The Airman's Tarot: A Compleat Guide by O. Semple
The definitive guide to the Airman's Tarot fortune telling cards, created by the mysterious O. Semple, "a witch of no uncommon knowledge, that hast spent many years on skyships and in the most remote places on Ba'Sal."
The deck was printed in 1212 by Fizzledook and Wongo Gnomic Publishers. A few weeks after publication, both Fizzledook and Wongo were arrested and publically executed by burning, the fuel for the fire being composed exclusively of copies of the Airman's Tarot. Many copies have survived however, and are treasured by collectors, arcanists and fortune tellers.
Semple's Rules
The first chapter of The Airman's Tarot: ACG contains rules that, according to Semple, MUST be followed, lest the magic of the cards become malignant and curse all who have touched them. 1. A complete deck must never be SEPARATED. It is extremely dangerous to REMOVE cards from a deck, trying to avoid a bad fortune. 2. A Diviner (or Card Reader) should be trained. Goody Semple describes five levels of initiates:- Novices (some training, 1-20 hours)
- Initiates (more training, 21-50 hours)
- Diviner Minoris (51-75 hours of training, passing the Divination Test delivered by a Master)
- Diviner Majoris (76-100 hours of training, competing against your Master in Divination)
- Divining Master (101 - 200 hours of training)
- Grand Engraver (200+ hours of training, the blessing of at least three Masters): this enables you to print and engrave decks of your own.
The Deck
The deck consists of 40 cards divided into collections or "Vessels" of 10. There is one "Vessel" called "The Forbidden Arcana", which is comprised of Cards 41 - 50. These are generally shunned by fortune-tellers, as they are considered to be cursed. Some diviners refuse even to look at them. However, they are powerful.Purpose
To describe the Airman's Tarot.
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