From: Steve Maurer (steve@tfs.COM)
Date: Sat 11 Jul 1992 - 09:56:33 EEST
Please note: this is an unoffical Gloranta cult.
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Cult of Misarde
In the Great Darkness, Tylenea, Goddess of Illusion, was wounded by
Chaos. When this happened, her illusions and beautiful dreams were
twisted into nightmares. The greatest of these nightmares was Misarde,
which attained such power that it broke free of it's own unreality
to stalk the world.
Misarde is god of Nightmares, a living wound in the fabric of
dreams. While he was created by Chaos, he has no great affiliation
with the rune. He is much like Vivamort in this regard. His greatest
power is his own unreality, which makes him very difficult to fight.
His runes are Illusion, Death, and Darkness.
Misarde's cultists make their living as assassins. The cult is
small, secretive, and magically weak (though it is much more powerful
than many small time assassin cults, such as Black Fang). Except for
cult special Runespells, max Runespell power is 2 points; this includes
Spell Teaching, so the cult cannot teach any Spirit Magic spell above 2
points. Cult members are allowed to purchase all but forbidden spells
from whatever source they can get them; they often do, since cultists
are typically wealthy. Temples are orgainzed into small successful
assassin groups, headed by a Fear Master (rune priest). There is no
Runelord status, but Fear Masters have "Runelord type" D.I. for the
limited D.I. Misarde provides.
Fearer (Laymember)
Enrollent: Requires an oath of secrecy; CHAx5 * 1/10L donated
Tithe: 10% of all income
Spells: 1/2 Price: Mindspeech, Demoralize
Normal: Coordination, Dark Wall, Mobility, Det. Blank(2)
Forbidden: Fanatacize, Solace
Special: Image Creation
Skills: Hide in Shadows, Move Silently, Climbing, Jumping, Shortsword
Leaving: Depends on Fear Master. Assassins wounded in combat are
usually left alone; betrayers, are stalked and killed.
Fear Maker (Initiate)
Enrollent: CHAx3 + 1/100L donated; 1 try/year (1 POW on acceptance)
Tithe: 20% of all income
Spells: Free: Mindspeech, Demoralize
1/2 Price: Coordination, Dark Wall, Mobility, Det. Blank(2)
Normal: Silence, Befuddle, Dispel Magic(2), Spirit Binding
Forbidden: Fanatacize, Solace
Special: Image Creation
Skills: Disguise, Lock Picking, Brew Poison, Brew Acid
Special: Intimidate, Mutilate
Retribution:Nightmare, plus hunted by cult
Intimidate - This skill is a fear-based "Oratory". The skill has no
effect unless the victim believes the user has a credible threat (to
a Demoralized victim, any threat is credible). Unlike Oratory,
Intimidate can be used against enemies. However, also unlike Oratory,
if the victim doubts the credibility of the threat, the victim will
betray the skill user at the worst possible moment.
Communication (05%)
Mutilate - This skill allows the user to quickly prevent a corpse
from being Resurrected, by removing organs and/or adding special
poisons. Each attempt requires 12 seconds of total concentration
(i.e. not in combat). Successful Healing Cult D.I. can still restore
the corpse to ressurectability, unless the Mutilate roll is a critical.
Fumbling gives the user the impression he has succeeded, even though
he has not. Humakti attack known users of this skill on sight.
Manipulation (00%)
Fear Master (Rune Priest)
Enrollent: Initial 18 POW/ (INT+CHA) as % + 1/100L; 1 try/year
Tithe: 90% of all income
Restricts: As Initiate
Runespells: Extension(2), Fearshock, Shield(2), Summon Small
Shade, Mind Link(2), Spell Teaching(2), Spirit Block(2)
Special: Divine Fear, Cloak of Illusion, Freeze Scene
Retribution:Nightmare, plus hunted by cult
Divine Fear Cost -- 1 POW Point
Range - Glorantha Duration - Permanent
Nonstackable Reusable
This is the only Divination that Misarde provides. It
allows the priest to learn the greatest fear/phobia that the
named target has. The target must be mortal, and living in
Glorantha. This knowledge may be used for later Intimidate
rolls, or to give advantage to a Nightmare. With a roll of
80%+, the target has no usable fears.
Cloak of Illusion Cost -- 2 POW Points
Range - Personal Duration - 15 Minutes
Nonstackable Reusable
This spell alters the caster's appearence to anything he
desires; it covers all senses. To successfully duplicate a
specific individual's features, a caster must use a Disguise
skill for each sense; this always succeeds if the caster is
sensing the target as the being spell is cast. It can never
succeed if the caster never sensed the individual with them.
Touch also fools Darksense. Anyone familiar with a mimiced
individual gets a Sense roll against any Sense that did not
automatically succeed.
Cloak of Illusion may also be cast by a Fear Master's
Allied Spirit. This also makes an illusion, but it has no
substence. This be used to distract guards, and also as a
target for a Misarde DI.
Example: A priest wishes to imitate an arrogant nobleman
he just saw walk into a bar. Even now, he hears him yell at
the bartender. When he casts his Cloak of Illusion, he must
use his Disguise to duplicate the nobleman's appearance; the
GM gives him a +20% since he just saw the man. As he still
hears the nobleman, the spell perfectly imitates the man's
nasal drone, but the priest can't duplicate the man's smell,
taste, or touch (darksense) since the priest never was close
enough to sense any of these.
Freeze Scene Cost -- 3 POW Points
Range - 180 Meters Duration - 15 Minutes
Nonstackable Reusable
This spell freezes a 3mx3mx3m scene. Anyone looking at
the scene senses it as it was when the spell was first cast.
For instance, if cast on a closed door, it will seem closed
even if later opened; images of anyone in the area when the
spell was first cast will remain until the spell ends. Any
who enter a frozen scene cannot be detected except by magic.
Freeze Scene is a full illusion affecting all senses, and
lack only substance (images are still walk-through).
Nightmares
The Misarde cult allied spirit is called a Nightmare, and
always remains unbound. These spirits normally obey the same
restrictions as all unbound allied spirits; they may only cast
spells that directly affect their priest, and may not initiate
any embodied spirit (living creature, familiar, or spirit bound
into an object) in spirit combat.
Nightmares also have the special ability of inducing terror
in a victim's dreams, depriving them of sleep, occasionally even
scaring them to death. The Nightmare dissolves itself into
unreality, becoming a part of the victim's subconscious. It
engages in a form of "spirit combat", pitting its POW vs the
victim's WILL (for games without WILL, use INT + 1/3 POW as a
subsititute). Once committed, it must fight until it is destroyed,
it possesses the victim, or the victim awakes (in which case the
attack ceases). When the Victim awakes, his or her WILL is
restored to full. If the Nightmare succeeds in "possession",
the victim suffers as if attacked by Fearshock.
There is no range limitation for this ability, and normal
magical defenses cannot stop, or even detect, the attack. A
victim may attempt to "withdraw" from this combat, by rolling
INT/2 on percentile each round. Nightmares which know their
victim's worst fears get a +4 on their effective POW. (An almost
unknown, but very effective remedy is a Xiola Umbar Solace spell,
which if cast on a target suffering a Nightmare attack, prevents
the Fearshock on Nightmare possession -- the combat will continue,
in case the victim overcomes and destroys the Nightmare).
Misarde DI
Misarde is a god who lives on the boundary between reality and
unreality; his Divine Intervention reflects this. When asking for
aid, a cultist may only ask that a currently running full Illusion
spell (covering all senses except substance) be made real. For
this, however, the cultist himself becomes unreal -- an illusion
which disappears after 15 minutes time. An illusion made real gains
the same INT, and adds up to the same total characteristic points as
the original cultist; non-magical weapons and clothing can also be
generated, and appearence can be rearranged at a whim. Items acquired
by an illusion do not disappear along with the illusion.
The "cultist turned illusion" can only avoid disappearing by meeting
the "illusion made real", and killing it -- in which case he was the
original all along, and the "illusion made real" was always an illusion.
The "cultist turned illusion" always desperately attempts to find and
kill the "illusion made real", since the former cultist wants to live.
Both know everything the other knew at the time of the D.I., and no
Nightmare will interfere in such a battle.
Fear Masters usually use the DI by having their Nightmare cast a
Cloak of Illusion of themselves elsewhere. If they are caught, they
ask that they become the Illusion, and the Illusion become them. They
create the illusion far enough away so that it is difficult or impossible
for their former selves to find and kill them. Fear Masters who wish
to protect an entire group, may do the same with a prepared Freeze Scene
spell (the Fear Master casts the spell showing the entire group as it
was before an attack was made). The latter is dangerous, because it
causes multiple illusionary duplicates, and the resulting fights can
be very disruptive to an operation.
Spirit of Retribution
Any cultist who betrays Misarde, gets his own Nightmare which
has a POW of 2d6+12. It remains until the cultist dies of fear
(and remains dead), or he fights it off. The cult also hunts
ex-cultists.
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