Gods of the Violet Flower
Religious Magic in the Violet Flower
There are many gods in the Violet Flower who give those who worship them powers beyond their station.
To beseech a God for a favor, a member of the Entourage must complete a ritual. The referee then rolls 2d6 and compares the result to the God's Reaction Table, which decides how the ritual proceeds. This roll can be modified based on certain conditions, as dictated after each table. (This is basically a version of the Grand Unified Theory of Magic )
When it is unclear, assume most rituals take an hour of prayer, dance, and offerings in addition to what is already stated. In general, this sort of magic should take a long time to perform. The power of the Gods does not come quick to mortal folk.
Allow as many people as would consent to it to participate in the ritual, but roll only once. For every 15 people participating, add another dice to the 2d6 roll. The ritual affects only one participant, called "the petitioner" in the ritual descriptions.
The Gods of the Violet Flower
Malachite Who Mourns What He Made:
He is broken in ten thousand pieces and hidden in the furls of the violet flower. Like dewdrops on blades of grass is He, who always listens and laments the suffering of the world he weaned.
Rituals:
- Find a shard of jade and grind it to shape. When soaked in saltwater (the thing closest to His tears), the jade expands into a life-size version of the carved figure for a day and a night.
- Find a flower in the early spring yet to bloom. Dip it in saltwater and eat it. This sustains His faithful in times of tribulation.
- Observe a beautiful sight in his honor and offer your memory as sacrifice. You forget what you saw, but gain another, older memory in return.
| 2d6 | Reaction Table |
|---|---|
| 2-6 | Malachite does not hear the plea through his sobs. |
| 7-9 | Malachite leaps to the plea, like a parent saving their child from a harsh fall. He is overcome with grief over the pain his children suffer that they must petition him so. He does not answer further petitions for a week. |
| 10+ | Malachite answers the plea. Though his sadness keeps him from many, for now he smiles upon you, a rare blessing in this troubled time. |
Receive a +1 to this roll if:
- The petitioner is a particularly devout follower of Malachite (the relevant skill is >= 3).
- The petitioner is moved to tears by the circumstances which have prompted the petition.
- The petitioner has the Malachoi, elaborate face tattoos which venerate The Mourner.
The Hydra
Those who take its bargain and consume that wriggling redfish find themselves stronger than they used to be and angrier than they ought to be. There are other gifts for those with the tranquility to ask.
Rituals:
- Catch a freshwater fish with your bare hands and bite its head clean off. Offer the rest to the Hydra, whose many heads are always hungry. Scales sprout on your body, large obsidian plates interlocked like threads in a quilt. They fall off when struck. (AC as plate, degrades one point each time the wearer is hit).
- Adopt a slain foe’s child as your own. When they consume the redfish as you did, gain another HD. There is power to be given to those whom strengthen the Hydra. The effects of this ritual are reversed if the child dies before the ritual performer.
- Build a colossal monument to the Many-Faced God, depict each of her 40 faces in loving detail. Double your size (2x HD, take half damage from human-sized weapons, wear no armor not fit for a giant).
| 2d6 | Reaction Table |
|---|---|
| 2-8 | The Hydra's many eyes look everywhere but the ritual. The sacrifice is not accepted. |
| 9-11 | The Hydra hungrily slurps at your offering, but recoils from a taste only perceptible by Her. Pleas to her are ignored until the petitioner sacrifices a Great Foe (>= 4HD) in Her honor. |
| 12+ | The Hydra sees and acknowledges the sacrifice. The next time the petitioner sleeps, they dream of a great city beneath the waves inhabited by flying snakes. |
Receive a +1 to the roll if:
- There is a Hydra Head overseeing the ritual. This bonus increases to +2 if the Hydra Head can be convinced to participate itself.
- Any participant has already successfully petitioned the Hydra in the past.
- There is a human sacrifice in addition to the ritual's normal processes. This bonus does not stack.
The Woman in Dreams Everlasting
At the start of every river in the Violet Flower, there is a small pool of water dug square and shallow. All those who participate in the rituals must drink deep from this green water and in twenty days will be sought out by her in their dreams.
Rituals:
- Cry at her feet, mourn the tragedy that is your wretched lot. She does not provide salvation from these woes, but clarity; the merits of the petitioner's plans are evaluated with omniscient eyes and the plan is amended with an almighty intellect.
- Come to her joyous, and tell her of things that go well and the foes that fall beneath the weapon of the petitioner. Her blessings carry them away to a calmer, restful dream. Double the petitioner's natural rate of healing for a week.
- Sit quiet by the goddess, too frightful to regard her. Her presence bolsters the petitioners. Fear of any kind has no effect on you or those you lead for a week.
| 2d6 | Reaction Table |
|---|---|
| 2 | The Lady's green-glass face contorts in pain, as if the petitioner had slighted her on some previous occasion and she was locked in horrible recollection. |
| 3-11 | The Lady grants the blessing. The source of the ritual's water disappears for the next month, as if someone had filled the pool of water in with soil a year prior. |
| 12 | The Lady grants the blessing. The performers awake rested and blessed by Her. |
Receive a +1 to the roll if:
- The petitioner is under the effects of a psychoactive drug.
- The petitioner is wearing fine clothes in their audience with her.
- There is a human sacrifice in addition to the ritual's normal processes. This bonus does not stack.
The Obsidian King
There is a new God becoming in the western side of the Violet Flower. Those in His domain suffer a nightmare when they reach their fifth year in which a skeletal messenger recites the following outside their home:
I beseech thee, o’ undecided penitent, would you pray to the god who still stalks the Violet Flower? In tower tall with blackened mirror-sides within eyesight of this home, the Obsidian King calls to you. His forces spread and after trails destruction. Worship him now, or become the soot thereon his standard.
Rituals:
- Slay a foe with obsidian in sight of that dark tower. His reddened eyes watch the ritual. No one who participated in the ritual is caught by surprise and they know of all tricks played upon them for a week.
- Burn a city to the ground in the name of The Obsidian King. A weapon spread in those black ashes strikes ghost and ghoul without err. +4 to hit against undead, counts as magical for nonmagical resistance. Lasts a week or until washed away with blood.
- Tattoo purple ink made with sharp obsidian dust across your back. Reach into those tattoos and find always a weapon of your choosing. They may be wielded only by you or those who have also made the sacrifice.
| 2d6 | Reaction Table |
|---|---|
| 2-11 | The Obsidian King does not deal with weaklings and the poor. |
| 12-15 | The Obsidian King grants the blessings, but they last only a day. A small taste of what true power would bring. |
| 16+ | The Obsidian King sees the petitioner and sees also a reflection of who they once were. The petition is granted. |
Receive a +1 to the roll if:
- The performers of the ritual are covered in soot.
- The performers of the ritual possess the tattoos of the 3rd ritual.
- There is a human sacrifice in addition to the ritual's normal processes. This bonus stacks with additional sacrifices.