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Four Magic Weapons subcult of Orlanth

Posted on January 11, 2023

This is a subcult often found with Orlanth Adventurous (or Vinga), that worships the Four Magic weapons of Orlanth. Each of these weapons are sometimes worshiped in other cultures as stand-alone gods or spirit cults.

  • Lightning Spear. Lightning is a powerful weapon, doing 1D6 damage per Rune point and ignoring armor (but requiring POW be overcome). Yee-ouch!
  • Shield of Arran. Holy smoke, my shield gets infinite armor points?
  • Sandals of Darkness. Invisible and soundless in shadows and darkness? Holy cow, what a spell!
  • Scarf of Mist. I can reduce visibility of those inside the mist to only one meter?

These spells are powerful and deadly. And many tribal and city temples to Orlanth are going to have access to all of them. These are also among the reasons Orlanth is depicted with four arms – to show the range of powerful magic weapons he has access to!

Add Shield, Fly, plus the ability to summon and command Air Elementals, and you have a good idea why Orlanth Adventurous is one of the best player character cults.

It’s a subcult within Orlanth Adventurous. Easy enough to join – so much so that I got rid of any of rules mechanical issues and merged them together. But if you imagine that each of these spells is derived from offering sacrifice to Orlanth’s magic weapons, then it really helps to emphasise them (and their weirdness, as Earth Shield uses the Earth Rune and Dark Walk uses the Darkness Rune – neither of which Orlanth has! He took the magic from other gods!).

Now all of this comes with relatively easy restrictions:

  1. No Chaos.
  2. Be Honorable
  3. Don’t murder cult members (duels and battle is fine), don’t violate hospitality, don’t break oaths, and don’t profane Orlanth’s holy place.
  4. Obey a legitimate Lightbringers Summons.
  5. Spend at least six weeks a year defending your temple.

Jeff Richard

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Dark Walk, Earth Shield, Fly, Four Magic Weapons, Lightning, Orlanth Adventurous, Rune Magic, Subcult, Vinga

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