SHA WOMEN

by Trotsky

Special Note: The following description is written for use with the Harnmaster rules. 1st edition rules are marked 'HM1', while the 2nd edition rules from Harnmaster Religion are marked 'HMR'. For those of you without these rules, a guide to terminology is provided. Translation rules for RuneQuest (3rd ed.) are also available.

Personal Totems

Every Bujoc is associated with a particular totem, which is said to define who they are and at what they will excel. In rules terms, totems replace sunsign for members of the Bujoc tribal nation. The bonuses provided are as follows:

HM1

• Beaver - Timbercraft +3, Swimming +1, Woodcarving +1
• Crow - Awareness +3, Tracking +1, Weatherlore +1
• Dormouse - Cookery +2, Brewing +1, Ceramics +1, Lovecraft +1
• Eel - Swimming +3, Fishing +1, Seamanship +1
• Fallow Deer - Club +2, Climbing +1, Spear +1, Timbercraft +1
• Frog - Jumping +2, Swimming +2, Acrobatics +1
• Fox - Intrigue +2, Awareness +1, Rhetoric +1, Stealth +1
• Kingfisher - Drawing +2, Fishing +1, Musician +1, Woodcarving +1
• Mountain Goat - Climbing +3, Foraging +1, Jumping +1
• Owl - Awareness +2, Foraging +2, Weatherlore +1
• Perch - Fishing +3, Seamanship +1, Swimming +1
• Pheasant - Tracking +2, Fletching +1, Shortbow +1, Survival +1
• Rabbit - Awareness +2, Dancing +1, Jumping +1, Musician +1
• Roe Deer - Spear +2, Shortbow +1, Unarmed +1, Weaponcraft +1
• Salmon - Acrobatics +2, Jumping +1, Survival +1, Swimming +1
• Squirrel - Survival +2, Awareness +1, Foraging +1, Rhetoric +1
• Vole - Herblore +3, Brewing +1, Cooking +1
• Wild Cat - Stealth +3, Awareness +1, Survival +1
• Wild Pig - Kite Shield +2, Survival +2, Knife +1

Circles & Offices

Sha Women are graded into five Circles, based on Ritual ML. Use the following table:

	HM1		HMR
Circle	ML	Office	RML	Office
1st	26+	Apprentice	1+	adult
2nd	41+		21+	Apprentice
3rd	61+	Sha Woman	51+	Sha Woman
4th	76+		71+
5th	86+		86+

Training

The Sha Woman selects her apprentices from among the most intelligent girls of the village.

HM1

The potential Sha Woman gains the following skills:

Ritual/2, Herblore/2, Foraging/2, Animalcraft/2, Rhetoric/2, Intrigue/1

The apprentice then gains three option points to be expended to improve his or her skills or open appropriate elective skills. For each year spent in training, the character may improve their Ritual skill by half SB.

Sha Woman status

There is only one Sha Woman in a given tribe, whose husband automatically becomes the tribal chieftain. The Sha Woman must nominate one of her apprentices to succeed her; if this heir also dies, then a Sha Woman from another tribe will select a replacement. Apprentices normally remain as such all their lives, and cannot rise above the second circle.

Ritual Invocations

• Blessing (III/4)
• Cure (IV/15)
• Divination (V/15)
• Exorcism (III/25)
• Pleasure (IV/10)
• Spirit Walking (III/15)
• Summoning (V/30)
• Woodscraft (IV/20)

SPIRIT WALKING (New Invocation)

This invocation allows the shaman to leave his body, becoming non-corporeal and invisible. In this state, he cannot interact with the physical world, but can interact directly with ethereals. This effect is brief, lasting ten minutes with a marginal success, and twenty minutes with a critical success. For the duration of the effect, the shaman's body is unconscious and vulnerable to attack, although the shaman may return to it at any time. The shaman must take fletharane or a similar drug before using the invocation.