Original work based on forum discussions with Josh.
One thing that I like, but which has not been emphasized much in writing, is the idea of regionally important culture. It really is just a convenient simplification to say that “Sky God is only known in Goren” or “alchemy is not practiced outside Ammeni”; rather, it’s obvious that there are plenty of grey areas, and more of them as Near knits back together and the lives of all cultures are enriched by trade and other exchanges.
Three-Corner magic works like this in my play, and for others: one can’t really say conclusively that Three-Corner is a “Maldorite phenomenon”, simply because it really is the universal magic, sort of like the magical Latin of Near’s dark ages. It might be most common in Maldor and originate there, but all societies of Near have to handle it to some degree. Gorenite witchcraft is similar, it’s been in the world for a long time and spread and gotten extinguished multiple times, if witches are to be believed. Its hold seems to be the strongest in patriarchal societies, which is seen in Maldor today, where the derived witchcraft of the Queen of Shadow is very much in play.
All this means that it would hardly be fair to characterize witchcraft as a monolithic phenomenon. Rather, it’s more of a method that can be turned towards different purposes, as we can see now.
The Vadenite islands have been colonized several times from the mainland. The latest wave happened when the Empire of Maldor brought in their navy and support staff in the early years of Absolon’s reign. The local culture of the time was prominently Gorenite, as the Jarls of both Gorens had been banishing people there for generations.
Today the fortress of Inselburg is home to a hundred Collegiums of more or less shining repute. Some magisters are highly public figures, others desire privacy or even religious secrecy, while the rumored elven magister of the Skyfire Cult is only ever met at initiation ceremonies. However, there is one collegium that is not only secretive, but actually illegal on the free islands. The HORNED CONSORTIUM flouts the values and personal freedoms of the Vadenites to such a degree that it has long been forbidden. Still, the cult endures.
The HORNED GOD is a figure of Gorenite myth, one of HER HUSBANDS, the male pantheon of the Gorenites. Among the old Vadenite population their worship never flagged, and some of it still remains. The Horned God is considered the greatest of the bunch by the CONSORTS, his worshippers, who form the illegal cult. They believe that the Horned God was not only the first of Her Husbands, but yet remains the only lawful one despite her many indiscretions.
Members of the cult are quite secretive, but the Vadenite islands are isolated and insular, so there are some they rule handily. A few respected public personages of Inselburg are also members (including at least one Fleet officer), making for a strict separation between their public and private life. The cult is also popular among certain parts of the Ammeni princedom, although clearly illegal there as well for different reasons.
The worst excesses of the cultists involve wholesale degradation of Vadenite women, whom they consider little better than beasts and less worthy of respect. It is not expected of the lower ranks of initiate, but the higher ones routinely capture, rape and murder women they find offensive, or sell them to Ammenite slavers. The mystical potency harnessed by these activities is used in magic that helps the initiates succeed in all of their endeavors.
The Consort Magister of the Horned Consortium wields numerous vows that are each formalized and taken very seriously by the cult. Furthermore, breaking some of the vows, causing certain disfigurations of the body as well as horrible nightmares, is necessary for the members to ascend to the highest ranks in the Consortium.
Members bound by the Oath of Secrecy are taught the TRICKS OF CONSPIRACY, used by the cult in their work. They are expected to participate in the cult’s illegal activities. (Other typical tricks of the Horned God involve STRENGTH, WOMEN, ANIMALS, NIGHT and HUNT.)
The Oath of Fealty is only required of members that profess religious interest in the worship of the Horned God. It provides the ARCANA OF HORN: RENEW, which is useless for a cultist without the KEY OF THE HORNED GOD.
Finally, the Oath of Revenge is for desperate members who join the cult for passionate reasons. They are taught the SECRET OF VENGEFUL BLOW and the magical foci needed to use it, as well as other things they need to exact their revenge. The cult does not expect much of these initiates unless and until blackmailing them with their association provides some tangible reward.
However, these are just the three lower orders of the cult. The real core of the cult commits to the “Thrice-Bound Oath” of the Horned God, gaining the SECRET OF RAISING THE HORN in return. The ThriceBound Oath may only be fulfilled by breaking at least one of the earlier Oaths, which all a character has to have sworn to get this far. Each Oath has a symbolical punishment: breaking the Oath of Secrecy causes nightmares that impart sacred knowledge, breaking the Oath of Fealty withers a finger off the character’s hand and breaking the Oath of Revenge causes terrible sores to his lower parts while he sleeps.
The three lower orders are routinely granted by any Thrice-Bound cultist, while the Thrice-Bound Oath itself is only administered by the Consort Magister Thomas Conne himself. While the lesser vows are only associated with minimal crunch, all further witchery and Three-Corner spellcraft known to the cult associates with the Thrice-Bound Oath, providing a substantial discount in Pool costs. Breaking this last oath in part or full has drastic consequences; the Oaths held by Conne are LEGENDARY (5) and promise torture, death and a torturous afterlife.
The Thrice-Bound circle of the cult convenes twice each year for a great hunt, preferably conducted on mainland in either Jošland or Maldor. The hunt is assisted by favored lower order associates and conducted for the purpose of RAISING THE HORN and any major Three-Corner spellcraft the cult needs done. The hunt concerns animals and women encountered, with targets released from cages if necessary.
The Horned Consortium possesses a limited form of High witchcraft in the RITE MAGNIFICENT, as they do not benefit from the Covenant rites: invoking the Horned God does not allow ritual Workings or drawing forth Arcana. However, the Consorts have preserved knowledge of the GIFT OF HAMOND, eponymous for Her Husband the Craftsman. The ritual procedure itself is essentially similar to Gorenite witchcraft, the Consorts just need to invoke the Horned God instead of the Goddess. (If you’re wondering, like I did: the reason for why they don’t have to invoke Hamond to use his Secret is that their theology allows the Horned God to force the matter upon Hamond. Probably not many cult members who could uphold the Aspect of Hamond, anyway. Hamond’s Aspect Ability is probably CRAFTWORK (I), by the way.)
If some of the Consortium crunch seems overly expensive to you without the magistery discounts, keep in mind that the Consortium is very young in its current form; it was the father of Thomas, Ezkil Conne, who transformed the collegium’s traditional practices, included Three-Corner knowledge garnered from refugee Maldorites and displaced the old men who used to control the much less disruptive old collegium. Only active theurgy made the current theology of the cult possible at all; presumably the practice would become more efficient with time, were the cult to become established and comfortable in their craft.
Thomas Conne is an unassuming merchant, but some of the members of his Thrice-Bound are influential in Inselburg politics. At least one has been coerced into the inner circle.
Conne wants to use the Black Ships to actively impose order on the Southern Sea, curbing piracy and opening the doors to full development of the area; he already has a man in place to become the Admiral of the undertaking. He is convinced that this will make Inselburg, the Gate of the Sea, an equal partner with Ammeni traders, especially as they would be forced to agree to any guarantees or tolls required by the Vadenites after the full unleashing of the Fleet. Conne keeps quiet about his ambition in public, and is not known to champion any causes.
The Consort Magister finances a small cabal of Three-Corner wizards, one of which is Thrice-Bound and aware of the cult’s involvement. Their goal is the redevelopment of the SECRET OF DIVINATION: SEE FAR; this Secret would open the world to the cult’s ritual magic, limited so far to empowering agents and decking them with itemized magic. Conne has a keen interest in witchblooded men, and will induct any he can into his cult.
The Horned Consortium is an example of the sort of stuff I’d expect in my own play; I haven’t playtested it – I’ve been playing with the new basic crunch in this book, haven’t had time. Still, when you get a game going with a group experienced in TSoY, turn the knobs south and let it rip.
The elements typical of actual play (as opposed to general treatise) here are the highly specific crunch that might only be possessed by one person in the world at its extreme, the free mention of individual characters and the situation in action; like the last chapter, this one is also a SCENARIO waiting to happen.
Also typical is the amount of synergy and influences that jump from one cultural sphere to another. It’s easy to forget when reading the neatly apportioned chapters of this book, but not only is Near on the brink of a new global era, but player characters and other exceptional, dramatic individuals are expected to do stuff like inventing a religion on a flimsy basis, combining two diametrically opposed magic systems into a cult empowered by a third one, and trying to jump start a maritime empire.
The Horned God was not evil, originally. Redemption attempts are encouraged, and perhaps there are some people with the old knowledge still around.
It might be that only an Eclectic could successfully subvert and reveal the inner cult; those Thrice-Bound Oaths are a pretty good guarantee of loyalty. Where to get one when you need him?
Even if the Consortium is evil (I sort of hope that you agree with me that it is, although the game works swimmingly either way), Thomas Conne might be just intellectually lazy and/or fanatical. What if his goals are a good idea?
An original motivation for including this chapter was that I didn’t have room for the witchcraft magic item creation rules in the Witchcraft chapter. Do reintegrate if you want, or steal the Secret in play and return it where it belongs.
| Man-Will (V) |
|---|
| Knowledge of and confidence in male supremacy. Useful in keeping women in line, making other men like and respect you, and in giving orders. |
| Theurgy (R) |
| This is the sort of “heroic” exceptional Ability that comes up now and then in specific scenarios. It’s not generally known in Near anywhere; it might have been concertedly practiced in ancient Hamouad, the Land of Cynics. The Ability allows the character to rearrange divine mythology by introspection, by mastering symbolic logic and universal aesthetic laws; this is mostly useful for poetry, but combined with magic, it can be used to mess with existing magical systems to create new ones. Elaborate theologies such as the Gorenite pantheon and the Khalean Green World are especially vulnerable, while something like Three-Corner magic could only be affected in exceptional circumstances. |
| Tricks of Conspiracy |
|---|
| The character knows how to avoid detection and use force in a meaningful manner. The tricks are bound by a collegial oath, providing a discount. |
| Man: A successful MAN-WILL (V) check intimidates another into signing any document. Cost: (1 vow) |
| Man: A successful MAN-WILL (V) check allows the character to lie without blinking an eye. Cost: 1 INSTINCT (1 vow) |
| Arcana of Horn: Renew |
| The character can heal one thing by sacrificing another. This allows him to move levels of Harm between characters, or even channel them into objects. He must not heal himself, however, or he loses the power for the week. |
| Cost: 2 VIGOR per shift (1 vow). |
| Requirement: Embody the Horned God |
| Secret of Vengeful Blow |
| This is actually a sophisticated ThreeCorner spell. The target of the spell is pierced by powerful pain where they were stricken by the caster, causing double the Harm indicated by the check result; if caused Harm is MAJOR or worse, a dark horn impales the stricken spot, nailing the target to the ground. The spell is resisted by ENDURE (V). The cost is reduced in half for each invested Advance, instead of deducted by one. The spell requires checks of CREATION (V) and DESTRUCTION (V). |
| Cost: |
| OVERLAY CREATION: 1+ check in VIGOR |
| MASSIVE DAMAGE: 2 VIGOR |
| MAGICAL CUNNING: 1 POOL |
| SPELLCRAFT: 1 POOL per Advance |
| CONDITIONAL MAGIC: -3 POOL |
| Total: Half the target’s ENDURE (V) check in VIGOR. (1 vow) |
| Secret of Raising the Horn |
| A Horned Consort can raise the Aspect of the Horned God with a ritual hunt, feast and blood-letting. These may be done in any order, with a MAN-WILL check for each, with the Ability associated with each of the three Pools in turn. The highest single result becomes the strength of the Aspect, which will last until the next solstice. The Aspect may be dissolved by a woman who beats it with a Passive Ability check. |
| Cost: 1 VIGOR, INSTINCT and REASON. (3 vows) |
| Arcana of Horn: Strength |
| The character is supernaturally strong. He has no Pool spend cap on checks that benefit from strength, and he can use the SECRET OF MIGHTY BLOW. The character must never ask anybody else for help, or he loses the strength until he may help the other in turn. |
| Cost: the first spend per check is free (3 vows). |
| Requirement: Embody the Horned God |
| Arcana of Horn: Hunt |
| The character can evade his hunter or trail his quarry over any terrain as long as they actually leave a trail. Any checks needed to find the target or avoid the hunter (not just tracking) and not spent otherwise are pooled into a cumulative pool the character can use as Pool points or free bonus dice in any check against the target as long as the hunt lasts. If the character ever disrespects the hunt, he loses this power until being hunted himself. |
| Cost: free (3 vows) |
| Requirement: Embody the Horned God |
| Secret of Conditional Magic |
| The character can try to work with a fine touch in his Three-Corner working by declaring a minimum level of success higher than MARGINAL (1). Any success below this level becomes Harm for the character in a backlash, while reaching the minimum makes the magic work normally. |
| Cost: Pool discount equal to the declared level of success, minus three. (3 vows) |
| Hunting Spell |
| The target of the spell is marked so that the caster knows their location at all times. Furthermore, the caster may compel the target to return to him as long as the spell lasts. The spell runs out if the target gets more than a day’s journey away, or at next sunrise. The spell uses the DIVINATION (R) focus, and ENTHRALLMENT (R) if the second part is activated. |
| Cost: |
| SEE FAR: 3 REASON |
| MAGICAL HAND: 1 POOL |
| MAGICAL PERSISTENCE: 1 POOL |
| Total: 1 REASON (3 vows) |
| Collection Spell |
| A woman touched by the character is forced to obey him until the next sunrise, unless she RESISTS (R) successfully at some point before then. The character has no Pool spend caps on this spell. The spell uses ENTHRALLMENT (R) and ENHANCEMENT (I). The character gains a bonus die to either check. |
| Cost: |
| EMPOWER MAGIC: 1 INSTINCT |
| MAGICAL PERSISTENCE: 1 POOL |
| Total: free (3 vows) |
| Secret of the Rite Magnificent |
| This is like the SECRET OF COVENANT RITES, except that the Horned God cannot grant Workings or Arcana; instead, after invoking Him, the participants can share their Pools freely and sacrifice by the Covenant Rite rules in performing Three-Corner magic, and they can include Arcana into their workings as Three-Corner Secrets; sacrifices of blood from involuntary women are only worth one Pool point per woman, however, no matter the degree of sacrifice. The magic done within the ritual is limited by both the Three-Corner laws and the laws of High witchcraft, and any spells formed with Arcana only work for characters embodying the proper Aspect. The participants gain two extra bonus dice to be used at any point in the rite. |
| Cost: (3 vows) |
| Secret Gift of Hamond |
| The character can invoke Hamond the Craftsman in a witchcraft ritual to invest wellbuilt items with magical powers. The resulting equipment’s quality cannot surpass its original quality (or the simple crafting Ability check) before the ritual, but it may get worse, depending on the check made. Hamond himself supplies any magic that involves the item performing its purpose; other magics might require other invocations. |
| Cost: 1 VIGOR per magical rating, 1 REASON per magical Imbuement, 2 INSTINCT to avoid messing the item’s quality. No discount for Consorts; they pay extra to force Hamond. (3 vows) |
| Key of the Horned God |
|---|
| The character emulates the Horned God, the ancient Gorenite deity made into a cult idol of success at any cost. |
| 1xp: Act macho. |
| 2xp: Use your strength to resolve a problem. |
| 5xp: Improve your social station. |
| Buyoff: Give up a public office. |
| Key of the Fanatic |
| The character is willing to do anything it takes to achieve his noble aims. |
| 1xp: Act on your convictions. |
| 3xp: Cast aside other values to follow your beliefs. |
| Buyoff: Compromise on your beliefs. |
| Key of Conscience |
| The character has compunctions about his deeds. |
| 1xp: Hesitate for moral reasons. |
| 2xp: Refuse to commit an evil act. |
| 5xp: Make restitution for your deeds. |
| Buyoff: Damn yourself beyond redemption. |
| Key of Machismo |
| The character compensates for his insecurity by shows of force. |
| 1xp: Boast or preen. |
| 2xp: Disdain a woman. |
| 5xp: Make your point by force. |
| Buyoff: Discuss your feelings honestly and directly. |