Harrow

The Harrow is a method of divination widely used by many Varisian fortune-tellers using a Harrow deck and possibly the harrowing spell. By these means, the reader is said to be able to receive small bits of information about what has occurred, what is happening, and what will come to pass in the future. Some Harrowers are even able to draw additional power from the Harrow to enhance their spellcasting, and the harrowing spell may allow the caster some influence on future events.

The Harrow Deck

The Harrow deck is considered to be innately invested with power (that can be read to wrest information about a person's life, or controlled to subtly influence events), and so must be treated with respect: disrespecting the deck leads to ruin.

The Harrow deck is a sacred tool of Varisian fortune-tellers. They use this deck for a form of divination to tell customers whether they should hope for the best or prepare for the worst. Some of these decks are elaborately illustrated, but most of them are nothing more than paper with hand painted images. The more elaborate Harrow decks are passed down through the generations. Between their heirloom status, and the powers that Varisians believe that the Harrow deck contains, most users of these cards treat them with respect and care.

The deck consists of 54 individual cards, each of which symbolizes a topic and moral stance. Each card has a symbol for the six basic attributes of a creature: strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma. Each symbol is arranged on the face of the card to represent its ethical dimensions (lawful, neutral, and chaotic) and moral dimensions (good, neutral, and evil). The Queen Mother, for example, has a star in the center-left, so it is the lawful neutral card of wisdom.

Each of the six basic abilities also indicates a broader symbolic topic. Similarly, the ethical and moral dimensions of a card represent its temporal position and outlook: the lawful ethic represents past events; the neutral ethic represents present events; the chaotic ethic represents future events; moral good represents a positive outlook; moral neutrality represents an unclear outlook; and moral evil represents a negative outlook. Harrowers that perform a harrowing for evil subjects may do a reverse reading, in which negative cards are bad for the subject's foes, and positive cards reflect well for the subject's foes.

Performing a Harrowing

A harrowing consists of two parts: the choosing and the spread. During the choosing, the subjects of the harrowing phrase the knowledge they seek in the form of a single question and decide which of the six abilities suits that question. During the spread, the harrower shuffles the deck, draws nine cards, and places them in a three-by-three array that indicates the positive and negative tidings of events past, present, and future. The left column represents the past, the middle column represents the present, and the right column represents the future. After the spread is laid out, the harrower chooses a number of cards to interpret. A "role card", which is a card selected by the subject during the choosing, must be interpreted. Other cards that may be interpreted include true matches, which is a card for which the card's alignment symbol matches its position in the spread, as well as opposite matches, partial matches, and cards in misaligned positions. In practice, while each card has its own basic meaning, the meaning of each card is interpreted by its circumstances in the spread. Good and evil cards, for example, have different meanings if they appear in a different row than would match. Doing this well requires a skillful harrower.

Other Uses

The deck is also used for a sacrilegious gambling game known as Towers. In Absalom many of the terms born from the Harrow have been used by those of the city to describe the complex game of politics for control of the city. Taking the synergy between real life games of political intrigue and the Harrow a step further, plotting members of the upper classes have been known to use an actual dealing of the deck as a cover for discussing a secret scheme or to pass messages in plain sight of others who are less skilled at "reading" the Harrow.

Construction

Used by gamblers and seers alike, this deck of cards comes in several varieties. Simple harrow decks are made from low-quality paper and typically have only an icon and a number to signify the suit and alignment. These simple decks are mostly used for games of chance, as the actual image and significance of the cards are irrelevant for such games. Common harrow decks are made from higher-quality paper and feature illustrations—harrow readers typically use these decks. Fine harrow decks are made from a variety of materials, such as high-quality paper, woods, bone, ivory, or metal.

Encountered Cards

(from Wrin's Reading - Session 13 - "Founder's Day - Part 3, Waking the Dead"

1. The Beating- typically is a negative card, but it is misaligned and most likely stands for their victory over the dragon in Undertown.
2. The Vision- can indicate an encounter with an inscrutable person, a brush with genius, but it is also misaligned and refers to something she has been seeing in the sky to the north, a bluish glow, believes it to be an omen though unclear as to what it portends.
3. The Tyrant- a true match, refers to someone that is a dictator or ruler, a head of a household, someone who has control. Wrin shudders and tape the card, declaring it a true match which means it holds a particular importance, some great evil from the past has great relevance for the present.
4. The Survivor- another true match, someone who has been through an ordeal, represents something or someone once lost forever but is no more, possible a rebirth, believes they will meet someone who has endured great evil.
5. The Hidden Truth- symbolizes the ability to see past the obvious to see the inner truth, an important secret that must be discovered, an important key as to what is to come.
6. The Demon's Lanten- a partial match, a card of tricks and traps, glowing orbs indicate opportunity. It reminds her of something dangerous, reminding her of glowing lights (Will-o’-Wisps? Gauntlight Keep?) in the Fogfen, something dangerous this way comes.
7. The Locksmith- indicates a key to unlock their destiny, some kind of tool that brings insight, a feeling in the future that they will unlock many doors that have longed remained closed.
8. The Fiend- represents a sinister, intelligent creature, a great and dangerous power made to harm them, but it is yet unclear if it may also aid them, it is the future that they must decide.
9. The Eclipse- represents self-doubt, loss of purpose, can represent a conflict of conviction, a loss of way, a partial match which also stands for a potential loss of way or a warning.

Dimensions

2.75 in. x 4.75 in., 2 in. thick (stacked)

Base Price

10 gp (Common), 11 gp (Fine), 1 gp (Simple)

Constellations