URDU SHAMANS

by Trotsky

Special Note: The following description is written for use with the Harnmaster rules. 1st edition rules are marked 'HM1', while the 2nd edition rules from Harnmaster Religion are marked 'HMR'. For those of you without these rules, a guide to terminology is provided. Translation rules for RuneQuest (3rd ed.) are also available.

Circles & Offices

Urdu shamans are graded into five Circles, based on Ritual ML. There is, however no structured hierarchy like that of civilised religions. Use the following table:

HM1 HMR
Circle ML Office RML Office
1st 26+ assistant 1+ adult
2nd 41+ 21+ assistant
3rd 61+ shaman 51+ shaman
4th 76+ 71+
5th 86+ 86+

Training

Existing shamans select young men and women to follow in their path, based on signs such as unusual behaviour or minor deformities. If they show aptitude, they will eventually become shamans, but such people are rare and some of the smaller tribes lack any shamans at all. Because the Urdu generally cooperate with one another, it is not unusual for someone with the right signs to be sent to a neighbouring village/tribe to learn the relevant arts.

HM1

The assistant gains the following skills:

Ritual/2, Herblore/2, Survival/2, Awareness/1, Embalming/1, Foraging/1, Oratory/1, Tracking/1

The assistant then gains three option points to be expended to improve his or her skills or open appropriate elective skills. For each year spent in training, the character may improve their Ritual skill by half SB.

Ritual Invocations

HM1

SKINCHANGING (New Invocation)
       by Eric Anderson

This invocation allows the shaman to create an enchanted animal pelt. The pelt must belong to a non-magical wild animal familiar to the shaman, but otherwise there are no restrictions on its nature, so long as the pelt is reasonably intact and in a good condition. The ritual takes several hours to complete, during which the shaman must not be interrupted.

Once the pelt has been created, the Shaman may use it to alter his or her form by wearing the pelt and expending 25 fatigue. Only the shaman who created the pelt can use it in this way. The transformation takes 1 minute to complete, during which the Shaman is unaware of his/her surroundings. The Shaman will fully take on the form of the animal from which the pelt was taken, including its natural abilities, physical characteristics, etc. and will be unable to use any specifically human abilities such as speech.

The shaman must make a Will x3 roll (Will x5 on a CS result) to retain his own mental characteristics for the duration of the spell, otherwise he must employ those of the animal. The transformation lasts as long as the shaman's ritual SI in hours (x3 on a CS result).

To the Urdu religion page

This document was last updated 31st August 1998 by Jamie 'Trotsky' Revell. Comments are welcome.