Priest Mage - Shaman

The priestly mages are those who practise the old religions. Their vocations call upon the Divine for aid, mingled with knowledge of the Arcane. They are able to practise magick hand in hand with Acts of Faith. All of these Priest- Mages may have survived into the Middle Ages, but mainly in seclusion and secrecy.

Primary Attribute: .........................Constitution (CON)

Secondary Attribute: ....................Spirit (SPR)

A Shaman achieves their religious status by hereditary descent, completing a personal quest or by vocation. The recognition of the calling of the character to a shamanic life should be role played during character generation and becomes an essential part of the PC’s background.

Shamanism is common in many early cultures that have appeared in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. The Shaman, who is usually (but not always) a man, may act as a medium by becoming a mouthpiece of the spirits, in many cases these are ancestors. In some cases, a Totem becomes his familiar during his initiation into manhood, acting as his spirit guide and teacher throughout his life. He will frequently undergo prolonged fasts, seclusion in sweat lodges and other ordeals that lead to prophetic dreams and visions.

In tribal societies Shamans occupy a high social and economic position, especially if they are successful healers or diviners. The main religious tasks of the Shaman are the healing of the sick through the use of prayer and herbal medicines and divination by communing with ‘the ancestors’. The Shaman achieves this by allowing his familiar Totem to possess him or by entering into a trance and allowing his own spirit to roam in an attempt to find the cure or the answers he requires. He might use divination to find the whereabouts of game, where enemies may be hidden, the location of food and water, the nature and source of an illness etc. His task is always to maintain the balanced relationship of the tribal group to the spirit world, which pervades the lands in which they dwell and influences literally every aspect of tribal and personal life.

Shamans are capable of casting magick, but they regard magick as sacred and not to be abused. Shamanic magick ultimately derives from the spirits and the Shaman who uses his Magickal powers for base purposes risks the anger of the spirit world and eventually comes to a bad end.