Lands of Mirhne: Playing a Priest of Mirhne

Art by Daniel Zrom

Mirhne is a land short on divine miracles. Its people understand that the Gods are distant and that mankind is to be left to its fate. Only the truly foolish believe that direct, divine intervention could ever occur. This is not to say the folks of Mirhne lack faith, far from it. However it is important to understand that their land and world is not that of high fantasy where the power of the Gods is some commodity reduced to a mere spell list to be thrown around foolishly. The power of the Gods of Mirhne is in the strength, virtues, convictions and knowledge passed on to the Men of Mirhne. It is found in the strong rule of a just King (even if those seem to be ever more rare with each generation, as Mirhne is a poor land where compromise and cruelty is common), the brave heart of a warrior and the skills passed down from mother to daughter and father to son. Civilization itself is the bounty of the Gods, their rites and rituals.

One can only hope it can ever really hold at bay the true terrors of the world.

Playing a Priest of Mirhne is different from playing a typical Cleric. Their lot is not that of an anachronistic crusader-crossed-with-Van Helsing (as the archetypal Cleric of OD&D has been described). A Priest of Mirhne is not a class, but rather a character concept and archetype. Many Priests are Experts and have dedicated their lives to the various crafts and rites which are transmitted from generation to generation. They oversee rituals of the crops, of the forge and of mourning. There rites are manifold and they vary from village to village, clan to clan and from north to south. They perform sacrifices at the correct dates and are often taught the primitive semi-languages and codes which they transmit what few knowledge cannot be passed on orally. Other Priests are of the Warrior class and their craft is that of the rites of war and bloodshed or of the sacred hunt. Ritualized violence is expected in Mirhne and many priests are just as much bloody-handed warriors as they are holy men. They oversee warrior lodges, the rituals which invoke good fortune on the battlefield, the introduction of boys into the world of men, the sacrament of kings and the funeral of warrior and hunters.

• The 'abilities' of a Priest of Mirhne aren't the byproduct of a class so much as their accumulated skill, knowledge and social clout. As a result, the following Foci combined with the appropriate skills and background are well suited to Priests: Authority, Diplomat, Gifted Surgeon, Polymath and Specialist.
• Some Priest of Mirhne do have some low-key supernatural abilities which others can choose to interpret as divine blessing. These can include the Foci Lucky and Nullifier. From Codex of the Black Sun a few more could be suitable (give or take some crunch tweaking), such as Blade Ward, Compelling Gaze, Occult Healer, Soul Shield, Witch Finder or even Weapon Unity.

The powers of the Priests of Mirhne exist within the same vague area as many others in the setting, ranging from simple real life phenomena pushed to a slightly weirder and 'pulp' style to in-universe misunderstandings to vaguely-supernatural expressions of human potential.