•Tanos 53, about 10:25 pm,  session 133 involved the searching and exploring of the hidden areas under the second level...

•This included the going to a heretoforth ignored staircase up, hearing loud bellowing and gnollis voices from above, Plaes and Burnous finding hinges in a staircase, then discover, the hard way, a trap below it and a corridor, under the other secret stairway (secrets within secrets).  The group followed it, and after hearing water and finding wet areas, opened an old, shuttered door to find themselves in a carved out, stone-paneled dry edge next to a black as ink, loud running underground river.

session 134 last night.

Tanos 54, 8:30 am.

more exploration, though after the group rested (woken by yelling of the gnolls and lizardment above), the level of interest and speed of the investigation of the ancient Venolvoan chambers hidden under the second level of the Caverns of Vexchian increased.  
The discovery of an enchanted door handle that tried to bite te layers hand off, as well as the defeat of said piece, brought short-lived triumph...until the large double door popped open, and in the darkness, pairs of orange eyes could be seen shambling from another long-forgoten chamber....

Cross-posted---

Currently, there is a thread about religion in settings.
Instead if derailing it with Celtricia stuff, I thought I'd make a post about some of the Philosophical and Religious ideas of the Cradle Area of Celtricia.  I'm not sure if this will get any responses, but that thread has made me think of this, and how a well-realized cosmology, history and hisatory of faith, and understanding of religions in a setting really helps the players get into the game and into character.

Though ancient History is full of the doings and positions of the Celestial Planars and their minions, there is next to no direct contact between these beings and those that live on the Waking Dream.  However, this does not mean that faith in Celtricia is completely based on the unknown.  Magic and the use of Void-borne power sources, as well as much necromantic ability and it's limits work within bounds that fit the cosmology as laid out by most faiths.  So while there is a large element of unknowability and interpretation of mortals in each faith; much of the cosmology is heavily agreed upon (though written from differfent standpoints) and is supported by the use of magic today.




"And as with any institution run by mortals yet fueled by the passion of belief, players in Celtricia find sects, cults, and power-bases in a state of growth, change, or upheaval, as often as in a stable state.  In Argus, the Vernadalian worship takes the form of the Church of the Serpent Queen, while in Igbar the Serpent Queen cult has been banished and repudiated, replaced by the Church of the Green Mother.  The different foci and different morality systems of these related groups creates a conflict more bitter than a typical rival. "

In other words, there is only one real overarching belief system in Celtricia; but because of the ambiguity and lack of direct contact, there are thousands of splintered faiths based on different interpretations and viewpoints.   I am going to go into the Index and pull out terms that deal with religion in Celtricia, and the movements and thoughts currently used in the history of the game.  I am not going to list individual faiths, planars, or saints, or anything else, just a few terms that give the flavor of the Faith in Celtricia.



From the Celtrician Index

Accords of Presence (Term)
•The ancient Planar agreement for all the Planars to leave the 'Waking Dream' and not interfere with it directly.
•The chronological delineator that ended the Age of Legends

Alementary (term)
•Alementism (Historical Term) Vicorian philosophical belief that gained traction later.
•Philosophical belief that the original eight Celestial Planars are the only True Gods and that the later planars are angels.

Avuntic (term)
•Religious and philosophical term for a materialistic bent, as opposed to a fatalistic one.  Avuntic faiths celebrate living and existing in the now as opposed to those that see the time in the waking dream as part of a longer cycle.  Avuntists do not believe in any continuation but a complete reprocessing of the spririt after the trip to the Well of Death.

Celestial Planar (term)
•The Celestial Planars describe the most powerful of the Void Travellers, the Gods of the Waking Dream. These beings embody and through their existence define cerrtain traits and chtracteristics.

Concerted (term)
•Religious term from Om that began use back in -600RON, spread North by about -100RON.
•Religious continuum describing the leve of conflict among planars.  A truly Concerted faith believes that the planars are acting out parts but all work towards the same goal behind the scenes, A totally unconcerted faith believes in heavy conflict between the Planar agencies.

Eminentism (term)
•The belief and philosophy that Oronath and Thanatos have no direct influence or concern over the Waking Dream. While currently this belief is considred fundamental, it has not always been this way.
•Eminentism (Historical Term, opposition) The Belief of the Dark one of the Venolvians was based on the concern and activity of Thanatos.

Godstraat (term)
•Marcher term meaning the Street of the Planars. Originally coined for the huge street of many temples in Storied Stenron, now most cities boast an area known as the Godstraat.

Hogunett (term)
•Celebration of judgement and gift giving in the middle of the winter Goesi, a Holiday.
•Also, the term is often used to desribe a good and wise judgement, as a derivation of the holiday.

Migration of the Spirit (term)
•The description to the travel and process of life energy from the Void (starting at the Well of Life) to the Waking Dream and the struggle back to the Void (to the Well of Death).

Se~oudoxic (term)
•Religious term for a faith or person who venerates saints.
•Se~oudoxical faiths go through cycles of popularity, currently on the rise

Shriving (term)
•The act of communing with a spirit or soul of a deceased creature and removing many or all bounds the Waking Dream has on it, allowing it to start the journer through the Void to the Well of Death. (c.f., Migration of the Spirit)

Song Of Creation (Term)
•The Historical/religeous story that describes the creation of the universe, which can change drastically from text to text.

Stations, the (term)
•The Stations are the slightly smaller places/power sources in the Void.  The inhabitiants of the House of Fire migrated to the Third Station when the House of Fire was destroyed.  The House of Air migrated to the Second Station for the same reason. For that reason those spell sources can fluctuate a bit more

Void, the (term)
•The Void is the interminable place that containes the Houses, the Stations, and the Waking Dream.

VoidBlind (term)
•Term used to describe those who cannot touch the sources of power in the Void (the houses and stations). 95% of the population is VoidBlind.


Waking Dream (term)
•The Term to describe the Celtrician planet and environs, as opposed to the Void and the Void-borne Houses and Stations.  
 
Weterlouse (term)
•The term comes from the Hobyt language, and means 'Brothers of the Faith'. It is used to describe very active members of a parish who are not part of the Clergy.


Now, a lot of these have their their own pages of full information, most importantly the text page for the Song of Creation.  But no term really gives the underlying feel of religion and the affects of faith in religion like the Migration of the Spirit.  So I am going to take the time to cast "Wall of Text" and reprint that page here.



Migration of the Spirit

Death, an end to one Journey and the Hopeful Beginning of Another
 

Even in an existence with a somewhat unified cosmology, the fear of death can be strong, and history is full of myths describing the lengths people have gone to avoid the final end. Couple this with the tangible evidence of the soul and the horrors that can be inflicted on it, by way of undead which walk the Waking Dream, and a reader might get some insight into the particular fear of death and dying alone that lies beneath the surface.

The term "Migration of the Spirit" normally is used to describe the passage of the spirit of a deceased person from the Waking Dream to the Well of Death. It is the returning of the energy spent in the Well of Life to the Void, and of the eventual return of this soul back to the Waking Dream. Different faiths use different legends and perspectives to describe this event, but this passage is described almost universally.  And another phenomena that is universally described is the difficulty a spirit has in making this journey.  Some faiths or legends talk about the power of unfinished labors or relationships, some speak of the hold of collected memories or unnatoned sins, but the evidence of necromancy and the manifestations of bound spirits is obvious to the most cultured cityfolk.

For the personality of a person in Celtricia, this manifests as a fear of dying unshriven. For without the shriving magics, the soul of a creature can be tied to the Waking Dream for decades or centuries.  To die and become the toy of some careless, nefarious necromancer is the not-so secret fear of anyone with intelligence in the Waking Dream, except for a few death worshippers.

Shriving magics are literally magics which can protect a soul from other necromancy, and can aslo speed the journey into the Void to the Well of Death.

This is obviously a reincarnation mechanic, and one that is supported by the ability of some mentalist spells to actually unlock fragmented former life memories. Couple this with the ability of unscrupulous Necromancers to use the spirit wrongly, and this gives you the proper feel of the Migration of the Spirit.  Necromancers can shrive spirits and calm or learn from spirits, but some necromancers also use their powers to enslave these earthbound spirits.

Because of all of this, coupled with this very common and strong cultural fear of undeath is a very large population of undead creatures and undeath, as undead servants can last for centuries or even longer, as well as areas where the large amount of unshriven souls have found twisted, elongated, life hating existences.   Ancient batlegrounds, tribal feuds, barrow-lands, all of these can literally be over-run with dozens or even hundreds of souls unable to leave the Waking Dream finding vessels to continue.    Which makes the shriving priests an important position for most faiths, and the need to deal with undead a serious issue for any population and one of the reasons that in Celtricia, there are no small, isolated population centers.

Session 139

•Tanos 55, 12:40am...on a ledge with a hidden door on it, 25' up.
•with the group discovering a ledge above an entrance in a deep ceilinged, hidden room.
It was hard going up to the ledge, with a lot of basic athleticism needed, and frankly, with armor and weapons and full packs...lucky some of the group made it there.

Then, the group found a plastered over door above the one they had come in, and spent time unplastering, and between Plaes' sharp eyes and Jon the Bard's knowledge, they found a version of Tighten door cast on it.
Th session ended after 5 guys were up at the top and discovering that the spell had been cast on the outside of the plastered over doors... group rested 9 hours ago, so though their internal clocks are mesed up, not too tired.

Also, gritty feel of the game system showed up, along with a cruel dicebot.
climbing up a rope 25' with a full pack, armor, and weapons?  Not so easy...and led to the proper answers...someone tie some knots in this thing...

did session 140 last night.  great exploration, though the PCs missed a few good clues.  
(I am a big believer in non-railroading, they miised it, then they missed it)  
Still, very dark and moody as they found the secret chambers of Kologne, who ran a dark cult in the mage school during it's earlier, brighter times.  These rooms were sealed by those that finally discovered and defeated him...

the group found none of that, nor the hidden tombs.

In other news,  

Looks like we are going from IRC to roll20.net.  The customer service has been great, and they can literally do our dividing dice.  So this is probably gping to be a switch over.

Group just hit session 150,
Still in the Ruins, though they have managed to go around and through secret areas and come up in a differnt area of on of the maps from the second expedition (this is the fifth).  SO they are probably going to make a break for the surface, and head back to town.

As always, I have been adding to the population centers of the play area, which is the very bleak Steel Isle, and the small city of Steel Isle Town.  Most recently, I finished a page on the Southern Fields, the district of town to the South.