Chapter VIII: Religion & Belief
place to go to be trained. They must simply seek out someone who is already a Priest of Ranald and learn from him. The Priests of Ranald are wanderers and adventurers. They have a love of life and an interest in seeing and experiencing the parts of the world that other “respectable” clergy would not see or experience. For this reason, clergy of Ranald are regularly found in gambling halls, Thieves Guilds, grog houses, and other low places. They consider their flock to be the people living in the worst conditions. Church Skills and Talents Initiates of Ranald start with the Sleight of Hand skill in addition to their normal career skills. Priests of Ranald can, at their option, learn the following skills and talents as part of their careers: Concealment, Luck, and Silent Move. Prominent Figures There is currently a very powerful Priest of Ranald in Marienburg named Hans von Kleptor who has called the wandering clergy of Ranald to the temple there. It is said that he wants to bring the cult to prominence, to resist its suppression in other parts of the Old World. He is a charismatic figure, handsome and wise, and some believe he is Ranald’s son of a mortal woman. Holy Days Unlike other cults, where people flood the streets for celebrations of holy days, Ranald’s holy days are celebrated quietly. The holy days of Ranald change from region to region, and usually coincide with local legends and celebrations of gift giving. Most cultures have a day where family and friends exchange small tokens, and that day is usually considered holy to Ranald. T he s hallyan o rders The most famous temple to Shallya is at Couronne, the capital of Bretonnia. It is built over one of the springs for which the city is renowned. It is a popular destination for pilgrims, especially among the seriously ill. There is a temple or shrine to Shallya in every city, town and village in the Old World; each is theoretically tributary to the nearest temple, while these in turn are tributary to the chief temples in the national capitals. The chief Priests and Priestesses from the capitals of each nation, together with the chief Priestess from Couronne, form a council that is the supreme authority in the cult of Shallya. This council meets in Couronne once every six years. The largest temple to Shallya in the Empire is found in Altdorf. A magnificent house of healing made of white marble and bedecked with rich tapestries of white cloth and golden embroidery, the temple in Altdorf tends to the health of the Emperor himself. This enormous temple, where so many babies are born, is just twenty steps from the Garden of Morr where the dead are interred. When someone is complaining about how hard life is, a common response in Altdorf is to shrug and say, “Twenty steps is all you get.” Southeast of the Empire, through Blackfire Pass, is Heiligerberg, the Holy Mountain of Shallya. It is said that 2,000 years ago the Goddess herself appeared on the mountaintop to the girl-child Priestess Pergunda, who then performed miraculous feats of healing. An abbey has stood on the sight for countless generations now. Until recently it was the home of Mother Elsbeth, a great healer and the spiritual heir of Pergunda. Thousands braved the passage through Blackfire Pass to see her before her death, but of the survivors only a few received the healing they sought before Morr claimed her.
Temples to Shallya normally consist of a courtyard, with a long, hall- shaped temple on one side, a row of two or three chapels on the other and an infirmary at the far end. Shrines are simple, small, rectangular huts, generally stone-built, with a low relief of Shallya’s heart design
above the doorway. Holy Orders
The Priests of Shallya are the only holy order in the cult, which has no Templar order and relies on others for its protection. The Priests are known simply as the Order of the Bleeding Heart and are usually recruited from orphans left at the Shallyan temples, children whose mothers have died in childbirth, or other young victims of tragedy. It is a widely held opinion among the Shallyan Priests that only a person who has been raised by other Shallyan Priests could possess the dedication necessary to remain in the cult. Church Skills and Talents Initiates of Shallya start with the Heal skill in addition to their normal career skills. Since the Initiate career already has the Heal skill, this means Initiates of Shallya get it twice, giving them a +10% bonus (see Skill Mastery in Chapter 4: Skills and Talents ). Priests of Shallya can, at their option, learn the following skills and talents as part of their careers: Resistance to Disease, Trade (Apothecary) and Trade (Herbalist). Prominent Figures The High Priestess of the Empire’s Shallyan cult, Anja Gustavson, has presided over the cult in the Empire for fifty years. Now a woman so old and frail that a strong wind might render her to dust, it is widely assumed that a new High Priestess will be named soon. The Empire’s High Priestess not only sits on the central Shallyan council in Couronne but also is usually called to personally tend to the health of the Emperor. Because Anja Gustovson is so old, she has not been
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