VOWS

Sorcerers create and increase Presence by means of Vows: oaths the sorcerer must try to keep. If a sorcerer breaks a Vow, he loses all Presence he'd gained from it, and may never take that Vow again. This fact is taken by Malkioni as evidence that sorcery is governed by the Invisible God, deity of Law.

A sorcerer can take one Vow for each Art he masters, or each sorcery spell he gets to 90%. An Art Vow, counts as the Vow for that Art.

Learning Vows

When a sorcerer masters his first Art, he can take the High Vow of his sect. This sets up a mental discipline for him to follow throughout life.

Once the sorcerer has learned the three basic Arts of Intensity, Range, and Multispell, he can take the Vessel vow. For sects that teach these arts via Study, the sorcerer may take the Vessel vow as soon as he has a positive skill in the appropriate Art.

For each Art he learns after that, he may take one additional Vow. In addition, for each sorcery spell he masters at 90%, he may take yet another Vow. If a sorcerer somehow forgets an Art, or an appropriate skill drops below 90, he does not lose the Vow he received for that skill or Art, but when he relearns the Art or the skill rises back to 90, he does not get to take a new Vow -- only one Vow per Art or spell.

THE HIGH VOW – this is the first vow an apprentice takes. He receives it when he masters his first Art. The High Vows vary with the particular sect of Malkionism, hence there is High Hrestolism, High Rokarism, etc. The user must adhere to his Sect's general strictures (such as Caste definitions). The High Vow's Presence boost is equal to the sorcerer's basic Magic Bonus (not counting magical boosts). If the bonus is 0 or less, the student still gets 1 Presence for the High Vow.

When a sorcerer converts to another sect, he loses this Vow. However, he can retake it in his new sect the next time he qualifies for a new Vow.

Even non-Malkioni sects oft have an equivalent to the High Vow -- usually some philosophy upon which the sorcerer can base his mind's architecture. While it is possible for a person to learn sorcery without this kind of mental framework, it is of course much harder. Most unaligned sorcerers adhere to an ethical doctrine or mental discipline as a High Vow. If they have no such dogma to base their reality around, no High Vow is possible, and their sorcerous power is correspondingly weaker.

LORE MASTERY – this Vow is taken when the sorcerer learns his second Art, though it may or may not add any Presence right away. Basically, Lore Mastery gives the sorcerer 1 Presence for each of certain skills mastered at 90%. Qualified skills include all Read/Write skills, any Lore, Ceremony, Enchant, Summon, and all Arts learned as skills. This Vow, like the Vessel, cannot readily be broken. If one of the sorcerer's applicable skills drops below 90, the Vow is not broken, but he does lose that point of Presence until it rises again. 

THE VESSEL – this is the Vow taken upon acquiring all three basic Arts [Intensity, Multispell, & Range]. All the user's INT that is not taken up in memorizing spells – i.e., his "free INT" –becomes a magic Vessel added to his Presence. Only the user’s personal INT counts. This vow is especially useful because it cannot really be broken. A wizard with no free INT gets no Presence, but should he forget a spell (and free up some INT), the Presence returns.

Other Vows

After each Vow's name is a parenthesized number; this is the amount by which the Vow increases Presence.  

·          ABJURE ARMOR (2): never wear any physical armor.

·          ABJURE ARMS (3): never use a weapon of any type.

·          ABJURE ART (5): you may not use the chosen Art, selected from Intensity, Range, or Multispell. If you chose Intensity, all your spells are Intensity 1. If you choose Range, spells which normally have Range are touch-only for you. The only exception are spells which center on you but which require a Range component for an area effect (such as Attract Harm). If you choose Multispell, you may never use that Art. May be repeated up to three times, for a different Art each time.

·          ABJURE MINOR ART (3): you may not use the chosen secondary Art. See Abjure Art for details. May be repeated, for a different Art each time.

·          ABJURE LIQUOR (1): never drink alcoholic beverages.

·          ABJURE RUNE MAGIC (1; 2 if you have never cast a Rune spell): you may never sacrifice for Rune magic, and must never cast any you now know. Unavailable to Henotheists.

·         ABJURE SERVITUDE (6): a rare Vow. You may not serve as a vassal nor be a master. This includes apprentices, bound spirits, familiars, etc. You may not cast Command, Dominate, or similar spells.

·         ABJURE SPIRIT MAGIC (1; 2 if you have never cast a spirit spell): you may never learn spirit magic, and must forget any you now know.

·          ABJURE WORSHIP (8): only available to atheists. You may never worship a god, spirit, or hero. This includes patron saints.

·          ADULATION (1): devotion is given to a saintly relic, icon, or idol. The relic must be kept safe, given ornamentation, routinely tended, prayed to, etc… Only available to non-iconoclastic Malkioni sects.

·          CELIBACY (2; 4 if you have never engaged in coitus): This includes sexual congress of any type, including homosexual, cross-species, etc.

·          DEVOTION (2): each year, sacrifice 1 POW to the Invisible God. Only available to Malkioni. 

·          FASTING (2): must not eat or drink one chosen day each week. This Vow may be repeated. If the sorcerer breaks this Vow, he loses the Presence for all Fasting Vows he has taken.

·         FLEE [Element] (2 or more): this ritual Ceremony costs 1 POW. It is very rare. Once performed properly, you are harmed whenever you are left exposed to the full force of the named element. For instance, Flee Sky would harm you if touched by full sunlight. Flee Storm harms you via moving air (i.e., wind), and so forth.

      When taking this Vow, you must choose what kind of loss you wish to take (FP, MP, HP, or POW). This Vow can be repeated (no POW is lost on future ceremonies). The first Flee Element vow causes you to lose 1 point per hour exposed. On second and subsequent Flee Element vows, you may accelerate the harm done. You may also choose to add another type of loss to the basic Vow, keeping the points additive. Note: creatures without a particular stat cannot select that type of loss.

       Example: Deentim has taken the Flee Dark vow (so must stay out of shadows, and keeps the lights on at night), choosing to lose FP. He gets 1 Presence for this. Later, he accelerates the vow. Now, he loses 1 FP per minute, but gets 3 Presence for the Vow. Still later, he takes the Vow again and chooses to lose HP as well as FP. This adds another 4 Presence, for a total of 7. He cannot choose to lose 1 HP per hour, and must lose it per minute. The mightiest Vow he could take would cost him 1d6 FP, MP, HP, and POW per round -- this would take 8 Flee Darks to attain, and would provide him with 21 total Presence. 

Base Type of Loss                 

FP = 1 Presence

MP = 2 Presence

HP = 4 Presence

POW = 6 Presence

Time Acceleration

+0 – per hour of continuous exposure

+2 – per minute

+4 – round

+6 – lose 1d3/round

+8 – lose 1d6/round

Unlike the vow of Shun Moon, the vow of Flee Moon is in fact available to certain sorcerers. The Flee Moon vow is peculiar, though – during the dark & dying moon, you take no loss from exposure; during the crescent phase, you take losses as though your time acceleration was 1 step less; in the half-phase, you take losses normally; and during the full moon you take loss as though your time acceleration was one phase more. If you’ve only chosen the minimum time acceleration, you take no losses during the crescent phase. If you’ve chosen the maximum time acceleration, you lose 2d6/round during the full moon.  

·         NEVER KILL A HUMAN (2; 3 if you have never ever done so): the sorcerer is still permitted to let a human die by inaction, and he can order someone else to kill a human.

·         RITUALS (4): must spend an additional melee round in preparation before casting any spell.

·        SACRIFICE APPEARANCE (1): lower APP by 2. May be taken multiple times for a single Vow. Training APP back up breaks the Vow, though Boost APP is legal.

·         SACRIFICE CONSTITUTION (1): lower CON by 1. See Sacrifice Appearance. CON can be reduced to 0 or less, if the sorcerer has CON-boosting spells sufficient to raise his CON to at least 1.

·          SACRIFICE EYE (3): tear out one of your own eyes, which cannot be regrown. Taking this Vow a second time gives you an additional 9 Presence. Only humans can take this Vow.

·          SACRIFICE GENITALS (6): remove your own privates, which cannot be regrown.

·        SACRIFICE HAND (3): cut off one of your hands which cannot be regrown. Taking this Vow a second time gives you an additional 9 Presence. Only humans can take this Vow.

·        SACRIFICE LEG (3): cut off one of your legs at the knee, which cannot be regrown. Taking this Vow a second time gives you an additional 9 Presence. Only humans can take this Vow.

·        SACRIFICE POWER (3): lower species-maximum POW by 1. This only reduces current POW if it is already at species maximum. A human sorcerer who'd taken this 5 times (for +15 Presence) would have a species maximum POW of 16. Not available to most Malkioni (it is considered to risk one's afterlife).

·        SACRIFICE STRENGTH (1): lower STR by 1. See Sacrifice Constitution.

·       SECLUSION (1): spend one week of every year in total seclusion. During this time, the sorcerer may not speak, may not cast any spells, and must avoid contact with the outside world. This week must be the same week every year. This vow may be repeated. If the sorcerer breaks this Vow, he loses the Presence for all Seclusion Vows he has taken.

·       SELF-ABNEGATION (4): never cast or maintain any spell on yourself. 

·       SELF-EXALTATION (6): never cast or maintain a spell on any target save one’s own person. This includes inanimate objects.

·       SHUN HARM (6): cast no attack spells. Generally only available to healers.

·       SHUN [ELEMENT] (2): cast no spells that control, evoke, or otherwise manipulate the selected element. For example, a sorcerer with Shun Sky cannot cast Glow. A sorcerer with this vow may learn Resist spells vs. the chosen element. Note that nobody can take Shun Moon, for non-Lunar sorcerers can't use such magic anyway, and Lunar sorcerers are forbidden this vow.

·       SHUN IMMORTALITY (1): Never cast or maintain the Immortality spell upon yourself (you may do so for others), nor receive any similar life-extending magic. Naturally immortal entities may not take this Vow unless they have somehow become mortal.

·       SHUN TAP (1; 2 if you have never cast Tap): Never cast or maintain Tap.

·       SILENCE (6): never communicate verbally. You may use Telepathy, hand signals or the written word to communicate. This does not prohibit spellcasting.

·       TEND FAMILIAR (1): You can get this Vow simply by taking a familiar. When your familiar dies, the Vow is cancelled, but by taking another Familiar (or resurrecting the old one), you can accept this Vow again the next time you qualify for a new Vow. This Vow can be repeated if you have more than one familiar.

·       VEGETARIANISM (2): Eat no animal flesh, including fish & fowl.

Copyright © 1998, Sandy Petersen

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