HeroQuest
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KolatKolat - Shaman of the Seven WindsAn unfinished writeup by Greg Stafford and Roderick Robertson
Kolat's strange family, the spirit Seven Winds, Kolat is the sole male repository of animistic spirit power among the Orlanthi. He is the male shaman of the Orlanthi, accepted by the Heortlings even as they acknowledge that he is strange. He is the source of all good spirits, and each wind spirit bears a part of his power in the world. Worshippers always bear a part of his power with them. His shamans are called Sezings; although rare, they are a necessary part of the pantheon. They defend all Heortlings against hostile spirits, control friendly spirits, and in general interact with entities from the Spirit World, which is alien to most Heortlings. Core Practice: Seven Winds PracticePractitionerMost dedicated worshippers of Kolat are generally those who are born with a powerful spirit component to their soul. Most often, these people are from specific clans or bloodlines descended from Kolat or other spirits. A few Heortlings dedicate themselves to Kolat after being initiates of a god, although surviving the transformation ritual that awakens the applicant's buried spirit is very difficult. (A devotee of a god who tried this would never survive the attempt.)Practitioners must attempt to explore and expand their spiritual selves by acquiring and keeping the Seven Winds. The actual magnitudes of the spirits they discover depends on the individual. Practitioners who do not come from animist families give up their normal place in society. They can come from any profession, but their friends and fellow workers will have always recognized that there is something different, even strange, about them. Most people of society will spend certain days in worship of the god of their clan or occupation, and these ceremonies consciously exclude the practitioner. Instead, he spends his time in service to the spirits. This does not preclude their holding a job or interacting with their family. Instead, the way that they act and interact with others is always touched by their relationship to the spirits. Thus, they will always invoke the spirits before they hunt or build, and will then thank the spirits once they are done with their tasks. To join the practice one must belong to the Storm Tribe. The hero may use Storm Tribe Knowledge as their Tradition Knowledge for the purposes of the contest (it still only takes the regular -10 modifier noted in the contest description on HeroQuest page 136, not -20). The hero must concentrate in Animism.
The Seven Winds Practice spirits includes spirit breezes, gusts, and gales. In general, a spirit wind mingles unnoticed with the normal (theistic) Orlanthi winds. It can only be discerned by most people when it is the largest power amidst the combined winds, when a god-talker tries to change it and cannot, or when it is singled out by a kolating. Kolat's worshippers organize their universe through seven personal directions. Their individually organized spirits are irregular and peculiar, for they inhabit the world of each direction with the spirit of their choice. Although the method used appears to outsiders to defy logic, each practitioner understands it intuitively. The most unusual feature of this organization is their ability to fill three of their directions with spirits from three different categories, who are collectively called the Good Friends. The spirit that inhabits each of the other three directions is always the same entity, one of the Place Friends. Practitioners regularly perform rites to obtain these spirits. A practitioner seeks to obtain all Seven Winds, because when all are there then they are "one with Kolat." Achieving this goal is one of the requirements before a practitioner can perform the journey to awaken his fetch and be a shaman. To obtain all Seven Winds, the practitioner must fill all six directions with spirits. At least one spirit must have a rating of 1W2 or better. In addition, he must have Follower of the Seven Winds at 1W2 or better and have concentrated his magic in Animism. If the member meets these requirements, he may spend 3 hero points to learn the practice's Inner Wind secret. If a practitioner or kolating loses one of the six winds, they may not use the secret until they have again filled the position. Each of the practice spirits provides a specific ability when placed in a fetish and a different ability when released. They never provide other abilities to worshippers. Releasing the spirit from its fetish involves different actions, but these must always be taken in the direction that the spirit inhabits. Thus, if Hhu Ho is the Before Me Spirit, its fetish must be thrown to the ground in front of the worshipper. If it fills the Behind Me or On My Right position, however, the bag must be thrown in that direction instead.
The Good FriendsThe Good Friends are all native to the Horn Zone. They are Kolat's best spirit helpers, the ones that came into being the first time he let out his breath.The Three Good Friends are Hhu Ho, "Breath Buddy," a wind spirit; Tular Varnei, "Uncle Frost," a cold spirit; and Uuuh Hu, "Wrong Season," a weather spirit.
Hhu Ho
Tular VarneiAlthough Tular Varnei can fill any of the places of the Good Friends, it is placed "On My Right" by most practitioners.
Uuuh Hu
The Place FriendsThe Place Friends are found within the Horn Zone, but do not seem to be native to that demesne despite their origins in Kolat. They seem to be spirits that Kolat conquered during the Great Spirit War.The Three Place Friends are Seleran, "the Deep Well," a water spirit; Veren Vu, "the Defender," a sky spirit; and Zolan Zubar, "Bearpaw," an underworld spirit.
SeleranSeleran came from Kolat's spit, and could grow to any size that was needed. When enemy spirits attacked it grew, often leaping up like fountains or cresting waves, and simply absorbed the foes so that they all woke later in their own places.
Veren VuVeren Vu is the ranking sky spirit of the Kolat Tradition. It has rites that, in its presence, allow a kolating to defend against magic, rebound spirit magic, and track spirit magic back to its source.
Zolan ZubarZolan Zubar fights the Six Foes: undead corpses, possession spirits, spirits of dead people, spirits of death powers, spirits of disease, and curses sent by women. Whenever any of these things threatens a practitioner he can summon Zolan Zubar to fight directly, but the spirit is weak and usually loses. However, it is useful because its presence allows a kolating to perform ceremonies to drive out any of the Six Foes, ceremonies that all Heortlings (including theists) can support.
The Inner Wind; Cult SecretKolatings never name the Seventh Wind or reveal its secrets to outsiders, although they tell plenty of lies and jokes about it. The center spirit is in fact the spirit of the hero. It ties together the other six to become complete. Once this is done, the worshipper can learn the secret as described below.
Seza (Shaman Practice)Sezings are the shamans of the Kolat Tradition. Dedicated practitioners who possess a fetch will be identified by a Sezing, who will take them as an assistant and teach them more about the Spirit World in general and Kolat in particular. After many years of service and training (during which time the assistant will master his six spirits as part of the Seven Winds Practice), the Sezing will take the assistant to the Horn Zone and leave him there. If the assistant survives, he returns with his awakened fetch to the Inner World as a shaman. A kolating fetch is a Seza, a special wind spirit that often appears or acts as if it was a great bird of prey. Although in Kolat stories Seza is sometimes treated as a separate entity, it is actually a part of Kolat.A kolating who awakens his fetch during play must pay 3 hero points to gain the Fetch at a rating of 12. It costs him an additional 3 hero points to raise the rating of the Fetch by one point. However, he always uses all of his shamanic abilities at the Fetch rating, and does not have to increase them separately. Unusually, a Sezing can manifest his fetch as a wind in the Inner World even when he is not in the Spirit World. This allows each Sezing a unique shamanic ability; some blow as a hot or cold wind, others howl terribly, and some can hunt specific animals or spirits. The hero and narrator should work out the details of this unique magical ability.
Special RitualsKolat defended the Heortlings during the Great Spirit War. Three spirits in particular endangered the Heortlings and the whole world, and Sezings spend much time performing the rites that continue this protection. Some of these rites include all of the Sezing's dedicated worshippers, but others are performed in secret. The communal Heortling rites held on Good Winds Day (see pg. XX) incorporate the rituals that defend against Karjakan.Worshippers only rarely gain magic from these rites, and can never learn a secret from an Enemy spirit. If a worshipper seeks to gain magic from an enemy practice he must actually join that practice at the normal hero point cost and effort. He will most likely be declared an outlaw if this becomes known. Otherwise, there is no cost to participate in these rites. KarjakanAlmost every Kolat rite includes a part where Karjakan is recognized, attacked and driven away, and a fetish made that is left behind when the rite is completed. In some rites, this procedure consists only of a few sounds, a couple of words, and a series of gestures ending with a mark in the dirt. Other rites require that the kolating make a straw body ahead of time, with intricate decorations and long invocations.MaliaFour times Kolat defeated Malia, the terrible Great Disease. Now kolatings have four rites that they perform during the year, each of which offers a lamb and a fawn to Malia. Dates vary from shaman to shaman, but the rituals are performed in the same sequence each year. The worshippers propitiate Malia, feeding her the lamb, fawn, and some secret things that the shaman supplies. This done, Malia keeps the four disease families from afflicting Kolat's people (this nominally includes anyone who attends these ceremonies).Sometimes a new or rogue disease spirit strikes, or a disease spirit will afflict a Heortling who refuses to worship Kolat. When this happens, kolatings have two ways to deal with it: exorcism or healing spirits. In either case, the patient lies within a leather hide laid over a leather net, the shaman engages in a long ceremony, and in the end triumphs or fails. If he fails, no Kolating will try again. ThedAt certain wasp nests that only they can identify, kolatings perform a rite to summon the spirit Be'e. Be'e rides a wasp to its own secret place and warns Thed that the kolating is alerted. Thed always kills the bug. Afterwards, when the kolating is threatened by broos, a wasp appears to him and alerts him to the threat. Another wasp alerts the broos by stinging it, and they always sense the warning that Thed received from Be'e. If they attack the shaman or his followers despite this warning, a huge swarm of wasps fly out his mouth and attack the broos. |
