The Cult Of Wachaza

by Nicholas Effingham, based upon information from Tales of the Reaching Moon #10 and Gods of Glorantha

I. Mythos and History

In the ancient years, when the sea was calmer, and the world did not wind it's way to the center of the world, Magasta, Lord of the Sea, heard of the death of the Ocean Princess and her entourage. Dismayed, Magasta sent his servant Grindon to find the source of the unrest. When Grindon's abdomen floated into Magasta's court, the Lord of the Sea bawled his anger across the waters, so loud that it can still be heard in the raging storms that plague the oceans. Magasta took the Powers of the Ocean and sought out the killer of his servants and of his sea court. He found it in a deep ocean trench, surronded by the bones and bodies of all those she had lured into her trap. With a dark, mysterious beauty the killer tried to lure Magasta into her trap. He did so, and the demon was glad to see him approach, thinking she had captured him. They coupled, and as she went to slide her long, dark nails into Magasta's back, he plunged his fist into her soul, and wrapped it around his hand. Taking it from her, he changed her aspect and took from her her power. With her very spirit at his mercy, she submitted to his power. The result from their union was, however, a great and powerful child. His name was Wachaza.

He was a creature unlike any had seen before. He was not a being that was neither darkness nor water, but was a creature that was both Darkness and Water, the worst aspects of both. Whereas his mother Robber was forced by his father to use Death for Life, Wachaza used Death for Death alone. He was a master of both weapons and magic, and knew unbridled fury and dark evil curses. He defeated a hundred foes within the first hours of his birth, and had tackled every servant sent to attend to his needs. Eventually, Magasta was forced to look after him himself for only he had the power to do so. But this was not what Magasta was meant for. The mewling infant drove him to the brink of insanity and he longed for his rightful position at the head of the ocean. Even though it was his own son, he took him to his secret Ocean of Eat-Shark, wherein all the most hideous secrets and products of the Ocean can be found. Magasta visited once every year, during which time the Throne was left empty and storms raged across the ocean, and sea currents would make havoc. Wachaza lived in the palace of Dark Sea and often walked the Underworld path, visiting the Styx and Hell, where he made secret pacts with dehori and evil creatures, and learnt magics from the Dark Gods that none of the Sea Gods would even dare think about. Wachaza is the creator of the Trident, he learnt the art of weapon smithing whilst under the tutelage of spirits in Hell.

Wachaza fought the evil monsters of Eat Shark and claimed rulership, an iron clad rulership which none dared challenge on pain of Death, or imprisonment in Wachaza's cloest for eternity. After a while he grew bored, and ventured out into the Oceans. Here he saw his father's domain and went to Magasta, demanding the right to rule. Magasta, suprised to see his son, equally demanded that he receive proof of worthiness. Wachaza sent Magasta to the Well of Wisdom and ruled in his stead. When Magasta returned, he saw what his son had done and how well he had performed. He allowed Wachaza a place in his Household and in the Court, and no longer was afraid of the carnage that his own son could wield.

Wachaza was, and still is, a god to be feared. Though he was Magasta's son, none of the gods would talk to him for he was a creature of the Darkest depths and fearful beyond belief. Yet, eventually, all had recourse to call upon his services (though many used intermediaries), to destroy a monster, to carve an invasion to shreads, or to assassinate a godling foe. When Chaos invaded, Wachaza was called upon to combat the coming beasts. Wachaza went to the broken Sea Heart that the Devil destroyed and stopped the monsters that spewed forth. Wachaza, great as he was, was capable of covering only three corners of the Void hole, so whereas all the Chaos that came forth to meet him was destroyed, those that slithered from the fourth corner managed to escape into the world.

In the Second Age, Wachaza became the War God of the God Learners and the Middle Sea Empire. His success against the Waertagi earned him the right to become the foremost war god of the empire. With it's fall, the cult still remained strong, and even today is still quite powerful in extreme times of war.

The cults belief in life after death is quite extreme. Unlike the cult of Magasta, the cult believes in breaking the cycle of life and death. Those lower down in the cult rely on other cults for burial and an afterlife. Those higher in the cult are willing to take their chances with the Wachazan afterlife, no-one is sure where they believe they will go, for this is a cult mystery open to debate, some say eternity in Wachaza's Sea Palace, others say the souls wander off into the deepest reaches of the ocean for some unknown purposes and others say pure Oblivion.... Bodies are taken to the deep sea and weighted down to sink.

Wachaza's Runes are Death, Water and Darkness. In the height of the Jrusteli reign, heresy talked about connections to the Chaos rune.....

II. Cult Ecology

Wachaza's cult is supported by all those engaged in a war so terrible that they are willing to resort to his cold magics and curses. His cult demands blood sacrifices, self mutliation for failures, blood bonding and blood brotherhoods as well as more arcane sacrifices, including the chance at a decent afterlife in the case of the more powerful members of the cult, and so is only turned to in great need.

The cult enjoys the favour of Magasta and his worshippers, but is both feared, respected and reviled by those of the Sea. His cult actively dislikes all chaos cults, notably Benzeidin the Sea Spawn. His cult is friendly with all gods who were condemned by Magasta to the secret ocean, and so has oaths with the cultists and worshippers of Drospoly and Varchulanga.

His holy days are Godday of Fertility Week, with a High Holy Day in Dark Season.

III. The Cult In The World

The cult appears in all areas that mermen inhabit, and is also worshipped by some humans and the darkest sailors in the coastal areas. His worship in Ygg's Isles is noted, aswell as the East Isles. The Tskanthi kill all Wachaza worshippers they come across. The Waertagi do not worship Wachaza, disdaining him, especially for his God Learner connections. Normally, minor temples are the maximum size of temples you will find, although shrines are reasonably common - the temples can be temporarily raised in power by sacrifices and rituals involving death. Shrines teach Drown.

The temples are not organised in any particular hierarchical fashion, springing up wherever war and conflict occurs. Normally a War Master presides ceremonies, and any arguments are setlled by trident and net. In the case of permanent (usually human) shrines are ruled by the rare War Master who wishes to settle down.

The Gnydron, Ludoch and the Malasp races of mermen worship Wachaza, but the most powerful worshippers are the dark Ysabbau.

IV. Initiates

To worship Wachaza requires devotion. The initiate must participate in a long ritual ceremony, which takes place waist deep in sea water in the case of non-water breathing races, in which three War Masters test their fighting mettle, naked except for a trident. The canidate must attempt to suceed in three of the following skills; Dodge, Net Attack, Scan, Any Weapon Attack and Ceremony. Each failure means the canidate loses 1d6 hit points during the rite (remember that the canidate is naked, therefore without armour or foci) and if they die, their body is consumed in a ritual afterwards held by the War Masters. If they suceed the canidate must sacrifice 1 POW. They are given a Net by the Rune Lords, which has woven into it a piece of sea metal. This Net is sacred, and must be brought to all sacred ceremonies - an initiate is rendered inactive if the net is not brought to the ceremonies, and remains so until the net is recovered. If the net is destroyed, the canidate must defeat another member of the cult and take theirs.

Normal initiate restrictions and benefits apply. They must attend the High Holy Day, and must sarifice 1 magic point and 1d3 hit points in a blood ceremony.

Spirit Magic: Bladesharp, Coordination, Demoralize, Disrupt, Mobility, Second Sight, Slow, Strength.

V. Acolytes

Acolytes are quite proliferate in the cult, the restrictions not as dangerous nor as deadly as the position of War Master. However, the position of acolyte is rare within the cult outside of the ocean, as the lack of temples makes it difficult for acolytes to be maintained. Acolytes must qualify as does a War Master, and donate 1000 pennies, or the equivalent cost in goods, to the temple. They gain all normal benefits and penalties for being an acolyte.

Acolytes act both as highly proficient warriors, and as keepers of the temples, as most War Masters prefer destruction, death and war to looking after a simple shrine.

VI. War Masters

War Masters are the powerful, and feared, priests of the cult. To qualify they must have 90% in Net Attack, any weapon attack and 50% in Ceremony. Usually vacancies exist, but not always. Often vacancies open up in times of war, and then dissappear afterwards. All War Masters must also complete a Test Of Holiness. This ritual involves the canidate bringing a creature slain by themselves (although they may call for allies to aid, the actually battle must be done on their own), the creature must be from the deep sea area - usually a Varchulanga horror. For a merman this is difficult, but for an air breather it is almost impossible for they must find a way to travel to the deep sea to defeat it. After the ceremony, the beast's bones are normally held in the temple as a sign of the War Masters induction.

All War Masters have the right to enchanted arms and armour, either Quicksilver or Iron. Usually air breathers receive quicksilver armour, and iron weaponary, and mermen receive both iron armour and iron weapons if the temple can afford it (usually they can from plunder gained). They receive reusable divine magics like all priests. All Magastan and Wachazan horrors, sea beasts and monsters will not harm a War Master until provoked. A War Master has the normal chance of having an allied spirit, which is bound into their trident. All War Masters receive a new ceremonial net which has twice the amount of normal armour points. They may only be a member of cults that are associated to Wachaza. They must participate in the Holy Day ceremonies (see notes below). All War Masters receive reusable divine magic, board and succor and must donate 90% of their time and income to the cult, although they may keep any plunder they take from the enemy (which, being their major source of income, means that War Masters can grow to be very rich). All War Masters have first pick of the plunder in any raid. However, all War Masters are subject to a number of powerful geases (beyond having to participate in the holy days), the worst of which is that they are removed from the cycle of life and death within the sea. They may only be ressurected by a Divine Intervention to Wachaza, a ressurection spell or the like is ineffective, and if the ressurection fails then the soul can never return, even by the mightiest HeroQuests. They must also attack any and all chaos that they come across, and suffer great loses for any failures. If forced to retreat they have one week to make preparations for a retaliation - during which time they may gather allies, sacrifice for magic and recover. If they fail again, or if they refuse to participate, the War Master must undergo self-mutilation. The first body parts to be lost are fingers, followed by hands, followed by forearms - after this the War Master is excommunicated for excessive failure. Of course, very rarely does a War Master with only two forearms ever need to be excommunicated for surviving and not killing an encountered chaos beast....

Common Rune Magic: All.
Special Rune Magic: Command Undine, Drown, Fear, Seastrength, The Fang of Wachaza.

VII. Special Wachaza Rune Magic

See Gods of Glorantha p.75 for a description of the special Rune magic of this cult.

VIII. Sub-cults

Spirit of Reprisal
The Spirit of Reprisal manifests itself within mermen as a spirit that attracts all deadly sea creatures within 500m to the affected cultist. These sea creatures then proceed to attack the cultist. This means that apostate mermen are forced to live in isolation in mermen encampments, although normally they are taken by the cult as hostages and when attacking the enemy forces the hostages are herded on one flank and the enemies sea creatures attack them instead! In air breathers, the spirit of reprisal appears as water welling up within their lungs. For 1d8 rounds the cultist is affected by the Drown spell as if cast by someone of POW 30.

Diros
A sub-cult only worshipped by seafaring folk, and not mermen. The subcult is quite proliferate, and is venerated by all worshippers of his cult who use warships as a means of conquest and destruction. The subcult has developed a number of secret magics, mainly to do with the enchantment of ships. However, through the cult a spell is available:

TrueRam
1 point
ranged, temporal, nonstackable, reusable
This spell may only be cast on the specially prepared rams of the Diros warships. Once cast it doubles the damage inflicted by the ram for the duration of the spell.

Snymal
This subcult concentrates on the power that Wachaza has to remove the dead from the cycle of life/death ever present in the ocean. Worshippers of this subcult must first prove themselves to the War Masters of the cult, and must show their reverence for death and the dark powers of the ocean. Those who worship the dark powers of this subcult are known for their grim morbidity. Worshippers gain access to Stop Ressurection. All worshippers must accept the geas "Never be ressurected".

Prothatha
Prothatha is the name of the bag that Wachaza carries in his hand, in it he carries a thousand and one dark curses meant for his enemies. It is said that HeroQuest magics from this subcult have been the guiding force for the sinking of fleets, the destruction of army shoals of mermen and released into the ocean far darker and malign forces than they were used to destroy. Sometimes cultists take to the worship of this subcult. Under normal circumstances, the cult grants the spell Fumble.

Eat-Shark
Wachaza's hidden palace in the secret ocean of Eat-Shark is one of the most difficult places in the world to find. Some God Learners postulated that it was the residence of the Well Of Death that Humakt destroyed. Wachaza has always allowed his worshippers to remain in the darkened halls and rooms of his palace, although any but HeroQuesters who find themselves there should be warned that leaving the room they arrive in would spell almost certain doom..... Members of this subcult can learn the spell Teleport to Eat-Shark.

Teleport to Eat-Shark
3 points
ritual ceremony, one-use
This spell involves an hour long ritual. The caster is teleported to the hidden palace in Eat-Shark, wherein they arrive in an empty room reminiscent of a prison cell. They can remain there for as long as they wish, although must provide for their own food and any terminal illnesses or such still kill them. They may return at any point in time, and do so at the exact spot that they left. It is impossible for someone within Eat-Shark to contact the Mundane Plane, and vice versea, although a Divination to Wachaza will reveal their presence in Eat-Shark. As noted, leaving the room to wander the palaces is normally fatal within the briefest of time spans. A few mermen Heroes are supposedly in Eat-Shark awaiting the time of their return to lead their people to victory.

IX. Associated Cults

Drospoly
The God of Cold Death resides in Eat-Shark and is under his control, as much as any god control a fearful being such as Drospoly. He grants the spell Freeze to Wachaza:

Freeze
1 point
ranged, instant, stackable, reusable
This spell freezes a random location on the targets body. Once the target's magic points are overcome, a random missile location takes 1d4 freezing damage for every point stacked in the spell. If reduced to 0 hit points or less, and not healed within 10 melee rounds, then the location is useless until amputated and regenerated.

Magasta
His father grants Breathe Air/Water.

Robber
His fearsome mother, who brought Death to the oceans, grants Sever Spirit as a one-use spell to War Masters of Wachaza.

Sshorg
Another popular war god of mermen grants the spell Beserk to Wachaza.

Varchulanga
Another one of Wachaza's subservient deities. She grants the spell Spawn.

Spawn
2 points
touch, temporal, nonstackable, reuable
This spell invests any sea creature with some of the monstrous nature of the goddess Varchulanga. It works only on fixed INT sea beasts. They never resist the spell, unless dominated or somehow controlled. The spell is ineffective on creatures with a chaos taint. Once cast the creature is invested with an extra ability, and takes on a more malformed, fearsome appearance along with it. The exact nature of the ability can be determined by rolling on the table available in Strangers in Prax or rolling a random beneficial chaos feature - although this spell is not chaotic and once it is cast upon it it leaves no chaos taint.

X. Notes

Holy Day Rituals
It is well known that the holy day rituals of Wachaza are full of blood sacrifice, mutilation and self destruction. They are long and bloody. All participants in the ritual (who aren't tied down to the sacrifical table) must roll their ceremony skill. A special success or better means that they come out unharmed, a simple success means the cultist leaves exhausted (lose 2d20 fp's) and suffers 1d3 general hit point loss from blood giving and scarification, a failure means as above, but they lose 1d8 hit points and they must make a POWx3 or lose 1d3 APP permanently. A fumble means the permanent loss of 1d6 APP, the loss of 1d10 general hit points (which may kill weaker cultists) and must make a POWx5 or lose a limb permanently. The gamesmaster may be as indepth with the description of these rites as they wish....