Aranea & their Immortals
by John HareEarlier I had proposed that the aranea would have to worship their Immortals in secret. (mainly because they revere the spider form and why allow other worship of lesser Immortals) Those aranea who decide to worship the Immortals are fairly rare, but are well respected individuals.
Roughly there are several levels of Immortal awareness of their worshipper. Firstly any aranea may attempt to become a follower of an Immortal, so long as they aren't a speciality wizard or know some other secret craft which would be their primary focus (i.e. Glantrian secret schools). The Immortals want their special followers to be focused in the Immortal, not in something else. However because all aranea are magic users they would have a lack of understanding towards those who give up their magic to follow any Immortal. Now I suppose you could just make the aranea shamans, but this I believe should be used for more tribal type environments, which the aranea of Herath are not.
Thus the 5 Marks of the Immortals: The Gift (1st), The Mark, The Touch, The Voice and lastly The Spirit. To gain the first Mark and all subsequent Marks the petitioner needs to sacrifice some XP, some gift and pass a skill check for Ceremony (Immortal). The Ceremony skill can be learned from others who have been 'Marked' or by studying the sacred grounds under the Capital City Belphemon.
The Gift - gives a bonus skill (or
+1 bonus to the skill if already possessed) which is appropriate to
the Immortal. And gain the ability to cast spells as a 3rd level
cleric. The ceremony skill check is -4, 2,000xp is required as
well. The sacrifice may modify the ceremony check depending on
whether it is appropriate or not.
Yehm: stealth or knowledge
Enebaan: diplomacy or disguise
Negyavim: magical engineering or alternate magics
Shaibuth: tracking or hunting
Shaya: art or music
The Mark: other aranea with the Mark or better can recognise fellow followers of the same Immortal. Gets a bonus to one stat. (which every one would help improve the skill chosen with the Gift) and can cast spells as a 6th level cleric. Must accumulate 12,000 XP and the ceremony skill is at -3.
The Touch: can perform a laying on hands healing (2pts per aranea level), cast spells as 9th level cleric, +1 to skill (one chosen with the Gift), needs 100,000xp, ceremony -2
The Voice: can commune 1/week (freebie), cast spells as 12th level cleric, gains the skill persuasion (or +1 to it), radiates a constant protection from evil aura. (clerical one, not magic user, it resets itself at midnight every day). Needs 250,000 XP, ceremony -1
The Spirit: cast spells as 15th level cleric, additional +1 to skill, acts as a continuous bless spell to all aranea within 20' (non-cumulative), needs 400,000 XP, ceremony check is unmodified.
Now this is just a very rough idea,
so comments and ideas would be appreciated. It hasn't been play
tested yet so there could be some nasty little surprises.