Sacred Traditions [Archive] - Wizards Community

Sacred Traditions [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Nikeratos
04-30-07, 10:52 AM I'm developing a comprehensive set of beliefs and ancient traditions to improve my campaign's flavor. I want players to feel they are part of a rich culture, full with literary and sacred roots from which several communities have drawn inspiration, wisdom, and meaning. Here's a description of what I propose as examples of holy writ:

BOCCOB
Worshipers or Boccob are taught to meditate for hours over the rhetorical questions posed in the Tome of Silence. This book is a lengthy monologue where the believer asks hundreds of questions about life, destiny, and truth. Not one of them is answered. The faithful are expected to gain wisdom by reflecting on Boccob's choice to withdraw hiw voice from the scriptures. As a result of some of these reflections, some mystical scholars have compiled the feelings aroused by the Tome of Silence in a shorter, more intimate volume, The Prayers of Solitude.

CORELLION LARETHIAN
The finest elven poetry in its purest excellence absorbs the reader of Exquisite Whispers, the sacred book of the elf religion. The delicacy and theologic profoundness of millennia of authors have turned this book into a favorite of bards of all traditions, who have come to regard its beauty as an eternal source of inspiration.

EHLONNA
Priestess Aia composed three moving odes to the harmony and calmness of the forest. These texts are always reproduced as a single volume and collectively called The Three Sparkles. The first ode, The Dew, extols beauty in its simplest forms. The next one, The Star, expounds the majestic manificence of the natural world as a whole. Finally, The Eye is a joyful celebration of all living creatures.

ERYTHNUL
Beat and Beat is a deceptive title for a treatise on war and destruction, and most often those are the only words the non-initiated get to know of the book. The macabre truth is revealed to the daring cleric who devotes himself to the cult of the god of slaughter and revels in hearing the beating heart of the excited warrior who spreads fear and sorrow over the world, but also the last, faltering beats of the countless hearts of those who were conquered and forced to give up all hope.

FHARLANGHAN
The Church of Fharlanghan has no canonical books; such dogmatic restrictions are unknown to its followers. Every temple has instead a guestbook where newcome wanderers annotate their adventuring experiences. This collective wisdom is appreciated as a more realistic source of truth than any theological speculation.

GARL GLITTERGOLD
Centuries ago, gnome priest Chifa (his full name was Chifanondi Chidinonfa Chipuònonvuò Chivuònonpuò) incredibly survived a major catastrophe at the cost of having to return home through extremely hostile territory. During his journey, Garl Glittergold protected him by granting him the ability to fool his enemies through clever word games. When he reached his village and told his amazing story, his friends started to retell his doings, and in a few decades The Riddler's Tales were finally compiled.

GRUUMSH
Orc tribes don't have much of a literary history. Rather, stories are passed down in a lively manner; war chronicles are memorized and retold, each successive storyteller adding new war cries and heroic deeds, embellishing the memory of the ancient warriors with increasingly unbelievable victories.

HEIRONEOUS
Chronicles of the Saints is a moving collective testimony of the martyrs who defended their beliefs under the cruelest circumstances. Both mournful and heroic, the book offers consolation for those who need support to strengthen their faith, as well as inspiration for the next generations of champions.

HEXTOR
A sinister organization operating through several tentacles needs a varied number of tools to advance their agenda. The Crushing Thumb is the most widely known book among Hextor's opposers; it deals with the exercise of power and the most effective means to seize and keep it. More detailed explanations, however, are given by the god himself in The Book of Rancour, a dark wellspring of hatred that even devout worshipers find disturbing. The faint of heart are strongly advised to avoid the expanded commentary developed by the scholars, a bloody tome called bluntly Heads.

KORD
Although most of the sacred teachings of the Church of Kord consist of gymnastic exercises and brief admonitions about healthy habits, some written doctrine exists. Higher, Faster, Stronger expounds the mains points there are to be learned about physic well-being and perfecting of the body.

MORADIN
There was a point in dwarven history when the danger of losing the stability of the whole doctrine was imminent. Enraged by the weakness his followers were showing, Moradin made a huge pillar of iron emerge from the ground, and caused a fire rain to engrave on its metallic surface the right course of action that should be followed lest the dwarves lose their deity's favor. Those words were copied and preserved in the holy book called Purity of Fire.

NERULL
Three thousand random, innocent victims were massacred during the first day of celebrations at the founding ceremony of the Church of Nerull. Those insane enough to find inspiration in the testimony of their suffering can read their fruitless supplications of mercy within the disgusting pages of Last Words.

OLIDAMMARA
When He Who Was Sent first preached love for life and the joy of wandering and fooling around, people discarded him as an ordinary jester. But He Who Was Sent wouldn't give up. He commited an astonishing theft of the treasures of several kingdoms and seized the opportunity to preach his doctrine during the subsequent trial. Day after day he tricked his suers with long justifications for his deeds, until they got so bored of having to hear him that they simply let him go. The Twenty-Two Sermons are the court transcript of the clever manoeuvering that fooled his enemies and gained him freedom.

PELOR
During the annual ceremony performed to honor the winter solstice, a legend is told about the birth of the sun. It is believed that the first sunrise came as a shock to all those dark forces opposed to life and truth. They used all their tools, stratagems and weapons to prevent the Shining One from emerging, but after a long, hard struggle the sky was filled with an unnerving blue that grew brighter and brighter. One last arrow, thrown with the strength of a thousand demons, managed to cross the sky and puncture the sun. His agonizing descent and eventual disappearance only fooled them into a short celebration, for the second sunrise that followed meant the promise of an everlasting presence of light. Clerics teach this history on every winter solstice from the sacred pages of Dawn and Dusk.

OBAD-HAI
As life emerges, grows and decays, so does tradition transform, disappear and renew itself. The manner of composition of the Book of Days is upsetting for those scholars obsessed with accurateness and historic reliability. The sacred words aren't actually a book, but an oral retelling of events stored only in the collective memory of priests. The Book of Days deals with the particulars of each day's natural phenomena: moon phases, rain and wind conditions, how the birds sang, any eventual disaster, and so on. As each day passes, new stories are added to the "book", while the memory of the earliest days gradually vanishes. Thus, the Book of Days is in its own fashion a living, breathing work.

ST. CUTHBERT
Five thousand four hundred thirty-two commandments were inspired by St. Cuthbert about quite a variety of life circumstances in the lengthy Code of Sanctity. The proper way of dealing with transgressors was revealed in a further volume, The Cudgel.

VECNA
Vecna wrote several books before ascending to divine status, and those works are now coveted by necromancers everywhere. One of the most secretively guarded is Elementary Principles of Torture, which along with Unspeakable Ordeals and Interrogation Techniques to Persuade the Unwilling is highly acclaimed for its cruelty and goriness. Erudites, however, consider Vecna's masterpiece to be Words Best Left Silenced, currently lost.

WEE-JASS
Wee-Jass is little concerned with speaking unless it's a powerful incantation. She prefers deeds to words, and her sacred books deal mainly with practical matters. Organized according to hierarchy within the clergy, the series comprises Magic Rulebook for the Initiate, Magic Rulebook for the Practitioner, Magic Rulebook for the Devoted, and Magic Rulebook for the Powerful. It is said that only the high priestess has access to the Magic Rulebook for the Dead.

YONDALLA
Rather than a set of rules, Horn of Plenty is an agrarian handbook compiled from centuries of rural tradition. It not only prescribes the techniques for sowing and reaping; it also includes a brief descriptionn of thanksgiving ceremonies and ends with a hymn of praise for the riches found in every moment of life.
loki_de_carabas
05-26-07, 04:48 PM Delightful! I hope to have time to work on a few things to add to it in the not too distant future. Are you approaching any other pantheons or just the Greyhawk/Non Human ones?
ElberethSilverleaf
05-26-07, 05:18 PM Nikeratos this is excellent stuff.

I really like it and saved it to my D&D folder on my PC.

Along with appropriate credit of course.
queenfange
05-26-07, 09:51 PM I know I'm being repetitive, but very nice job, Nikeratos! It will certainly add versimilitude (sp?) and a unique flavor to your campaign. I wish I had that sort of creativity with my deities... :)
Nikeratos
07-19-07, 12:17 PM Sorry for responding this late, but thanks to you all for your kind comments. You are free to use, add, remove, copy, rip in half, torn in pieces, or do as you see fit. :) It was a pleasure to create this material.

I included the core gods because these are what I use in my campaign. (I have another campaign with the Roman gods, but for them I'm trying to use a more real-history flavor.)
ripvanwormer
07-19-07, 12:38 PM I really like those ideas, Nikeratos. My favorite one is the Last Words of Nerull.
Khadmus
07-20-07, 06:05 PM What about that yugoloth summoning thing that the minions of the Whispered One have? I think I heard something about that.
Zousha_Omenohu
07-20-07, 11:10 PM Very impressive!

I think that Heironeous actually had some other holy texts, but I can only remember one of them at the moment. There were two books described in the Core Beliefs article about him, and in Complete Divine they mention The Analects, which many Heironeous worshipers love quoting.
GoriceXII
07-22-07, 01:35 PM Good job. It can really add flavour to a campaign and make pcs feel involved when stuff like this is done.
vampymage
09-02-07, 10:19 PM :bump:
Bloodsoul
09-02-07, 10:23 PM Ooh, I should make some traditions for my PC Deity, but then she's still fairly new with, like.. two followers? XD

I did look into a lot of Chinese heritage with regards to tigers and superstitions when making one particular barbarian lass; prior to her adventure, she goes off to kill a tiger to test her abilities, and eats the heart and meat for courage and strength, makes the brain into an oil for her skin, and wears it's claws, bone, and fur. Just goes to show there's some interesting things out there to flavour any character or campaign...

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Nikeratos 04-30-07, 10:52 AM	I'm developing a comprehensive set of beliefs and ancient traditions to improve my campaign's flavor. I want players to feel they are part of a rich culture, full with literary and sacred roots from which several communities have drawn inspiration, wisdom, and meaning. Here's a description of what I propose as examples of holy writ: BOCCOB Worshipers or Boccob are taught to meditate for hours over the rhetorical questions posed in the Tome of Silence. This book is a lengthy monologue where the believer asks hundreds of questions about life, destiny, and truth. Not one of them is answered. The faithful are expected to gain wisdom by reflecting on Boccob's choice to withdraw hiw voice from the scriptures. As a result of some of these reflections, some mystical scholars have compiled the feelings aroused by the Tome of Silence in a shorter, more intimate volume, The Prayers of Solitude. CORELLION LARETHIAN The finest elven poetry in its purest excellence absorbs the reader of Exquisite Whispers, the sacred book of the elf religion. The delicacy and theologic profoundness of millennia of authors have turned this book into a favorite of bards of all traditions, who have come to regard its beauty as an eternal source of inspiration. EHLONNA Priestess Aia composed three moving odes to the harmony and calmness of the forest. These texts are always reproduced as a single volume and collectively called The Three Sparkles. The first ode, The Dew, extols beauty in its simplest forms. The next one, The Star, expounds the majestic manificence of the natural world as a whole. Finally, The Eye is a joyful celebration of all living creatures. ERYTHNUL Beat and Beat is a deceptive title for a treatise on war and destruction, and most often those are the only words the non-initiated get to know of the book. The macabre truth is revealed to the daring cleric who devotes himself to the cult of the god of slaughter and revels in hearing the beating heart of the excited warrior who spreads fear and sorrow over the world, but also the last, faltering beats of the countless hearts of those who were conquered and forced to give up all hope. FHARLANGHAN The Church of Fharlanghan has no canonical books; such dogmatic restrictions are unknown to its followers. Every temple has instead a guestbook where newcome wanderers annotate their adventuring experiences. This collective wisdom is appreciated as a more realistic source of truth than any theological speculation. GARL GLITTERGOLD Centuries ago, gnome priest Chifa (his full name was Chifanondi Chidinonfa Chipuònonvuò Chivuònonpuò) incredibly survived a major catastrophe at the cost of having to return home through extremely hostile territory. During his journey, Garl Glittergold protected him by granting him the ability to fool his enemies through clever word games. When he reached his village and told his amazing story, his friends started to retell his doings, and in a few decades The Riddler's Tales were finally compiled. GRUUMSH Orc tribes don't have much of a literary history. Rather, stories are passed down in a lively manner; war chronicles are memorized and retold, each successive storyteller adding new war cries and heroic deeds, embellishing the memory of the ancient warriors with increasingly unbelievable victories. HEIRONEOUS Chronicles of the Saints is a moving collective testimony of the martyrs who defended their beliefs under the cruelest circumstances. Both mournful and heroic, the book offers consolation for those who need support to strengthen their faith, as well as inspiration for the next generations of champions. HEXTOR A sinister organization operating through several tentacles needs a varied number of tools to advance their agenda. The Crushing Thumb is the most widely known book among Hextor's opposers; it deals with the exercise of power and the most effective means to seize and keep it. More detailed explanations, however, are given by the god himself in The Book of Rancour, a dark wellspring of hatred that even devout worshipers find disturbing. The faint of heart are strongly advised to avoid the expanded commentary developed by the scholars, a bloody tome called bluntly Heads. KORD Although most of the sacred teachings of the Church of Kord consist of gymnastic exercises and brief admonitions about healthy habits, some written doctrine exists. Higher, Faster, Stronger expounds the mains points there are to be learned about physic well-being and perfecting of the body. MORADIN There was a point in dwarven history when the danger of losing the stability of the whole doctrine was imminent. Enraged by the weakness his followers were showing, Moradin made a huge pillar of iron emerge from the ground, and caused a fire rain to engrave on its metallic surface the right course of action that should be followed lest the dwarves lose their deity's favor. Those words were copied and preserved in the holy book called Purity of Fire. NERULL Three thousand random, innocent victims were massacred during the first day of celebrations at the founding ceremony of the Church of Nerull. Those insane enough to find inspiration in the testimony of their suffering can read their fruitless supplications of mercy within the disgusting pages of Last Words. OLIDAMMARA When He Who Was Sent first preached love for life and the joy of wandering and fooling around, people discarded him as an ordinary jester. But He Who Was Sent wouldn't give up. He commited an astonishing theft of the treasures of several kingdoms and seized the opportunity to preach his doctrine during the subsequent trial. Day after day he tricked his suers with long justifications for his deeds, until they got so bored of having to hear him that they simply let him go. The Twenty-Two Sermons are the court transcript of the clever manoeuvering that fooled his enemies and gained him freedom. PELOR During the annual ceremony performed to honor the winter solstice, a legend is told about the birth of the sun. It is believed that the first sunrise came as a shock to all those dark forces opposed to life and truth. They used all their tools, stratagems and weapons to prevent the Shining One from emerging, but after a long, hard struggle the sky was filled with an unnerving blue that grew brighter and brighter. One last arrow, thrown with the strength of a thousand demons, managed to cross the sky and puncture the sun. His agonizing descent and eventual disappearance only fooled them into a short celebration, for the second sunrise that followed meant the promise of an everlasting presence of light. Clerics teach this history on every winter solstice from the sacred pages of Dawn and Dusk. OBAD-HAI As life emerges, grows and decays, so does tradition transform, disappear and renew itself. The manner of composition of the Book of Days is upsetting for those scholars obsessed with accurateness and historic reliability. The sacred words aren't actually a book, but an oral retelling of events stored only in the collective memory of priests. The Book of Days deals with the particulars of each day's natural phenomena: moon phases, rain and wind conditions, how the birds sang, any eventual disaster, and so on. As each day passes, new stories are added to the "book", while the memory of the earliest days gradually vanishes. Thus, the Book of Days is in its own fashion a living, breathing work. ST. CUTHBERT Five thousand four hundred thirty-two commandments were inspired by St. Cuthbert about quite a variety of life circumstances in the lengthy Code of Sanctity. The proper way of dealing with transgressors was revealed in a further volume, The Cudgel. VECNA Vecna wrote several books before ascending to divine status, and those works are now coveted by necromancers everywhere. One of the most secretively guarded is Elementary Principles of Torture, which along with Unspeakable Ordeals and Interrogation Techniques to Persuade the Unwilling is highly acclaimed for its cruelty and goriness. Erudites, however, consider Vecna's masterpiece to be Words Best Left Silenced, currently lost. WEE-JASS Wee-Jass is little concerned with speaking unless it's a powerful incantation. She prefers deeds to words, and her sacred books deal mainly with practical matters. Organized according to hierarchy within the clergy, the series comprises Magic Rulebook for the Initiate, Magic Rulebook for the Practitioner, Magic Rulebook for the Devoted, and Magic Rulebook for the Powerful. It is said that only the high priestess has access to the Magic Rulebook for the Dead. YONDALLA Rather than a set of rules, Horn of Plenty is an agrarian handbook compiled from centuries of rural tradition. It not only prescribes the techniques for sowing and reaping; it also includes a brief descriptionn of thanksgiving ceremonies and ends with a hymn of praise for the riches found in every moment of life.
loki_de_carabas 05-26-07, 04:48 PM	Delightful! I hope to have time to work on a few things to add to it in the not too distant future. Are you approaching any other pantheons or just the Greyhawk/Non Human ones?
ElberethSilverleaf 05-26-07, 05:18 PM	Nikeratos this is excellent stuff. I really like it and saved it to my D&D folder on my PC. Along with appropriate credit of course.
queenfange 05-26-07, 09:51 PM	I know I'm being repetitive, but very nice job, Nikeratos! It will certainly add versimilitude (sp?) and a unique flavor to your campaign. I wish I had that sort of creativity with my deities... :)
Nikeratos 07-19-07, 12:17 PM	Sorry for responding this late, but thanks to you all for your kind comments. You are free to use, add, remove, copy, rip in half, torn in pieces, or do as you see fit. :) It was a pleasure to create this material. I included the core gods because these are what I use in my campaign. (I have another campaign with the Roman gods, but for them I'm trying to use a more real-history flavor.)
ripvanwormer 07-19-07, 12:38 PM	I really like those ideas, Nikeratos. My favorite one is the Last Words of Nerull.
Khadmus 07-20-07, 06:05 PM	What about that yugoloth summoning thing that the minions of the Whispered One have? I think I heard something about that.
Zousha_Omenohu 07-20-07, 11:10 PM	Very impressive! I think that Heironeous actually had some other holy texts, but I can only remember one of them at the moment. There were two books described in the Core Beliefs article about him, and in Complete Divine they mention The Analects, which many Heironeous worshipers love quoting.
GoriceXII 07-22-07, 01:35 PM	Good job. It can really add flavour to a campaign and make pcs feel involved when stuff like this is done.
vampymage 09-02-07, 10:19 PM	:bump:
Bloodsoul 09-02-07, 10:23 PM	Ooh, I should make some traditions for my PC Deity, but then she's still fairly new with, like.. two followers? XD I did look into a lot of Chinese heritage with regards to tigers and superstitions when making one particular barbarian lass; prior to her adventure, she goes off to kill a tiger to test her abilities, and eats the heart and meat for courage and strength, makes the brain into an oil for her skin, and wears it's claws, bone, and fur. Just goes to show there's some interesting things out there to flavour any character or campaign...