GLOG Class: Heresiarch

Heresiarch

He-re-si-arch

noun

"The founder of a heresy or the leader of a heretical sect."

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Obviously, anyone can be a heretic; it takes a special kind of person to lead the heresy itself.

GLOG Class: Heresiarch

A: Heretic, Following, Signs & Miracles

B: Secret Heretics

C: Shelter for the Faithful

D: Intercessor, Divinity

Δ: Open, Published, Excommunicated, Persecuted, Martyred

Starting skills [1d3]: 1 = theological zealot, 2 = political splinter-leader, 3 = divine incarnation 

(Honestly, as you level up, you should probably get whichever of these you didn't start with. All three will become basically true as time goes on.)

Starting equipment: garb, accouterments, and texts as befits your particular heresy; a relic of your life from before becoming the Heresiarch.

(A) Heretic

You are a heretic from the established religion and Church of the land, meaning you have significantly divergent beliefs, enough that things have gotten ugly. You should work with your GM to figure out (or come up with) both what the established Church is, and then what your specific heresy believes that marks it as divergent. Salty Dan's CK3 religion generator is a good resource for doing this.

Because you are a heretic, the Church wants you driven out, disproven, and dead. They will sink considerable resources into doing so, relative to the power and visibility of your movement. If you meet a member of the Church hierarchy who knows you as a heretic, expect them to treat you as a foe.

(A) Following

As leader of the heresy, you have followers, other heretics who believe in your cause, and believe in you.

Basics

You can maintain a number of followers equal to [templates] × (highest of INT, WIS, or CHA) score. Any more than that and some voices will be unheard, some concerns unaddressed, and you'll have rapid desertions until you reach your max follower count.

In general, your followers will look to you as their leader, and physically follow as best they can. If they come to you with theological, spiritual, or ethical questions, they will accept whatever you say; you are the Heresiarch, you are their leader.

Your followers will, in general, give you what resources and supplies they can spare. You are broadly expected to provide food, water, and shelter for your followers. For every day in which you don't, you will lose 1d6 followers for each you fail to provide.

Orders

When you give a difficult order to your followers—which could be difficult in the sense of "charge those armed Temple Guards" or difficult in the sense of "leave your home and families to travel with me"—roll 2d6:

2–3: Your followers break and run, to a one. You lose all of your followers.

4–6:  Your most devout follow the order, but many do not. You lose half of your followers.

7: Most of your followers obey, but you lose a few stragglers. You lose 1d6 followers.

8–10: Your followers obey the order, to a one.

11 or higher: Your followers obey the order with such zeal that onlookers can't help but feel your movement's righteousness. You gain 1d6 followers. 

If you have recently performed a miracle in front of your followers, add +1 to the roll.

What orders are considered difficult can change on a day-to-day basis; if your followers are well-fed and happy, nearly anything can be done; if your followers haven't slept in the three days and are pursued by inquisitors, even something as simple as "keep walking" could be a difficult order.

Recruiting

If you spend an hour talking to someone and they aren't indignant and furious by the end of it, you can recruit them as a follower (this works cumulatively on groups; if you spend six hours talking with a group of six, you can recruit them all at once). 

If you're talking to someone who already hates the Church or has lost their faith, it only takes a minute of listening before they will join you.

(A) Signs & Miracles

Starting at template A and for each successive lettered template, one Sign manifests itself: roll 1d6 to determine which Sign appears, and which corresponding miracle you gain. If you roll a repeat, roll again.

Your followers interpret these as Signs from G_d, proof of your divine provenance. The Church interpret these Signs as illusion and deception, proof that you are consorting with witches and demons.

Your Signs and their Miracles are:

1. Sign of the Dawn.
   For three days, there will be only be darkness or light: the sun will either never rise or never set.
   You can perform the prophesied Miracle of Radiance: at any time, day or night, you summon the light of your star, enough to light a temple's courtyard, town's square, or mountain's clearing. This light comes from the heavens, and thus cannot pierce ceilings or the earth, but is as bright as daylight.
2. Sign of the Prophet.
   A burning red comet stretches across the sky, lasting for a year and a day.
   You can perform the Miracle of Divination: once per session, you go into meditation. The GM will secretly tell you (via note, whisper, or text) something that is true or will be true; this may be vague or unclear, but it will be true.
3. Sign of the Dead.
   For one week, spirits of the dead return to the earth: family members and friends return to their homes as spectral ghosts.
   You can perform the Miracle of Resurrection: you raise a person that has died in the past seven days from the dead. Before performing the next resurrection, you must wait seven days; then seven weeks; then seven lunar months; then seven years. 
4. Sign of the Waters.
   For a lunar month, a significant body of water, such as a river or oasis, runs crimson.
   You can perform the Miracle of Tides: you can walk on water, and can cause [templates] followers to walk with you. Once per lunar month, you can cause a body of water to dramatically change and shift, such as reversing a river or parting a sea.
5. Sign of the Harvest.
   All of the crops in the land grow ripe overnight.
   You can perform the Miracle of Sustenance: if a non-follower freely provides you with food and water, you can multiply that food and water, enough for [templates] × 100 people.
6. Sign of the Bells.
   When you are in town, every bell rings on the hour, every hour.
   You can perform the Miracle of Judgement: when you spend one hour talking to someone, you learn their most terrible secret and their greatest virtue; they know, instinctively, that you have learned these secrets. If you are speaking with a member of the Church hierarchy, this only takes one minute, rather than one hour.
7. Sign of the Apocalypse.
   Mountains rend in twain, the sea rushes over the land, the earth splits asunder, fires burn in the sky, and blood runs from the eyes. 
   Non-believers are waver in their beliefs as your followers' faith only grow stronger; the ensuing chaos shakes the Church's power to its very foundations. You are canonized in the eyes of the faithful, and your memory will remain exalted forevermore.

(B) Secret Heretics

When you meet a member of the Church hierarchy or somebody else important (a military officer, a noble, a merchant captain, etc.), there is a [templates]-in-50 chance that they are secretly a devotee of your heresy. 

They will try to provide benefits accordingly, such as shelter or gold, but are unlikely to follow you or make their beliefs known openly.

(C) Shelter for the Faithful

When you enter into a city or town, your followers will connect you with other heretics, ones who have access to safe houses, hiding places, and quiet ways into & out of town. These heretics can provide enough shelter for you and 1d6+[templates] others, but no more. 

You can use this ability twice per town (once in and once out) or, if you're in town a while, twice per week.

(D) Intercessor

[Templates] times per day, you can cure someone of an affliction or ailment, such as blindness, leprosy, or a lost limb. 

(D) Divinity

After going through a complicated ritual, ordained priests of your heresy can become 1st-level Clerics, with your G_d as their deity and you as their head of religion.

Secret heretics will begin practicing more openly, founding their own communities; heretical nobility will protect other heretics dwelling in their lands.

(Δ) Open
Earned when you freely practice your heresy, rather than keeping it a secret.

You will be actively searched for and questions by Church inquisitors; you may be thrown out of churches for voicing your beliefs.

When you give a difficult order to your followers, you gain +1 to the 2d6 roll. Secret heretics will make themselves known to you as best they can.

(Δ) Published

Earned when you publish your beliefs to the world at large through printed material or fiery sermons.
Monks and clergy will write long, complicated arguments against you and your beliefs. Books bearing your words or ideas will be burned.

The chances of an important person being a secret heretic increase by 3-in-50. More people will grow angry with the Church, and actively seek you out to join you.

(Δ) Excommunicated

Earned when you are tried before an ecclesiastical court and excommunicated from the Church.

You will be barred from churches and holy sites. Faithful Church members will spit on you and curse your name.

When you give a difficult order to your followers, you gain +1 to the 2d6 roll. Roll 1d6 for another Sign & Miracle.

(Δ) Persecuted

Earned when your beliefs cause a town or city to violently drive you out.

You will be actively hunted by Church inquisitors. Faithful cities and towns will close their gates to you.
The chances of an important person being a secret heretic increase by 3-in-50. Roll 1d6 for another Sign & Miracle.

(Δ) Martyred

Earned when you are put to death for your beliefs.

If the first six Signs & Miracles have not yet occurred, following your death, there is a 50% chance another 1st-level Heresiarch will immediately arise to lead your heresy.

If the first six Signs & Miracles have occurred, the seventh Sign, the Sign of the Apocalypse, occurs.

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This class has a lot going on; you can read my notes on it here.