Legend 2014 - Cults of Sheoloth - the Dark Mother

[The Wolf]

I'm hard at work (this month) on making a brand new book for the Sheoloth line, this will focus on a detailed look at the first of the dark elf cults - the Dark Mother. There will be some information you've seen in Sheoloth already, the majority however will be completely new and contain cult based equipment and magic items, new magic spells with the Dark Mother's shadowy flavour and more.

Happy New Year!

 

[The Wolf]

Made a good start on this today, 22 pages in already. It's in a semi-rough state at the moment but coming together nicely.

 

[The Wolf]

Writing up information on the Dark Eight so far, there's some pretty nasty individuals in there as you might expect from a race like the dark elves.

 

[auyl]

Nice. I'm excited to see how this will turn out!

 

[The Wolf]

Thanks!

The Heart of Shadow

This is a hidden place inside the Fane of the Dark Mother, some have said it is where she actually exists and forms a connection with the mortal world from the shadow dimension where her true form resides.

Those dark elves lucky enough to see within the heart are few and far between. Only her much venerated and trusted (to a point) council of high priestesses, the Dark Eight are allowed beyond the shadowstone door and into the depths of the chambers beyond.
Here they can gaze on and witness the massive form of the Dark Mother, the shadow dragon herself with her black gleaming scales, beautiful alien green eyes and rows of sharp white teeth.

The heart is a huge and complex labyrinth of sorts, a terrifying place of suddenly moving walls and corridors that can rearrange themselves at the Dark Mother’s will. There are many false pathways inside the structure and quite a few of them lead to devastating traps, traps designed to kill a victim in a gruesome and violent manner.

There are also corridors designed to drive someone mad, corridors that force the weaker mind into an endless repetition of the same steps over and over again. There are rumours that inside the heart’s complex passageways some male dark elves wander, slowly starving to death.

These poor souls are then transformed into living shadow and fed to the giant black metal gateway that resides at the centre of the structure. It is here that a portal links the Dark Mother to a shadow world the likes of which roil and bubble with chaotic energies.

 

[Prime_Evil]

Nice!

Will this work also provide some information useful for non-spellcasters (such as temple guards and the like)?

I reckon that this would also be a great place to discuss integration of the rules from Blood Magic into a Sheoloth campaign - the rules for sacrifices are very useful in this context.

 

[The Wolf]

I can answer this one by quoting from the intro to the life chapter.

The Church of the Dark Mother is an extremely powerful and pervasive one, the life of the priesthood differs compared to regular dark elven life and even though the ovarisites have a great deal of power in Sheoloth, the Dark Mother’s cult does not permit their number in the Heart of Shadow, a hidden chamber deep inside the Fane of the Dark Mother in Sheoloth. Only the Dark Eight are permitted within into the inner sanctum and many say this is the true Lair of the Dark Mother, where she reveals herself to her most trusted eight shadowy high priestesses.

This chapter discusses the life of the priesthood in detail, from sun up (relatively speaking) to sun down and touches on all facets of their daily life from Lay Member to High Priestess of Sheoloth (the Dark Eight).

It also touches briefly on the role of non-priestesses within the church, this includes temple guards and other members not part of the ranked hierarchy.

I'll take a look at Blood Magic and see if things will fit in the cult's magic chapter.

 

[The Wolf]

As a progress report: I've finished the entries on the lay members, the initiates, the acolytes and the priestesses so far. Only the high priestesses (Dark Eight), other staff (temple guards and servants etc) as well as a section on breaking church law (possible punishments) left to go on this chapter.

I'll definitely be looking at the role of magic in the church and the unique resource the Dark Mother demands, rather than blood.

Stay tuned!

 

[The Wolf]

The first of the entries on the Dark Eight and the life they lead inside the church.

High Priestess Zora Fanel

Zora Fanel spends her many days working tirelessly in the Church of the Dark Mother, she has little time to spend on other duties and can often be found furthering the goals of the church outside of the Lair of the Dark Mother. She travels to other areas of Sheoloth and makes sure that the people of the city are adhering to her mistress’ tenets. Of course she always has time to take regular baths, that’s one luxury she’s not going to miss out on.

Morning: Morning worship, other tasks, preaching and lecturing the various hopefuls of the church.
Lunch: Private dining with her various confidants and slaves make sure that Zora always has something to do (even if it’s watching some poor unfortunate food taster die as they devour a poison laced meal meant for her).
Afternoon Duties: Once more Zora instructs the faithful, attends meetings of her church, checks in on slaves and other areas of the Lair as well as making sure the younger priestesses are doing their duties.
Evening Meal: Taken in the company of the other Dark Eight, this is often a dangerous affair of barbed words and clever plots.
Evening Prayers: Zora takes this time to lead small congregations in praise of the Dark Mother, prepares the victim for the Midnight Sacrifice and studies the deeper mysteries of the church, alone.
Midnight Prayers: At Midnight, the High Priestess leads the Dark Mother’s faithful in a long and tiring ritual to the goddess. Here, a sacrificial victim (willing or unwilling) is offered to the shadow dragon to appease her and bless the congregation for the following day.
Sleep: What little sleep Zora gets is often dreamless and uninterrupted, she rises early and begins her morning rituals with spot of torture to get her blood flowing, or someone else’s.

To describe each individual member of the Dark Eight with as much detail as I have for the previous ranks in the church would have taken a lot of the book's word budget to do. So I think this neatly encapsulates the member quite nicely.

 

[The Wolf]

That's the 8 of the Dark Eight done in text form. As part of the final stages of the book I'll be writing up the 8 high priestesses as NPCs with their own character sheets.

Also, now working on the non-ranked members of the church (guards etc) and also working on a list of possible transgressions against the law of the Dark Mother's church.

57 page document so far.

 

[warlock1971]

You're flying along Wolf, awesome stuff!

 

[The Wolf]

Transgressions chapter complete, now onto some sample spells for the cult that involve shadows and the Dark Mother.

Something like:

Shadow Step

Instant, Rank Initiate

This spell is one of the first that the lower ranks of the church learn, it is a simple quick teleport-like spell that allows them to enter, briefly, the Dark Mother’s shadow realm and pop back out. The caster must enter a nearby shadow and then can appear quickly, or randomly in 1D6 (caster's choice) combat rounds out of another shadow within 10 meters. The Dark Mother’s realm can often linger (2%xCON chance of doing so) on the caster and for 1D3xCON (round down) combat rounds they are shrouded by 1AP of shadow essence armour.

 

[The Wolf]

This reminds me, are there any spells you'd like to see of a divine nature in something like this bearing in mind they are usually themed to the god in question?

 

[Prime_Evil]

For my wishlist, look at the Obtenebration discipline from old Vampire the Masquerade products

 

[The Wolf]

I'll have a look at that one and see what I can spin from it

 

[The Wolf]

There are 8 new spells in this book, some of them are based on the VTM discipline you mentioned, Prime_Evil.

Dark Hatred, Shadow Beast, Shadow Step, Shadow Assassin, Armour of Shades, Shroud, Shadow Vision and Shadow Killer... which is a nasty spell that slowly drains the victim of their blood.

Fun!

 

[The Wolf]

I've just done several bits of interesting dark elf equipment, no new weapons, but a strange puzzle disc (with hidden surprises) and a few other interesting things round out the book.

Now it's really onto doing stats for NPCs and looking at some of the things that Prime_Evil mentioned for possible inclusion in the work.

 

[auyl]

There are 8 new spells in this book, some of them are based on the VTM discipline you mentioned, Prime_Evil.

Dark Hatred, Shadow Beast, Shadow Step, Shadow Assassin, Armour of Shades, Shroud, Shadow Vision and Shadow Killer... which is a nasty spell that slowly drains the victim of their blood.

Fun!

I like that you're incorporating some darkness based spells, but how about making a new darkness based magic? One that maybe is strengthened by being underground and weakened when under the sun?

Just some more food for thought.

 

[warlock1971]

There are 8 new spells in this book, some of them are based on the VTM discipline you mentioned, Prime_Evil.

Dark Hatred, Shadow Beast, Shadow Step, Shadow Assassin, Armour of Shades, Shroud, Shadow Vision and Shadow Killer... which is a nasty spell that slowly drains the victim of their blood.

Fun!

I like that you're incorporating some darkness based spells, but how about making a new darkness based magic? One that maybe is strengthened by being underground and weakened when under the sun?

Just some more food for thought.

+1 Good idea, Shadow Magic

 

[The Wolf]

Shadow Magic is core to the new iteration of Sheoloth, through the Dark Mother's cult and the dark elf magic of Shadowcraft. Remember the core understanding of shadows, the darker it gets the less light there is...the less shadows there are.

Shadows need light to survive, and in the brighest light, lurk the darkest shades. This is why the dark elves have lit their city in a particular way, to create the strongest shadows.

A darkness based magic would probably function well underground, weaker in the sun, but that's really going back to the same dark elf motiefs that have been around for a while. With the Sheoloth line I want to spin a few things in a few different ways, hence the shadow based divine magic of the Dark Mother.

Of course it doesn't mean that down the line there won't be something akin to that dark magic, though by limiting the power of the magic - you also limit the scope of the adventure locations. Still, something I'll think on