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  1. #1
    Member ebatalis's Avatar
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    Religion and Holy signs

    Good morning to all lads wherever you are.
    There is an issue of probably not of a great concern but something that troubles the groups we are playing with lately. We have come afront a problem that concerns the religious holy signs the faithful use when the call upon the name of their god or even when the want to ward off an evil sign etc. For instance the Christians use the Cross as a sign of their gods sacrifice etc. Is there anyone out there who has come upon any ideas how the followers of Haelyn perform any sort of holy sign ? and if yes, what is that?
    " The Empire will fall...."

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    Member TheChamberlain's Avatar
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    Yes we have touched upon this, recently too.... I GM a campaign some 150+ years after the boxset. Magic is outlawed (hunted in fact - Witch hunts of old) and the Church is allied to a all consuming Anuirean Empire....

    Recently a Priestess of Haelyn - The Orthodoxy based in Diemed to be precise. She is our newest female Rper, a first-timer in fact but you'd never know, she's a bloody natural and often steals the show. She encountered her first undead, and after a brief discussion of her holy talents she attempted to turn it. She ad libbed a excellent vocal warding, and performed a Haelyn variant of the 'Catholic' Holy cross (forehead tap, crossing the chest).

    She performed the circle of the Sun on her chest, and then the forehead tap and navel tap to represent the sword! It works well I think!
    The Anuirean Empire will rise again........

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    Site Moderator AndrewTall's Avatar
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    Cuiraecen's lightning bolt has some fairly obvious swooshes.

    I'd expect Nesirie's gesture to be a quieter movement - perhaps each hand touching the eyes (windows to the soul), the lips (symbolic of love) then crossing over the chest (defence/RIP echoes) as the head dips in humility.

    Avani - use a sunbeam effect? I'd certainly expect up-turned face and some sign to the temples (thought/reason) and possibly mouth (speech).

    Erik - sign of the tree? Two balled fists at waist level (roots), hands drawn together and up (trunk) before flowering out into open hands with splayed fingers (branches)

    Ruornil - Crescent of the Moon with the one hand, the other upturned & palm out representing a shield, or perhaps sideways with splayed fingers to represent stars at the finger tips.

    Brenna - a scales? Start the hands flat at the navel (base of the scales), tilt them sideways and draw them upwards (body of the scales) before swinging them out to the side of the body tilting them back flat (the two equal scales on each side). Scales representing fate / measurement rather than justice in this case.

    Eloele - masonic handshake?

    Belinik - the good old Roman clutch to the balls?

    Kriesha - her followers know their own through a hundred subtle signs, and woe be those who seek to learn such lore.

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    Site Moderator Sorontar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by AndrewTall View Post
    Erik - sign of the tree? Two balled fists at waist level (roots), hands drawn together and up (trunk) before flowering out into open hands with splayed fingers (branches)
    Or alternatively, one hand at the chest with fingers spread. The hand is drawn down, forming a fist around the belly, then inverting and spreading the fingers at the crotch. Yes, its crude but I tend to think of Erik being more rooted in the land than other gods, and the nature aspect relates to natural fertility (especially given his daughter Laerme). I would end with the god rather than start.

    Sorontar

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    Member TheChamberlain's Avatar
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    Another route could be to look at actual sign language and adapt the signs for various words into a 'holy sign'

    Example tree for Erik:

    The Anuirean Empire will rise again........

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    Senior Member marcum uth mather's Avatar
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    I like that one thank you!

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    Site Moderator AndrewTall's Avatar
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    I'd expect that each church has its own variation of the sign (the one true sign of course). So the Oaken Grove might use the sign-language tree (the oak tree standing proud and straight, offering true course to those traveling the land, shelter from the storms, etc) while the Spire could use the more earthy variant (I'd start with the hands splayed down at the waist (roots) raise them up the centre of the torso (trunk) before fanning them out (branches) instead of the obverse reflecting life springing from the earth (or possibly just being a prude).

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