Haruspices The Martial Shamans
Origin
“...TO KRUG, SHE GIFTED HIM A BONE KNIFE MADE FROM A MILLENNIUM OLD DRÛTH SKHELL TO CARVE TOTEMS WITH, SO THAT HIS STORIES WOULD COME TO LIVE WHEN REMINISCED BY THE FIRE…”
Within the ancient orcish lands of Mor’Ghuun, shamanism was in its infancy. The early children of Krug did not understand the Elemental and Immortal Spirits, nor had the power to walk their planes. In the war against Iblees, many of the orcish people were lost to the undead, empty souls wrenched from the Soul Stream to fight against the living.
War horns blared distant, sonorous booms into the fields of battle. The armies of the Four Brothers clashed with Iblees’ undead legions. With each fallen descendant, a novel undead soldier shambled forth in their place, using their weapons to carve their past kinsmen asunder. Yet the Urukin held steadfast against the Fallen One’s onslaught - so too, did the other descendants stand strong in the face of the undead. For decades the battles raged on, and when the dust had settled, and the soulless battalions were driven off, all that remained were the tarnished breastplates and weapons once wielded by warriors of legend. But these were not simple weapons, nor were their blunt edges devoid of use.
Once Apohet saw the might of Krug, he created the Spiritual Realms; Immortal, Elemental, and Ancestral. The weaker spirits gushed into the Mortal realm to embody aspects of the world, in hopes of pursuing greater powers within the Spiritual Realm.
Dlimbok the Wise, the most intelligent of Krug’s four early children, was the lead strategist in the war against the undying. He watched as his people were slaughtered in battle, and their lives lost. It brought him an indescribable anguish, and a rage that nearly matched his father’s. In this age, there was no Ancestral Realm, no grave tenders, and no records to preserve those who had fallen.
To mourn for the lives of his fallen, he took forth the storied knife of Krug, and drew forth a tale that no orc would forget. He collected their weapons, armor and tomes and restored them to their original form, drawing their energies into him. He offered himself up, etching his skin, flesh and bone with the dagger gifted by the Daemon Ydea.
The orc had hoped his offering would please the spirits, but instead they granted him a power even greater. His flesh became tapestry. In rending the flesh, his blood, bone, and body became an ink that preserved what was made dead. A finger, a hand, an arm. Dlimblok carved away and with it, those who had been lost became as clear as the night sky. The ink stoked the minds of the orcish people. They could see their battles, their losses, their mistakes, and their culture deep within the magic of Dlimbok’s storied flesh.
Much of recorded history had been cast into the horrid fires of Iblees, and with it had gone the proficiency of veterans long dead, but this newly-restored knowledge would help to reshape the ragtag bands of amateur fighters into elite squadrons of feared combatants.
Under the same banner, and led into battle by Azgal the Titan, the orcish war machine began once more churning and pushing back against the forces of Iblees, now able to outmaneuver and preserve the lives of the living. They matched the once seemingly endless ranks of undead in fierce combat - and as they spread their knowledge to the other descendant races, Iblees’ lines and formations grew thin across the many fronts.
And so, with its aid in Iblees’ defeat, the orcish people learned and grew reverent of this primitive form of shamanism, and many of the former soldiers learned among the greenskins sought out Dlimbok, so that he could teach them in his ways.
Explanation
Dlimbok was a great orator and strategist, and taught his future students how to use this art in providing knowledge to his people, allowing them to gain insight via the spirits and how to extract insight from the world around them. When the great orc had died, his body was blessed, torn, and scattered across the world as a testament to the profoundness of stories and their tellers. He would become an eternal tale, one that orcs could draw upon at any time to preserve their history.
Haruspicy is a non-combative magic dedicated to story-telling and preservation of stories. Haruspex draw upon the torn body of Dlimbok. Rather than connecting to the spiritual realm akin to other types of shamanism, haruspicy calls upon an extremely powerful Ancestral, one who’s blessed body remains within the mortal realm akin to the Muyakelgs of the past. These spells do not grant the user any abilities featured in shamanism, nor allow the user to speak Old Tongue without having knowledge of it.
To become a haruspex, one must have studied and devoted themselves to the spirits for at least one IRL month, as Dlimbok would be unlikely to lend his power to one that he believes would be unworthy of it. This feat does not teach any form of shamanism or any aspects about it, though many of the more devout followers of the spirits may know of it and spread the knowledge, orally or through books they may have written on the matter. These could help a prospective haruspex begin on their journey, after which they would continue to forge their own path toward mastery of the feat. Someone experienced in the cultural practices of haruspicy could write a book describing and depicting the processes of these feats and work as a means of spreading the practice.
To draw upon Dlimbok’s power, one must create a Threshing Inkwell. This device, powered through various different offerings acts as a catalyst that interacts with the many scattered pieces of Dlimbok.
A haruspex calls upon the power of the ancestor Dlimbok for their powers. While his powers extend so far as to allow the user’s memories or stories to come to life, it comes with the caveat that these memories are just as susceptible to degradation as any other memory before they are recorded - that is, haruspicy does not provide perfect memory, and memories from longer ago may therefore be inconsistent with the actual events.
Threshing Inkwell
The Threshing inkwell is simply a place of offering that threshes all of Dlimbok’s scattered pieces from around the world, and draws power from them. Traditionally, they may be placed in homes or places of gathering, where they are readily available for use. To function, they require an idol, some sort of ceremonial arrangement specific to the haruspex, and a bowl to collect the spiritual ink.
To charge the bowl with spiritual ink, the user makes an offering, whether blood, gift, but the most potent-- literature and other storied artifacts. Any thoughtful prose suffices, with the varied offerings empowering the ink in different ways. In the case of physical offerings, these can be burned or otherwise destroyed in proximity of the Threshing Inkwell, which will fill with ink on its own.
The Threshing Inkwell only produces ink and exists as a way for the haruspex to channel their powers towards Dlimbok. Destroying the inkwell would simply cause the ink stored within to spill and revert to regular, black ink.
Mechanically, the Threshing Inkwells are a communal structure which simply hold a large, but still limited amount of ink charges (up to 60 maximum). Exceeding 55 charges causes the inkwell to begin overflowing.
There is no limit on the number of extant threshing inkwells, beyond the fact that any haruspex may only create and ‘own’ one at any given time, despite their communal nature. Upon being created, the inkwell should be reported to any ST members (though they need not be signed, and can be used even if an ST member isn’t immediately available). Any RP to refill the inkwell should be screenshotted and saved.
As ink drips down the inkwell’s sides, it has a tendency to transform into small animated figures, perhaps simply out of boredom on Dlimbok’s side. Nevertheless, these figures scurry about the area for a short while before disappearing entirely. The amount of ink that drips from the inkwell is insignificantly small - it does not reduce the amount of ink in any way, and simply exists for roleplay taste.
Ink Tiers
Tier 1 - 1 Charge - Gifts and Basic Offerings (Prayer, Meditation, etc)
Forming a black and basic ink, this form of ink serves as a general base or go-to option when other materials aren’t available. It is also often mixed or added as a filler to other inks.
Tier 2 - 5 Charges - Blood and Bone (Descendant/Animal Sacrifices)
All viscera, whether animal or Descendant can serve as a more powerful offering to the Threshing Inkwell. Once the ceremony is complete, the bowl fills with a pungent, dark red ink. It smells somewhat like blood, although much more aromatic. At this level, the imagery is extremely striking, though still appears as paints and colors that dance and move.
Tier 3 - 15 Charges - Literature, Books, Artifacts
Important literature, large books, and powerful artifacts can be offered to the Threshing Inkwell. The ink shifts colors between many deep and bright colors, but will serve to paint in the haruspex’s desired color. At this level, the paint may draw upon the user’s senses, though only briefly and in the more striking parts of the work.
Ink Red Lines
- Only descendant or normal animal viscera will serve as a tier two offering.
- A haruspex cannot use their own blood to fill the Threshing Inkwell.
- Stronger inks (Tiers 3+) or more particular effects require a MArt and more significant offerings.
- Offerings to the Threshing Inkwell are destroyed in the process of offering
Spells
Pages Alive [Non-Combat; 2 charges]
Description:
The caster is able to utilise their Threshing Inkwell’s ink to write onto a book or other such item with a small surface area, no bigger than that of a banner. This ink comes to life when the page is turned, causing it to play out the scene imagined when the ink was first put down, as opposed to having the reader read it. This can also be used to make two-page spreads, though the ink never comes off of the surface of the page itself.
Mechanics:
To enact this spell, the haruspex first creates the type of ink they wish to use for the pages. Once the haruspex has chosen said ink, they draw symbols, characters, or etchings in whatever language or artstyle they’re most familiar with in the palm of their hand, or another tool like a quill or paintbrush. Once they do so, the ink resonates with their hand, and the whispers of storytellers are faintly present. Then, the haruspex simply touches the material, and the ink transfers. A haruspex may follow this process to fill books without needing to restart the entire process, but requires additional ink for every page. The process is done in four emotes, but can be shortened to two with tools like quills, paintbrushes, and so on.
1) The haruspex readies the ink, meditating on the story or picture they wish to tell.
2) The haruspex draws on their hand, or simply soaks it within the ink.
3) The haruspex touches the paper, smearing the ink on to canvas.
4) The ink transfers from their hand onto the paper, shifting and twisting into the desired image.
Pages Alive - Redlines:
- Characters in the story who are not known to the haruspex simply appear as faceless visages with no discernible features (horns, tusks, hair etc.) and cannot be used to discern any information about them whatsoever.
- A haruspex is only able to put their own memories into the book/banner, and these memories cannot be used to teach magics or other complex skills that need to be taught in person.
- A written book or banner is no stronger or weaker than the original product, and the memories written to it are not updated in any way unless updated by another haruspex.
- If the surface on which the ink lies is cut in half, or similarly seriously damaged, the ink simply acts as normal ink and dries up.
WRITING:
1 EMOTE MEDITATION, 1 EMOTE WRITING
EXAMPLE WRITING:
[Emote 1] Tulgarok opens his book, as often he had before. He dips his quill into his Threshing Inkwell, as images of what he is to write begin already to form in his mind. Taking a deep breath in, then out, he imagines the way these thoughts will flow on the page.
[Emote 2] The orc now puts quill to paper, and begins scribbling down crude forms of people, among other integral parts of his story. Even as he writes, the ink begins to swirl and move just as he had envisioned it.
A Storied Artifact [Non-Combat; 20 charges]
Description:
The caster is able to impart spiritual ink on an object, allowing them to portray a tale stored within the weapon - this may be done through fire, water, paper, or for more experienced practitioners, the events may be played through the very mind of another. To tell the story, the haruspex must spill their blood onto the object, and onto the canvas (or person) they wish to tell the story. In meditating, they connect to the scarred body of Dlimbok, and utilize the power within Ydea’s dagger to bury a powerful memory within an artifact.
Once the haruspex grows more proficient (2 weeks IRL), they are also able to preserve stories within the object of its wielder through ritual. The haruspex must have the memories so vivid that they are able to describe and feel the sensations the memory’s owner experienced. By engaging the senses with stimuli relevant to the story (the smell of burning flesh, the sounds of war drums), the user is able to fully immerse himself, the tether between Dlimbok and the haruspex strengthens. The more objects and information they have relating to the event and its characters, the more vivid and detailed the story becomes.
Mechanics:
Essentially allows for a storytelling aid, where whatever selected medium comes to life to show the story stored in the item. In the case of the initial writing of the item, only the memory holder’s items may be used, under the idea that the item itself has ‘memories’ of its own.When the story is replayed in someone’s mind, they must be in physical contact with the item.
The memories within Ydea’s artifacts are just that, memories. Prone to incorrect detail, or pieces missing, a memory only holds small pieces of reality. Often intense experiences and emotions cloud the transferring of the memory, and the haruspex’s own mind may warp the overall message(i.e an arachnophobe depicting a spider as three times its actual size). These memories are not permanent, and just as quickly, if not more prone to error or forgetfulness. A user may remind themselves of the vision by looking through the artifact, but overuse (more than 3 times per IRL week), leads to severe headaches, memory loss, and mood swings.
The items themselves, upon creation, are signed by ST. In the description of said item, beyond any text describing the item’s appearance, it must include the ingame username (or other form of contact, eg. discord tag) of its creator, whose responsibility it is to record the stories within however they see fit.
A Storied Artifact - Redlines
- The object must be signed or have some roleplay significance. A normal sword or object is too nondescript to base memories off of.
- The haruspex must already have extensive knowledge about the wielder, usually by having known them personally for at least an IRP year (one IRL week), or being told of them by someone who has known them personally for at least two IRP years (two IRL weeks).
- Characters in the story who are not known to the haruspex (including if someone who does know of them is being shown the vision) simply appear as faceless visages with no discernible features (horns, tusks, hair etc.) and cannot be used to discern any information about them whatsoever.
- A haruspex is only able to put the memories of the owner into their own tools. Memories cannot be put into items that belong to other people, and these memories cannot be used to teach magics or other complex skills that need to be taught in person.
- A written weapon is no stronger or weaker than the original product, and the memories written to it are not updated in any way unless further updated by another haruspex.
- If the written weapon is seriously damaged (i.e, the head of an axe is separated from its handle) it becomes unreadable, though if repaired further memories may be written to it.
- A vision cannot be forced on another player. Their characters must fully consent to seeing the vision before they are able to see it.
- Only one scene/vision may be recorded in any one item, as any given item may become ‘saturated’ with the haruspex’s ink.
- Constantly living the memories of others has a severe impact on mental wellbeing, causing headaches and even memory loss.
- The memories themselves are just memories. There is no way to permanently retain this information, and it would be lost within 2 IRL weeks.
READING:
1 EMOTE MEDITATION, 1 EMOTE SLIGHT MOVEMENT
The scene that plays out is then emoted by the haruspex
EXAMPLE READING:
[Emote 1] Tulgarok seats himself in front of a nearby campfire, a dulled war axe in his lap. He closes his eyes, and emits a low drone from deep in his throat as he lays his hands over its handle. His fingers press into each of its grooves as the weapon’s story makes itself clear to him.
[Emote 2] Now the aged orc lifts his hand over the weapon. He slices into his palm with a bone dagger, before tightening his grip such as to make blood drip from it onto the weapon, then into the centre of the fire. He takes another deep breath, and begins to speak as the flames come to life.
[Storytelling/Emote 3] “It waz during our latest war with da pinkzkinz…” The fire splits, showing two clear sides. Each lick of flame lashes out toward the opposite side, as if it were one soldier mocking another with a war chant… (etc.)
WRITING:
1 EMOTE MEDITATION, 1 EMOTE RECALLING, 1 EMOTE WRITING
EXAMPLE WRITING:
[Emote 1] Tulgarok seats himself before the Threshing Inkwell, dipping his fingers briefly into its bowl of ink, and a short spear in his lap. His eyes shut, and as they do, Grommok, his apprentice, lights a number of items aflame - wood and pig’s flesh - and slops a handful of thick mud right below Tulgarok’s nose. All scents from the hunt before.
[Emote 2] Grommok soon leans into Tulgarok’s ear, describing to him the events of the hunt. How they’d tracked the beast for days, and finally cornered it in some deep cave. The animal’s bellows, as it realised it had been beaten and stood upon its hind legs and swiped at its hunters… (etc.)
[Emote 3] Tulgarok breathes deeply, as he finally lifts his hand from the bowl of ink and begins scrawling symbols on the blade and shaft of the spear, eyes darting from side to side beneath their lids as the story unfolds in his mind. The ink quickly squirms on the weapon’s long handle, before seeping into it, leaving only a faded, dark trace that it had ever been there. Finally, Tulgarok rises from the ground, spear in hand. His job was finished.
Cave Painting [Non-Combat; Charges vary]
Description:
Haruspex are able to paint with spiritual ink, invoking life into a stony canvas. Through this, they are able to paint their tales and those of written items onto walls so that others might see them. The figures painted move, twist and dance as if they lived. Each character within the painting requires 10 ink charges, while larger set pieces (large boulders, buildings, etc) and environments (grass, lakes, etc) take 5.
Mechanics:
As shown below, the player is able to build a mural roughly describing the story (though this is not necessarily required). More importantly, the player is then able to author a book describing the events taking place in the mural, which RPly would be in constant motion (though this is obviously impossible in minecraft).
To create these paintings, the haruspex would begin a similar process to Pages Alive. Readying the ink, through the tool used would be the haruspex’s hand, clay, a chisel, or some other etching instrument. Once the tool was soaked in the ink, the haruspex’s mind would begin to clear, and they’d draw upon the power of the Threshing Inkwell, invoking the ink to mold into and twist what the haruspex had worked with into story.
Cave Paintings - Redlines:
- Haruspex pieces are displayed within minecraft as murals (whether through clay, banners, roleplay materials, blocks, ink, etc), and the story/moving figures are described within the book.
- Characters in the story who are not known to the haruspex (including if someone who does know of them is observing the mural) simply appear as faceless visages with no discernible features (horns, tusks, hair etc.) and cannot be used to discern any information about them whatsoever.
- The scenes cannot be used to teach magics or other complex skills that need to be taught in person.
- A written wall is no stronger or weaker than the original product, and the memories written to it are not updated in any way unless further updated by another haruspex.
- The person whose memories are being written on the wall needs no prior connection with the building etc of said wall.
- If the wall is significantly damaged (i.e, up to one third of it is broken by an explosion or construction work), the ink simply acts as normal ink and dries up.
WRITING:
1 EMOTE MEDITATION, 1 EMOTE RECALLING, 1 EMOTE WRITING
[Emote 1] Tulgarok stands before a large, flat sandstone wall - a clean canvas upon which to make art. His eyes shut, as he dips each of his hands into a bowl of ink. Already, somewhere behind his eyes dance the silhouettes of soldiers, fire and great cities. Silhouettes that will soon dance on the walls of his home city instead.
[Emote 2] Charred wood is strewn about the place, and several orc kubs are told to jingle chainmail, bang sticks against helmets and snap twigs loudly. All this aids in Tulgarok’s mental recreation of the raid, how his ears rang with the terrified screams of women and children as they evacuated, leaving their homes behind.
[Emote 3] Pleased enough with his mental recreation of the raid, the orc begins slapping his palms against the stone wall, dragging them to make crude shapes which soon swirl and correct themselves into what he had envisioned minutes before. As he steps back from his masterpiece, the ink begins to churn into the image of an orc impaling some human halfway down the haft of his own spear.
General Redlines
- A haruspex needs to be able to interact with spirits and thus other non-spiritual magics interfere with this practice, this also includes creatures that are unable to cast deific magics.
- A haruspex cannot identify anyone in their visions unless they have extensive knowledge about the person within the story already, or have interacted with their tools or weapons via ritual.
- “Extensive knowledge” implies knowing the person personally for at least one full IRP year (one IRL week), or being told about them in detail by someone who has known them personally for at least two full IRP years (two IRL weeks).
- Memories written to objects or murals cannot be used to learn magic, or other such supernatural tasks.
- Dlimbok is dead and his body is physically scattered across the world. His pieces could be hypothetically found through ET or dredged forth in a MArt, but he is otherwise uncontactable, being very much dead.
- A haruspex’s memory is not perfect. Details can be misremembered, especially in older memories. This feat is primarily for storytelling, not perfect renditions of past events.
- Either memories or stories/fictional events may be recorded in any given medium, though fictional events cannot be recorded for malicious or seriously deceptive reasons(i.e a fake war with real memorized characters), as these would go against Dlimbok’s personal views on honour, and he would simply not allow his power to be utilised.
- Real world stories and memories would possess more sensory detail (although not entirely accurate) while fictional stories would have more visual creativity and detail.
- Overuse of haruspicy leads to issues like headaches, memory loss, and mood swings.
Tier Progression
Tier 1:
The haruspex reaches this tier immediately upon learning the feat. Haruspices are able to transform a little of their ink through prayer and meditation. They also have access to the Pages Alive spell.
Tier 2:
Two weeks after learning the feat, and through regular practice, the haruspex is now able to better transform the lifeblood of sacrifices into more powerful ink, and gain access to the Storied Artifact spell.
Tier 3:
At this tier, six weeks into their journey, the haruspex is able to take their final step into the art, gaining access to the Cave Painting spell and being able to sacrifice more powerful artifacts and literature into even larger amounts of ink.
Greater tiers may be achieved through MArts or Events by staff, though the capabilities of the artifact or action (holograms, living stories, ancient messages from the past, etc) should be discussed with lore holders, older haruspex, or ST. Ultimately, the decision falls to the staff on a case-by-case basis.
OOC:
This is a feat accessible to anyone with knowledge of the spirits and a desire to learn the histories of weapons and wounds alike. In doing so, I hope haruspex gives more flavor to post combat, in being able to regale tales of battle, as well as making RP items more valuable and useful to the people who have them, rather than sitting on the shelf till the next map. I realise that some objects cannot be 'written' as such - that is, their stories can't be described as their owners may not use the server anymore, which is the sole caveat of the feat itself. Maybe it gives them a reason to come back, or gives characters more of a reason to create powerful stories. Thanks for reading!
Inspired by:
https://www.lordofthecraft.net/forums/topic/151780-%E2%9C%93-origins-of-the-orcs-and-morghuun-the-land-of-warfare/?tab=comments#comment-1433374
