Totemic Faiths of Gero
There are innumerable Totems on Gero, but like the Cults
and Orders, they may be divided into managable categories.
Animal/Elemental:
Animal and elemental totems are generally worshipped by
barbarian tribes. While most animal cults actually name
their focus (i.e., Azmoth, the Serpent), animal totems are
simply known by type. Typically, an entire tribe will
serve a single totem, such as Bear. This totem is believed
to be the idealized form of the species.
Virtually all totems in this category are true neutral,
but accept the offerings of almost anyone. Thus, a tribe
dedicated to the service of Falcon could contain both good
and evil tribemembers, who might struggle against one
another while both receive the blessings of Falcon.
Place/season:
Place totems also tend to be worshipped by barbarians,
although these tribes usually have a fixed village, near
the place worshipped. Again, true neutrality is the most
common alignment. Examples of this type of totem would be
Grandfather Volcano, Father Sea or Grandmother Winter.
Priest abilities are usually centered around surviving or
duplicating the hazards associated with the totem.
Race:
There are six totems of race, one for each of the "old
races". They are all the first of their race, and in the
native language are known simply by the title of King,
Queen, Lady, Lord, God or Goddess. When speaking of
another race's totem, it is common to affix the name of the
race to the front of the title. Thus the God of the elves
is called the Elfgod by the dwarves, who simply refer to
their own totem as King.
The alignment of the race totems matches the prefered
alignment of that race.
There are no race totems for any of the "young races",
including humans.
The race totems are:
Elflord
Dwarfking
Gnomelady
Goblingod
Koboldgoddess
Drowqueen
The abilities of Totemic Priests should be determined on a
case-by-case basis, following these guidelines:
Race Priests are always of the "default" Alignment for
that Race. More often than not, abilities are centered
around enhancements of their natural racial characteristics
and giving themselves some authority when dealing with
others of their race.
Natural Totems (Animal, Plant, Elemental, Place) are
usually True Neutral, with major access to the Sphere of
the same type. Animal Totems often grant Shapeshifting
abilities to their Shamen, and Elemental and Place Totems
frequently bestow Shamen with some form of immunity to
their nature.
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