From: G. Fried (address.removed@nowhere.tld)
Date: Fri 22 Oct 1993 - 18:58:19 EET
G. Fried here.
Since there has been talk of riddles lately, I thought I'd share the cult of Damar. Be warned that my campaign is only pseudo-Gloranthan, and so some gods and mythological events will be unfamiliar or distorted. Be that as it may, I think this cult can be readily appropriated.
DAMAR
The Lucky Bastard
God of Jokes, Riddles, and Outrageous Fortune
I. MYTHOS AND HISTORY
Though overlooked by his progenitors, Damar was yet not destitute of gifts from his ancestry, and he at last landed, on his feet, on the sturdy ground of the Earth -- with a smile.
From then on, Damar made his way in the world by the strength of his wits. Relying himself on no authority of parentage, and yet never doubting his own nerve, Damar showed no respect for bare authority. He made his way and his living as he pleased, and relied on his brain and his charm to rescue him from a clumsy theft or an ill-considered jest.
There is an endless lore of Damar's tricks, jokes, frauds, tales and riddles. One of the best known and most important is that of how he stole Death from Ikadz.
In the Dreamtime when Ikadz the Torturer held sole mastery of the Sword of Death and its power, still Damar was reckless enough to tease and vex him.
Tortured himself above all things by impudence and humiliation, Ikadz managed to catch Damar. Savage with hate, Ikadz flayed at Damar's skin with the Sword. Even so, Damar spoke a riddle:
You can flay my skin
From out to in,
And though I die
Only you will cry.
Who am I?
"Save your idiot riddles!" jeered Ikadz. "We shall see who laughs last when
you taste the power of Death!"
"And what do the dead see, Ikadz? Though I may be your onion today, you will
always be a cabbage-head. Tell me -- I'd like to know why you're doing this
to me -- What do the dead see?"
In an attempt at a response, Ikadz slew Damar with the Sword, driving it into his body. But this silent answer was itself a question and a riddle, for Ikadz stood over his victim with a maniacal grin and a searching gaze, looking for confirmation in the marks of Death that he had finally bettered his tormenter. Damar lay with a whispering smile upon his face.
In that very moment of victory and killing, Death itself had become a riddle and a question for Ikadz. The victory was defeat. And so in that very moment, too, Death was lost to Ikadz as a power of mastery, control and finality. And in that very moment that Death became a riddle, Death became Damar's, and Damar controlled Death, and Damar did not die. With his own hand, Damar pulled the Sword from his body. Ikadz gasped, and then fled, howling and wailing, his eyes stinging with tears.
Later in the Mythtime, Damar used the Sword in the quest to bring forth the Son of the Sun from Hell. He then lost it playing dice.
B. SINCE TIME BEGAN The most important legends concerning Damar occur in the Mythtime, before the first rising of the Sunsson. His role becomes less important, and less tolerated, as the world settles into the new dispensation of agreements, rules and compromises devised to save and preserve the Cosmos.
C. LIFE AFTER DEATH Remember the onion?
D. RUNIC ASSOCIATIONS Damar is marked with an extremely peculiar set of incongruous Runes. Not least of the troubles is that he seems to have three parents: Sun, Moon and Veza. Or is Veza, or Moon, a sort of midwife? Though all associate him with Disorder, which he gets from Veza, and while many add to that Luck, because of Damar's amazing turns of fortune, some vigorously argue for Fate instead of Luck, because of the decisive role Damar played in Myth. And then there is endless debate as to whether Truth, from the Sun, or Illusion, from the Moon, pertains best to Damar. Is he not a Trickster? But don't his tricks always reveal something true, and doesn't Damar display a wonderful intelligence, befitting the light of the Sun? Or is that just crafty cunning? And so Damar himself is a riddle!
Because of Damar's runic indeterminacy, some philosophers have theorized that Damar, for some reason, was one of the few gods to escape, to some significant degree, the taxonomic meddling of the God Learners. How he might have accomplished this is a deep and provocative mystery.
II. NATURE OF THE CULT
Many adventurers worhsip Damar, given his association with fortune.
B. SOCIAL/POLITICAL POSITION AND POWER Not much, given that his followers are mostly scum, outcasts, ne'er-do-wells, adventurers, pranksters, performers and other misfits.
C. PARTICULAR LIKES AND DISLIKES Damar loves all that has to do with games, chance and luck. It is possible to become an initiate of Damar only by living through a very lucky -- or unlucky! -- experience. In one's own misfortune must be found a source of laughter, a comic center to tragedy. And, perhaps, tragedy in every joke. . . .
Though a trickster, it is to be remembered that that it is not clear whether Damar is more properly tied to the Illusion or to the Truth Rune. Damar delights in the mischievous and playful deception that stings those who have become fatted in the complacence of their position (high OR low). Yet the joke, the riddle, the turn of chance -- perhaps just because of a well concocted deception -- is meant to reveal something true, to be illuminating.
Worshipers of Damar must show respect to onions.
Damar prefers a practical joke to a killing, and a song to a nasty argument. Or better still, a riddle!
III. ORGANIZATION [...]
D. HOLY DAYS AND HIGH HOLY DAYS Weekly on Wildday. Seasonally in Truth or Illusion week. Yearly in Fate or Luck week in any season, or in Sacred Time. Initiates will simply know these variable days at the start of each season in which they fall, and in Sacred Time in the case of the high holy day.
IV. INITIATE MEMBERSHIP
The cult teaches the spirit spells of Glamour, Befuddle and Dullblade (this latter relates to the condition in which Damar left the Sword of Death....).
Other cult skills include Sleight, Devise, Conceal, Hide, Sneak, Dodge, Fast Talk, Sing.
Tell Joke or Ask Riddle may be treated as new skills, or they may be treated as special applications of Orate and Fast Talk. In either case, successfully telling a joke or riddle should allow the Damarian to affect the prevailing social atmosphere in manner commensurate with the joke/riddle/story. The player should keep a stock of the jokes and riddles the Damar cultist knows, just as if they were spells.
IV. RUNE PRIESTHOOD [...]
E. RUNE SPELL COMPATIBILITY Possible access to much of the standard Trickster magic, depending on local shrines.
F. CULT SPECIAL RUNE SPELLS
Lucky Bastard
1 point, ranged, temporal, stackable, reusable.
This extraordinary spell summons the power of Luck to serve the caster. For
each point stacked and cast, the caster gains 10 (or d20) 'Luck Points' (LP),
which may be used any time during spell duration. For any roll to be made by
the caster, the caster may apply a number of LP (not to exceed current POW);
each LP translates into a -5% on the roll. Thus, with 3 LP, a roll of 36 on
a Climb may be changed to 21. For weapon attacks, this affects only the to
hit, not criticals. Alternatively, the caster may choose to apply a given
number of LPs to reduce the change that an opponent succeeds with a skill.
This works in the same way as above, but add +5%/LP to the opponent's
roll, and requires that the caster overcome the opponent's POW.
VI. SUBSERVIENT CULTS
Hope y'all enjoyed this! GF out.
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