Tag: testaments

The Curator, a God of the Crossing

A testament for Errant.

You have made a Covenant with the Curator, Magpie God, Memory-of-Things, Museum of Eternity and Edge; god eminent of the preservation of history, display of objects, recording of meaning, and reminiscence of creatures. The Curator is represented by an owl holding a pair of scales. Zealots in covenant with Curator are the only ones who know his true name, which is Thirst. They are rumoured to be able to identify the veracity of any artefact without error. They delve into the depths often to find objects for their collection, hoping to bring glory to the Curator and to be admitted to see the collection of all he contains.

Blessings

The blessings of the Curator grant you special abilities, which you can perform at will.

Remember this. From out of nowhere, create a souvenir or keepsake worth a few shillings of anything in your collection.

Amber and arsenic. When time is able to be spent with a creature or object in submission to you, you may spend 1 favour per threat, +1 bonus, or rarity, to perform divine taxidermy or to preserve it in a time-resistant coating of divine amber.

Doctrines

Your covenant with the Curator grants you the power to perform miracles, supernatural acts related to the eminences of your covenant.

The First Doctrine. Miracles in the manner of calming of flora and fauna, identification of ancient objects, and comprehension of languages.

The Second Doctrine. Miracles in the manner of the unerring seeking of objects, protection of objects, the evocation and displacement of wards, compulsion of fauna and some sentient creatures, and invoking minor aspects of the Curator.

The Third Doctrine. Miracles in the manner of calming vicious or suspecting creatures, true sight, true knowledge of the history of an object, and the bestowal of a major aspect of the Curator.

The Fourth Doctrine. Miracles in the manner of calming into submission supernatural creatures, binding and caging of epic creatures, manipulation of time and the preservation and theft of moments into physical form.

The Fifth Doctrine. miracles in the manner of calming into submission supernaturally indomitable wills, preserving in amber an object of supermassive size, time travel.

Gaining Favour

For 1 favour, accept a donation to your collection; visit a great or long-since-abandoned collection; bring into your collection a living thing rarely seen.

For 5 favour, be present to preserve a moment of historical importance, found a museum in a major city, or reveal a history that was never before known, bring into your collection the last specimen of a type of living thing.

For 15 favour, preserve an entire kingdom for collection, or collect a lesser god for donation to the Curator.

For eternal favour, preserve the entire world in amber, or place a god of great things in stasis for donation.

The Curator’s Table of Woe

  1. Target experiences the pain of a single life, inflicting 1d4 damage.
  2. Target begins weeping uncontrollably.
  3. Target is placed in stasis for 2d8 hours. While in stasis they cannot be injured, but they cannot take action.
  4. Whenever the target closes their eyes, another pair of the eyes are there. This second pair can read any language with no living speakers.
  5. For the next day, the target sees the future death of everyone they see. This experience is so overwhelming they cannot speak to anyone unless they are alone together.
  6. Target becomes unable to tell lies but can also sense when others are lying.
  7. Target experiences the battle that took place here from the perspectives of every warrior in an instant. Take d6 damage.
  8. Target’s eyes become large and owl-like, and able to see in the dark as day. Daylight becomes uncomfortable, and their gaze is unnerving.
  9. Target experiences the lifetimes of everyone within a kilometer in an instant. Age d6 years.
  10. Target must record a recollection every day for d20 days, or lose 1d4 presence.
  11. Target is deafened for the next hour but becomes able to hear the voices of the dead.
  12. Target is unable to sleep until the collect d20 objects for donation to a collection.
  13. Target is struck with the weight of history, and ages decades in minutes. Target must make a physique saving throw or have their physique halved permanently.
  14. Target becomes a living taxidermy, their blood no longer flowing, their flesh brittle and their organs incapable of activity.
  15. The flesh sloughs off one finger, forming a key. It has a 1-in-6 chance of opening any lock.
  16. Target’s left eye sees 10 seconds into the future, and target’s right eye sees 10 seconds into the past.
  17. All within 30 feet of the target must make a presence saving throw or be assaulted with the last 100 years of history of the area, permanently losing 1d4 points of presence.
  18. Target begins to sprout feathers and cough croaks. Each day after the beneficence, target must make a physique saving throw. If the target successfully makes three saving throws in a row, the effect ends. If they fail three times in a row, they are turned into a magpie.
  19. The next time the target does something of historical significance they must make a presence saving throw. If they fail, they are preserved in amber, killing them instantly.
  20. Target’s flesh begins to mummify. They must make a presence saving throw. If they fail, their body stiffens in taxidermy, killing them instantly.

“The collector’s exquisite pleasure, is that her desire should know no bounds, and though she reaches out into the infinite always seeking, she shall be never complete.”

From the Book of Curation

This was my second Animal Crossing themed Errant testament. I tried implementing my previous observations, which made this one easier, but as with Mister Nook, it’s the Table of Woes that is most challenging and time consuming. I still think the subject matter is making choosing eminences difficult. What do you think, should I continue with my Animal Crossing theme or move on to more original gods?

17th January 2023

Idle Cartulary

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Mister Nook, a God of the Crossing

A testament for Errant.

You have made a Covenant with Mister Nook the Bold, Tanooki King, Thief of the Stars, with a Tongue that Spoke Silver into Being. Mister Nook is represented by an inverted leaf; a silver leaf on a field of green is preferred. It is said that zealots in covenant with Mister Nook hear coins tinkling from far away, and spontaneously laugh when a merchant near by plays an out-of-towner for a fool. Often, they are not welcome long in a settlement.

Blessings

The blessings of Mister Nook grant you special abilities, which you can perform at will.

They with the silver tongue. You may exchange 1 favour as many times as you wish to increase the sale price of an item you are offering by 20%. The buyer must accept it; they may have to go into debt to you to do this.

Just what you wanted. You may exchange 1 favour to reduce the rarity of an item by one from what it would usually be in the settlement you are in, as many times as you wish. You may be exposed to legally grey markets in doing so.

Doctrines

Your covenant with Mister Nook grants you the power to perform miracles, supernatural acts related to the eminences of your covenant.

The First Doctrine. Miracles in the manner of a purse of shillings appearing when it is needed, clouding the mind of another for a moment to gain an edge, making a promise that seems honest even if it obviously is not.

The Second Doctrine. Miracles in the manner of a purse of guilders appearing where it is needed, and the rejuvenation or improvement of a product, the evocation of trust, and invoking minor aspects of Mister Nook.

The Third Doctrine. Miracles in the manner of the creation of a shopfront of your choosing, insight into another’s deepest needs and desires, and the bestowal of a major aspect of Mister Nook.

The Fourth Doctrine. Miracles in the manner of permanent creation of great riches, the granting of land and title, compulsion of another against their will, turning things to gold with a touch.

The Fifth Doctrine. Miracle in the manner of the creation of cities and islands, apocalyptic hail of gold and rivers running with noble wine and saffron.

Gaining Favour

For 1 favour, convince someone to make a minor offering to Mister Nook; make a minor sale to a stranger; trick someone.

For 5 favour, put someone into debt in exchange for their life, open a shop or sale-wagon, or perform a great deception to selfish benefit

For 15 favour, change the economies of kingdoms, or trick a god.

For eternal favour, bring Mister Nook into this world to and provide him with. The opportunity to perform the greatest trick ever pulled.

Mister Nook’s Woes

  1. Pennies grow on the target’s skin like warts, inflicting 1d4 damage.
  2. Target vomits pennies whenever they open their mouth.
  3. At the point of effect, the target’s flesh begins to turn to copper. The target’s limbs are slow and hard to move for 2d8 hours. When the entire target is copper, the effect resolves and they are purified of all ailments, and may make an appeal to Mister Nook.
  4. A small tanooki head appears beside your regular head. This head knows exactly how much money anyone they see has access to, and can whisper it to you.
  5. For the next day, every bargain, sale or purchase costs twice as much.
  6. Target becomes unable to tell lies but can also sense when others are lying.
  7. Shillings push their way out of the target’s skin like splinters, inflicting 1d6 damage.
  8. Every month, the target’s eyes are afflicted with a blindness to items worth any amount of gold until they sleep with gold coins upon their eyes.
  9. Target ages d6 years.
  10. On a random limb, target’s skin turns to silver, but continues to function normally.
  11. Target can hear nothing but the sound of coins for the next hour, however can accurately predict the number of coins they hear.
  12. Target is transformed into talking tanooki until such time as they sell d20 items.
  13. Half of the flesh on the targets body turns to gold. Target must make a physique saving throw or have their physique halved permanently.
  14. Target’s bones turn to gold.
  15. Target grows a tanooki tail. Whenever anyone grabs it, the target must dance wholeheartedly for 1 minute.
  16. Target can hear the thoughts of anyone standing on their left-hand side through their left ear.
  17. All within 30 feet of the target must make a presence saving throw or be assaulted with the weight of all the world’s greed, permanently losing 1d4 presence.
  18. Target begins to grow soft hair in patches over their body, and large ears and a tail. Each day after the beneficence, target must make a physique saving throw. If the target successfully makes three saving throws in a row, the effect ends. If they fail three times in a row, they are turned into a human-sized tanooki.
  19. The next time the target gives a gift freely, they must make a presence saving throw. If they fail, they become a magnet for all coin nearby, instantly being crushed under the weight of the world’s wealth.
  20. Target feels something writing under their flesh. They must make a presence saving throw. If they fail, their body is instantly turned to gold, killing them instantly.

“Being a wolf in sheep’s clothing is preferable to simply being a wolf. Having a fleece of gold is more preferable still…”

From the Testament of Mr Nook

I was complaining about how challenging writing testaments was for me (Ava says there are lots of currently inaccessible testaments but for now we need to create our own). Chris encouraged me with his work on his own Errant campaign, and Marcia B and Sandro were talking about running an Animal Crossing campaign, and these two things merged in my head strangely to inspire this.

Thoughts on writing testaments: If you’re writing a woe table variation having at least three discrete and unrelated eminences to your god will make creating variation much easier. Next time I’ll write eternal favour and fifth doctrines immediately after eminences as they affect an agenda, which helps drive decision making elsewhere.

This was a lot of fun. I may make more, if I have time.

15th January 2023

Idle Cartulary