The Thirteenfold Covenant - "The Church of Pain and Sorrow"

Followers of The Thirteenfold Covenant follow the teachings of 13 Divine Saints, whose holy suffering lead to divine paradise.

Details

Captial: Golgavast

• City built upon a gaping wound in the mountains in the western regions of Kaletaria.
• Walls of black basalt streaked through with red veins of crimson ore.
• Cloistered reliquaries and vast ossuaries amidst towering sanctuaries topped with iron spires clawing their way to the heavens.
• The Basilica Dolorum stands at the heart of the city, a monolithic cathedral of impossible scale, whose bell tolls with the sound of a dying god's last breath.

Practitioners: Thrice-Vowed, Dolorites, Penitents, Keepers of the Thirteenfold Way
Outsiders Call Them: Thrice-Sworn, Pain-Takers, Grievers, Thorn-Kissers
Holy Texts: The Codex Cruentus - "The Book of Bloody Suffering"

• Consists of 13 books, each dedicated to a Divine Saint, with details of:
  • The Saint's virtues.
  • Canonized miracles attributed to the Saint.
  • Specific prayers and blessings associated with the Saint.
  • Rituals, ceremonies, and penitential practices for each Saint.
  • Parables and allegories attributed to the Saint that illustrate moral lessons, the nature of suffering, and the path to redemption, often using extremely vivid imagery and metaphor.

The Thirteen Divine Saints

Astreva the Blood-Tide

Domain: Blood and Renewal

Adhesive Blood

Turn spilled blood into binding chains, ceasing weapons to a creature's open wound.
Duration: [DICE] rounds
Range: Touch
Pull Weapon Free: [STR]

Aqueous Orb

Blood remembers its structure, pooling together in a large sanguine orb that rolls along the ground.
Duration: [DICE] rounds
Range: 60’
Size: 10’ diameter.
Concentration: Must not be interrupted in order to move the orb.
Movement: 30’ per round in a direction of the caster’s choosing.

• Rolls along the ground, cannot float in the air.

Avoid: [AGI] or be caught within.

Blood Tentacles

Smear penitent blood of suffering upon a creature, letting their veins become weapons.
Duration: [DICE] minutes
Range: Touch
Tentacles: [DICE] 15’ long vein-tentacles burst forth.

• 1d6 Blunt damage each.

Heal: Tentacles are destroyed on successful hit, healing the creature the amount of damage dealt.

Cure Mutation

Restore the sanctity of form, releasing a creature of [DICE] random mutations.
Range: Touch

Cindrel of the Verdant Abyss

Domain: Life and Death
Blessings, Prayers, and Miracles:

Blight

Cause the decay of nature, seeing planters wither and die.
Range: Touch
Radius: [DICE] x 10' from location sorcery was cast.
Damage: [SUM] Necrotic to plants.

Cure Wounds

Mend the flesh of mortals, sinew stitching itself together, bestowing [SUM] HP.
Range: Touch

Fester

The unbeliever must roll 1d20 when affected by magical or alchemical healing, gaining no relief if the result is less than [SUM]
Duration: 1 hour
Range: 30’
Permanent: The dice can be locked to make the effect permanent.

Resurrection

Guide a soul back from the brink to experience yet more glorious suffering of this world.
Range: Touch
Timeframe: Must have died within [DICE] x 10 minutes.
HP: Resurrect with 1 HP.
Critical Wounds: Does not affect any critical wounds.
Negative Levels: If creatures HD is greater than [DICE], they permanently suffer negative levels equal to the difference.

Dravulon the Howling Maw

Domain: Destruction and Fear

Aura of Doom

Let all who see you despair, forcing them to make an immediate morale check at Disadvantage.
Duration: [DLOW] rounds
Range: Touch
Radius: 15’

Black Tentacles

Divine fear bursts from the ground, grasping enemies of the Covenant.
Duration: [HIGH] Rounds
Range: 60’
Area: 5’ x 5’ square per [DICE]
Snare: [AGI] or become ensnared and cannot move.

• -2DR to Attacks vs ensnared creature.
• +[High]DR [MGT] to break free.

Cacophony

Beautiful cries of penitent suffering drown out all attempts at speech and hearing.
Duration: [DICE] x 2 Rounds
Range: 120’
Area: [DICE] x 10’
Deafening: Mages/Zealots disadvantage on [WIT]/[SPR] for sorceries/prayers.

Finger of Death

The Maw points, and the soul shatters, instantly taking [SUM] x 5 damage, or [SUM] on a successful [SPR].
Range: 15’

Fendralis the Ever-Dying

Domain: Suffering and Endurance

Agony

The target experiences sacred pain that brings transcendence, missing their turn due to their rapture.
Duration: [DICE] Rounds

• [STA] to end effect early.

Range: Within Sight

Absorb Toxicity

Endure corruption, toxins, and poisons that would kill others, passing on the glorious malady to another through simple touch.
Duration: [DICE] hours
Range: Touch

Death Knell

Grant peace through the end of agony of a creature with HP greater than or equal to [DICE], transferring [DICE] HP to another.
Duration: [DICE] rounds
Range: 60’/Touch

False Life

Grant [SUM] temporary HP for the duration, with the benefactor suffering as undead as long as the HP remains.
Duration: [DICE] minutes
Range: Touch

Malveta the Grinning Ash

Domain: Change and Chaos
Blessings, Prayers, and Miracles:

• Confusion: Unravel the mind through blessed madness.
• Disintegrate: Chaos made final and irreversible.
• Explode Corpse: Let death sow new beginnings.
• Polymorph: Change is truth; form is a lie.

Mirothas the Iron Shroud

Domain: Conviction and Willpower

• **Magic Circle: *Strength in boundries, both mental and spiritual.
• Resist Element: Refuse nature's wrath.
• Spell Resistance: Defy the arcane through faith alone.
• Suppress Curse: Break affliction through iron faith.

Ostregis the Rusted Blade

Domain: Justice and Sacrifice
Blessings, Prayers, and Miracles:

• Command: Issue divine orders none dare refuse.
• Fire of Judgement: Cleansing flame of righteous fury.
• Hold: Paralyze the guilty for judgement.
• Holy Smite: Strike down the profane.

Selvora the Glass-Eyed

Domain: Insight and Clarity

• Comprehend Language: No mystery lies beyond her gaze.
• Prying Eyes: The saints' sight scattered to the winds.
• Telepathic Link: Minds joined by sacred glass.
• True Form: Shatter all illusions.

Solmara the Weeping Veil

Domain: Sorrow and Insight
Blessings, Prayers, and Miracles:

• Dream: Commune with souls beyond the veil.
• See Invisible: Perceive hidden truths veiled in sorrow.
• Slumber: The mercy of rest for the grief-stricken.
• Speak With Dead: Seek wisdom from the mournful dead.

Tzeryn the Hollow-Wombed

Domain: Emptiness and Transformation
Blessings, Prayers, and Miracles:

• Catatonia: Emptiness made manifest.
• Ectoplasmic Hand: Embrace without form or flesh.
• Teleport: Vanish into the void between places.
• Vomit Twin: What lies within is not you.

Varkoslav the Thorn-Wreathed

Domain: Pain and Revelation
Blessings, Prayers, and Miracles:

• Aversion: Turn others away with divine wrath.
• Barbed Chain: Pain binds flesh and reveals truth.
• Confession: Pain compels the soul to speak.
• Zone of Truth: A sacred space where deception dies.

Veyrnos the Flayed Sentinel

Domain: Protection and Vigilance

• Alarm: The eye that never sleeps.
• Sanctuary: The sentinel's shield extends to others.
• Stoneskin: Flesh turned to warding stone.
• Stunning Barrier: Pain as a deterrent.

Zorvask the Silent Pyre

Domain: Oblivion and Purification

• Desecrate: Profane false sanctity with holy fire.
• Dispel Magic: Silence the world's noise.
• Feast of Ashes: Turn the mouth to dust.
• Wall of Fire: A quiet blaze to cleanse the unworthy.