Asarlaíocht (Ah-sar-lay-oh-cht)

Asarlaíocht is a nature-based religion with a lot of similarities to Druidry, except that it is much less rigid, must less centralized, much less dogmatic, and much more personal. It can be thought of as being analogous to modern day Wicca.
There is little to cover here, as the “beliefs” of this religion varies and those who follow its path are accepting of and openly embrace this variety and freedom. Those who follow this “path” (as it is often referred to as instead of “religion”) believe that spirits abound in nature and that all spirits are part of the wheel of life and will be reincarnated in some form at some point after death. Thus, death is but a transformation on to the next stage of life.
While wide variations exist as to the revered deities and their importance to the various followers of this path, the one that is most widely revered in any of more than a score of forms is known as the Mother, Ærnth Mother, Mother Nature, or any of a number of other identities and names.
Again there are a lot of similarities in the beliefs and views between Asarlaíocht and Druidry, however where the Druids have a fairly organized structure and being somewhat dogmatic (although much less so than most other religions), Asarlaíocht is even less structured with no organized structure or hierarchy to speak of. It is a very personal system of beliefs with many followers performing their own self-designed and defined rituals. Such rituals are usually performed on naturally occurring days of change, such as the summer and winter solstice and spring and fall equinox, as well as the day midway between each of these sacred days. Lesser rites are also sometimes performed on full and new moons, as well as other days that are significant for being natural transition times.
Using either Rolemaster, HARP or FUDGE, it is recommended that followers of this belief system gain a 20% bouns to their Power Points or Mana on the major days (equinoxes and sostices) as well as a 10% bonus on minor days (such as the full/new moon). Also, some locations can also provide a slight boost in magical power as per the normal rules for both of these game systems based off of the significance of said location. With either of these RPG systems, characters can pursue any profession they choose while still having at least minor magical abilities available to them.  With Rolemaster any character following the Path of Asarlaíocht needs to utilize Channeling as their realm of power, as they are channeling such magical energies from the spirits that they reveir and worship. As such Intuition is an important attribute, regardless of the characters choosen profession, and their spells will be limited to Open and Closed Channeling, with the possible exception of nature or spiritual based Base Lists if they choose a Pure or Hybrid spellcasting profession.
If using the d20 type rules systems, then it would be Clerical in nature (although these systems tend not to have the flexiblity of systems such as Rolemaster/HARP or FUDGE/Fate). 
Using the Shadows of Esteren system, followers of this belief system would be among the Demorthén. 
If using the Dark Eye system, they would be one of the Witch Professions.
More details to come... Return to the Religions page.

Type

Religious, Coven