Animism or Faerie Worship

[Highland_Piper]

I decided to do something different for my world. The most common religion is Animism or Faerie Worship. Now for those "Hedge Wizards" or "Druids" that worship the Fae get to cast spells like a cleric or a Druid but different.

I have not come up with a name for the priests that worship the Fae yet. I want something a bit different as their powers are different from either Clerical or Druid abilities. Its more of a mutual understanding type thing rather than "you worship me I give you powers" type thing.

Breif background of my world. It is a nexus point of the four elemental planes, Plane of the Dead, Demonic Planes, and of course the Fae. Now after reading GURPS Faerie I realized that the Faeries have qualities of all those different planes mentioned above so their powers in my campaing world are really strong and some (not all) Faerie's are like Small Gods.
I'm running a High Fantasy game where magic is like the weather, it flows and has its seasons. I also use Ley Lines, Mana Basins, and Aspected Magic Zones.
Now any area that a certain Faerie lives in will be aspected to that certain Faerie. So even in the middle of a Air Element aspected area you can have a small spot of Earth, Water, or even Death Aspect. The size of it depends of the power of that paticular Faerie and how many "worshipers or belivers" it has. [Note to self: get GUPRS Religion]

So the "Druid or Priest" of that Faerie will have spells much like the Faerie they worship and the level of power will depend more on the Aspected area than the mana level or influenced by nature’s strength. I may also place one for the distance away from their paticular Faerie(s) not sure on that yet.

There are bonuses to playing this kind of character over Mage, Cleric or Druid, but disadvantages as well.

I know this is a really rough draft but I wanted the suggestions and comments of the forum members as I'm still new to GURPS.

[b-dog]

First let me say I am no expert with GURPS but I have run campaigns similar to what you are talking about. What I would do for a hedge wizard or wisewoman/man would be to give that character faery empathy and also an faery ally, usually low powered like a dryad, elf, dwarf, sprite, faun ,nymph ect. This faery shouldn't be worshipped but rather they would teach the wisewoman/man some of the powers that it has. The faery would also ask for favors in return such as stopping loggers from destroying it's hedge or other things. If the players want to learn more powers then this faery will direct the characters to other faeries who can teach the characters new abilites. Of course this would result in adventures because those faeries would ask for favors in return. Some of the faery powers that could be given by different faeries would be:

Dryads: plant spells

Nymphs: spells that reflect what their aspect, water spells for water nymphs( niads) , air spells for air nymphs ( slyphs) ect.

Fauns: musical magery with mind control spells

Dwarves: enchantment or even artificer ability, give magically forged weapons or amor as gifts.

Elves: any magic, they could give gifts too like elven cloaks or boots.

Goblins: spells like foul food or illusions.

Ogres and trolls: Strength spells. Enlarge spells.

Hags: Weather spells, sleep spells other nasty spells depending on the type of hag.

King of cats: night vision spell, or claw power.

The faery ally that the character has would be able to come to the rescue of the character on an ally roll. If things are going bad then the faery can roll for more faery allies at GM discretion. If things are going really, really bad then the GM can rule that on a critical success the faery alliy can bring a super powerful faery like the Queen of Winter that would freeze all foes solid. ( The GM could also give the character some faery luck on this roll too! )

Faeries can also grant deserving character rituals or potions for one time use, or have the ingredient to the potion is located in some very dangerous place. For example, if there is a demon that has possessed a person or the demon is destroying the town then the faeries may give the character a ritual to banish it if they promise to do a favor for them.

Character would also gain advantages too as they become more touched by faeries. They could gain true sight, luck, super luck, danger sense, and about any gift the GM deems appropriate.

Characters should be careful if they deal with nasty faeries as these faeries delight in tricking characters.

Also faeries do not like the selfish and greedy, they may give the characters a choice of gifts; a wonderous sword, golden armor or a small sling shot with acorns for amunition. If the players choose the wonderous sword or golden armor, these may only be +1 and eventually lose their magic, the sling with acorns may on the otherhand may do 5d damage to foes, of course once the acorns are used to hit a foe the acorns would lose this power.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

[Highland_Piper]

Those are some good ideas but I'm looking for more of a Druid/Clerical type gift or powers. The Faerie's I have in my campaign are Small Gods from GURPS Faerie page 5. If a logger is coming in their woods they really would not need any help getting rid of them. The more worshipers a Faerie has the more anchored in that world they are.

I also have Faeries that are down right evil.

However the idea of giving them one power that they can use is a good one.

I think the big advantage is they are not dependent on Nature so going into caves and mines are no big deal. With Mana being so fluxuating they are not dependant on that either. Although the Aspect nature of things can be a bit of a disadvantage.

Also Cleric sanctity is reduced around Faerie Aspected areas.

[SCHIFTY]

The priests could be leymen/women?

[b-dog]

Loggers have iron and faeries hate iron. I was just thinking that the major faery would be relatively indifferent to mankind while the minor ones be more interested. In this way your character could have lesser faeries instruct him and then have the lesser faery negociate with greater faeries for more powers.

If you want a faery to be a god then just use power investiture.

[SRoach]

Hellboy,
I may be offbase myself, but, my understanding of animism would be personification on steroids.
That is, this tree has a spirit. That stoplight has a spirit. The rock beside the porch has a spirit, (probably not a very strong one, and not particularly aware.)
You seek to effect the things around you by appeasing the spirits that are part of the things around you and so they work toward your good.
So, say thank you, and smile, when you pass under a long green light.

But, I may have a skewed understanding of what animism is, but by my understanding of it, it isn't limited to North America. In fact, my understanding is, Shintoism, (the Japanese State? religion) is heavily influenced by Animism.

[jason taylor]

One idea I had is that humans have more flexible minds and thus have power over technology while fay have nature empathy and so their powers come from life. It makes for a balance. Kind of an adaptation of the Elves vs Dwarves thing.

[Refplace]

Do you have GURPS Thaumatology or Powers?
How about Pulling Rank?
Animism and Faeire are different concepts, though I can see a possible connection.
Animism is everything has a spirit.
Fae could be separate spirits that are guardians or aspects of a place and gain more from all the spirits in the area. Even the evil ones have to protect the place in order to protect their power base.

You already have Sancity and mana zones and want this to be a different feel.
Do you still want to use spells or powers? If spells which system?
Lets say Regular Magic since you did not specify anything specific.

How about use Long Distance modifiers to the location of the nearest Allied Fareie domain. The caster needs to speak with, pay homage to or otherwise get permission to borrow power from the locals. The caster can then cast at no penalty in the area or at a penalty based on Long Distance modifiers to the area if outside it.
Penalties can be waived by carrying a token from the area to keep the connection. I would say the token must be enchanted with the equivalent of the Staff spell.

Then maybe tailor the spell list to suit.
Just off the top of my head but it sounds like it has potential.

[GodBeastX]

Without having read every post, this almost feels like Chinese religions a bit. People tend to get powers from following paths to a better life in Chinese philosophies. Buddhism, Daoism and such. The worship of gods tends to either try to placate them so they don't obliterate the common man, or beseech them for some blessings. That's about it.

I need to learn more about native american beliefs. I know in Banestorm they were grouped with Asian ones. They might be similar for a reason.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by SRoach

But, I may have a skewed understanding of what animism is, but by my understanding of it, it isn't limited to North America. In fact, my understanding is, Shintoism, (the Japanese State? religion) is heavily influenced by Animism.

Your closer then a lot of the posters, who rather then replying to the Op seem to be trying to Westernize or dumb down very real world religious and theological ideas.
Personification pretty much covers it, though not all things are complex enough to have what most would call a personality.
And yes, Shintoism is one of several religions based on the principles of Animism.