Hârn's Churches

The pantheon of civilized Hârnians includes ten major gods: Agrik, Halea, Ilvir, Larani, Morgath, Naveh, Peoni, Sarajin, Save-K'nor, and Siem. These gods each have their own church.

Organization and training vary among the chuches. The churches of Larani and Peoni are highly centralized, while the 'church' of Siem has no real structure at all. Some churches give priests martial training; others emphasize scholarship and study.

The Tonsured Trait

Some BW lifepaths confer the Tonsured trait. In Hârn, this trait does not necessarily mean that the character actually has his/her head shaved-- only that s/he bears a mark or sign (a tattoo, scars, ritual garments, etc.) that establishes his/her connection to the church. The trait still confers a +1D Affiliation.

Churches as Sub-Settings

The simplest and most easy way to create Hârnic priests is to use existing BW lifepaths and vary them as listed in the Customizing Skills for Individual Churches section on the right.

However, it would also be possible to develop each Hârnic church as a sub-setting, with its own unique set of lifepaths. The Morgathian church lifepaths outlined in the An Alternate Approach: Church-Specific Lifepaths at the bottom of the right-hand column provides the beginnings of such an approach for one of Hârn's churchs.

Anyone who develops further church-specific lifepaths for Hârn is encouraged to submit them to jim [at] burning-harn [dot] net.

Church Lifepaths

Despite these differences that exist among Hârn's faiths, the Lifepaths of Man section of Burning Wheel Gold contains lifepaths that are appropriate for members of all ten of Hârn's churches.

Priest Generally applicable lifepaths include Acolyte, Religious Acolyte, Temple Acolyte, Priest, Village Priest, Temple Priest, Itinerant Priest, Chaplain, Archivist, Theologian, and most of the lifepaths in the Religious Sub-Setting.

Some other lifepaths are appropriate for specific churches. The Augur lifepath (from the Peasant seting) may be appropriate for a priest of Siem, while the Ship's Chaplain lifepath may be fitting for Sarajinian priests. The Cultist lifepath would fit well for Navehan or Morgathian priests. The Professional Assassin lifepath (from the Burning Wheel Wiki) may also be appropriate for Navehan Temple Assassins.

Customizing Skills for Individual Churches

To reflect differences among churches, Hârnic priest characters may use their Specific Skill points to open the following skills.

Agrik: Armor Training, Mace, Shield Training, Torture

Halea: Conspicuous, Haggling, Seduction, Wealth-wise

Ilvir: Folklore, Illumination, Ivashu Husbandry, Ivashu-wise

Larani: Armor Training, Rule of Law, Shield Training, Sword

Morgath: Death-wise, Intimidation, Ugly Truth, Shadow of Bukrai-wise

Naveh: Assassination-wise, Inconspicuous, Knives, Stealthy

Peoni: Animal Husbandry, Apothecary, Farming, Physician

Sarajin: Axe, Ivinian History, Ljarl-wise, Wind-and-Wave-wise

Save-K'nor: Falsehood, Obscure History, Rhetoric, Symbology

Siem: Astrology, Aura Reading, Dream-wise, Taur-Im-Aina-wise

At GM/group discretion, giving priest characters an additional 2-3 Specific Skill points to be spent on those skills may also be appropriate.

An Alternate Approach: Church-Specific Lifepaths

Although it is possible to use the existing BW lifepaths with only a few modifications (such as are outlined above) to create Hârnic priests, it would also be possible to create a set of new, unique lifepaths for each of Hârn's churches.

For instance, Toppi Makkonen (Skiorht) posted the following ideas for Morgathian church lifepaths on the Hârnforum:

Lifepath	Time	Res	Stat	Leads
Longai (Acolyte)	5 yrs	5	+1 M	Outcast
Skills: 6 pts: Doctrine, Read, Write, Cooking, Temple-Wise, Corpse-Wise
Traits: 2 pts: Obedient, Hooded¹, Faithful, Broken

Lifepath	Time	Res	Stat	Leads
Khala (Priest)²	5 yrs	18	+1 M	Outcast
Skills: 6 pts: Ritual, Oratory, Suasion, Burial Rites, Anatomy, Ancient Language (Ormauk), Morvrin-Wise
Traits: 2 pts. Masked³, Cold-Blooded, Spooky

Lifepath	Time	Res	Stat	Leads
Khidarmur (High Priest)⁴	7yrs	45	+1 M	Outcast, Noble Court
Skills: 6 pts: Intimidation, Administration, Equiquette, Religious History, Church-Wise, Politics-Wise, Bukrai-Wise; 1 pt.: General
Traits: 2 pts.: Paranoid, Domineering Presdence, Aura of Malevolence, Batshit

Lifepath	Time	Res	Stat	Leads
Torkenta-Matan (Pontifical Agent)⁵	6yrs	20	+1 M/P	Outcast
Skills: 7 pts:Inconspiculous, Interrogation, Forgery, Knife, Torture, Heresy-Wise
Traits: 2 pts.: Cool-headed, Fearless, Fanatic

NOTES:
1: Hooded is the Morgathian version of the Tonsured trait. 2: Requires Longai. 3: Masked is the Morgathian version of the Vested trait. 4: Requires Khala. 5: Requires Khala and two Outcast lifepaths.