Changeling: The Celtic Cycle - The Branch of Arawn
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GnomeMadeIonChangeling: The Celtic Cycle - The Branch of Arawn
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GnomeMadeIonhttp://web.archive.org/web/20011121113104/http://www.nocturnis.net/art...
The Branch of Arawn
Ex Libris Nocturnis - http://www.nocturnis.net By: Spartan (email: [email protected]) Summary: A Changeling: The Celtic Cycle/Wraith: The Oblivion crossover plug-in. A new branch of magic for Changeling the Celtic Cycle (CtCC), with crossover potential for Wraith the Oblivion (WtO). This is no way infringes the rights etc held by the writers of that work, and is the authors own addition to that peculiarly wonderful slant on the position of the fae in the World of Darkness. As everybody knows, the original CtCC already has a Branch of Arawn, which is head magic (in the sense of reanimating severed heads as guardians). The author suggests that this be renamed the Branch of Bran, after the mythic figure from the Mabinogion whose head was buried under the White Tower (the Tower of London) and guards Britain from her enemies (a plot hook from mythology if ever I read one). I have presented this in the same format as the branches in CtCC. The Branch of Arawn - Death and the shadowlands Holidays - Samhain Affecting Legacies - Loremaster, winter, Unseelie Kith - Sluagh Tree - Yew and Birch Other Sympathies - Bronze shoes, the colours black or white, mirrors, ashes, places of the dead (graveyards, burial mounds etc), items important to the dead (relics, grave goods etc) In times past, in the ages before the Shattering, Arawn, Lord of the Dead, is said to have taught these skills to the fae who would become known as the sluagh. They allow the sluagh the Kithain historically closest to the spirits of the Restless Dead to contact and otherwise deal with those remains of mortal souls. It has been suggested by some fae scholars that at some time in the past, the sluagh must have dealt with the Hosts of Blood (the vampires), as certain of those creatures manifest abilities remarkably close to those of the Cult of Arawn. To work, most of these feats require that the practitioner know the true name of the spirit called. However, there are other points that must be addressed. First, remember that few fae ever appear in the Shadowlands of the Dead - most fae seem to remember past lives, and their common belief is in reincarnation. Additionally, remember that not even all those non-fae who die will become wraiths, and that of those who do, many become the monstrous creatures known as Spectres. Finally, remember that the Shadowlands are at this time in a state of both physical and metaphysical turmoil and thus the branch of Arawn can be particularly hazardous. Rank 1 - Guard the Doors This allows the practitioner to ward a particular location against entry by the spirits of the dead. Few sluagh would wish to do so, but some of the more squeamish among the Kithain wish to be able to ban entry to the Dead. Rank 2 - Speak with the Ancestors By use of this feat, the practitioner may see and speak with the spirits of the dead for a time. By calling upon the true name of one of the Dead, that spirit may be summoned to appear in a suitably prepared nearby mirror, and its voice seems to come from that place also. Remember that the sluagh have a natural mediumship - Perception + Alertness roll at difficulty 7 to see into the Shadowlands; with the expenditure of a point of wyrd, the sluagh can converse freely with whatever wraiths are in her vicinity Rank 3 - Bind the Dead (an fhaire chlaidh)
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This allows the practitioner to put a geas over the spirit of a dead person, binding them to a particular location or making them perform a specific task such as guardianship. an fhaire chlaidh was the Scots Gaelic name for the watchkeeper - in legends, the last person to be buried in a churchyard would keep watch over the churchyard and those resting there until another was buried. Although this feat binds wraiths against their will, often they are better watchkeepers if personal honour or friendship and free will are used rather than force (W:tO system - the site/place/task becomes an artificial fetter or passion to the wraith for the duration of the geas). Rank 4 - Call the Peaceful Host (the sluagh sith) A specific dead spirit may be brought into the Dying Lands for a time. In elder times, the sluagh would bring a whole host of these dead spirits across to join them, and in many mortal legends the sluagh have became synonymous with the Restless Dead themselves. Rank 5 - Walk the Roads of the Dead This allows the practitioner to physically pass into the Shadowlands for a time (it ought to be remembered that the Shadowlands are not the most hospitable of Otherworlds at the present time). The practitioner seems different to the residents of the Shadowlands, though few would be able to Rank 5 - Sin-Eating Originally a ritual scapegoat, the sin-eater's duty was to ritually take on the sins of a dead person by eating food placed upon the corpse's chest. The dead person was free to pass on, and the sin-eater's burden would be passed on and on and on through time. This feat makes a spirit more amenable, and in some sense renews it. Sin-eating is a part of the fae funerary rites - although fae seem to reincarnate rather than appearing in the Shadowlands of the dead. (W:tO system - this feat has a similar effect to the arcanos called Castigation, and reduces the individual wraiths temporary angst, strengthening the psyche and weakening the shadow) Rank 5 - The Cauldron of Rebirth This feat is legendary even to changelings. The Irish in elder times used this feat together with a specific magical artifact now lost to place spirits of the dead into fresh corpses, raising them as warriors to fight their battles. These reborn warriors could not speak, but could die - and were raised again and again to fight the next day. Rumour has it that this feat was used during the final days of the Wars of Ivy (the British equivalent of the Accordance War); although no Kithain has ever met one who witnessed this terrible event, all claim to know a friend of a friend who met someone who did
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