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campaign:religion:mycre [2020/11/24 01:23] – created Jobcampaign:religion:mycre [Unknown date] (current) – removed - external edit (Unknown date) 127.0.0.1
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-====== Mycre, The Unknown One ====== 
-**Greater Deity (supreme?)**\\  
-**Home Plane:** unknown\\  
-**Symbol:** The White Book of Mazzaroth\\  
-**Portfolio:** The universe, fate, prophecy\\  
-**Worshipers:** Good mortals and celestials\\  
-**Cleric Alignments:** any (usually LG)\\  
-**Favored Weapon:** staff\\  
-**Domains (5e):** Life, Knowledge\\  
-**Domains (3.5e):** Animal, Balance, Community, Creation, Fate, Good, Healing, Knowledge, Law, Life, Meditiation, Mind, Mysticism, Plant, Protection, Renewal, Truth\ \ 
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-Mycr (My-ker), The Unknown One, The Brahman, is one of the most mysterious deities known. He has no known avatar, but exhibits great powers even over other gods. His followers (known as Mycretians) teach that he is the one true god: the world spirit that enfolds all of existence and the divine essence that is hidden in all beings, and of which all beings are a part. Everything that exists — the gods, men, animals, plants, even rocks— are simply manifestations of Mycre. His followers have a very strict moral and ethical code by which they must live. His worship is centered in the [[campaign:places:al-qadim:holy-cities|Holy Cities]] of the Desert Lands. Mycretians are pacifists and will not fight except in defense, and then only with the least force necessary. Mycretians are also excellent herbalists, renowned for their skill with and knowledge of many plants and their mystical qualities. Their skill in this regard is often as much in demand as their spirit gifts of healing.\\  
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-Mycre has no priests in the normal sense, for he is usually worshipped through one of his manifestations as another god, particularly [[campaign:religion:mitra|Mitra]]. In these cases, clerics of the other god are also considered Mycretians and may select one of Mycre’s domains in place of one that their patron diety would normally offer.  However, all ascetics seeking true spiritual enlightenment may be considered priests of Mycre, so anybody wishing to worship him directly must become an ascetic by taking the Vow of Poverty.\\  
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-==== Prehistory ==== 
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-Mycretianism and the White Book is not native to [[campaign:places:al-qadim|Al Qadim]], rather, Mycretianism is a foreign religion to the Arabian desert that came to prominence after the time of the pharaoh’s and from the Eastern Lands: the [[campaign:places:cswe|CSWE]] and [[campaign:places:gommorath|Gommorath]] [India].  The Prophet Mitra, when he walked as a mortal man was credited with bringing the religion to Al Qadim in the ancient days, specifically to the Holy Cities and the [[campaign:places:world-pillar-mountains|World Pillar Mountains]] region which even then was at the eastern most extent of the empire, straddling the border between [[campaign:places:al-qadim:kadaro|Kadaro]] [Egypt] and the Emperor’s lands [Constantinople/Byzantine].  Mitra’s avatar is said to have later appeared twice to the mortals of the region and was known as Martek in the Egyptian tongue, and Mazzaroth in the Viridian tongue [of the CSWE], although it is not entirely clear the span of years these avatars remained with mankind, or if indeed they even were two distinct comings, rather than a single historical event recanted differently by separate cultures.  What is known is that the avatar left for mankind a collection of scrolls that has become known as T[[campaign:things:white-book|he White Book of Mazzaroth]].  These were entrusted to a tribe of Bedouins that had flocked to hear the avatar’s gospel, having fled to a series of protected natural caverns now known far and wide as the Holy Cities, to escape the tyranny of the World Emperor and the [[campaign:people:npc:khamsa|Pharaoh Khamsa]].\\  
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-==== Imperial History ==== 
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-The birth of the Mycretian religion described above must also be weighed against the context of the mortal history of the times in that region: for all of living memory, the City State of the World Emperor, the Immortal City, The City of Spices, [[campaign:places:cswe:virdistan|Virdistan]], has been the seat of political power to subjugate all others, with the notable exceptions of the [[campaign:places:csio|CSIO]], and also [[campaign:places:pohjola|Pojolah]] and [[campaign:places:thelenon|Thelenon]] for portions of their history.  In all that time, only two emperors have not been wholly evil: [[campaign:people:Reddisorn|Reddisorn the Golden]], who reigned before the [[campaign:events:uttermost-war|Uttermost War]]; and [[campaign:people:npc:Cnenindus|Cnenindus the Mycretian]], who ruled during it.\\  
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-One event long ago shaped the physical and political landscape of the [[campaign:places:spindle-world|Spindle World]] perhaps more than any other, and is a common thread to all cultural histories and that is the Uttermost War.  Little is known of the peoples or empires before this period as it was a time of inconceivable destruction.  What knowledge has weathered the upheaval suggests that the earlier age was one of enlightenment and learning, and that the current peoples of the Spindle live in a relative state of barbarism.  The war itself is said to have lasted more than a century, although regional accounts vary.  All cultures, however, underwent drastic political and religions transformations as a result, and many more were annihilated altogether.  Some of these well known events that are collectively known as the Uttermost War include the [[campaign:events:sword-wars|Sword Wars]], where [[campaign:people:npc:myrlani|Myrlani]] and [[campaign:religion:powatoc|Kas]] [Powatoc] clashed; all three Giant Wars of the Norsemen: [[campaign:events:quaking-mountains|The Quaking Mountains]], [[campaign:events:rainstorm-of-red-giants|The Rainstorm of Red Giants]], the [[campaign:events:war-of-the-wind-giants|War of Wind Giants]]; and the total incineration of the Holy Cities.\\  
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-This last event, ironically, is generally believed by Mycretians to have been the wrath of Myce himself.  The work Mycre in Viridian means ‘unknown,’ or as it has been adapted through common usage, ‘the unknown one.’ In all of known history, like Mitra, Mycre has only manifested to mortals thrice and each time as an elemental force of incomprehensible power.  The Mycretian high clergy, however: the prophets, apostles, savants and protectors, have always claimed to speak directly to Mycre or receive him as a booming voice from the heavens.\\  
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-In the waning years of the Uttermost War, Cneninadus reign in the CSWE approached the former Golden Age of Reddisorn in its encouragement of the arts, education and civil rights, but obviously had not the peace of the former age.  It was unheard of for any Viridian to become a follower of the god Mycre: indeed, most had been [[campaign:religion:natch-ur|Natchai]], who weren’t followers of [[campaign:religion:armadad-bog|Aramadad Bog]], the progenitor of the Viridian race.  But Cneninadus did make pilgrimage to the Holy Cities as a prince and convert to Mycretianism.  His Mycretian distaste for human sacrifice and bloodthirsty greed exacerbated an enmity between Cneninadus and the eleven other Viridians of the senate, thus his reign was marked by bloodshed and attempted assassinations.  He was finally murdered by [[campaign:people:npc:Hautulin-Seheitt|Hautulin Seheitt]], The Green Emporer, a Mer Shunna [Viridian] archmage of Armadad Bog, who, along with and eight demons and the majority of the Imperial army sacked the Holy Cities and assassinated the reigning emperor on pilgrimage therein, intent upon seizing their holy book and eradicating the leadership of their cult.  His success was complete and utter, at least that is, until Mycre’s avatar incinerated every living soul within the Holy Cities, including the Viridian army, save for Hautulin himself.  It is unknown how Hautulin survived the conflagration of the supreme being, but that he centuries later ascended to divinity himself suggests a likely explanation. It is said of the third coming of Mycre that the only things to survive the uttermost destruction, other than Hautulin, and the rock and stone, were the pages of the White Book of Mazzaroth.  Legend tells that the bindings were burned away and that the pages were swept up to the heavens in a column of fire that rained ash and scattered pages as far away as Thelenon to the north, and Gomorrath to the east for a hundred days after.\\  
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-Centuries after the Uttermost War and the incineration of the Holy Cities, and after the divine ascension of the Green Emperor, [[campaign:people:npc:Queen-Muriel-Eidn|Queen Muriel Eidn]] reigned for a handful of years in the CSWE, and was known by the .  She was sympathetic to the Mycretian cause, although not a devout herself, and lifted the centuries-old ban on open practice of Mycretianism on the CSWE.  She had mothered two children, though born only one: the prince, known only by his mage-name, [[campaign:people:npc:whitefire|Whitefire]], and the princess, [[campaign:people:npc:elina|Elina the Fair]]; both were later revealed to be [[campaign:organizations:black-adders|Black Adders]] as well, leaders of the shadow-arm of the Viridian aristocracy, their spy network and assassination teams.  Both were bastard children: Whitfire, a Natchai [Kali worshiper], by Hautulin and a demon; and Elina by Muriel and [[campaign:people:npc:greenfast|Greenfast]], an archmage of Thracia [greece].  However, Elina of the two was the elder.\\  
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-Whitefire, as part of a Viridian coup, slew Queen Muriel Eden and claimed the emperor’s throne, preventing the rightful succession of power due his sister.  Elina, although still a Black Adder in the service of Virdistan, is later known to have trodden an enigmatic path indeed.  She has threatened the life of [[campaign:people:npc:grand-oak|Grand Oak]] [former high Mycretian Prophet], which was prevented by [[campaign:people:npc:Tanngrisner|Tanngrisner]]; later read the Book of the Convert [White Book, chapter 1] in the Holy Cities; and raised a Gommoran army to defend it.  Subsequently, she petitioned against Grogan before the [[campaign:people:npc:grand-caliph|Grand Caliph]] of Al Qadim, saying instead that he should acquiesce to the Emperor’s demands and send his armies to Pojolah to fight Powatoc and thereby end the war of the Master of the Desert Nomads; whereas Grogan petitioned that the Caliph forestall his surrender and that the be given leave to destroy the Master’s [[[campaign:people:npc:pnessut|Pnessut]]’s] power in the Dark Tower.  It is also known to Grogan and Jebbin that Elina secretly plots a coup of her own against her brother, and that prior to their coming to Mitra’s Fist, she greatly wished that the Grand Caliph and the would lend their aid to her cause.  It has since become known that she, at the proclamation by the Emperor of a reenactment of the Mycretian massacre campaigns of his father, has begun martyring the devout in the Holy Cities she had secretly sworn to protect, while the crawls the dungeons of the [[campaign:adventures:dark-tower|Dark Tower]]…\\  
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-==== The White Book ==== 
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-Physically, the [[campaign:things:white-book|White Book]] no longer truly remains, but is instead a collection of scattered pages.  Rare copies of the original possessed by the high-clergy of  Mycre contain nine chapters, averaging ten pages each, with appendixes of varying length.  Of the original work, the only known chapters to be reassembled by Mycretians have been found by Grogan and Jebbin, and most recently, Shish’ka, although his find of the [[campaign:things:Book-of-the-Canon|Book of the Canon]] [Chapter 3] is not yet a complete work.  Grogan and Jebbin have recovered Chapter 1: [[campaign:things:book-of-the-convert|The Book of the Convert]], Chapter 2: [[campaign:things:Book-of-the-Catechumen|The Book of the Catechumen]], and two appendices.\\  
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-Because of the divine dispersal of the pages, and the centuries that have passed hence, Grogan suspects that additional pages or chapters could and probably are today  located throughout the Spindle World, although their highest concentration, judging by the success of his own searches, seems to remain within a few hundred miles of the Holy Cities.  Due to their profound religious significance, and awesome divine power, they are greatly sought after by both the pious and the wicked: one to learn the word of god from the gospel of Mitra, the other to prevent the same.\\  
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-To safeguard the pages that have been recovered, Grogan has secreted them away in Amun Re’s theft-proof tomb where they are guarded by Murkangoth, the legendary bronze dragon.  Only three mortals has Grogan ever allowed to read the recovered chapters: Elina, Aristotle, and Himself.\\  
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-==== Game Mechanics (5e) ==== 
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-Each of the chapters of the White Book is treated as a relic in magical terms, and the artifact they combine to form is undoubtedly the most potent in the campaign, save perhaps the [[campaign:things:sword-of-hope|Sword of Hope]] and the [[campaign:things:sword-of-the-sightless-eye|Sword of the Sightless Eye]].  What is known by Grogan, Ka-Bob, Fa-Hed, Soris, Anandamaya and a growing throng of mycretians who have read it since the fall of the Dark Tower is that reading each chapter of the White Book bestows profound revelations upon the reader. They know that the words are true and spoken from the mouth of god.  They are confronted with an existential catharsis to accept and devote themselves to these truths, or live out their days in knowing defiance. In the recorded annals of the Spindle there are no tales of the latter.\\  
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-Whatever the characters’s former Ideal, it is replaced with “Sacred Vow – I have read the white book and devoted my life to serve the highest ideals of Mycre.” Inspiration is awarded for role-playing a character’s ideal as normal. Although the DM’s discretion determines when Inspiration is awarded, these specific actions generally qualify:\\  
-* Seeking a non-violent resolution to a hostile situation\\  
-* Making a personal sacrifice to help the sick, poor, and hungry\\  
-* Demonstrating humility when deserving of a reward or exaltation\\  
-* Not coveting wealth, possessions, or people\\  
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-An additional Cleric level is bestowed upon the reader and their deity becomes Mycre.  Additionally, if the reader is already a follower of another prophet of Mycre such as Mitra, they continue to pay homage to that patron as an aspect of Mycre and add that god’s domain(s) to those the character may select from in addition to Mycre’s.  Note that this revelation does not effect the character’s experience progression, meaning that if he were 7th level with 50% of the experience needed to reach 8th level when he read the book, he would become an 8th level character who is 50% of the way to 9th level. This game mechanic is put in place to prevent characters whose ideals would otherwise lead them to read the book from purposely postponing until they’ve reached the next level to avoid losing experience progression toward their next level.  \\  
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-The two appendices [psalms] that have been recovered operate like reusable scrolls: one teaches the previously unknown prayer See Spirit [Clr/1st], and the other Banishment [Clr/4th].  After reading these appendices, a Mycretian is able to cast either of these spells once before having to rest and re-read the psalms to channel their power again.  This effect does not require that the caster is otherwise able to cast divine spells, nor that he meet any ability requirements.\\  
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-There is no known limit to the number of Mycretians who may benefit from the reading of a single chapter or appendix of The White Book of Mazzaroth… 
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-\\  
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-== Links to this page: == 
-{{backlinks>.}}