-- TRAINING --
If a cult member wishes to raise her skills while off duty, she may put herself through training. She will take 1 month (2 rollovers) to conduct her training, and during this time, she may not perform any other activities. As such, so as to not offset party synergy by taking her out of her hunting group, it is advised to have all members of the group go through training together, or have the other members rest while she trains. At the end of her training, I will roll to see what stats she has gained, and use an appropriate amount of stat boosting items to give them to her. This is the only time I may intentionally use stat boosting items (aside from unintentionally gained stats via mood boosting). After this, she will be on training cool down until the next season.
-- VISIONS & BLESSINGS --
As a cult primarily guided by the wishes of their goddesses, it goes without saying that seeking commune with them is a regular activity in the pack. The practice for obtaining a vision is as follows:
- May take place once a season, and must be carried out at at noon (during the day) when the weather is clear.
- To gain the goddesses attention and favor, a sacrifice must be performed. This can be done through winning a fight against a lone wolf in Explore, or taking in a new pack member and killing them. Either way, both things must happen while it's still a clear day.
- Then, ICly, the High Priestess will paint herself with the wolf’s blood (OOCly; apply a blood decoration) and ingest a special (fictitious) herb that will enable her to see a vision from the goddesses.
- As she lays on the floor and wills herself to sleep, she will slip into the goddesses realm and be able to commune with them.
- OOCly, after the above requirements have been filled out, I will roll to see what vision (if any) the High Priestess receives.
Visions are prophecies given to the High Priestess to warn her of what’s to come. Essentially, they are ways of circumventing the rules I play by to either make things easier, or make things harder. They can be any of the following:
- Event that can award or take away food from the Hoard
- Event that can award or take away herbs from the Hoard
- Event that allows me to trade herbs at the Herbalist a rolled amount of times
- Event that allows me to take a new wolf into the pack via Trading Center, Custom, etc.
- Event that randomly selects a wolf to have pups the next time she enters heat, regardless of breeding rights
- Event that reveals a randomly selected wolf as a traitor, to either be punished, killed, or exiled (chased)
- Natural disaster Events that vary depending on the season and have varying outcomes (which can include lost food/herbs, being forced to move territories, death of packmates, etc.)
- A request by the goddess to change territories
Blessings are gifts given to randomly rolled members of the cult; they primarily consist of appearance changes (i.e. permit me to use certain applicators on the wolf) and stat changes (i.e. permission to use toys that are known for boosting stats). They can be any of the following:
- Permission to use x1 Eye Applicator or x2-4 Wisdom/Smarts Boosting Items by Sangana
- Permission to use x1 Base Applicator or x2-4 Stamina/Speed Boosting Items by Corenza.
- Permission to use x1-3 Marking Applicators or x2-4 Strength Boosting Items by Valtrix
- Permission to use x1-3 Unnaturally Colored Pelt Applicators or x1-3 Fertility Boosting Items by Bibliama
- Rare blessing from all four goddesses to use: x1 Total Shuffle, x1 Base Changing Item, x1 Eye Color Applicator, x1 Skin Changer, and x1 Nose Changer
*Marking Applicators include individual applicators (i.e. the apps on Lioden that let you apply one specific type of marking), opacity changers, random marking applicators, etc. They do not include Total Shuffle.
**Unusual Pelt Color Changes refer to any kind of applicator that provides an unnatural fur color, which can include any kind of Marking Applicators or Base changers. They do not include Total Shuffle or Eye Applicators.
All are rolled together, so whether or not I receive a blessing or vision is completely random.
-- INITIATION INTO THE CULT --
It's safe to say that in this new, foreign land, there's a good chance most wolves brought into the Cult won't have any idea about the religion or its teachings, therefore getting them to worship the Queen like a god among mortals and commit heinous acts in her honor may be a bit... difficult. Therefore, any new members in the cult that wish to join but show their doubts in the goddesses will be put through a special initiation ceremony.
The ceremony is akin to the one conducted for Visions, just with a little less fanfare. No sacrifices are required, nor does it need to be a full moon. At high noon, when Sangana's blazing sun has reached its peak, the initiate will be brought to the Temple before an audience of other Cult members, and with the guidance of the Priestesses, fed the sacred herb. She will lay her head to rest, and a vision will befall her, where one of the five goddesses will appear and either grant her the divine wisdom of their presence, or bless her with one of their favors to prove their affluence over this mortal world.
Favors can be as follows:
- Sangana’s Foresight -- If a bad event is foreseen via Visions, this wolf may roll to negate the event. 1-10, 1-5 attempt at foresight failed, 6-10 attempt at foresight successful! The event still takes place, but any wolves that might have died are saved and any prey/herbs lost are cut in half!
- Sangana’s Promise -- May use x1 Great Tit on this she-wolf’s stud to ensure her litter is all female.
- Sangana's Guidance -- This wolf may assist their favored pack mates in finding resources; any wolves with favors that grant items may roll 2-4 to see how many of the items they found, instead of just getting 1.
- Sangana’s Sage -- Whenever this wolf gets blessed by Sangana, the rewards are doubled.
- Sangana's Dipolmacy -- This wolf has been blessed with a silver tongue that makes persuading others into joining the Cult much easier; may use "Befriend" in Explore encounters OR take in wolves from other players' packs.
- Corenza’s Camouflage -- This wolf may obtain a Critter Bundle once a day.
- Corenza’s Courage -- This wolf may obtain a Food Bundle once a day.
- Corenza’s Shadow -- Whenever this wolf gets blessed by Corenza, the rewards are doubled.
- Valtrix’s Vigor -- This wolf may use Bone Marrow once a day.
- Valtrix’s Tenacity -- Whenever in battle, this wolf may reroll their success rolls once per roll.
- Valtrix’s Strength -- Whenever in battle, this wolf may roll an additional d5 and add that to their damage roll.
- Valtrix’s Warrior -- Whenever this wolf gets blessed by Valtrix, the rewards are doubled.
- Bibliama’s Rejuvenation -- May purchase x1 Healing Salve every time this wolf’s HP hits 0 and use it on them.
- Bibliama’s Fortune -- This wolf may go out and obtain x1 Herb Bundle OR x1 Nesting Material once a day.
- Bibliama’s Enthusiasm -- This wolf may use IBFs whenever pregnant.
- Bibliama’s Apothecary -- Whenever this wolf gets blessed by Bibliama, the rewards are doubled.
- None -- this wolf hasn’t received any special favor from the goddesses, but they did catch a knowing glimpse of Sanganna, so they are still swayed into believing the religion.
The chance to roll a favor is equal with not rolling a favor, and favors from the goddesses are all equally likely, meaning one goddess having more favors than the others won't make her's any more likely.
-- SEEKING MATES --
Once a female has earned breeding rights and been granted permission to bear a litter the next time she goes into heat, she must, of course, seek out a mate. She can do this one of two ways: leaving the cult to find a mate on her own, or requesting a mate through any breeding alliances the cult may have with other packs (i.e. an alliance between the cult and another back where, in exchange for peace between the two of them, the other pack will supply the cult with whatever studs are interested in breeding when the time comes).
If she chooses the former, she will have to leave the Cult either on her own or with one other Cult member to serve as her guard, seek out a male willing to stud, and do so without giving away any information about the Cult to avoid attracting the attention of pup stealers or those whom would otherwise wish to take advantage of the situation and do the Cult harm. For this reason, females may leave a good few weeks before they go into heat so as to lose the Cult's scent, and travel a fair distance away to dissuade anyone from following them. There are no rules regarding whom the male must be or what all the female can do while she's away from the Cult aside from keeping everything discreet, as the Queen won't be around to keep tabs on anything anyway; it is entirely a show of good faith to allow a female to leave and assume she won't rebel against the Cult or do anything harmful, hence why earning breeding rights takes a certain level of trust from the Queen.
Once she's found a wolf that agrees to be her mate, she'll stay with them as long as she likes/as long is necessary, then leave once she's pregnant, ideally to never see that male again... but if the female, say, has gotten rather attached to him and decides to keep up a sort of secret romance, what the Queen doesn't know won't hurt her.
Even the Queen herself is subject to this rule, seeking a mate in the same fashion as her followers: either leaving the Cult to find one and having the High Priestess rule in her absence, or arranging a partner for herself via alliances. OOCly, a male will be kept in the pack and labeled as the "Queen's Consort", but this is just so I have an excuse to keep a breeding male-- ICly, he will be a loner outside the Cult like all other studs.
OOCly, females will breed via studs. Will flesh out rules about studding in Rules post above, but the gist of it: your studding rules apply (of course), lore wise all I ask is to keep at least 1 female (should any be born), otherwise we can split the litter evenly, and owner of the stud can have all males, since the Cult wouldn't keep them. |