From: G. Fried (address.removed@nowhere.tld)
Date: Wed 02 Jun 1993 - 04:33:39 EEST
Hello all, this is G. Fried again. I was inspired to put together a cult
from my East Isles campaign to send in to the RQ Daily. SOme of the lines
don't 'turn corners' -- sorry, I haven't mastered all the arts of e-mail.
This is a 'Cult of Terror' -- I hope you enjoy it!
[Well, tell me what computer you use, and maybe I can help. I just happened to have the time to re-format your text. -HL]
Uralog The Mouth of the Deep, God of Sea Ghouls
I. MYTHOS AND HISTORY "Each of us who lives from the generosity of Mother Sea and her bounteous inhabitants knows a certain occasional feeling -- an uneasy shuddering, an unnamed terror, at swimming in waters that seem to plunge to unfounded depths. In the Dreamtime, a nightmare came into the World during the Great Darkness that enfolded our ancestors. Uralog, The Mouth, surfaced from the uttermost Deep. Uralog is that terror." -- Parzenda, shaman of Obtoro's clan, Jana tribe, Aldin Island.
And still, the Mouth lurks beneath the surface, yearning to gobble when it can.
B. SINCE TIME BEGAN Not a deity much given to subtlety, Uralog has had little impact on events since its first horrific entrance into the World. But Time may yet again see a widespread return of this deity, and indeed, its worshipers prophesy the restoration of Uralog's gullet at the End of the World.
C. LIFE AFTER DEATH Worshipers fervently hope to be buried at Sea, far out where the shelf of Land does not extend beneath the surface. They believe they will then sink endlessly, finally to be caught up in the maw of Uralog, perhaps to be turned into sea ghouls.
D. RUNIC ASSOCIATIONS Uralog is associated with the Runes of Water, Chaos, and Undead.
II. NATURE OF THE CULT
B. SOCIAL/POLITICAL POSITION AND POWER Except when it thoroughly takes over an island, the cult rarely has any political power. Most sane societies abominate Uralog, destroying its worshipers wherever found.
C. PARTICULAR LIKES AND DISLIKES The Mouth is a loner among the gods, even those of Chaos. It feels most comfortable amidst the undead. The cult loves to destroy Earth and its worshipers, and its mortal enemies are Ezroth and related cults.
III. ORGANIZATION
B. INTRA-TEMPLE ORGANIZATION Each temple is ruled by a single priest . Anyone may challenge this rule, but all losers in such a struggle are sacrificed to Uralog.
C. CENTER OF POWER, HOLY PLACES By its nature, the Mouth resides in the fathomless depths of the Ocean, and thus has no localized place of worship -- 'places' are a thing of the Earth and something that Uralog is bent on destroying. Nevertheless, there are island and coastal areas upon which the Mouth left marks of its passing, and these are sacred to the cult. Sharkthrow Cleft, a chasm separating Dry and Hellet islands in the Bansora archipelago is such a place.
D. HOLY DAYS AND HIGH HOLY DAYS Weekly: Wildday; seasonally: Death week; high holy day: Sea Season.
IV. Nibblers (Initiates)
There are two methods of being initiated into the cult of Uralog. The first is when a mortal being is on the verge of drowning and prays to Uralog: on a roll equal to POW as a %, that person dies and is 'saved' as sea ghoul. The second method can be practiced by the still-living. Like many Chaos cults, this one is also highly secretive, and carefully screens and recruits worshipers. Candidates must pass a test abstracted as STR+CON+POW as percentages, plus Swim divided by 5%, plus man-catcher skill divided by 5%, plus 5% for each sacrificial victim brought to the cult. Failure in this test means being sacrificed to Uralog. Nibblers may hear the howls of ghouls without fear, and even associate with these undead horrors without being attacked out of hand. Nibblers are taught swim and man-catcher skills for free, when the teachers have time. Nibblers may gain one-use divine magic, and may, with a priest's ritual assistance, cast Create Ghoul upon themselves. The cult forbids light and fire spells. All cultists must learn the cult spell Detect Sentient Life.
Special Cult Skill: The cult instructs members in the use of the cult specialty weapon, the man-catcher (special damage; STR/DEX: -/9; Enc: 2; BS: 5%; AP: 10; SR 1). This pole arm has a horseshoe shaped head whose two prongs, which have inward barbs, come close to meeting. At the base of this head, is a blade protruding from the head of the shaft. The weapon does a meagre d6 of damage on a hit. But on a special success, the two prongs are flexible, and the opponent will be caught in the "mouth" between the two arms and prevented from escaping by the barbs (DEX x 1% to escape; failure results in d4 damage on the barbs, and the Mouth cultist gets to roll an attack to see if this damage is a critical to avoid armor). The attacker may then attempt to force the captive down (STR + man-catcher skill divided by 4 vs. SIZ +DEX), or stab at the snared victim with the point that protrudes between the arms (d6+1, and can impale) at double attack %, and the victim may only dodge at one half skill. This weapon is used to capture sacrificial victims.
Special Cult Spirit Magic: Detect Sentient Life. Ranged, Temporal Active. This spell will operate like a Detect Enemies spell, except it finds any living creature with free intelligence.
V. Chompers (Acolytes)
The initiate must have been a Nibbler for at least one season and must bring at least one sacrificial victim before the cult. He must have 90% in one of the skills required of a Gobbler (see below).
VI. Gobblers (Rune Lords)
A candidate for Rune Lord status must have been a Chomper for at least one year and have a POW of 15. He must bring five victims for sacrifice to Uralog. He must have 90% skill in man-catcher, plus 90% in four more of the following skills (being a ghoul counts for one of these): weapon attack, weapon or shield parry, missile weapon, hide, sneak, swim, boat, shiphandling.
VII. Mouths (Priests)
An acolyte may become a Mouth in one of two ways, and first he must possess a POW of 18 and 5 points of divine magic. Either the Chomper must challenge and defeat the current temple priest, or he must succeed in a Ceremony skill on the high holy day and then move away to form his own temple. Uralog divine magic: all common divine spells (including Find Water, Find Corpse, Summon Undine) except Heal Wound, plus special spells Howl, Drown, Create Ghoul, Whirlpool, Summon Mouth, Devour Earth, Command Undine, Command Ghoul. Special Cult Divine Magic:
Undines: Uralog's cult summons vile, polluted undines. They cannot purify water. When attacking any being attached by nature or cult to the Earth Rune, the undine acts as an acid of potency equal to one third the elemental's POW. Attacks from Storm based magic does double damage to these befouled undines.
Howl: 1 point; Ranged, Temporal, Nonstackable, Reusable. Grants the caster the power to Howl like a ghoul (qv. RQ III Creatures Book). (Initiates of the cults of Ezroth, Aethellin and Varla -- gods who defeated Uralog in the Mythtime -- are immune to this spell.)
Drown: 1 point; Ranged, Temporal, Nonstackable, Reusable. See the Wachaza spell in Gods of Glorantha. Does 1D8 of damage to the chest of any air-breathing target who is overcome. The Breathe Water spell makes a target immune to this spell.
Create Ghoul: 2 points; Ritual, Nonstackable, Reusable. This spell may be cast on a willing or unwilling target. The target must be drowned either ritually on a cult holy day or by a cult undine. If cast on an unwilling victim, the caster must overcome the dying target's POW. If the attack is successful, the victim becomes a ghoul in the caster's service; if this attack fails, the spell is lost as a reusable spell and must be sacrificed for again. The caster may apply this spell to himself in a dying moment, if he is in water, and so become a ghoul himself.
Whirlpool: 2 points; Ranged, Temporal, Nonstackable, Reusable. This spell must be coupled with a Summon Undine spell. It then creates a swirling vortex which sucks victims below with the strength of the appropriate Undine.
Summon Mouth: 3 points; Ritual, Temporal, Nonstackable, Reusable. This spell brings into being a gaping void in which anything sacrificed or thrown is lost forever. It can only be summoned and placed at the bottom of a Whirlpool summoned by the cult divine spell. The void is about one meter/yard across. (If a cultist succeeds in a Ceremony skill while tossing a victim into the Mouth, Uralog will grant the cultist 1/10th of the victim's POW (rounding down) in Magic Points over and above the cultist's normal MPs. The cultist can retain these extra MPs only if on each cult holy day he sacrifices an equal amount of temporary POW and succeeds with a Ceremony skill. Ghoul cultists employ this gift of the god to keep unbody and unsoul together! The cultist may wish to waive this benefit when engaged in the Devour Earth ritual.)
Devour Earth: 3 points; Ritual, Nonstackable, Non-reusable. This spell is non-standard in many ways. It is employed by the cult to destroy Earth. Practically, this may only be done to islands. The ritual is elaborate. When using the spell Devour earth, the priest must also create a sacrificial alter by casting Summon Undine, Whirlpool and Summon Mouth. Each casting of these spells in conjunction with the Devour Earth renders them one-use, but the alter will remain in place until the ritual is completed -- but if the alter is destroyed, the ritual is ruined. For the Devour Earth to succeed, the priest must sacrifice a minimum of 1000 points of POW of living, sentient beings to Uralog for every square mile of land to be swallowed up; this land must be one unit, ie, the spell cannot swallow part of an island or continent -- it must go for the whole thing. Initiates of Earth cults confer three times their POW when sacrificed for the ritual, acolytes five times, and rune levels ten times. Earth cult artifacts sacrificed also aid the ritual, at the GM's discretion. As the ritual builds, a band of water surrounding the island will get progressively choppier and more disturbed. When sufficient POW has been sacrificed, the priest must succeed in a Ceremony roll, and then this band of water will rise up in a gigantic tidal wave and engulf the island! Such a drowned island becomes "ghoulish". (Uralog cannot utterly annihilate Land, since Ezroth severed his gullet in Mythtime.) All life upon such land must resist the POW of the priest, or become ghoulishly undead upon drowning in the ensuing flood. The whole place radiates the mark of chaos. All ghouls produced are subject to the priest's control. No plant life will grow unless watered with blood. Even if the cult is wiped out on such an island, it will remain a dead, chaotic land until it is taken over and thoroughly purified by Earth cults.
VIII. SUBSERVIENT CULTS
IX. ASSOCIATED CULTS The only associated cult is Primal Chaos, which grants use of the divine spell Chaos Gift.
X. MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
The undead creatures created by this cult are standard, except that they have slightly webbed hands and feet and swim about quite happily (MR 5). Their undead, grey flesh is sleek and glossy, and will not rot if they keep themselves well fed. They take double damage from the magics of the Ezroth, Aethellin and Varla cults [gods in my campaign].
I hope that wasn't too long! -- Greg
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