Occultism

Lurking in the shadowy corners of the universe are dark entities far beyond our understanding. They gaze upon mortals with equal parts disgust and hatred, patiently plotting ways to plunge the world into darkness and misery. Wise men turn their backs on these dark entities. But for some adventurers, ambition far outweighs wisdom. Power-hungry cultists and warlocks readily embrace these dark patrons, signing infernal contracts to sacrifice their souls in exchange for unnatural power. You could join them... all you need to do is sign a contract in blood. After all, when it comes to fulfilling one's darkest desires, everyone has a price. What is yours?

* A warlock signs a contract with a demon to gain infernal power in exchange for servitude.
* An astronomer gazes at the stars and discovers a dark entity that grants her forbidden knowledge.
* After getting lost in the woods, a girl meets a twisted forest spirit that allows her to join the eternal hunt.

## Creating a Patron

In Tavern Tales, you get to decide what sort of patron you follow. You can create a patron for your character to follow by using these patron creation guidelines. However, check with your GM first. Your GM may want to use a unique setting where the patrons are already established. In that case, the GM should work with you to modify the established patrons to suit your tastes.

### Step 1: Write a Description

First, write a basic description of who your patron is and what it seeks. Is your patron a demon from hell? Is she a fey queen who delights in tormenting mortals? Is it a dark monster that dwells at the bottom of the ocean? Be creative as you come up with the origin of your patron

### Step 2: Determine your Patron's Stats

The biggest difference between patrons and gods (from the Faith theme) is that patrons are much more involved with the world. Gods are cosmic entities who work in subtle and mysterious ways. They have millions of worshippers and rarely speak to any of them.

Patrons are less powerful than gods, but they make up for it by being more involved in the lives of mortals. Because patrons have fewer followers, they can afford to interact with each individual follower. When you call to your patron, your patron will probably answer you.

As a result, there might be a situation where you encounter your patron face-to-face. Work with your GM to stat out your patron. In addition, all patrons are immortal in one way or another. Killing your patron may get you out of a deal you made with them, but sooner or later your patron will be back

### Step 3: Write your Patron's Personality

You have some control over how your patron acts and behaves. Give your patron 2-4 instincts (corrupt the innocent, spread nightmares, destroy beautiful things, etc). However, for every personality characteristic you give your patron, the GM can give it an instinct as well.

Expect to disagree with your patron, even if you design your patron so that its motivations and personality coincide with your own. Patrons treat their followers like pawns or playthings, forcing them to make sacrifices or perform favors in exchange for power.

### Is your Patron Evil?

The Occultism theme is perfect for morally ambiguous characters who want to serve dark entities. However, you are under no obligation to make your patron evil. It's entirely u to you to decide what your patron is like as long as you and your patron disagree from time to time. For example, you may want your patron to be a a benevolent angel who spreads happiness throughout the world. Perhaps your angel patron wants you to sacrifice your health and happiness to serve others, or perhaps your angel demands that you purify yourself through self-mutilation whenever you do something sinful.

## Sample Deities

Tch'gzagz

**The Thing Behind The Sun**

**Description**

Tch'gzagz desires one thing and one thing alone: to be forgotten. It hides behind the sun so none may ever lay eyes on it.But hidden things cannot remain hidden forever. Long ago, a cabal of astromancers using powerful magic accidentally learned of Tch'gzagz's existence. This knowledge permanently linked the astromancers with Tch'gzagz, which slowly corrupted the wizards.T ch'gzagz promised unimaginable power to anyone who destroyed all evidence of its existence.Servants Tch'gzagz are now in a constant struggle with each other as they strive to remove all evidence of Tch'gzagz from existence. The most fanatical servants sacrifice themselves to their burning patron, while the more ambitious patrons hunt down other servants like animals. When one servant captures another, they typically burn out the captive's eyes to represent the destruction of their dark knowledge

**Serving Tch'gzagz**

Tch'gzagz is a secretive and reclusive patron that will only communicate with servants under dire circumstances. It loathes being known and only interacts with mortals out of necessity. The last person to know of Tch'gzagz's existence will gain unbelievable power, but Tch'gzagz will also try to destroy the sole survivor so it can return to its peaceful, hidden existenceSecrets are more valuable than gold to servants of Tch'gzagz. The only way to guarantee an audience with The Thing Behind the Sun is to reveal a terrible secret. This act shows that the servant is skilled enough to track down evidence, and it is also a subtle threat that the servant will share Tch'gzagz's secret with others if Tch'gzagz does not manifest

Lilith

**Queen of the Succubi**

**Description**

According to legend, Lilith tempted the deities into creating sin, agony, and chaos. Since none of these things existed before, the deities had no way of knowing that they were about to make a terrible mistake. She promised that their creation would make the universe much more interesting.In her defense, she technically wasn't lying.Almost immediately, the deities fell into a savage civil war that nearly ripped the universe apart. Lilith watched from the sidelines, laughing.When the deities reached an uneasy truce, they banished Lilith to the pits of Hell, where she would suffer for eternity. This proved to be another trick -- Lilith delighted in sin and suffering, and found her new home to be a paradiseShe now spends her time tempting mortals into making foolish decisions, promising power or glory in exchange for depraved acts

**Serving Lilith**

Lilith is a cruel and devious patron who delights in torturing others. She sees her servants as tools and playthings to further her dark agenda.She is one of the most proactive patrons, and will even go out of her way to contact and tempt the uninitiated. She likes to offer powerful favors for minor but evil acts, such as "Steal something from a stranger and I will save your sick family member." She then offers weaker and weaker favors in exchange for crueler and crueler acts. It typically isn't long before once upstanding members of society are willing to torture and murder others in exchange for a warm meal or a pat on the shoulder.

## Combat

Blood Link

**Theme****Occultism**
**Category**Combat
**Effect**You can link 2 willing creatures, designating one as the Giver and the other as the Receiver. Any harm the Giver suffers is instead transferred to the Receiver. The link ends when either person wants it to end. If you a link a defeated creature, they don't have to be willing and the link doesn't end when they want it to. Collaborate on what ends it
**Lore**
**Describe***Stitching their souls together, creating a thaumaturgic link, altering the strands of destiny*
**Extra**

Blood Sacrifice

**Theme****Occultism**
**Category**Combat
**Effect**You can give yourself a condition and bolster to do anything
**Lore**
**Describe***Sacrificing your blood to your patron, flagellating yourself, letting your parasite feed*
**Extra**

Pound of Flesh

**Theme****Occultism**
**Category**Combat
**Effect**You can give someone an exact copy of one of your conditions
**Lore**
**Describe***Making them pay blood for blood, evening the cosmic scale, getting bloody revenge, causing recoil*
**Extra**

Terrify

**Theme****Occultism**
**Category**Combat
**Effect**You can give someone the condition "Terrified"
**Lore**
**Describe***Showing them their worst nightmare, giving them a glimpse of your patron, using dark magic*
**Extra**

Vessel

**Theme****Occultism**
**Category**Combat
**Effect**You can mark a creature you're touching (max 1) as your vessel. You can use your traits through your vessel as if you're standing at their location
**Lore**
**Describe***Using blood magic to control its muscles, treating its soul like a puppet, sharing your power*
**Extra*****Marks:** A tattoo that glows with hellfire, a scar-rune, a glowing symbol floating above their forehead*

Voodoo

**Theme****Occultism**
**Category**Combat
**Effect**If you destroy or defile something that is important to someone else, gain a free Good Tale to tell against them
**Lore**
**Describe***Creating a voodoo doll, using thaumaturgy magic, corrupting their essence, your dark ritual*
**Extra**

## Exploration

Cast into the Void

**Theme****Occultism**
**Category**Exploration
**Effect**You an open a 1-space hole to the void for several minutes. The void is an endless, empty nothing. Anything cast into the void is gone for all eternity
**Lore**
**Describe***Cutting open a bloody wound in the universe, opening a portal creating a swirling black hole*
**Extra**

Circle of Binding

**Theme****Occultism**
**Category**Exploration
**Effect**You can walk in a circle. When you're finished, create a barrier along the circle. Absolutely nothing can cross the barrier except light and sound. Collaborate on what breaks the circle
**Lore**
**Describe***Drawing runes in chalk, lighting candles in a ring, creating a magic circle, using pact magic*
**Extra*****Breaks the Circle:** Time passes, an item touches it, you touch the circle, a secret word is spoke, night falls*

Conjuration

**Theme****Occultism**
**Category**Exploration
**Effect**You can link a creature you're touching with an item you're touching, or to a new item you create. Whoever holds the item can expend the link to instantly summon the linked creature to the item's location
**Lore**
**Describe***Pulling on a soul-tether, opening a portal to the destination, conjuring it in a puff of smoke and fire*
**Extra**

Darkness

**Theme****Occultism**
**Category**Exploration
**Effect**You can create a zone of pure darkness for about 1 day. No light can enter the zone
**Lore**
**Describe***Spreading magic, spilling your patron's blood on the earth, weakening the barrier between realms*
**Extra*****Descriptors:** Hellish, web-strewn, rotten, sacred, verdant, crawling, swampy, barren, nightmarish*

Defile

**Theme****Occultism**
**Category**Exploration
**Effect**You can give the terrain a descriptor outside of what is natural for that terrain. Collaborate on how the terrain gradually shifts to match your descriptor
**Lore**
**Describe***Spreading magic, spilling your patron's blood on the earth, weakening the barrier between realms*
**Extra*****Descriptors:** Hellish, web-strewn, rotten, sacred, verdant, crawling, swampy, barren, nightmarish*

Portal

**Theme****Occultism**
**Category**Exploration
**Effect**You can create a portal (max 5). Anyone who enters one of your portals can emerge at one of your other portals
**Lore**
**Describe***Creating teleportation stones, building waypoints, creating a wormhole, opening a portal*
**Extra**

## Interaction

Binding Contract

**Theme****Occultism**
**Category**Interaction
**Effect**If you like, contracts and agreements you sign or mediate are magically enforced. They can't be violated by any means (Agreeing to the contract "You can't speak of an event" means you literally lose the ability to speak of it forever). The contract or agreement must mention that the terms are binding
**Lore**
**Describe***Signing a pact in blood, binding their soul to your service, write your contract into universal laws*
**Extra**

Blissful Agony

**Theme****Occultism**
**Category**Interaction
**Effect**You can make a creature you're touching experience any physical sensation you want. This doesn't cause physical harm
**Lore**
**Describe***Bringing them to the brink of ecstasy, inflicting terrible agony, toying with their skin, torture*
**Extra**

Dark Bargain

**Theme****Occultism**
**Category**Interaction
**Effect**Your patrons can perform favors for you, but always at a proportional cost. You have a patron, which is a powerful entity that can grant you power, favors, or knowledge, but always at a cost. Collaborate on your patron
**Lore**
**Describe***Conjuring them in a summoning circle, drawing them forth from the ether, hearing their voices*
**Extra*****Cost:** Sacrifice an innocent in their name, start a cult in their honor, further their goals, offer a part of your soul**Patrons:**Demons, angels, otherworldly horrors from beyond the stars, spirits of the land, Death itself*

Deal with the Devil

**Theme****Occultism**
**Category**Interaction
**Effect**After talking to someone, you can learn the one thing that they want more than anything else. If you provide them with that thing, you gain complete and total control over them; the GM or player hands control of that character over to you
**Lore**
**Describe***Purchasing their soul, making an offer they can't refuse, eternally enslaving them to your will*
**Extra**

Shatter Mind

**Theme****Occultism**
**Category**Interaction
**Effect**You can give someone a psychological condition
**Lore**
**Describe***Ripping their mind apart, shattering their fragile psyche, giving your patron access to their mind*
**Extra*****Neuroses:** Schizophrenia, sociopathy, a crippling phobia, paranoid delusions, hallucinations, obsessiveness*

Soul Gem

**Theme****Occultism**
**Category**Interaction
**Effect**You can transform the souls of dead, worthy creatures into treasure (the GM decides how much)
**Lore**
**Describe***Coalescing their soul into a black gem, trapping their spirit in a jar, trading souls for favors*
**Extra**

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