Runequest Thursday #185 - Pilgrimage Complete!
In Part One of this three part series, we created a Gloranthan Pilgrimage destination, the Shrine at the end of the Pilgrimage, an order of Knights that patrol the Pilgrim Trail, protecting those who travel to ther shrine. In Part Two, we worked out a short set of encounters for a set of pilgrims as they journeyed to their destination - including the stats for a bunch of Ogre brigands led by a Runelord of Cacodaemon. Today, we will get into the rewards of completing a pilgrimage.
The Place of Pilgrimage:
On arriving at the Pilgrimage site, the worst of the toil of the trek is at an end, so some satisfaction - and relief from the rigors of travel - is natural. This is likely more keenly felt by actual pilgrims of the real world, rather than virtual ones around a game table. Yet the exertion and exhaustion inherent in a long trek this might be enough to warrant an opportunity to raise a character's CON, either as training, or as a Characteristic Improvement Check. This could work like a POW gain check (roll less than: Species Max CON - Currrent CON, x5%). Any who make the check gain 1 CON permanently - once they have had a few days to recover from the journey, of course. Of course, chances are good that the pilgrims used a number of skills in their travels, so advancement in these skills is also a possibility.
A not uncommon way for the cult or shrine of pilgrimage to make a little extra coin is to offer a Pilgrimage Medallion, only available to those who have made the trip. The basic version is free, made of silver and worth about 1 Lunar in specie, but a larger gold version would be available to those with deeper pockets. Many people will want a souvenir or talisman of such a trek, and either medallion is proof of the completion of the pilgrimage. Showing a Medallion might also grant certain other benefits. Hostels could offer discounts to those who flash their medalliion, a reduced price on a pilgrim's breakfast or on items of use to travelers in the market. Of course, this benefits the shrine indirectly, but some shop owners might be cultists themselves with tithes to pay, or just be grateful enough to pay the cult for the regular income from pilgrims.
The pilgrimage area could also provide greater access to general comforts and security. Walls are likely to keep out wild beast and some of the chaos riffraff. The presence of a few cults, and the warriors they comprise, adds to this security - allowing pilgrims to recover in relative peace and calm. The Knights of the Bright Wing, created in the Pilgrimage articles over the last two posts, have their Main Chapterhouse in a walled keep below the Shrine to the Celestial Horse. This has allowed a village to grow under their wardenship. They are in the process of extending walls from the keep around the houses and the shops of the village square, nestled in the shadow of the Shrine. They do this for no gain, with only the safety of their charges, and the fulfillment of their oaths of service, in mind. It does make their jobs easier, naturally, since pilgrims do have safe haven, and the Knights a place of respite.
Pilgrims generally travel relatively light, so re-supply might be needful. Combined with things wearing out, breaking or being lost, or taken, in transit, there are any number of things that a pilgrim might have run short of. Hence the shops that have sprung up in the village - which we shall name Fetlock, because it rests at about the level of the fetlocks on the horse-head shaped mountain that is the Shrine itself. Prices in Fetlock are likely to be high for anything that must be imported, or for things that are commonly required by pilgrims on arrival. The range of articles is also probably not great. But certain items might be over-represented. Shoemakers, Innkeepers, Brewers and similar porbably occupy a significant amount of the village, and there might be lively competition for the pilgrim trade. So it is just possible that these items, if not necessarily good rooms and good food, might be a bargain in such a place - and all are likely to be welcome after a hard trek.
Rewards for a Successful Pilgrimage:
There are a lot of possibilities.
Certainly, the shrine at the terminus of the pilgrimage will offer some form of blessing for those with the devotion to complete the journey. Of course, In Glorantha, this could be a significant magical blessing. Depending on the nature of the site, blessings could be a small permanent addition (1d4+1%) to a single skill or a larger temporary one (+15% for one Season). The skill should probably be one related to the nature of the pilgrimage site. It could be Lore: Religion or Lore: Region, but it could also be one connected to the shrine thematically, like Riding for the Shrine of the Celestial Horse.
There are other possibilities: An automatic opportunity to rise in Characteristic POWer coud accompany participation in a religious service for pilgrims visiting the shrine. For someone who is desperate for information, the opportunity to ask a question of the god or gods associated with the shrine would be a powerful motivator. This also works well as a motivator for player characters who need to know something and cannot gain the information. They complete a pilgrimage and gain the information they seek - which probably leads ot another quest (or Heroquest).
An alternate way of managing the above is to allow an audience with a rune level of the shrine to those who complete the pilgrimage. This might make possible the meeting of those who might otherwise be rivals or the uninitiated. For example: An prospective Orlanthi rune level undertakes the Pilgrimage of the Celestial Horse to riddle with the Primus of the Order of the Bright Wing, a Yelmalian Rune Lord, therby fulfilling a geas he was set in order to attain the status of Wind Lord.
Learning a Common Magic spell is also possible. It might be one that is readily available but free or at a significant discount for pilgrims. Or it might be a special spell normally only available to the cult that controls the area. The Order of the Bright Wing might make the first rank of Saddle Sure available for free to anyone who has the pilgrimage medallion. This serves the pilgrim as well as the Order, who may end up recruiting some of those who appear for the training, and others who pay for further ranks in this or other spells.
To those who choose to devote themselves, for a while or permanently, the rewards are greater still. A cult in an isolated local is always on the look out for good acolytes. In addition to a new calling, lission and a place to live, those who who choose to serve as Initiates gain all the benefits of that rank - which might also limited include access to Rune Magic.
Rune levels are always the lest common rank in any cult, but in a cult based around the a pilgrimage route and shrine, they are likely to be rarer still, and with fewer competitors at equivalent levels in other cults. For some this has a lot of appeal, as they are a big fish ins a small pond. This can also mean positions of greater responsibility come open more frequently. So a senior initiate based out of a large cult with a lot of rune levels could, with full aporoval from his local cult center, undertake pilgrimage to a shirine the cult approves of, in hopes of taking up residence their an progressing more quickly.
Last post, we talked about the benefits of joining the Order of the Celestial Horse. These also have appeal to some pilgrims, and could grant one use Shrine-specific rune magic in addition to the benefits listed.
Other adventures abound from the shrine, whether it is the Celestial Horse or another of your own making. Remaining with the Order for a Season or two, or staying in Fetlock, unlocks a new frontier, filled with chaos to kill, settlers and pilgrims to protect, artifacts of the ancient world to discover. Other ideas: what if Pentan nomads wandering the deeper wastes in the east, come sniffing after treasure and the rumor of a sacred horse. Or perhaps there is the possibility of a trade route to the the Far East - the spices and silks of Kralorela could rewrite the fortures of a little shriine in the wilderness.
