Friday, December 14, 2018

The Gods of Alnwich: Karalis

Karalis

the Doom-Speaker, Goat-Killer, the Liberator


Greater Deity
Sphere of Influence: Divine Madness, Moon, Prophecy, and Wisdom.
Symbols: Ecstatic Dance, Eye, Horned Helmet, Ivy, Owl, Raven, Serpent, Twilight, Wheel, Wine.
Favored Weapon: Spear or Staff.
Relationships: Married to Sëra and father to Likumä and Korë.

Karalis is the god of wisdom, doom, and madness, and he serves as the chief of the gods. He is the embodiment of cruel, fickle Unreason. His oracular foresight and tremendous knowledge make him a natural leader, but even the other gods often wonder his motives, for those, not even his wife, Sëra knows. While aspects such as doom and madness might appear “Evil,” he is not particularly malicious. He often grants victory in battles, and through his gift of madness, he drives men to great achievements.

While Karalis is widely worshipped, he does things for his own reasons, regardless of sacrifices and prayers. It is believed that Karalis’ power is most strongly felt in living juices, such as blood, sap, and especially wine. Indeed, his rites typically include the consumption of a great deal of wine and numerous blood sacrifices that culminate in a saturnalia. It is during this ritual madness that worshippers give in to their madness, releasing it and permitting them to maintain a firmer grasp on sanity in their daily lives. This is the mystery of sanity through madness often mentioned by his dedicated priests.

Karalis is the patron god of diviners, madmen, and berserkers. He often appears as either an old, bearded man in a broad-brimmed hat and rough cloak or as an attractive, androgynous youth. Other times, he manifests as a raven or a great, black cat.

Morality

Karalis is no more Good or Evil than fate itself, so he tends to patronize as wide a variety of followers as fortune may favor. That said, they do tend to share certain qualities – those with Addictions or Alcoholism from the rituals of release, Compulsive Carousing for those who worship the Liberator habitually, Sense of Duty (the Oppressed) for those who back their beliefs with action, Disciplines of Faith (Ritualism or Mysticism) for those devout who pray and sacrifice regularly and observe the many lesser rituals of the Doom-Speaker, and of course the latent wildness that so embodies Karalis’ divine madness, best represented by Berserk. Finally, priests of Karalis make regular blood sacrifices, which if done with often enough, could qualify as a Trademark.

Divine Servitors

Most divine servitors of Karalis have Wisdom; although, many who represent his frenzied nature have Madness, instead, and those who represent fate will have Chaos. Divine servitors who represent Karalis’ roll as the decider of battles take War, and his invisible hands of fate take Deception. It is worthy of note that his servitors specifically do not take Good or Evil – fate is indifferent on such matters.

Shrines

Shrines to Karalis are often found in brothels and drinking establishments as a nod to the god and to encourage wanton spending by the patrons, but his real shrines are located beyond the edge of town in the margins of the wilderlands. The typical shrine is atop a hill or ridge and consists of little more than a ring of stone pillars surrounding an alter for ritual sacrifice. The floor is grass, and the roof is the stars. Dedicated temples to Karalis are not known.

Clerics of Karalis

Priests of Karalis should generally be built using the Initiate template with the following modifications:

Advantages: Remove Channeling, Green Thumb, Licensed Exorcist, Medium, Spirit Badge, Spirit Empathy, Spirit Weapon from the list of optional advantages and add Alcohol Tolerance [1], Common Sense [10], Hard to Kill [2/level], Hard to Subdue [2/level], Lifting ST 1-3 [3/level], and No Hangovers [1].
Disadvantages: Add a required -10 points in any of the disadvantages listed under Morals, above and reduce the -30 points in disadvantages to -20.
Skills: Remove Herb Lore, Hidden Lore (Faeries), and Naturalist from the list of optional primary skills and add Carousing (E) HT+1 [2]-12 to the list of optional primary skills. • Remove Blowpipe, Bolas, Lasso, and Thrown Weapon (Stick) from the ranged weapon options and add Thrown Weapon (Axe/Mace). • Remove Cartography, Fishing, Mimicry (Animal Sounds or Bird Calls), Navigation (Land), and Traps from the list of optional background skills and add Area Knowledge (Trollenmere) (E) IQ [1]-13; Dancing (A) DX-1 [1]-10; Fortune-Telling (A) IQ-1 [1]-13; Musical Instrument (H) IQ-2 [1]-11; Running (A) HT-1 [1]-10; Sex Appeal (A) HT-1 [1]-10; and Singing (E) HT [1]-11.
Special Abilities and Spells: Choose the following 25-point package:

Cleric of Karalis: Either Power Investiture 2 [20] or Divine Favor 5 [20]. • Choose [-10] points from disadvantages mentioned in Morality, above. • 15 points total in any combination of Power Investiture 3 [10], Divine Favor 6 or 7 [5 or 15], Learned Prayers, or clerical spells.

Holy Warriors of Karalis

Holy warriors of Karalis are usually built using the Brute template with the following modifications:

Advantages: Add Alcohol Tolerance [1], Divine Favor 4, 5, or 6 [10, 15, or 20], No Hangovers [1], and “or Learned Prayers” to the list of optional advantages.
Disadvantages: Add a required -10 points in any of the disadvantages listed under Morals, above and reduce first -20 points disadvantages to -10.
Skills: Remove Riding (Camel), Seamanship, Survival, and Weather Sense, and add Physiology (Monster Type) (H) IQ-2 [1]-8; Psychology (Monster Type) (H) IQ-2 [1]-8; Religious Ritual (H) IQ-2 [1]-8; Sex Appeal (A) HT-1 [1]-11; and Theology (H) IQ-2 [1]-8.

Cleric Spells

Karalis grants his priests the following spells:

PI 1 Armor, Awaken, Bravery, Berserker, Cleansing, Command, Coolness, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Dull (Sense), Fear, Final Rest, Foolishness, Grable, Great Voice, Lend Energy, Lend Vitality, Might, Recover Energy, Resist Cold, Resist Disease, Sense Foes, Share Vitality, Shield, Silence, Vigor, Warmth, Watchdog.

PI 2 Beast-Rouser, Compel Truth, Create Water, Darkness, Disorient, Drunkenness, Dullness, Flaming Weapon, Grace, Haste, Iron Arm, Light, Magic Resistance, Minor Healing, Purify Food, Resist Acid, Resist Fire, Resist Pain, Resist Poison, Resist Pressure, Sense Spirit, Strengthen Will, Test Food, Turn Spirit, Turn Zombie.

PI 3 Affect Spirits, Aura, Body-Reading, Command Spirit, Continual Light, Create Food, Dispel Possession, Fog, Gloom, Madness, Message, Missile Shield, Neutralize Poison, Oath, Peaceful Sleep, Relieve Paralysis, Relieve Sickness, Remove Contagion, Repel Spirits, Resist Lightning, Stop Bleeding, Stop Paralysis, Summon Spirit, Terror, Vigil.

PI 4 Animal Control, Astral Vision, Banish, Conceal, Cure Disease, Dispel Magic, Divination, Gift of Letters, Gift of Tongues, Healing Slumber, Instant Neutralize Poison, Major Healing, Mindlessness, Restoration, Rider, See Secrets, Seeker, Silver Tongue, Stop Spasm, Suspend Curse, Truthsayer.

PI 5 Astral Block, Bless, Curse, Ecstasy, Entrap Spirit, Great Haste, Great Healing, Persuasion, Regeneration, Relieve Madness, Remove Curse, Stone to Flesh, Suspend Mana, Wisdom.

PI 6 Bind Spirit, Concussion, Drain Mana, Instant Regeneration, Lesser Geas, Pentagram, Permanent Madness, Planar Summons (Divine Servitor), Resurrection.

Divine Favor


Karalis answers prayers for luck or fortune in battle, wisdom, or frenzy. Especially frenzy. Most of his learned prayers revolve around providing information or the unstoppable divine frenzy of his holy warriors. Direct attacks are few and involve inflicting madness or intoxication.

Advantages marked with an asterisk (*) have Temporary Disadvantage, Berserk (12).

Abilities Affliction, with any modifiers to represent madness, drunkenness, or frenzy; Common Sense; Damage Resistance, with Tough Skin*; Danger Sense; Dark Vision; Enhanced Move*; Extra Attack, with Multi-Strike*; Fearlessness; Hard to Kill*; Hard to Subdue*; High Pain Threshold; Indomitable; Injury Tolerance, with Damage Reduction*; Intuition; Luck; Magic Resistance*; Magic Resistance, with Limited, Ingested Potions Only (-60%); Night Vision; No Hangovers; Oracle; Psychometry; Resistance or Immunity to any physical hazard*; Resistance or Immunity to Ingested Poisons; See Invisible (Ghosts); Striking ST*; Super Jump*; Terror (Confusion or Fear); Unfazeable; Unkillable 1*; Wild Talent, with Limited, Knowledge Skills Only (-40%).


Jürä Karalis • Korë Liekki • Likumä • MaläMenes • Milä • Pazamë • SëraSieva • Veträ • Yaunävä


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