last updated 10 May 2000
Words in boldface indicate other entries within this Glossary.
 | Indicates an augmentation. |
| D+x | Indicates the difficulty of an attempted action. |
 | Indicates an edge or handicap. |
 | Indicates one or more levels of mastery. |
Ability: Any type of skill, magic, or other feature that can be used by a character in a story. The most common are mundane abilities, magical abilities, relationships, or personality traits.
Ability Rating: A numerical rating given to an ability to show its relative strength or importance. The higher the ability rating, the better the character is with that ability. The ability rating is rolled against in tests. See also target number.
Ability Test: A test with no resistance in which the die roll is compared to the target number of the ability being used.
Accidental Transition: The accidental movement of a person from the Inner World to an Otherworld through a power spot.
Action Point (AP): A numerical measure of how well an actor or opponent is accomplishing their goals in an extended contest. Action Points are calculated based on the target number of the first ability used in the test, even if a different ability is used in a later exchange. Often shortened to AP for convenience.
Action Point (AP) Bid: The number of action points that an actor “wagers” at during an exchange. Depending on die results, the action point bid may be forfeited, transferred, or have no effect.
Action Point (AP) Knowledge: After the first exchange in an extended contest, a player may ask for the AP total of anyone who has gained or lost points during the test.
Action Point (AP) Lending: A hero may loan action points to another hero either through mundane or magical means. Depending on the die result, the action points are lost, transferred to the comrade, or benefit both heroes.
Actor: The character who initiates the action in a test.
Adept: An accomplished sorcerous magician. There are two types of adepts: wizards, who are members of religious orders, and sorcerers, who are not.
Adept Plane: The plane of the Sorcery World that contains spell nodes.
Adoration: see Ecstatic Worship.
Advanced Experience: Keywords that represent occupations normally unavailable to beginning characters, often of a political nature. The narrator may allow players to select advanced experience keywords if she is running a high power campaign.
Adversary: A supporting character who opposes the hero. An adversary counts as flaw rather than an ability.
Affinity: A broad category of magical ability provided by a god or hero to initiates and devotees. Affinities contain feats that represent the specific abilities used by the god or hero in his myths.
Afterlife: A place in the Otherworld where the spiritual essence of a character goes after death. An afterlife is generally either a paradise or a hell for the worshipper, depending on his actions during his life.
Alien World Modifier: see Other Side/Otherworld Safety.
Ally (1): A supporting character whose abilities are on a par with the hero’s. An ally will occasionally help the hero, and will call on him for aid about as often.
Ally (2): see Spirit Ally.
Ancestor Worship Tradition: An animist tradition that worships the spirits of a family’s or people’s ancestors. Ancestor Worship traditions are often led by a family head rather than a shaman.
Animism: One of the four basic magic systems. Animism involves the ecstatic worship of denizens of the Spirit Plane, especially great spirits.
Apprentice (1): A student of an adept who has not yet mastered the grimoires and spells taught by their school or chapter.
Apprentice (2): A student of a shaman who has not yet awakened his fetch.
Armor Rank: see Rank.
Asceticism: A form of non-worship used by mystics that involves disciplines, renunciation, and penance to learn the teachings of a mystical philosophy or transpersonal entity.
Aspect: A “portion” or “function” of a great god that is worshipped individually as if it were a god, with its own affinities, feats, and secret.
Assigned Hero Points: Abilities or flaws assigned to a character by the narrator based on game or campaign events. These abilities may or may not require the expenditure of hero points, at the narrator’s option.
Augmentation: A type of enhancement that gives a modifier to the target number of an ability.
Automatic Success: A test that requires no die roll, because no self-respecting hero would ever fail at such a task.
Backstory: A descriptive history developed by a player for their character that is not used as part of character creation, but which helps to explain his motivations and actions.
Balance: Mystic requirement that the disciplines of mind, body, and soul progress at the same rate. In Hero Wars, a student must keep the ability ratings of his school’s disciplines within 5 points of each other to learn powers, and within 10 points of each other after that to be able to use them.
Barrier: see Otherworld Barrier.
Benchmark: Rating assigned to an episode to indicate the power level it is intended for. Narrators whose player characters have higher or lower abilities than the benchmark should adjust the ability ratings of the opponents in the episode.
Berserker Magic: A form of magic that puts the character into a fighting rage where he will attack anyone and anything in his way. Berserk magic requires that the character bid at least his current action points each round, but provides an edge equal to º his ability rating in the berserker magic.
Blessing: A magical effect invoked by liturgists by calling upon their patron saint. A blessing has a specific effect on all members of the congregation who are members of the order.
Bonus: A modifier that increases a target number.
Bumping: A change to the degree of failure/success received on a die roll. There are two types of bumps: a bump up increases the degree of success of the roll (such as from a Fumble to a simple Failure), while a bump down decreases the degree of success (such as from a Critical Success to a simple Success). Bumps never apply to the victory level achieved in a test.
Canceling Masteries: If both characters in a contest possess one or more masteries, the masteries cancel each other out: the lower mastery is subtracted from both ability ratings, leaving either one character or both characters with no masteries. Although this affects contest results, both characters calculate their starting action point totals before the masteries are cancelled.
Carryover: A cumulative measure of the success a hero has achieved during previous stations of a heroquest. At the end of the quest, the final carryover determines the degree of failure/ success the hero has achieved on the quest.
Caste: A strict social system found among most sorcerous cultures. A person is born into his or her caste, and in most cases must remain within it for his entire life. The occupation keywords and magical keywords available to a character are strictly limited by his caste.
Celebrant: The magician who leads a ritual.
Cementing: The expenditure of Hero Points to ensure that an ability, item, or relationship gained during play becomes a permanent part of the character. If something gained during play is not cemented it cannot be recorded on the character sheet, and the advantage it provides does not last beyond the current episode.
Center World: see Inner Plane/World.
Channeling: Type of incarnation performed by animists. A friendly spirit is invited to take dominant possession of the character’s body, and retains control until it decides to leave.
Chaos Talent: A magical ability possessed by a chaotic creature. Chaos Talents can be innate abilities of a species or individual, or can be gained normally by integrationof chaotic spirits.
Chaplain: A liturgist who serves a military unit or organization. Chaplains generally have some fighting skills in addition to their religious and magical abilities. They may or may not belong to a low order.
Chapter: A division of a high order. Chapters of an order are usually very similar to each other.
Character: A person or creature within Glorantha whose actions are involved in a Hero Wars game. Characters can be controlled by players, in which case they are called heroes, or by the narrator, in which case they are called narrator characters.
Character-driven Episode: An episode whose plot is driven by the abilities, personality traits, or relationships of one or more of the heroes.
Church: One of the many sects of the Malkioni religion. Most churches receive their basic ideology from The Abiding Book, but all have different clergy, worshippers, and specific doctrines, to the point that many have warred against each other throughout the centuries.
Clergy: The ordained members of any Malkioni church. The clergy lead worship and prayer, read from the holy books, and minister to the lay worshippers of their church. Most clergy are liturgists, but some are also wizards.
Climax: The final scene of an episode, in which the most important and exciting events occur. The climax is the main ending of the episode, where most important plot elements are resolved.
Collective Rating: An ability rating given to a group of generally weak foes whose ability as a group is commensurate with the abilities of their single opponent (usually a hero). Use of collective ratings can greatly simplify some tests.
Combat: A type of test designed to cause harm to an opponent.
Combat Ability/Skill: A type of physical ability used in combat to cause harm to an opponent. There are two primary types of combat ability: Close Combat and Ranged Combat, each of which has many specific types of fighting skills.
Communal Worship: Worship of a pantheon performed by a community, rather than worship of an individual god by initiates and devotees.
Community (1): A group of people who share a common goal or relationship. Communities take many forms; congregations, governments, guilds, hero bands, leagues, and relatives are the most common examples described in Hero Wars.
Community (2): A group with whom a character has a defined relationship. A character may belong to many communities at the same time.
Community Participation: The bonus given by members of a community who support a person during a ritual or heroquest.
Community Support: Amount of support or opposition provided by a community to a supplicant who comes with an issue with which he seeks aid. The hero’s relationshipwith the community is used as an ability to determine the support level he receives.
Complete Defeat/Victory: The greatest degree of failure/success that can be obtained in a test.
Concurrent Test: a test in which several extended contests are resolved simultaneously but independently.
Condemnation: The lowest level of community support, indicating total resistance to the issue (which will cause the supplicant to suffer a negative modifier to his roll). Condemnation is the negative equivalent of extraordinary support.
Congregation: A community defined by a common religion and temple, whose members worship together.
Contact: A supporting character that represents the ability to call on colleagues, informants, or other networks of people for information or aid.
Contest: see Extended Contest and Group Contest.
Continuity Episode: An episode created by the narrator, which taken together with other episodes forms a larger storyline. Each episode functions as an installment in this larger story.
Counter: A type of mystic power used to resist or ignore attacks or other phenomena of the Inner World. The most common counter known to mystics is Refute.
Coup de Grace: A parting shot to kill a defeated opponent.
Critical, Critical Success: A natural roll of ‘1’ on a die roll.
Critical Station: A station of a heroquest in which the quester must obtain a specific result (usually, any degree of success), or else the heroquest immediately ends.
Cultural Keyword: A type of keyword that shows the typical abilities of people who belong to that culture. The cultural keywords available to a player hero may be limited by the narrator.
Curse: A magical effect invoked by liturgists of a low order by calling upon their patron saint. A curse affects only specific foes of the order that are named in the curse, and is resisted normally.
Dazed: The state of health in which the character suffers no long-term physical damage.
Dead: The state of health in which the character has been killed and is out of play. A dead character may be resurrected by special magical abilities.
Debilitating: A type of poison that has a rapid onset of symptoms. The poison becomes a separate opponent, with a target number and action points equal to its potency. Each separate bite or sting counts as an additional opponent, which may cause the hero to suffer a multiple attacker penalty.
Default Resistance: The resistance used if no ability or attribute opposes an attempted action; normally has a value of 14.
Default Target Number: The target number used when no ability rating has been specified or where no appropriate ability is known. Most mundane abilities have a default target number of 6; most magical abilities have a default target number of 0. See also resistance.
Defeat: Being on the losing end of a contest. See Victory Level.
Degree of Failure/Success: The extent of the failure or success received from a character’s die roll. There are four degrees, from greatest to least: critical success, success, failure, and fumble.
Deity: Generic term used to refer to a god or goddess.
Delayed Magic: A form of magic that is cast but does not have an immediate effect, instead activating only when a specified Trigger occurs. The trigger can be an event or spoken phrase. Once activated, the magic has a normal duration.
Demesne: An area of the Spirit Plane where a specific spirit or great spirit resides.
Denizen: Any Otherworld entity. More specifically, an Otherworld entity with no ability greater than 203.
Denouement: A scene that occurs after the climax of some episodes, usually as a way to give the story a sense of completion and to wrap up loose ends.
Dependent: A supporting character whose abilities are generally much lower than the hero’s, and who must be looked after, rescued, or otherwise are dependent on the hero. A dependent is considered to be a flaw rather than an ability.
Desperation Stake: The act of a character wagering more Action Points than he currently has, up to his starting action point total. A desperation stake can only be made by a hero or equivalent narrator character.
Devotee, Devotion: A theistic worshipper who devotes 60% or more of his time to a single god. Devotees gain special magic because of their devotion: they may learn specific feats and the secret of their god.
Die: A 20-sided die used to determine degree of failure/success.
Die Roll: The number (1 to 20) received from rolling one die.
Difficulty: A measure of the skill and experience necessary to perform a certain task, expressed as a modifier to the resistance faced by the actor in the test. For example, D+20 indicates that the normal resistance (whether natural or personal) is increased by 20, from 14 to 34, which is 14.
Directed Improvement: An increase in an ability (or a new ability) given by the narrator to a hero as a reward for success in a heroquest, without any requirement to cement the benefit.
Discipline: A specific physical skill, mental skill, or personality trait taught and practiced by mystics. Students and masters strive to keep the disciplines of their path (usually one of each type) in balance, so that they can achieve transcendence without submitting to the temptations of the body, mind, or soul.
Distance: A measure of how far away a magician can use magic to affect a target. The farther the distance, the greater the penalty the magician suffers.
Divine Aid: A form of theistic magic used by a communal worshipper to call upon a god of his pantheon for general aid.
Divinity: Any Otherworld entity with at least one ability at 1w4 or greater.
Doctrine of [church]: The lore and laws of a specific church or sect, which gives the history and rules of the religion.
Dojo: General term used for any place where mysticism is taught. More specifically, a dojo is a place where the philosophies of manifest mysticism, especially martial arts, are taught.
Dominant Possession: Type of possession in which the spirit controls its host body completely, such as possession by a ghost.
Duration: A measure of how long a magical effect lasts. The longer past the current test the magic lasts, the greater the penalty the magician must apply.
Dying: The worst state of health other than being dead. When dying, a character may take no significant actions, and will die without treatment.
Ecstatic Worship: Type of worship performed by animist cultures, also known as Adoration. Ecstatic worship involves an attempt by worshippers to alter their consciousness so that they can better perceive and understand the spirits. Worship usually involves mass celebrations consisting of music, dance, ingestion of hallucinogens, and other trance-inducing practices.
Edge: A type of enhancement added to an action point bid if the opponent must forfeit or transfer APs. See also handicap.
Elder Race(s): Any of the non-human intelligent races of Glorantha. The most important Elder Races are the aldryami, or elves; mostali, or dwarfs; uz, or trolls; and dragonewts.
Element: One of the five primary forms of matter from which the world was created. The five classic elements, in order of creation, are Darkness, Water, Earth, Fire/Sky, and Air/Storm.
Elemental (1): An Otherworld entity from the Sorcery Plane that is associated with one of the five primary elements, and which can be easily summoned and commanded by sorcerers.
Elemental (2): Any spirit, petty god, or sorcerous entity associated with one of the five primary elements, which can be easily summoned and commanded by both mortals and immortals.
Elemental Progression: A widespread magical relationship between the five primary elements, expressed as a series of victories: Air overcomes Water, Water overcomes Fire, Fire overcomes Darkness, Darkness overcomes Earth, and Earth overcomes Air. Whenever a test involves one of these ancient victories, the actor receives an edge or handicap, depending on whether he or his magic represents the victorious or defeated element.
Enchantment: A type of magic in which an object is imbued with a magical ability. See also fetish.
Enhancement: Any change to a character’s abilities, whether derived from magical or mundane means. An enhancement can be one of several types: action point lending, augmentation, edge, handicap, or penalty.
Enlightened Master: see Founder.
Episode: One session of a Hero Wars game in which the player heroes act in response to the situation and adversaries prepared for them by the narrator. More specifically, a published story or adventure for Hero Wars that contains a benchmark, key points, a plot, several scenes, a climax, and statistics and motivations for narrator characters involved in the story.
Equipment Modifier: A word (such as large or brittle) that modifies the rank of a piece of equipment, such as a weapon or armor.
Equipment Rank: see Rank.
Essential Body: That portion of a person that permanently resides on the Adept Plane of the Sorcery World. When an adept uses a portal of power, he projects his consciousness into the essential body, which then travels among the nodes. See also psyche.
Estate: A location on the God Plane that corresponds to a particular god or goddess, sometimes called a Region.
Everyday Support: see Neutral Support.
Exchange: One die roll and action point bid in an extended contest. In different exchanges, the hero and his foe alternate being the actor and opponent in the contest.
Extended Contest: A test with resistance that lasts more than a single die roll. An extended contest involves several exchanges, and is resolved when one contestant is driven to or below 0 APs.
Extraordinary Support: the highest level of community support, indicating active support of the issue (which gives the supplicant a bonus to his roll). Extraordinary support is equivalent to condemnation, and usually indicates that the community will directly share in the success or failure of the supplicant.
Failure: Receiving a number greater than your target number on a die roll. Sometimes called a Simple Failure.
False Demesne: An area of the God Plane or Sorcery Plane “created” when ecstatic worship is given to a denizen of one of those worlds. Animists who enter the false demesne suffer at least a dangerous otherworld safety modifier.
False Node: An area of the God Plane or Spirit Plane “created” when veneration is given to a denizen of one of those worlds.
False Temple: An area of the Sorcery Plane or Spirit Plane “created” when sacrifice is given to a denizen of one of those worlds.
Familiar: A spirit helper that has taken or been given a physical body to inhabit.
Family: see Relatives.
Family Head: A minor magician of an animist tradition (usually an Ancestor Worship tradition) who has magical powers due to his position as the head or oldest member of the family. A tradition normally has only either shamans or family heads, but can have both.
Feat: A specific magical ability taught by a god or hero in return for worship. Feats may be learned as part of an affinity or as a standalone ability.
Fetch: A spirit guide or portion of a shaman‘s spirit awakened during his shamanic initiation. A fetch guides and supports the shaman, and serves as his link to the Spirit Plane.
Fetish: A physical object into which a spirit is bound, allowing it to cast magic at the command of the owner. A fetish is not considered to be an enchantment.
Fighting Order: see Low Order.
Final Action: An attempt to perform an action after being defeated in a group extended contest.
Flaw: A disadvantage of a character that is important enough to be recorded on his character sheet with an ability rating. Flaws weaken a character, but also give the player more control over the challenges presented by the narrator.
Follower: A supporting character whose abilities are lower than those of the hero. A follower aids the hero, and can be replaced at any time.
Forbiddance: A low level of negative community support, indicating active resistance to the issue (which may cause the supplicant to suffer a negative modifier to his roll). Forbiddance is the negative equivalent of total support.
Forfeit: A result in a contest that requires the indicated character to give up Action Points to his opponent.
Form: see Node.
Founder (1): The founder of a mystic path, often called an enlightened master.
Founder (2): The person who established a Sorcerous Order.
(founder) Philosophy: The beliefs and practices taught to the followers of an enlightened master. Each philosophy sets forth the disciplines learned by students, has a long and rigid list of renunciations that practitioners must follow, and determines the particular powers that are learned.
Fumble: A natural roll of ’20’ on a die roll.
Functional Tradition: An animist tradition that focuses on dealing with a particular function, such as healing, exorcising, or leading a clan. Functional traditions can be led by specialized members (such as sacred chiefs), but usually include shamans.
Garden of Temptation: Mystic name collectively given to all of the Otherworlds.
Geas: A magical requirement or prohibition given by a god to a worshipper, in exchange for which the character receives a gift.
Gift: An ability given by a god to a worshipper, usually a devotee. As long as the worshipper adheres to a specific geas, he will have full use of the gift, which is often a magical ability. If the geas is broken, however, the gift is lost.
God, Goddess: An Otherworld entity from the God Plane. More specifically, a worshipped Otherworld entity from the God Plane whose primary ability is at least 14.
God Plane/World: One of the three Otherworlds. The God Plane is divided into various realms. Residents of the God Plane are called gods and goddesses, and are worshipped by theists.
Government: A community defined by a common political structure and allegiance. Governments can range from the very small (such as a clan) to the very large (such as a great empire), and come in many forms.
Great God, Great Goddess: A transcendent god or goddess who usually heads the pantheon of a culture. A great god or goddess has many aspects or areas of influence, usually including some form of governance.
Great Secret: The secret of a great god. A great secret is usually transcendent in nature, and learning it results in the character being removed from play.
Great Spirit: A denizen of the Spirit Plane that is the object of ecstatic worship, in return for which the entity gives spirits.
Grievous Wound: An especially debilitating wound or injury that immediately affects a character. If the narrator feels that a particular battle is of great narrative importance, each time a combatant loses more than 15 action points in a single exchange he receives a grievous wound, which affects the character as if he had becomehurt in a separate contest.
Grimoire: A magical book or other text containing blessings, spells, or both, specific to a given Order.
Group Test: A test with several participants on one or more sides. There are two types of group test: Group Simple Test, where a single die roll per side determines victory or defeat; and a Group Extended Test, where each round involves action point bids and die rolls, and victory and defeat are determined by the AP totals of each side.
Guild: A community defined by a common occupation or workplace.
Handicap: A type of enhancement that is subtracted from an action point bid if the opponent must forfeit or transfer APs. See also edge.
Healing: The act of removing wounds and injuries by magic. There are two types of healing: Minor Healing removes one or more hurts from a character, while Major Healing removes all hurts and injuries, even if the character is dying. Most healing reduces the wound one level, from dying to injured, injured to hurt, or hurt to healthy, but some powerful healing magics are capable of completely healing a character regardless of how badly wounded he is.
Health: An indication of the wounds or illness a character suffers. Characters in poor health receive modifiers to their target numbers of abilities, and may end up dying. From best to worst, the states of health are: healthy, dazed, hurt, injured, dying, dead. A character can also be rendered unconscious.
Healthy: A character with no wounds or injuries of any kind.
Hell: An afterlife of pain, misery, or punishment. See also paradise.
Hero (1): A character in Hero Wars whose actions are directed by one of the players.
Hero (2): A famous and powerful actor in Gloranthan history or myth. More specifically, a character in Hero Wars who has attained an ability rating of 13 or greater in at least one ability.
Hero Band: A group or community actively involved in the struggles of the Hero Wars. A Hero Band can be any type of community; many are mercenary bands.
Herocult: Worship of an ancestral or cultural hero as a god. See also petty god, subcult.
Hero Plane: The largest, most general, and most easily accessed part of the God World. A section of the realm of each pantheon is part of the Hero Plane, as are the borders between realms and the lands at the edges of the Inner World.
Hero Points: A measure of character advancement received from the narrator. Hero points are the currency of the game, and can be used to bump a roll or make permanent changes to a character.
Heroforming: Type of incarnation in which a hero or god is invoked by the character to take over his body, thus replacing his abilities with those of the hero or god.
Heroic Consequences Chart: A table that measures victory level against degree of success in an extended contest when one or more participants have aid from community participation or the contest involves Otherworld activity. See also heroic consequences chart.
Heroquest: A journey or quest by a hero into the Otherworld. Heroquests usually reenact a myth or story of his religion, and gives victorious heroes magical abilities.
Hidden Possession: Type of possession in which an alien spirit influences its host without controlling it, such as the illness caused by a disease spirit.
High Order: A religious Order of the Malkioni Church, whose members include wizards and possibly liturgists.
Holy Person(1): A minor magician of an animist tradition who has an innate sensitivity to the Spirit Plane and receives magical powers because of it. A tradition normally has either shamans or holy people, but can have both.
Holy Person (2): see Natural Piety.
Home: see Node.
Host: A character who has been possessed by a spirit, or who has incarnated a hero, god, or spirit.
Hsunchen Tradition: An animist tradition that worships an animal totem. Members integrate animal spirits into their bodies, and can learn the secret to shapechange into the totem animal. Hsunchen traditions are normally led by shamans.
Human Plane/World: see Inner World.
Hurt: A minor wound or illness that gives a -1 penalty to all actions.
Identity Challenge: A special type of contest used to weaken or end an opponent’s incarnation of a god, hero, or spirit.
Illumination: A philosophical or emotional realization, often unplanned, that replaces a character’s theist, animist, or sorcerous religious connection with a mystic one.
Improvisational Modifier: A penalty of between -1 to -20 (default -5) applied by the narrator when a character uses an ability that is not quite suited for the current test.
Incarnation: A form of advanced magic in which an Otherworld entity is allowed to enter and control a character‘s body. Two forms of incarnation exist: heroforming, in which the character becomes an avatar of a hero or god; and channeling, in which a spirit takes possession of the character’s body.
Initiate, Initiation: A theist who worships a single god as their primary deity. An initiate dedicates 30% or more of their time to the god, and can learn the god’s affinities. More generally, any initiate or devotee of a god.
Injured: A major wound or illness that gives a -50% penalty to all actions.
Innate Abilities: The abilities and minimum ability ratings common to an adult member of one of the Elder Races. The list of innate abilities is equivalent to a racial keyword.
Inner Plane/World: The normal, everyday world where mortals live. Also called the Human World, Mundane World, Physical World, or Center World.
Inside the Tradition: A spirit that is considered part of the tradition. Members of the tradition have special rituals and relationships with spirits that are inside the tradition, and can usually count on their being friendly. Enemy spirits may be considered inside the tradition because worshippers know special rituals do defend against them. See also outside the tradition.
Instant: A type of poison that has immediate effects. The round after the poison is introduced, the victim must make a simple contest of an appropriate ability against the poison’s potency.
Instantaneous Magic: Any magical ability which takes effect immediately and has no duration.
Integration: The act of incorporating a spirit into the worshipper’s body. Incorporation gives the worshipper a talent, a single one of the spirit’s magical abilities.
Invisible Measure: Name given by sorcerers to Sorcery Plane.
Issue: An action, idea, or problem brought by a supplicant when he seeks support from a community.
Key Points: A section at the beginning of a published episode that summarizes the basic plot and expected outcome.
Keyword: A shortcut description of the typical abilities of a beginning hero. The four common types of keyword are Racial Keywords, Cultural Keywords, OccupationKeywords, and Magic Keywords, which describe the abilities of a typical member of that race, culture, occupation, or magical organization. See also innate abilities.
Law Plane: The generally unreachable plane of the Sorcery World that contains the Intellect of God; also called Solace.
Lay Membership: Common membership in a sorcerous church. Lay members gain the benefits of blessings cast by liturgists.
League: A community defined by a common interest or goal of its members.
Lethal: A poison that causes death if it defeats the victim.
Life of [saint]: A magical text of a low order that details the life and teachings of the order’s patron saint, and which may or may not contain blessings.
Lingering: A type of poison that has a slow onset. Some time after the victim is bitten or stung, the poison takes effect, usually in the form of an extended contest in which the poison has a target number equal to the potency, and action points equal to the potency multiplied by the number of times the victim was bitten or stung.
List Method: A style of character creation in which the player writes a short list of his hero‘s primary abilities.
Liturgist: A member of the clergy in sorcerous cultures. There are two types of liturgists: Secular Liturgists, who do not belong to an order but preach and minister to lay worshippers of their Church; and Regular Liturgists, who belong to an order and minister to its members.
Living Standard: A measure of the wealth available to a typical member of that occupation or social status. Usually received as part of an occupational keyword.
Local Tradition: An animist tradition that focuses on dealing with the spirits of a particular geographical location. Functional traditions are often led by shamans instead of or in addition to holy people or specialized leaders such as sacred chiefs.
Low Order: A religious order of a Malkioni church whose members include liturgists and lay worshippers, but not wizards. Liturgists invoke the blessings of the order on its members and the curses of the order (if any) on specific enemies. Low Orders are often organized as Fighting Orders.
Lunar Cycle: A cycle of magical power that affects most magicians tied to the Red Moon, giving them greater powers during some phases of the moon, and lessened powers during others.
Magic: The energy of one of the Otherworlds brought into the Inner World. Magic takes different forms depending on the magic system and specific Otherworld from which it is drawn.
Magic Keyword: A type of keyword that shows the typical abilities of a character who belongs to a magical organization, including basic information about the Otherworldentity worshipped. The magic keywords available to a player hero may be limited by their culture, caste, and occupation.
Magic Plane/World: see Sorcery Plane.
Magic Room: A room in a sorcerous school or religious order used to create portals of power and connect to the Sorcery Plane. Magic rooms have typically been used for this purpose for several centuries, and often have great magical defenses.
Magic System: A set of beliefs, rituals, and practices for bringing magic from an Otherworld into the Inner World. There are four widespread magic systems in Glorantha: theism, sorcery, animism, and mysticism.
Magical Ability: An ability that requires the knowledge and use of magic. There are many different types of magical ability available to practitioners of different types of magic: theists use affinities and feats, sorcerers use spells and blessings, animists use talents and fetishes, and mystics use powers.
Magical Home Defenses: The magic that protects a community from the attacks of Otherworld entities and enemy magicians. Magical home defenses are normally “set” once per year in a ritual that is supported by the entire community.
Magical Resistance: The resistance that opposes a magical ability. Living entities generally use their personal resistance. If the magic has no specific target, the default resistance to magic is 14.
Magician: A person who uses magic. More specifically, a person skilled at using magic as a primary ability, usually a devotee, sorcerer or wizard, or shaman.
Magnitude: The basic power level of a series that reflects the type and severity of challenges that player heroes will face. The Hero Wars rules generally describe a Mediumlevel of magnitude.
Major Defeat/Victory: A victory level that usually has long-term consequences for all participants.
Manifest Mysticism: Style of mysticism in which the student attempts to transcend the world by integrating it, or “becoming one with everything.” Manifest mysticism often takes the form of a martial arts school. See also orthodox mysticism.
Manifestation: An action, creature, object, or belief which is considered by worshippers to symbolize, represent, or manifest the Otherworld entity that they worship.
Marginal Defeat/Victory: A victory level that indicates a slight degree of victory or defeat, with no long-term conesquences.
Mastery: A target number or ability rating above 20 indicates one or more levels of mastery. Each 20 points or fraction thereof above 20 counts as one level of mastery: 21 becomes 1
, 41 becomes 12, etc. In an extended contest, each mastery provides 20 Action Points, and can also be used to bump the character’s die rolls. When two opponents both have masteries, one or more of the masteries will be cancelled by the other.
Mental Ability/Skill: A type of mundane ability that involves thought and reason rather than physical activity.
Might: The overall strength of a spirit, regardless of its target number in any particular ability. When a spirit opposes a shaman, it uses its might rather than its highest magical ability. When a spirit is integrated or bound into a fetish, its magical ability is used at a target number equal to its might, even if the spirit’s ability rating is higher or lower.
Minor Defeat/Victory: A victory level that indicates a clear victory for one side or the other. Usually has some lasting effect.
Miracle: An action of the Invisible God manifesting in the Inner World in response to the pleas of a Malkioni congregation.
Misapplied Worship: The act of providing the “incorrect” mode of worship to an Otherworld entity, e.g. sacrificing to a saint or spirit, venerating a god or spirit, or giving ecstatic worship to a god or saint. Greater energy, sacrifices, and devotion must be provided to the entity in order to learn its magical abilities, reflected in Hero Wars as an increased Hero Point cost to learn or increase them.
Mixed Worship: The act of using two modes of worship to contact a single entity, e.g. both sacrificing and giving ecstatic worship to a god or spirit. More generally, a culture that routinely uses two modes of worship, though individual entities usually receive only one type of worship.
Modifier: Any adjustment to the target number of an ability. Modifiers can be caused by augmentation, health, improvisational modifiers, multiple attackers or multiple targets, Otherworld safety, or other factors. A modifier that increases the target number is a bonus, one that decreases the target number is called a penalty. Modifiers are always applied to the target number, not the die roll.
Monotheism: A religion that believes in only a single god, although it might recognize other Otherworld entities as servants of this One God. Monotheism in Glorantha is found among the Malkioni of Genertela.
Multiple Attacker Penalty: A penalty for defending against more than one opponent in a round, equal to -3 for each opponent after the first.
Multiple Target Penalty: A penalty for attacking against more than one opponent in a round, equal to -3 for each opponent after the first.
Mundane Ability/Skill: Any ability that does not require magic of any kind. There are two main types of mundane ability: physical abilities and mental abilities. A specific ability might be either a physical skill or a mental skill depending on how it is described by a player or narrator.
Mundane Plane/World: see Inner World.
Mysticism: One of the four basic magic systems. Mysticism involves ascetic practices designed to achieve transcendence by seeking release from the world (orthodox mysticism) or integration into the world (manifest mysticism). Unlike the other magic systems, which are based on worship of entities of a specific Otherworld, mystics do not perform worship, and there is no Mystic Plane.
Mythology/Myths of [god]: A set of stories about a god or goddess that detail their acts in the Godtime, and which set the pattern of worship for their followers. As an ability, it is integral to heroquesting.
Narrative Method: A style of character creation in which the player writes a short narrative describing the abilities and history of his hero.
Narrator: Role taken by one player to oversee a game of Hero Wars. The narrator confronts player heroes with challenges as they try to accomplish their goals in the world of Glorantha.
Narrator Character: A character controlled by the narrator to provide aid, information, or resistance to the player heroes. Narrator characters can have all of the abilities that heroes do.
Narrator Determines: A result of a contest in which both actor and opponent have achieved the same result, requiring that the narrator decide which side, if any, has achieved victory.
Natural Piety: A member of a Malkioni church who has achieved a piety of greater than 20, expressed by his Member of (sect) Church relationship.
Natural Resistance: The resistance that opposes an ability used in the natural world, such as Climb or Jump. The resistance faced depends on the difficulty of the obstacles; if no specific ability or attribute is possessed, the default resistance is 14.
Neutral Support, Everyday Support: A neutral and natural level of community support, indicating neither support of nor resistance to an issue. Only ordinary benefits are provided to the supplicant.
Node: A location on the Sorcery Plane that represents the psyche or lingering power of a saint, founder, or Otherworld entity. Sorcerers and wizards travel to nodes to learn spells, to contact their saint or founder, or to summon an Otherworld entity (such as an elemental) into the Inner World.
Nonlethal Combat: A type of combat that is not intended to cause great harm to an opponent. The greatest effect that a defeated opponent can suffer is to be hurt.
Objection: a moderate level of negative community support, indicating resistance to the issue. Objection is the negative equivalent of ordinary support.
Occupation Keyword: A type of keyword that shows the typical abilities of a character with that job. The occupation keywords available to a hero may be limited by their culture and caste.
Offering: An objects or animal given to an entity that is not sacrificed in worship. Generally used by those who venerate a saint or perform ecstatic worship of a spirit, to show love and devotion. The term also applies to the tithing (giving of money) to a god. No magic is ever gained by an offering.
Ongoing Magic: Any magical effect that lasts beyond the instant it is cast. Unless the duration is increased, an ongoing magical effect lasts for the length of the contest in which it is cast.
Openness: A description of the degree of control the narrator takes over the availability of keywords during character creation.
Opponent: The character who reacts to the actions of the actor in a test.
Order: An organization that venerates a specific saint or founder. Orders can be divided into two types: religious orders, which are part of a church, and sorcerousorders, which are groups of sorcerers who venerate a founder.
Order of Action: The order in which heroes act in a group extended contest, based on the number of APs. The order of action will change each round as the AP totals of the heroes change.
Ordinary Consequences Chart: A table that measures victory level against degree of success in an extended contest when there is no community participation or Otherworld activity involved. See also heroic consequences chart.
Ordinary Support: A moderate level of community support, indicating agreement with the issue. Ordinary support is equivalent to objection.
Orthodox Mysticism: Style of mysticism in which the student attempts to transcend the world by disassociating himself from it. Orthodox mysticism usually takes the form of a monastery. See also manifest mysticism.
Other Side/Otherworld: Any of several magical worlds that coexist with the Mundane Plane. There are several otherworlds, including the God World, Sorcery Plane, and Spirit World.
Other Side/Otherworld Barrier: A magical barrier that a magician must overcome to travel from the Inner World to one of the Otherworlds. Depending on the plane traveled to, this barrier has a resistance of between 103 and 109.
Other Side/Otherworld Magic: A magical ability or ritual that requires travel to the Other Side to attempt.
Other Side/Otherworld Safety: A measure of how safe a magician is in various areas of the different Otherworlds. Otherworld safety is expressed as a modifier to the magician’s abilities, determined by the safety of the area or plane: Favored, Safe, Dangerous, or Alien.
Outside the Tradition: Any spirit that is not part of the tradition. Members of the tradition have not developed rituals to deal with the spirit, and can usually count on its being hostile or at least cautiously neutral. Specific enemy spirits are usually considered to be inside the tradition, because the worshippers have developed rituals to defend against them. See also inside the tradition.
Pantheon: A group of deities who share communal worship.
Paradise: An afterlife of pleasure, joy, or reward. See also hell.
Parting Shot: An action taken by the actor after his opponent has been defeated, with the intent of increasing the victory level. See also coup de grace.
Passion Spirit (1): A spirit that provides a bonus to all abilities used that further the “passion” of the spirit: hate chaos, help children, fight trolls, etc. Passion spirits are normally integrated rather than bound into a fetish.
Path: A set of instructions and teaching used by mystics to guide them on their journey to transcendence. A Path founded by an enlightened master may have several schools that teach it.
Patron: A supporting character whose abilities are often but not always greater than the hero’s. The hero follows or works for the patron, who may give him support or require obedience.
Penalty: A modifier that decreases a target number. A penalty can be expressed as a specific adjustment (e.g. -10) or as a percentage loss (e.g., -50%, which would reduce a target rating from 20 to 10, or from 10 to 15).
Personal Devotion: A form of worship in which a character has a direct relationship with a god or goddess, without requiring the intercession of a priest or similar specialist.
Personal Resistance: The magical resistance offered by a living target. In most cases, a living being uses their best magical ability to resist any magical effect, regardless of whether it is “appropriate” as a defense to the attack. If the target possesses no magical abilities, the default resistance to magic is 14.
Personality, Personality Trait: An ability that describes an emotional or behavioral trait. A personality trait can either be an ability or a flaw, depending on the description of the character.
Petty Aspect: An aspect of a normal god rather than a great god, equivalent in power and worship to a petty god.
Petty God: Any denizen of the God Plane that is not powerful enough to be called a god but which receives direct worship. See also herocult, subcult.
Petty Secret: A secret taught by a petty deity or petty aspect. Petty secrets are usually weak, and often seem silly to outsiders.
Philosophy: see (founder) Philosophy.
Physical Ability/Skill: A mundane ability that requires strength, agility, and physical exertion rather than mental activity.
Physical Contact: Some magic gains a bonus when the magician is physically touching his target with bare skin. Some magic requires Mandatory Physical Contact to have any chance to work, in which case no bonus is gained.
Physical Plane/World: see Inner Plane/World.
Piety: A relationship that measures a character’s dedication to and reverence for his pantheon or deity; church or order; animist tradition; or mystic path.
Plane (1): One of the four metaphysical divisions of Glorantha, which include the Inner World and three Otherworlds: God Plane, Sorcery Plane, and Spirit Plane. Also called a World.
Plane (2): A separate level of existence, either mundane or magical, within a specific Otherworld.
Player: A person playing Hero Wars, either running the game as the narrator or directing a hero who is one of the “stars” of a story. Contrast with character.
Point: see Node.
Portal of Power: A ritual or special item used by a sorcerer or wizard to connect to a node.
Possession: State in which a spirit has entered the body of a character to control or influence it. Possession can be hidden or dominant, depending on the type of spirit. See also channeling.
Potency: The overall strength of a poison, used to determine both its target number and the number of action points it possesses when it “attacks” a victim.
Power: A magical ability taught by a mystic school. A power is either a defensive ability, called a counter, or an offensive ability, called a strike.
Power Spot: A weak point in the barrier between Inner World Otherworld, whose resistance is less than the normal 103.
Premise: The plot and important backstory of an episode.
Priest: An occupation that involves service to and worship of a god. Most priests in theist cultures are devotees of the god.
Prophet: The founder of a Malkioni sect or church.
Propitiatory Worship: A type of sacrifice given to enemy gods or spirits to keep them from harming a worshipper or community.
Psyche: That portion of an adept that has a presence on the Saint Plane. When an adept travels from the Adept Plane to the Saint Plane, he leaves behind his essential body so that his psyche, travels among the psyches of the saints and founders.
Quest Challenge: An Otherworld wager where the two parties stake abilities in an extended contest, with the defeated party losing (and the victor gaining) his ability.
Quick Start Method: A style of character creation in which the player decides basic information (including the hero‘s primary ability), then defines other abilities and history as the need arises.
Range: The maximum distance that a missile weapon can be thrown or fired without penalty. Without magic, a weapon cannot be sent more than twice this distance, even with a penalty.
Range of Openness: see Openness.
Rank: Comparative rating assigned to a piece of equipment, usually a weapon or armor. During combat, the difference between the attacker’s weapon rank and the defender’s armor rank is applied as an edge or handicap to the attacker’s AP bid.
Realm: The home of a pantheon on the God Plane.
Refute: The most common type of Counter. If the player achieves any level of victory, the specific ability refuted cannot be used against him for the rest of an extended contest.
Region: see Estate.
Regular Liturgist: A liturgist who is a member of an order. Regular liturgists have access to both the standard blessings of their church and the unique blessings of their order.
Relationship: An ability that expresses the connection between a hero and a supporting character, a community, or a religion.
Relatives: A community defined by family relations, though the exact definition of inclusion depends on the culture.
Religion (1): A unified system of worship and belief. A religion can be large and have great political influence, or can be a small group of local worshippers. A religion must usually adhere to one of the four magic systems, though inclusion of a second type of magic in mixed worship is possible.
Religon (2): A community defined by the worship of a god, saint, or great spirit.
Religious Order: Any order that is part of a church. There are two types of religious orders: low orders, which have liturgists and lay worshippers as members; and highorders, which have wizards and possibly liturgists as members.
Resistance: The opposition to an attempted action. This may be an opposing character’s ability or a default resistance.
Resources: People, equipment, and magic available to an organization, such as a hero band. Player heroes who join the organization may or may not have access to these resources.
Ritual: A series of actions performed in specific ways that are intended to contact the Otherworld or boost a magician‘s ability to work magic.
Round: A division of action in a group extended contest during which each character may make one exchange.
Rule of [saint]: A magical text of a high order that details the life and teachings of the order’s patron saint, and which may or may not contain spells.
Rune: A magical symbol that concentrates Otherworld power. Runes are used to represent magical concepts, Otherworld entities, or fundamental aspects of the universe.
Rune Metal: A pure metal that has an affinity for a certain element or other runic power. When enchanted, rune metals gain specific magical abilities above and beyond those imparted by the enchantment itself.
Sacred Chief: A minor magician of an animist tradition (usually a Functional Tradition) who has magical powers due to his occupation or social position. A traditionnormally has only either shamans or sacred chiefs, but can have both.
Sacrifice: A form of worship normally given to deities, who provide magic in return. Sacrifice involves the destruction or loss of something of value to the worshippers, often by fire.
Saint: An individual who epitomizes the Malkioni faith to such an extent that they can be contacted after their deaths, and can provide magic to the faithful. Saints are venerated, and thus provide a way for their followers to worship the Invisible God.
Saint Plane: The plane of the Sorcery World that contains the nodes of the saints and founders.
Sanctuary: A type of temple that was consecrated by the actions of an Otherworld entity.
Scene: A section of an episode in which a specific event or action is expected to occur.
School (1): A division of a sorcerous order, similar to a chapter of a religious order. Schools of sorcery may be different from each other, even though they have a common founder.
School (2): General term used in Hero Wars for any place where mysticism is taught. See also dojo.
Secret: The greatest magical ability taught by a magical organization, representing the innermost nature of the god, saint, or great spirit worshipped. Only dedicated members who have mastered the organization’s other magical abilities can learn the secret.
Sect: see Church.
Secular Liturgist: A liturgist who is not part of an order, but instead serves a village, town, city, nobleman, army unit, or other secular organization.
Series: A group of related episodes that form a larger story of the player heroes.
Shaman: A magic practitioner of an animist religion skilled in traveling to the Spirit World and dealing with spirits.
Shamanic Circle: A power spot created by a shaman to enter the Spirit World or contact spirits.
Shamanic Escape: Special ability used by shamans to allow an instantaneous escape from the Spirit World at any time. Usually used if they are losing a test against a powerful spirit.
Shamanic Initiation: The ritual in which an apprentice is led into the Spirit Plane by a shaman, who aids him in awakening, finding, or allying his fetch.
Shrine: A constructed temple that has been consecrated to an Otherworld entity.
Significant Abilities: Those abilities known to an average example of a creature or narrator character. Individual foes can certainly have better, worse, additional, or different abilities.
Simple Test: A test with resistance where only one die roll per side is made to decide the outcome.
Skill: see mundane ability.
Skill Spirit: A spirit that provides an ability when integrated or bound into a fetish.
Sorcerer: An adept whose school and order are outside of any Malkioni church.
Sorcerous Order: An order whose founder is a sorcerer, whose members are outside of the hierarchy of any Malkioni church. Individual members may or may not be members of a church.
Sorcery: One of the four basic magic systems. Sorcery involves the veneration of saints or founders of the Sorcery Plane.
Sorcery Plane/World: One of the three Otherworlds. The Sorcery Plane is composed of nodes, which contain the energy that empowers the spells of wizards and sorcerers.
Special Spirit: A spirit that is unique to a specific tradition.
Spell: A magical ability learned by a magician that is powered by connecting to a node on the Sorcery Plane. Spells are contained within grimoires.
Spell Node: A node on the Adept Plane that provides the magical energy to empower a spell.
Spirit: Any denizen of the Spirit Plane. Many spirits can provide magical abilities if bound in a fetish or integrated into the body of a worshipper. The most common types of spirits that provide magical abilities to animists are skill spirits and passion spirits.
Spirit Ally: A spirit that guards, advises, and otherwise assists a family head, holy person, or sacred chief.
Spirit Cult: A congregation that sacrifices to a spirit. This misapplied worship gains the worshippers an affinity and feats, but at increased cost.
Spirit Plane/World: One of the three Otherworlds. Residents of the Spirit Plane are spirits, and are worshipped by animists.
Starting Action Point (AP) Total: The action points a character starts with during an extended contest, before action point bids have been made. Starting AP total is equal to the target number of the ability used after any modifiers have been figured.
State of Health: see Health.
Station: A specific “scene” of a known heroquest. The actions and die rolls of the hero determine his victory level and provide a carryover value. Certain stations are critical stations, where any level of failure immediately ends the quest and forces the quester back to the Mundane Plane.
Story Arc: A published Hero Wars series that details the events of a set time period. Episodes in the series can be of any type.
Strike: An offensive mystic power that is used to attack foes. A strike requires that the player bid all of his remaining APs, and generally causes a special effect if the player achieves any level of victory in the test. Certain types of mystic abilities, such as Walk Through Walls, are treated as strikes for game purposes.
Student: A member of a mystic school or dojo who has not yet mastered the disciplines and powers the organization teaches.
Subcult: A minor aspect of a god. See also herocult, petty god.
Success: Rolling equal to or less than a target number on a die roll. Also called a simple success.
Success Level: see Degree of Failure/Success.
Supplicant: A character who approaches his community to gain support in pursuit of a specific issue.
Support Level: The degree to which a community supports a supplicant. The seven levels of support are: total support, extraordinary support, ordinary support, neutral support, objection, forbiddance, and condemnation.
Supporting Character: A person with whom a character has a defined relationship. A supporting character can take any of several forms: adversary, ally, contact, dependent, follower, or patron. Most supporting characters are treated as abilities, but dependents and adversaries are considered to be flaws.
Talent: A magical ability provided by a spirit that has been integrated into the character. A talent may be used as often as desired, and begins with a target number to the spirit’s might.
Talisman: An object that connects one or more spell nodes to the physical plane. A sorcerous magician must physically touch a talisman in order to cast the spell.
Tapping: A type of sorcery that drains specific abilities from an opponent and stores them in a Tap Pool. The sorcerer can use the points in the tap pool as edges when casting spells. There are spells to tap five types of abilities: Tap Magical, Tap Mental, Tap Personality, Tap Physical, and Tap Relationship.
Target Number: A numerical rating given to an ability that is rolled against in the various tests.
Temple: The sacred area of an Otherworld being on the physical plane. A temple can be either a sanctuary or a shrine.
Test: An event or action in which die rolls are used to determine the outcome. There are several types of test, from simplest to most complicated: automatic success, ability test, simple contest, extended contest, and group contest.
Theism: One of the four basic magic systems. Theism involves sacrifice to the gods of the God Plane.
Total Support: A high level of community support, indicating active support of the issue. However, the community has not linked themselves to the supplicant magically, and so do not directly share in his success or failure. Total support is equivalent to forbiddance.
Totem: An animal spirit worshipped by a hsunchen tradition.
Tradition: A knowledge set used by animists to work magic. A tradition contains a list of known spirits (both friendly and enemy), and includes rituals on how to contact, placate, conquer, or protect against them.
Tradition Knowledge: The knowledge and myths that form the core and pattern of animist worship for a particular tradition.
Traditional Spirit: see Inside the Tradition.
Transcendent: An entity that is beyond normal contact from the Inner World. Some transcendent entities are worshiped using sacrifice or veneration, usually through aspects or lesser entities such as saints. Other transcendent entities have passed beyond the world, and teach only by their example.
Transfer: A result in an extended contest where one character loses action points that are gained by his opponent.
Triggered Episode: An episode whose plot depends on a crisis that strikes the heroes or their communities. Although many triggered episodes are random events, each published story arc provides a number of premises for these episodes, and gives the narrator a mechanism for triggering them.
Unconscious: A state of health that represents a defeated character who has been knocked out, and cannot take action. It may or may not accompany any other state of health.
Underworld: A part of the Otherworld that lies “beneath” the physical plane, usually associated with the element of darkness. See also hell.
Unrelated Action: An action taken during an extended contest that does not relate to directly defeating an opponent.
Veneration: Type of worship employed by sorcerous cultures. Veneration gives worship to a high entity (most often the Invisible God) by venerating the prophets and saints who were close to Him in their lives. Worship consists of passive prayer performed by congregations who follow the close lead of liturgists. Sorcerers do not worship in this way, but their interactions with their founders are a form of veneration.
Victory: Being on the winning end in a contest.
Victory Level: The degree to which a character has won or lost in a contest. There are several levels, from greatest to least: complete, major, minor, marginal, and tie ornarrator determines. The actor and opponent always achieve equivalent levels of victory and defeat: if one achieves a complete victory, the other suffers a complete defeat.
Virtue: A personality trait that is desired in or required of a character by the Otherworld entity that he worships.
Wealth: An ability that describes the material wealth and resources available to a character.
Weapon Rank: see Rank.
Wizard: An adept whose order is part of a Malkioni church.
Worship: Any method used by inhabitants of the Inner World to contact and deal with denizens of the Otherworld. Several forms of worship exist, each of which is used to contact different types of entities or obtain different results. The common forms of worship are asceticism, ecstatic worship, propitiatory worship, sacrifice, and veneration.