Uriah

Cult of the Chaos Shamen

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History

Before Time

Uriah was born during the Great Darkness, the son of Engariel and the Devil. He remained a minor deity all through the Chaos Wars and escaped destruction by his own reticence.

Since Time

When Azrael descended to Earth after the Chaos Wars, and brought Ancestor worship to the mortal races, Uriah saw his opportunity and took his chance for power by taking the new abilities and perverting them with Chaos. Though still a minor Chaos God, he is now feared greatly and has occasionally subverted whole tribes of men, baboons, and others.

Life After Death

Uriah preaches a demonstrable Life After Death in the form of an ancestral spirit and promises an eventual return to life by pirating a living body. Cultists avoid death by taking over suitable living bodies when near death. Sometimes confident Runepriests will take bodies merely because they are better than their own.

Runic Associations

Uriah, like Azrael, is primarily concerned with the Spirit of Man but perverts and twists this relationship with the Chaos Rune.

Nature of the Cult

Uriah serves as the Chaos Gods' answer to Azrael's ancestor worship sect in primitive tribal societies. Runelevels tend to be loners, frequently lacking any initiates. They are difficult to eradicate as they can change their appearances merely by taking another body. Only the hazards of spirit combat prevent this cult from becoming a dangerous power amongst tribesmen. Normal people will always try to kill a Uriah cultist before he can change bodies. The cult specializes in the manipulation of spirits and ancestors.

Particular Likes and Dislikes

Uriah despises all normal tribesmen who do not worship chaos. The anti-chaos cults, such as Blueface and Typhon, are feared and hated. Only the close cults of Klute and Engariel are associated.

Organization

The most common organization is for a Runelevel to assume a place of dominance in the Elders of a tribe or clan and then to attract followers. The cult can be very discrete and the Runelevel will take great pains to conceal his perversion from the tribe. If the Runelevel can gain a position of enough strength, then he will declare himself and take over power within the tribe or clan by slaying all other Runelords, Shamen, and Priests who are not Uriah cultists.

Centres of Power and Holy Places

Uriah is totally decentralized and has no permenant power bases. Similarly there are no set Holy Places.

Holy Days and High Holy Days

There are no Holy Days. The shaman-priest will cast for omens every day as in the tribal cults. There is a High Holy Day on Freezday, Stasis Week, Earth Season, which is exactly the opposite time of year to Azrael's High Holy Day.

Lay Membership

Lay membership is open to any mortal race, though all non-humans other than Broo suffer a −10 penalty on their CHA. In a secret cabal within an otherwise normal tribe, the potential lay member will be approached by a Runelevel, provided that the Runelevel is convinced that the character is genuinely seeking after chaos. Any character who wishes to join Uriah must make a POW×1 roll each season. Success means an approach will be made. A fumble indicates that some gaff has been made and he is killed by the tribe as a chaot.

Lay members must obey their Runelevels or suffer the consequences. They receive the same benefits as any tribal member.

Initiate Membership

Initiates are drafted in the same manner as ordinary tribal initiates and must meet the same requirements. They must pass a test of (POW+CHA)×⁵⁄₂%. Failure means death. The initiate gains exactly the same benefits as a tribal initiate. In addition he will be taught Detect Spirit and Detect Life for free, and half price teaching in Spirit Shield and Spirit Binding. they gain access to all reusable cult Runespells on a one-use basis. They are not expected to draw attention to their links with Chaos but instead should infiltrate their way into tribal life at all levels. All initiates are expected to strive to ultimately reach Runepriest. Initiates are unlikely to be taken by their Runelevels for new bodies!

Runelord Membership

The requirements for Runelord are identical with the normal tribal Runelord. However, the test involves the allying of a Chaos-Fetch summoned using the Summon Chaotic Ancestor spell. The character must engage the spirit in combat. If he wins, the spirit becomes his ally-fetch. If the spirit wins, it posseses the character's body. The Runepriest does not mind either way. The Runelord gains all the normal benefits of his rank. However, everytime he asks for divine intervention he must assume another chaos feature, with all the usual risks of becoming a broo or a gorp. The Uriah Runelord is always subservient to the Shaman-Priest, purely out of respect for their power. A Runelord will generally sacrifice for the relevant Runespells to safeguard his existence and keep them in reserve. Unlike most cults, the Runelord hsa the ability to initiate lay members and conduct ceremonies in the absence of a priest. If he should aspire to the leadership of the tribe, he will still defer in secret to a Uriah shaman should there be one.

Runepriesthood

All Runepriests of Uriah are also Shamen and have to pass the test of gaining a fetch unless already Runelords. A candidate must have a POW of 18+ and train for a year with a shaman. At the end of this period, the shaman will summon a chaos-fetch which the prspective priest must engage in combat as does a Runelord.

Once a shaman-priest he is subject to all the usual restrictions and benefits of both those ranks, though his primary loyalty is to his cult rather that his tribe. He has access to all the cult Runemagics. Should his POW fall below 18, then he will remain a shaman but will lose the benefits of his priesthood until he regains 18 POW.

At any time, the Runepriest may have his fetch possess his body, thereby adding to his powers and skills and allowing him to use his fetch's Chaos Features. At the end of the period of possession, the Runepriest must make a POW×5 roll to dislodge the fetch, with a −1% penalty for every round of possession. Failure means it cannot be reattempted for 2d6 rounds. A fumble means that the positions are reversed. The fetch is now the priest and the priest becomes its fetch. If the fetch lacks the POW for priesthood, then the shaman's spirit goes into limbo, and the fetch becomes an initiate.

Uriah shaman-priest's cannot train their DEX, STR CON, or improve their DEX based skills beyond DEX×5%. If they are not already a Runelord, then he cannot become one.

Runespell Compatibility

Uriah Runepriests have access to the following standard Runespells: Multispell I, Shield, Spell Teaching, Spirit Block, and they get Divine Intervention with the chaos feature restriction. They also get access to the following cult special Runespells.

One Point Spells

Discorporation: Range: 5km; Duration: 15min; Stackable; Reusable
As the standard RuneQuest spell.

Two Point Spells

Possession: Range: 160m; Duration: 15min; Non-Stackable; Reusable
This allows a spirit of the caster's choice to possess the body of the victim temporarily upon a successful POW vs. POW roll. The spirit can be a summoned ancestor, a controlled spirit, a fetch, or the discorporate shaman himself. The possession lasts for as long as the ancestor or spirit is summoned or until this spell expires. A possessing spirit cannot permenantly harm a body while it inhabits it.

Soulsafe: Range: touch; Duration: special; Non-Stackable; Non-Reusable
This spell is only available to Runepriests of Uriah. It is cast upon an empty POW storage crystal, which thereafter must be worn continuously by the priest. It creates a magical link between the crystal and the priest's soul, so that in the event of his physical death, his spirit will then pass into the crystal and be preserved. The soul is detectable with Detect Spirit but not by Detect Life of Detect Undead. The priest will then go into a dormant state until someone attempts to attune the crystal (it cannot be used for POW storage purposes whilst in this state). Whereupon the shaman's spirit can engage the would-be attuner in spirit combat, the winner gaining control of the attuner's body and the loser being incarcerated in the crystal. If the crystal is broken, the inhabiting spirit is destroyed forever.

Permanent Possession: Range: touch; Duration: instant; Stackable; Non-Reusable
This spell must be stacked with Possession. It allows the permanent displacement of the victim by a spirit, the victim's spirit replacing the incoming spirit, wherever it came from. This is the spell that allows Uriah Runepriests to take over younger, stronger bodies than their own. Commonly they allow their fetch to take their old body as they seize the victim's. Thus the victim finds that he cannot control even the decrepit body he is left with. Fumbles rolled whilst attempting possession spells cause immediate and usually fatal backfires on the caster as his fetch or some other cult spirit possesses him and displace his soul.

Subservient Cults

Initiates and lay members who break with the cult dictates will suffer retribution at the hands of their fellow cultists. Runelevels will be attacked by their fetches and other controlled spirits sequentially, who will seek to possess them. The fetch in particular will wait for a critical moment to launch its attack.

Associate Cults

Engariel

The Mistress of Sickness gives her son the following appropriate disease spell:

Soul Waste: Range: touch; Duration: instant; Non-Stackable; Reusable; 1 pt
Upon a successful POW vs. POW roll, inflicts the disease Soul Waste upon the victim touched.

Klute

The Mother of Broos shares her sister's fondness for Uriah and gives her nephew the spell…

Deathtrance: Range: 160m; Duration: 15min; Stackable; Reusable; 2 pt
On a successful POW vs. POW roll, the victim falls over as if dead. No physical examination will reveal life, although a Detect Life spell will. Nothing will wake him for the duration of the spell, except a Dispell Magic IV or better. If a critical targetting roll is made, then the effects are permanent and the victim will die in a number of days equal to his CON. Fumbles affect the caster similarly. Permanent coma requires a Cure Disease. It is very useful for knocking out a potential victim for Possession.

Primal Chaos

Like all his family, Uriah maintains close links with the Primal Chaos of his father.

Chaos Feature: Range: touch; Duration: instant; Non-Stackable; Non-Reusable; 3 pt
This spell causes the willing recipient to acquire a permanent Chaos Feature. The recipient must roll a CON×5 −10% per chaos feature already acquired or he dies and collapses into a gorp. After the feature is acquired he must make a percentage roll. If the score is equal to or less than 10% per chaos feature, then the recipient will become a broo.

Miscellaneous Notes

Changing Bodies

When a body is exchanged for another, the character will retain his INT and POW and half of his CHA. He will obtain the body's STR, CON, SIZ, DEX, and half of its CHA. All skills and spells will be retained at their former levels unless modified by the new attribute scores. If a Runepriest, then after modifications, all DEX skills cannot exceed the new DEX×5, and should be reduced accordingly if necessary. The loss is permanent and cannot be restored by simply switching to a body with a higher DEX.