COMMON SHAMANIC RITUALS

by Trotsky

The following rituals are known to many tribal nations on Harn, and are described here in HMR format. For details on the rituals available to specific tribal nations, see their individual pages.

INITIATION

Time: 15-RSI minutes
Ritual: varies
Range: Touch
Duration: the ceremony

Initiates a boy or girl of suitable age (usually 16) into full adult membership of the tribe. In the unlikely event that somebody from outside the tribe were to be accepted as a member, they would also have to undergo the ritual, regardless of their age. The ritual requirements vary with the tribe; the Anoa and Ymodi practice a form of baptism using the water from holy rivers, others may require that an animal be succesfully hunted down without assistance, etc. Often the rituals are different for boys and girls, emphasising their different roles within the tribe.

The game effects of this ritual are the same as Baptism (Religion 13).

SECOND SIGHT

Time: 25-RSI seconds
Ritual: Meditation
Range: Self
Duration: 5 minutes (MS), 15 minutes (CS)

This ritual sends the shaman into a trance, allowing him to see into the spirit world. While he may see any ethereals in the neighbourhood, he cannot interact with them and they cannot interact with him. Because the ritual requires no debilitating drugs to employ (as Spirit Walking does), the shaman is also aware of his physical surroundings, and may break off the ritual whenever he choses.

The following rituals were described in HMR, and because of their importance to tribal religion, are included here for the benefit of those without access to that book.

SPIRIT WALKING

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 tasparth or a similar drug before using the invocation.

SPIRIT VOICE

This invocation enables a shaman under the influence of the drug tasparth to identify a nearby ethereal in the spirit world and invite it to share his or her body for 4d6+20 minutes. The intent is to allow the shaman to mindlink with and gain information from a friendly ethereal, but there is always risk that an evil spirit will be contacted instead. On a CS, the shaman may specify the precise type of ethereal to be contacted, otherwise one is randomly selected from those in the vicinity. If the spirit turns out to be malevolent, it will likely try and attack the shaman or other people nearby, so it is customary to restrain the shaman for the duration of the invocation.