Auras of Vigilance

Overview

These roleplaying effects are created by priests dedicated to the virtue of Vigilance who use the relevant ceremonial skill. A character performing an anointing or hallow must pick one of the appropriate roleplaying effects when they perform the ceremony.

Consecration of Vigilance

Effect: In this place, you are acutely aware of that which you value; you are strongly inclined to speak and act in a way that eliminates any threat to that which you value.

Anointings of Vigilance

The following are a range of auras that can be summoned onto a living soul, with their consent, by priests whose own souls are dedicated to Vigilance:

The Demands of Vigilance

Effect: You feel a desire to challenge deceptions and facades that may conceal a threat, which includes an urge to question and analyse the motives and claims of those you encounter. This feeling is amplified if the person in question is in a position of power and authority. Any respect you have for privacy and confidentiality is lessened.

Description: This is an anointing favoured by Inquisitors, Illuminates and other priests who desire to get to the truth behind deception and dissembling. It is less popular with citizens who have had their privacy invaded as a result, though only the guilty have cause to fear. Priests of vigilance have also used this to help citizens question assumptions, and whether individuals or groups are actually worthy of their loyalty.

The Cutting Edge of Vigilance

Effect: You feel a sense that threats must be addressed by any means. Any feelings or attitudes that may prevent you from taking action against any threat to that which you desire to protect are muted, and you find it easier to do what you feel must be done.

Description: The threats that beset the Empire are wily and cunning, and few will ever provide absolute proof or solid evidence of their intentions before it is too late. Yet doubts about the consequences of acting, or feeling that there is insufficient information, can bedevil the pilgrims of vigilance and discourage them from doing what must be done. Priests of the path of vigilance use this anointing to ready the virtuous and strengthen them to act with confidence and certainty. This anointing is popular in empowering priests and pilgrims to overcome other effects that cloud the mind, including malign auras.

The Merits of Vigilance

Effect: You feel the importance of being vigilant. When you take an action that you believe will eliminate, or reduce, a potential threat, you are rewarded with a sense of satisfaction, even if the action does not ultimately accomplish this.

Description: The path of vigilance is rarely kind to pilgrims. Dangers and evils can slip past even then most tireless efforts, or actions taken in good and virtuous intent, may backfire. Priests of the path of vigilance are able to use this anointing to reassure their pilgrims that it is the intentions that are marked on their souls, and which will ultimately aid their passage in the Labyrinth of Ages. The desire for vigilance and efforts to this end are what marks a pilgrim from a citizen.

The Preparations of Vigilance

Effect: You receive a brief vision of the immediate consequences of being ill-prepared. You feel a desire to prepare yourself, and those around you, for possible dangers to come. Your tolerance for laziness and complacency is greatly diminished.

Description: Many priests of the path of vigilance use this anointing as a call to arms, especially for those who they feel have become complacent and are unready for the dangers that may come. Other vigilant groups or sects may use this anointing more regularly to encourage regular drilling and practicing of skills.

The Omen of Vigilance

Effect: The next time you sleep you experience vivid dreams concerning known threats and likely dangers, and the ways in which you might take action to confront and defeat them. You awaken with renewed optimism and a strong desire to move decisively against your enemies, and to make sensible precautions for potential future dangers.

Description: Sometimes it is easy to overlook the current danger because you are worrying about a potential danger to come. The pilgrims of vigilance are aware of this, and work to consider likely avenues of danger and known threats in order to prepare for them, and ideally prevent them coming to pass. Priests of the path of vigilance seek to use this anointing to help their congregations and pilgrims contemplate threats and to make themselves ready for them.

Hallows of Vigilance

Hallowing of the Sentinel

Effect: You feel an urge to ensure that preparations are made against threats, current or potential, and that these measures are checked to ensure they are ready.

Hallowing of the Whetstone

Effect: You feel an urge to test yourself in order to identify, and compensate for, any weaknesses you possess. This urge includes an impulse to use this item in that testing, if appropriate.

Hallowing of the Inquisitor

Effect: You feel an urge to investigate, and scrutinize, the affairs of those you have dealings with to ensure their integrity.

Hallowing of the Unconquered

Effect: You feel an urge to take immediate action to address, or eliminate, something you regard to be a potential threat before it gains further strength, or manifests its danger fully. If you deliberately pass up an opportunity to do so, the feeling changes to one of revulsion and rejection that flows from the item to you for as long as you are bonded to it.

Hallowing of the Bellringer

Effect: You feel an urge to rally others to deal with a threat or danger you have identified. This impulse includes an urge to use this item in raising the alert, if it would be appropriate to do so.

Hallowing of Vardas

Effect: Any warmth, affection, empathy or mercy you feel toward others is lessened. You find it easier to perceive the world by that which may be a threat, and that which is not.