Mysteries

These are involved ceremonies which usually celebrate gods of nature or rebirth. Celebrated annually or semi-annually, they tend to have several elements and can go on for a full day or more, not counting the rituals which precede the actual celebration of the mysteries. Usually, the pattern is something like this:

In the days before the actual celebration, the participants go through purification. These rituals of purification involve fasting, ritual baths, and abstinence from physical pleasures.

On the day of the celebration, the participants dress in clothing appropriate to the ceremony, usually in featureless clothing of white (or a color preferred by the god), usually barefoot. They assemble at the temple of the god, and perform the oath-taking. A high priest administers the oath, where every participant swears that he will keep what he has seen a secret, and never discuss it with one who is not also an initiate into the mysteries. The participant swears in the god's name, and could suffer the god's punishment if he breaks his oath.

Next, there is the procession. All the priests and participants proceed in a parade to a site that is holy to the god. This is often a cavern or a very secluded glade, because there it is possible to keep the celebration hidden from the eyes of non-initiates. The procession is led by ranking priests, followed by lesser priests in charge of sacrifices, followed by musicians who play during the procession. Then come priestesses, who carry small caskets (or draw carts bearing those caskets); the caskets contain artifacts sacred to the god. (These artifacts aren't necessarily, or even usually, powerful magical items desired by greedy adventurers. They're more ordinary items: The rock sacred to the god, the fossilized stone showing the god's footprint, the bone from the feast in which the god participated, the statue the god himself blessed, the cast-off weapon used by the god in some famous event, and so on.) Then, there are more functionary priests: Priests in charge of the upcoming feast, priests who lead sacrificial animals (if sacrifice is a part of this culture's worship), and priests who act as sergeants-at-arms (they carry non-lethal weapons such as staffs and use them to keep the disorderly orderly). Finally, the faithful (non-priest) followers come.

Once the procession reaches the sacred site, there may be a sacred meal. Sacrificial animals will be sacrificed and cooked, and then the feast eaten. The character of the meal depends on the character of the god: It could be stern and somber for a severe god, wild and orgiastic for a more free-spirited god. The sacred meal ends after nightfall.

Then, the three most important elements of the mysteries begin. They all take place at night.

First is the recitation , a series of songs or chants concerning the god, his deeds, his promises to the faithful, his demands on the faithful. The recitation sets the mood for the rest of the ceremonies; the listening followers are supposed to be reverential, at least, and the priests with the staves are still around to keep order and quell (or get rid of) troublemakers. Troublemakers tend to be rare.

Second, there is the display. The sacred objects carried in those caskets are displayed for the faithful. Since they actually are magical objects sacred to the god, they tend to inspire the faithful with the essence of the god.

Third, there is the performance. Priests trained as actors perform a play which commemorates the most famous of the god's stories, especially the one which most closely deals with the god's demands on and relations with his worshippers. Regardless of the quality of this play, it is performed at the end of a lengthy process of worship where the followers are exposed to many powerful forces of the faith, and the onlookers are all elevated to a state of rapture during the performance.

At the end, there is the rebirth. Once the performance has ceased, the lights are doused and the faithful are led in pitch darkness from the area where the play was performed. Once they arrive at the point of departure, where the procession home will begin, the torches or lamps are again lit, and among the faithful this journey in darkness is much like being born again.

Mysteries are an experience for the spirit, not the mind; this is not an educational event, but one which is intended to bring the followers closer to the nature of their god. Even in a culture which worships many gods, only a very few will have mysteries as part of their worship.

For the DM, the mysteries are an opportunity to introduce dramatic events into the story. During the mysteries, it is appropriate for the god to appear to one of his PC followers and charge that character with an important mission, for instance. Or it could be that during the celebration of the mysteries, one character will receive some sudden insight (a gift from the god) into some event which has been puzzling or confounding the player-characters for some time.

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