From: Joseph Christopher Wehman (jcw7@postoffice.mail.cornell.edu)
Date: Fri 01 Jul 1994 - 23:24:48 EEST
I've been trying to play a Basmoli shaman and the only sources I have are the
GoG, a copy of Codex, and a pre-release RQ4 book. Therefore I did the next best
thing, made it up. Tell me what you think.....
THE BASMOLI:
The Basmoli are Hunschen nomads of Prax, a very primative people. The most
important aspects of the Basmoli is that their totem animals, Lions, no longer
live in Prax and that their god, Basmol, is "distant". Their tribal
orginazation is into subgroups called prides consisting of 8-12 individuals.
Prides are led by females and contain a war shaman(male). Females are
warriors/hunters and men are warrior/hunters or shamans. There are about
three females per male in a pride due to the fact that young males are driven
out by older males when they reach maturity. Young males usually form small
bands till they are old enough to challenge pride members to fights to the
death. Though nomads, they have distinct territorial areas. Several prides
are connected by one law shaman who serves as a moral force to preserve the
"path" of the Lion.
The Basmoli are a tall, dark skinned people who wear traditional praxian clothing, leather trews and jerkin. They are renowned for their hit and run tactics, utilizing speed and an initial javelin barage when closing. Basmoli prefer spears, javelins, and their fists for combat. Their war shamans provide them with spells like Ironhand,mobility, multimissle, and protection for such raids. Usually a quiet people who hunt sable, impala, and other herd animals, they have been known to explode in a series of raids of severe brutality.
This stems from the death of Basmol, for they believe that when Basmol created
the earth, he put animals on the earth solely to be hunted by the Basmoli and
their lions. They say that the cattle,goat,rhino,sable,and impala people
betrayed their "rightful" place and assaulted the Basmoli together. The
Basmoli called upon Basmol and he drove the herds back, destroying the
cattle and goat people completely. Tired and wounded, Basmol traveled back
to his home in his
"hunting grounds"(Basmoli understanding of the spirit plane) and was assaulted
by Chaos. The Basmoli believe it was the same herd people who sent Choas.
Chaos poisoned his blood and he slept. The Basmoli shamans surrounded his
body to protect it till he woke again. The lions then disappeared from Prax and
left the Basmoli angry and vengeful. Their present goal is to annihilate the
herd people who betrayed them. They have nearly wiped out their nearest
neighbors the rhino people. They wait for the One Shaman, who follows the "one
true path" to awaken Basmol and return the lions to them.
Basmoli Shamans:
War Shaman:
A war shamans duties are to teach magic to his people(2/season), protect
lion spirits, take part in hunts, initiate new war shamans, aid Lions or
Basmoli if in trouble, keep the stories of the pride alive, and plan and
support raids. Also when they die they also must protect the body of Basmol
until he awakens when they will be reborn as lions.
Among their favorite shamanic powers are:
self-resurrection,discorporation,magic attack, spirit mastery, and second sense.
They are not forbidden any powers. Prefer the spirit spells: Spirit Screen,
Ironhand,Protection,Countermagic,Demoralize,and Fanaticism. They are not
forbidden any spirit magics. Divine magics are in the GoG.
Taboos:Never allow a lion or Basmoli to suffer needlessly, always fight to
the death. Some prides add that they may only fight with hands and teeth(Lion's
Head divine spells).
Law Shaman:
A law shamans duties are to initial new shamans, adamantly keep the way of the
Lion King, to individually perform the hunt in the "right" way, and preserve
the Basmoli way of life. Identical shamanic powers, magic, and taboos
except that they are required to learn self-resurrection and they must only
fight with hands and teeth. They are trained as a war shaman and then
chosen to replace their
elder when he takes the Blessed Transformation(Described later).
The Lion Quest:
When a war shaman feels his time on the mundane plane growing short he
teaches four right-thinking young males a bit of his arts and sends them off
into the wilds to complete a quest. Only one will survive to complete his
task, as is right. An apprentice shaman must seek out and bring a lion back
to his pride. That apprentice is then the new shaman, taught the rest of
the arts and his lion's Int awakened. When that lion dies, its spirit is
trapped into its hide which is worn by the shaman till the day he dies.
Then the spirit is released. Some prides have discontinued the Lion Quest
because of the increasing time it takes to find a lion and because sometimes
none come back.
The One Shaman:
Basically their legends say that any Basmoli shaman who follows the true
path will enter the circle of dead shamans and awaken Basmol. But, if one
strays too far away from the path, there is no way for him to do it. The
One shaman is supposed to be powerful beyond his age and to be covered in
"Death and Life and others".
Basmoli Spirit:
Kal'karrak(Beast)
A powerful lion spirit who wanders and hunts on Basmol's hunting
grounds(spirit plane). He deals heavily with Basmoli shamans and often
oversees the acceptance of new shamans. He also leads Basmoli shamans to
the Site of Basmol(described later) and makes them stay there when they die
of old age or are unable to self-resurrect. To be contacted initially, a
shaman(shamans only) must perform a ritual using a lion's hide and the
corpse of a sable,impala,antelope or zebra that has been hunted and killed
that same day. After the ritual, the shaman discorporates, taking the
animal spirit with him. Shaman must make a successful spirit travel roll to
find Kal'karrak. Shaman must make a sucessful animal lore roll when
offering the animal spirit as a gift. If not Basmoli, the shaman then
sacrifices 1pt of POW to form a link. He can teach Ironhand,Protection,
Spirit Screen, Strength, and Sharptooth.
Divine Magic:
Blessed Transformation 5pt
permanent, one use only
This spell, correctly cast, turns the caster into a young sterile male lion,
whose POW, Int and shamanic abilities remain the same. This spell is only
offered to Basmoli law shamans after many years of service to his people.
The casting requires the shaman's lion hide. The actual casting is a 1 week
ritual
costing an additional 3pts of POW worth of enchantments. If the enchant
rolls are all successful, this represents a new life among the Basmol. If
not the shaman dies in the ritual.
Site of Basmol:
A secluded area of the Spirit plane where the body of Basmol lies,
surrounded by the spirits of dead Basmoli shamans, put there by Kal'karrack
to protect the body. One might suggest that as more shamans die it becomes
harder and harder for the One Shaman to enter the circle and awaken Basmol,
making Kal'karrak more powerful among the Basmoli. This is purely
conjecture, though. Basmoli shamans come to the edge of the circle to pray
for the Basmoli divine magic(GoG). Basically the shamans face outward and
stop ANYTHING that tries to enter. Once through the circle they can do no
more. No one knows what is lurking inside, feeding upon a wounded god.....
Examples of Prides:
Pride of the Crimson Maw: Paint their mouths and jaws with the blood of
recently slain animals when going on a raid. Never take any prisoners and
are known to use every bit of the things that they kill. Shamans of this
pride can only use hands and teeth.
Pride of Kal'karrak: Live on Kal'karrak's former territory, especially
reverent towards him. Sometimes he joins them on raids in the form of a
giant lion. They have never lost a skirmish when he is with them. Shamans
must fight with hands and teeth.
Pride of the Stolen teeth: A cursed group of Basmoli whose teeth have been
stolen from them for an ancient deed. They are scavengers who are barely
tolerated by other Basmoli.
In response to Bryan Maloney:
Yes, I believe that shamans can be played as PCs in the proper
circumstances. A shaman(i'll use what i have just written to explain) on
the Lion Quest could be a PC with just about anybody(that wasn't afraid of
him or could speak with him), but a full war shaman could not unless the
entire party was Basmoli. Also a law shaman would make a better NPC due to
their age(i.e. power).
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.7 : Fri 10 Oct 2003 - 01:35:40 EEST