The following text is © 2024 by Frank Mitchell. All rights reserved.
MODIFIED 2024-11-13:
- Moved and expanded section on Membership.
- Defined Templar Arts.
- Minor edits for clarity.
ADDED 2024-11-14: Design Notes.
Introduction
The religion of Taluism arose on the Northern Continent of Alterra to quell the excesses of rogue magicians. It then spread like an invasive species to dominate over half of the southern Polar Continent. Somehow the words of Taluist Rites interfere with or break magic, among other miracles. (Don’t call them magic.)
The Taluist Dominion (its Domain) extends across most of the Rurikan Empire where Eastern1 Taluism holds sway and the “Holy Lands” where the Western1 Taluist Theocracy rules.
This document presents details for NPC Taluists. It is a complement to Domains, Faith, and Invocations.
Taluism in OpenQuest
Taluism has skill requirements almost like normal religions in OpenQuest, including worshipper duties and religious skills.
Type: Great Religion
Worshippers: everyone, whether they want to or not …
Worshipper Duties:
- Memorize the Book of Rites, follow the Book of Laws, and learn from the other Holy Books.
- Spread the words of Talu and the glory of the One God.
- Help the poor and sick.
- Build a community of believers.
- Drive out the magicians, monsters, and unbelievers.
- Protect the Temple and its worshippers. (Mainly Templars)
Religious Skills: Craft, Engineering, Healing, Influence, Language (Taluan), Language (other).
Templar Skills:
- Novice: Close Combat.
- Apprentice: Athletics, Close Combat, Dodge, Unarmed Combat.
- Warrior: Apprentice + Perception, Persistence, Resilience, Ranged Combat.
- Master: Warrior + Deception, Natural Lore, Influence.
Ranks: See below
Special: Faith, Invocations; Templar Arts2 (Templars only)
New Skills
Faith
Default: 0% or POW × 2
Every Taluan Initiate has a Faith score representing their belief in and devotion to the One God.
See Faith for more information.
Language (Taluan)
Default: INT + 50% (Own) or INT (Other)
The Taluan language is literally the language of the Prophet Talu. Understanding the Taluist religion requires the language that defined it.
In the Rurikan Empire the common language is Rurikanian. Other Taluan theocracies teach Taluan as a first language.
Membership (various)
Default: 0% or CHA × 2
Membership represents a character’s participation in an organization beyond the Taluan religion: a monastic order, a military order, a temple, etc. The percentile value indicates both position within an organization and the character’s ability to call upon help from the organization.
See OpenQuest Companion pp 26-29 for more information.
Religion (Taluism)
Default: INT + 10% (Own) or INT (Other)
Like all other Religion skills, this represents the doctrine and practice of Taluism.
Templar Arts
Default: 0% or (CON + INT + POW)%
The miraculous arts of the Templars. Templars must succeed at a check of
this skill to cast employ an Art.
Each Templar learns a subset of Arts that helps them in their role, whether that involves hunting monsters through the wilderness, discovering sorcerers in town, or (most often) battling enemies of their religion in close combat.
Suggested “Arts” include Back Eyes, Coordination, Cover Blind Side, Demoralize, Detect Magic, Enhance (Templar skill), Fanaticism, Fist of the Wind, Ironmind, Leap, Mobility, Multimissile, Protection, Restore Energy, Second Sight, Speedart, Spirit Shield, Strength, True Seeker, Vigor, and Weapon Enhance. Refer to the Personal Magic section (OpenQuest 3rd Edition pp 91-107 or OpenQuest SRD) for details. (But don’t tell the Templars …)
Templar Arts differ from “magic” in the following respects:
-
No “Art” may have a blatantly supernatural effect or apparent cause.
- Fist of the Wind appears as rapid punches.
- Multimissile fires mundane missiles at a phenomenal rate of fire. Use of Multimissile will deplete the Templar’s ammunition.
-
Detect Magic, Discern Magic, and Mystic Vision cannot detect Templar Arts.
-
Abjure Magic, Dismiss Magic, Dispel Magic, and Neutralize Magic cannot affect Templar Arts. The Demoralize spell can counteract the Fanaticism Art, and vice versa.
-
No “Art” may affect anyone or anything but the Templar using them, with interesting consequences:
- Demoralize and Fanaticism require the Templar to speak to the targets. To all appearances, the Templar either rebukes the umbeliever or inflames the believer.
- The Arts corresponding to Multimissile, Speedart, and Weapon Enhance
affect the Templar’s arm and coordination, not the weapon. If the weapon
breaks, the Templar can just pick up another one within the
spell’sArt’s duration.
-
Templars lose no
MagicWill Points on an ordinary failure of their Templar Arts test. They lose fullMagicWill Points if they fumble.
Ranks
The table below lists the principal ranks in Taluism.
C | T | Rank | Religion (Taluism) | Language (Taluan) | Other Skills |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
0 | 0 | Lay Member | 20% | ||
1 | 1 | Initiate | 40% | 50% (fluent) | 1 non-language skill @ 25% |
2 | Templar Novice | 50% | Close Combat 50% | ||
3 | Templar Apprentice | 2 Templar Skills @ 50% | |||
4 | Templar Warrior | 3 Templar Skills @ 50% | |||
5 | Templar Master | 4 Templar Skills @ 50% | |||
6 | Templar Grand Master | 5+ Templar Skills @ 50% | |||
2 | Acolyte | 60% | 80% (literate) | ||
3 | Priest | 75% | 2 non-language skills @ 75% | ||
4 | High Priest | 90% | Influence 75% | ||
5 | Patriarch | 100% | various |
Most of the ranks carry over from other religions; a few are new.
- Acolyte:
- An Acolyte is a Priest in training. They often take over the duties of Priests in lightly populated or rural areas. Some remain Acolytes all their lives.
- High Priest:
- A High Priest supervises Priests, presides at major temples, and decides questions of faith and morality. They may have titles like Metropolitan, Bishop, and Archbishop.
- Patriarch:
- The head of an entire Taluist sect. In the Western Theocracy the Bishop of White Rock holds this position, while in the Rurikan Empire the Emperor is also titular head of Eastern Taluism. The Holy Empire of the Northern Continent has an official Patriarch, who technically outranks the Western Bishop and possibly the Emperor.
- Templar:
- Templars began as Initiates defending Taluist temples. In most
communities they have turned their formidable fighting prowess toward
hunting and slaying monsters, magic-users, and heretics, or fighting in
wars against unbelievers.
Templars behave like a sub-sect of Taluism. They have their own distinct religious priorities, skills, and mystical techniques (“Templar Arts”).
Additional Titles
Additional titles and ranks in various Taluan sects use the Membership (various) skill above to differentiate, say, a Vicar from a Rector or a Prior from an Abbot. The full document detailing ranks is over 2400 words. Below is a small sample of how Membership reflects more elaborate titles and therefore higher status.
Monastic Orders
Monasteries and nunneries provide an isolated self-sufficient community for those of a religious persuasion … or those who inconvenience their wealthy families.
Title (Rank) | Membership (order) | Language (Taluan) | Other Skills |
---|---|---|---|
Novice (Lay Member) | 1% | 20% | |
Brother/Sister (Lay Member) | 25% | 40% | one other skill @ 50% |
Scribe (Lay Member) | 25% | 80% | |
Prior/Prioress (Initiate) | 50% | 80% | one other skill @ 50% |
Abbot/Abbess (Initiate) | 75% | 80% | one other skill @ 75% |
Provincial Superior (Initiate) | 90% | 80% | Influence 75% |
General Superior (Initiate) | 100% | 80% | Influence 75% |
All members of a monastic order must observe prayers at special hours and assorted other strictures of their particular Order. Most of the rest of their time they spend at work.
Monastic work requires tending the subsistence farm, but also includes the carving or piainting of religious icons, the making of beer or wine, the copying of books, and the pursuit of other cottage industries that keep coffers full when donations fall off.
In the Rurikan Empire
The Curia
While the Emperor is titular head of Eastern Taluism, the Curia, a.k.a. the Council of Bishops, oversees all temples in the Empire and decides all religious doctrine.
A prerequisite for the Curia is Language (Taluan) at 80% or more.
Title (Rank) | Religion (Taluism) | Membership (Curia) | Influence |
---|---|---|---|
Theologian (Initiate) | 50% | 20% | |
Curate (Priest) | 75% | 50% | 50% |
Bishop (High Priest) | 90% | 75% | 75% |
Archbishop (High Priest) | 100% | 100% | 90% |
The Curia welcomes any student of the Four Holy Books and the Book of Commentary, although in practice only Initiates have any influence. These Theologians make discussions more lively, at least.
Curates form the bulk of the Curia. They as clerks, researchers, and sometimes ghost writers for the theological papers that circulate thhroughout the Curia. Outside the Curia, they advise High Priests on the finer points of Canon Law, and give the less orthodox among them a polite warning.
Bishops theoretically preside at the major High Temples in the
Empire. In practice, they delegate to lower-ranked High Priests or
Archpriests, while they pursue pleasures contemplation in the Capitol.
Every serious question of theology or practice eventually reaches the
Council of Bishops, who decide the correct answer through prayer and
politicking.
The Archbishop, elected by the Bishops, acts as head of the Curia. He also casts one of seven votes to decide the next Emperor, although in most cases the election of a new Emperor is a mere formality.
The Diaconate
Some Acolytes prioritize community service and assisting clergy over becoming Priests. The Diaconate is a loose federation of Acolytes who recommend each other for open positions on a Temple’s staff.
A prerequisite for the Diaconate is Language (Taluan) 80%
Title | Religion (Taluism) | Membership (Diaconate) | Influence |
---|---|---|---|
Subdeacon | 60% | 25% | |
Deacon | 60% | 50% | 25% |
Archdeacon | 75% | 75% | 50% |
Subdeacons apprentice under Deacons. Deacons minister to the populace at large and tend to the affairs of a Priest or (rarely) High Priest.
Archdeacons, who have the religious knowledge to become Priests, instead assist High Priests, supervise lesser Deacons, and manage temple upkeep. They speak with the authority of the High Priests they serve. They also keep in touch with former apprentices and fellow Archdeacons; they form the communication backbone of the Diaconate.
Inquisitors
The Rurikan Empire created a special department of Templars called the Inquisitors. Inquisitors have more knowledge of the religion, jurisdiction beyond and outside individual Temples, and supposedly more sublety and intelligence (in several senses).
Title | Religion (Taluism) | Membership (Inquisitors) | Templar Rank |
---|---|---|---|
Inquisitor Apprentice | 50% | 25% | Apprentice |
Inquisitor | 75% | 50% | Warrior |
Inquisitor Commander | 75% | 75% | Master |
Inquisitor General | 90% | 100% | Grand Master |
Temples
While Taluists believe any space consecrated to the One God is a “temple”, in practice they build their temples like fortresses with the following components:
- A defensive wall around the whole complex, with watchtowers and crenelations for Templar guards.
- A courtyard that makes the complex less cramped but, in a pinch, accomodates persecuted believers or mustering Templars.
- An outer temple, where a Priest leads Lay Members in prayer in front of an altar.
- An inner temple where the Priest can conduct Invocations for Acolytes and Templars.
- A rectory in the back where the Priest and Acolytes live.
- Barracks for the Templars.
- Storerooms for weapons, “donations” of money and food, and other necessities.
In Imperial usage, a “full temple” is an ornate building with multiple rooms with all the amenities above. A “high temple” tends to be even larger and more ornate; most feature in the history of Taluism’s spread.3
Temples have political as well as religious significance. Leadership of a temple means influence with the surrounding nobility, and perhaps influence in the Curia or Imperial Court.
Title (Rank) | Membership (temple) | Influence |
---|---|---|
Vicar (Priest) | 25% | |
Rector (Priest) | 50% | |
Elder (Priest) | 75% | |
Archpriest (Priest) | 100% | 50% |
Metropolitan (High Priest) | 100% | 75% |
Vicars may be associated with a temple, but they serve at that temple, or a satellite temple in the countryside, at the whims of the temple administration. Only the on-site Rector has any job security at eatemple. Even the Rector must bow to the whims of the Elders, a body of senior and sometimes semi-retired Priests who govern all aspects of the Temple.
Most Temples are led by a Metropolitan, a High Priest who has the authority of a Count within the Temple’s town, and influence over lesser temples in the surrounding area. If a mere priest leads a Temple, he takes the title Archpriest and, due to his lesser station, lacks political power.
In the Western Theocracy
With one notable exception, Temples in the Western Theocracy avoid the politics of the Rurikan Empire. Priests define the law, nobles enforce the law. Likewise Templars defend the Faith and soldiers fight the heathens, although the depravity4 of Vanaheim, Aesland, and the Northern Kingdom has elevated profane wars into holy crusades.
White Rock Temple
Inevitably, though, politics swirls around White Rock Temple, residence of the (sole) Bishop, Exarch of the Holy Lands. White Rock is the de facto capitol of the Western Theocracy, and the Bishop leads it. Thus, association with White Rock Temple indicates a Priest’s proximity to power.
Title (Rank) | Religion (Taluism) | Membership (White Rock) | Influence |
---|---|---|---|
Head Priest | 75% | 20% | 50% |
Curate (Priest) | 75% | 50% | 50% |
Elder (Priest) | 75% | 75% | 75% |
Bishop (High Priest) | 100% | 100% | 90% |
Head Priests lead all the other Priests (if any) in a Western temple. Each Priest also commands the nobles in his5 community6. In theory.
Curates study the Holy Books, and therefore advise other Priests on the finer points of Canon Law. Unlike their namesakes in the Empire, they are loath to vary far from the accepted interpretation of Canon.
Elders of White Rock Temple advise the Bishop himself, and in turn relay his edicts, with perhaps a little bit of interpretation, to temples and fiefdoms across the Holy Lands.
The Bishop of White Rock Temple commands all Priests in the Theocracy, which effectively means he controls the Theocracy.
Templar Knights
In the West, Templars not directly serving a Temple belong to an organization called the Templar Knights, based out of White Rock Temple. Their duties include supporting mundane troops and hunting down sorcerers of the heathen nations.
Title | Membership (Templar Knights) | Templar Rank |
---|---|---|
Templar Squire | 20% | Apprentice |
Templar Knight | 20% | Warrior |
Templar Officer | 35% | Warrior |
Templar Commander | 50% | Master |
Templar Grand Commander | 75% | Grand Master |
The Templar Knights resemble a knightly order of the Westlands: squires, knights, officers, commanders. However, they all bear the epithet “Templar” to distinguish them from noble knightly orders. Whether this is a mark of respect or a stigma is a matter of opinion.
On the Northern Continent
Membership (Capitol Temple) serves a similar function to the Western Theocracy’s White Rock Temple. A few other temples act as centers for regional power, in a manner similar to Eastern Temples.
Title | Religion (Taluism) | Membership (Central Temple) | Influence |
---|---|---|---|
Assistant Pastor (Priest) | 75% | — | — |
Pastor (Priest) | 75% | — | 50% |
High Priest | 90% | 20% | 75% |
Bishop (High Priest) | 90% | 50% | 75% |
Archbishop (High Priest) | 90% | 75% | 85% |
Patriarch (High Priest) | 100% | 100% | 95% |
Every Temple in the Holy Empire has a Pastor; larger temples have one or more Assistant Pastors. Their only concertn is the running of their temple. Unlike the Western Theocracy, the Holy Empire has a robust and mostly independent noble class to take care of all the profane affairs of running a (small, run-down) Empire.
A High Priest presides over all the Temples in a particular city or county. Every High Priest in the Holy Empire has a presence in the Central Temple. Those who supervise other High Priests are called Bishops; those who supervise Bishops become Archbishops.
Standing above all Priests and High Priests, the Patriarch of Taluism, successor of the Prophet Talu himself, decides all matters of belief and practice within Taluism. He (or occasionally she) outranks every other High Priest, including the Bishop of White Rock, the Archbishop of the Rurikan Curia, and theoretically even the Rurikan Emperor. If someday the North reestablished contact with the South, the conversations would be very interesting …
Invocations in Taluism
(See also Invocations.)
Invocations channel the power of the One God to defend against monsters and magic, or to perform some other miracle.
The use of Invocations requires memorizing and speaking prayers from the Taluist Book of Rites in the Taluan language. Any Taluist who has gone through the Rite of Initiation can use Rites beyond their station but with modifiers to their Faith test:
Modifier | Using an Invocation … |
---|---|
-50% | … two or more Temple Ranks above their own, from memory. |
-20% | … one Temple Rank above their own, from memory. |
+0% | … their Temple Rank or below, from memory. |
+20% | … read directly from a copy of the Book of Rites. |
These are the Invocations normally taught to each Rank in the Taluan hierarchy.
Rank | Invocations |
---|---|
Initiate | Abjure Magic, Abjure Magician, Abjure Monster, Abjure Spirit, Discern Dominion, Discern Faith, Discern Sanctity |
Templar | Discern Magic, Sanctify Weapon |
Acolyte | Anoint, Bless, Restore, Sanctify Altar, Sanctify Icon7, Sanctify Water |
Priest | Consecrate Ground, Initiate, Sanctify Building, Seek Portents |
High Priest | Proselytize8 |
Design Notes
Templar Arts As Not-Magic
After struggling with the implementation of Templar Arts a bit, I decided not to reinvent the wheel. Personal Magic is exactly what the Templars do, despite their own beliefs or even the in-world metaphysics.
I’m thinking of tweaking it further, using one of the following techniques in descending order of likelihood.
-
One option I’m considering is to use the spells of the same name in the One Magic system (OpenQuest Companion, pp 4-25). One Magic removes bookkeeping by giving each spell a fixed (or random) degree of effect, usually +20% or +1D6 whatever points. (I would remove the skill roll or the
MagicWill Points, not both. Player characters need some chance.) -
One option I’m considering is to eliminate the Templar Arts test and skill entirely; Templar Arts would simply require
MagicWill Points. (Demoralize and Fanaticism will still require a test, but on Influence.) The original versions of RuneQuest had no “magic test” skill. This option would make Templars significantly more powerful than Personal Magic users, but one less skill test per turn per Templar does speed the game a bit. -
I could replace Templar Arts with Faith tests, but I envisage Templars as perhaps not the most pious lot. Invocations overlap with some Templar Arts, notably Detect/Discern Magic and Dispel/Abjure Magic; Templars use their own specific Arts so that they can improve with practice, not with Acts of Faith and Good Works.
#1 is most likely, since I converted the world of the Polar Continent to One Magic to simplify the magic system that hardly anyone got to use.
In the long long ago I sketched out the Polar Continent for Mythras, or rather for a kaleidoscope of d100 games to pit one magic system against the other. Templars would have used Mythras Mysticism, for example. With the decline of Magic World to Chaosium’s back catalog and the advent of a new OpenQuest, I decided to simplify the whole megasetting to use one rule system (OpenQuest 3rd edition) and slightly fewer magic systems.
An Abundance of Memberships
No doubt I’m abusing a mechanic meant for player characters to indicate differences in NPCs that I could just make with Referee fiat.
My reasoning boils down to verisimilitude. The NPCs reach their titles the same way player characters increase Membership: performing Quests and other services for the organization. For NPCs those happen offstage. However, Membership provides a simple, tangible score to distinguish a Novice from an Abbot or an “ordinary” High Priest from an Archbishop. It also provides a score to roll if, say, a High Priest finds himself kidnapped, or conversely laments aloud about being rid of some turbulent king.
Invocations by Rank
The Invocations By Rank rules predate the current Invocations system. It was always my intent to limit Invocations, or rather their precursors “Rites”, to specific “temple ranks”.
As I noted previously, originally Invocations relied on a Religion (Taluism) test. While that would have been simpler, it also would have made all High Priests much more effective than all Initiates. When I reread that system recently, I decided I wanted a bit more variety, so I began writing Invocations.
Restricting Religion (Taluism) to doctrine and practice, and inventing a new score represting the NPC’s actual fidelity to their god, simply made more sense. It was also an opportunity to clear out some Rites that were either doing too much or nothing at all.
Still, I decided to keep the conceit that only certain Ranks knew how to use certain Invocations. Initiates (and Templars) fight sorcerers and monsters, Acolytes dispense blessings and create common holy objects, Priests found churches and choose new Initiates, and High Priests persuade.
-
“East” and “West” are relative to a large gulf between the eastern shores of the Rurikan Empire and the western shores of Vanaheim. While the gulf has become marginally passable with advances in ship navigation, its choppy, icy waters still form a significant barrier to trade and migration. ↩︎ ↩︎
-
Templar Arts function essentially like a subset of Personal Magic (or One Magic) spells. But they’re holy miracles, and it’s blasphemy to suggest otherwise. ↩︎
-
Technically the first in the current line of Emperors simply mandated Taluism as the Empire’s state religion, but that’s not to say the almost exclusively pagan populace converted without complaint. ↩︎
-
By which the Theocracy means their use of magic and alchemy. ↩︎
-
The Bishop has no use for female priests. Only men may rise above Initiate in the Theocracy. ↩︎
-
Since hierarchies in the Western Theocracy tend to be much flatter, and all but one temple’s authority does not reach beyond its parish, a Membership skill for a Western temple would serve no purpose. ↩︎
-
Icons are controversial in Taluism. Western Taluists in particular regard veneration of Icons as tantamount to idolatry, even when the Icon is merely the unbroken circle that is one sign of the One God. ↩︎
-
“Proselytize” is not in the Book of Rites; it’s passed down orally from one High Priest to another, along with other techniques of persuasion. Thus only High Priests or intended successors to High Priests can use it. ↩︎