Make Your Own God-Spirits (for a Game About the Mongolian Empire)
You are the weakest and least loved of your clan. You have been betrayed and driven out of your ancestral herding lands by your former brethren, the cursed Shü Ebsö. It is only by the will of the sky god Dusassu and the host of lesser spirit-gods of grain, wolf, and copper that you all will survive the misty Endless Plains with no herd save the horses you escaped on. But you are the Rodnu Ebsö, and you will survive.
A sandbox steppecrawl game of religion, survival, and discovery inspired by Genghis Khan's early life.
God-Spirits
This spirit is found… d20
Possessing a nearby lonely corpse. It sits up from where it lay surrounded by protective stones and moves with little grace.
In human form as a stranger, dressed in regalia, looking slightly transparent
In human form as a stranger, dressed like a beggar, with strange eyes
In human form, as an elder, glowing silver under the skin
Possessing a herd animal, speaking with human words, but with a crackling wildness
Possessing a clan member
Possessing a clan member
Possessing a wild animal (roll on chart)
Possessing a wild animal
Possessing a predatory animal (roll on chart)
Possessing a predatory animal
In a constructed structure (roll on chart)
In a constructed structure
In a tree
In a boulder
In a puddle of water
In the mists
In the mists
In a song carried on the breeze
In a treasure (see treasure list)
This spirit's distinguishing feature is… (d20)
A surprisingly deep voice
Hints of mauve
A feeling of agelessness
A sigh, as loud as the sun
The whinny of the horses
A hint of decay
The shriek of a golden eagle
An earthy feeling
A growing awe
The scent of heat
A heaviness condensed
All-encompassing ancientness
A subtle shift in the weather
Light, from an unexpected place
A hint of incense
Shadows, longer than they should be
Blood, from the nostrils
Howling in the distance
Coldness collecting in the fingers
Softness, unexpected
This is a spirit of… 2d6
11 The mist
12 Luck
13 Calm
14 Evening light
15 Barrow grasses
16 Copper
21 Strangers
22 Pink clouds
23 Clay
24 Scythe
25 Rotten seeds
26 The hacking cough
31 Mothers
32 Hainag calfs
33 Mare's milk
34 Compasses
35 Salt
36 Hares
41 Home
42 Exchange
43 Sables
44 Hooves
45 Beavers
46 Wolverines
51 The past
52 Comraderie
53 The cold
54 Hunger
55 Reindeer
56 Wrestling
61 Love
62 Elders
63 Babies
64 Warriors
65 Music
66 The bow
This god-spirit is… d20
Roll a spirit check to see how your summoning influences the local god-spirit's temperament. Disaster means facing an undead fiend. Failure means rolling twice on this table and taking the lower result. Success means rolling as normal; Full success means rolling twice and taking the higher result.
An undead fiend (see undead fiend table)
Wrathful
Frightening
Foul
Weeping
Proud
Reserved
Mysterious
Vigilant
Amorous
Ambivalent
Childlike
Knowing
Courteous
Awed
Hospitable
Jolly
Motherly
Blissful
Celestial
Rituals for summoning this god-spirit involve… 2d6
God-spirits are curious entities and will show up the first time they are summoned to sate their own curiosity. Resummoning them by returning to their hex, however, requires honoring them appropriately. If their resummoning ritual lacks the below element, they will still appear but will grant a misfortune as punishment. Roll on this table the first time you meet a god-spirit and record the ritual element for future reference.
11 Throat singing
12 Shouting
13 Whispering
14 Wrestling
15 Dancing
16 Stomping
21 Whirling
22 A whip
23 A riding sash
24 An arrow
25 Facing west
26 Planting seeds
31 Cutting grasses
32 Human spit
33 Human blood
34 Hainag dung
35 Facing east
36 Milk tea with salt
41 Horse blood
42 A scroll of prayers
43 A prayer cloth
44 Fermented horse milk
45 Camel fat
46 Horse piss
51 Goat blood
52 Sheep milk
53 Distilled yogurt vodka
54 Prayer scrolls
55 Onion herbs
56 Fire
61 The words of an elder
62 Prayer flags
63 Afternoon light
64 The laugh of an infant
65 Facing north
66 Facing south
This spirit-god wants… d20
To never be spoken to again. They will offer a boon to be left alone and will revoke it fivefold if ever disturbed again.
Revenge against another spirit-god for an aeon-old petty slight.
Revenge against an undead fiend for wholly justifiable reasons.
Revenge against a person, living or dead.
Revenge against an Ebsö clan that disturbed their rest.
Revenge against Dusassu.
The ritual sacrifice of a prized horse.
The ritual sacrifice of a lamb. If no lambs, a hainag calf is an acceptable substitute.
The ritual offering of a treasure, valuable enough that its loss hurts.
The ritual offering of food. They'll take anything.
The ritual offering of food. They have a particular craving; roll d20 on the provisions table to find out what.
To wrestle against a clan member. If the party loses, they lose a soul.
To learn a point of interest rumor, told in a suitably gossipy way over a fire and hainag's milk.
To have a swift horse named after it, in a solemn and respectful naming ceremony.
To lead a camel blessing ceremony. No other kind of herd animal is a suitable substitute.
A musical performance with a horse-head fiddle.
To trade, but they won't trade unless the initial snuff bottle gift exchange occurs.
A betrothed from the clan.
A secret ritual to be performed. They won’t share what the ritual is (but other local god-spirits might know).
A soul.
In exchange, they offer… d6
Players may make specific requests if they have them. Spirit-gods react according to their temperament.
Scouting a neighboring tile
A gift of a sundry, a provision, or even a treasure
Extra 1d6 on all rolls for the next day
Sharing a point of interest rumor or a detail about another group
Extra 1d6 for rolls pertaining to the spirit-god's domain as long as they remain in its favor.
A gift of d6 herd animals. Roll for which kind.
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