The Dunfal

History

The Dunfal (Otkori for House of Death) is a Valantian sub-cult of St. Humakt which has it's roots in far more ancient times. In the time before the worship of the Inviisble God had become prevalent, before even the reformation of the Humathi cult (the primitive predeccessor to the cult of Humakt; reformed by King Caer II in 1328 ST) were the Dunfal. They were, at first, a set of commando troops organised by the Lanksti barbarians to help combat an incursion of trolls which threatened to engulf Lankst and wipe out a large number of tribes. The Dunfal took the best Humathi warriors and trained them as one, coherent unit. The concept of overcoming clan and family rivalry was mainly unheard of, a revolutionary new idea. Later, when the trolls were forced back, the ruling organisers of the Dunfal did not disband. Instead they became a small, well structured sub-cult, buying (or winning) children who seemed to make good warriors and then teaching them in the Arts of Death and nothing else.

They were, until renewed intrest in the populating of Valantia, a religious oddity serving little purpose. They have cult connections, even in modren times, with the Brannan family of Tiskos, famous for maintaining the Dead Mountain - an important Humathi holy site. The Dunfal had no true enemies and no true liege other than the Death Lord himself. They rarely fought other clans, or even trolls, and never served as mercenaries, but every year or so would in engage in the mass slaughter of a particular clan, family, race or religion on the grounds that divination had shown them to be deserving of Death. The Dunfal were responsible for the genocide of the Marlly clan, the destruction of a fully armed and armoured settlement of Mostali and the repression of the broo in the time of the Great Plague. They were feared and revered. Many times, Dunfali members enacted the Lead Cross HeroQuest, an intensly anti-social quest involving the ritual slaying of Chalana Arroy Healers.

Valantia was, at the time of the Great Plague when Lanksti barbarians fled from disease into the lands of Otkorion, a small, minor collection of villages. The Dunfal were partly responsible for the creation of the colliseum, and when the Sygian religion created a city there and formed an Iron Council, the Dunfal were the first to be offered the chance to lead the Valantian military. They were also the first to refuse. In doing so, they became a small group of highly trained, insanely religious maniacs.. sorry, warriors - who served Valantia on missions of importance. They numver 150 warriors at a time, about 1% of the cult of St. Humakt.

Organisation and Composition

The Dunfal are led by a powerful Sword, all Swords have normally been in the Dunfal for at least twenty five years making them excessively powerful - as part of their ordination they must undergo three separate HeroQuests undertaken with the support of the Dunfali who wish the Sword to lead the sub-cult. In the entire history of the Dunfal the House has never been divided over who is to become the next Head of House - in the few cases where multiple canidates, they have settled the matter privately in one-on-one combat to see who should receive the undivided support of the sub-cult. No canidate for the three HeroQuests has ever failed. The Head of the Dunfal is considered to be one of the five temporal incarnations of St. Humakt. The current head is named Eochy Finshad, who was a son of the previous king.

Below the Head of House is a circle of seven powerful Swords, whom dedicat their time to the training of the 50 or so apprentices, and embarking on minor ritual quests on the spirit plane. Below this circle are the members of the Dunfal. The time dedicated to the cult (90% in the case of Swords, and 10% in the case of initiates) is instead dedicated to the Dunfal.

The Dunfal are only truly active in Valantia, but has a shrine in any major temple or greater within Otkorion. They recruit prospective members at the age of 7 or 8 from the populace of Valantia, selecting them via observation and divination. While most canidates are plhysically powerful and ready to be trained, not all new trainees are - sometimes the most ridiculous people are selected (fat, shy, bullied) only to prove a more mystical, internal worth and become high ranking members of the Dunfal. One such example would be the current head of house.

Once a canidate is selected the cult pays appropiate weregeld to the family and then hide them away in their private tula within Valantia. The location of the training grounds is kept secret, unknown to all non-Rune Lord Dunfali members. You cannot refuse selection, a family cannot stop the Dunfal from taking their child.

All canidates are severed from their family, no longer having any rights of inheritance, status, weregeld or justice. Most are renamed. However, the Dunfali often rent their new trainees to the Family Guards of various Major families in the hope of them gaining some experience.

The training is single minded and deciated - Dunfali are invariably dedicated to the honourable virtues of St. Humakt, and are usually unskilled in other areas. When spirit magic became a gift reserved for the most holy, the Dunfal did not assume the teachings of sorcery and so most do not have any magical skills.

Trainees are initiated into St. Humakt after two years of religious indoctrine and physical training, and initiated into the Henotheistic Church at the age of fifteen.

Training always includes one weapon attack form, in addition to the use of a sword. All Dunfali make use of a two weapon atack form, one in each hand. Training conludes with a HeroQuest to gain an allied spirit, usually achieved with the support of the House. The new member of the house is then hired out, mainly to the military and the Family Guard - death rates are often quite high at this stage, but this only proves the blessed nature of the House members for achieving a good death. Those who survive usually return to become Swords and serve the Dunfal full time on mystical matters, spending large portions of their time on pilgrimages or in the Spirit World.

Generating a Dunfali

This assumes the use of my character generation system. A Dunfali character starts at the age of 16 or 17.

All Dunfali must have at least 15 in all physical characteristics and an INT of at least 12. All are Warrior Caste members, and worshippers of St. Humakt - they rarely select sorcery.

All Dunfali must select the following advantages and disadvantages; Honour, Uneducated, Unskilled, Allied Spirit - giving an overall points cost of 35 pts. All Dunfali will have two one-handed weapon attacks at 50%.

The following advantages and disadvantages are common:

Advantages: Accelerated healing, Ambidexterity, Combat Reflexes, Danger Sense, Daredevil, Destiny, Divine Intervention, Driven, Honourable, Violent Temper.

Disadvantages: Animosity, Beserk nature, Blood Lust, Compulsive Honesty, Cursed.