6. Flaws for Sea Trade
Now it's time for some flaws.
Taboo Transgression (Cursed) (Minor or Major Supernatural Flaw)
Due to a severe violation of a local Swahili taboo—whether an insult to a spirit, breaking a ritual, or desecrating a sacred site—you are cursed by a powerful jinn, spirit, or ancestor. This curse brings ongoing minor misfortunes and significant seasonal disruptions, impacting both your social standing and success in practical matters. It will persist until you take sufficient steps to lift it.
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Minor Version:
- Constant Effect: Frequent minor misfortunes, such as spoiling supplies, tools breaking, animals acting strangely, or people instinctively feeling uneasy around you.
- Seasonal Effect: Once per season, a significant setback at a critical moment, such as a trade falling through, travel disrupted, or allies refusing aid.
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Major Version:
- Constant Effect: Intense minor misfortunes like broken objects, lost supplies, minor injuries, and locals avoiding or refusing service due to a sense of foreboding.
- Seasonal Effect: Once per season, a major disruption or misfortune with severe consequences, such as financial ruin, hostile spirits, or a dangerous encounter.
Lifting the Curse
1. Identifying the Source: A Level 15 Intellego Vim spell reveals the curse’s origin, the spirit involved, and its requirements for appeasement.
2. Monthly Reparations: Small, respectful acts of atonement—offerings, symbolic gifts, or rituals performed each month. Failure to complete these increases the frequency or intensity of minor misfortunes.
3. Seasonal Ritual of Appeasement: Each season, a larger ritual, such as a festival or shrine restoration, costs 1 pawn of Vis. A successful Theology (Swahili Animism) or Area Lore roll against Ease Factor 9 reduces the severity of the seasonal effect.
4. Final Lifting through a Guided Pilgrimage or Quest: A challenging journey to appease the spirit, such as a pilgrimage to a sacred site, quest, recreating a story associated with the spirit or restoring an artifact.
- At the quest’s end, the cursed character makes a Presence + Theology (Swahili Animism), Area Lore, or Folk Ken roll against Ease Factor 15. Success lifts the curse permanently; failure requires further atonement. A guide with Area Lore or Theology knowledge may offer assistance, providing narrative support or, at the Storyguide’s discretion, a small circumstantial bonus to the final roll.
5. Magical Suppression (Temporary Option): A Level 25 Rego Vim or Perdo Vim spell can suppress the curse for one season, requiring 2 pawns of Vis.
Ritual Impurity (Minor Flaw)
You cannot take this flaw at character creation; it must be acquired during gameplay through significant transgressions against religious norms.
As a foreigner in India, you have violated religious customs, either knowingly or unknowingly, resulting in ritual impurity. High-caste individuals and devout members of society view you as unclean, avoiding contact with you and barring you from sacred spaces or rituals. This impairs your ability to engage socially and limits your access to religious or caste-based privileges.
- Examples of How Impurity Is Gained:
- Entering a temple or holy site without observing proper purification rites.
- Handling sacred objects, such as temple offerings or altars, without understanding their significance.
- Consuming forbidden foods, such as beef, near a Hindu temple or in front of high-caste individuals.
- Failing to remove footwear in a sacred area or performing actions considered ritually unclean, like eating meat near a place of worship.
Rules for Cleansing Ritual Impurity
To cleanse yourself of ritual impurity, you must undertake one of the following acts, rooted in traditional Mythic Hindu practices:
- Sacred Bathing
Perform a purification ritual in a consecrated water source, like the Ganges or a temple tank, under the supervision of a Brahmin. This requires fasting for 24 hours and offering items like flowers, milk, or a small amount of clarified butter (ghee), worth a total of 3 Mythic Pounds of silver. The ritual must be done on an auspicious day chosen by the priest.
- Cost: 3 Mythic Pounds of silver for offerings.
- Temple Offering
Make a substantial donation to a local temple, equivalent to 5 Mythic Pounds of silver, in the form of currency, a gold ornament, or a modest amount of clarified butter used for temple rituals. The priests will accept the offering and perform purification prayers on your behalf.
- Cost: 5 Mythic Pounds of silver or an equivalent offering.
- Fasting and Prayer
Undertake a strict three-day fast, consuming only water, while performing ritual prayers at dawn and dusk. This must be done under the guidance of a Brahmin, who will lead you in reciting specific mantras. You must also make a donation of 2 Mythic Pounds of silver to cover ritual costs and the priest’s services.
- Cost: 2 Mythic Pounds of silver for materials and priestly guidance.
- Community Service
Complete a significant act of penance, like sponsoring a communal meal for the poor, funding the repair of a temple facility, or providing resources for a local project. This act must be witnessed and approved by a religious authority and cost at least 4 Mythic Pounds of silver.
- Cost: 4 Mythic Pounds of silver or equivalent resources.