Date:         Sun, 14 Nov 1993 20:00:31 -0500
Sender: Mythus Fantasy Roleplaying Game List <[MYTHUS L] at [BROWNVM.brown.edu]>
From: "Mike \"Kurgan\" Phillips" <[m s phil] at [BIRDS.WM.EDU]>
Subject:      Mythus: Priests of Ceres

Long has the scribe lain silent, consumed with other projects and busy
compiling previous works into a single, lengthy volume.  However, the
urge struck again, and the result is below.

Ceres was known to the Greeks as Demeter, mother of Proserpina (Greek
Persephone).  When her daughter was taken by Pluto (Hades), she grieved,
and thus came the first winter.  As she was taken from her mother a few
months out of the year (typically six, but some tales say four), her
mother's grief caused every winter to come.  Yet, during the spring,
Ceres' compassion was such that everything was more bountiful and sprang
into bloom more quickly.

Thus, her priests and priestess' Specific Castings are focused around
growing things and harvests.

Few of her priests would not assist a farmer in anything that needed
doing, and even fewer would be able to resist assisting in either the
sowing or the harvest.  If any of the priesthoods has a humble dignity,
this is it, for it is rather common to see them up to their elbows in
soil, with dirt smudging their faces.

Rites to Ceres often include some small offerings, such as part of the
harvest or a few seeds, and her name is on the lips of nearly all farmers
who know of her.

Grade I:
SEEDSPROUT RITUAL
Time: Instantaneous             Other Heka Costs:
Area: One seed                      R&D: Nil
Distance: Touch                     Other: Nil
E/F/M: By means of this Casting, the priest or priestess convinces a seed
to begin growing.  Typically, the seed will experience one week's growth
per 10 STEEP possessed by the caster.  If not planted within a reasonable
time, the seedling will, of course, die.  Nutrients needed by the seed
are provided by the Casting, at least for the initial quick growth.

ASSESS FIELD FORMULA
Time: Instantaneous             Other Heka Costs:
Area: One field                     R&D: Nil
Distance: Sight                     Other: Nil
E/F/M: This Casting allows the priest to glance quickly at a field and
determine whether it would be more beneficial to have it lie fallow for
the year, or plant a given crop on it, and if a crop, which one.

Grade II:
FASTWEEDER FORMULA
Time: 1 hour per 10 STEEP       Other Heka Costs:
Area: One subject                   R&D: Nil
Distance: Touch                     Other: Nil
E/F/M: This Casting causes a small change to the perception and speed of
anyone doing weeding, and it will allow the subject of the Casting to
weed twice the area that could normally be done in half the time.

FROSTSHIELD RITUAL
Time: 1 day per 10 STEEP        Other Heka Costs:
Area: One small field               R&D: Nil
Distance: Touch                     Other: Nil
E/F/M: By means of this ritual, the priest is able to shield a field from
the effects of a frost for a brief time.  If the use of this ritual is
such that it is allowing the farmer(s) to ignore the normal season of
planting, the ritual may very well not work.  It was designed to ease an
emergency, not become a crutch whereby the sowers could well become lax
in their duties.

Grade III:
EARTH ENRICHEN RITUAL
Time: Instantaneous             Other Heka Costs:
Area: 1 cubic yard per 10 STEEP     R&D: Nil
Distance: Touch                     Other: Nil
E/F/M: This Casting allows the priest to enrich a patch of earth, causing
the earth to have twice the nutrients that would normally be found there.
This will result in lush and abundant growth upon the earth, as well as
above average yield.

Grade IV:
FASTHARVEST RITUAL
Time: 1 hour per 10 STEEP       Other Heka Costs:
Area: One subject                   R&D: Nil
Distance: Touch                     Other: 75:1 additional subjects
E/F/M: This Casting causes the subject to harvest at twice the normal
rate.  Additional harvesters can be added at an expenditure of 75 Heka
per additional subject.  A family under the effects of this Casting could
outperform most small towns!

Grade V:
BOUNTIFUL HARVEST RITUAL
Time: One season                Other Heka Costs:
Area: One field                     R&D: Nil
Distance: Sight                     Other: Nil
Special Materia: an appropriate offering to Ceres worth no less than
    5,000 BUCs
E/F/M: This lengthy Ritual, which requires two full hours to perform,
allows the priest to bring Ceres' blessing upon the entire field
(provided that it is a single crop), at the time of sowing.  Once
performed, the field will act as if the optimum conditions had been met
for the crop, and the harvest will probably be a bumper crop.  Even if
certain mishaps occur during the season, the field will still survive,
and anything left standing by such a mishap will recover.  Typically, the
ritual is performed by the church for those who have been particularly
faithful.


As was mentioned before, I am working on combining all the stuff I've
posted so far into a mythus.pantheary (with, of course, new material).
If you have anything you think ought to be covered or added, let me
know.  If you have anything that should be included, let me know, and
I'll put it in there (along with an appropriate acknowledgement).
A similar deal exists for the mythus.net.bestiary.  So far, one monster
is in it.  No, there's no money in it, but just think of the pleasure
your friends on the Net will derive from your work :-)

    Mike Phillips
    [m s phil] at [birds.wm.edu]

More, you say?  Ah, well, we'll see what the fevered brain churns out
next.....  Requests are welcome, of course :-)