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Old 09-08-2016, 03:32 PM   #11
Polydamas
 
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Default Re: Moon Priests/Priestesses

Too tired to be creative, but the Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Mesopotamia entry has links to the primary sources on your inspiration.

The Verse Account of Nabonidus has him be proud of knowing that the symbol of Sin is a crescent (probably the modern equivalent would be a political satire where your national leader is very proud to know that markets are about buying and selling).
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Old 09-09-2016, 02:47 AM   #12
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Default Re: Moon Priests/Priestesses

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Out of curiosity: Why not from moonrise until moonset? Would you actually be so detailed as to keep track of moonrise without also keeping track of moonset? I find the "rise to set" option interesting since it would often include some day hours and exclude some night hours. It would occasionally exclude all night hours (at least for campaigns that are "our Earth except with this cool fantasy stuff").
I don't want to set up a situation where the protection expires before dawn, dooming the inhabitants to a dire fate. The assumption is that at dawn, whatever dark creatures are attempting entry will be forced to flee or at least some help is available and the protection thus worked.

Protection that doesn't last until dawn would be more of a torture device, for the average farmer and his family, in that nothing they do can change the outcome and both they and the dark creatures what will happen before dawn, but now there are a few hours for the knowledge to really sink in and cause them to despair.
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Old 09-09-2016, 03:00 AM   #13
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Default Re: Moon Priests/Priestesses

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Spells to her could be engraved on silver as she is a moon goddess.
Nannaru Su'en is a male god. Winged bull, long beard and all.

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Old women with an especial sheen of gray hair could be considered blessed in some manner, perhaps forming a reverse-vestal like clerical guild.
As noted, the daughters of kings often held some of the highest offices in the church hierarchy, so clearly women are acceptable as priestesses.

On the other hand, in-setting, there exist other moon gods, in other pantheons, and one of them, Selune, has been making inroads in the area. She is usually portrayed as a silver-gray haired middle-aged lady.

Su'en would want to avoid any potential for confusion with her, I should think. There are theories that the rebirth of Nannaru Su'en was only accomplished through a divine pact with Selune and that the reborn god is now subordinate to her, but even if that were true, there is no evidence that the faiths are to be merged in any way.

The high priest that the PCs met when the Legion of Nanna-Sin emerged from the god's realm into the Prime Material Plane is an old man. He does have three daughters, however, and a fairly young wife. His wife has no interest in being a high priestess*, but the three daughters are being groomed to take over temples, once some have been reopened.

*She is the daughter of a corrupt, decadent noble of an ancient line, tracing descent from a mortal offspring of Su'en some millenia ago. While considerably nicer than her deceased father, she was a terribly spoiled and sheltered teenager and much prefers the idea of being the wife of an important high priest to having to do actual administrative work herself.
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Old 09-09-2016, 03:07 AM   #14
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I think I would use whatever cleric power set seems most likely (probably the basic one), swap out a few spells if something else feels more appropriate, and treat sanctity as one higher during the full moon and one lower during the new moon.
I was considering a fair way to modify powers by the phases of the moon. I want the positives to balance out the negatives, so that this does not affect the point cost of abilities.

Powers granted by Su'en should be most powerful when the moon is shaped like a crescent, i.e. when it is waxing or waning. During the new moon, the powers should be penalised.

For most of the lunar cycle, including full moon, the powers should operate at par.

I'm concerned that a -5 penalty for Low Sanctity is a lot worse than the fairly minor benefit that High Sanctity gives. On the other hand, if it only counts as new moon for a few nights a month, it may be balanced.
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Old 09-09-2016, 10:18 AM   #15
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Default Re: Moon Priests/Priestesses

It seems to me that Babylonians counted the day beginning at sunset. (This has some practical advantages for astronomers, like the date not changing in the middle of the night). That would suggest a good unit for 24-hour kinds of effects.

Dividing the day into the realm of Shamash and the realm of Sīn, with nothing left out, sounds like a good idea.

Definitely develop the idea of prophetic dreams! They are very Mesopotamian, even more so for a moon god.
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Old 09-09-2016, 11:28 AM   #16
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Dividing the day into the realm of Shamash and the realm of Sīn, with nothing left out, sounds like a good idea.
Or not. One thing you can do with a dependency on the moon that can be rather startling to players is to remember than half the time, the moon is up *during the day*. It is usually spun as thematically related to night, but it doesn't necessarily have to be. If it's between about 6 PM and sunset where you are today, you might want step outside and look east.
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Old 09-09-2016, 04:28 PM   #17
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Or not. One thing you can do with a dependency on the moon that can be rather startling to players is to remember than half the time, the moon is up *during the day*. It is usually spun as thematically related to night, but it doesn't necessarily have to be. If it's between about 6 PM and sunset where you are today, you might want step outside and look east.
Yes, of course the moon is often visible in the afternoon, but that seems like it might be even more excessive book-keeping than tracking phases of the moon in a solar calendar.

That seems like it might be a good gimmick in a horror game, when the characters dependant on the moon are episodic NPCs and I can just work out or decide when the moon is visible during the adventure. I would not risk having to be able to give that information to a player on demand for any random day though!
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Old 09-09-2016, 04:56 PM   #18
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Default Re: Moon Priests/Priestesses

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Yes, of course the moon is often visible in the afternoon, but that seems like it might be even more excessive book-keeping than tracking phases of the moon in a solar calendar.
Not really; it's directly linked to moon phase after all.
  • New Moon (start of cycle): the moon rises and sets at about the same time as the sun, and is generally invisible. From then on through the lunar the timing of both moonrise and moonset goes up by slightly under an hour a day.
  • Waxing Crescent: the moon is visible in the evening (and possibly afternoon) and disappears by midnight.
  • Waxing Half Moon: moonset is at midnight.
  • Waxing Gibbous: the moon is visible in the evening (and possibly afternoon) and disappears at a point between midnight and dawn.
  • Full Moon: moonrise and sunset are roughly the same time, as are moonset and sunrise.
  • Waning Gibbous: the moon rises at some point between sunset and midnight, and is visible in the morning.
  • Waning Half Moon: moonrise is at midnight, and is visible in the morning.
  • Waning Crescent: moonrise is after midnight, and is visible in the morning.
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Old 09-09-2016, 05:08 PM   #19
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Yes, of course the moon is often visible in the afternoon, but that seems like it might be even more excessive book-keeping than tracking phases of the moon in a solar calendar.
In fact it's the same exercise as tracking the phases of the moon. The phase of the moon is directly correlated with how much of the day it is up - i.e. when it's close to the sun in the sky, it's new and up during the entire day, when it's directly opposite, it's full and not up during the day at all...
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Old 09-09-2016, 06:09 PM   #20
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Default Re: Moon Priests/Priestesses

As the moon is an astronomical object make her a patron of sailors.
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