What is Worship?
Every soul produces a supernatural (as in the technical term) substance that people call "worship," "devotion" or, quaintly, "divine grace". It is a byproduct of intelligent life. Supernatural (again, the technical term) creatures subsist on worship like natural creatures subsist on sunlight and sugar. It is the ambrosia and nectar of the gods, their electricity, their kerosene.Simony's children, the Little Gods, cut deals with living people (though they don't usually frame it as such) wherein they are offered worship and in return grant power and beneficence. Cities have their Little Gods, as do cults and cultures, and unions and guilds, and caravans of traveling merchants, and circuses, and bandit encampments. The greatest of the Little Gods may have tens of millions of units (gallons? soul-hours?) of worship to work with, while the very smallest may be junior partners to powerful Clergy and survive on fractions of a portion a day.
Sot and Simony and the other children of the unwelcome guest do not (it is supposed) require sustenance from mortals. Perhaps, because they are a generation or more removed from the Little Gods, they are less fallible, closer to true immortality, and don't require sustenance. Perhaps, because they dwell in the corpse of Heaven, they are sustained by its stinking humors.
Hobgoblins produce little or no worship. It is sometimes suggested this is because they lack intelligence, or souls. Hobgoblins believe it is because they are sane and all other mortals are demented, cursed, and demon-haunted. In Hobgoblin lands it is illegal to worship any but Ba, the Cosmic Potter.
Who are the Gods?
Ah, I'm glad you asked.The Celestial Mother, Anabibazon, the Getter and Hoarder of Goods, was born from the corpse of Heaven and immediately set to mining that corpse for its precious blood, phlegm, and black and yellow biles. All modern astrologers now recognize that the stars we see scattered across the sky are the slag and offal of her labor.
As Anabibazon worked she was harried by an unwelcome guest, who is variably considered to have been her shadow, brother, father, son or own reflection seen in the glassy eyes of Heaven. The guest is a glutton, a despoiler, a creator of rust and rot and decay, entropy personified, and an enemy of all stored-up wealth.
The guest created five cruel children to assist in troubling the Celestial Mother. The oldest is called Sots, but not to their face. They are depicted as a paint-white figure on a gray horse, drawing a bow, with a crown and quiver of gold. Their face and form imitate the local ruler, because Sots is the god of raids, taxation, and highway banditry. Slavehunters and kings swear by the god of conquest, the Crowned Thief, the Clamor of Hoofbeats: Sots the Impeccable.
The second-oldest is Forfeit, a giant seemingly made of the sewed-together pieces of dozens of strong men. He speaks in the voice of a crowd, because his is the power of the demagogue and the human swarm. Forfeit's domain is open revolt, and his chosen are the many, because he is the god of torch and pitchfork, the Hanging Tree, the Arc of Stones: Forfeit the Irresistible.
The antepenult is Simony, hard-working draughtsman. He appears as portly elder, bald of head, hoary of brow, wrapped in the gold chains of office and the silk robes of luxury. His many, many children are the Little Gods, all those lesser imps who prowl about the world gleaning souls. Priests who serve other gods, in other places, offer their own worship to the Silver-Tongued Adversary, the Moving Finger, Maker of Religions: Simony the Irrefutable.
Fourth is named Mischief, or Mischance or Mishap as circumstances dictate. Her form is that of the starving child with grubby clothes and the head of a great black goat. Though Mischief's manifestations surely herald great famines, or plagues, or mass hysterics, they have rarely been recorded. Only those who have given up hope in the name of spite would worship mystery and madness, the Crooked Scale, the Fullness of Emptiness: Mischief the Unforeseeable.
The last of the five cruel children is the most terrible of all. Abandon has not yet appeared in the world. He, or she, or it, will be heralded by mass death. One quarter of the world will be slain by sword; one quarter will starve; one quarter will sicken and die; one quarter will be torn apart by wild animals. Then there will be no more war, no more suffering, no more strife. None live who pay homage to the Rushlight of History, the Vanguard of Hell: Abandon the Inescapable.
Why Do I Care?
Most don't. The bulk of humanity (and of the fairfolk, the deep-dwellers, the goblins, the orcs, the halfbits and so forth) deal only with their local gods. Questions of cosmogony and the fundamental operations of the universe are best left to the professionals.
Class: Clerk
You are a professional who deals with questions of cosmogony and the fundamental operations of the universe. In society, you are recognized as a counselor and go-between between mortals and immortals. People generally trust you to do your job. Abuse of this trust is a sure path to rapid advancement in the world.
Starting Equipment: Traveling clothes (as unarmored), stout walking stick (light), holy book, bottle of holy water
Skills: 1. Religious history 2. Event planning 3. Architecture
- A Power Inside, Wide Ranging
- B Rightful Place
- C Arm in Arm
- D Destiny
Power Inside
Normal souls produce only 1 point of worship. Yours, unusually bright and strong, produces 1+[level] points. You can talk to the little gods at their shrines or temples and convince them to come with you (if they're very wee) or give you a token of their favor (if they're old and strong). Worshiping a little god gives you powers, skills or access to supernatural effects. You can have as many little gods as you can convince to follow, but you only gain their effects if you maintain them with worship. Withdrawing worship irritates them, and they must be appeased before they can be worshiped again.
Wide-Ranging
Choose two of the following adjectives: barren, populous, abandoned, forested, frigid, windswept, arid, damp, craggy, dark, coastal, spooky. While in an area described by that adjective, you can build a concealed camp, find enough food for one person, predict weather a day out, follow tracks a day old, and may protect one person from the effects of exposure and rough terrain while traveling. Every time you gain another template as a clerk you may select another adjective. Effects stack. Adjectives may be selected multiple times.
Rightful Place
Your advancement in the clerical arts now allows you to build the sort of wayside shrines and nestboxes which little gods prefer to call home. This permanently (ish) removes them from your collection, but it ingratiates you to local communities and to the little god itself. Clerks who gain a reputation for finding their charges premium locations will have an easier time in their dealings with other gods.
Arm in Arm
As is tradition, at this level you are expected to select one of your little gods with which to build a deeper relationship. You will be the Hierophant of their religion, and instead of offering your own worship you will reap the benefits of the worship they collect from members of the new religion. Hopefully you've been building up to that.
Additionally, at this level you may worship a little god in return for a +1 bonus to AC and to-hit instead of their normal boons.
Destiny
Now that you are (hopefully) in charge of a blossoming cult, perhaps serving a whole pantheon of little gods, your unusually bright and strong soul can be put to better use. All the great artifacts of the world are the creation of some Clerk, somewhere, somewhen. To create a magical item you must invest some of your own worship, which you don't get back unless the item is destroyed, so don't go giving it to just anybody now. You can, and should, cooperate with a little god in such a project. One point of worship is roughly equivalent to a +1 bonus to a weapon or tool, though you may require special materials if you try to make a particularly powerful (say, +3) weapon or tool, or a specific gizmo — listen, I would write up more details, but I need to get this post posted before midnight. It's item crafting. That's your big domain play thing. High-level clerks run a religion and make magic items.
Example Little Gods:
Ehh, I'll write more tomorrow...
