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3rd Movement - Sky God Faith

Original material inspired by discussions with Sami Koponen, with crunch in homage to Richard Garriott.

After the Shadow, the first generation of Gorenites was tied down in a long struggle against trolls to reclaim their homeland. In many ways the clans, weakened by the Shadow, failed the people then. Instrumental to victory were HIGHLAND SAINTS, warrior monks from the Tiserian monasteries at the Roof of the World.

Now the Sky God Faith has been embraced by nearly all of Goren. It has brought justice to where there used to be none; it has brought a literate culture to a land that is quickly settling down; it has brought swords of the coistrels, troll-slayers, to make Goren possible again.

The Sky God Faith is monotheistic, dogmatic, evangelical faith. It is but two generations old, and it is yet to be seen what, if anything, it has to offer to Near.

Above the Earth

The Tiserian monasteries are a chain of Spartan stone temples that reach ever higher up into the Roof of the World. They are ancient; the people of Near have always looked to be closer to the sky, and as far back as the monastic records go, people have been traveling here for a sense of holiness. The “highland saints”, as they are called, were already famous holy men during the imperial times. Their martial power was feared, as it was well known that they fought the frost giants of the mountains through the harshest of winters.

The highland saints used to be reclusive before the Shadow, but afterwards things changed: as Gorenite lands below the mountains disintegrated into chaos during the troll age, monastic orders stepped up to support the clans. These assaults from the mountains are called CENOBITIC ACTIONS in the monastic language, to contrast with eremitic actions sometimes taken by individual hermits.

The creed that Cenobitic Actions brought down to the lowlands is now called the Sky God Faith, a rapidly spreading religious renewal of the tired land. Highland saints and preachers are popular among the people because they have magic that works against the trolls, and they have justice; the Sky God Faith does not distinguish between clansmen and strangers, their laws are the same for everybody.

Thus members of Sky God congregations can expect to be treated with dignity, just like clansmen.

The saints themselves are now tired and their ranks are thin after fighting a century to secure the Gorenite highlands from trolls and antagonistic witch-women. The reality of bringing wisdom to an ingrate population has been a disappointment to many, and they have returned back to their mountain abodes. Preachers of the faith step in to pick up the slack and maintain the zeal of laymen eager to seek virtue. It is unlikely that another Cenobitic Action will be launched anymore.

Note the different implications of the Sky God Faith, Sky God Religion and Sky God Church. All three terms are used by Gorenites, often revealing different degrees of foresight concerning the direction the movement is taking.

The Book of Light

Ideologically the Sky God Faith is dogmatic and monotheistic: the God is invisible and one, living in the Sky. Virtue comes from listening to his word, revealed in nature. Vice is associated with lowlands, lavish waste and Trollish ways, such as mining. Virtue and Vice are recognized by their consequences, and a virtuous man should not be afraid to judge the boundary in between. Magic is a force empowered by virtue or vice, and not to be invoked lightly.

In practice the highland saints are committed to bringing virtue to the Gorenites; they believe that a good life will be rewarded by the community here and now, if only the community remains true. The saints have started churches in all the largest towns of Goren and sent preachers to teach in the countryside, hoping to convince the clansmen of the wisdom of just thought and action.

Interestingly enough, the Sky God Faith is a book religion: the highland saints have brought with them a great number of teaching texts that have been compiled with recent histories of the cenobitic actions – the result is called the Book of Light, and while its sources range from old imperial philosophy to Oranide poetry, it is slowly becoming established as the definition of the Sky God Faith. The stories of Lowden Mountain Man, the commander of the second cenobitic action, are an inspiration for preachers and laymen alike.

Virtues of the Sky God

The highland saints practice a virtue ethic that is best expressed in the dictum “God helps those who prove worthy of aid”. NATURAL virtues are those that come to humans without effort, as long as they are humble. CIVIC virtues are things like self-sacrifice and honor, which come with experience with the world and society. The saints have a complex philosophical system that charts out different virtues and their interrelations from first principles to the highest spiritual virtue.

Virtues of the highland saints are represented as Abilities in the game. This is not because others could not be virtuous in these ways; rather, it is because only with Sky God adherents (and others who learn these Abilities) do we give the option of testing the character’s virtue directly, as a matter of conflict. You might wish to consider such a conflict more of an internal than an external matter: the issue is not whether the character can do something, but whether he will. The player choice to use one of these Abilities is a sign of willingness to leave the character’s intent up to the dice in this matter. The whole concept of virtue presumes that people can, to an extent, learn to act better by some measure.

Virtue Abilities are all considered Passive Abilities when that is useful, usable in all the ways the standard Passive Abilities are. I should note that the Story Guide’s job regarding virtue Abilities is pretty much to say no to the player who’d want to use them to do everything. Rather, presume that a virtue can never be used for a non-passive purpose, except in a dramatic situation or through a Secret. Characters might get around this with the SECRET OF SYNERGY and other means, of course.

As practical advice, I suggest taking the virtues as a challenge for gaming technique, as that’s sort of why I find them interesting myself. Consider the classical RPG PENDRAGON as an established example of what might be done here, perhaps, and keep an open mind. I haven’t had trouble applying the virtues myself, but I can imagine how they might confuse a player who is not prepared for the full implications of turning personality traits into Abilities. The Story Guide will do well to remind a player creating his paladin character that he will enforce the need for concrete, material Abilities, allowing the virtues to be pinged only in the truly dramatic or clearly internal struggles.

Blessings of Virtue

BLESSINGS are magical Secrets activated by the virtues; the Tiserian cenobites know of many miracles based on the holy writings, but individuals are limited to blessings they are granted – afterwards the saint who qualified for a blessing once may use it freely, nobody can take it away from him unless he relinquishes it to another. Blessings are handled like Secrets, except that they are only learned through Secrets such as the SECRET OF THE AXIOM, QUEST or HAGIOGRAPHY, or perhaps as bequeathal from a saint close to death.

Blessings have different strength depending on the virtues they draw upon. This is reflected in their mechanical design. The following limitations are what I use: a Blessing with only natural virtues may not have a Pool cost above 1. A Blessing with a civic virtue may have a Pool cost of at most 2. A Blessing with the spiritual virtue would be limited to a Pool cost of 3. Humble Blessings, if there are any, would have no Pool costs at all. As always, remember that while we discuss Blessings being “granted by God” and such, this is just how the characters themselves perceive the matter. We the players know that God does not make judgments in Near – indeed, God has no mechanical impact in the game mechanics whatsoever.

Abilities - Sky God Faith

Valor (V)
Valor is the natural virtue of daring to stand up for your beliefs. It is mostly used to support decisive action, but it may be used directly in simple tests of courage as well. VALOR is a Passive Ability.
Compassion (I)
Compassion is the natural virtue of caring for your fellow man. It is mostly useful for supporting empathic action, but direct use might be feasible in some social situations. COMPASSION is a Passive Ability.
Honesty (R)
Honesty is the natural virtue of truthful word and action. It is mostly useful in supporting earnest action, but direct use might be possible in certain social situations. HONESTY is a Passive Ability.
Justice (I,R)
Justice is the civic virtue of caring for the rights of others. It is mostly useful in supporting legal procedures or similar truth-seeking, but direct use might be possible when gripped by righteous fury. JUSTICE is a Passive Ability.
Sacrifice (V,I)
Sacrifice is the civic virtue of daring to give for others. It is mostly useful in supporting daring actions for good causes, but direct use might be possible when faced with certain loss. SACRIFICE is a Passive Ability.
Spirituality (V,I,R)
Spirituality is the virtue of believing in principle before consequence and moral good over material good. I can imagine using it to support other Abilities now and then. SPIRITUALITY is a Passive Ability.
Book of Light (R)
The character’s knowledge of the holy texts of the Sky God Faith. This Ability is useful for mastering the teachings, comparing editions, distinguishing apocryphic content and teaching the book to others. Albeit called a “book”, the holy texts are actually still plural and mutating by the moment.

Secrets - Sky God Faith

Secret of Civic Virtue
The Book of Light calls higher virtues that may only be fulfilled through society CIVIC virtues. These are Abilities just like the natural virtues, except that they are always associated with two Pools. JUSTICE (I, R), for example. With this Secret the character may learn these more complex virtues.
Secret of Spiritual Virtue
The Book of Light calls the singular highest virtue by the name of SPIRITUAL, as it may only be fulfilled in communion with God. The spiritual virtue is an Ability just like other virtues, except that it is always associated with three Pools. With this Secret the character may learn SPIRITUALITY (V,I,R).
Requirement: SECRET OF CIVIC VIRTUE
Secret of the Axiom
A character with this Secret may gain Blessings. Either he asks for one with PRAY (V), or has an AXIOMATIC REVELATION with an appropriate virtue Ability. In the former case the player chooses the Blessing (designing it with the Story Guide if necessary), while in the latter the Story Guide chooses a Blessing that relies on the virtue in question. Either way, the Blessing costs an Advance.
Cost: 7 minus the check result in Ability-appropriate Pool
Requirement: Have no vices.
Secret of Monastic Life
The character’s Pool spend caps for all of his Virtue Abilities are raised by one, akin to the SECRET OF CONDITIONING. This Secret may be picked multiple times.
Secret of Hagiography
The character can learn Blessings from accounts of the BOOK OF LIGHT (R) and other holy writings. The Story Guide chooses what is available; the player has the right to refuse suggestions equal to the level of success in the Ability check.
Cost: 1 Reason per activation, cumulative
Secret of Deaconate
The character is a church official in charge of a parish. He can replace the Ability requirements of any Blessing with his knowledge of the BOOK OF LIGHT (R) and PRAY (V) when leading the congregation, as assigned by the Story Guide.
Cost: 1 Pool associated with the original virtue per check, cumulative over the scene.

Blessings

Blessing of Spirit Strike
The character can see and strike his opponent’s spirit in combat. This not only allows fighting with spirits, but also renders conventional armor useless against the character; does nothing against spiritless targets, though. Use a COMPASSION (I) check against misguided opponents and VALOR (V) against evil; the check result difference against the opponent’s RESIST (R) becomes persistent bonus dice in conflict against this one opponent. The result can be made into an Effect to extend its duration.
Cost: 1 Pool associated with the Ability.
Blessing of Lowden the Judge
The character can unearth the truth by divine insight. Use an HONESTY (R) check when merely penetrating lies or misdirection and a JUSTICE (I,R) check to garner information currently unknown to witnesses. The outcome provides the character with pertinent facts equal to the check result regarding a moral dilemma.
Cost: 1 or 2 Pool associated with the Ability, depending on the usage.
Blessing of Light
The character may make himself or a held token shine with unearthly light. Use an HONESTY (R) check for a revealing light or a VALOR (V) check for a blinding one. The check result may be used as penalty dice against creatures of the night.
Cost: 1 Pool associated with the Ability.
Saintly Blessing
The character can distribute his own Secrets (Blessings included) as Blessings to others, with the player redesigning them to accord with the theology (appropriate use of Virtues, Pool costs, etc.). Any Secret so distributed is lost to the character himself, unless the recipient pays an Advance for it. Use SACRIFICE (V,I) when touching the recipient and SPIRITUALITY (V,I,R) if doing this at the moment of Transcendence. In the latter case the character is literally taken to the Sky, and the player may take his time to distribute the character’s Blessings as he pleases to anybody in Near.
Cost: 2 Pool associated with SACRIFICE (V,I) or 3 with SPIRITUALITY (V,I,R).
Blessing of Healing
The character can heal others of their ills with a preternatural force that makes things whole. Use a COMPASSION (I) check for physical injuries and HONESTY (R) for others. This may only be done immediately after noticing the injury; hesitation closes the window.
Cost: 1 Pool associated with the Ability.

Keys - Sky God Faith

Key of Courage
Highland saints teach that without Courage any virtue will fail when it truly matters.
1xp: Express a courageous virtue.
2xp: Suffer for virtuous reasons.
5xp: Lose something for the same.
Buyoff: Act in cowardice.
Key of Love
Love is the direction of virtue for the highland saints, who teach that only humans are capable of this transcendent passion.
1xp: Express a loving virtue.
2xp: Change a life to better it.
5xp: Save another’s life.
Buyoff: Act in hate.
Requirement: Be human.
Key of Truth
Highland saints consider Truth a basic philosophical principle, without which a reasonable world cannot function properly.
1xp: Express a truthful virtue.
2xp: Refuse to lie.
5xp: Expose a great lie.
Buyoff: Act in untruth.
Key of Hatred
Some Gorenites have taken to justifying their hate with Sky God. They are still sincere in their faith, and some are influential deacons.
1xp: Express your hate.
2xp: Act on your hate.
5xp: Slay a person you hate.
Buyoff: Ask for forgiveness.