it is an expedient means to accomplish a task, be it farm labor, the defeat of one's enemies or the defense of one's family.

Occasionally Tchunites are able to stop the growth of their obsession: perhaps through intense meditation, counseling with lay-priests of another faith, or extreme will-power.

Players should portray a more gradual devolution into chaotic-evil madness- the experience of this faith is intended to be a dreadful sickening rather than as something that anyone would embrace.

Tchunites will tend to chant about Tchun as they lose themselves to their frenzy; please be advised that the hostility against this faith is so extreme that other characters are fully in the right to kill a Tchunite out of hand.  

Worshiped as the matron of lies, blind faith, and lost causes- little is known of the woman who calls herself the Imitation Goddess. Currently, she is believed to live somewhere deep within the labyrinthine tenement housing of Ticker Square. She has quickly attracted a small but devoted cult of feverish devotees by plying promises of everything from miraculous cures to escape from the rings.

Her followers divide themselves into two sects. The first, her "White Lies," are self-described knights of the virtues of blind faith and hopeless causes. The second, her "Black Lies", are accused of being little more than secretive mad men, reveling in the act of deception. Paradoxically, the two sects have been known to work together closely in matters of faith.

<big>''These vile powers, dressed in rumor and contradiction, are only known to be worshiped by the City's monsters.''</big>

It is said that the freakish changelings who lurk in the Mongrelwoods worship a figure known only as the "Hidden One" and perform gruesome blood rituals in the hope of gaining his favor.