Alignment: Lawful EvilPortfolios: thieves, languages, darkness, luxury Races: human, elven Animal Totem: praying mantis Physical Description: Samis is always portrayed as a very tall, lithe woman of ebon black skin with a hint of stars in it. Smooth and sculpted, as though made of liquid onyx, she appears faintly elven with the thin lips and nose characteristic of that race. Her ears are just pointed enough to indicate elvenness, but not pointed enough to be called truly elven. Her eyes are portrayed in ground diamond, as though the stars themselves were caught there. In paintings and in sculpture, she wears only a long tunic of woolen blue or light lavendar, reaching to her thighs. History: During the Age of Survival that occured after the initial Prizm Wars, a burgler in the ancient town of Ethlienne stole what he thought was the Relic of Galanus stored in Karmen. Instead, he infused a blank Relic with purpose, accidently creating the goddess Samis. The burgler became her first Chosen, and slowly, through the underground and the thieves' guilds, Samis rose to power. She supported bandit kings and nomadic raiders, evil tyrants and river pirates, for millennia. During the Shaping Wars, her priests and followers sewed chaos, stealing artifacts from thieves and sometimes even returning artifacts from good kings and rulers. In the Age of Peace that rose from the Shaping Wars, the Shadow Goddess' minions and priests went deeper underground, becoming a closely knit society of dark emperors and power hungry guilds. As the times changed, so did she, but throughout it all, her word was her bond. Throughout the Age of Peace, her followers amassed power in the form of guilds and merchants that dealt with assassinations, acquisitions, and less-than-moral endeavors. When the Storm Wars erupted, Samis spurned Nathel's advances and promises of power, using her considerable resources to operate clandestine missions against the Dark God. Though evil, she and her church were honorable, and earned the favor of the Sebre Druids and Avard Karatikan. Staying in the shadows, she continues to amass power, being even more formidable in the aftermath of the War of the Undead than ever before. Relic: Samis' Relic was imbedded in an amulet, and hidden with an undetectable guise of illusion. Stolen and restolen thousands of times, its current whereabouts are unknown, and it could be anywhere. Church: The Church of Samis is organized in secrecy, operating out of the sight of the common people. Priests and clerics perform their services only inside the powerful guild houses, or in other hidden places. Their mission is to promote the accumulation of capital in any way possible. Because the word of a priest of Samis is his bond, and as good as law, the priests are experts in language, as well as accounting. They help thieves illegally gather wealth, and they help less daring thieves wisely invest their money in more legal pursuits. To the church, Samis appears as a powerful matron, with her whimsical appearance a misdirection. The Chosen of the Church of Samis is always a female, as are her disciples, though the priests and clerics may be of any gender. Because of the matriarchal position of the church, it is also a powerful proponent of women's rights. In its ruthless secrecy, though, the Church of Samis has had to forego the use of mages since the Inquisition. The aspect of hiding the mages would bring too many Seekers down upon the church. Several monastaries, however, working outside of the guilds and even outside of the Disciples or the Chosen, have maintained the books and works of the forbidden magics. Their monks and the heads of their orders have even helped the rare mage escape the Inquisition -- though at the price of losing their magic, or being forever banished by the most powerful underground in existance: the Church of Samis. Clerics: Only the strongest and most cunning of clerics can survive among the ruthless guilds they foster. Often thief/clerics or fighter/thief/clerics, they provide a variety of services to the underground, from prayers of healing, to blessings of poisons and weapons. They rarely wear heavy armor, and prefer deadly weapons, because of their close association to the guilds. Specialty priests: These perform the missions of Samis herself, working on direct orders from the Disciples and the Chosen. Unbeholden to the guild-masters, they are feared and respected wherever they go. Powerful linguists with an excellent eye for capital, they must have a 12 or higher in their Intelligence scores. To survive in the evil societies they travel in, they must also have a 12 or better in their Wisdom scores. Their word being their bond, they are masters of language, obeying the spirit of each and every vow they make, if not the letter. To accomplish their missions for the Chosen and the Disciples, they gain special abilities from Samis: 1) the ability to learn twice the number of languages as listed for their Intelligence; if the optional non-weapon proficiency rules for purchasing additional languages is used, these priests of Samis pay nothing for each language they learn, 2) a base 10% ability to Hide in Shadows, increasing 10% per level; if the specialty priest is multiclassed with a thief, then this ability is cumulative with his thieving abilities, and 3) they have the ability to cast shadar for their goddess. Their devotion to Samis limits their access to the priestly spheres, blinding them to certain abilities; as such, they only have minor access to the spheres of Creation, Guardian, Healing, and Protection. On the other hand, their studies give them full, major access to the spheres of All, Charm, Combat, Divination, Necromantic, and Summoning. Because of their ties to the darkness, and their ability to blend in with the shadows, they rarely wear armor much heavier or noisier than studded leather. Their weapons are as deadly as they are, though silence is a valued asset. Monks: The monks of Samis rarely congregate, but when they do, they create labrynthine works devoted to the study of monies, treasures, histories, and languages. Powerful warriors in the art of hand-to-hand combat, they disdain weapons, seeing the body as the most powerful weapon ever created by Samis' hands. When not in their monastaries or cloisters, they tend to travel from guild-house to guild-house as respected gatherers of knowledge and heralds of news. The occasional monk of Samis has been known to hire even paladins to aid him in his studies -- and been successful in bringing honor to both.
Sphere: Summoning Range: 10yds/level Components: V Duration: 1 turn + 1 rd/level Casting Time: 1 Area of Effect: 10-ft. cube Saving Throw: None Shadar is a prayer that allows a specialty priest of Samis to summon a nether-shadow, a creature from the para-elemental plane of shadow. The power and abilities of the nether-shadow increase with the faith and level of the caster. All nether-shadows are immune to normal weapons, and it requires an enchanted blade or a weapon made of silver to harm them. They have a low Intelligence of about 6, and an alignment of True Neutral. They have two attacks per round with their claws, dealing 1d4 points of quasi-real damage, and +1 points of damage from energy drain. The energy drain of the para-elemental plane of shadow siphons off both negative and positive energy, and the nether-shadows can battle both the living, and the undead. They move at a 12 movement rate, and are immune to enchantments and charms that might affect their morale -- for their morale is a Fearless 20. The following traits increase by one, per level of the priest: THAC0, Hit Die, height, energy draining damage, and Armor Class. Nether-shadows have the following base statistics: Armor Class 10, 1 Hit Die, 20 THAC0, and 1 point of damage per attack. Direct sunlight deals no damage to them, and it only makes them highly visible; in limited visibility, they are 90% undetectable. Thus, a 13th-level specialty priest of Samis can quickly call upon the shadar to darken the shadows, and allow a nether-shadow with the following abilities to cross through from the para-elemental plane of shadow:
For anyone slaying a nether-shadow, they are worth a base of 270 eXperience Points, plus a like amount per Hit Dice of the monster. Once summoned, the nether-shadow is independant of the priest, taking instructions and following orders to the best of its ability. Next God from Gaeleth's Gods |