Northlandish
Tokiwa-Dai
Land of Five Cities
Southlandish
Demi-human
Titans |
Truon
(Greater God, CG)
Description:
General Aspect:
God of the South Sea: Truon is a god of elemental and natural water, ruling the ocean depths and its creatures.
The wild currents and murky depths are his home, and bizarre beasts of the sea are his children.
Worshippers:
Any sea creature, especially mermen, tritons and aquatic elves. Fishermen, sailors, or anyone whose livelihood
depends on the sea.
Holy Days:
Trenod 4th: Feast of Truon (celebrating the divinity of Truon and his rule). Hanod 15th: Day of Memories (a day
of mourning over the destruction of the Southern Sea and its peoples). Tarantoom 4th: Blessingstide (a day of thanksgiving
for the water and rain that Truon provides).
Holy Items:
Holy symbol (an oyster shell set with a pearl). Holy water (standard). Holy ink (a version of holy water that is
manufactured from the ink of squids) is used by priests of underwater races.
Holy Areas:
Shrines and churches of Truon are frequently found in underwater (or formerly underwater) grottos and caves. Surface
churches are found in towns where the economy depends on the ocean.
Restrictions:
Alignment:
Priests: Chaotic Good, Neutral Good.
Worshippers: Any.
Racial Requirements:
Any water-dwelling creature; humans, half-elves.
Ability Requirements:
Wisdom: 12
Constitution: 11
Dexterity: 9
Charisma: 9
Experience point chart:
Specialty priests of Truon use the standard cleric experience progression table. Priests with a Wisdom of 16 or
greater gain a 10% bonus to experience earned.
Preferred Weapons (in order of preference):
Net, spear, harpoon, trident. Only thrusting and non-lethal weapons are allowed.
Armor:
Leather, studded leather, ring mail, brigandine, scale mail, hide, chain mail. Small helmets only. No shields.
Magical Items:
Specialty priests of Truon can use any magical items normally available to priests except those dealing with fire
or earth. In addition, specialty priests of Truon can use Bowls Commanding Water Elementals, and are immune to
the effects of Bowls of Watery Death. A priest of Truon can use a Horn of the Tritons twice per day (or four times
per day if he is a triton).
Non-weapon Proficiencies:
Required: Seamanship, Swimming. Preferred: Direction Sense, Fishing, Navigation, Rope Use, Weather Sense.
Miscellaneous Restrictions:
Priests of Truon living on land must bathe, immersed in water, at least once per day. Failure to do so results
in the inability to cast spells on following days.
Priests of Truon wear oversized, flowing albs of blue and green over any other clothing or armor. Additional vestments
are often worn when officiating at ceremonies.
Worshippers of Truon are forbidden to eat the meat of any animal that lives under the earth.
Spheres:
Major:
All
Animal*
Elemental Water
Plant*
Weather
Minor:
Chaos
Creation
Divination
Healing
* Spells of the Animal and Plant spheres are limited to 3rd level and below except when affecting animals or plants
which live in fresh or salt water. Note that many otherwise impossible or unlikely spells have underwater equivalents.
For Animal spells, this includes Minnow Swarm (Insect Swarm), Call Oceanic Beings (Call Woodland Beings), Giant
Fish/Shrink Fish (Giant Insect/Shrink Insect), and Repel Fish (Repel Insects). For Plant spells, this includes
Coral (Tree), Hallucinatory Seaweed Forest (Hallucinatory Forest), Seaweed to Eels (Sticks to Snakes), and Coral
Reef (Wall of Thorns).
Granted Powers:
Determine Depth
Range: 0
Duration: Instantaneous
Preparation Time: 1 seg.
Area of Effect: Priest
Saving Throw: None
Frequency of Use: Unlimited
Minimum Level: 1
Any priest of Truon can determine approximate depth
underwater on a roll of 1-4 on a d6.
Underwater Tongues
Range: Self
Duration: Unlimited
Preparation Time: 0
Area of Effect: Priest
Saving Throw: None
Frequency of Use: Constant
Minimum Level: 2
At second level, priests of Truon gain the ability
to understand the spoken words of the races of underwater peoples and creatures. The extent of this ability is
outlined in the chart below.
| Level |
Fluency |
| 2 |
Understand simple sentences and vocabulary of water-dwelling
demi-humans and humanoids. |
| 3 |
Understand complex sentences and vocabulary of water-dwelling
demi-humans and humanoids. |
| 4 |
Speak simple sentences and vocabulary to water-dwelling
demi-humans and humanoids. |
| 5 |
Understand water-dwelling monsters and animals. |
| 6 |
Speak complex sentences and vocabulary to water-dwelling
demi-humans and humanoids. Understand creatures from the elemental plane of water. |
| 7 |
Speak to water-dwelling monsters and animals. |
| 8 |
Understand water plants. Speak to creatures from the
elemental plane of water. |
| 10 |
Speak to water plants. |
At no time does this power enable the priest to understand or create written words. Furthermore, the priest does
not actually learn any languages; if a surface-dweller who happens to know an underwater tongue speaks in that
language to the priest, the priest will not understand him (unless the priest has learned that language through
other means), nor will that surface dweller understand the priest.
Identify Sea Plants & Animals
Range: 0
Duration: Unlimited
Preparation Time: 0
Area of Effect: Priest
Saving Throw: None
Frequency of Use: Unlimited
Minimum Level: 3
The Truonian can identify saltwater plants and animals
with perfect accuracy at this level.
Swim
Range: Self
Duration: Unlimited
Preparation Time: 0
Area of Effect: Priest
Saving Throw: None
Frequency of Use: Unlimited
Minimum Level: 3
As long as the priest of Truon wears his alb over
any other clothing, he can swim as if unencumbered despite any armor or equipment he might be carrying. This does
not confer water breathing ability nor protection from the effects of pressure, not does it increase the priest's
normal endurance with regard to swimming.
Water Breathing
Range: Touch
Duration: Special
Preparation Time: 4
Area of Effect: Priest or Creature Touched
Saving Throw: None
Frequency of Use: 1/day/level
Minimum Level: 4
At fourth level, the priest of Truon can create
an effect identical to the spell Water Breathing on himself and other creatures. If the spell is cast on himself,
the duration is extended to 24 hours.
Underwater Infravision
Range: Self
Duration: Special
Preparation Time: 0
Area of Effect: Priest
Saving Throw: None
Frequency of Use: Unlimited
Minimum Level: 5
At fifth level, the priest of Truon gains the ability
to see variations in temperature to a range of 60 feet, but only while underwater. If the priest already has infravision,
the range is doubled.
Mark of Truon
Range: Self
Duration: Special
Preparation Time: 3
Area of Effect: Priest
Saving Throw: None
Frequency of Use: Unlimited
Minimum Level: 6
At sixth level, air-breathing priests of Truon earn
the Mark of Truon, which manifests itself normally as long red scar-like lines on the priest's jaw, just in front
of the ear. Closer inspection reveals that the priest's eyes, regardless of their original color, have shifted
to a brilliant blue-green. Priests of Truon living in areas where their religion is prohibited frequently wear
beards to disguise these markings.
The true nature of these marks is evident when the priest is immersed in water. The jaw marks open up to form fully-functional
gills. A nictating membrane covers the eyes and a mucuos membrane is excreted onto the skin, providing protection
from salt water. Webs extend between the priest's fingers and toes. As a result of this transformation, the priest
can survive underwater indefinitely and swim at a rate of 12" (8" if wearing footwear). In addition,
the priest can survive without a pressurized capsule or suit at depths of 500 ft/level. The priest has no control
over this transformation; within thirty seconds of the time that the priest's head is immersed, the alteration
is complete. Returning to the priest's natural form requires a full minute, during which the priest can do little
other than retch the water from his lungs.
Elemental Friendship
Range: 50 yd
Duration: Permanent
Preparation Time: 0
Area of Effect: Priest
Saving Throw: None
Frequency of Use: Unlimited
Minimum Level: 7
Water elementals recognize priests of Truon of seventh
or greater experience level as friends, and will not act with hostile intent toward them, even if commanded to
do so by a wizard or priest. If the elemental was summoned by a priest of a god of elemental water (but not a god
of all elements, or druids), the elemental must roll a saving throw vs. Spells if commanded to attack the priest
of Truon. If the save succeeds, the elemental is released to the Elemental Plane of Water. If it fails, the elemental
is forced to attack the priest, although it will only do so half-heartedly, and thus only inflict half normal damage.
At tenth level, the priest of Truon can ask a water elemental to do his bidding. If the elemental is already under
the control of a wizard or priest of a non-Water god, the elemental must save vs. Spells at +2. If it succeeds,
it obeys the priest of Truon; if it fails, it is dispatched to the Elemental Plane of Water. If the priest of Truon
attempts to wrest control of a water elemental from another water priest, the same save must be made without the
+2 bonus; but if the elemental rolls a 20 or misses its save by more than 5, it must obey the original priest.
Again, any attacks made against the priest of Truon will be at half strength.
This power does not protect allies of the priest, although if the priest can gain control of the elemental, he
can of course turn the elemental's attentions elsewhere.
Shapechange
Range: Self
Duration: 1 hr/level/form
Preparation Time: 4
Area of Effect: Priest
Saving Throw: None
Frequency of Use: 3/day (special)
Minimum Level: 8
This power is similar to the druid's Shapechange
ability, but is limited to underwater animals. The priest of Truon can change into a fish/notochordate, crustacean/invertebrate,
or sea mammal/sea reptile* up to three times per day once he reaches eighth level. Each animal form can be used
only once per day. The size can vary from that of a lobster or small fish to as large as an octopus or medium-sized
shark (about 12 feet in length, no more than three times the caster's normal mass).
Like the druid ability, the priest of Truon can only assume the form of a normal (real world) animal in its normal
proportions, but by doing so he takes on all of that creature's chracteristics – its movement rate and abilities,
its Armor Class, number of attacks, and damage per attacks. The priest's maximum hit points are unchanged, but
he heals ten to sixty percent (1d6 x 10%) of all damage he has suffered (round fractions down) with each transformation.
Any clothing and armor covered by the priest's alb, as well as one item held in each hand, also become part of
the new body; these reappear when the priest resumes his normal shape. The items cannot be used while the priest
is in animal form.
*Notochordates are mostly represented by sharks and rays. Fish also include eels and lampreys. Crustaceans include
lobsters and crabs. Invertebrates range from squids and octopi to jellyfish and sea urchins to bivalves such as
clams, oysters, and mussels. Sea mammals include cetaceans (dolphins and whales), seals, sea lions, walruses and
manatees, as well as otters and their ilk. Sea reptiles are mostly represented by turtles, but include a few marine
lizards as well.
Slow Evaporation
Range: 0
Duration: Special
Preparation Time: 1 hour
Area of Effect: 10 ft/level radius
Saving Throw: None
Frequency of Use: 1/day
Minimum Level: 9
This power was granted by Truon to his faithful
priests a few years after the drying up of the Southern Sea. It allows the priest to diminish the supernatural
evaporative effects that have desiccated the Southlands. The power only affects areas consecrated to Truon. It
slows evaporation to the natural rate. Water removed from the area of effect evaporate at the normal accelerated
pace. The power must be renewed regularly to continue its effects, and the ceremony has become the center of the
Truonian daily ritual. The power lasts one hour per level of the priest, but the participation of other priests
and the lay congregation can further extend the duration. Each priest of ninth level and above adds one hour for
each experience level. Priests of eighth level and below add half their experience level in hours, to a minimum
of 1 hour each. Unordained clergy, such as monks, count as one hour each. Lay members of the congregation count
as a half hour each.
A side effect of this power is that other magic that relies on dehydration for effects or damage do not function
in the area of effect of the Slow Evaporation power. This includes such spells as Destroy Water, Insatiable Thirst,
Lower Water, Transmute Water to Dust, and Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting. Creatures suffering from the effects of
an Insatiable Thirst spell are relieved merely by entering into the zone of effect.
Watery Form
Range: Self
Duration: 1 turn/level
Preparation Time: 2
Area of Effect: Priest
Saving Throw: None
Frequency of Use: 1/day
Minimum Level: 12
At twelfth level, the priest of Truon can effectively
transform himself into elemental water. He can blend perfectly into any water-based liquid, though liquid poisons
and acid cause double normal damage and the priest is at a -4 to saving throws against these attacks. Fire damage
is increased by one point per die of damage. Cold attacks are cut in half, but if the priest fails his save, he
is slowed for 1d6 rounds. The priest is immune to attacks with normal weapons, and in fact a +2 or better weapon
is required to affect a priest in Watery Form. The priest's AC becomes 2, plus any dexterity bonuses, and his only
attack is equivalent to a Watery Fist (2nd Level Priest spell, Player's Option: Spells and Magic). Any clothing,
armor, and equipment worn on the priest's person under his alb becomes liquid with him, and is unusable for the
duration of the power. The priest can flow into any shape desired, but always looks like moving, shimmering water.
The priest can flow through the smallest cracks and keyholes, and even seep through porous soil and similar materials
at a rate of 10 feet per round. The priest's fastest means of travel on ground is to collapse into a puddle and
flow along the ground like an amoeba; this allows him to move at a rate of 15". In liquid, the priest can
flow at a rate of 24".
The priest can be damaged while in this form by separating a portion of his liquid body. This is difficult to do,
as the priest's body is a cohesive, mucousy, extremely slippery liquid, and the priest has complete control over
the majority of the mass at all times. If a portion of the priest is severed, that portion will unceasingly move
toward the major part. If it is prevented from doing so, for example by being contained within a sealed bottle
or jar, the priest will lose 1d6 hit points for each pint of material so separated, but not until he returns to
his natural (solid) form. If the priest can reach a body of natural, unpolluted water before reverting, he can
use it to heal himself fully of this sort of damage. Ten to forty percent of any damage the priest has taken is
healed each time he shifts into or out of Watery Form.
Because the priest does not depend on normal sensory organs while in Watery Form, he cannot be back-stabbed, and
gains a +2 to his roll to be surprised. The priest's range of vision remains the same (though in all directions),
but his senses of hearing and smell are increased dramatically.
Travel to Elemental Plane of Water
Range: Self
Duration: Permanent
Preparation Time: 1 turn
Area of Effect: Priest
Saving Throw: None
Frequency of Use: 1/week
Minimum Level: 15
At fifteenth level, the priest of Truon can transport
himself from any natural underwater setting to the plane of Elemental Water. Any clothing and equipment he carries
on his person is also transported.
Turning Undead:
Specialty priests of Truon can turn undead, but unless both the priest and the undead are underwater, the priest
turns as two levels lower than his actual experience level.
Ethos:
Truon was once among the greatest gods of
the Southlands, ruling the depths of the South Sea and enjoying the worship of all the peoples and creatures of
the sea, both below and above the surface. With the evaporation of the sea, his religion has lost much status and
the vast majority of his worshippers. During the destruction of the sea, all the underwater races died horrible
deaths by asphyxiation and dehydration, and the creatures and plants of the sea turned to so much rotting debris
(note: among the myths of the Truonians is that many of the underwater worshippers of Truon were transported by
him to the Elemental Plane of Water instants before their deaths). In the first decades after this cataclysmic
event, the worship of Truon was strong among the remaining island-living surface-dwellers, as the god represented
the only hope of returning the sea to its glory and the people to their accustomed lives of fishing and sailing.
With the turn of generations, though, the children had never seen the sea, and the communities lost hope of ever
seeing the water again. The inhabitants of the Dry Isles turned to agriculture to sustain themselves. As a result,
the focus of the worship of Truon became, at least for the congregation, the provision of water in an arid environment.
Even the clergy of Truon only know of the glorious days of Truon's great reign through the histories and myths
of centuries past. Many of their powers and prayers are useless outside of the depths, and since the depths no
longer exist, the priests are nearly crippled in the tending of their school.
Once upon a time, the islands and waters of the
South Sea rang with the joyous sound of Truon's name. But with the drying of the sea, fewer and fewer people continue
to sing his praises. For a long time, the force of tradition and the hope of salvation kept congregations faithful
to the sea, but dejection and the mocking of cynics turned many away. Over the centuries, many other dieties have
risen into popular favor with the people of the South Sea (now renamed the Dead Sea) area. The drylanders who decimated
the sea themselves worshipped gods of mountain and earth. Others turned to the natural god of nature. As the eons
went by, even many of these religions died of as the people sought gods who could sustain them within the dried
regions of the Southalnds. Through it all, a small group of Truonian priests survived in the islands and the coastal
areas. Of late, the worship of Vishu gained strength and the priests of Truon were exiled and even executed. Now
the religion lives on only in the outermost of the Dry Isles, secluded from the influences of the Kingdom of Kale.
Truon's demands on his worshippers have lessened
since the destruction of the sea, but he still accepts sacrifices of food and drink.
Truon is portrayed as a giant merman or triton with
long, flowing white hair. He is said to be attended on the Plane of Elemental Water by a bodyguard of powerful
Marids and a harem of Nereids.
Hierarchical Organization:
Once upon a time, the priesthood of Truon
was integrated closely with society, with a church in every community, no matter how small, and soaring underwater
cathedrals devoted to his worship. Since the evaporation of the South Sea, however, the ranks of his clergy have
been decimated. Priests of Truon now number a couple dozen, scattered through the southern and eastern Dry Isle
communities.
Because of persecution by the forces of Vishu, priests
of Truon tend to be secretive about their organization and exact numbers. Before the destruction of the ocean,
the church was wealthy, and the ranks of its clergy was swelled with the sons of nobility and upwardly mobile freeholders.
The freedom of the sea attracted many adventurous souls as well, but now the priests tend to remain cloistered
within the confines of their protected churches, and seldom venture forth from their communities. Nevertheless,
some of the families of the Dry Isles nearer Kale still have hidden chapels to Truon in secret locations. It is
difficult to say how many, but a small fraction of the population of the Dry Sea region maintain an outward worship
of Vishu, attending the state church and participating in public ceremonies, but return to their traditional worship
of Truon in cellars and hidden caverns. It is even rumored that a secret community of Truonian monks and scholars
maintain a monastery in the eastern wastes of the Dry Sea, devoted to researching a means to return the waters
to the sea – but this is scoffed as a hopeful myth by most.
Churches and chapels of Truon are either fashioned
from natural caverns by the sea bed, or out of above-ground structures of stone and cement. They are usually painted
in shades of blue and green, and the interiors are frequently decorated with elaborate, fantastic mosaics of tile
and shell depicting undersea life and scenes from Truonian parables and myths. One distinctive feature of churches
and chapels of Truon is that they always smell refreshingly clean and are comfortably cool even in midsummer. The
centerpiece of any Truonian place of worship is a pool of clear water. In wealthier churches, intricate fountains
celebrate the beauty and free motion of Truon's element. The font is used in most of the rituals of the church,
including baptism, marriage, communion, and ordination, as well as the manufacture of holy water. The Truonian
church practices adult baptism, initiating members into the congregation only when it is felt that the initiate
can make that decision of his own free will. Baptism is renewed every year on the Feast of Truon (Trenod 4th).
|
Priests of Truon
|
|
Exp. Lvl.
|
Title
|
| 1-5 |
Seaber (corrupted form of "Sea Brother") |
| 6-9 |
Oshafar (corrupted form of "Ocean Father") |
| 10-12 |
Wahrprist (corrupted form of "Water Priest") |
| 12-14 |
Seaschop (corrupted form of "Sea Bishop") |
| 15+ |
Ellerdeep (corrupted form of "Elder of the Deep") |
|
