The Gods of Alnwich: Korë

Korë

the Elk-Maid, Lady Winter, of the Snow Shoes

Greater Deity

Spheres of Influence: Cold, Death, Hunger, and Pain.

Symbols: Elk, Ice, North, Overturned Cup, Sickle, Silver, Skull, Winter.
Favored Weapon: Bow & Spear.

Relationships: Twin sister of Likumä, daughter of Karalis and Sëra, and husband of Pazamë.

Korë is the goddess of winter and everything that brings: death, starvation, and suffering. She is not inherently evil, but there is very little she oversees that is not detrimental to life. Indeed, her demesne is the doom of crops, the maddening hunger in the icy abyss, the grinding glaciers, the unrelenting blizzard, and so on. She is the destroyer of cities, and the harbinger of death. It is only fitting that she is wife to the King of the Underworld, whose halls she fills by means of her icy embrace.

Korë appears as a hardened, aloof woman dressed in seal skins and bear furs with flowing blonde hair and pale, blue eyes. She often appears on skis or snow shoes and carries a horn-backed bow and bone-spear. She is most often accompanied by the all-white elk, Storälg, and rides a sledge pulled by two polar bears.

Morality

Korë is a merciless and unforgiving goddess who demands absolute loyalty from those who dedicate their lives to her worship. This usually means maintaining an icy disposition (Callous), neither giving quarter (Bloodlust) nor asking it (Vow (Fight to the Death)), and offering blood sacrifices regularly – Disciplines of Faith (Blood Sacrifices) [-10]. This last trait results in a doubling of weekly cost of living due to purchasing animals to sacrifice and acts as a minor Trademark for the purposes of identifying the priest, since he will leave a trail of animal corpses in his wake. And while this usually earns Korë’s priests both Social Regard (Feared) and Social Stigma (Minority Group), being feared and socially shunned is not a requirement for her patronage.

Divine Servitors

A wide variety of spirits serve Korë, many of which are death spirits or borderline demonic in nature. Her servitors, however, are somewhat mixed in nature. These always have either Cold and the Natural lens or Death and the Unholy lens, but nearly any combination of these is possible – especially for servitors who embody icy death. Those who represent her darker natures will also have Terror or Evil, as well.

Shrines

Korë has few shrines dedicated specifically to her, and those that do exist are in remote, cold locations in the Skaldafjoll. Within larger pantheons, she receives a shrine on the north wall with her depiction as a beautiful maiden, usually with elk horns and holding a skull, standing above an alter holding a chalice of animal blood. Her dedicated shrines are typically carved completely from ice with a translucent crimson central alter. This alter is originally carved from a slab of ice, and after repeated sacrifices, begins to melt and refreeze to trap the ritualistically let blood. The slab is regularly re-carved from this block until it is streaked through with sanguine veins. Indeed, the age of a shrine can often be inferred by how opaque the central alter has become after years of blood offerings to the goddess of death.

Clerics of Korë

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

Advantages: Remove Channeling, Empathy and Sensitivity, Green Thumb, Healer, Medium, Spirit Badge, Spirit Empathy, and Spirit Weapon from the list of optional advantages and add Animal Empathy (Specialized, Predators, -20%) [4]; Resistant to Natural Cold (+3) [3]; Spirit Empathy (Specialized, Death or Winter Spirits, -50%) [5]; and Temperature Tolerance (Cold) [1/level].

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 Naturalist and Pharmacy (Herbal) from the list of optional primary skills and add Survival (Arctic) (A) Per [2]-13. • Remove Research, Teaching, Veterinary, Writing, from the list of optional secondary skills and add Area Knowledge (Vitrdauth) (E) IQ [1]-13; Naturalist (H) IQ-2 [1]-11; Navigation (Land) (A) IQ-1 [1]-12; Skating (H) HT-2 [1]-9; and Skiing (H) HT-2 [1]-9. • Remove Flail from the melee weapon options. • Remove Blowpipe, Bolas, Lasso, and Net, and from the ranged weapon options and add Thrown Weapon (Axe/Mace) (E) DX+1 [2]-12. • Remove Disguise (Animals) and Survival from the list of optional background skills.

Special Abilities and Spells: Choose the following 25-point package:

Cleric of Korë: 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 Korë

Holy warriors of Korë are usually built using the Squire template with the following modifications:

Advantages: Add Absolute Direction [5]; Divine Favor 4, 5, or 6 [10, 15, or 20]; Sure-Footed (Ice or Snow) [1]; Temperature Tolerance (Cold) [1/level]; 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 Flail, Shortsword, and Two-Handed Flail from all of the optional melee skill packages. • Remove Heraldry, Seamanship, and Survival (any) from the list of optional background skills and add Poisons (H) IQ-1 [1]-9; Skating (H) HT-2 [1]-10; Skiing (H) HT-2 [1]-10; Survival (Arctic) (A) Per-1 [1]-9; and Weather Sense (A) IQ-1 [1]-9.

Cleric Spells

Korë grants her priests the following spells:

PI 1 Armor, Aura, Beast-Rouser, Beast-Soother, Bravery, Coolness, Decay, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Lend Energy, Lend Vitality, Night Vision, Pain, Recover Energy, Resist Cold, Retch, Sense Life, Share Vitality, Silence, Turn Zombie.

PI 2 Awaken, Cleansing, Command, Compel Truth, Dark Vision, Extinguish Fire, Frailty, Ice Slick, Icy Touch, Icy Weapon, Know Location, Minor Healing, Mystic Mist, No-Smell, Resist Disease, Resist Pain, Resist Poison, Sensitize, Shield, Stop Bleeding, Summon Spirit, Turn Spirit, Watchdog.

PI 3 Affect Spirits, Animal Control, Astral Vision, Command Spirit (Death Spirits, Ghosts, etc.), Cure Disease, Dispel Possession, Fog, Freeze, Frost, Healing Slumber, Hunger, Icy Missiles, Magic Resistance, Melt Ice, Might, Neutralize Poison, Oath, Purify Air, Purify Water, Repel Animal, Repel Spirits, Seeker, Snow, Snow Jet, Show Shoes, Strengthen Will, Strike Numb, Summon Cold Elemental, Weather Dome, Wisdom, Wither Limb.

PI 4 Agonize, Astral Block, Banish, Bind Spirit (Ghosts & Undead), Body of Ice, Cold, Control Cold Elemental, Dispel Magic, Divination, Fool’s Banquet, Frostbite, Hail, Instant Neutralize Poison, Monk’s Banquet, Relieve Paralysis, Repel Hybrids, Resist Acid, Resist Lightning, See Secrets, Storm, Suspend Curse, Terror, Truthsayer, Vigil, Vigor, Wither Plant, Zombie Summoning.

PI 5 Bless, Command Spirit, Cool, Create Cold Elemental, Curse, Entrap Spirit, Gift of Tongues, Icy Breath, Major Healing, Pentagram, Relieve Madness, Remove Curse, Resist Fire, Rotting Death, Ruin, Stop Paralysis, Suspend Mana.

PI 6 Bind Spirit, Drain Mana, Flesh to Ice, Gauntness, Great Healing, Ice to Flesh, Planar Summons (Divine Servitor), Sanctuary.

Divine Favor

Korë hears supplications for mercy and demands for retribution. Her miracles typically take gruesome form or spare the supplicant from some horrible death, usually involving freezing or starving to death. Saints of Korë are often granted icy forms, the ability to tolerate the extreme cold, and minor control over death.

Attacks will have one of Malediction, Melee Attack, or Sense-Based.

Abilities Afflictions that model death, pain, hunger, or disease are very appropriate; Allies (death or hunger spirits), with Summonable; Clinging; Control (Hail or Snow), with Natural Phenomena; Create Ice; Damage Resistance, with either Limited, Cold or Heat (both -40%); Detect, for dead bodies, ghosts, undead, etc.; Detect, for food; Doesn’t Eat or Drink, with Limited, Food Only (-50%); Fatigue Attack, with Freezing; Fatigue Attack, with Starvation; Leech, but not with Steal (Other Score); Obscure (Infravision or Vision); Reduced Consumption, with Food Only (-50%); Resistance or Immunity to various metabolic hazards; Sealed; Spirit Empathy, with Specialized, Death or Hunger Spirits (-50%); Temperature Control, with Cold; Temperature Tolerance for cold; Terrain Adaptation (Ice or Snow); Terror; Toxic Attack; Universal Digestion; Unkillable.

Jürä • Karalis • Korë • Liekki • Likumä • Malä • Menes • Milä • Pazamë • Sëra • Sieva • Veträ • Yaunävä