Nobles and merchants who have lived to a ripe old age, or who have fallen sick, or who are about to die for any reason that has nothing to do with battle have been known to hire headsmen. These solitary and despised figures attack and kill an old, sick or dying customer of means to ensure that they head to Valhalla and not Folkvangr (Freya’s realm) which in my gaming world is where the souls of non-warrior folk go after death.*
Headsmen typically don’t believe in any of the myths or teachings of the Church, or perhaps they see themselves as damned to live with Hel anyway. The Church has, since the time of Thor, held that killing the sick, helpless or unarmed is a grave sin, which leads to the dark underworld overseen by Hel. (My, what a wonderful divergence from the vikings of old!).
The Church of Aesir has eased off of that position over time and in fact now actually performs this last rite for a hefty donation, sending official Church Headsmen. While shunned for performing such a distasteful profession, these men make a very good living and are known for their discretion and ability to perform their duties with a minimum of pain inflicted and mess made.
Families rely on discretion as none of them would openly admit to hiring a headsman. When a old man’s pyre is lit and he lies there in full battle regalia, the family usually explains that he died in battle with an intruder, assassin or bandit. Everyone then understands exactly what happened and no one says a word.
Those who preach religious reform, who are not afraid to speak up, point to this as part of the degeneracy and hypocrisy of the Church.
Headsmen can typically be found in big cities, especially Nornland’s capital Olafstaad. Wherever nobles and merchants congregate, in other words.
*In the real world, the myth is she takes half the honorably killed warriors to her realm, leaving Odin the rest. Not only should you not confuse this stuff with the real world, but don’t confuse it with real myth, mmkay?
If a magic user is willing to devote 30 percent of her xp into a device, I’d let her. From that point, her spells would cast as if she were one level higher. Damage dice rolls that came up as a 1 would get rerolled and opponents would save at -1 against her spells.
If someone steals it, she casts as a level lower and saves against her spells would be at +1. Should the device be destroyed, she’d lose a level.
Let’s say that Thor, son of Odin, came to Earth about eight centuries ago and established a temple to Odin, preaching the love of the All-father to the savage tribes who worshiped various local deities. He was originally a bad-ass cleric for Odin, who took him up around level 14 or so.
Odin adopted Thor and set him on a high peak in Valhalla from which to watch over the members of the One-eye clan (his chosen). When the One-eye clan conquered a tribe, the local deity was absorbed in the pantheon and became a figure in the myths of Valhalla. Thor is second only to Odin in adulation and depiction in religious art. Several books of the Holy Eddas are attributed to Thor and he is seen as the human connection to the Allfather.
Loki is Odin’s other adopted son. Many stories portray him as a trickster and the one who initiated (or hazed) other gods and saints who entered Odin’s radiance. He is also the god of fallibility, confession, submission to punishment and redemption.
Loki the trickster is a merry figure of mischief and is the patron of bards and entertainers. Loki the fratricide is the god of deception and fallibility (he tricked Hodr into killing his brother Baldur). This aspect of Loki is said to punish those who kill their kin or guests. Loki the repentant is the god of confessing and taking one’s punishment (in this version, he found his way to Odin and confessed, and was this punished as is popularly depicted). As reward for his eons punishment for his sins, he will be allowed to fight to defend the lives of his children, even though he is fated to die in that battle and despite the fact that they are the enemies of the Aesir. Such is the mercy and wisdom the the Allfather.
Loki’s feasts are held mid-summer and consist of three days of drinking, tricks and outrageous behavior (relative to one’s community standards of course–in some villages there’s debauchery, in others, people don’t wear their hats or greet their elders). This is followed by three days of repentance for all one has done the previous year.
Loki’s children are Jörgunmandr, the Midgard Serpent, who is the satan figure in this church. He is part of an unholy trinity with Hel, demon queen of the underworld and Fenris, the wolf as his siblings/other parts. They lead the giants and demons against the gods. Their chief pleasure is bringing sadness to Odin and to Freya by ensnaring mortal’s souls and dragging them to Hel.
In the afterlife, souls will naturally go to one of two places: Those who fought and died bravely in battle join Odin in Valhalla. Those who are householders, craftsmen or warriors who do not die bravely or in battle join Freya in her realm, which is said to be a place where one experiences only the joys of their previous professions or roles in life and none of the sadness or pain.
Those who do not believe in the Allfather, or who carelessly allow themselves to be carried away by demons or turned into werewolves by the sons of Fenris will descend into Hel’s realm. There they will suffer the usual punishments ascribed to hell for all eternity (that is, until Ragnarok, when everything ends).
Freya is an elfin queen and has her own realm, where those who die peacefully spend the afterlife. She is a fertility goddess and is, in the tradition of the ancient Nornlanders, wife to many gods. Until about 600 After Thor, she was also Odin’s wife in the doctrine of the church. When King Alaf IV established monogamy as the law of the land, the Church revised its teachings and doctrines to claim that Frigya, the aspect of Freya that was Odin’s queen, was in fact a separate goddess named Frigg. Freya’s day was renamed to Frigg’s day and the new goddess was held up an an example of proper womanly virtue to Nornland women. Freya’s chapels were shuttered and her prayers banned for almost a century.
King Branden convinced the Great Father (head of the Church) to restore Freya’s place as the queen of the afterworld for householders in 786 A.T. Her status as an elfin goddess was used to justify the King’s designs on the elfish islands to the south.
While Frigg is revered by housewives and mothers, Freya is the patroness to women wishing to conceive, prostitutes, the terminally ill, farmers wishing for a good harvest and lovers.
Next time: The structure of the Church, a bit of its history and the various offices and roles of the cleric of the Aesir.
From the Management: Let me note something that should be obvious: I have not researched the eddas of the vikings, nor have I read a great deal on medieval religions. I am shamelessly borrowing this and that and mashing it up. I will be doing more research on these later, and certainly refining it if I ever use it for more than my own gaming sessions and blogging.
It was watching some recent documentaries on the dark ages and this video that lead me to a mashup of the Norse and medieval catholic church as background for the Labyrinth Lord-based one-shot. The following is almost verbatim from my intro text in the section for clerics:
The only sanctioned church in Nornland is The Church of the Aesir, known simply as “the Church.” Think of this church as similar to the medieval catholic church. The All-Father is the creator, his son Thor was created to protect and save man. Freya, Tyr and even Loki are like the saints. Giants and demons are evil and Jormungandr (the serpent) is the devil (aided by Fenris and Hel). Valhalla is for fighters, but there is a realm for good laypeople as well, overseen by Freya in her realm. Your holy symbol is a silver tree, Yggdrasil, with Odin hanging from it during his great ordeal.
The second most popular religion in Nornland is the outlawed and secretive Circle of All. The All is an energy field created by all living things, and is represented in its many faces by the many gods and spirits that mankind reveres. This religion comes from lands far south of Sudland, but is viewed by the church and persecuted by the king as a deception of the Serpent. Members of this faith are directed to use law or chaos as needed to create the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Those in the Circle have certain phrases and symbols known only to fellow initiates.
Clerics may choose to be a cleric of the Church or a cleric of the All posing as a cleric of the Church (or suggest something different before we play). Either way, clerics served as chaplains and healers in the war. They have chain mail armor provided by the church and a church-issued weapon +1. This may be any blunt weapon or a spear.
Option 1) Church Clerics
Because of your experience and close alignment with the Aesir, your healing spells do an extra +1 HP healing while in Nornland. You must be lawful in alignment to stay in favor of the All-father.
Option 2) Clerics of the All
Once per adventure (or week) you may re-use any one spell you have already cast for that day. You may use any weapon, including edged weapons, but you better have a good explanation if anyone asks. You are neutral in respect to law and chaos.
More tomorrow.
Update:
Title changed for greater accuracy plus a note.
From the Management: Let me note something that should be obvious: I have not researched the eddas of the vikings, nor have I read a great deal on medieval religions. I am shamelessly borrowing this and that and mashing it up. I will be doing more research on these later, and certainly refining it if I ever use it for more than my own gaming sessions and blogging.
Imagine the goddess of despair and discouragement, Yuchen-domma. Long ago she sang a fugue that echoed across half the world, deadening man’s capacity for curiosity, love and hope. The first men cringed in ditches and caves, stared for hours at flies on corpses or cast himself into the sea, lacking the will for much else.
Yuchen-domma was slain, according to a long-forgotten story, by the heroes and gods of several nations; her existence has since faded into utter obscurity. She waits in her death-realm, looking upon our world through keyholes and cracks, from behind folds and shadows. All pain catches her eye for at least a moment. Those whose lives have been damaged beyond hope of repair are hers to call upon.
If Yuchen-domma is impressed with the suffering she sees at your moment of deepest despair, she will stay to learn your name. The story of a typical widow, orphan or betrayal will not do. To catch her eye, you must have suffered multiple misfortunes or been victim to an especially heinous act or plot.
Yuchen-domma will then sing of you in the dreams of her servants, who will find you. You will be approached according to your particular situation, offered solace, good fortune, or perhaps revenge. If you convert to her embrace, she is your goddess of prosperity and luck. Your sorrow will begin to fade and others will notice that you have put the past behind.
Great tragedy never befalls one of her servants and they often live happily until she has decides to call. Then a reminder of past sorrow appears. Regardless of your previous profession, status, alignment or class, you are contacted again by several of her servants and initiated as a cleric in her Circle.
The Circle serves Yuchen-domma and avoids her wrath by appeasing her with damage and pain inflicted on others of her choosing. Her instructions are sent through dreams or during prayers. A very few know that the spilt blood that is devoted to her will someday allow her to walk among men, singing her dire song once more.
Most of the Circle, even those with good hearts, are too weak to resist her service. Some kill themselves after months or years of service. Others attempt to repent and, if accepted by some merciful god, are hunted mercilessly by her clerics, assassins and demonic minions. Those who die after more than a day and night in her service join her in the afterlife and attend her in her waiting.
In most places, her name has faded beyond memory. In some lands, she is known only vaguely and her Circle are punished as non-believers in the local faith. In a select few places, widows, orphans and victims of heinous crimes, plots or treatment are killed to prevent them from turning to her.
Her devotees receive +2 to all saves and ability checks, reaction rolls and initiative. They are at -2 to all saves and checks if they ever repent or deny her a service (NPC’s face a wisdom check at a penalty of 10 to succeed in repenting).
Unless she has called upon you to act in disguise (as the priest of another order, for example), your healing spells are always of the “reversed” sort, causing wounds instead of curing.
Yuchen-domma absorbs the souls and HP of any killed or caused to die or suffer in her name. Every HP of damage or death (including diseases, petrification, etc.) caused by a member of her circle is dedicated to her resurrection. After absorbing 250,000 HP, she will return to this plane.
Image: Masks Confronting Death by James Ensor, 1888
The Dalai Lama gives advice on character creation:
It is not just a person’s physical constitution, their intelligence, their education, or even their social conditioning that enables them to withstand hardship. Much more significant is their inner development. And while some may be able to survive through sheer willpower, the ones who suffer the least are those who have a high degree of patience and courage in the face of adversity.
Constitution and Intelligence sounds like D&D, but he mentions Willpower, which is Warhammer, right?
In preparing to DM for the first time in many many years, I am setting up some background for the adventure, even though it is a one-shot (Labyrinth Lord Core rules).
I made a city, a port on the north shore of a cold sea. The country further inland is a Norse-flavored kingdom that has just ended a war with its southern neighbors. The PC’s are returning veterans of that war, part of a seige unit. Think of it as the original Oceans Eleven (with the Rat Pack) delving into the dungeon.
Fighters were obviously the soldiers and archers.
Mages were there for ranged combat and magical support.
The thieves were drafted from prison and made into spies and recon men.
Dwarves set up and operate seige machinery (and of course undermine fortifications).
Clerics are chaplains and medics (and spy for their church).
Halflings are taggers on who owe a debt to the men in the unit for saving them.
Elves are uneasy allies (they are opposing the common enemy, the Melnibonean-ish elves of the Onyx City of Tnetennba) on the losing side and are seeking asylum in the north.
They are returning home to this port, which would normally mean a great deal of business for the merchants there, except that the King is broke and has paid his army and navy in paper money (the “King’s Mark”). All their spoils were confiscated and the soldiers were paid “fair value” in King’s Marks. While the King has decreed that his script must be accepted throughout the kingdom, merchants have devalued it to 1/10 its face value.
The human PC’s are mostly from the area and were able to fence some smuggled loot to relatives for real coin, but now they must find a way to make money.
Thus, they are told of a lonely mountain a day’s ride north, where fabulous riches were abandoned after a long-forgotten evil was uprooted. No one in the city would be foolish enough to go there, but our players are 4th level veterans of a war and they know how to take care of themselves…
I’ve added two religions for the clerics to choose from and decided what things they characters will have. I also took away all raising of the dead (has never been heard of). If PC’s die, they can bring in a new “war buddy” or someone else from their past in the war. This could also allow me to establish them at 3rd or 4th level without them having any experience whatsoever with actual dungeons or monsters. Perhaps most of their fighting was against men and elves. It could also lend itself to some good flashback episodes.
One of the real pleasures of these games is how they get your imagination going. I’ve already imagined far more background detail than will be needed to run this one-shot. When I have the players create their characters next week, I’m sure they will add to the background with their stories and ideas. I’m going to post some of it as I go along and post a play report afterwards.
Why is there no minimum intelligence score required to be a magic user?
In most of the B/X and AD&D clones, in order to be a dwarf, halfling, monk, paladin, druid, assassin and even an elf, you need minimum score in one or two abilities. But anyone can be a magic user.
If I wanted to create a low magic campaign or a campaign where magic was rare and dangerous, as in Jack Vance’s work, I’d require an intelligence of 14 or better. That would still allow about 30 percent of the population to learn magic spells. If you bump it to 15, about 11 percent would qualify.
In a world like that, magic would be something to fear, something that is exceedingly rare.
Every hydra has grown from the severed hydra head of a larger hydra. Severed hydra heads, no matter the size, are able to grow appendages and escape the attacker. After some time, they transform in the the body of a hydra.
Hydra Lineage
Lernaean Hydra: The Original. Immortal, nearly impossible to kill or survive an encounter. Has telepathic control over all hydrae. Many poison-related attacks and powers.
Greater Hydra: Very dangerous. Appropriate for characters level 10+. Greatly resent whomever severed it from the Lernaean Hydra. Often holds many Lesser Hydrae in its control.
Lesser Hydra: Appropriate for characters level 8-10. Cannot remember Lernaean Hydra, seeks to escape domination of its progenitor Greater Hydra.
Small Hydra: Suitable for characters levels 3 and under. About the size of a dog. Lives as a wild animal.
Micro Hydra: Small creature with a deadly bite. Captured and used by assassins. Easily crushed.
What I hope this offers you as a DM is the chance to use the monster at almost any level of play without taking away the awesomeness of the original Hydra of myth. Hydrae should be one of the truly frustrating and deadly monsters in any D&D campaign, and this series gives hydrae dominion over poison, a position they held in the myths of old.
Please let me know if you decide to give them a try. I have in most cases left the final HD of the monster in the hands of the DM, who will decide how tough the monster is by the number of heads it has. If there’s some tweaking needed, I’d love to know.
The Micro Hydra varies in size from that of a large coin to the palm of a hand. They bite with all their heads at once. They have grown from the severed head of a Small Hydra. Assassins have been known to hide them in clothing, plates of food, etc. Since Hydra do not reproduce naturally, Micro Hydrae and their progenitors, the Small Hydrae are very rare and fetch high prices from assassins and others who seek a deadly poison that will not be forgotten.
Yes, Even You Can Be a Wizard, Perfesser
Why is there no minimum intelligence score required to be a magic user?
In most of the B/X and AD&D clones, in order to be a dwarf, halfling, monk, paladin, druid, assassin and even an elf, you need minimum score in one or two abilities. But anyone can be a magic user.
If I wanted to create a low magic campaign or a campaign where magic was rare and dangerous, as in Jack Vance’s work, I’d require an intelligence of 14 or better. That would still allow about 30 percent of the population to learn magic spells. If you bump it to 15, about 11 percent would qualify.
In a world like that, magic would be something to fear, something that is exceedingly rare.