Priests and Priestesses

After Ei created the runes he created beings to control and use the runes. These beings were still ruled by the runes and so could be killed by them. They in turn created other races of beings calling them humans dwarfs elves etc. These new beings were told to call their more powerful ancestors gods. As creatures of the gods we must obey the godsÑfor they are our fathers and mothers aunts and uncles. It is therefore fitting that we ask them for permission to use the runes; for the runes are their father mother aunts and uncles.

Life went on in a normal peaceful way for a long time like this. Tensions then started between the gods (Each pantheon believes a different god started this dissention). From these tensions grew different philosophies. Some delved deeply into the workings of the gods and became even greater priests and priestesses. Some went even further and tried to understand the runes themselves. These women and men grew too bold and started to use the runes directly ignoring the demands of their mothers and fathers to stop. These evil people became the sorcerers of today's world. The ones who kept to the path of righteousness--the priests--were the ones who earned their salvation in this world and in the next.

Divine spell casters believe that humans do not always know when is the right time, or how much is the right amount of a rune to cast. Some even go so far as to say that humans should not even posess the knowledge of runes. They believe that their gods have a much better perspective on these matters, and so they do not study the runes or magic. They merely ask their God(dess) for a boon.

Divine magic users do not cast magic directly. Instead they use the Magic Spell Use concentration of their Theology skill to pray to their Gods and/or goddesses for the spell via a prayer. The god’s or goddesses’s ability to answer this prayer depends on where (or when) the caster casts the spell, and their own predilections. Please note that there are no “free” concentrations with the Theology skill. Divine casters have two types of spells: One-Use and Divine Prayers. For all spells, they decide which effect they want (radius, range, and effort; see Spell Casting Tables) then pray to their deity. Calculate the Mana needed for that type of spell, and this equals the amount of segments needed to cast the spell. The power of the spell is equal to the God’s K (limited by the Caster’s Theology Skill) times the Effort put into the spell. The magic user then rolls their Theology skill.

One Use Spells

Emma, the priestess, wants to ask her goddess to stop her opponent. She begins to pray. The steps are as follows:

1. Determine Runes to use: Hold and Person
2. Determine the God’s K for either Rune by looking at the God’s chart. In this case it is 8
3. Determine Range, Radius, and Effort
   1. Range: 4 meters away (2 MF)
   2. Area of Effect / Radius: <3 cubic feet (0 MF)
   3. Effort: 5
   4. Power will equal the Effort times the lesser of Theology and K. Her Theology is 6, therefore Power = 5 x 6 = 30
   5. Total potential drain = 2 + 0 + 5 = 7
   6. Roll her Theology roll. Each success reduces drain. She rolls 5 successes and so takes 2 drain.

Divine Prayers

Divine Prayers take hours to cast and are costlier than One-Use spells; however, they are permanent. The caster can pray for one Divine Prayer for every level they have reached. A caster with Theology of 5, can have 5 Divine Prayers. The caster must stay in prayer a number of days equal to the MF needed for the spell. After each 5 days in prayer, the caster will loose 1 Str and 1 Wgt. If Str is reduced to 0 the character will die. These points can be raised back up to their level with practice.

For example, Barbars has Strength of 5 and Hgt of 18. She can have Wgt of 16±4 (See Secondary Attributes) and currently has Wgt of 12. This means when she breaches the 12 Wgt, she will lose another point of Str.

She decides to ask for a 5 MF Divine Prayer. This will taker her 5 days. At the end of the 5 days, she will lose 1 Str and 1 Wgt permanently. This reduces her Wgt to 11, below her physique's minimum by 1. This penalty as well as the payment for the ritual, reduces her Str to 3. 1 point is lost permanently and the other can be regained through good eating. After eating sufficiently, her Str is 4. To regain her strength to 5, she will need to pay 5 CP and spend some time exercising.

Later, she decides she needs a very powerful Divine Prayer of 20 power. This ritual will take 20 days.

• After the first 5 days, she will lose 1 Str and Wgt. She will again be at 11 Wgt. This reduces her Str by 1, as does the spell. She is now at Str 2.
• After the second 5 days, she will lose 1 Str and Wgt. She will now be at 10 Wgt. This reduces her Str by another 1, as does the spell. She is now at Str 0. Her body is unable to continue and she passes away halfway through the prayer.

A caster can voluntarily chose to end the prayer. The Str and Wgt loss still occurs and the Divine Prayer is not granted. The caster may try again, but the God(dess) may not be thrilled with the caster's ineptitude. This is up to the GM! After the prayer time is complete, the caster rolls their Theology. The prayer can be recited any number of times without further cost, and take a number of action rounds equal to the MF. Divine prayers will not work outside the god or godesses terrain. The K value used is the same as for one user prayers. As the character increases their theology, the power of the spell does not increase.

Effects of Other Gods

Area	Modifier	Area	Modifier
Inner Sanctum	+6 Bonus	Inside Temple	+4 Bonus
On Temple Grounds	+2 Bonus	Land where the god is Dominant	+1 Bonus
Land where the god is a minority	Neutral	Land in an different pantheon1	1 Penalty
On another’s God’s Temple Grounds1	2 Penalty	Inside another god’s temple1	4 penalty
In the inner sanctum of another god’s Temple1	6 penalty

¹The other god may decide to waive these penalties if they choose. They may also chose to reduce the penalty at will.