.\" vim: filetype=groff nu relativenumber .1C .H1 The Anointed of Abyssal Slaughter .sp 0.2cm .PP .ft NI Thence came the dread pirate .I Stinkebarter , who had been making the shipping lanes in this part of the world unsafe for close to a century. Like ravenous beasts these monsters threw themselves at their victims. They stank of the sea, their skins were full of scales, and their beards were mottled with seaweed and barnacles. They stared lifelessly from big bulging fish eyes as they cut down anyone in their path and threw their bodies to the sharks. That was the way of the pirates that had laired in those islands for generations. Some said they were the cursed of the sea. .ft .ad r \[em] from the anonymous (and justifiably forgotten) novel Scourge of the Sea Beasts .sp -.4cm .ad b .2C .PP In the depths there are things sleeping for untold aeons. Occasionally one of them reaches up from the darkest reaches and touches the existence of the light dwellers. They call it the curse of the Sea God, the Bane of the Depths, or the Aquatic Disease. Most air-breathing sailors are unaware the aquatic races are afflicted with it as well. It is rare, but on the surface it affects mostly fishermen and pirates, seldom others. It causes them to change. The first sign is lethargy except when in water. They start growing gills, their skin hardens, and their fingers elongate. And with times they start looking more and more... fishy. Soon they only can be roused by aggression, often fighting in wild frenzies, biting and gurgling inhuman chants. As of today nobody knows how to cure this condition. No cleric has succeeded in removing this curse, no physician seems competent to cure this malady. Some people will live with it until the end of their unnaturally long life, but many will perish before, or just go into the water, never to reappear. .PP There is a reason for this condition and for it's incurability: that is, it's not a disease, and it's not a curse. It is a blessing. Even more, it’s victim are anointed into a holy office. A blessing though by an eldritch aquatic deity that no human knows, and which even the aquatic people might only whisper about in half-forgotten stories. The god of abyssal slaughter (the actual name is forgotten and was unpronounceable anyway) was first venerated by a now-forgotten race of Coelacanthi-men, and it was a god of blood, murder, and combat. None of their old temples remain even under the sea, but in some of the places they once stood, at the right time, with the right sacrifices (we are of course talking about blood and gore), the deity will bestow their greatest gift on those that bring them: the gift of their form. No-one is aware of this fact, as it is mostly pirates and raiders that just happen to massacre enough victims in exactly the right spot that are bestowed this honor, with the occasional whaler or fisherman caught in between. Most of them see it as a curse by the gods of the sea. And of course they are only half-wrong. .PP .B Mechanically: if intelligent beings are killed and given to the sea in one of the holy places of the Coelacanth god, they are counted as sacrifices. The ways of the god are unknownable, but in general about 1000 unintelligent beings, 100 intelligent ones, or 10 Anointed of the Coelacanth god will be enough to grant the Blessing of Form. It does not matter if they are killed in the water or outside, as long as their fresh blood and meat ends as a feast for the ocean dwellers. .H2 The Anointed NPC class .PP Those anointed and given the blessing take the Anointed class instead of their original class. They keep their hit dice, saving throws, and attack bonus, and all other class features, until the Anointed class gives them a better value. .PP XP for Anointed can only be gained for killing and/or technically also for performing quests. Quests will come by the blubbering of the god in the character’s dreams and consist mostly of acts of carnage. (like a Quest spell). .PP The status can not be cured by Cure Disease spells or Remove curse spells (as it is neither), but performing actions that are anathema to the Coelocanth god might revoke the Anointed status. The mind of the deep god is difficult to measure though, so nobody is quite sure what is anathema or not. Selling your soul to a demon or other being is a surefire way though, so there's that. The blessing of form also grants the character an unnaturally long life-span, however useful that is. Most afflicted disappear after a few years, some hold on for a few hundred years, but ultimately most disappear into the waves. (mechanically their lifespan increases to .I "natural lifespan" \[mu] .I "level of Anointed" ). .LP \X'pdf: pdfpic img/EvilWhale.pdf -C 4.3c 0 6.3c .1C .TS center; llllcissss licicilililililili lrccccccc. Saving Throws Level XP HD THAC0 D W P B S 1 0 1d6 19 [0] 11 12 14 16 15 2 2,000 2d6 19 [0] 11 12 14 16 15 3 4,000 3d6 19 [0] 11 12 14 16 15 4 8,000 4d6 19 [0] 11 12 14 16 15 5 16,000 5d6 17 [+2] 9 10 12 14 12 6 30,000 6d6 17 [+2] 9 10 12 14 12 7 60,000 7d6 17 [+2] 9 10 12 14 12 8 120,000 8d6 17 [+2] 9 10 12 14 12 .TE .LP Every level roll 1 ability of Coelacanth form, also following changes .IP "Level 1:" ability to breathe underwater .IP "Level 3:" cannot enter dry land anymore (100 paces past the shore) .IP "Level 4:" needs to spend half of time breathing water .IP "Level 8:" cannot breathe air anymore, unavoidable urge to travel to Coelacanth god .2C .PP Every level past the first a character has to make a saving roll against Spells or be drawn to the next holy site of the Coelacanth god. If not yet they will become an NPC and spend the rest of their time in the vicinity "guarding" the non-existent site. Most of the rare Anointed are just living there as hermits, only going out for hunting, some of the larger sites have small villages or the equivalent to monasteries of these blood-thirsty hermits, others might be more enterprising \[em] raiding the surrounding settlements and trade routes as pirates. .PP At level 8 they are drawn to the depths where the Coelacanth god dwells. This is an ancient, near-ruined city of the elder adherents of the god, and there they are matched against other Anointed ones until they either die a sacrifice, or gain the right to challenge the god himself. What happens if they kill the god is not quite clear. It might be this already has happened. .sp 0 \X'pdf: pdfpic img/Junk.pdf -C 6.3c 0 6.3c .ad l .KS .H2 Traits of Form (1d8) .IP 1. 3 Silvery Scales AC +1 .IP 2. 3 Bulbous Eyes Cha -1, darksight if underwater .IP 3. 3 Pointy Teeth Bite 1d6 damage .IP 4. 3 Extra Fins - Double Swim Speed (when undressed) .IP 5. 3 Webbed hands Swimming speed like land movement .IP 6. 3 Unhinged Jaw .IP 7. 3 Aquatic Predator Smell Cha -1 (except for cats) .IP 8. 3 Hollow Spine: +1 attack if in water .KE .KS .H2 Quests of the Abyssal Slaughter God (1d10) .IP 1. 3 Destroy shrine of other religion .IP 2. 3 Destroy heretics of the Slaughter God .IP 3. 3 Slaughter criminals .IP 4. 3 Slaughter innocents .IP 5. 3 Feast on raw meat .IP 6. 3 Slaughter land dwellers .IP 7. 3 Slaughter sea dwellers .IP 8. 3 Slaughter air dwellers .IP 9. 3 Challenge other Anointed .IP 10. 5 Challenge higher level Anointed .KE .ad b .LP .ne 999 \X'pdf: pdfpic img/FuneralShip.pdf -C 6.3c 0 6.3c .sp 10c .PP Note: I recently have come to reevaluate NPC classes as a useful concept. My main idea is to see them as the equivalent for specific monsters, but in social settings. The idea of the Anointed is similar to the presentation of Werewolf and Vampire classes in various places (e.g. Imagine magazine #28), but in this case trying to emulate the picture of damned sailors cursed to sail the seas, crossed with some good old Lovecraftian transformation into fish people. .Au Kyonshi