St. Jaspar - Patron Saint of Strength and Rocks

St. Jaspar is a member of the constellation of minor dieties and apotheosized saints that make up the Nadene branch of the Church of Three Goddesses.  In this case, St. Jaspar is the patron saint of Strength and Rocks.

St Jaspar began life as Jaspar Wilderman.  He was a fighter in the service of the Archduke of Scallen, back in the early 280s, when Scallen was the capitol of the Kingdom of Ymnaris.  Jaspar was a captain of a company (100 men) of halberdiers, serving by patrolling the Pellet Water river, and also the Falcon Woods.

While on patrol, he once encountered a strange scene, while separated from his men.  He was traveling with half of the company of halberdiers, tracking a raiding party of Bugbears out of the Falcon Woods, and was separated from his men early one morning.  While he waited for the half company to reform, he was searching an area around a gorge of water.  The water was welling up out of the ground, and filled a small natural rocky basin, before running of in the light woods as a tiny stream.  He came across a young goatherd girl, sitting by the gorge, and tending to a mother goat and her young.  The young girl looked up to see Jaspar coming across the clearing towards the gorge, when a band of Bugbears, led by a berserking Minotaur, came out of the woods and charged the young girl.  Jaspar sprang into action, but only had his hunting knife and a short sword with him.  He immediately charged the Minotaur and grappled with it, stabbing again and again.  The Bugbears were amazed, and stood down to watch the fight, and see how their monstrous leader would fare against this brave soldier.  The girl gathered up the goat yearlings, and retreated to the base of a big tree, just outside the clearing of the gorge.  Finally, Jaspar succeeded in killing the Minotaur, and the band of Bugbears would have charged the fatigued hero, except at that point, a patrol of the halberdiers arrived on the spot, and gave good sport to the Bugbears.  They were soon killed or routed, and the soldiers in hot pursuit.  Jaspar bound a gash on his arm as best he could, and then immediately looked after the girl, to see if she were okay.

That was when the girl revealed herself as the goddess Nadene, the goddess of fertility.  She thanked Jaspar for his bravery, and immediately gifted him with immortality, and great strength, and told him that the stones where he stood would be the basis for his power.  And so, Jaspar Wildeman became St. Jaspar, patron saint of strength and rocks and the earth.

Over time, the great strength of St. Jaspar began to reveal itself, in lots of fantastic feat.  Also, the sages and mystics of the age realized that had become something more than human through his encounter with Nadene.  There were those who began to pay homage, and to worship the relationship between the saint and the goddess. Over time, this grew into the young version of the Order of St. Jaspar.  A home for the order was needed, and the fantastic stone formation at the heart of the City of Shadows, the capitol of the newly formed Barony of Henn, was chosen as the site for this. Work began, on the Cathedral at Earthroot, and it grew over the centuries.  All of it is constructed of stone, and much of it is carved directly out of the great formation itself.  Much of the traditional ritual within the Order of St. Jaspar involves self meditation, and the only communal acts are the playing of slow reflective music, on stone instruments (flutes, mostly, but also a strange sort of xylophone type instrument), and the recitation of ethical oaths of behavior.  Because of the solitary nature of the order, much of the cathedral is given over to individual cells, and small meditation rooms. Much of the meditation has to do with the Way of Stone, which involves the great mystery, of how is stone alive?

The order attracts those from all walks of life, but it has a special appeal for those who make their labor in life through working the earth, especially in trades that require great amounts of physical strength.  This includes masons, stone carvers, miners and even some farmers.  Because of the background of Jaspar Wilderman, and his simple story of courage being rewarded, the order also appeals to warriors and soldiers in no small numbers.  There are even a number of Dwarves and Gnomes in the mix, from those communities where they have taken to following the Church of the Three Goddesses.

 The clergy of the order includes both men and women, although men predominate.  Both are viewed as equal, however.  Strength and acts of strength are seen as gifts from St. Jaspar, and the path from novitiate to full priest is full of different stages of exhibiting personal strength - usually physical strength, but also strength of mind and strength of character.  Outside the single largest concentration of the Cathedral at Earthroot, there are a number of churches and community halls dedicated to St. Jaspar.  There are also a large number of hermitages and abbeys.  Living in community, isolated from the world, is very appealing to the men and women who are attracted to the Order.  Typically, clergy wear white robes, trimmed in geometric shapes of some color or other, reflecting the church or community they are associated with.

A school of clerics, who are not only encouraged to move out among the peoples of the valley, but who also regularly take up arms against evil and injustice, exists.  It is from this school, the way of the wandering stone, that the Brothers and Sisters of the Wandering Stone come from, and also where most clerics (in the sense of the adventuring class) will come from.  The monastic branches of the order will refer to these as the Rolling Stones, and these wanderers (who also, in their way, dedicate their life to understanding the mysterious Way of Stone, but through the application of force to right wrong and thwart injustice) will refer to their monastic brothers and sisters as Mossbacks.

Barony of Henn and the City of Shadows

Henn is the name of a barony in the northern parts of the Rising Land region.  The capitol city is also known as the City of Shadows, and has a population of 18,000.  The Barony, and the city, are both about 1200 years old.

The city of Henn has three major trade towns associated with it.  These are located on roads going to nearby Baronies.

The first, Aldrop (pop. 6,000) is located on the road southwest to Scallen.  The road stops at the Two-Moon River at the independent town of Riverport, but about a third of the way between Henn and Riverport stands the town of Aldrop.  Aldrop is known for the strange community of Gnome herbalists (the Leaf Guild of Mika) that live in the outskirts of the town, and also for the very old (over 1000 years old, almost as old as the City of Shadows itself) Shrine of the Seasons.  This is a a Lass Indol shrine that venerates all four of the Lass Indol demigoddesses, Neuvirra Oss (demigoddess of Spring and Planting), Elongar Suu (demigoddess of Summer and Growth), Olimo Vis (demigoddess of Autumn and the Harvest), and Frigia Nor (demigoddess of Winter and of Feasting).  Even though these four have long been brought into the Westron Church, the community that lives at the Shrine of the Seasons has a distinctive Lass Indol feel to it - preferring to wear the clothing and eat the cuisine of the ancient Lass Indol, when they were part of the Olmert Empire.  Given the nature of the Shrine, there are often visiting clergy that are dedicated to Kyclos present in Aldrop.

The second town, in the Barony, is along the road that goes north and then east to Huygen the City of Light.  This town, Tor Alis (pop. 4,000), is built on a tall, bald hill at the foot of the Jazzan Mountains.  The Huygen Road there passes around the base of the hill, but there is considerable traffic up to the heights of the town.  The town of Tor Alis (named for Alis hill) is in site of Mount Soluto, where the hermitage of the Eagles of Jazzan is located.  Because of its proximity, it is often a meeting place for members of the Eagles order, and also others who would have dealings in the lands surrounding the Jazzan mountains.

The third town of the Barony is Octoris (pop. 3,500) located on the road south to Pellorix.  It is located along the Pellorix Road, about half way between the City of Shadows, and the northern edge of the Redsmoke Woods.  The town is known for two main reasons. The first is the monastery (the Harmonious Reflectory of Order) located inside some curious crystalline caves, just outside of town, that is run by an order of St. Ermo.  These monks have dedicated their lives to the study of mathematics.  For some reason, the monastery have attracted a lot of retired soldiers and masons who have chosen to make a study of the philosophy of numbers.  The monastery is rare in that it is in fairly frequent communication with the Archivists of Parn Tandalorn.  The second thing that Octoris is known for is School of Bonbonis - a school for training young persons of worth, and wealthier men at arms, the fine art of Archery.  It was originally established by Bonbonis, a woodsman of exceptional skill with the bow, from the Redsmoke Forest.  On his retirement from the life of a Woodsman, he had acquired a fair amount of wealth, was annointed officially as a Lord by the Baron of Henn, and settled in Octoris (rather than constructing a castle or keep, Bonbonis instead built the School for archery).  He was joined by a number of his compatriots and companions from his early life as an adventurer and woodsman.

In addition to the population of the dependent towns, there are approximately another ten or twelve thousand people, mostly farmers and members of very small nameless villages, that make up the Barony.

The capitol city of Henn itself is the seat of the branch of the Church, under the division of Nadene, that venerates St. Jaspar.  The great Earthroot Cathedral is here, built out of a very large stone formation that makes up the western edge of the City.  The stone, called the Earthroot, has legendary properties, and is supposedly a ward against the return of the elemental gods of the Old Ones.  The Church, in its official position on the elemental gods, has chosen not to recognize this, and instead considers the stone to have been placed here, far from the Jazzan Mountains, by a band of prescient Storm Giants, that foresaw the coming of Jaspar Wilderman, and his ability to make stone alive, and work it by the gifts of his great strength ('like that of a Storm Giant' it is said).  It is not known if this story, or the one about the ward against the elemental gods is true, but the second is the position officially taken by the Archivists of Parn Tandalorn, and the former is the position taken by the Church.  One of the more visible of the properties of the Earthroot is the presence of the Thousand Sons of the Earthroot.

The capitol is called the City of Shadows for the reason of the fantastic shadows that the city is always in.  These shadows are cast by a cloud of great stones, ranging in size of a small farm pig, on up to the size of a massive windmill, or castle keep.  These float on the air, and rotate, slowly but irregularly, in a circular pattern around the Earthroot, at a height of approximately 500-1000 feet.  It is not known what keeps the stones up, as experiments by magic users from the eight Schools of Magic have not revealed the nature of the magic.  Due to the rigorous nature of the experiments, however, most feel sure that the stones are not going to fall.  They rotate in a radius of approximately a mile or so, but the larger stones are closer to the center.  The movement of these causes a constant shifting pattern of shadows to dance all across the city, hence the name "City of Shadows".

The largest of the stones rotating around the Earthroot, are the Thousand Sons.  There are many more than a thousand of these stones, but the larger ones (the named ones) are called the Thousand Sons. One of the more interesting, Aqualith (the Water Stone) has a small spring of water located on it, and it is constantly producing a fresh gurgling of water up out of it.  This water gathers in small pools on the upper surface of Aqualith, a stone of perhaps 20 yards across the long face, and 5 yards wide, and which is floating lengthwise upright.  However, the water, since it is constantly being produced, is always trickling down as a waterfall down the side of Aqualith.  Once it falls the hundreds of feet to the city, it has mostly dispersed into a fine misting drizzle, however it is enough water to keep the city incredibly lush, and full of the most bountiful trees and gardens.

The current ruler of the city is Lendara Astern of the Moontusk family.  The Moontusk family has been involved as one of the leading families of Henn since they came out of the Olmert Empire, approximately 500 years ago (in a later wave of colonisation).  Her full title is Majestrix Lendara Astern, Baroness of Henn, Queenchief of the Moontusk Diamond, and Protector of the Earthroot.

Specialty Priests of the Westron Church (part 1)

The many various orders and chapters of the Westron Church each have their own specialty priests (for a list, see this post), available for Human player character use - here are the important stats.

First the goddess of Fertility (one of the three that the Westron Church is based on), as well as her affiliated demigods and saints.

Nadene - goddess of Fertility

• Priest's Alignment: Neutral or Neutral Good
• Minimum Abilities: Wisdom 12, Charisma 12. Wisdom or Charisma 16 means +5% experience; Wisdom and Charisma 16 means +10% experience.
• NWP and WPN Prof: Herbalism (Required).  NWP groups - Priest, General.  No weapons required.
• Weapons and Armor: Weapons Permitted: Javelin, polearm, spear. Armor Permitted: Hide armor and leather armor (normal or magical), all non-metal shields.
• Restrictions: Priests of Nadene must be married.
• Major Spheres: All, Healing, Necromantic, Plant, Summoning.
• Minor Spheres: Animal, Charm, Creation, Divination, Protection, Weather.
• Powers: Charm/Fascination (Works as the 3rd level Wizard Spell suggestion, but cannot be used in combat); Incite Berserker Rage (A willing warrior may be incited at most 1 time per day.  It takes 1 round for the priest to incite the warrior.  Then the warrior has +2 to hit and damage, and cannot leave the field of battle while foes still face him.  Once he leaves, he chooses whether or not to emerge from the rage); May choose one of the following animals which which the priest may communicate (not control, just talk to): Cattle, goats, horses, rabbits, sheep or snakes.
• Symbol: The symbol of Nadene is a Pine Cone.

Kyclos - demigod of the Cycle of Life

• Priest's Alignment: True Neutral
• Minimum Abilities: Wisdom 10.  Wisdom 16 means +10% experience.
• NWP and WPN Prof: Religion (required). NWP groups - Priest, General.  No weapons required.
• Weapons and Armor: Weapons Permitted: Dagger/dirk, knife, scythe, sickle. Armor Permitted: All non-metal armor; no shields.
• Restrictions: Priests may not eat animal flesh - they are vegetarian.
• Major Spheres: All, Divination, Healing, Necromantic (Special Note: These priests cannot use resurrection spell; they use reincarnate instead), Plant, Summoning, Weather.
• Minor Spheres: Animal, Charm, Creation, Elemental, Protection, Sun.
• Powers: Incite Berserker Rage (A willing warrior may be incited at most 1 time per day.  It takes 1 round for the priest to incite the warrior.  Then the warrior has +2 to hit and damage, and cannot leave the field of battle while foes still face him.  Once he leaves, he chooses whether or not to emerge from the rage); Turn Undead (same as a Cleric in PHB)
• Symbol: Braided Circle.

 St. Horace - patron saint of Animals

• Priest's Alignment: Neutral Good or True Neutral.
• Minimum Abilities: Wisdom 9, Charisma 13. Wisdom or Charisma 16 means +5% experience; Wisdom and Charisma 16 means +10% experience.
• NWP and WPN Prof: Animal Handling (Required).  No weapons required.  NWPs allowed: Priest, General, Warrior.
• Weapons and Armor: Bill, cestus, club, dagger/dirk, knife, mace, main-gauche, stiletto, swords (all), warhammer. Armor Permitted: all non-metal armor; no shields.
• Restrictions: None.
• Major Spheres: All, Animal, Charm, Divination, Protection.
• Minor Spheres: Combat, Creation, Healing, Plant.
• Powers: Identification of any Natural monster or animal; Speak with 3 specific types of animals (priest chooses, 1 bird, 1 mammal, and 1 fish or reptile; Soothing Word for Natural monsters or animals 3x a day (can remove a Fear spell or calm down animals or monsters up to 2x the priests level); Shapechanging at level 5 (as per the Druid's power from the PHB - same animals the Priest may speak to)
• Symbol: Salmon 
• The Stone of Life - Great Cathedral of St. Horace, is located at Ungams. 
• A number of different Ranger Hermitages exist throughout the valley, that are associated with St. Horace, who's clerics have an affinity for both Human and Elven Rangers.  The original, is the site of the Eagles of Jazzan.
  

Mother Kimber - patron saint of childbirth and children

• Worshiper's Alignment: Chaotic Good, Neutral Good, Lawful Good.
• Minimum Abilities: Wisdom 10. Wisdom 16 means +10% experience.
• NWP and WPN Prof: Healing (required).  No weapons required.  NWPs allowed: Priest, General.
• Weapons and Armor: Lasso, net. Armor Permitted: None; no shields.
• Restrictions: None.
• Major Spheres: All, Astral, Charm, Creation, Elemental, Healing, Protection, Summoning, Sun.
• Minor Spheres: Animal, Combat, Divination, Guardian, Necromantic.
• Powers: Turn Undead (as per Cleric in PHB)
• Symbol: Circle with a dot in it, off center

 St. Leiathar - patron saint of Weather

• Priests's Alignment: True Neutral or Neutral Good
• Minimum Abilities: Wisdom 10, Constitution 12. Wisdom or Constitution 16 means +5% experience; Wisdom and Constitution 16 means +10% experience.
• NWP and WPN Prof: Weather Sense (required).  No weapons required. NWPs allowed: Priest, General.
• Weapons and Armor: Battle axe, bows (all), club, hand/throwing axe, javelin, spear, warhammer. Armor Permitted: All non-metal armor, all shields.
• Restrictions: None
• Major Spheres: All, Astral, Elemental (the priest can only use spells with the words Water, Air, and Wind in their names, and the spell chariot of Sustarre ), Protection, Weather.
• Minor Spheres: Combat, Divination, Plant, Sun.
• Powers: Inspire Fear (2x per day, as per Wizard spell of 4th level).
• Symbol: Cloud.
• Cloudhome Cathedral in Werms.

 St. Jaspar - patron saint of Strength and Rocks

• Priest's Alignment: Neutral Good, or True Neutral.
• Minimum Abilities: Wisdom 9, Strength 15. Wisdom or Strength 16 means +5% experience; Wisdom and Strength 16 means +10% experience.
• NWP and WPN Prof: Endurance (Required).  No weapons required.  NWPs allowed: Priest, General, Warrior.
• Weapons and Armor: Battle axe, cestus, club, mace, maul, morning star, picks (all), polearm, sword/two-handed, warhammer. Armor Permitted: All armor and shields.
• Major Spheres: All, Combat, Healing.
• Minor Spheres: Elemental, Necromantic.
• Powers: Immune to life draining and paralysis from undead, also to chill touch, energy drain, enervation, ray of enfeeblement, and vampiric touch; Turn Undead (as per Cleric in PHB); Incite Berserker Rage at 5th level; Inspire Fear (2x per day, as per Wizard spell of 4th level) at 8th level.
• Symbol: Mountain.
• The Cathedral of Earthroot is located in the City of Shadows, capitol of Henn.

 Brother Ian - patron saint of Knowledge and Fire

• Priest's Alignment: Neutral Good, or True Neutral.
• Minimum Abilities: Wisdom 10, Intelligence 10. Wisdom or Intelligence 16 means +5% experience; Wisdom and Intelligence 16 means +10% experience.
• NWP and WPN Prof: Firebuilding (required). No Weapons required.  NWPs allowed: Priest, General, Wizard.
• Weapons and Armor: Bill, dagger/dirk, knife, stiletto, swords (all). Armor Permitted: All metal armor, all metal shields.
• Restrictions: None.
• Major Spheres: All, Elemental (the priest may only use the spells whose names include the words Fire, Flame, Heat, Pyrotechnics, and the spell Chariot of Sustarre), Sun.
• Minor Spheres: Charm, Divination, Healing, Necromantic, Protection, Weather.
• Powers: Pass Unharmed through any wall of fire spell; Immune - +2 saving throw vs. priest spells of Elemental sphere, and all wizard spells of Evocation and Alteration with the words fire, burning, flaming, pyrotechnics, and incendiary in the title.
• Symbol: Lantern

 St. Ellain - patron saint of Art and Water

• Priest's Alignment: Chaotic Good, Neutral Good, Lawful Good
• Minimum Abilities: Wisdom 13, Intelligence 12. Wisdom or Intelligence 16 means +5% experience; Wisdom and Intelligence 16 means +10% experience.
• NWP and WPN Prof: Artistic Ability (choose one) (required).  No weapons required. NWPs allowed: Priest and General.
• Weapons and Armor: Bows (all) are the only weapon allowed.  No armor or shields allowed.
• Restrictions: Priests in the order of St. Ellain receive D6 for hit dice, rather than D8.
• Major Spheres: All, Astral, Creation, Divination, Elemental, Plant, Protection, Sun.
• Minor Spheres: Healing, Necromantic.
• Powers: Identification of and Immunity vs. certain spells. Because of the priest's superior insight into creativity and art, he is Immune (receives an automatically-successful saving throw) to all first-level wizard Illusion spells for which a saving throw is possible, and gets a +2 saving throw vs. all other Illusion spells for which a saving throw is possible (he can't make a saving throw against someone else's invisibility, for instance).
• Symbol: Quill
• Ramee Tower Cathedral - Khomaes

 Sister Silpha - patron saint of Travel and Air

• Priest's Alignment:True Neutral or Neutral Good.
• Minimum Abilities: Wisdom 12, Charisma 10. Wisdom or Charisma 16 means +5% experience; Wisdom and Charisma 16 means +10% experience.
• NWP and WPN Prof: Navigation (Required). No Weapons required;  NWPs allowed: Priest, General.
• Weapons and Armor: Club, javelin, mace, maul, polearm, quarterstaff, spear, trident. Armor Permitted: All non-metal armor and all shields.
• Restrictions: None.
• Major Spheres: All, Charm, Divination, Protection, Sun.
• Minor Spheres: Elemental, Guardian, Necromantic, Plant.
• Powers: Receive a new Language once per level, until level 8; Soothing Word (3x a day can remove a Fear spell or calm down people or monsters up to 2x the priests level), Charm/Fascination (works as 3rd level Wizard spell) at 8th level.
• Symbol: Walking stick.