The Gildune

The Gildune are another one fo the major houses of St. Humakt. They are known as the Loyal Dead and are one of the largest and most popular houses, having a membership of about 750 or so. The house believes that certain rites and dedications bring the devote worshipper closer to St. Humakt, in doing and encating these rites their connetion to Death Incarnate increases. The Gildune are popular as they require less devotion to the House than most other houses do, and more enforced devotion to previous loyalties. Most Otkorioni people know that a Gilduni's loyalty is one of the most powerful forces around.

The Gildune station themselves in Valantia, like virtually all of the Humakti Houses. They came into being spontaneously in the late portions of the 15th century when the ritual of the Gildune became popular. The rite had been known long before then, but had never constituted an organization to monitor or control its use. Those who suceeded in the ceremony, the numer was about 1500 successful Humakti by the turn of the 16th century, grouped together and, with some elements of elitism, formed the Gildune. While it became extremely popular at first, it has since faded from previous glories (especially in the year 1544 when two Incarnations of Death became members) but still has a recognisably large membership. The Gildune is now managed by a small group of five or six Swords who staunchly believe in the precepts of the ritual. Any St. Humakti worshipper may join merely by paying the House 350 Orbs, the price of casting the ritual ceremony used to enact the Gildune. Although only High Holy Days are normally used for the prospective membership this is not obligatory, often a Gildune Sword with the ritual will cast it on a particulary suitable candidate or a friend upon request.

The entire house centers around two, simple, concepts:

The Gildune ritual where the Humakti symbolically kills themselves, releasing them from certain obligations and allowing them to dedicate all their energy and devotion to just on loyalty.

The dedication of oneself to a single loyalty i.e. Family, Humakt, the Church, a ward etc....

The sect has no political, relgious or social aims. The House of Gildune has access to the following ritual, and all Sword members must sacrifice for it within three Seasons of their ordination as a Sword.

The Gildune
3 points
Ritual(ceremony), reusable
Can be sacrificed for by any Gilduni Swords on a Humakti High Holy Day. The ritual allows the caster to nominate one person to participate in this minor Gilduni HeroQuest.

The candidiate appears in the ritual within the cold recess of a darkened room made of cold stone. They must bring with them symbols of their old loyalties and loves, for example - a family emblem, a wedding ring, a holy symbol. The symbol is then destroyed.

The candidate must then undergo a ritual execution, with a wooden sword, until they are beaten into unconsiousness. When they awake the ritual is over and the character must allow all wounds to recover naturally.

As a result of the rite, the character is immediately excommunicated from all cults, hero and spirit included, other than the Church and St. Humakt. They must then make a Ceremony roll to see if the ritual has suceeded. If it fails, they are still excommunicated, but may try again at a later date. If successful, they lose all Love and Loyalty Passions except one. This remaining Passion is decided by the candidate beforehand and must be a Loyalty. For every Passion lost over 5 the character gains one point in the chosen loyalty. For every Passion over ten they gain 3 points in the loyalty, for every Passion over 15 they gain 5 points, and so on. For a description of how Passions work, please refer to my HeroQuest Rules.

The character is now a member of the house.