Lillith is worshiped and known as the goddess of evil and pain. She is also known as the Mother of Pain, the Devils’ Mistress, the Dark Seductress and the Queen of the Succubi. The rituals that her worshipers use to praise her all involve pain and most often death as well. Her followers have no compunctions about performing any act that will further their causes. Lies, blackmail, seduction, theft, murder, the use of poisons, necromancy and summoning demons are all acceptable means towards their ends. However, so is telling the truth, donating to other churches, financing charities, and generally being a good citizen. Anything that conceals his or her true spiritual allegiance from the knowledge of others is acceptable, even turning upon other worshipers.
Within the E’gath Empire there is no structured church. Worshipers each worship on their own, and sometimes in small groups. Larger groups are dangerous for them, for two main reasons. The first is that larger numbers are easier to discover. The second reason is that very few of her followers trust each other.
New disciples will often have a sudden change of fortune for the better. A sudden financial windfall, a lucky find or some other seeming coincidence will benefit the new follower. This sudden luck is usually at the expense of someone else. Wealth is usually stolen from another person, or a relative may have suddenly died, leaving all of his or her possessions to the new disciple. The followers of Lillith begin the game with 2 knives of their choice, 1 vial of poison, and an additional 1D10 + 5 Silver Talons.
| Skills, Powers, & Abilities | Dark Rituals |
True disciples of Lillith are given two of the following abilities listed below. The goddess may give other abilities as she sees fit, based upon the disciple’s devotion and piety to her. Each power or ability takes up one skill slot, unless otherwise noted below. All followers of Lillith begin with Knife Weapons and Lore: Poison. If the additional powers granted by the Dark goddess does not require three skill selections, then the Follower may choose skills (not additional powers) to complete the requirements.
Charm & Persuasion
This skill uses the follower's CHA + LUC + WIL. When successful, the person that it is used upon is friendly towards the follower of Lillith that used the skill. The victim is inclined to trust the follower, and be more open to doing what is asked of him or her.
Familiar
The disciple gains an animal familiar, identical to the spell “Summon Familiar”.
Poison Kiss
This power causes the worshiper’s kiss to be toxic. Each kiss causes the person kissed to make a save vs. injury dealing poison. The strength of the poison is equal to the disciple’s level divided by five (level 1 through 5, strength 1; levels 6 through 10, strength 2; levels 11 through 15, strength 3, etc.). This will only work on skin, it will not work through any fabric. A kiss on bare skin will have a Strength of 1 less than normal (to a minimum of 1). A kiss on the lips will have the listed strength, while a long, deep kiss will have a strength of one more than what is listed (up to a maximum of 5). A successful Willpower roll may be made to give an un-poisoned kiss.
Resist Truth
This ability gives the devotee a significant resistance to all spells and powers that would cause him or her to tell the truth. Each time the person is forced to tell the truth, he or she may roll a Willpower check to resist. If the priest believes that someone has the ability to detect lies (such as a Judge of Sullum) then they may roll Charisma to befuddle the power. However, failure is usually pretty dangerous.
Summon Demon
This skill requires the equivalent of 2 "A" or 2 "B" skills. This skill is not determined the same way that other skills are. The chance of successfully summoning a demon is equal to the follower's level x 3. A specific demon may be summoned, but only if the summoner has successfully summoned that demon before. If this is the case, then the chance of summoning the demon is the follower's level x 4. Otherwise, it is up to the GM to determine what type of demon has been summoned.
Touch of Agony
With this power, the slightest
touch from one of Lillith's disciples can feel like pure excruciating pain.
Little injury is actually dealt to the victim, but he or she will
have a penalty to all skills and other rolls equal to the disciple’s level
times two. This will last until
the disciple chooses to cancel it, which requires another touch upon the
victim. Each round, the victim
must make a Health roll, with the above stated penalty applied.
If successful, no injury is dealt.
A failure means that one point of injury is dealt.
A critical failure will cause one of the following attributes to go
down by one point: Agility,
Beauty, Dexterity, Health, or Strength.
The attribute that is decreased should be chosen at random.
This power will work on any exposed flesh, or through normal clothes
or leather. Any armored surface
will not conduct this power.
The rituals used by the followers of Lillith all use pain, and many of them require the death of someone or something. Any follower of Lillith may attempt to use a ritual. Some rituals are required, while some are only used by the foolish and power-hungry. Below are a few of the more common ones.
Ritual of Sacrifice
This ritual must be the first ritual performed by a would-be disciple, and must be performed once a year. The disciple must sacrifice a living being that is very dear to him or her. The victim may be a child, a spouse, a sibling, a parent, a close friend, a dear lover, or a familiar (other than one granted by the goddess). The “closer to the heart” the victim is (and the more pious the disciple is), the greater the chance that Lillith will grant a boon upon the disciple.
Ritual of Devotion
This is a monthly ritual, performed to renew and sustain the disciple’s powers, and Lillith’s trust in him or her. The disciple must take an innocent child, or a truly noble person or creature (such as a unicorn) and ritualistically kill it. Some adherents will drink the blood of the victim or eat its flesh afterwards, believing that Lillith approves of such things. Whether she does or not is not known.
Ritual of Demonic Servitude
This long ritual is very dangerous for the disciple to perform. However, success means that he or she will have a demon for a personal servant or warrior. Using the powdered bones of innocents, the disciple must create a large circle, with runes in it. The caster must then summon a demon, and offer themselves to it, to do with as it pleases. Whatever the demon does, it is always excruciatingly long and painful. Some people die. The person must make five Willpower rolls. Failure on any one of them means that he or she cannot take the pain any longer. When this happens, the demon will either finish what it was doing and then leave, kill the upstart outright, or simply leave. Assuming that all goes well, when the demon is finished, it is bound to the disciple. It must obey all of his or her commands, and may not twist the meaning or the words of the commands. It will have the ability to travel with the disciple, altering its form so that it appears to be an article of jewelry, clothing, or a tattoo. The demon can change to its original form in one action. The demon will continue to serve the disciple until one of them dies.
There are several drawbacks to performing this ritual. First, the disciple must already have the gift to summon demons. Second, no matter what, the demon will take the disciple down to a single injury point, and all of the injury must be healed through bed rest. Healing magic will not speed this up. Also, while the demon is hiding (as clothing, jewelry, tattoo) any spell, magical item or power that effects demons will also effect the disciple. This ritual may not bind more powerful demons.
Ritual of Theft
This is another ritual that is very dangerous to perform, mainly because it involves betraying another disciple of Lillith. The one performing the ceremony must ritualistically torture another disciple, draining him of all will and health. The caster must do this in such a way that the victim will willingly and truly beg Lillith to grant his torturer any gift that he himself possesses. If this is successful, then the victim will lose one gift from given to him by the goddess (as She is not happy with weaklings) and bestow it upon the one performing the ceremony.
The trick is to cause enough pain and suffering to break the victim’s will, but not to kill him. Afterwards, the victim is sometimes allowed to live (usually when Lillith decides that she still has a use for him), but is usually killed at the end of the ritual. This is done not out of mercy, but to get rid of a potential threat that may come after the caster later on.
© 2000 J. K. Wykowski & T. Coonrod