'SHAMAN' Ethos: any Align: evil only At the beginning of time, when the world was barely populated, there existed a group of mortals that often walked beside the immortals themselves, hearing of their wishes and plans for the world. Time passed by, and the immortals began to conceal themselves in the heavens more and more often, to escape the distraction of mortal attention. The group continued to talk to immortals, but no longer would they meet. Only through the channels of prayer would they communicate. The clerics, as they came to be called, had a greater bond with the heavens than any other guildhall, their very powers themselves being derived from immortal favor. The cleric guildhall became one which fought with its faith, by praying for the divine to answer their allowed prayers. As the Great War began in Serin, the faith of the clerics was tested more than any other time, as their blood was spilled in the name of the side they had chosen. The immortals allowed their prayers to continue, but Stryth objected to the heavens being used to derive the means for a guild devoted to worship to be fighting each other. Thus the cleric guild was fractured, and formed into two new guilds, with their allowed prayers more suited to their standing - those that helped the orc invaders commit atrocities became the shamans of darkness. Twisted and malevolent from communing into the darkness, the guild of the shamans is a sect of dark priests that aim to destroy the faith of others. They are the prophets of death and suffering, and often play an instrumental part in it themselves. Communing their supplications from both the gods of darkness and the demons of the material abyss, they possess a devastating array of maledictions, allowing them to capitalize quickly and ruthlessly on an unprepared foe, to gradually wear out the strongest of warriors, and to turn the bravest of enemies into a nervous, gibbering wreck. Their faces usually take on a skeletal or demonic appearance, from their close ties with the prime evils, and they must stay evil to use their prayers. High level shamans who fail to role-play properly may be outcasted. For more information, see HELP OUTCAST and HELP EVIL. The following races can be shaman: human, drow, duergar, fire giant, minotaur, quasit, jagar
7.8. SUMMARY > CLASSES > SHAMAN