Olman (Greyhawk Action)

Heroic Action Role-Play

Fantasy Aztecs.

Attributes and Schticks

Body: 4-10
Mind: 4-10
Reflexes: 4-10
Move: 5

Dramatic Moment

Trigger Action (Combo)

Use this when you take an action, before you roll the dice. The result is an automatic Boxcars, making the result very good or very bad. Note that boxcars overrides a Condifent or Stymied roll.

Hybrid Race

Inherent

Select one Race other than human. You are a hybrid of human and the selected race. The GM might not allow hybrids with all races, check before making your selection. Someone with this feat is often called a half-X, where the X stands for the selected race.

• You look like a hybrid between a human and your selected race and might be mistaken for either.
• You can purchase the racial schticks of the selected race.
• Note which attribute has the highest racial maximum for the selected race; you get to pick one if there is a tie. Your racial maximum for this attribute becomes 11.

Throwback

Inherent

Select one Race Schtick; you learn this schtick. You do not become a halfbreed or otherwise have your looks or physical form changed except as required for the schtick to work.

You cannot take this schtick go learn a schtick you already know a second time, nor can you pick Throwback multiple times.

Description

The culturally dominant people thousands of years ago, in an age where gods where more inhuman and less good than today. The Olman eventually abandoned their empire and left their gods for shamanism. Today they live in semi-barbarism, often exploited by other peoples. It seems that Olman cannot have a civilization without their gods, which brings doom to them in an eternal cycle.

Appearance

Olman have highly saturated skins ranging in tone from fair to dark brown. This makes them seem reddish to outsiders. They have chiseled faces with distinct noses, chins, and brows. Hair is universally black, with red hair being extremely rare and seen as a sign of the divine.

Role

Fatalism, piety, grandiosity, and tradition are the cornerstones of the Olman virtues. Many Olman think of themselves as enacting divinely inspired roles, actors in the grand play that is the world. It matters more that you live your life in a grandiose manner than what the consequences of your actions were.

Politics

Olman gods are almost universally evil, and often chaotic. This makes even good Olman societies seem cruel and bloodthirsty to others. Good Olman submit to the demands of these gods while trying to make the best they can of life. Evil Olman relish their gods' lust for blood and pain and often advance in their service, attaining high religious rank even in a society that is not otherwise evil. An Olman high temple can be very evil and cruel, yet administer a prosperous land where many people lead good lives.

Integration

Olman have trouble integrating with others as a group, often continuing to live in their own villages or sections of cities. Partly, this is due to their issues with foreign gods; seeing them as aspects of their own gods in disguise, they are extremely distrusting of "good" foreign cults.

Family

Conventional, group marriage, or theogamus (marriage to a god or goddess). Strictly regulated by tradition. Matrilinear; inheritance goes trough the mother's line, but the husband is the head of the family. Brother-sister marriage and other forms of incest is common. Nudity and religious practice of sadism and sadomasochism are encouraged. Promiscuity is taboo.

Barbarian tribes have simpler families and tend to Conventional or group marriages.

Power

Olman power use is graphic and ceremonial, seeking to impress and terrorize as much as possible. Their gods rarely grant protective or healing powers. They lack wizards or bards, and their sorcerers find themselves gifted with destructive spells that affect large areas.

Pantheon

The Olman pantheon is dominated by evil gods who demand human sacrifice and ritual cannibalism, yet their society is not evil. These gods are tolerant of worshipers of other alignments, as long as they proper sacrifices are made. Good people can support such a society (but cannot be priests of evil gods or perform sacrifices) because it maintains the social order and the continued existence of the world. Clerics can have any alignment that is not in opposition to their patron, not just the one-step difference common to other clerics.

Most Olman today have rebelled against the demands of their cruel gods and live in small primitive communities allied to local spirits. However, it seems such tribes cannot advance and build cities without help. Olman who subjugate themselves to foreign gods tend to either misinterpret their teachings to be as cruel as those of their own gods, or to lose their Olman identity and be assimilated. Olmans generally think foreign gods are merely their own gods in disguise.

The Olmec world passes through ages where different gods claim domination. The gods gather at the end of each age to renew the sun and select a ruler amongst themselves. The current sun god is Camazotz, god of bats, but he was not strong enough to make the other gods sacrifice (and thus renew) themselves at the beginning of the age; thus all the Olman gods are currently weakened and their empires have fallen. Previous suns include Tezcaltipoca, Quezalcoatl, Huhueteotl, and Chalchiuhtlicue.

Toci is often identified with Beory (or Oerth), the global earth-mother.

Name	Translation	Rank	Alignment	Sphere	Domains
Camaxtli	Cloud serpent	Lesser	N	Hunting, War, Fate, East, Stars	Animal, Fire, Fate, War
Camazotz		Lesser	CE	Bats, Insects, Sun, Volcanoes	Animal, Cavern, Dream, Trickery
Chalchiuhtlicue	She of the Jade Skirt	Lesser	CG	Water, Childbirth, Fertility	Water, Creation, Earth, Plant
Ciuacoatl	Snake woman	Lesser	CE	Childbirth, Ghosts, Hunger	Lust, Undeath, Hunger, Pestilence
Huhueteotl	Aged god	Intermediate	LN	Fire, Home, Hope, Rebirth	Fire, Pact, Protection, Renewal, Mysticism
Huitzilopochtli	Hummingbird of the South	Lesser	LE	War, Youth, South	Strength, Celerity, Pride, Mysticism, Sun
Mictlantecuhtli	Lord of Mictlan	Intermediate	LE	Death, North	Darkness, Death, Deathbound, Mysticism
Quezalcoatl	Plumed serpent	Intermediate	N	Air, Knowledge, Warriors	Air, Knowledge, Nobility, Travel, Mysticism
Tezcatlipoca	Smoking mirror	Intermediate	CE	Jaguars, Obsidian, Strife, Sorcery	Oracle, Magic, Trickery, Darkness, Mysticism
Tlaloc		Intermediate	LE	Rain, Storms, Fertility	Water, Mysticism, Storm, Plant, Slime
Tlazolteotl	Eater of filth	Lesser	CE	Sin, Forgiveness, Sex	Domination, Illusion, Lust, Charm
Toci	Grandmother	Greater	N	Nature	Animal, Earth, Plant, Gluttony
Xipe Totec	The flayed one	Lesser	LE	Suffering, Renewal, Spring	Renewal, Earth, Suffering, Plant
Xochipilli	Flower prince	Lesser	CN	Love, Games, Beauty, Dance, Flowers	Plant, Competition, Charm, Courage
Yacatectli	God of the nose	Lesser	CE	Merchants	Greed, Travel, Protection, Trickery