Divination

coremagicdivinationgodsgodheadsblessingscurses

There is no difference between a god & a creature. A god is a power differential. A king is a god to a peasant. Most “gods” are exceptionally weird creatures or powerful people who, through guile, cunning, strength, or dumb luck, have become ageless or worshiped for various reasons.

There is extreme variety between “gods”. The most potent are those who learn to wield human institutions in their name. Many kings claim divinity & thereby reap the rewards of power.

Godheads

Some creatures form cults that build shrines & temples. Unlike a government, dedicated cult activity creates a phenomenon called the Godhead, a subconscious mass of faith & power attached to a spirit’s existence like a spiritual exoskeleton.

The main practical benefit of a Godhead is that it lets people perform divination to poll a god for small requests, such as yes/no answers to whether a certain act would please them, to reinforce an oath with the threat of a curse upon the violator, or for minor blessings within their power, among other things.

The average effect of miracles & blessings upon the population is not displayed mechanically in the Faction system because everyone is assumed to perform the sacrifices & rituals needed to maintain a decent relationship with the gods that matter the most to their life.

Domain

A god’s Domain is the sum total of correlations related to the god’s Facts, Features, cult presence or general existence; in short, it’s their knowledge & magical power.

A local beast’s Domain includes the forest it lives in. It doesn’t include forests in general unless that beast has some special characteristic that attunes it to all forests.

Limitations of a Godhead

A Godhead reflects a spirit’s attitude & domains of power, but not its conscious awareness. A “god” worshiped in this manner is no more immortal, immaterial, or possessing of attention than a mortal. A person cannot “see” through a Godhead formed around them any more than a CEO knows the day-to-day workings of his clerks — only if it’s personally brought to his attention can he know.

Divination

Divination is a ritual developed to derive an answer to an inquiry from an entity’s Godhead. The Godhead of a worshiped entity is capable only of very subtle, general shifts & effects across the entity’s domain, so responses are usually issued through minor fluctuations in the environment. A cult at its outset creates a specific divination method to contact a given spirit; repetition & tradition reinforces that method. Common methods of divination include (but are not limited to):

• Observing the flocks & rhythms of birds (augury);
• Reading the qualities of corpses, such as bones or organs (necromancy & haruspicy);
• Observing the movements of stars;
• Burning bones & observing fracture patterns;
• Observing the movement & quality of flames (pyromancy);
• Reading the movement & shape of leaves in prepared tea (tasseography);
• Casting dice in large quantities.

To perform divination, you must loudly state the true name of the entity you are trying to contact, the sacrifice you’re offering, & what you expect as a blessing. The following can be demanded:

• The entity’s blessing as a temporary Condition.
  • Alternatively, one can demand a minor coincidental miracle that a Blessing could achieve, such as commanding a local minor animal to perform an act.
• A yes/no answer to whether a specific action would please the entity.
• That the entity cancel a curse placed upon you by it.
• That the entity appear before you (a summoning), possibly to perform a specific in-person service (such as to serve as a guide).

All requests must fall within the god’s Domain.

You must then perform the sacrificial rites, using the sacrifice in the act of divination required by the entity. Afterwards, the GM rolls you a Divination Save, in secret, with the following modifiers:

• Add the parishioner’s Level, minus the entity’s Power.
• +1 for each digit in the value of the sacrifice presently offered or promised in the future, up to +5 maximum.
  • −2 if no sacrifice or vow for a future payment is offered.
• +1 if performing at a shrine or temple dedicated to this god.
• +1 if performing with the assistance of a priest dedicated to this god.
• −5 if outside the realm where the entity operates, measured as (Power × 10 in miles) from the entity itself or the nearest Settlement holding a cult to it.

A Godhead is not an extension of the entity’s conscious mind. It is a swirling miasma of power that answers according to its will, but weakly. An entity is unaware of what its Godhead is doing & can only shape its actions by shaping its own ideas of what is or isn’t good.

Local demigods, spirits, magicians, & masters are often preferred over distant ones because they personally attend their own shrines & generally offer better, more direct support than distant gods do.

Divination with a Present Entity

Divination is only for talking to a Godhead. If the god is standing right in front of you, you can just talk to & negotiate with it the way you would a human of similar stature (i.e. presumably with much nervousness & terror).

An offering or exchange is still usually required & popular gods are likely to be busy.

Blessings

A god’s blessing is a Condition that can be expended at any time to gain a +1 bonus on any Save or on other actions related to the god’s Domain.

A Player may also ask a god for a blessing to be expended on a small favor or act within its domain explainable by circumstance or happenstance. If the GM believes it plausible, the blessing is expended & the favor occurs.

Only one blessing may be held at a time.

Curses

A god’s curse is generally a negative Condition that sticks around until divination is successfully performed to ask for its removal. It penalizes any Save made by that Leader for actions related to the god’s Facts.