Saving the world on a Sunday afternoon
Patrolees undergo various formative and impactful experiences during their careers adventuring. Some of these experiences leave permanent marks on the soul of the character in question. These marks are known as Spiritual Influences and can be given or gained by events as wide and varied as the characters who gain them.
A spiritual influence comprises of three things: A name, a path/school and a level. These should be relevant to the influence in question.
Example: Vertonius went on a patrol in which he was turned into the size of a pea. As a result he gained a spiritual influence as follows:
Name: Touched by the Hand of Pod
Level: 1
Path: Tree
Spiritual influences may, but are not required to be, associated with a Hero Ability. If this is the case, the level and path/school should be appropriate to the ability given.
Example: Being “Touched by the Hand of Pod”, Vertonius can use Plant Walk (S) once a day, a level 1 Tree miracle.
Spiritual influences are diagnosed by using the Discern Spiritual Influence skill. This gives the user the name, number, level and school/path of any spiritual influences on the target.
A spiritual influence cannot be removed by any means, with the exception of by the power or conditions that granted it, for a year and a day after its acquisition. The power or conditions that granted a spiritual influence may remove it at any time without consequence.
Once this time has elapsed, the Spiritual Influence can be removed by being dispelled. This requires a Ritual or Ceremony to be written from scratch according to the normal rules, of a level equal to the Spiritual Influence of an appropriate path or school to the influence being removed. The GM responsible for the Influence should be consulted, or failing this the Character Refs, in all cases. An IC effort to gather relevant components will be necessary in most cases.
Removing Spiritual Influences may have IC consequences depending upon the powers which granted them. If a Spiritual Influence is associated with a Hero Ability, removing the Spiritual Influence also removes the Hero Ability.
Example: George the Defender was the sole survivor of an assault by the Temple of Death and gained the Spiritual Influence “Run and Live” which is a level 1 Death Influence which imposed a permanent Demoralise 1 on him. This can be dispelled by either a Level 1 Life, Chaos or Water ritual to remove the influence, taking 2 days to write. In all cases, the ritual requires components to be gathered from the site of the attack as part of being effective, and a patrol is sent out to do so. A year and a day later, the ritual is successful and the influence removed. However, the Temple of Death soon learn of this and plan a second massacre to continue George’s fall into despair.