Fluff from Clinton’s book. Crunch adapted from the same.
Some Qek, through birth or training, find themselves walking the path of the WALOZI, or sorcerer. These people can speak to the dead, get rid of evil spirits, and even bind sasha and zamani to new bodies. The Qek are no strangers to magic, and do not fear it, but walozi cannot be part of any family once they contact their first spirit. They are ejected to live on their own.
Walozi magic is worked through complex rituals that last anywhere from ten minutes to a full day and night. The rites gain much power from sympathetic magic, symbolism and other such considerations. The RITUALS themselves are normal Secrets, but they are only usable by awakened walozi.
Conversing with roho and sasha is considered fine magic to use, and families will often consult walozi to contact their loved dead. Consorting with zamani, however, is dark magic, indeed, and any walozi known to do so is shunned. These necromancers will live deep within the jungle, performing their dark rites.
A living person’s roho can be CONTACTED by the walozi, although this requires cooperation or restraining the target. The roho does not know anything the person wouldn’t know, but in cases of inner conflict, amnesia or other disturbance the roho might diverge from the person’s viewpoint. The player of the character plays the roho as well. Roho can also be SEVERED from the body to float in the air like a sasha. This leaves the body without will, barely alive. As long as the roho lives, the body will be sustained as well, but it will only act on the command of the sorcerer who severed the spirit. Obviously enough, this is considered a black art by the Qek. A severed roho may be CONTACTED, GIVEN FORM or BOUND back into his own body, just like a sasha.
The living dead can be CONTACTED by the walozi. Much of the ritual concerns attracting the right person. The sasha decides freely what it wants to say. Sasha are normally invisible, but the walozi may GIVE IT FORM to allow it a spectral shape in the world. The sasha may still not directly interact with the material, but they may be seen and heard, which allows some Ability use. The appearance resembles the person when he was still alive. A sasha may be BOUND into its original body, returning it from the dead. The body needs to be either in good health or ritually prepared. A bound or spectral sasha may be SEVERED from the world, returning it to the aether.
Zamani are best considered as a sort of ambient negative life force. A walozi working with them is not dealing with individuals so much as just nameless spirit matter he attracts from the upper atmosphere to give it form. While the sorcerer might believe in a specific spirit, for our purposes we might be discussing pouring wine into a decanter just as well. In their GIVEN FORM Zamani appear as withered, gaunt ghosts. They are faceless and nearly mindless. A zamani might claim a specific ancestry in between its wails of pain, but should you believe it? Zamani may be BOUND to a dead body, either fresh or ritually prepared. Any body will do, even an animal one. Zamani are naturally bitter and need to be CONTROLLED by the walozi; they wish nothing but to slay the sorcerer and return to death. A controlled zamani is forced to obey the sorcerer, however. Finally, a zamani may be SEVERED to return it back to whence it came.
A sasha given form or bound to their body will be a shade of their former self, mechanically speaking: the Pools are halved and the Ability ranks are capped to the walozi’s contact ritual result, minus one. The number of Secrets and Keys combined is limited to the Ability check. However, an ULTIMATE (6) Ability check grants full restoration. A bound sasha acts like a living being, except that they will be automatically severed should they ever suffer MORTAL (6) Harm or worse.
To make it explicit: player characters can be freely resurrected by these rules. I imagine that legends of the amazing skills of the walozi are known far to the south as well; all good fodder for epic storytelling.
Zamani are much simpler to create: a normal zamani will have Advances equal to triple the success level of the Ability used to summon them, distributed in half by the player of the walozi and half by the Story Guide. Zamani cannot have Keys, and they may only have crunch allowed to animals (chapter 27). A zamani bound to a body is immediately severed when they suffer a MAJOR (4-5) Harm or worse.
Roho, when returned to their body, do not suffer of these limitations. They are as good as new despite all their travails.
keine
| Secret of Walozi |
|---|
| Some Qek are born weird, others gain the power by training: a walozi can contact spirits with the correct rites and a PRAY (V) check. The rite probably takes about fifteen minutes, unless the spirit is already present. |
| Cost: 1 VIGOR |
| Ritual of Spectral Form |
| The walozi gives form to a sasha or zamani with a successful CRAFTWORK (I) check. The rite probably takes about half an hour, depending on how much effort the walozi wants to put into it. The spectral form becomes an Effect and lasts as long as the Effect is maintained. |
| Cost: 1 VIGOR and 1 INSTINCT for the Effect. |
| Requirement: SECRET OF WALOZI |
| Ritual of Binding |
| The walozi binds a spirit to a suitable body. This does not require an Ability check, but a resistant spirit may make a RESIST (R) check to make it more difficult. The rite probably takes about a half hour per paid Vigor point. Rejoining your own body is free and immediate. |
| Cost: 1 VIGOR plus VIGOR equal to the resistance. |
| Requirement: SECRET OF WALOZI |
| Ritual of Severance |
| The walozi severs a spirit from a body or spectral form with a successful BRAWL (V) check. This has no cost, but the walozi has a condition penalty unless he is himself severed, which can be done with this ritual as well. The severance may be resisted by this same ritual or the RITUAL OF BINDING. The ritual takes about a minute when corporate, while a spirit fight is instantaneous. |
| Requirement: SECRET OF WALOZI |
| Ritual of Zamani Control |
| The walozi can control zamani with a successful CHARM (I) check, needing little but a special intonation and a hand signal. Zamani are otherwise consumed by their need for destruction, normal communication does not work. |
| Requirement: SECRET OF WALOZI |
| Ritual of Vessel Preparation |
| The walozi can prepare a body to accept a spirit with a successful HOUSEWORK (I) check. The ritual takes all day, as organs are removed and the body packed with herbs, powders and wax. The resulting body is unnaturally durable: MAJOR Harm is considered MINOR for all purposes. The body is also now considered equipment, which can be further enhanced accordingly. |
| Requirement: SECRET OF WALOZI |
| Secret of Eccentric Practice (Ability, Ability) |
| The Abilities used by walozi ritual craft are to some degree arbitrary. A walozi with this Secret has learned an eccentric form of the rites: the player may choose one ritual Ability and swap it with another Ability for all ritual purposes. |
| Key of Death-Hunter |
|---|
| The character has dedicated himself to putting zamani to rest. |
| 1xp: Talk about spiritwork. |
| 2xp: Destroy zamani. |
| 5xp: Stop a necromancer. |
| Buyoff: Summon a zamani. |
| Key of the Walozi |
| The character lives apart from families, but belongs in the Qek society all the same. |
| 1xp: Work with sasha. |
| 2xp: Use sorcery for somebody else. |
| 5xp: Resolve a problem with sorcery. |
| Buyoff: Relinquish your practice. |
| Key of the Necromancer |
| The character desires power or some other thing enough to seek it by enslaving the restless dead. |
| 1xp: Work with zamani. |
| 2xp: Recognize an identity in a particular zamani. |
| 5xp: Use sorcery to achieve your desire. |
| Buyoff: Destroy your zamani. |