A Maguzanci priestess is a shaman of the Hausa, a kingdom situated between the Niger River and Lake Chad. The priestess are organized into a religious cult and they collectively name themselves Maguzawa. The shamans are almost exclusively females, the few male practitioners usually aid the shamans in the various rituals but they can't perform a ritual themselves.
A Maguzanci priestess character is created similarly to a Folk Witch, they usually have an apprenticeship under an older shaman that teaches the various Supernatural Virtues and the rituals of the Maguzanci. The Supernatural Virtues are: Spirit Community, Adorcism, Second Sight, Ecstatic Magic, Mythic Herbalism, Enchanting Dance.
Major Supernatural Virtue
Through dance and specific rituals, the priestess can commune with the spirits and be possessed by them. To be possessed by one of her spirit wardens, the priestess engages into a ritual dance, usually consuming drugs and using particular objects then the priestess generates an Adorcism Total during this hour long ritual:
Adorcism Total: Stress Die + Stamina + Adorcism + Aura + Bonuses
The priestess can employ Material Bonuses related to drugs and spirits to further enhance her Adorcism Total, this bonus is limited by her score in Adorcism.
At the end of the ritual, the priestess loses a Long-Term Fatigue Level that she can't regain until the communion ends and then she creates a Communion Pool with an initial score equal to the Adorcism Total minus (9 + Missing Might Score).
Communion Might Pool: Adorcism Total - (9 + Missing Might Score)
The Missing Might Score is the difference between the base Might Score of the Spirit Community, that is Adorcism x5, and the actual Might Score of the Community, this difference can arise if the priestess used part of the Community's power to infuse Spiritual Stones or to perform the Life Commune ritual.
The priestess can use points from the Communion Might Pool to use some of the powers of the spirit, enhance her abilities using the ones that the spirit knows and use magical items called Spiritual Stones.
To use a power, she needs to spend points from her Communion Might Pool equal to the cost of the spirit's power in Might Points.
To share a virtue with one of the spirits, she can spend points from her Communion Might Pool equal to 9 points to share a Minor Virtue or 15 points to share a Major Virtue. The priestess can share a virtue she possess with the spirit or the spirit might share one of his virtues with the priestess and they gain the shared virtue until the communion ends.
To enhance one of her abilities, the priestess can spend points from her Pool and gain the chosen Ability at the same level of the possessing spirit, the enhancement lasts for one single roll if one points is spent, it lasts for a Diameter if two points are spent and it lasts for Sun duration if three points are spent.
Power use cost: (Cost of the Power) points.
Virtue sharing: 9 points for Minor Virtue, 15 points for Major Virtue.
Ability enhance: 1-3 points.
Spiritual Stones usage: 1 point.
At sunset, if the Communion Might Pool is empty, the possession ends. When this happens, the priestess loses any enhancement (powers, virtues and abilities) gained through Adorcism. If this power is evoked again while the character still possesses a Communion Might Pool, a new communion begins, ending the previous one and then the new points gained replace the points left over; the two pools do not add.
If the initial Adorcism Roll botched, the priestess may be possessed by a spirit, usually an infernal one. The priestess can't be possessed by or in communion with multiple spirits at once.
Morever, a priestess can attempt to end a possession by doing a Stamina + Adorcism roll against an Ease Factor equal to 9 + (Possessing Spirit's Might / 5) + Awful Possession
End Possession Roll: Stamina + Adorcism + Aura vs 9 + (Possessing Spirit's Might / 5) + Awful Possession
The Awful Possession malus is gained through the extensive use of the Maguzanci magical abilities and it is linked to the Twilight-like event of the Maguzanci.
Major Supernatural Virtue
The priestess has some spirits (iskoki) that dwell inside her body or that are concerned about her future, this group of spirits is called the Community. These spirits and the priestess are in a communion, each help the others: the spirits give the priestess her powers and longevity, while the priestess carry on her duty to serve the spirits.
The spirits may be designed as Magical Creatures using the rules of Realm of Power: Magic and the total Might Score of these spirits should be equal to the priestess' Adorcism Score multiplied by 5. Each individual spirit shoud have a minimum Might Score of 5.
Community Might Score: Priestess' Adorcism Score x 5
Different spirits might have different abilities and powers and the priestess may access these abilities and powers through the use of Adorcism.
When the priestess' Adorcism Score changes, you should determine if the priestess unlocks new abilities and powers of the existing spirits (the existing spirits might gain a new Might Score and so new powers and better abilities) or if the priestess communes with a new spirits, adding it to her Community.
Power: Adorcism
Defense: Accelerated Expiry against effects that physically control the priestess.
Power: Second Sight
Defense: Accelerated Expiry against effects that hinder the senses.
Power: Ecstatic Magic
Defense: Confounding Magics against effects that mentally control the priestess.
Power: Mythic Herbalism
Defense: Magical Fortitude against effect based on poisons or drugs.
Power: Enchanting Dance
Defense: Alacritous Fortune against objects thrown with magic.
Through Spirit Community, a Maguzanci priestess is able to perform supernatural feats such as using magical powers or instantly becoming proficient in a skill.
A Maguzanci priestess can also create a more powerful bond with her Community, sharing its spiritual longevity. She can perform a special ritual, commonly known as Life Communion, similar to a Longevity Ritual, in which she generates a Life Communion Total:
Life Communion Total: Stamina + Adorcism + Magic Lore + Aura + Bonuses
As with the Adorcism Ability, the priestess can employ Material Bonuses related to drugs and spirits to enhance her Life Communion Total.
At the end of this ritual, that usually lasts for an entire season of ritual dances, the priestess gains a longevity bonus equal to half the Life Communion Total, rounded down, and her Spirit Community permanently loses a number of Might Point equal to the acquired bonus.
The ritual protects the priestess even in the event of an Aging Crisis but it loses its effectiveness. The ritual is also disrupted by an Awful Possession and it need to be performed again to gain the bonus.
A Maguzanci priestess usually wait to perform this ritual because it hinders her connection to the Community and consequently her powers.
The Maguzanci priestess can create magical items called Spiritual Stones, these stones are ritual objects painted by the priestess and then infused with the power of a Spirit Community.
The stones are created by binding a part of the Community's spiritual power to a ritual stone and, through its use, the priestess can emulate a spirit's power.
To perform the infusion the priestess generates a Lab Total calculated as:
Infusion Lab Total: Communication + Bargain + Magic Lore + Aura
To infuse a Personal or a Lesser Power, the Lab Total should be equal or higher than 9 + Power's Might Cost and the Adorcism Score of the priestess should be equal or higher than the Power's Might Cost. To infuse a Greater Power the Ease Factor is equal to 12 + Power's Might Cost. A priestess can't infuse a Focus or a Ritual Power into a stone.
Power Infusion: Infusion Lab Total vs (9 + Power's Might Cost + Uses per day)
The infusion process lasts an entire Season of ritual dances and spiritual offerings and, at the end of the Season, the stone is infused with a chosen power of the Community while the Spirit Community permanently loses a number of Might Points equal to the Might Cost of the power (minimum 1).
The power infused in the Spiritual Stones can be easily activated once each day by a Maguzanci priestess by spending 1 point from their Community Might Pool, this is why the priestess usually infuse stones with the most used powers or the most generally useful ones.
A priestess can use a Personal Power infused in the stone as though she is the user of the power.
Morever, a priestess can increase the number of uses per day during the infusion process in a similar way to Hermetic magi, the cost for more uses per day follows the Effect Frequency Table in ArM Core pp. 98 and this cost is added to the Ease Factor for the infusion.
The Magunzanci priesthood usually gather once a season to perform a communal ritual, where they dance, chant and use drugs to commune with the spirits. Similar to the Folk Witches' Sabbat, during these gatherings, the priestesses can join to prepare a more powerful communion or to infuse a more powerful spiritual stone.
At every gathering, there is usually a couple of priestesses that want to cast powerful effects and that are the focus characters for that particular ritual, the other priestesses aid them to achieve their goals.
Every Gifted priestess that assist a focus character adds 1 to a particular use of a Supernatural Ability of the Maguzanci that the focus character is using, and this can happen only once during an entire ritual. This is usually used to perform a more powerful communion or to infuse a more powerful stone but it may be used to enhance any of the Maguzanci Supernatural Abilities.
Similar to Sorginak, a Maguzanci priestess can only use Ecstatic Magic during these gatherings.
Once a year, many Maguzanci priestess gather to the Tsomburburai, a Grand Ritual dedicated to the great pantheon of the Maguzanci.
During the Tsomburburai, the priestesses can perform a special ritual to regain part of the magical power that their Community has lost through infusion, communion or possession. Each priestess can offer a number of pawns of vis to the Tsomburburai and their Community will regain up to one fifth the offering in Might Points.
Additionaly, only during the Tsomburburai, the Maguzawa can invoke one of powerful Iskoki (singular - iska), the great Gods. To do this there should be a Focus character that generates an Adorcism Total and that will commune with the god while the other partecipants add their scores of Sta + Ecstatic Magic to the focus character's total.
Invocation Total: Adorcism Total + (Stamina + Ecstatic Magic) for each partecipant
To successfully perform the invocation of the Iska the Invocation Total should at least equal to the twice the Might Score of the Iska. If the invocation is successfull, the focus character commune with the Iska, gaining benefits that are unique to the particular Iska, some can grant virtues, some can teach new Supernatural Abilities or mundane abilities and some can also grant powers to their most devoted priestess.
At the end of the communion, each partecipant gains a Confidence Point thanks to the ecstatic dance performed during the ritual.
When a Maguzanci priestess uses her magical abilities, she can always incur in a dreaded situation, a possession. Whenever a priestess receives two or more Warping Points from a magical botch or other event, she start experiencing a Possession. During the experience, the priestess is possesed by an unknown spirit dwelling the place she is at the moment of the possession, the spirit effectively possess the priestess for a limited amount of time:
Possession Time: (Number of Warping Points gained times 10) Rounds minus (Community Might Pool, if any + Second Sight)
Generally a priestess is possessed by a spirit aligned with the Magic or the Infernal Realm with a Might Score equal to five times her Warping Score.
The possession can be ended prematurely using the Maguzanci Adorcism Ability but this inevitably ends in an Awful Possession.
At the end of the possession, the priestess regains her senses and have an opportunity to grasp a glimpse of the nature of the possessing spirit by doing a Comprehension Roll:
Possession Comprehension Roll: Intelligence + Ecstatic Magic + stress die vs Warping Score + stress die
If successful, the priestess comprehend the experience, achieving an Insightful Vision. Unsuccessful comprehension results in an Awful Possession. Once the priestess reaches a Warping Score of 10, she becomes one of the spirits of a community and is no longer human, she may be considered as a spirit with a total Might Score equal to her Adorcism Score times 5. Once fully transformed into a spirit, the storyguide assumes control of the character. Suggestions for Insightful Vision and Awful Possession are as follows.
- Increased Knowledge: The priestess gains experience points in a pre-existing Supernatural Ability, equal to (the character’s Warping Score + a simple die).
- Maguzanci Virtues: The priestess gains a new Supernatural or Hermetic Virtue. She may also gain constant powers granted by her Community in this way.
- Spirit Bond strengthened: The priestess add 1 to her rolls of Adorcism to create a new Community Might Pool. This bonus is cumulative.
- Lost Knowledge: The priestess loses experience points in a pre-existing Supernatural Ability, equal to (the character’s Warping Score + a simple die).
- Maguzanci Flaw: The priestess gains a new Supernatural or Hermetic Flaw. She may also gain a Minor version of Plagued by Supernatural Entity or Supernatural Nuisance in this way. She may also gain a new Personality Flaw related to the possessing spirit.
- Spirit Bond weakened: The priestess subtract 1 to her rolls of Adorcism to create a new Community Might Pool. This malus is cumulative.
Maguzanci priestess also have a wider range for their Mythic Herbalism effects:
Ease Factor: 6
Healing Effect: Add Mythic Herbalism to childbirth rolls.
Poisons: Ease Factor 6. Causes hallucinations for 1 hour, at the end lose a Fatigue level.
Ease Factor: 9
Healing Effect: Add Mythic Herbalism x 2 to childbirth rolls.
Poisons: Ease Factor 9. Causes hallucinations for 1 hour, at the end lose a Fatigue level.
Ease Factor: 12
Healing Effect: Add Mythic Herbalism x 3 to childbirth rolls.
Poisons: Ease Factor 9. Causes hallucinations for 1 hour, at the end lose two Fatigue levels.
Ease Factor: 15
Healing Effect: Add Mythic Herbalism x 4 to childbirth rolls.
Poisons: Ease Factor 9. Causes hallucinations for 1 hour, at the lose three Fatigue levels.
Ease Factor: 18
Poisons: Ease Factor 9. Causes hallucinations for 1 hour, at the end lose four Fatigue level.
Ease Factor: 21
Poisons:* Ease Factor 9. Causes hallucinations for 1 hour, at the end lose five Fatigue level.
When under an hallucination, Maguzanci priestesses also gain a bonus to their Adorcism and Ecstatic Magic rolls equal to the Fatigue Levels that would be lost at end of the effect.
Poisons that cause hallucinations can be created to last longer, every hour after the first increases the Ease Factor by +3.
The Ease Factors for resisting the poisons can also be increased by +3, by increasing by +3 the Ease Factor roll for Mythic Herbalism.