Olman (Greyhawk)

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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.

Real-World Model

Native American

Alignment

Olman goods 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 social rank even in a society that is not otherwise evil. An Olman high court can be very evil and cruel, yet administer a prosperous land where many people lead good lives.

Some Olman 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 the 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.

Cultural Traits

Fatalism, Piety, Grandiosity, Tradition

Practices

Incest, Nudity, Sadomasochism.

Taboos

Promiscuity.

Family

Conventional, group marriage, or theogamus. Strictly regulated by tradition. Matrilinear. Barbarian tribes tend to Conventional marriages or polygamy.

Magic

Olman magic is graphic and ceremonial, seeking to impress and terrorize as much as possible. Their gods never grant good spells and rarely protective or healing spells. 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.

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. 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. Olmans generally think foreign gods are merely their own gods in disguise.

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	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		Greater	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	Greater	LE	Death, North	Darkness, Death, Deathbound, Mysticism
Quezalcoatl	Plumed serpent	Greater	N	Air, Knowledge, Warriors	Air, Knowledge, Nobility, Travel, Mysticism
Tezcatlipoca	Smoking mirror	Greater	CE	Jaguars, Obsidian, Strife, Sorcery	Oracle, Magic, Trickery, Darkness, Mysticism
Tlaloc		Greater	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