The Priest of Varmeylius

The Priest

Varmelius is the God of Truth, Change and Journeys.  He is an Elvin God, though there are likenesses of him with a human face.

He was originally a warrior and advisor of Pholtus.  Then, Pholtus created the Ascendants, of which he was the third.  Varmelius has walked the Northern Province.

When Pholtus Passed the Light to Leah'Dah, she wore the new mantle of his old power, and became a god along with all of the ascendants at that moment.

Some passed and died almost immediately, others grew and strengthened.  Varmelius was on eof those.

He lives in the city of Tulnimoon, that he founded in those days, far to the south between the lands of men and the horned lands.  His Avatars roam the world in his stead, calling beings to priesthood, and warriors to the Vistilry.

Experience levels have nothing to do with the Levels of attainment in the Priesthood.  One may be a seventh level acolyte.  Or a 3rd level high priest.  Prayers and experience guidelines are taken directly from the PHB.  The ranks are as follows

Worshiper - a being who worships of feels positively towards Varmelius.  They are able to receive aid from Varmelius.  Non worshipers cannot receive aide from the Deity.

Adherant - a worshiper who lives and abides by the codes of Varmelius.  They gain Divine Intuition.  It is an ability to discern what is the will of Varmelius and what is not.

Mendicant - an Adherant who is wandering seeking the call to follow Varmelius.  Mendicants gain the gift of Fate.  Fate lets them summon the will of Varmelius once per day, to guide them through their lives.

Acolyte - someone called to the Priesthood by an Avatar, and seeks the voice of Varmelius.  They gain Obedience, which allows them to manifest the will of Varmelius in their life and journey towards becoming a Cleric.  they gain the ability to perform Rituals and Rites, and Prayers.  They gain the power of Contrition, which lets them mend the relationship between a worshiper, adherent or mendicant and God.  They gain the ability to Turn Undead.

Cleric - a Cleric has acquired 100 obedience points and has received their vision.  They receive Varmelius Blessing, which aides all in sight or earshot that worship Varmelius +1 on saves and +1 to hit.  They gain an additional Prayer per Prayer level.  If they have 3x1st/1x2nd prayers, they get 4x1st/2x2nd prayers.  Their touch purifies food and drink.  They can bless water and make it Holy Water.

Priest - a Priest who has acquired 1000 points of Obedience and has drawn a Vicar.  Their Prayers double, so if they had 4x1st, 2x2nd and 1x3rd, they would get 8x1st, 4x2nd, and 2x3rd.  They can detect lie at will.  they gain the power of Sight, This allows them to see the true nature of a thing if the focus and use their holy symbol, and is treated like True Seeing.  

High Priest - High priest has acquired 10,000 Obedience points, and gets their power directly from their god and can seek aid through prayer at will without limit.  All High Priests are Resurrected in Tulnimoon automatically if they die contesting evil.


·        Prayer Book

o   Given to an acolyte to begin their journey towards Varmeylius.  A record of prayers, devotions, rituals, rites and functions of an Acolyte of Varmeylius.

o   A source of constant guidance to the Acolyte, and where they record the significance of God in their life as they seek to improve the life of others and thwart the will of darkness.

o   The acolyte adds to the book throughout their life, and writes their own that is an accumulation of their practice of the methods of the original book.  When completed by becoming a priest, they are given to a new acolyte called to the work or kept in the Priest Temple or at their shrine.    

o   Prayer books hold all the Prayers a Priest can learn.  Many prayers are beyond the Priests level but still able to be cast, albeit at a great disadvantage. 

o   Priests memorize prayers and no one prayer can be memorized immediately, it takes time.  Mostly prayers are read aloud from the book.  Once memorized,  a priest can always have it as an option for use.

o   When PC begins the Journey to Priest from Accolyte on the day they hear the Voice of Varmeylius and meet him face to face, the begin to make a copy of their Prayer book.  It may take a year or a life time as they do not recopy a section they have not lived through.  Once done, the Priest can, through god, call a new Priest.

o    

·        Relic

o   A holy item some Priests may obtain.  Usually kept in a place of worship in a temple.  Sometimes carried on the Priest.  They have special powers, grant special abilities and attract the Dark who wish suck items destroyed.

o   Weeker’s Band is an artifact of the High Priest Weeker, who fought Innis and defeated his minions at the gate of Hinblank far to the west.  Weekers Band is actually the chord that accidentally had wrapped around his wrist during the fight.  His love of god and his constant use of his holy symbol in that hand and the blow that took his hand from him, subsequently turned the band into an artifact with the will of god.  Though Weeker never regained his hand, his acolyte Arkan, recovered the band and wore it.  It threw the brightest light, could dissolve fiends back into the ether from which they come, and could show the past.

·        Staff

o   All Priests carry a staff.  It grows in power with them as they progress through life.  They fill with the power of god and are echoes of his intercessions in the Priests life.  They are a symbol of the Deities Power manifest in the Priest.

o   All Staffs begin as non magical items.  As the Acolyte matures the staff increase in power and ability.  This progression continues mirroring the needs of the Priests life an journeys.  It is not uncommon for a High priests Staff to have several spell like abilities and offer numerous immunities to the Priest.

o   Another effect of the priests Staff is that it is not usually used in combat, in fact, Priest do not fight physically in most cases.  There are many stories of what Priest can do with their staff, and almost none involve killing.

·        Holy Symbol

o   This can be as simple as twigs and twine or as complex as an artifact.  It is almost always worn on a chain around the neck.  It represents the Deity himself.  It is on a chain around the neck to symbolize services and that the Priest carries it aloft.

o   This is used to turn undead.

o   This is used to seek intercession from the Deity.

o   This is used to Pray.

o   This is used to heal and cleanse.

·        Robe

o   A priest of Varmeylius wears robes alone and no other armor.  The robes can range from black to white but are not colored.  They can be magical, or mundane.  So long as a Priest wears a robe only, and it is any shade between Black and White, the covenants are kept.  Past that, the robe usually has little religious significance and can be a mundane magic item or something practical.

·        Followers

o   A Priest will collect follower fairly quickly.  Many want to serve god.  It is not uncommon for a party of ten to be comprised of four player characters and 6 NPCs who serve the Priest of the party.

o   NPC’s are the pool the Priest has to draw followers from.  This is all done with actual role playing.  There is no limit to haw many or how early a Priest can draw followers, it can even happen as an acolyte.

o   Followers will be played by the DM, until Good Faith is established with the Follower and then he may directly control the Follower.  Each follower starts with a 1 for good faith.  When Their Good Faith reaches 20, the Player gains direct control of the Follower and it passes from the control of the DM.

·        Functions

o   Priest have obligations to marry, divorce, sanctify, cure, heal and perform funeral rites, lay the dead and the undead to rest, and bless crops, etc.  Many of these rites, functions and ceremonies are detailed in the Prayer Book. 

·        Shrines

o   There are shrines to Pholtus, Leah’dah and Aday all over the Northern Province.  As Pholtus, Leah’dah, Varmeylius and Aday are all Deities and all wholly sympathetic to each other.  For Instance, Aday can be worshiped at any Pholtic Shrine.   Shrines, heal wounds, cure disease, can dispel curses and are places where the deities often interact with their followers.

o   There are obligations to pray and sacrifice at all shrines and Priests of Varmelius can sense them and are drawn to them.

·        Prayers

o   While a priest will have a prayer book with many prayers in it, he can learn new prayers from many sources and sometimes, offer his own. A Priest can pray any prayer, there is just a likelihood that god or an avatar will answer.  

An acolyte, cleric or priest may attempt to say prayers above the level and beyond their ability.  This has a base chance of 25% for working modified below.

-5% under Duress.
-5% per level above beyond ability.
-1% per point of Will Power ((WI+CO)/2) below 20.
-1% per point of Fortitude ((WI+ST)/2) below 20.
-1% Per point of Gravitas (average of all Req/5) below 20.

+10 following the Will of Varmelius.
+1% for every 10 points of Obedience.

·        Pilgrimage

o   An Acolyte of Varmeylius will begin his journey to Priesthood by seeking the voice of Varmelius.  This is an inward journey and increase with instances of acts according to the character of the deity.  Once the Character has acquired 100 points of Obediance, they will become a priest, and meet their god face to face.  There are many Priests who have never been to Tulnimoon, the City of God where he resides in the flesh.

·        Avatar

o   Each priest of Varmelius has a representative of God that serves as his connection to the Deity until the Priest forms his own.  It is usually this Avatar that calls the person to service and is available at times to listen and council the Accolyte.