The Zola Fel Tradition
(As known by the air-breathers of Pavis County)
By Ian Thomson and Greg Stafford.
Based on material by Marc Willner and Greg Stafford.
Additional ideas from Wesley Quadros and Andrew Bean.
Zola Fel is the spirit of the river bearing her name. She is a child of Seolinthur, and thus
a friend of the people of Genert in the mythical times. Seolinthur was destroyed alongside
Genert, but Zola Fel survived because she had a pact with the elder giants that live to the
north of Prax. They saved her from destruction, and hid her away in their stone fortresses.
For much of the Darkness she was merely a pool kept safe in the mountains where the elder
giants came to get water. When the world was safe again and it was time for these giants to
give birth, they sent Zola Fel back to Prax, and in that way she began to grow again. Once
she was flowing, hidden fish and plants came to life. Ami, the ancestor of the River Folk,
made arrangements to worship them as well as the river, and secured a lifestyle for his
people. When Karku the Drought came, the dancing of the worshippers saved the river from
drying up. When Arzu the Render came to destroy the people, the river rose up as Glubaw
Drowner and strangled it in a watery noose.
At the Dawn, the people and river were locked in a mutual embrace, which has not essentially
changed since then. Zola Fel still shares her riches with any that will show her proper
respect. Her people practice services to appease her great serpent and direct it from
harming them. Thus, when fishers harvest Zola Fel's children they seek her blessings. A
new bridge is a major chance for offence, and the river must be propitiated beforehand.
When irrigation canals are dug she also receives such ceremonies of respect, even from the
people of Sun County.
For many centuries, giant cradles would occasionally float down the river, for Zola Fel
was the route the elder giants took to birth their children. Zola Fel thus aided the giants,
as she had promised. Eventually, humans began to stop and loot the cradles, killing the giant
babies, and over 500 years ago the cradles stopped coming. Zola Fel remains, and her
worshippers keep the waters pure and flowing to fulfill their great spirit's ancient pact.
| Entry Requirements: |
Must be sentient and live in or alongside the river. |
| Physical Abilities: |
Cast Net, Dive, Hold Breath, Swim. |
| Mental Abilities: |
Know River, Zola Fel Tradition Knowledge. |
| Virtues: |
Determined, Enduring. |
| Traditional Spirits: |
Water Spirits (These Nature Spirits each have a single ability.
Typical abilities include Buoyancy, Breathe Water, Extinguish Fire, Hasten Boat,
Moisten Skin, Purify Water, Resist Drying, Rock Boat)
Fish Spirits (These Nature Spirits each have a single ability. Typical
abilities include Distracting School of Fish, Gather Fish, See Through Water, Swim
Far, Swim Fast, Swim Quietly)
|
| Special Spirits: |
None. |
| Fetch: |
Fish or river snake spirit. |
| Fetishes: |
Zola Fel shamans make their fetishes from large sturdy fish bones adorned with reeds
from the river's edge. These can be twisted when wet into ornate shapes that harden in
the air. |
| Secret: |
Serve Giants (Acts as an integrated passion spirit, giving a bonus of 1/4 the
secret's ability rating to any ability used in the course of serving the giants who sent Zola
Fel, such as keeping the river pure and flowing or defending one of the Giant Cradles.) |
| Worshippers: |
Any that make their livelihood on or from the river, and intelligent beings who live
within it. Most worshippers are actually river creatures and spirits, although most of the
worshippers visible to outsiders are human or newtling. All of the non-sentient animals and
nature spirits that live in the river are part of the Zola Fel Tradition, but are not
actually members. |
| Other Side: |
Worshippers enter into the Hagarn River, a spirit waterway that is a part of Seolinthur.
From there they may exit to Genert's Garden, the Storm Age, the Darkness, or into Magasta's
Ocean. Pious worshippers will be dissolved into the great waters after death. |
| Other Connections: |
The worshippers of Pavis and Zola Fel are friendly, and the air-breathers of Zola Fel
associate amicably with the followers of Diros the Boater. The Cult also freely accepts
relocating worshippers from most other rivers. Zola Fel worshippers disdain the followers
of the quenchable fire gods, and dislike the people of the storm gods who can bring freezing
cold and ice. The Cult has special hatred towards the people of Waha, since their founder
degraded the Good River, forcing it to wash away the remains of the Devil. |
| Disadvantages: |
Most magic and skills are restricted or useless away from the river or other spirit
body of water, even if integrated. |
|
