Farseer
|
Farseers are shamans which are spiritual seers of nations and clans. Farseers are gifted warriors that can travel into the plane of spirits and speak with spirits invisible to the eyes of normal orcs. Farseers are troubled by visions of the future and use their insight to guide their people through troubled times. Although Farseers may seem wise and peaceful at first, they are formidable foes; when angered, their wrath is fierce.
Spirits
There are two types of Spirits Greater and Minor. Spirits are not good nor evil they are what they choose to be at that time although spirits will never act out of just good well there is always something that they require or want to gain.
Greater Spirits become strong or weak by the actions of the people, when the spirit is praised or is called or receives a sacrifices, it gains power, if a spirit loses all mention by mortals it whittles down and shrinks in power but does not die, as Greater spirits are Immortal for example the greatest of all spirits is Votar, the Spirit of the Hunt as Orcs mention him always for example when Orcs cry Glougaz Votar that means For The Hunt.
Aspects
All the Spirits started with only one aspect for example Enrohk has three aspects he started with Bloodlust and the rest he gained, by either consuming other spirits completely or by defeating another spirit that has more than one aspect. When a Greater Spirit is consumed it does not die, it just joins in a forced union with the other spirit meaning it can regain its freedom somehow. Spirits weaken when they gain many aspects because even though he has one aspect that is powerful he may weaken because the others are not, also one spirit will never be allowed to gain to many as other spirits will combine efforts to release aspects from that spirit, there is a delicate balance.
Greater Spirits in the Spirit World rule vast domains and have countless of minor spirits under their control, they wage war, make peace and plot against and with each other.
A example of how Greater spirits interact with the Orcs before the great revival of the Orcish race by Rex Mogroka. Mogroka was contacted by Enrohk a weak spirit at that time with only bloodlust, and the former Orcish government suppressed bloodlust and tried to control it, it is said Enrohk gave Mogroka powers and with Mogroka’s ascent to power bloodlust was made free and Enrohk gained power.
What do Farseers do
Farseers are like the old men of a clan, or nation they are the wise men, spiritual healers, lorekeepers(Story tellers), they also can see in the future predict things for example a farseer can have a dream about a great defeat or a great victory or a famine. They also act as the guide for orcs between them and Spirits. Farseers can walk on the spirit planes explore it and interact with spirits. It is very dangerous there, if a shaman dies there then he is dead in his real world. How to walk in the spirit planes is hidden, it is contained within the Or’Gok scrolls. Basicly a shaman sits down and meditates and then travels to the spirit realm with his spirit. The secret on how to do so and the words said are within the Or’Gok scrolls that the leading Farseer has. Farseers also act as Healers, not in the magic sense though more of the herbal and using natural medicine that they make from their surrounding environment.
Far Seers are very important to Orcish Culture as they are there keepers, and wisdom tellers when someone is in doubt they go to the farseers for guidance or if they are cursed by the spirits and so on. They also can act as warriors, they can wield the power of spirits fueling themselves with power or other orcs enhancing their abilities.
Details
What can Farseers do with magic, Farseers unlike elementalist can not cast magic in the same way. So they can not shoot a fireball or waterball or any of that sorta thing. Lets take the example of Mogroka Gorkil, what can he do as offensive magic, one thing only cast lighting which is called Krug’s Wrath but he only came to do that for being a well advanced Farseer. Farseer is more about blessings, or gifts of the spirits its more about empowering oneself or others with the spirits powers. For example blessing others with Enrohks Claw makes them more bloodthirsty and more fierce.
Other blessings may enhance physical powers, for example strength or giving him the power to withstand tiredness. Or some can be used on natural remedies, lets say Mogroka makes a medicine for stomach pain, it works just fine but it takes longer for the treatment to work, but he can use the a blessing from the spirits to make the medicine work faster and be more effective.
Farseer, is more of a future teller, he can walk the planes of spirits by going into a deep meditation and interact with them. This is more of a rp purpose and does not contain magic really nor can it affect players badly in anyway. For example a farseer, can go into a plane of spirits and find out that Enrohk is mad at the orcs and he needs to be appeased so the farseer goes back to his plane and tells the orcs of that, making a rp event for the the race. He might say for example we require to hunt and kill four Creatures, and sacrifice them to Enrohk. Or maybe the hunt spirit, wants to grant the orcs a blessing but requires something done, like hunting a great beast and then the orcs gets blessed, the blessing is nothing really its just a roleplay, event and the blessing may say oh the orcs for a week we'll have a plentiful hunt.
Farseers, also can summon rain, but not one farseer can do that it must be at least four, and the ceremony can be a long one, and rain might not occur depending if they pleased the rain spirit enough or not. Of course this is just another purely rp focused event more so than magic that can benefit them.
Far seers main source of knowledge comes from entering the spiritual world, also called the spiritual dimension. They can also learn the ability to heal from their journeys to the spiritual world. In this world they may also acquire spirit guides who make sure the far seer is guided safely in their travels in the spiritual world. Note that it is possible for the far seer to have more than one spiritual guide. Being the spiritual world also cleanses negative energies that confuse or pollute the Orc. When one says ‘’Healing’’ it is not the normal type of healing that other magic user have that heal wounds and so on. When a Farseer heals it means that he interacts with the malevolent spirit that has cursed or interacts with the patient.
These ailments may be either purely physical afflictions or purely mental afflictions. Things like diseases are physical afflictions and are cured by gifting, flattering, threatening, or beating the spirit that is ailing the patient. The far seer may have to do more than one of these to cure the patient, and even in some cases all of them. If all else fails, or if the far seer is confident enough, they can resort to pure violence and attempt to defeat the spirit in battle. The spirit recognizes defeat by being shown a token extracted from it, though the far seer may attempt to fool the spirit by showing it a fraudulent token, making the spirit believe it has been bested. If the spirit notices the token is fraudulent it may be impressed that the far seer tried to fool it, or it may choose to just ignore the token and continue ailing the patient. When the spirit is sufficiently impressed with the far seer, it will retreat curing the patient of the ailments that it was causing. Mental ailments are things like persistent terror caused by traumatic experiences. These are handled the same way that physical ailment spirits are.
So basicly a Farseer, for example can beat the Orc that is affected to try to cure him. Lets a Orc has a cough the Farseer might try to stuff the Orcs mouth with things, to not allow him to breath or they may punch him the throat. Well that cure him maybe or maybe not its more of providing fun rp its not much as magically curing a person.
Farseers, are a pencil of their community, for example leading ceremonies of burning of dead orcs, to try to make their travel to the Ancestors realm easier. Or by being advisors to leaders, or to normal people, by seeing peoples future or fortunes, by warning there people of incoming doom or something more pleasant.
Beliefs of Farseers
Spirits exist and they play important roles both in individual lives and in Orc society. The Farseer can communicate with the spirit world. Spirits can be benevolent or malevolent. The Farseer can treat sickness caused by malevolent spirits. The Farseer can employ trance inducing techniques to incite visionary ecstasy and go on vision quests. The Farseers spirit can leave the body to enter the supernatural world to search for answers. The Farseer evokes animal images as spirit guides, omens, and message-bearers. The Farseer can tell the future, scry, throw bones/runes, haruspex and perform other varied forms of divination
Far seers work on the premise that the visible world is pervaded by forces that are invisible. The far seers believe that these invisible forces are spirits which affect the lives of the living. Though the causes of disease lie in the spiritual realm, the far seer may also employ methods in the physical realm to heal. Though the common way to heal is through the far seer "entering the body" of the patient to confront the ailing spirit head on. Healing the patient if the far seer succeeds in banishing it.
Most far seers have expert knowledge of medicinal plants from their native area, and thus can provide a herbal treatment if needed, which is often. In many places, after obtaining permission from the spirits of the area, the far seer can learn directly from the plants. Harnessing their effects and healing properties.
Practice
Generally, the farseer enters the spirit world by effecting a transition of consciousness, entering into an ecstatic trance, either autohypnotically or through the use of entheogens. The methods employed are diverse, and are often used together.
Farseers tend to connect to the Spirit realm through multiple methods. One method would be sacrificing. Sacrificing an animal to a spirit then speaking a specific chant in old blah (ie, Vras ubat buruk ug buth arub atg ruiuk). The farseer would then go about smoking a special herb which is known vaguely amongst Shamans, this smoke/drug is made up of three components, softened sandstone, jabbernak dung, with a hint of cactus green. The three as mixed together which makes a substance which gives the consumer a strong high.
The farseer(s) will gather close to their sacrifice, chanting while the herb is inhaled. This process would take a few moemnts, the farseers chanting until their eyes darken. Their sould would then be lifted and transported to the spirit realm.
Chants
Farseers use chants to please the spirits or get them into a trance, all chants use the old blah not the current blah, so the Farseer needs to learn the Old blah.
Paraphernalia
Farseers may have various kinds of paraphernalia
Drum – The drum is used by Farseers. The beating of the drum allows the Farseer to achieve an altered state of consciousness or to travel on a journey between the physical and spiritual worlds. Farseer drums are generally constructed of an animal-skin stretched over a bent wooden hoop, with a handle across the hoop. Feathers – Feathers are often used in ceremonies and in individual healing rituals. Rattle – Also used in ceremonies in traditional ways in their blessings and ceremonies. Pipe – Used for smoking various tobaccos and psychoactive herbs Sword/Staff – A holy sword/Staff will always be used in the practice to protect the Farseer from wandering "evil" spirits as he travels to the spirit world. Shake – The Farseer begins his practice by rattling, which turns into a shake. It is the process of communicating with his shamanistic spirits to guide him to the spirit world. Mortar and Pestle – Used to smash herbs
So all in all Farseers, do not really wield a lot of magic, they have some but its not offensive magic. There more of storytellers, deviationists, advisors, and spiritual leaders, more like Priests.
