Translating the Igbo Pantheon to DnD

This might be a weird topic as I'm new to the forums but not to the comic. But I plan to run a homebrew and I wish to have a non-standard pantheon for druids, clerics etc to be drawn from etc. The trick is that the Igbo gods do not work the same way traditional pantheons work. The way our mythology works is that there is a supreme ruler God called Chukwu. All gods act as intermediaries between mortals and Chukwu. The Gods in igbo mythology are supposed to serve the humans instead of the other way around. This is because aside from Amadioha, Ala and Chukwu all the Gods were exceptional mortals or former heroes who the big 3 uplifted for their service with the intent that they serve their people. The way the gods worked is that you would ask the god to do a specific task for you, then you rated how the god performed to a spirit that would send the message to the big 3, once the big 3 read your report they would then take further action. If you gave the god a high rating, they got a power and influence boost, if a bad rating the god got weakened. If a god had multiple failures in a community they would be banned and a lesser spirit would replace them until they took training to properly retune their powers and come back under a probationary period before being accepted again. I laid this all in detail because from the eyars I've been playing DnD the gods traiditonally do not work under this method. Oh, right I should probably list their names.

Chukwu-Supreme Cosmic Level God, can make or unmake planets

Ala-Earth mother, her stomach contains one of the 5 afterlives, specifically the realm of honoured ancestors that couldn't become gods, (the ancestors try to post-humously help their descendants). Domains include morality and creativity and soil fertility specifically. Symbol animal is the python. Control of earth.

Amadioha-Husband of Ala. Master of skies, thunder, lightning, meteors, rams and bees. Symbol animal is the wild ram. Creator of humans and lord of artistic carving, unity and justice. If you committed a crime he would send you to the dishonored afterlife.

Ikenga-Goat horned god with two faces, one looking at the future, the other at the past. Lord of time,aggressive warfare and lord of acheivements. First human to be made a diety. Symbol is the domestic goat.

Anyanwu-Goddess of the Sun. Symbol is a peacock. Provides oracles to people similar to Apollo. Often flirts with Amadioha to the chagrin of Ala.

Agwu-A human turned deity that was a former oracle of Anyanwu, became a lord of divination.

Ahia Njoku-Human woman turned goddess. Goddess of sex, agricultural wealth, plantains, yams and fire.

Ibini Ukpi/Aro-Oracle turned diety. Domain is legal cases. Acts as a divine lawyer for those that could afford for cases involving assassination, subterfuge and poison.

Ogbunabali-God of death. Vigilante turned diety. Is the death god that specifically collects criminals. Depicted as an Albino man.

Agbala-Oracle turned diety. Provides ability for the living to converse with the dead. Punishes those who commit unapproved witchcraft and magic.

Ani-Harvest goddess.

Mbari-Messenger goddess and diety of painted art.

Mmo-God of the forgotten dead.

Ekwensu-God of chaotic war, bargains, trade, good fortune, wisdom and spontaneous behaviour. Symbol is the tortoise. Best friends with death deities. Is a helpful trickster being.

Idemili-Goddess of water.

Mkpakatu-Lord of coin wealth

That's the major guys, so how would one translate these guys and keep their essence into DnD

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Originally Posted by Lordikechi

This might be a weird topic as I'm new to the forums but not to the comic. But I plan to run a homebrew and I wish to have a non-standard pantheon for druids, clerics etc to be drawn from etc. The trick is that the Igbo gods do not work the same way traditional pantheons work. The way our mythology works is that there is a supreme ruler God called Chukwu. All gods act as intermediaries between mortals and Chukwu. The Gods in igbo mythology are supposed to serve the humans instead of the other way around. This is because aside from Amadioha, Ala and Chukwu all the Gods were exceptional mortals or former heroes who the big 3 uplifted for their service with the intent that they serve their people. The way the gods worked is that you would ask the god to do a specific task for you, then you rated how the god performed to a spirit that would send the message to the big 3, once the big 3 read your report they would then take further action. If you gave the god a high rating, they got a power and influence boost, if a bad rating the god got weakened. If a god had multiple failures in a community they would be banned and a lesser spirit would replace them until they took training to properly retune their powers and come back under a probationary period before being accepted again. I laid this all in detail because from the eyars I've been playing DnD the gods traiditonally do not work under this method. Oh, right I should probably list their names.

Chukwu-Supreme Cosmic Level God, can make or unmake planets

Ala-Earth mother, her stomach contains one of the 5 afterlives, specifically the realm of honoured ancestors that couldn't become gods, (the ancestors try to post-humously help their descendants). Domains include morality and creativity and soil fertility specifically. Symbol animal is the python. Control of earth.

Amadioha-Husband of Ala. Master of skies, thunder, lightning, meteors, rams and bees. Symbol animal is the wild ram. Creator of humans and lord of artistic carving, unity and justice. If you committed a crime he would send you to the dishonored afterlife.

Ikenga-Goat horned god with two faces, one looking at the future, the other at the past. Lord of time,aggressive warfare and lord of acheivements. First human to be made a diety. Symbol is the domestic goat.

Anyanwu-Goddess of the Sun. Symbol is a peacock. Provides oracles to people similar to Apollo. Often flirts with Amadioha to the chagrin of Ala.

Agwu-A human turned deity that was a former oracle of Anyanwu, became a lord of divination.

Ahia Njoku-Human woman turned goddess. Goddess of sex, agricultural wealth, plantains, yams and fire.

Ibini Ukpi/Aro-Oracle turned diety. Domain is legal cases. Acts as a divine lawyer for those that could afford for cases involving assassination, subterfuge and poison.

Ogbunabali-God of death. Vigilante turned diety. Is the death god that specifically collects criminals. Depicted as an Albino man.

Agbala-Oracle turned diety. Provides ability for the living to converse with the dead. Punishes those who commit unapproved witchcraft and magic.

Ani-Harvest goddess.

Mbari-Messenger goddess and diety of painted art.

Mmo-God of the forgotten dead.

Ekwensu-God of chaotic war, bargains, trade, good fortune, wisdom and spontaneous behaviour. Symbol is the tortoise. Best friends with death deities. Is a helpful trickster being.

Idemili-Goddess of water.

Mkpakatu-Lord of coin wealth

That's the major guys, so how would one translate these guys and keep their essence into DnD

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Basically I would like help on how to make this work, especially since this is a religion where a person can literally replace the god that they are serving if they do good enough and their god fails enough times

You know, this actually makes a lot more sense, metaphysically speaking, than the pseudo-Greco-Roman pantheons DnD usually emulates.

It gives a divine context as to what a "level" and "XP" actually are. You can say that the heroes accumulate a kind of divine favour (i.e. "experience points") the are eventually granted new abilities (i.e. "levels"). As the heroes grow stronger than any other mortal being and can eventually fight the gods themselves, well, that's just them coming into their godhood.

To represent that, I would have the gods act somewhat like warlock patrons for levels 1-10. They give quests to the heroes and reward them as they fulfill them. From there on in the heroes have to take an active role in their budding godhood. Have them start to hear prayers going unanswered by the god they serve. The quests start to be more about them picking up the slack their god has left, with them eventually proving themselves to be better at the job than the god they were originally serving.

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Originally Posted by TripleD

You know, this actually makes a lot more sense, metaphysically speaking, than the pseudo-Greco-Roman pantheons DnD usually emulates.

It gives a divine context as to what a "level" and "XP" actually are. You can say that the heroes accumulate a kind of divine favour (i.e. "experience points") the are eventually granted new abilities (i.e. "levels"). As the heroes grow stronger than any other mortal being and can eventually fight the gods themselves, well, that's just them coming into their godhood.

To represent that, I would have the gods act somewhat like warlock patrons for levels 1-10. They give quests to the heroes and reward them as they fulfill them. From there on in the heroes have to take an active role in their budding godhood. Have them start to hear prayers going unanswered by the god they serve. The quests start to be more about them picking up the slack their god has left, with them eventually proving themselves to be better at the job than the god they were originally serving.

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Ironically that actually happened in our actual lore. Ahia is the second diety of fire. First was Mmuo-oke who the igbos felt was a failure as a fire diety and didn't know what he was doing. When Ahia got uplifted she challenged him and defeated him and he lost his deity status and got returned to being a minor spirit.

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Originally Posted by Lordikechi

This might be a weird topic as I'm new to the forums but not to the comic. But I plan to run a homebrew and I wish to have a non-standard pantheon for druids, clerics etc to be drawn from etc. The trick is that the Igbo gods do not work the same way traditional pantheons work. The way our mythology works is that there is a supreme ruler God called Chukwu. All gods act as intermediaries between mortals and Chukwu. The Gods in igbo mythology are supposed to serve the humans instead of the other way around. This is because aside from Amadioha, Ala and Chukwu all the Gods were exceptional mortals or former heroes who the big 3 uplifted for their service with the intent that they serve their people. The way the gods worked is that you would ask the god to do a specific task for you, then you rated how the god performed to a spirit that would send the message to the big 3, once the big 3 read your report they would then take further action. If you gave the god a high rating, they got a power and influence boost, if a bad rating the god got weakened. If a god had multiple failures in a community they would be banned and a lesser spirit would replace them until they took training to properly retune their powers and come back under a probationary period before being accepted again. I laid this all in detail because from the eyars I've been playing DnD the gods traiditonally do not work under this method. Oh, right I should probably list their names.

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I think, that to translate this into D&D you need to organize your beings into tiers.

So at the top you have Chukwu - he's the overgod of whatever world your setting occupies. That makes him like Ao in FR. He (or she or it, I'm not familiar with Igbo mythology) doesn't grant spells or actively intervene in the world and doesn't have a direct relationship with the people (so no clerics and so on). Then you have your Amadioha and Ala who are actual deities. No matter how badly they screw up they can't stop being gods, but in D&D terminology their divine rank could potentially fluctuate. Based on your description, they apparently have very wide purviews and rather broad influence over life. That means they're probably fairly remote gods who don't interact with mortals with the same gusto of the lesser, ascended, powers. So while they can grant spells and do have churches (or a prized place in multi-deity temples or whatever) I suspect they are both true neutral and don't intervene heavily in ideological disputes.

Below this you have your ascended mortals with their tenuous grasp on divinity. These beings are closely analogous to the various pseudo-deities like archdevils, demon lords, empyreal lords, and so forth. These beings achieved divinity through achievement and could conceivably lose it (in a notable example, D&D has shaken up the ranks of the archdevils several times). These are mostly CR 25-30 beings, which is well within the reach of epic-level heroes. Demoted gods would presumably be dropped down to whatever high-tier outside class they would otherwise occupy - like being changed back into a 'mere' balor or pit fiend.

You'd also need some class of utterly impartial class of outsiders to conduct the reporting. From a D&D mythos perspective the obvious choice is the Aeons of Pathfinder, but there's probably something else that matches the Igbo spiritual landscape better.

This is actually kinda fascinating. Are there any good places online to learn more about these gods?

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Originally Posted by Mechalich

I think, that to translate this into D&D you need to organize your beings into tiers.

So at the top you have Chukwu - he's the overgod of whatever world your setting occupies. That makes him like Ao in FR. He (or she or it, I'm not familiar with Igbo mythology) doesn't grant spells or actively intervene in the world and doesn't have a direct relationship with the people (so no clerics and so on). Then you have your Amadioha and Ala who are actual deities. No matter how badly they screw up they can't stop being gods, but in D&D terminology their divine rank could potentially fluctuate. Based on your description, they apparently have very wide purviews and rather broad influence over life. That means they're probably fairly remote gods who don't interact with mortals with the same gusto of the lesser, ascended, powers. So while they can grant spells and do have churches (or a prized place in multi-deity temples or whatever) I suspect they are both true neutral and don't intervene heavily in ideological disputes.

Below this you have your ascended mortals with their tenuous grasp on divinity. These beings are closely analogous to the various pseudo-deities like archdevils, demon lords, empyreal lords, and so forth. These beings achieved divinity through achievement and could conceivably lose it (in a notable example, D&D has shaken up the ranks of the archdevils several times). These are mostly CR 25-30 beings, which is well within the reach of epic-level heroes. Demoted gods would presumably be dropped down to whatever high-tier outside class they would otherwise occupy - like being changed back into a 'mere' balor or pit fiend.

You'd also need some class of utterly impartial class of outsiders to conduct the reporting. From a D&D mythos perspective the obvious choice is the Aeons of Pathfinder, but there's probably something else that matches the Igbo spiritual landscape better.

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I think the best candidate would be the offspring of Aido-Hwedo. For quick context, Aido-Hwedo is a gigantic flying rainbow serpent that controls wind and is the patron of rice. What adds to the impartiality is that Aido is a diety shared amongst multiple West African pantheons, they all have a variation of the serpent's name but they serve the exact same function. So using that and the fact that in Igbo mythology she had many offspring that liked to observe humans from afar and sometimes help them tend to rice fields, they could act as good neutral reporters and observers since they don't really play many important roles in the stories apart from telling someone what happened in X event.

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Originally Posted by Delicious Taffy

This is actually kinda fascinating. Are there any good places online to learn more about these gods?

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Unfortunately, none in English that was reputable and well sourced that I could find. My search options were in French and Igbo. Wikipedia's entry is frankly a joke and there are no British colonial records compared to the ones on the Yoruba pantheon. The closest good english sources would take you outside West Africa. You would have to look at the Caribbean Loa spirits. 90% of the Loa come from west african pantheons so if you look up the loa and see similar names you can hopefully find more information, but be aware that each loa you read about has a chance of being from a different pantehon than the igbo ones. The list I provided should at least give some reference.

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Originally Posted by Mechalich

I think, that to translate this into D&D you need to organize your beings into tiers.

So at the top you have Chukwu - he's the overgod of whatever world your setting occupies. That makes him like Ao in FR. He (or she or it, I'm not familiar with Igbo mythology) doesn't grant spells or actively intervene in the world and doesn't have a direct relationship with the people (so no clerics and so on). Then you have your Amadioha and Ala who are actual deities. No matter how badly they screw up they can't stop being gods, but in D&D terminology their divine rank could potentially fluctuate. Based on your description, they apparently have very wide purviews and rather broad influence over life. That means they're probably fairly remote gods who don't interact with mortals with the same gusto of the lesser, ascended, powers. So while they can grant spells and do have churches (or a prized place in multi-deity temples or whatever) I suspect they are both true neutral and don't intervene heavily in ideological disputes.

Below this you have your ascended mortals with their tenuous grasp on divinity. These beings are closely analogous to the various pseudo-deities like archdevils, demon lords, empyreal lords, and so forth. These beings achieved divinity through achievement and could conceivably lose it (in a notable example, D&D has shaken up the ranks of the archdevils several times). These are mostly CR 25-30 beings, which is well within the reach of epic-level heroes. Demoted gods would presumably be dropped down to whatever high-tier outside class they would otherwise occupy - like being changed back into a 'mere' balor or pit fiend.

You'd also need some class of utterly impartial class of outsiders to conduct the reporting. From a D&D mythos perspective the obvious choice is the Aeons of Pathfinder, but there's probably something else that matches the Igbo spiritual landscape better.

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Hmmm, also i guess that means I would have to figure out what appropriate class the lesser gods would be in the event they got demoted. Any ideas on what would be appropriate?

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Originally Posted by Lordikechi

There is a supreme ruler God called Chukwu. All gods act as intermediaries between mortals and Chukwu. The Gods in igbo mythology are supposed to serve the humans instead of the other way around. This is because aside from Amadioha, Ala and Chukwu all the Gods were exceptional mortals or former heroes who the big 3 uplifted for their service with the intent that they serve their people. The way the gods worked is that you would ask the god to do a specific task for you, then you rated how the god performed to a spirit that would send the message to the big 3, once the big 3 read your report they would then take further action. If you gave the god a high rating, they got a power and influence boost, if a bad rating the god got weakened. If a god had multiple failures in a community they would be banned and a lesser spirit would replace them until they took training to properly return their powers and come back under a probationary period before being accepted again.

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It sounds like the Celestial Bureaucracy of Chinese mythology. I believe that peasants could ritually complain if they were not getting enough rain, because rain was typically brought by Dragons who held positions within the Bureaucracy. Dragons who shirked their duty enough would be demoted, either to a younger form or a non-draconic lizard form as punishment.

The capacity for humans to join the Bureaucracy is uncertain. They could definitely marry a god or dragon, though.

I could be off, I'm only getting this from a book I read years ago.

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Originally Posted by Shark Uppercut

It sounds like the Celestial Bureaucracy of Chinese mythology. I believe that peasants could ritually complain if they were not getting enough rain, because rain was typically brought by Dragons who held positions within the Bureaucracy. Dragons who shirked their duty enough would be demoted, either to a younger form or a non-draconic lizard form as punishment.

The capacity for humans to join the Bureaucracy is uncertain. They could definitely marry a god or dragon, though.

I could be off, I'm only getting this from a book I read years ago.

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Huh......I think you're on the mark, I think the Igbo pantheon could be described as a customer-review based corporation. I still need assisstance on deciding what the lesser deities classes would be in the event they are demoted if anyone is willing to help?

Ok so I got a good gist now, if anyone has any further suggestions please let me know

If you haven't checked it out already, the sourcebook Deities and Demigods has some ground rules on statting up deities and modeling different theological systems. There's provisions in there for creating a system where mortals can become gods, and there are different ranks or tiers for different levels of divine power built into the system.

kudos to you for real africa, vs hollywood africa. i have a systemless setting based on Bantu mythology and i had to do the research. one source you may not have considered is Google Scholar. i tried 'igbo magic' and now i know that igbo and bantu cultures share the archetype of the magical blacksmith.

Magic, Religion and Iron Technology in Precolonial North-Western Igboland

just jump through the hoops and they'll let you read it. yes, they think they own the information. so, what do you do for magical blacksmiths?

this is my stuff - feel free to use it any way you want. UbantuPDF

[QUOTE=tantric;22006105]kudos to you for real africa, vs hollywood africa. i have a systemless setting based on Bantu mythology and i had to do the research. one source you may not have considered is Google Scholar. i tried 'igbo magic' and now i know that igbo and bantu cultures share the archetype of the magical blacksmith.



just jump through the hoops and they'll let you read it. yes, they think they own the information. so, what do you do for magical blacksmiths?



The igbo blacksmith god is called Okika-na-ube or Okanube for easier verbosity. He basically had an entire city (Awka) of smiths. The smiths that worshipped him were called the order of the Ifiteana and in Igboland they were very prized for their work similar to the glassblowers of Medieval Venice. Okanube would share the city with Mmuo=Enyi, the elephant god. The reason is historically Awka had a huge watering hole which a herd of elephants would drink near and die of old age near. The locals would then collect the ivory from the dead elephants. So the land was seen to belong to Mmuo-Enyi and Okanube

[QUOTE=Lordikechi;22012460]

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Originally Posted by tantric

kudos to you for real africa, vs hollywood africa. i have a systemless setting based on Bantu mythology and i had to do the research. one source you may not have considered is Google Scholar. i tried 'igbo magic' and now i know that igbo and bantu cultures share the archetype of the magical blacksmith.



just jump through the hoops and they'll let you read it. yes, they think they own the information. so, what do you do for magical blacksmiths?



The igbo blacksmith god is called Okika-na-ube or Okanube for easier verbosity. He basically had an entire city (Awka) of smiths. The smiths that worshipped him were called the order of the Ifiteana and in Igboland they were very prized for their work similar to the glassblowers of Medieval Venice. Okanube would share the city with Mmuo=Enyi, the elephant god. The reason is historically Awka had a huge watering hole which a herd of elephants would drink near and die of old age near. The locals would then collect the ivory from the dead elephants. So the land was seen to belong to Mmuo-Enyi and Okanube

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just for fun, in Ubantu i changed elephants. i made them not only sapient, but powerful psychics. since i was using GURPS, i could make them a PC race. not sure how that'd work in DnD...this is part of the description..

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waJovu

Description

Although commonly referred to as elephants, waJovu are actually mammoths, descendended from Mammuthus africanavus, and have the twisted tusks common to that genus. Their tusks max out at 2m in length. WaJovu are smaAfrican elephants and have three extended nubs on the tips of their trunks instead of two. Males are 2.8-3m tall and weigh 4100-4400kg, females are 2-2.4m and weigh 2950-3500kg. Their hides range from gray-brown to dark gray, sometimes with mottling. WaJovu tattoo their foreheads and ears in abstract geometrical patterns, which are related to their personal psigraph names. When dealing with humans, females prefer powerful, symbolic names, males tend to go for something witty.

Wajovu enter into puberty at age 20, when the males experience the growth spurt that will end with them much larger than their sisters. Peak fertility is between 25 and 45. Wajovu live up to 150 years.

The waJovu are fully sentient and possessing powerful psychic abilities. WaJovu speak to humans strictly via telepathy. Most humans hallucinate an audible voice, some even see the elephants' lips move - it takes training to actually perceive telepathy as it is.


Overview

Humans often watch waJovu tribe go about their business, herding crabs, weaving baskets, gathering melons or hunting storks, and think that they know something of waJovu culture. This is like a being born with no hearing watching a human city and thinking he understands them as he understands ants. waJovu culture is mostly intangible to humans, forever beyond our reach. Many of their arts are fully incomprehensible - what does it mean to be a master Dreamshifter or a reknown Fabulist? It is rumored that a few humans have been privileged to learn the psigraphic language of Kijovu, but how deeply do they understand it? The young bulls that spend time in Wakokan cities are chummy, curious and even humerous - but after one has watched a tribal Mjovu at play with her Njikimi pets even this is unsettling.


Psionics

WaJovu psionics are not distinct from ordinary magic - like the spirit magic used by priests, these powers can be blocked and detected by the magic used by sorcerers and others. A newborn Mjovu has 2 levels of Telepathy and 1 levels of Psychokinesis, with the Telesend, Telereceive and Telekinesis skills at IQ. Their Telekinesis has the Reduced Range limitation. They gain one level in each power until they are mature at 12 years. They may learn additional skills: PK Shield (the ESP requirement is waived), Emotion Sense, Mental Blow, Mental Stab, Mind Shield, Psi Sense (will detect any type of magic), Sleep and Telescan. A few waJovu are able to develop Healing and some of the powers of Witchcraft.

The default version of waJovu telekinesis is very limited. It basically gives them a great deal of assistance with their trunks as manipulators. This is best displayed when a pair of waJovu weave a basket - they work just as fast as humans and produce extremely tight and detailed weaves, whether the baskets are large or small. WaJovu also excavate lungfish cocoons with great facility and can crush individual insects in a pile of grain. Every waJovu tribe has one or two members who are more advanced telekinesis. Assisters, for lack of a better word, tend to be generalists who help specialists in certain tasks and/or Novelists. Why all waJovu aren't powerful teeks as are their Wazawu cousins is just another elephantine mystery.

Elephant Spirits

African elephants are the only animals other than humans known to ritualize death - they circle their dead and cover them with branches and dirt, while expressing obvious grief. There have even been incidences of elephants mourning human death.

For the most part, waJovu know when death is approaching and go willingly. There is a community wide celebration, then the decedent walks away . . . and into the underworld. Psionic powers on this world are inextricably tied to the Underworld, which is also the world of dreams and what Westerners would call the Astral Plane, and the waJovu are much more in touch with this aspect of existence than humans are. Still, sudden, unpredictable death is a fact of life. In these cases, there is still mourning and grief, but the decedent's friends and relatives act together to send her body to the Underworld by enacting a psychic ritual, throwing branching and dirt on the body and walking around it in circle throughout the night, but when dawn comes, there is no corpse to be found. This is, of course, exactly what the waJovu did to Siyathemba. There was something dead and *wrong* lying on the plane, so they buried it.

Psychic powers are spiritualy awareness are linked, so it makes sense that the waJovu would be very aware of the spiritual world. They are very adept at manipulating nature spirits and have their own versions of elemental sorcerers.

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i also have several secular magic users that might fit for you:



Witches, wachwai, are psychics of the blackest sort. The begin as a kind of parasitic personality lurking within an otherwise normal person's mind, realizing that person's darkest desires as they sleep. Most of these people have no idea that they are witches, or harbor witches - the distinction is irrelevant as there is no cure and all such people are immediately put to death. In some cases, the two personalities will integrate, giving the witch much greater power, but in others the parasite will separate itself and burrowing into another mind, entering via that person's dreamworld. Witch powers mostly concern psychic manipulation, dream sending and curses via probability alteration. Though there are many witch-doctors and witch-hunters, wachawi are subtle and crafty. They have their own organization, Njama, which meets in the dream world. The waJovu elephants are the only psychics in the Empire powerful enough to root out witches, but even they are not infaliable. The other counteragent are the waZeru albino humans, which have such strong anti-psi that witches cannot abide their touch.

Ukashabu is the skill of magical beadworking, which is pretty exclusively female. Magical beadwork grew from kiGanga. Beadwork expands kiGanga so thatit is not just forms, but colors, patterns and relationships - a basic understanding is no more complex than any script, but true mastery can take years of study More than a natural language, it most resembles the creation and folding of proteins. Beadworking is used to make a variety of magical pots a which can dehydrate and preserve food, cook it, ferment milk instantly, resist breaking or impurities and other such uses. Beaded jewelry preserves health, repels black magic and even gives the illusion of beauty, though such item are easily recognizable Armor in Ubantu is magical beadwork on leather rather than metal, though it is just as effective. A properly made item will incorporate patterns that strengthen the beads so that they don't shatter at the first blow, along with redundant patterns so that the armor is still effective even if damaged. Nevertheless, wise warriors know enough Ukashabu to make minor repairs on their own, and have their armor serviced regularly. Beadmakers are experts who belong to one of the trade guilds, who then sell the beads on the open market. Beads are the small change of Imperial currency.


Waganga are specialists in the natural sciences who use their knowledge to work magic. They are very much the engineers of Ubantu. Originally 'mganga' meant 'doctor' in the PhD sense, one who is very advanced in one particular area of knowledge but over the centuries, it has come to mean 'sorcerer' in the sense of a person whose profession is magic. Craftsmen and artisans who use magic are called 'wafundi' and while they make make magical tools and charms, they cannot cast spells.Sorcerers specifically harness natural forces and their own magical energies and are completely different from witches, though there are evil sorcerers. However, just because sorcerers base their power on natural energies, they do not disdain spirits. Ubantu is an animistic setting, and spirits are ubiquitous. Many sorcerers, especially wafundi, have tame mashave spirits that lend them extra energy and skills. There are six broad categories of waganga: beadworkers (wakashabuji), craftsmen (wafundi), fetish-sorcerers (wamakafaraji), elementalists (wasinsimi), herbalists (wangaka) and drummers (wangoma).

Wafundi are craftsmen who use magic. Most belong to trade guilds which jealously guard their secrets, but there are also a fair number of magical techniques that are common knowledge. Most of the common knowledge type magic is shared between women and related to tasks that are traditionally feminine, such as gardening and weaving. The items made by wafundi are not especially powerful - unbreakable self-heating pots are a good example. They are required to first master mundane craftsmanship, whereupon they will learn to make a few simple charms. It seems that the aptitude to make charms actually develops as the artisan hones his mundane skills - people who are born with the power simply skip to the chase and become sorcerers. Charms are one-use magic items, essentially potions in a different form. Charms are big sellers and bring more profit to the guilds than permanent items. Later, as their powers develop, they make rechargable magic items, but they also make the tools to create enchantments. Potters, for instance, learn to make magical kilns that channel their own nyama/mana to instantly fire pots, without using heat. Blacksmith are one profession that straddles the line between craftsman and sorcerer. Their guilds are steeped in mysticism and ritual, and they do have more real power than normal wafundi. True master craftsmen who refine these techniques and develop new ones are rare, but rarer still are the geniuses, inventors and gadgetteers (waarifa) who create entirely new enchantments. These are the men who go on found new guilds and become true artisan-sorcerers.

Fetish sorcerers, wamakafaraji, are the most common type of sorcerers, to the extent that they are often referred to as 'waganga'. They construct magical foci that channel and convert their natural magic into spells. They avoid spells related to the elements, because it annoys elemental spirits and can cause a backlash of power. These waganga normally belong to one of a about ten or so lineages that tightly control their secrets. Each lineage teaches their initiates to make a variety of fetishes, through which they channel their magic to cast spells, and charms, which are self-contained items, essentially delayed spells, that anyone can activate. Like wafundi, they can create self-powered enchantment for sale, but given their ability to actually cast spells on the fly, they tend towards more interesting and profitable adventures.

Herbalists, wangaka, are somewhat like fantasy alchemists. Their translated name is deceptive - that use many animals parts and rare minerals in their brews, though plants are the key ingredients. Wangaka are taught their formulations from the plant spirits themselves, which they repay with rituals and sacrifices. In additions to many powerful remedies for health problems, wangaka can also cure such maladies as poverty and bad luck. Their medicines work best if they are brewed for a specific person, though standard versions are for sale in every market. Their trade society is actually more like a loosely organized religion. Members in good standing with display the glyph (a hand outline with a leaf inside) outside their shops, and they are known to police themselves by forcing disreputable herbalists to use their own medicines.

Elemental sorcerers, or wasinsimi, specialize in one of the eight elements. Their magic is dependent on their elemental familiars. A fire sorcerer, for instance, must carry a dish or pot with a burning coal and feed it rare woods, while wood sorcerers carry around calabashes with live seedlings. Since these vessels tend to be fragile, they are often heavily magically protected. In the last few centuries, the wasinsimi have organized themselves into something like a religion, so that now there are octagonal temples in all large cities. Vibwegno, which are humanoid elementals, are often at odds with wasinsimi, as a few sorcerers in the past foolishly tried to capture the trickster spirits. Modern elementalists canon forbids this, but vibwego are immortal and slow to forgive.

Drums have special power in Bantu mythology. Wangoma are the sorcerers who can call up these powers. In some cases it seems as if the wangoma are waganga who channel their magic through drums, but in other cases it is clear that the drummers are merely medium for the sentient drums-spirits. Wangoma are the bards and spellsingers of Ubantu. Their magic is particularly good at influencing spirits and through this healing, but they can also sway the emotions of crowds. Most wangoma work as teams along with dedicated dancers, who add greatly to the magical effects.

Religious or spiritual magic comes in two broad categories, priests and oracles. In this setting, the word 'oracle' is used interchanably with 'medium', both meaning people who speak for the spirits. Priests channel the spirit magic of the ancestors, using it to realise the wishes of the spirits, as voiced by the oracles. On the mainland, most priestly functions are served by the Kanisa or Ukasis priests, called watawa. The oracles are wayombe and are normally women. On the Chomba islands, Majisafi is the dominant religion, and it has its own priests and oracles and a separate order of ascetics. In both cases the priest are generalists who perform socially relevant rituals such as christening, morturary rites and house blessing. Their most significant powers lie in the domain of purity and taboos. In many cases only priests can propitiate the ancestors and mitigate the disasters affects of breaking significant taboos. They also have power over malign spirits and witches.

Although most priests appeal to the ancestors or other spirits, there are two types who appeal to the High God. Rainmakers occur in various forms in all societies in Ubantu. In the five waKoka kingdoms, there are not especially powerful, as most weather control is handled by the Emperor and his drum, Drought Hammer. Likewise in Vunjohai, which is ruled by the Mudjadji Rain Queen. In Udinginwayo the Sky-Herders are a separate profession from other priests and nearly as powerful as kings. In the Empire the Mwari cult also directly worships the High God, having temples near natural wonders like geysers or volcanoes. Normally only kings will send requests to the Voices of God, and then only on matters that concern the kingdom as a whole, but it is believed that the Voices have some limited ability to secure divine favor.

The hero cults and baChwezi pantheons work more like standard fantasy clerics. Each of the spirits has a domain and grants certain powers to initiates in addition to the greater powers granted to the priest and oracles who lead the cults. These organizations are not full religions, but rather fall under the umbrella of Kidini. Majisafi is much less tolerant of such things, regarding them as distractions at best.

Diviners, waguzi, are independent oracles who normally contact spirits other than the ancestors, especially mashave, though they also work with certain ghosts. The power of diviners comes from their spiritual allies and familiars, whereas waguzi are mere vehicles for the ancestors. As their name suggests, for waguzi, knowledge is power. Though their spirit allies may be able to affect the material world and other people in minor ways, their greatest ability lies in their skill at finding information and lending powers to their hosts. Many diviners also use mundane divinations, such as bone casting and sand boards, and are also skilled at dream interpretation. They may learn to enter the dreamworld consciously and speak directly with spirits, but this is dangerously close to witchcraft.

Book sorcerers are a kind of sorcerer-priest whose powers blur the line between the two. They use their knowledge of the sacred texts to cast spells, from either the Misafu of Kidini or the Aganomoja of Majisafi. They can also make amulets, magical garments via embroidery and potion (by soaking verse written in special ink in water). Although it seems they use their natural energy for these spells, they have strict ethical codes and taboos enforced by the ancestors.