Unaligned Faithful

Those who practice their faith with unaligned magic.

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Chetirijak

Type: Cleric

Chetirijaki are members of the Ottavian religion known as Chetvrtizam, a religion focused on four inmortal beings who are said to have had a major role in the local history.

The four figures each have a specific tale associated with them:

• Karlo-Mladen, Kanura-Murhaddan, Agate-Eyed Wanderer, mind, Karl-Mladen is a man who sought knowledge for the sake of knowledge and was told that he could know everything if he plucked out his eyes and replaced them with agates. He did so, but he found that in doing so, he lost his heart, his soul, and his sight, and thus, the knowledge lost value. He now wanders the realm seeking his lost eyes.
• Berodeni, Beondegi, Faceless Hunter, change, Berodeni was a hunter who wanted to be the greatest of all hunters. He discovered a magical orb that kept spinning, and as long as he looked into it, his face changed. He used this orb to make his face look like his prey, so he could get close and hunt them. He did this seven times, and on the seventh time, though he was warned, he lost his face. Now he wanders, his face ever-changing, hunting for a face and the ultimate prey - himself.
• Emilijan, Empodian, the Knight in the Pass, boundaries, Emilijan was a knight ordered by a lord to protect a pass on pain of death. He stood guard for so long, he became solid, unmoving, unmovable, loyal to the point that even centuries after the passing of his liege lord, he still stands guard, seeking to be the perfect protector, but he no longer remembers why.
• Uliks Drobnjak, Unerem Droth, Judge, balance, Uliks Drobnjak was a fair man who was renowned for his ability to find balance and measure the good and the bad. He was so renowned that one day, even the gods came to him, asking him to make judgment for them. He sat and listened as every god in the whole world spoke to him - some say dozens, some say thousands - and after he finished listening, he came to the realization that all were equal. He could make no decision, and so he was trapped to live in a state of perfect balance.

Each of these is a moral tale that represents a different value, though many interpret them differently. The faith that worships these flawed individuals recognizes them as real beings who are inmortal, recognizes that they are flawed, and upholds their flaws as part of their value as figures of worship.

Because these inmortal figures exist, they can be met and interacted with, and most chetirijaki meet at least one of them in their lives.

To become a chetirijak, one must be a follower of the faith and chosen by the other chetirijaki, trained for many years, and initiated into the orders. They wield the power of their faith by spreading the faith, leading rituals and prayers, working as administrators for the handful of churches the faith has, and performing special tasks. They also must live up to the values of honoring one’s flaws, seeking knowledge tempered with heart, questioning one’s orders and loyalties, being decisive, and knowing themselves.

If they do these things, they gain favor from their inmortal subjects of worship. They may have different amounts of favor from each of them, thus having more power from one than another. They may pray for anything from their inmortals, but they are more likely to be answered if they fit the themes of change, the self, and hunting (the Faceless Hunter), the mind, knowledge, seeking, and the self (the Agate-Eyed Wanderer), boundaries, loyalty, questioning, and transitions (the Knight in the Pass), and judgment, decisiveness or indecision, balance, and Divine Law (the Judge).

PRO -1 ATH -1 STR / AWA +3 WIL +3 PRS +1 STH -1 ESS +3

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Mortalist

Type: Believer

A believer in mortality over Divinity.

Mortalists are believers in mortal will, the rigid power of the mind and soul of a mortal who does not worship or acknowledge the power of the Divine. They are believers in a philosophy of the power of mortality to be the true masters of their own fates. Their faith is in themselves as members of mortality, and therefore, they wield mortal will. As they have no Divine being, no inmortal, nor even a potent concept to rely upon, their faith is tested and proven with their belief in themselves and other mortals' abilities.

The power of their faith has little utility except when wielded against the powers of the Divine or inmortals, and then it provides some protection based on the strength of their own mind and soul. The average mortalist gains +1 to any roll against Divine power or anything done by an inmortal being. If they ever betray their oath by accepting Divine or inmortal aid or support, they will lose all of their powers.

Their mortal will is wielded through “antifaith”, a rejection of the need for the Divine (not the existence thereof - that is more than proven on Shem). Mortalists who wish to gain more power must go out of their way to live without any Divine power affecting them. They do this in various ways, usually making sure they know what sources of Divine power are - what objects are imbued with it, what people have it, etc. They end up knowing more about religion than most religious people.

The more they do this, the more they practice what they believe, the greater their antifaith becomes, and the better they can resist Divine powers.

Mortalism is common in Ottavia, but it is found throughout Ranu. In imperial lands, especially Burev, it is illegal, but most don't focus on persecuting mortalists if for no other reason than they are viewed as obnoxious and unimportant.

PRO / ATH / STR / AWA +2 WIL +4 PRS -1 STH +1 ESS +1

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Puknuti

Type: Cultist

Puknutis are cultists in a cult of the same name (Puknuti), meaning “Rupture”. They believe that all beings are seeking a Release, and that release comes from a moment called Rupturing (also called Puknuti).

Like all those who worship a concept and not a being, they gain magical power from the power of their belief in the concept rather than favor from some inmortal being. They must live up to the beliefs and values of Puknuti, which focus on finding every form of release they can imagine. They focus on four specific kinds:

• Physical release: exercise, sex, massage, popped joints, excretion, sneezing, screaming, breathing, anything that releases something from the body.
• Emotional release: catharsis, crying, laughing, expressing any deep emotion, therapeutic exchanges, emotional moments and interactions
• Mental release: sharing information, speaking thoughts as soon as they come, expressing every thought, teaching others what you know
• Metaphysical release: using magical energies, powers, and abilities

To resist Release is to deny it, thus they perform release as soon as they can. They do not eschew social norms - they will remain silent during a somber moment like a funeral, they use bathroom facilities as normal, and they don’t trauma dump when it’s not called for - but they seek the first reasonable opportunity. When they are in their own spaces, they are much more free, and they often engage in Release sooner than others might. They often overshare, data dump, and use their magic more often than others, but they are not completely unsociable or wild. They’re just a little awkward, not an obnoxious monster.

After years of practicing their faith and performing the rites and ceremonies that come with it, they eventually gain certain magical abilities so long as they are true to it:

• Releasing wail: they can wail out their heart, mind, breath (body), and soul, emptying their “vessel” (as they put it) and gaining a bonus to their Faith. This means they cannot use their other abilities for a day (or more if they do not rest).
• Rupturing touch: they can release all of some part of their musculature (effectively causing a muscle to sprain, -3 STR, ATH, and PRO after use, penalty reduces by 1 every time they get a full night’s sleep thereafter), touch someone, and cause part of their body to rupture. This is a dangerous attack that they do not use unless forced to. It causes damage at a rate of 13/18/23/28.
• Expressive presence: they can release all of one emotion from their entire being (-3 PRS after use, penalty reduces by 1 every time they get a full night’s sleep thereafter), giving themselves an aura of raw emotional power, protecting them, projecting the emotion to anyone within 20’, and causing people to want to express the emotion wielded.
• Unleashed soul: they can wield every one of their active magical powers (not abilities) at once, causing their soul to flare, giving them the ability to wield raw metaphysical energy (ESS) and alter their magical powers. Every time they do this, they lose a point of ESS that recovers at a rate of a year and a day per point.
• Emptied mind: they can project the entirety of their mentalscape around them, emptying the mind entirely, giving themselves a complete blank slate to relearn literally everything. There is great risk here, as they might lose permanently all knowledge, including passive or background mental processes (effectively killing them), or they might lose fragments of knowledge, skills, or even abilities, but they will temporarily have an AWA of 25.

Puknutis live in a specific area of Ottavia in a commune, where they follow Objavljeni, their leader, an energy being who has completely lost all of themselves save their perfect soul (in actuality, just a pusaran sorcerer of great power).

PRO +1 ATH +1 STR -1 AWA +1 WIL +3 PRS +1 STH -2 ESS +3

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Zhrets

Type: Priest

A Cesti term for “one who makes sacrifices”, the zhretsi are priests of many religions throughout Ranu. While they are followers of many deities and many formal religions among the Cesti, they are instrumental in the Cesti opposition to the imperial religions as bearers of the old Cesti culture.

The duties of a zhretsi include determining the dates for special ceremonies and festivals, leading ritual sacrifices, sharing knowledge of the universe and world, proffering advice to community leaders, performing divinatory rites, and other cultural and religious tasks. Though their work varies depending on the deity or deities they serve, their role in the community often remains the same.

Zhretsi are known for wearing long beards, long hair, and heavy robes. They are considered part of the local community’s leadership, often helping serve justice to the community alongside the knyaz or other leaders. They often were political players in the community.

Their divinatory practices often involved the use of running horses through lance obstacles to see patterns. As such, they are often tasked with caring for and training horses as well.

As priests serving Divine powers, they gain their magic based on the favor they engender from their deities. This is determined by how well they perform their rites, rituals, and sacrifices, and what their deity requires of them. Click here for a list of local deities they might follow, and consult the GM for what magic this might bring them.

PRO / ATH / STR +2 AWA +2 WIL +2 PRS +1 STH -1 ESS +2