The House of the Dunmara

The Dunmara is a monument of great importance to both the cult of St. Humakt and the Beserker trolls of Lalia. It is a large block of obsidian, said to be a piece of the Black Lord's Maul that fell off in combat with the Angel of Death - the outcome of the battle is unknown to both cults, and nowadays neither actually cares.

The Dunmara can be used as the focus of a great HeroQuest to endow a Sword of Humakt with various abilities, and thus is of great spiritual and magical importance to the cult. It's location is in the Poldark Forest on the western border of Otkorion and Lalia, near Valantia the southern city. Since it is also holy to the Zorak Zorani they surrond it themselves. They, too, revere it underneath a different name.

The House was formed as a collective group who aimed to elevate Swords to Herodom using the Dunmara's magics - only this House has access to the sorcery magic used to go to the HeroPlane from the Dunamara, and only this House has the secrets of what to expect upon arrival. All members must take an Oath never to reveal the secrets they learn otherwise the House's power base would be devastated. It has been around in one form or another as a collective group since the Second Age but only as an "official" House for the last 340 years. It is more than a homage paying sub-cult, it is a pyramid structured House whereby the initiates at the bottom work to aid the Swords in their HeroQuest, and when they too become a Sword they will get this chance. This structure requires money, income and political power to remain stable. Over the years many people have tried to get the secrets from the cult, or jump straight to the top of the House and embark immediately upon the Dunmara, but the superb organisation of the House has foiled all attempts. Entry into the House is strict, and the House demands commitment. In return, a lot of Swords have great respects for even the lowliest member of this elite house.

It is lead by Keenblade, a spirit contained in an enchanted Iron broadsword. An Angel of St. Humakt, it gives orders to whomever wields it, which is almost always the Priest of Salatan, a small town in Otkorion built around a temple to St. Humakt. Whilst this is where the "leader" of the House, most House business is conducted in nearby Valantia. The Keenblade, perhaps, should not be called leader as the House very rarely has a crisis that requires the Angels wisdom. More often than not the Keenblade is only used to vet prospective Candidate Swords.

Organization and Composition

As stated above, the structure is a clearly defined pyramid structure. Rank in the house is not merely dependent upon the rank of an individual within the Cult of St. Humakt.

At the bottom of the pyramid are the Black Daggers, initiates of the House. They can be either initiates of St. Humakt but a lot are also Swords, awaiting their chance to advance further in the cult hierarchy. Generally these Black Daggers only perform pilgrimages and cult support in the Dunmara HeroQuest. They usually have a large portion of their time to attend to non-House matters.

Above the Black Daggers are the Aide Swords. Each Aide Sword is one of two companions to a specific Candidate Sword. The Aide Sword exists solely to Quest, serve and help the Candidate Swords ready themselves for the rigours of the HeroPlane. The most skilled Aide Swords advance to Candidate Sword when a Candidate Sword completes the Dunmara, or dies trying. Candidate Swords are, of course, those Swords who are preparing to take the Dunmara.

The number of each of these is limited - only so much support can be given to a Candidate Sword and the House can only support so many Candidate Swords at once. There are only ever 203 Black Daggers, 20 Aide Swords and 10 Candidate Swords.

Above the Candidate Swords are the Black Swords of Dunmara who have completed the Quest. They dedicate their time to using their powers under the guidance of the Church Militant and teaching the Candidate Swords the necessary information for the Quest. Above them all is the Keenblade - less of a leader than a trusted, friendly advisor. He judges when a candidate is ready or not to take part in the HeroQuest. A Candidate Sword only ever has three years to prepare, after which they are reduced in rank back down to Aide Sword. The priest wielding the Keenblade has no special powers - although they are always a member of the House and the Cult of St. Humakt as a whole honours them for being the protector of an angel. Because most of the House are Black Daggers, the Sword who wields Keenblade is invariably only a Black Dagger.

To become a member of the House requires the candidate to meet certain requirements:

Must have a ceremony of 40%+
Must have a POW of 14+
Must have an INT of at least 13
Must have at least 10 points of Rune Magic

All Black Daggers are given an amulet that has both a bound magic spirit and the symbols of their house. It knows but one spell:

POW 3d6 INT 2d6
Presence = POW+INT-10
Sorcery: Boost Magic Bonus 1d100%
Skills: Intensity 50+1d100%

This spell must be maintained at all times. As holy, powerful cult spirits no House member may allow their spirit to be taught anymore magic. If they lose the spirit they must recompense the House 5000 Orbs for a new one.

This means that the House members are spiritually powerful, adding to their HeroQuest cult support. As 80 of the 200 Black Daggers of the House are usually Swords, their spiritual aid is immense. When supporting the Heroes of the cult they grant the following benefits (this is underneath my HeroQuest rules, if you use your own system calculate your own bonuses) of three Hero Points for use on the Quest (and also the concurrent 9 extra POW).

All Black Daggers are forced by vows and oaths to participate in ritual support of the Dunmara Questers. The Quest always takes place on the day before Sacred Time. At least one Quest occurs a year. If the Quest suceeds then the Black Daggers gain no benefits, but if the Quester dies, all suporters are cursed to resist poison and disease with two less CON than normal. This is cumulative, so if a Black Dagger supports 3 failed Quests they have 6 less effective CON.

There is about 48% chance of a Quester suceeding - unless of course the Quester is a PC in which case the HeroQuest should be played out (obviously).

All initiates must yield magic point matrices and crystals they find to the Candidate Swords, and make a donation of one other magic item a year to the house.

Conversely, a Candidate Sword gets HeroQuest information, cult support, 2d6 magic point matrices a year, 1d8 crystals a year and 1d20 other magic items per year. This is in addition to the two Aide Swords. The only condition is that a Candidate Sword spends all of their time preparing for their Quest.