From inoble@VNET.IBM.COMMon Aug 14 08:34:12 1995 Date: Tue, 24 Jan 95 10:37:50 GMT From: Ian Noble Reply to: The wfrp mailing list To: wfrp@gojira.monsta.com Subject: What do you do with a used Giant-Slayer? The following is something I've had to cook up to give one of the players in my campaign somewhere to go. It's a first draft, so I'm sure there are holes in it you could drive a truck through. Comments appreciated. The psychology of the Dwarven Slayer suggests that the only exit from the career of Giant-Slayer (within the confines of a WFRP campaign) is death. Great. So what do you do with a Giant-Slayer who's taken all their advances, but is still alive? The Slayer who simply feels they have redeemed their honour has an easy solution - take up another career. But what about one who still feels their disgrace, has fought Giants, Dragons and Daemons, and yet lives? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- It sometimes happens that a Slayer will repeatedly face certain and imminent death, always have it snatched bizarrely or improbably away. Adwarf who has truly sought death only to be so denied it may come to believe that it is not their doom to die in such a fashion. Some will understand that they have at last redeemed their honour. Others will adopt a more fatalistic view: Knurri Svartbergen and the Order of the Denied Around the year 5200 on the dwarven calendar (2200 as measured by humans), and faced by a long-forgottten dishonour that seared his being until only his own death might bring relief, a dwarf named Knurri Svartbergen chose the doom of a Slayer. Though for years he sought death in its many shapes throughout the old world, always it eluded him. At last, around 5310, his wanderings brought him to Norsca, and to confrontation with the waves of Chaos spawn pouring down at that time from the northern wastes. On a hillside there, assaulted from all sides by unending hordes of foul creatures, Knurri faced at a daemon greater than any he had encountered before. Knee-deep in those he had already killed, Knurri at last found himself bested, and fell before the onslaught of the daemon's hellish blade. Yet that was not the end. As his body lay wrecked and motionless on the battlefield, bleeding from many wounds, Knurri had a vision. In it, he walked along a great tunnel. The walls, roof and floor were of mithril ore, and within the mithril gems of strange colours glowed. Far ahead a bright light glowed, reflecting off the walls and gems and illuminating the tunnel with myriad beams of colour. Around him, it seemed, walked many others, shadows glimpsed from the corner of an eye. For a period during which time had no meaning to him Knurri travelled along the corridor, the light getting ever-brighter. At last, as it got so bright that he felt it must blind him, he found himself approaching its source. Ahead two great carved stone doors stood ajar. Glimpsed beyond them, its soft glow low and warm in contrast to the cold brilliance in the tunnel, a welcoming fire glowed in a great hearth in the middle of a hall carved from the solid rock. >From the hall came voices - laughter and the sounds of singing, the familiar rhythms and cadances of the halls of his childhood. And in the doorway, between the hall and Knurri, stood an old dwarf with many scars and but one eye - Hrungnor, who placed his hands on Knurri's shoulders, halting him with a grip that was at once gentle yet as firm as granite. As a river of half-seen figures swirled past them both, Hrungnor fixed Knurri in the gaze of his good eye and spoke. "Why have you come?" >From a distance, Knurri heard himself reply. "I come to pay the debt I owe." "This road is not yet yours to travel. Go back." "I cannot. Or... am I never to be permitted to redeem my honour?" "I did not say so. Yet your shame is great, and your burden may not be so easily laid aside." "Then tell me what I must do, for I long to be free of it." It seemed to Knurri that Hrungnor paused for a long time before replying, contemplating the vaguely-seen shapes that flowed endlessly past them. When at last he spoke, it was in a voice weary with care. "As you see, many others, who carry no such burden as yours, also tread these halls before they should, and must be given leave to pass. Do what little you may to keep them from disturbing me, and at last we shall talk again. Now, go back." With a gentle motion he pushed Knurri from him, and it seemed to Knurri that he was thrown back down the tunnel at an immense speed, until at last he stood under a clouded sky looking down at his own corpse on the battlefield. As he watched, the blood that had drained from his body ran once more, seeping from the ground in rivulets and pouring back into his veins. Before him the many wounds closed. And at last the vision ended, and he awoke to find himself alive and alone on the battlefield amongst the bodies of the slain. For days he sat in thought, pondering the meaning of his vision whilst around him the scavangers picked over the carcasses of the dead. Finally he stood, and, casting off his armour, swore a solomn oath: Neither to seek his own death nor to shun it, accepting its gift when the gods willed, but to devote his skills to the well-being of his kin. Leaving that place he travelled far and wide, learning the healing arts, always willing to risk his life for his kin, but no longer seeking his own death. Word of this strange dwarf spread amongst his kind, and around him slowly gathered a small number of other Slayers of like mind, forming at last the Order of the Denied. Knurri died at last at the age of 183 in the final desperate sortie that drove the armies of the Black Orc captain Murbash Gronondak back from the shattered gates of Kharak- Zhardhul. By the time of his death members of the Order were to be found by ones and twos (rarely more) in dwarf communities across the old world. Hrungnor, Dwarven god of Death and Lost Causes Description: The dwarfs know Hrungnor in more than one guise - notably as Keeper of the Doors to the Halls of Passage (and by extension of doors and defended portals everywhere). The aspect of Hrungnor considered here is that worshipped by clerics of the Order of the Denied. Hrungnor is commonly depicted as an old dwarf with a scar across his blind right eye, standing in front of a door dressed in simple, sombre clothes, and leaning upon a stout wooden stick. He scrutinizes each soul that arrives at the Doors for the manner of its death, reading their innermost secrets and judging their worth to pass. Those whose deaths he finds wanting will usually continue their existance as ghosts in the place at which they died, until time and fortune may allow them in some way to atone for their shortcomings. Like his counterpart Morr in the Human pantheon, Hrungnor is also god of dreams. Alignment: Neutral Symbol: Hrungnor's symbols are a closed and barred door, or a stylised beam of bright light (symbolising his piercing gaze). Area of Worship: Hrungnor is respected wherever dwarfs gather, but by and large not worshipped. Only at the death of kin or a respected comrade, or on completion of the portals of a building or other defense will dwarves normally actively petition him. The Order of the Denied is the only known instance of organised worship of Hrungnor, and its members are few and widely scattered. Temples: There are no temples to Hrungnor, although his image or symbols are often found on the doors of dwarven constructions. Individual members of the Order of the Denied may have small shrines to Hrungnor within their dwellings. Friends and Enemies: The cult of Hrungnor as represented by the Order of the Denied is on friendly terms with other members of the Dwarven pantheon. It has little to do with those of other races, although it is on good terms with the cult of Morr, and regards the cult of Shallya in a friendly manner. The cult of Shallya, by contrast, views the Order with strong suspicion because of its readiness to use violence. Holy Days: Dwarves regard times when both of the moons Mannslieb and Morrslieb are dark as sacred to Hrungnor. Because of the behaviour of Morrslieb these have no set or predictable place on the calendar. Cult Requirements: The Order of the Denied is open to Dwarves who have followed the path of the Slayer in search of their own death and yet survived. Normally they will have been spared by the most unlikely turns of events, or will have faced such extreme danger that they believe it is not the will of the gods that they die that way. Strictures: It is the duty of all Initiates and Clerics of the Order of the Denied to learn the healing arts in order to minister to other dwarves. It is also their duty to use their martial skills to protect those dwarves obviously weaker than themselves. Followers of Hrungnor adopt a fatalistic attitude to their own survival, relying upon the skills they have to determine their doom. The wearing of armour is frowned upon as an unworthy attempt to extend the wearer's life, as is the knowing use of enchanted weaponery. Either of these strictures may be ignored in extreme cases, when it plain that not to do so must result in the death of other dwarfs. However, a follower of Hrungnor who ignores one or both must immediately undertake a period of solitary pennance of not less than one month while they contemplate their fitness to be members of the order. Spell Use: Clerics of Hrungnor may use all Petty Magic, plus the following spells: *Cure Light Injury*, *Cure Severe Wound*, *Zone of Sanctuary*, *Zone of Steadfastness* (the *Zone* spells will normally only be used to protect others, rather than the caster). They may also use the specialist spell *Heal Injury* available to followers of Shallya. They may also use all Necromantic magic spells EXCEPT the following: *Hand of Death*, *Hand of Dust*, *Life in Death*, *Wind of Death* They may never bring undead into being except with the explicit permission of Hrungnor (by means of an omen, a divination or a dream) Skills: In addition to the normal range of skills available to Initiates and Clerics, followers of Hrungnor automatically gain the skill *Heal Wounds* at the Initiate stage. Clerics of Hrungnor may choose *one* of the following skills at each level: *Cure Disease*, *Herb Lore*, *Identify Plant*, *Immunity to Disease*, *Surgery*. These skills must be bought with Experience Points in the usual way. Trials: Trials set by Hrungnor will normally involve some variation on protecting the weak, or ministering to the sick. Blessings: Blessings favoured by Hrungnor will relate to the skills above. The final blessing Hrnugnor can award, of course, is death.