Altar of the Ancestral Spirits

Neolithic temple in Malta

 This post addresses three elements within the PARIAH game that weren't fully explored in PARIAH VOLUME ONE:

• The "ancestral relic" mentioned in the "creating the band" section.
• This piece of text from the kickstarter blurb: "lay down your lie for the good of your allies, knowing that your spirit can assist the fledgling band from the beyond!"
• The application of the "true name" in the game.

It's also inspired (in some cases retroactively!) by the following posts and podcasts:

• Arnold Kemp's cleric: https://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-cleric.html
• The development of shrines by A Distant Chime https://espharel.blogspot.com/2019/12/osr-shrines-and-patron-saints.html
• Barney and Spencer's discussion on Keep off the Borderlands about shamanic magic in their Alluvial Plains setting: https://anchor.fm/free-thrall/episodes/The-Magical-Mystery-of-Alluvial-Plains---Vol--3--The-Shaman-Rises-Extended-Cut-episode-157-emasoc
• My discussion with Alex wherein (among other things) I mention some of unfulfilled design goals of PARIAH VOL 1: https://anchor.fm/alonein-thelabyrinth/episodes/Breaking-Up-is-Hard-to-Do---a-conversation-with-Alex-emq02i namely the community building aspect.

Shrine or Altar?

In my internal dictionary, I had a particular definition of a shrine as opposed to altar, which apparently is incorrect.

I always felt that a shrine offered a direct point of contact (real, imagined, figurative depending on your belief system) between a human and a spirit/god/memory. This could be grand (such as a shrine to a saint in a cathedral or to a bodhisattva in a pagoda), intricate and well-crafted but personal (such as the shrines to ancestors or spirits that people across the whole world — but particularly in Asia and the Americas —  keep in their homes) or informal and spontaneous (here I'm thinking of the shrines that occur at the site of a tragedy of some kind).

Conversely, whereas the shrine was somehow direct, altars felt like there would be an intermediary of some kind: a professional priest, monk or otherwise designated person to perform rites while other people looked on. In fantasy terms, I thought of high priests or magicians performing ceremonial rites, sacrifices etc.

Turns out the proper definition is a little different, at least according to wikipedia

A shrine (Latin: scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: escrin "box or case") is a holy or sacred site dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon, or similar figure of respect, wherein they are venerated or worshipped. Shrines often contain idols, relics, or other such objects associated with the figure being venerated.

A shrine at which votive offerings are made is called an altar. 

I'm going to ignore this definition and just go with my own, though for confusing reasons that not even I fully understand (possibly related to alliterative assonance) I'm naming this post ALTAR OF THE ANCESTRAL SPIRITS.

...but it's a shrine. 

They're all shrines.

Ancestral Relic

Choose any item belonging to one of your pariahs. 

For whatever reason this item was important to one or more pariahs’ ancestors and is the focus of the band’s spiritual practice—it is the most valuable object they possess.

It could be a weapon, a tool or an item of clothing.

- Page 15, Pariah Volume 1.
(Look at this arsehole, quoting himself...)

The altar of the ancestors is established as soon as the ancestral relic is placed with intent and the ancestors rightly honoured: the details of this ritual are left to the pariahs to decide, but it should fulfil the following criteria...

1. Regular: whether at dusk, dawn, or midnight, the ritual should occur at an established time.
2. Time: it should take no more than ten minutes to perform, at the very most.
3. Votive: the ritual should also include a simple offering of something perishable.
4. Easy to learn: whether the ritual involves chanting, specific words or movement, it should be something a child can learn to perform each day.

The first time this is performed the band learn the true name of their ancestor.

Initial Power of the Ancestral Shrine

The relic now becomes the shrine: it maybe embellished however the pariahs see fit, but that first relic should not be disturbed (see moving the shrine, below).

The ancestral shrine extends its influence over all those aligned to it within a 3 mile radius (conveniently 1 hex!).

The initial power of the shrine is simple. Once per day (so long as the ancestors have been properly honoured) any one member of the band is entitled to do one of the following:

• Roll an attack, defence or saving throw with advantage (does not stack in this case).
• Roll an additional die of damage in combat.
• A re-roll on a foraging, fishing or tracking roll (or any other non-combat/non-lethal roll you think is germane).
• Gain a temporary hit die to recover wounds.
• Add an additional hit die to an invocation or conjuration.
  

If the players agree, this may require that the pariah invoke the ancestor's true name before being granted the benefit.

Note that this may be performed by any band member once per day- but only once. As soon as Falling Star invokes the ancestor to give her a better chance of resisting the Blood-Drinkers withering touch, no one else may benefit in any way from the ancestral power that day... and even then, only if the ancestor is once again properly honoured...

..until the band acquires more ancestors, that is.

Increasing the Power of the Ancestral Shrine

It is assumed that as outcasts from disparate communities the starting pariah band do not share common ancestors. The first ancestor may not even have belonged to the bloodline of the one who provided the relic.

It does not matter. The pariahs are all united as a community as sibling outcasts, and those who die a band member become an ancestor in death.

Following the proper funerary rites (and the details can be decided upon by the players, just so long as consistency is maintained), the pariahs learn the true name of their ancestor and must take one of their personal items as an ancestral relic and add it to the shrine. Bonus points if it's an enchanted weapon which now no-one else can use.

The addition of a new ancestor doesn't just mean one additional invocation each day, it means one for every hit dice:

For example:

Hollow Frog finally croaks during a conflict with warriors from the city of stones. Her body is placed upon a great pyre and cremated, carrying her spirit aloft as was the custom of her former tribe, a custom which she taught to the other pariahs. Her hand axe of polished volcanic tuff is taken to the ancestral shrine. 

When the name Eidwio Urpei (the true name of Hollow Frog) is uttered by any pariah of her band they may make an attack roll with advantage or gain an additional die of damage or any of the above up to 3 times a day, as she was a competent (3HD) warrior in life.

Bonus rule: these hit dice correspond in size to the dice they held in life.

"But wait! Sofinho!" I hear you cry, "you're always saying 'if your character dies just roll up another'... won't players just throw hordes of back-up characters to their deaths in order to build up an enormous dice pool?"

To which I say:

"Of course!"

Which is why we have to put some hard limits on this dangerous game-breaking power....

Limiting the Power of the Ancestral Shrine

The hard limits are as follows:

• A band cannot gain more than 20 hit dice of ancestors.
• The size of the band must also have reached a certain size before additional hit dice can be added.
• The ancestral shrine only extends as far as its home hex (caveats below!)

A band cannot be bigger than 152 members (something, something Dunbar's number)

Band Size	No. Hit Dice of Ancestors
2	1
3	2
5	3
8	4
11	5
16	6
20	7
26	8
32	9
40	10
47	11
56	12
65	13
76	14
86	15
98	16
110	17
124	18
137	19
152	20

Note that while this accounts for a pretty huge band, that number includes elders, infants and youths.

"But wait! Sofinho!" I hear you cry — again I might add — "you've gone too far the other way! [Hark! The battle-cry of the enabler!] No-one wants to invest time in building an enormous community just to lay there hands on a tonne of re-rolls which they can only use in their home hex!"

 always saying 'if your character dies just roll up another'... won't players just throw hordes of back-up characters to their deaths in order to build up an enormous dice pool?"

To which I say:

"Won't they?"

...but I'll also add some more interesting benefits to the ancestral shrine...

Further Powers of the Ancestral Shrine

In addition to the mechanical benefits of the ancestral shrine, as the band increases in size they gain access to an increasingly powerful array of charms, hexes and practices as described below:

Band Size	No. Hit Dice of Ancestors	Ancestral Power
2	1	Invoke the ancestor.
3	2	Ancestral knowledge (1).
5	3	Question the dead (yes/no/uncertain)
8	4	Portable relic (1)
11	5	Spell-Spirit House
16	6	Conjure the ancestor (5 HD)
20	7	Ancestral knowledge (2).
26	8	Question the dead (open question)
32	9	Portable relic (2)
40	10	Conjure the ancestor (7 HD)
47	11	Ancestral knowledge (3).
56	12	Ancestral Weapon (1)
65	13	Portable relic (3)
76	14	Conjure the ancestor (9 HD)
86	15	Ancestral knowledge (4).
98	16	Ancestral Weapon (2)
110	17	Portable relic (4)
124	18	Ancestral knowledge (5).
137	19	Ancestral Weapon (3)
152	20	Summon the Ancestral Demon

Invoke the ancestor

Once per day, so long as the ancestors have been properly honoured, any member of the band may spend an ancestral HD to perform any one of the following:

• Roll an attack, defence or saving throw with advantage (does not stack in this case).
• Roll an additional die of damage in combat.
• A re-roll on a foraging, fishing or tracking roll (or any other non-combat/non-lethal roll you think is germane).
• Gain a temporary hit die to recover wounds.
• Add an additional hit die to an invocation or conjuration.

Ancestral knowledge (1)

Once a deceased pariah receives the proper funerary rites, their spirit will bestow the gift of their experience onto the band. Any "Xs" on their character sheet can be shared among surviving pariahs as they see fit.

Question the dead (yes/no/uncertain)
Once per day, so long as the ancestors have been properly honoured, any member of the band may spend an ancestral HD to ask a yes/no question of a particular ancestor. The ancestor can only answer based upon the experiences of their former life, and with the words yes, no or uncertain.

Portable relic (1)
With the blessing of the band's elders a pariah may take an item from the ancestral shrine and bring that ancestor with them on their journey. So long as they honour it each day, they may treat it as an independent 1 HD shrine even if they are outside the hex of the ancestral shrine. Only one relic may be considered portable , and never the original ancestral relic.

Spell-Spirit House

If the band has at least 11 members and 5 HD of ancestors, they may build a Spell-Spirit House. This is a small structure adjacent to the ancestral shrine: it may take the form of miniature building, an idol, or something else important to the band's emerging culture. It acts as a home for spell-pirits.

Whenever a pariah dies with a spell-bound spirit, instead of that spirt returning to its home realm, it instead returns to Spell-Spirit house. From here it may be invoked freely at any time in the future: it is considered bound to the house as though to a device. 

The house can contain as many spell-spirits as desired, but if they are ever not venerated alongside the ancestors, they will all immediately return to their home realms. 

Conjure the ancestor (5 HD)

By uttering the true name of a fallen ancestor, that ancestor is conjured as an elemental (spirit of the dead) to assist its descendants until the following day's veneration. It cannot speak but understands commands with the intelligence it possessed in life. 

It will have the same amount of hit dice it had in life, to a maximum of five (a 6 HD ancestor cannot be summoned): that amount of HD wil be deducted from the ancestral HD pool.

Ancestral knowledge (2)
Once a deceased pariah receives the proper funerary rites, in addition to sharing any unspent "Xs", the pariah may also share 2 skills (or 2 levels of skill) with any member of the band. Both the deceased pariah and living  band member must already have some proficiency in that skill for this to take effect.

For example, Yellow Hill was a master (D12) tracker in life: in death he is able to improve one skilled tracker by two ranks to master or two skilled trackers by one rank each to expert. Alternatively, he could share a rank in two different skills.

This does not include weapon proficiencies or attack bonuses

Question the dead (open question)

Once per day, so long as the ancestors have been properly honoured, any member of the band may spend an ancestral HD to ask an open question of a particular ancestor. The ancestor can only answer based upon the experiences of their former life, and in one sentence.

While the GM is free to decide what constitutes one sentence, ear in mind that the pariahs can also question the dead freely by proper usage of sorcerers' sage.

Portable relic (2)

With the blessing of the band's elders a pariah may take an item from the ancestral shrine and bring that ancestor with them on their journey. So long as they honour it each day, they may treat it as an independent 2 HD shrine even if they are outside the hex of the ancestral shrine. Up to 2 relics may be considered portable, though never the original ancestral relic.

Conjure the ancestor (7 HD)

By uttering the true name of a fallen ancestor, that ancestor is conjured as an elemental (spirit of the dead) to assist its descendants until the following day's veneration. It cannot speak but understands commands with the intelligence it possessed in life. 

It will have the same amount of hit dice it had in life, to a maximum of 7 (an 8 HD ancestor cannot be summoned): that amount of HD will be deducted from the ancestral HD pool. Alternatively, 2 elementals with a combined HD of up to 7 may be conjured, with all the previous rules still applying.

Ancestral knowledge (3)

Once a deceased pariah receives the proper funerary rites, in addition to sharing any unspent "Xs", the pariah may also share 3 skills (or 3 levels of skill) with any member of the band. Only the deceased pariah must already have some proficiency in that skill for this to take effect.

For example, Many Faces was a master (D12) of disguise in life: in death she is able to improve one unskilled in disguise by 3 ranks to master, or she might distribute her ranks in disguise among 3 pariahs, or any combination as long as the total ranks is equal to 3.

Ancestral Weapon (1)

With the blessing of the elders and the performance of the proper rites, a pariah may take any relic that resembles a weapon (with the exception of the original ancestral relic) away from the shrine as an enchanted weapon. One hit dice of ancestral HD must be spent to accomplish this.

The weapon is +1 to hit and damage and is effective against creatures normally immune to mundane weaponry. Additonally, it will carry some minor magical effect (to be discussed by the players and GM) appropriate to the ancestor which carried it in life.

The enchantment is effective no matter how far the weapon is carried, but will fade after one day.

Portable relic (3)

With the blessing of the band's elders a pariah may take an item from the ancestral shrine and bring that ancestor with them on their journey. So long as they honour it each day, they may treat it as an independent 3 HD shrine even if they are outside the hex of the ancestral shrine. Up to 3 relics may be considered portable, though never the original ancestral relic.

Conjure the ancestor (9 HD)

By uttering the true name of a fallen ancestor, that ancestor is conjured as an elemental (spirit of the dead) to assist its descendants until the following day's veneration. It cannot speak but understands commands with the intelligence it possessed in life. 

It will have the same amount of hit dice it had in life, to a maximum of 9: that amount of HD will be deducted from the ancestral HD pool. Alternatively, up to three ancestors with a combined HD of up to 9 HD may be conjured.

Ancestral knowledge (4)

Once a deceased pariah receives the proper funerary rites, in addition to sharing any unspent "Xs", the pariah may also share 4 skills (or 4 levels of skill) with any member of the band. Only the deceased pariah must already have some proficiency in that skill for this to take effect.

For example, Shambling Tree was a master (D12) storyteller in life: in death she is able to improve one unskilled in disguise by 3 ranks to master, and still has one rank spare. She may distribute her ranks in storytelling among 4 pariahs, or any combination as long as the total ranks is equal to 4.

Additionally, a deceased pariah may pass on a weapon proficiency in lieu of a skill.

Ancestral Weapon (2)

As ancestral weapon (1) except:

• Cost is 2 HD.
• Bonus to hit and damage is +2.
• Enchantment is effective for one week (great for long journeys!)

Portable relic (4)

With the blessing of the band's elders a pariah may take an item from the ancestral shrine and bring that ancestor with them on their journey. So long as they honour it each day, they may treat it as an independent 4 HD shrine even if they are outside the hex of the ancestral shrine. Up to 4 relics may be considered portable, though never the original ancestral relic.

Ancestral knowledge (5).

Once a deceased pariah receives the proper funerary rites, in addition to sharing any unspent "Xs", the pariah may also share 5 skills, 5 levels of skill or 5 weapon proficiencies (or any combination thereof) with any member of the band. The deceased pariah must already have the appropriate level of proficiency in order to share it.

Alternatively, if the late pariah has mastery in a single skill, they may select 5 pariahs of any skill level and raise them to the rank of master in that skill.

As a final alternative, they may "spend" one point of their existing attack bonus to improve the attack bonus of another pariah by an equivalent amount.

Ancestral Weapon (3)

As ancestral weapon (1) except:

• Cost is 3 HD.
• Bonus to hit and damage is +3.
• Enchantment is effective for one lunar month.

Summon the Ancestral Demon

This spectacular power is not to be used without great thought and consideration, for it condemns the spirits of the ancestors (with one exception) to an eternity of servitude to the Lord of the Dead. However, if the very existence of the band is under threat, then it maybe a sacrifice they are willing to make.

The elders of the band must gather and chant the true names of all the ancestors and, in doing so, their spirits are summoned as one. Fashioning itself a crude body from the relics at the ancestral shrine and the soil from the land its descendants now walk, it marches off in pursuit of whatever existential threat the elders have instructed it to deal with. 

The demon is a huge 20 HD demon-spirit, taking the form of whatever its collective-makeup epitomised in life, perhaps shifting in shape and appearance as it moves through the landscape. It will fight ceaselessly, using whatever spell-spirits remained in the Spell-Spirit House as ammunition, ignoring non-magical attacks, charms, illusions and mind-control effects until it has been completely decimated or its task is accomplished.

Once this occurs, the demon disincorporates: all but one of the ancestors (chosen at random) will become thralls of the lord of the dead for all eternity, their only comfort the knowledge that they sacrificed their chance of rebirth so that their descendants might enjoy a safe and fulfilling life.

The band must begin again, with one relic and one ancestor... but many members.

While the demon is summoned the band have no ancestral shrine, and the spirits of their dead are restless.

Note that a demon thus summoned may also be bound to protect a site against a future threat, or bound to a device and summoned at a later date.

Note also that "It will fight ceaselessly... [until] its task is accomplished: a poorly-worded set of instructions can place a great curse on a land, with the demon still fighting (or perhaps imprisoned) long after its descendants have moved on.

Feast Days of the Ancestor

I had some ideas for this a few hours ago but it's late now.