Rayism for the Dm

The DM is to read aloud the portions labeled “read aloud”

The follower goes through a ceremony much like Communion. In which they imbibe a portion of Pixie wine. I have been told that the follower in question is a minotuar.

About Pixie Wine. Usually, it only takes a small cup 4-6 oz to cause the vision quest. But if the follower is larger than human sized, the amount will have to vary. For a minotaur, his constitution score is really high. So, he might have to drink the whole bottle. Basically, if the follower succeeds the first fortitude save, the vision quest fails. The follower must fail the fortitude save to trip balls in order for the vision quest to continue.

Pixie wine is pretty potent. 4-6 oz can render a non-fey creature paralyzed and comatose. Depending on the amount of failure could lead to death because the imbiber will never wake up. A fey creature (pixie, fairy, elf, ect.) can drink pixie wine as normal, just with a bit of extra kick. But for a non-fey creature it can be deadly. For those who don't wake up, the priests wrap the bodies in the fetal position. They allow the body to mummify and put the body of the follower in a compartment in the catacombs underneath the Temple. The follower is neither alive nor dead and can be resurrect if the Temple comes under attack or needs defended in some manner.

For each ounce of Pixie Wine imbibed, a gives a -3 to fortitude for non-fey creatures. Each bottle holds only 10 oz of Pixie wine. The DC rating for a single ounce is 20. The follower must fail the DC by no less than 7 points but no greater than 10. (A Vinson quest will happen if the sum of the save is between 19-13) If the follower succeed the fortitude, they do not attain a vision. Fail by greater than ten, you trip balls and die.

The second, and unknown by the temple, is a concentrate save. The follower (who is now tripping) must think happy thoughts. This is where the followers of Rayiusm discover “tier happy place.” This place is necessary for any future activates that include not thinking about anything except the “happy place”

Example for use:

Ask a follower, “Will it work?” The follower shrugs and smiles. The follower is in “his happy place” he doesn't know if it will work, he doesn't it won't work, as long as he stays in his happy place it has a higher chance of happening. He can't be in doubt, because shit will fall apart. So the follower goes to his happy place and ignores everything. The “thing” works.

“The Happy Place” can be a place that the individual creates on his own. But during the vision quest, he must describe it to the DM. Cause it is fun and it better be creative and imaginative.

If it isn't something. If you have to force or coerce the player to describe it, then he must make a Will save. Failing a Will save will begin to convert the Happy Place into a nightmare. The character will fail the vision quest and will die.

The follower has found his happy place, he is seeing the colors of Chakras and their movements, Does he see Ray? Most commonly not. BUTon extremely rare occasions, like the one we will see here, Ray makes an appearance. These special people are called “The Listener.” The Minotuar will be the first character to become “the Listener.” The Temple will want to push him so that he reaches priesthood, and will eventually become one of the highest priests, along side, Mercy, Compass, Veil, and Wisdom. The Listener will interpret vision of Adepts vision quests in the future. So remember DM, the Temple will be constantly asking this character to do shit.

Read this to follower as the Dm play In -godda- divita:

As you are meditating cross legged on the floor, you begin to see colors appear all around you. You are now in a 1960's tie dyed sea of vibrant rainbows. All crossing and moving within and around and through each other. Skittle eating, rainbow ponies vomited into a lava lamp, and you are inside the lava lamp.

A bright white crack splits the flowing rainbow. It widens creating a soft light that is more gentle on your eyes. From the white light steps out an elf. He has dark green hair all messy on his head. He is wearing a brown duster, trench coat thing, that matches the brown of his eyes. He steps through and squints at the follower.

“Who the...(belches loudly)...are you?” he asks.

Don't let the character finish his response

“Nevermind, forget I asked. I'll just call you “The Listener” he says. “Um..So I guess you are a follower or something. Seriously? You bought into that stuff?”

Do not let the character finish a response

“Well, good for you, I guess,” he says. “But since you did, I guess that is good for me. I need a couple things and I can't get them myself. I gotta...” he points to the white light.” a thing. There's a thing and I gotta do it. Kinda time sensitive. So..yeah. You get these things for me, I will do my thing, and maybe the world won't explode into the nether regions.” He shrugs. “Trust me that you don't want that. Those guys are asshats..usually...normally...kinda...okay maybe not all, but a lot of them.”

He pulls out a notebook. “Okay, so I need Ironite.” The elf looks back up at the follower. “Which you can ask the dwarfs for some, or a locatoin where you can find it. I'll need a lot! I mean a lot! As much as you can get your hands on. Find it, bring to the Temple. I'll have my guy pick it up.” He looks back down at his notebook. “And I will need A pair of Ethereal Boots.” He looks back up at the follower. “Which you would think I could get my hands on, being a weird deity, I guess, but I really don't have the time to convince a wizard to do it. And necromancers are just assholes.” He looks back down at his notebook. “And I need..” he pauses and groans. The elf turns to the bright light and says, “Do I really have to say this?” There is a moment of silence, then the elf sighs. “Fine.” He turns back to the follower. “I hate to do, but I am under contractual obligations.” He clears his throat and his voice echoes deeply. “An egg with no chick that blinks and peeps, Made of metal that is not metal, a maze in the hand that beeps.” The elf shrugs. “Sorry but that's all you get.” He puts his notebook in his pocket and turns to leave. As he steps through the light, he sticks his head back out of the crack and says, “By the way, you may want to think happy thoughts, cause if you're tripping balls like you are supposed to, that's the only way to succeed your next fortitude save to return to reality.” He disappears into the light. As the crack begins to close, you can still hear his voice. “At least, your reality anyway. Funny how that works out...” The crack is sealed up and colors return to the rainbow vomit lava lamp.

So, now the follower must make a concentration check and another fortitude save to return. This time the follower must succeed the roll to wake up.

For DM only,

Ironite is aluminum. It can be found in the wasteland, dwarfs won't have as much as Ray needs, and “The Circuit” will have some too. But since you have yet to be introduced to the Circuit, you won't get what you need from them. You already have a sense of what the wasteland is, so use it.

The “egg” is a navigation unit from an aircraft. That was what we were superposed to retrieve when we went into the wasteland the first time. At least that was what Ray was looking for. The combination to the lock to the Thri-kreen too.

The Nutural Side of Tarkazia: Rayism, part 3

This is a Gnu, if you didn't know.

Our world is a funny place. Back in 2007, it was made funny for us in particular because of “No Gnus is Good Gnus.” The funny increased as Ray adventured through Tarkazia from late 2007 until present. Never once, as the DM, did I ever imagine that Rayism would be “a thing.” But today, as a laugh, my son and I Googled “rayism” and discovered something bigger.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Rayism

RAYISM-

When an immoral, unprincipled person makes an absurd statement that contradicts all the evidence in the hope of 'blinding' people (like the rays of the sun) from the truth. A rayism is most often used by an unscrupulous boss who persecutes staff to hide his own failings. Because a rayism makes ridiculous claims, it tends to convince nobody except the person making the statement. - Urban Dictionary

I would not say that Ray, as a character, is immoral or unscrupulous. I would say he was “unconcerned” or “uninvolved.” I would even go so far to say that he was “unmotivated.” But Ray does have morals. They are strange, but they are there.

For example, his perception is broader than most characters. If the adventuring group was sent to kill a group of “bad Goblins” Ray would be the one in the group to ask “why are they “evil”? If Ray didn't think that the behavior of goblins was evil, he would not participate in eradicating the goblins. He may, instead, try to help the goblins. Or help both parties reach some beneficial compromise. Ray would not be above lying or manipulating to accomplish a goal that he believed would be beneficial for everybody. Ray would have no problem with stealing if the outcome is positive for greater number of being. Ray would have no problem becoming the villain to unite two warring factions or beings.

It is in thatbehavior that his character stays within his own alignment, which is true natural. Most often, when a DM is faced with True Nutural characters, they portray them as indecisive or completely uninvolved. As an experienced Dm, I disagree with the majority of that. Mainly because hermits, monks, or druids will eventually be forced to make a decision despite the fact that they are “isolated” or try to make themselves “isolated.”

The biggest and most prominent example of this “True Natural Isolation” is the Elves of Middle Earth. The Elves hadto eventually become involved because evil and chaos does not respect boundaries.The elves hadto become involved because they were a part of that world. When they figured out that they could not live in Middle Earth and not be involved with it, they ran away. I am speaking along the lines of their involvement during the Second age of Middle Earth (the first battle in which Sauron had his hand cut off). Between the end of the Second Age and the middle of the Third Age, the elves experienced a drop in birth rate to zero! Arwyn was the last Elf to be born in Middle Earth, which made her younger than Legolas. The Elves knew they had to leave to preserve their race. The War of the Third Age made that a concrete and extreme decision. That is why the Elves were leaving during The Return of the King.

So, even those who go out of their way to be Isolationists, will eventually become

involved in the affairs of the rest of the world, whether they want to not. And those who do not make decisions or hesitate to long will, by default, allow evil and chaos to take over. Ray and those who follow Rayism know this.

Here's the rub, Ray and the followers of Rayism also know that there is no way to eradicate Evil and Chaos from the world. It will neverhappen. So, by allowing somechaos and evil into the world, a being can contain it's affects and effects on those who dwell in it. There is not anything that Ray will not do to attempt to balance that.

For example, Ray and the group did get approached by a human village to eradicate a group of goblins that had camped in the forest. The goblins were hijacking food transports and doing other “bandit” things. Ray and the group went into the forest and found the camp. But the Goblins were in horrible conditions. They were starving. Ray captured one of of the Goblins and asked him what happened to them. The Goblin explained that they had been displaced from their home in the mountains by Dwarfs who wanted their caves because of the resources the Dwarfs wanted to mine out. The Dwarfs had almost killed them all off. The Goblins were survivors of an attack of greed.

Ray went back to talk to the village. The humans were unwilling to help the Goblins. It had everything to do with race. Humans are “supposed” to hate goblins. Human and Goblins do not “live in harmony.”

Ray and the group reacted by burning down the villages grainy and burning up the Goblins meager store of food. Both the Humans and the Goblins got mad!The Humans and the Goblins elected diplomats and held a discussion. They united together to get food stores before the winter months set in and worked together to put a price on Ray's head.

Was it morally or ethically correct to burn the food? Maybe.

Were the results of that act beneficial to the world as a whole? Yes.

Does Ray feel bad for being a villain? No.

Is Ray afraid because there is a price on his head? No.

Ray figures this, “I will leave the area for a couple generations. I am an Elf. I will live longer than their memory. I'll be fine.”

Ray often makes statements that, at first glance, make no sense or are completely unfounded in intelligence and/or wisdom. These are the cases in which I compare Ray to The Doctor. Is Ray talking out loud to himself, lying to make himself feel better? Or is it that he is telling the group that something will work even if logic demands its failure? Is he lying to the group to keep up moral so that they don't doom everything they encounter?

The truth is that Ray doesn't even know. Seriously, he has no idea. He is taking a gamble every time he opens his mouth. Ray figures if he looks, acts, and talks like he knows what is going on, everyone will believe it. Because it is believed, it happens. Because the Purple magic is based on belief and nothing more. The more a being believes, the more likely it happens. It is a loop that builds upon itself until it reaches a “religion.” That is why in Khemair, Ray is a God. Because the people of Khemair believe it to be so. How else could that curse be lifted, if it weren't a God in human form?

Ray doesn't know if anything will work because, he has an idea that, the more belief in something the greater the chances of it happening. So, he started to lie to himself, then he lied to the group. The actions and words of the group, make it spread through the land. Bards tell the tale, people begin to believe it. Making it more and more possible for the impossible to happen, even when Ray doesn't want it too.

So, the level of success is beyond Ray's knowledge because it all depends on what people and how muchthey believe in it. So, Ray truly has no clue if it will work or not. He is perpetually in that quantum place where things happen, not happen, and already happened at the same time; just like the Doctor. So, Ray is, is not, and was at the same time. Hence the appearance of a little known creature who appears to the group as a little, brown-haired boy. Or in the case of the Doctor, the weeping angels. But instead of feeding on potential energy, the race of the little boy, feeds on improbability energy.

So, to sum up. The Urban Dictionary has it wrong and right at the same time. Which, in itself, is a Rayism. That is the funniest thing of all. Bringing the lesson or moral of the story is “Believe in the impossible for the improbable to happen”