Wisdoms of Teb

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Wisdoms of Teb

The church of Teb is inextricably bound up in the Empire's vast store of Factoriums, those huge assemblies of knowledge and learning where most mages and sages receive their training. Temples of Teb are common, but they are not always public affairs, and Teb is rumored to have secret stashes of forbidden knowledge that no-one else has even heard of. Most temples of Teb are called librariums, and they are huge affairs full of halls and galleys, most stuffed with scrolls, books, tablets, and crystals. According to common myth, Teb knows everything there is, and delights in not telling anyone. This delight rubs off on His Wisdoms. The wisdoms of Teb must be forgiven their irritation with petitioners, for every day they must deal with a seemingly endless parade of people seeking advice. That advice is usually available for a fee, but if someone asks where they left their socks they are charged ruinously. Merchants seeking to edge out their opponents, politicians seeking dirt, architects and builders wanting advice, all are treated with as much patience as the Wisdoms can manage. Worship of Teb is difficult, and the Church is not extremely large. The fact that it is extremely rich does help with new accolytes, but it takes a certain mindset to effectively follow Teb. Teb occasionally releases a bit of information that could be extremely useful, if the unwashed masses could simply reason out what to do with it. A true story is the fact that the Imperial gate system is directly attributable to a visit made by a Wisdom to a friend who was a wizard. As the Wisdom was leaving, she said, for no particular reason, "All places are the same, if you make them similar enough." The wizard found it so odd that he wrote it down, thought about it deeply, and then applied it to his research into the nature of the Fundaments, and created the first Gate by accident. After he was resurrected, he turned his research over to the Empire and lived the rest of his life in opulent luxury. This sort of action is typical of the Wise sect of Teb.

The next sect of Teb is widely acknowledged as the most annoying, that being the All-Knowing Sect. The All-Knowing are human libraries, and are mostly comprised of those odd individuals with near perfect memories. They seek to emulate Teb in his vast knowledge by learning at least a little about nearly everything. As a result, they spend much of their time in long rambling discourse, on any and every topic in the world. Unlike most Wisdoms, they are eager to share their knowhow, but getting anything actually useful out of the rambling gasbags could try the patience of a Philiator Saint.

Teb's next sect are the Mysterious, and they delight in dark prophecy, enigmatic riddles, coded speeches, and baffling the unlearned. The Mysterious are also one of the more frightening sects, as their cryptic mutterings are often revealed to have been prophetic in the glare of hindsight. According to popular rumor, the Nightmare wars were predicted by a Mysterious Wisdom the year before the North rebelled, and if only the warning had been understood the whole mess could have been avoided. The Mysterious is also that sect which deals with knowledge best left unknown, and they are reputed to possess secrets the Contrivers would kill their mothers for.

The last sect of Teb is also his most widely feared, the Destroyers. Teb knows much about the shape of events, and He often acts to influence events into the path He desires. This often involves a "pre-emptive strike" against someone or something. Teb may decide that your grandson is going to be a terrible murderer, so a Destroyer shows up and poisons your wife. Teb's vast knowledge makes the Destroyers terribly effective, as they always seem to know the exact moment to strike to cause the maximum damage. Add in the fact that Teb is owed favors by everybody, and will not hesitate to call upon help if it is needed.

There are many sub-sects and heresies of Teb, as he is not particular about his worshippers. Some of the larger sub-sects include the Geometers, the Delvers, the Eretoans, and the Realists. The heretical sects include the Know-Nots, the Deniers, and the Shorn.

The Leader of the church is the Erudite Wisdom, the Madame Rayfina Patrice.

Duties: Wisdoms are required to seek out learning wherever Teb has placed it. The process of learning moves you closer to Teb, but knowledge cheaply gained is usually worth the effort. Also, once knowledge is gained a Wisdom must see that it is safeguarded so that it is not lost or stolen to be used in some rash way. A Wisdom may not allow knowledge to be wantonly destroyed, either, and so will often spend time copying documents for safe keeping and seeking out individuals with important reminiscences. Contrivers and Wisdoms often have harsh words over these matters. Most of Teb's temples are also blessed with large libraries, of various levels of neatness and organization.

Other Restrictions: Wisdoms are not allowed to shirk their duty of amassing knowledge just because they find the information to be distasteful. Many times a Wisdom has learned something which was repugnant to him or her but recorded it nonetheless.

Teb's Colors: The raiment of Teb is Grey, Burgundy, and Green.

Hit Dice: d6

Requirements

Alignment: any alignment with Neutral in it Skills: 1 rank Knowledge:Teb Spells: Able to cast 1st level Cleric spells. Special: Must have Teb as patron deity.

Class Skills

The Vivimorts' class skills (and key ability for each skill) are

Skill Points: 2 per level + Int Modifier

Advancement Table

Level BAB Fort Refl Will Special Spells per Day

Class Features Weapons and Armor: Wisdoms may wear no metallic armor and may not use shields. For weapons, they may choose from the dagger, staff, sling, flail, club, and short sword.

Divine Domains: Artifice, Darkness, Destruction, Knowledge, Magic, Mind, Mysticism, Oracle, Pact, Strength, Summoner, War

Teb grants Wisdoms bonus Priest spells for having a high wisdom score. Teb also grants Wisdoms bonus Mage spells for having a high intelligence score! Even though these are Mage spells, the Wisdom does not need a spell book; Teb grants the necessary learning. These spells perform exactly as written when cast by the Wisdom, except that all Mage spells require both their normal material component and Teb's holy symbol. The number and level of magic spells received is found by using the number and levels of spells granted by high wisdom. For example, a Wisdom with an intelligence of 18 and 7th level would receive 2-lst, 2-2nd, l-3rd, and l-4th level Mage spells, in addition to all normal Priest spells. Teb also grants the power to know the future. This is gained at 5th level, may be used once per day, and is exactly like an Augury spell in all respects except that no material component is required. Lastly, Teb grants the knowledge of an enemies weakness, allowing a devastating attack to be made. This power is first granted at 7th level and is usable once per day. A single, specific, creature is chosen to be attacked, and for one melee round, every physical melee attack made by the Wisdom against that creature has a bonus to hit of +1 per level of the Wisdom, and any successful strike has a damage bonus of +1 per level. These bonuses are in addition to any other bonuses the Wisdom may have on any attacks, and will allow a Wisdom to harm creatures that are immune to normal weapons without a magical weapon.