Theurgy is the belief in, and worship of, godlike beings; it calls upon them to create supernatural effects on behalf of their faithful adherents. Worshipers appease deities with gifts and devotion, in exchange for which the entity lends certain mortals, who have been initiated into its cult, the right to call upon a part of its power.
Worshippers do not study the art of manipulating the veil; rather they learn the myths and secrets of those they venerate, gaining insight into their nature, personalities and desires. With this knowledge a devoted worshipper knows how to phrase or frame a request to their gods, so that they feel compelled, or indeed inspired, to help them.
Additionally a worshipper must show his dedication to his divine patrons by offering sacrifice, service, and perhaps even selfless adoration in order to prove himself worthy of their attention. The depth of this piety influences the amount of effort to which deities will move themselves in order to aid a loyal devotee.
Since the divine status of a worshipped entity is often based upon the worship it receives, deities are motivated to watch over their supplicants. This is done in a myriad of ways, from commanding its most devoted priests to establish cults or temples – which in turn provide materialistic support to its worshippers within a community – to elevating zealots as figureheads of high political or military status, by providing them with potent powers.
Worship is the fundamental keystone of this divine (or perhaps infernal) magical ecology. The more worship, or propitiation, a deity receives, the more magical might it garners; which in turn must be given back or used to aid its supplicants or else risk losing their faithful attendance.
Not every being who receives worship is necessarily a god per se. One man’s deity may be another man’s demon. In fact nothing prevents the creation of a theistic culture which venerates monstrous, alien beings from other dimensions. Providing these beings - no matter their origin – are fed, entertained or placated in the correct manner they will channel their power through those who please them.
Calling upon the gods for their power relies upon two core skills, Devotion and Exhort. Devotion reflects the strength and depth of the bond between the theurgist and his deity, or deities; whilst Exhort is the ability of the worshipper to correctly intonate or phrase his requests, so that his divine patron will respond.
The nature and strength of any miraculous powers a theurgist draws upon is based upon his Devotion. The ‘skill’ is more accurately a relationship the theurgist has with an individual god, a small faction or family of divine beings, or indeed an entire pantheon. The precise scope of the skill depends upon the campaign setting, but each incidence of Devotion must be assigned to a specific deity or group of deities.
It is the depth of the worshipper’s Devotion to his gods which grants potency to any theistic miracles he calls for. Whenever a theurgist requests aid from a deity, the Magnitude and Intensity of the miracle is equal to one tenth of his Devotion score.
Devotion is often utilised to measure the progression of a worshipper within a cult, the upper echelons being restricted to those who demonstrate the proper dedication. This in turn can limit what miracles are available to a worshipper of particular cult rank; as few religions are likely to grant their most potent powers to mere initiates.
Last but by no means least, in the right circumstances Devotion can potentially be used to resist various psychological attacks, tests of faith or contests of competing passions.
Exhort is the skill used to coerce the gods to send a worshipper the magical aid he or she requires. It can be portrayed in several ways, but combines a number of different aspects such as strength of passion, egocentric will, ritualistic knowledge and understanding of divine psychology, to put forth a request which the deity cannot ignore.
Mechanistically the skill works as a simple base chance to successfully channel power from the god. A theurgist with Exhort (Kennen) 70% has a 70% chance of performing the relevant miracle.
These miracles manifest through the Veil, often as sudden surges of the amethyst fog gathering to evoke the effect spontaneously. Though, the mark of a particular patron is always apparent in effect and in rare and terrifying occurrences the deity might personally perform the deed.
A theurgist’s skills are indelibly linked to a specific religion, normally organised and known as a cult. Most cults are ancient faiths and usually accepted – or at least tolerated – by the local culture. Some are limited to a single city or tribe, whereas others can span nations. Even the number of deities incorporated within a cult can vary, with some cults tied to a single divine being, whereas others can consolidate an entire pantheon. In fact a single deity could have a dozen different, independent cults devoted to various aspects of its celestial magnificence!
It is a cult’s deities which provide the miracles available to dedicated worshippers. Correspondingly there are no preset restrictions to the number of miracles each cult has, nor even that they should be balanced to one another. In general, the powers offered by the cult reflect the nature of that deity or deities venerated. The only thing which is fairly certain is that the cult’s own priesthood will limit the availability of what miracles to which it has access, to those of proven faith and trustworthiness.
Thus cults, like other magical organizations, are similar to Combat Styles: diverse combinations of deities and miracles amalgamated into a single faith. Since cults are often viewed as the patrons of particular careers or irrevocably bound to specific philosophies, it may be unusual for a worshipper to pay more than lip service to more than one faith.
Professional theurgists who serve the shrines and temples of a cult are often well regarded, if not feared, for their zealous beliefs; and take the trouble to dress, act and behave appropriately to properly revere their patron gods.
A character that begins the game as a theurgist must choose a single cult or white company to follow. Only one cult can be chosen at this stage but others can potentially be joined during the course of play.
Theurgist characters start with knowing those miracles available to someone of their cult rank, but not exceeding a number equal to one twentieth of their Devotion skill. Once the game begins they are restricted in what additional powers they can learn, and when they can learn them.
The costs of learning new miracles are based upon an investment of Experience Rolls as described in the Magic chapter. However, most priesthoods restrict the availability of certain miracles according to cult rank, ensuring that worshippers prove their devotion and loyalty before trusting them with such knowledge. Even the achievement of promotion within the cult does not necessarily grant a character automatic access to any new powers.
Learning miracles may require the theurgist to prove himself worthy in a number of different ways, depending on the nature of the cult. Some require the completion of a heroic quest to attest their faith or a pilgrimage to seek out a holy spot where their god mythically gained that particular power; whilst others might necessitate the slaying of a worthy sacrifice, or a superior to demonstrate their right to this secret knowledge, or going into seclusion for many weeks inhaling mind-expanding narcotics to seek oneness with their deity.
Thus learning how to call upon new miracles is rarely just a prosaic case of paying enough silver to convince the priesthood – as that is how lay members engage the services of priests to cast miracles on their behalf. To gain these potent powers for themselves, characters must undergo great challenges and moral dilemmas, binding themselves closer to the cult and the deities they revere.
A theurgist may call upon some of the most potent magical effects available to mortal magicians. However, their exhortations require much preparation, primarily in the form of worshipping and making dedications to the gods. These religious acts are normally restricted to places deemed sacrosanct, so the reach of a cult is often limited to the locales close by shrines, temples or particular holy sites dedicated to the deity or deities in question.
Cult members who advance beyond the cult rank of Lay Member may begin to draw upon the gods by use of the Exhort skill. Every miracle they call for must be paid for in advance of the request, by sacrifice or donation of Magic Points into something called a devotional pool. This pool represents the strength of the bond between worshipper and god, and must be regularly topped up.
While Magic Points remain in the pool, the theurgist can use them to request miracles, but once the pool is expended no more requests may be made. The source of these points need not necessarily be the theurgist himself (see Donating Magic Points below) but the maximum size of the pool is limited by the theurgist’s cult rank.
Lay Member – None
Initiate – ¼ of the theurgist’s POW
Acolyte – ½ of the theurgist’s POW
Priest – ¾ of the theurgist’s POW
High Priest – All of the theurgist’s POW
The size of the devotional pool has no bearing on the theist’s normal POW capacity for storing personal Magic Points. Assuming the theurgistis donating Magic Points from his own POW, after the transference is made he can regenerate or recoup Magic Points as normal.
The implication of this method of paying for their miracles is that a worshipper, with enough preparation time, can fully load up both his devotional pool, and his own personal Magic Points in advance of performing some quest. On the downside, refilling his devotional pool requires him not only to return to a place of cult significance, but also personally to donate or transfer the points from his own resources.
Nothing prevents membership of multiple cults, providing they are not the antithesis of each other. For instance it may be reasonable for characters to be members of a state religion and a professional cult, and still worship a family deity. In such cases a separate devotional pool must be maintained for each individual cult.
However, there is a limit to how much magical energy can be amassed. No matter how many cults they are members of, the combined amount of Magic Points stored in the pools cannot exceed the POW of the character. Attempting to do so results in Magic Points dissipating from the other pools until the stored total once again equals the theurgist’s POW.
Dedicating Magic Points to their devotional pool requires that the theurgist be present at a shrine, temple or holy place with connection to the cult’s god or pantheon. The ritual takes the form of ceremony, meditation or prayer, and often incorporates some type of offering above and beyond the pure Magic Points – perhaps an animal sacrifice, kresh stored veil, financial tribute to the priesthood or a gift pleasing to the deity.
The actual source of the Magic Points can be somewhat abstract. For example, if Magic Points come from sacrificial offerings, then the theurgist himself must orchestrate, or at least participate in, the offering. The important concept here is that a worshipper must be physically present at the donation, else the Magic Points generated do not transfer to his devotional pool.
It is recommended that the current number of Magic Points in the pool cannot exceed the size of the most recent donation. Thus a theurgist with three Magic Points in his pool who sacrifices a creature worth seven Magic Points would raise his pool to seven points, not ten. In this way a deity cannot be appeased with a series of petty offerings which slowly accumulate excessive devotional strength.
The concept of only being allowed to recharge their devotional pool at specific holy places may initially seem rather restrictive, but this need not be an overly prohibitive aspect of theurgy. A worshipper can call upon his god or gods for miracles at any time; they only need to return to a temple to reaffirm the bond with the deity.
This fundamental element of theurgy should instead been seen as an opportunity by Games Masters to provide challenges and plot hooks with which to entwine his characters, granting them reasons to return to the source of their power, search out lost places of divine significance or build new temples to spread the worship of their cult.
Beyond specific holy places, a theurgist can spend a day to build temporary shrine which work a single time if sanctified with a suitable offering, and if allowed theurgists can worship at foreign temples which enshrine a similar divine being as their own deity.
Calling for a miracle is simply a matter of performing the correct exhortation to convince the god to channel its power through or on behalf of its worshipper. Such a request depends on a number of prerequisites.
First the theist must have mastered understanding of miracle being requested, as described earlier under Learning Miracles. Without knowing the correct prayer or exhortation, the worshipper cannot convince his deity to perform the miracle
Secondly the theurgist must have the requisite number of Magic Points remaining in the devotional pool he maintains with that deity. If too few remain, or the pool has run dry, the god will no longer listen to any requests made to it. Thus a worshipper should, when possible, take care to perform regular donations to their god.
Thirdly, on the last turn of the exhortation the theurgist must pass an Exhort skill check. This reveals whether or not the worshipper has performed the ritual request in the correct manner. Failure to perform this correctly can result in the god turning a deaf ear to the supplicant, or worse still, punishing them in some manner.
The cost of requesting a miracle depends on both its cult level and the success level of the Exhort skill roll:
Critical Success: the miracle occurs yet there is no Magic Point cost.
Success: the caster’s devotional pool loses the full Magic Point cost, and the miracle occurs successfully.
Failure: the miracle does not occur, but no Magic Point is taken from the devotional pool.
Fumble: the miracle does not occur, and 1 Magic Point is taken from the devotional pool.
Initiate level miracles cost one Magic Point, Acolyte level miracles cost two, and Priest level miracles cost three.
Requesting a miracle takes an increasing amount of time depending on the cult level the miracle becomes available at:
Initiate level miracles take 1 Turn
Acolyte level miracles take 2 Turns
Priest level miracles take 3 Turns
If the theurgist wishes to cast multiple instances of the same miracle with a single exhortation roll, then each additional instance adds an extra turn to the time, and adds its full Magic Point requirement to the final cost.
The Exhort skill check is made on the final turn of the exhortation; the result of the skill check occurring immediately.
The potency of miracles is based upon the strength of the relationship between a theurgist and their god. The more devoted the worshipper, the more power the deity can funnel through them. This not only increases the effect of the miracle, but also makes it more difficult for others to dispel.
Miracles have a default Magnitude and Intensity equal to one tenth of the worshipper’s Devotion skill value. A theurgist need not apply the entirety of a miracle’s Intensity if they wish to limit the effect of the god’s magic.
Miracles may be dismissed by spells or spirits capable of negating magic. Due to the inherent strength of theurgist miracles, it usually requires a counterspell of great potency to affect them.
There are no overt limitations to the concurrent number or potency of miracles a theurgist can maintain, since in effect their god is doing all of the work for them. The only restrictions occur in the need to return to a cult sanctuary to recharge their devotional pool of Magic Points.
Some miracles may possess an extended duration which can last hours, days or even months. In these cases the size of the theist’s devotional pool should be temporarily reduced by the number of Magic Points for each miracle which is still active.