Sacred Ground
Sacred ground is an object or area that has been made sacred to one's cult and divine patron. Ground may be temporarily made sacred through the use of the bless token or sacred circle prayers or permanently through the use of the consecrate greater instrument prayer.
Sacred ground has the following magical properties:
- sacred ground of one's cult may be located by invoking the seek shrine prayer (cf.) - certain prayers (e.g., bless shrine, learn god's will, summon divine counselor) may be invoked only when the cleric is in contact with sacred ground of the cleric's cult as indicated in the specific prayer descriptions
- the ceremony and retreat skills may be successfully used only on sacred ground of the cult of the testing character.
- a cultist asking for judgment on cult holy days should be on the sacred ground of his cult
Divine patrons pay special attention to events taking place on their sacred ground, so laymen, initiates, and priests prefer to be on sacred ground when they ask god for special favors. In fact, gods typically ignore most prayerful requests, at least in the sense that
they don’t usually run right out and do what the cleric asks, but all priests and followers are certain that this praying on sacred ground is something they have to do religiously, or the world will Go To Hell in a Handbasket.
No area may be made sacred to more than one cult at a time. Consecrated sacred ground (i.e., permanent sacred ground created by the consecrate greater instrument prayer) prevents any subsequent attempts to consecrate the ground to other cults.
Consecrated sacred ground is a divine instrument, and may be defiled as such; for details, see Divine Instruments, "Defiling and Cleansing Divine Instruments," page ??.
Temporary sacred ground (e.g., sacred tokens blessed with the bless token prayer) is canceled when it moves into an area consecrated to another cult. Contact between two blessed tokens cancels the sacred ground effect of both tokens.
Favored Cult Skills____________________________________
Skills listed in Cult Descriptions (pp. ??-??) as available to laymen may be learne d by any cult laymen; skills listed for Initiates and Priests Rank 1-4 may only be learned by cultists of the appropriate rank. A listed skill may learned under the following condition:
that a cultist who knows the skill be available to teach the skill to the cultist who desires to learn the skill.
Certain skills are available to cult members at half-cost (50 EP) rather than at the normal 100 EP cost. Such skills are indicated with an asterisk (i.e., shadowing *) in the individual cult descriptions.
Ley Lines and Places of Power___________________________
In ancient times the greatest sources of aethyrial power in Warhammer World were weak boundaries between the Material Realm and the Void. These weak boundaries were long, more-or-less-straight lines that appeared to the ancient druids as perceptibly intense sources of magic. It is primarily through these weak boundaries that aethyr leaked into Warhammer World before the Great Collapse of the Slann Gates.
These boundaries, called leys or ley-lines, once were visible in high relief from the background to those with the ability to sense magical power. In modern times, since the Collapse, an abundance of aethyr so pervades Warhammer that these lines seem much fainter by contrast, and are not detectable as lines, but as areas of generally stronger,
"warmer" aethyr.
The druids still retain mystical notions of ley-lines as handed down through the oral traditions, but druids can no longer clearly distinguish the lines with magic sense as their ancestors could.
The ancient druids established powerful rune stones at the nexi of leys, places where the aethyr flow was strongest. These rune stones were magical storage batteries which the druids used to power the elemental sorceries that fostered the fertility of the land and the health of the people, plants, and creatures of the realm. At certain times of the year, when the aethyr flux was most pronounced, they would summon groups of cultists to act as transducers and transformers of these ley-line power leaks, then channel the energy into and through the stones. Such sites are the standing stones, the henges, and the megaliths of the Old World.
The druids also buried great kings, heroes, and priests in barrows situated along these leys. The magical power at these points was channeled through ceremonies and prayer into the spirits of those buried in the barrows, binding the spirits of the deceased to the locations and making them available for consultation and for protection of the sacred ground.
After the Collapse and the God War, the druids were decimated, and the aethyrial climate of Warhammer dramatically altered. During the dark period of confusion, many of the mystical secrets of the stones and barrows were obscured through faulty
transmission; further, the magical natur e of the world had changed, and many stones and barrows no longer responded to the original rituals.
Modern druids are able to recharge MP and work prayers regardless of their location, so the leys, stones, and barrows are honored more as traditions than as operational divine instrument. The druids keep their limited knowledge a mystical secret, so sorcerers have very little information about leys, and most of that distorted and obscured. A few modern sorcerous researchers have reconstructed some fragments of the lore of the leys, but not enough to understand its history, its workings, or its significance. The followers of Ecaté, however, have managed to preserve a remarkable portion of their knowledge of the leys.
The following properties of leys and their associated stone circles, barrows, and megaliths are known only to initiates and priests of the Old Faith and Ecaté:
- within 24 yards of leys, stone circles, barrows, or megaliths all rolls on the Instability Chart are modified by +2
- within 24 yards of leys, stone circles, barrows, or megaliths all attempts to restore magic power through the meditation skill automatically restores the character to full BMP.
Other properties of leys and associated sites may or may not be known to initiates and priests of the Old Faith and Ecaté. For example, it is said that magical travel at great speeds along the ley lines is possible to those who know the secrets of the ancient stone circles.
Familiars
Characters who are successful in advancing to Priest 1st Rank in the Old Faith and Ecaté and Priest 2nd Rank in Zotan-Lufûtatar gain spirit-familiars as gifts from their divine patrons. The species of spirit-familiar is indicated in the individual Cult
Descriptions (i.e., Priests of the Old Faith and Ecaté roll on Familiar Tables; shamans of Zotan automatically receive an imp familiar).
These spirit-familiars are visible only to their priest-companions, although characters with the sense magic skill may be able to detect it as a faint, shimmering form. To the priest, animal-species spirit-familiars appear as white or light- gray individuals of the species it represents; imps appear as small Daemonic forms of various forms and colors.
Spirit-familiars are magical, spiritual beings, and as such it occupies no space in the material Realm and can affect nothing in it. By the same token, spirit-familiars can pass through solid materials without obstruction, and can only be harmed by magic or true silver. Animal-species spirit-familiars have the normal characteristic profiles for its species except for its Intelligence, which is 30. A Priest whose spirit-familiar is killed for any reason loses 1d6 Wounds, 1 Toughness, and 1 Fate Point permanently ; such a character immediately leaves his clerical career and becomes a randomly-determined
Ranger Basic Career (if a Zotan priest, a randomly determined Warrior Basic Career) and may never enter a clerical career of his cult again.
GM Guidelines: Familiars should be treated as NPCs, and played by the gamemaster.
Players will doubtless conceive many useful tasks that an invisible and practically invulnerable spirit-familiar can perform, especially along the scouting line, but it should be noted that the spirit-familiar will never move more than 6 yards from its priest-companion. Also, the GM should play the spirit -familiar with a distinct personality, and not let its automatic cooperation be taken for granted. A rabbit familiar, for example, might be too timid to scout a dangerous or unfamiliar place. An otter familiar might be too playful and easily-distracted to keep its mind on any task. A cat will certainly be maddening perverse and uncooperative at the worst of times.