Voodoo Sorcery
Hoongan, Bokor or Mambo ?
Is it that easy to distinguish a Hoongan (or a Mambo) and their grand Voodoo « Masses » from a Bokor and his Maledictions ? Well, actually, yes… and yet no!
A Bokor usually works alone – if we put aside the Zoo’p’s Parties which we will discuss in a sub-section - and with discretion while a Houngan or a Mambo has an official business and organises Ceremonies with numerous participants.
However, the most renowned Mambo and Hoongan have a deep knowledge of Sorcery in that they are mandated to undo Charms, Maledictions and other Engagements caused by Bokor.
From there, it becomes quickly obvious that the separation of Voodoo in two branches is a rethorical construct and there really is a transitory zone, unclear and dim, in which meet and sometimes become completely confounded Bokor and Hoongan or Mambo…
Whatever and anyway, the Lwa are behind all that or at least some of them, even if the Bokor invoke them under different personifications for the purpose of Sorcery.
We discuss those various aspects in the sub-sections of the current part, as well as we describe the main types of Charms and Maledictions.
Baka
Baka are the spirits of Sorcery: they cover a variegated crowd from Ghosts, Were-Points and other Zombie things to Sorcerer-Lwa. We only mention the latter shortly here since those which are called Sorcerer-Lwa are but personifications of Lwa we already know.
Master Crossing
He is the first of them all, the one who should never be forgotten at the beginning of any act of Sorcery, who is no other than Eshoo. It goes thus with Sorcery exactly in the same way as for the general Voodoo Ritual but for Sorcery purposes, one invokes the so called Pedro, who is the Maître Carrefour form of Eshoo. Indeed, crossings of paths as well as crosses are the symbols for the points where the Known World comes to intersect the existence plan of Lwa and Maître Carrefour is the Key thereof (and the Door as well for those who would not yet have gotten it)… Therefore, there is practically no chance that any Malediction or Charm works without a preliminary conciliation with Pedro.
Baron Cemetery
Baron Saturday comes next, let's say in the pecking order, under his form of Baron Cemetery, the one who draws the shape of the victim's tombs as well as not quite a few crosses everywhere by the means of his pointed iron-wood stab. He is however only invoked for purposes of Black Magic businesses, particularly if the intention is to - heavily - damage a victim's health. To invoke him, moreover, is never free of danger!
The Dantor Family
Let us then rapidly mention Arzully-Eye-o'Flaymz, a terrifying form of Arzully Dantor, who personifies passion under its most violent forms, in which she could be compared to Kali, a Lwa worshipped in Kalimantan; as well as Petty-John o'Asheez, the one who lights fire and rumble and tumble in embers…
Sain'Delivered
There are many many Baka of course and to establish a complete list of them is very likely impossible; we cannot end our short list anyhow without a word about Sain'Delivered, a Lwa of dim but recent origin with an extremely successful career: he entered in a very short period of time in numerous Voodoo places, Hoomfo of course but also and mainly at roads and paths crossings where small chapels were established, painted in red and decorated with box branches, bay leaves and flowers for the worship of him.
It is said of him that he was a slave having chosen a life of marooning on Mattink Island; hunted and captured, he would have been, so the legend goes, tortured by a pitiless master. Just before he died, he would have prayed Baron Saturday to grant him the power to get revenge in the Worl'Beyon' and would have been transformed by him into a Zombie. Rapidly the blood of his master and the whole family of him would not have been enough anymore and he would have become a kind of mercenary for those, generally Bokor, who would invoke him for the most awful « businesses ». The influence and the power of Sain'Delivered grew from that point on so much that he became a Sorcerer-Lwa, a Baka among the most powerful, the most feared and certainly the one most performant at delivery.
One cannot invoke him without a preliminary invocation to the power of Baron Cemetery to which he owes everything forever.
More details about Ghosts and Zombie
Ghosts and Zombie are complementary: stray souls without a body and wandering bodies without a soul. Let's us have a closer look to help you manage those Creatures of the Voodoo, Dear Game Master.
Ghosts
Ghosts are the manifestation of the soul of persons who died and remained trapped in a Limbus close to the world of the living because of a Voodoo Malediction or of a too powerful regret of life, etc. Hence they preserve more or less the Attributes of the Character when he lived but their relationship to matter underwent a significant change; actually, Ghosts are immaterial, which grants the immense advantage to be impervious to weapons and walls: they pass through them and vice-versa without any friction. But that relationship to matter is more complex and painful than it seems: indeed, they have no more means to eat and drink, everything going through without a stop on the tongue or in the guts. Hence Ghosts all feel hunger, thirst and the Great Z… knows what else to the point of becoming mad without any possible hope to reach fullness!
However, Ghosts still can manipulate objects, including weapons, by the means of their thought, a king of telekinesis which can essentially be managed with the Power Attribute associated to required Skills… Another phenomenon, of which the strangeness seems not always so obvious, Ghosts can usually make them heard talking: they do not really actually speak but use telepathic contacts to have a conversation. They even can, by the way, further communicate with a person they first encountered when they are separated from that person. However, that capacity vanishes quickly with a growing distance.
There are always two options when in front of a Ghost: first, the Rooroot Beer – Well, you'll tell me, one needs to have some at hand… And I'll tell you: « Yes, of course! » – so, the Rooroot Beer, powerful beverage, barely digestible by Ghosts since it litterally dissolves them in terrible pains, makes it an easy job to get along quickly with a Ghost, the best solution being to spray them… Rooroot Beer (or Grog) can be managed with the Health Bar of the Ghost; it is, by the way, its only use for a Ghost! Well, to make a long stoy short, that option requires some equipment and a tempered heart for it is no nice spectacle to witness! That said, the soul of the Ghost is by no means of the kind freed and either it must then erre eternally or the image of the Ghost will sooner or later « forms again »… The second solution to treat an issue with a Ghost would be discussion. Yes! Believe it or not but most Ghosts (not all) do not haunt for the fun of it and if one can get to understand the reasons why a Ghost has become a Ghost (Voodoo Malediction, unforgiveable crimes in the past life, etc.) and to solve them, one can free the soul… hence by that way finally « dissolve » the Ghost!
Zombie
Zombie are the result of a horrible and complex Voodoo Ritual which, to output good results, must be conducted as soon as possible after the burial of the required / wished body; that is because, if the body of the Zombie is set again to movement by that Ritual, it is in no case brought back to life: the rotting process thus goes on more or less quickly according to the quality of the Ritual and the Power of the Bokor but it cannot be stopped; the « life » expectancy of a Zombie can thus range from a few seconds (in case of an obvious failure) up to even some years in some extreme cases which have been reported on Hattea at the other end of the range!
The soul of the victim remains a prisonner in its body, having had no time to escape to Elyseum, but it is kind of no more able to act autonomously… The advantage of the Zombie is that it then obeys totally to the one who created it, its « Master »; for that, its Cleverness and Power are equal to 0. Its other Attributes are those of the person at the time of death but they diminish more or less quickly as we already discussed. In technical gaming terms, one sets up again the Health Bar for the Zombie, same as while it was a living being, and the Zombie will take inflicted Damages in the usual way. However, it cannot heal its wounds and when the Health Bar is consumed, it « dies » again. It is then generally no use to implement a Zombie Ritual on the remnants and the soul of the victim is at last freed from that unbearable prison.
Maledictions, Charms and other most fashionable Contractings
Here again, there's neither way nor claim to completeness in the matter… Here's a fast overview of the topic, of which the items and variants are uncountable.
Dead Speditions
Dead Speditions are probably the most frightening thing from any somewhat feared Bokor's portfolio: one to several dead individuals are « called back » to come and haunt a victim and in the process suck slowly his or her vital energy. The process goes on until the death of the victim while he or she can of course try to get out of that bad situation by calling upon the costly services of a Hoongan or a Mambo…
Zombie
Zombie is a Charm which is almost as frightening as Dead Speditions. It is dicussed in more details along with Ghosts in the present chapter. It consists in ungrave a « fresh » corpse and to bring it back to a sort of soulless life, generally to procure a slave, able to accomplish simple penible tasks. Its happens sometimes on Hattea that some people are found again, who are supposed to be dead since many a year. When the Charm of the Bokor can be broken, the Zombie can at last find peace again and « die », if one may say so, anew…
Wanda
Wanda are Spells which made the fame of Voodoo: Puppets, allowing to exert an action on a victim from a distance, and Talismans for destruction, protection or chance are by far the Charms at most employed by Bokors, be it for personal purposes or by contract. There are hundreds of variations of them, from the Valentine's Amulet to the Chucky Puppet, without forgetting such as the Tooth of Happyness, the Desire-Lamps or the dried Lizard's Leg…
Contracting
The Contracting with a « Hot Spot » is the last item which we'll discuss here and it an act among the most dramatic: the motivations to conclude such a pact with a Baka may be various ones but the cost of it is always extremely high. An advantage is obtained for a certain period of time, sometimes up to a lifetime, sometimes also taking into account that the said lifetime will be shortened, of which the price will be paid in Death and the Contractant shall become a Zombie or a Ghost for many a year, if not for eternity! Some Bokor come to contract themselves with a Baka to considerably increase their power; they'll repay it probably by an eternal living in Limbo from where there's no way out. Sain'Delivered is maybe the most significant example of Contracting, in that case with Baron Cemetery: to obtain vengeance from his master and murderer, he now executes forever and in series « on contract basis » the dirty job requested by the Baron or his adepts Bokor and other Sorcerers!
Zoo'p, Were-Points and other Leaves-Doctors
Voodoo is the house of many a mystery, which it would be useless to try to know and understand all. We bring a few precisions which, we hope, will help you, Friend Game Master, to manage in the course of the game some of the mysterious Beings which haunts the nights on Hattea (and in many other places!), linked to Voodoo and the attributes of which are somewhat special. Among them are Zoo’p, Were-Points, Leaves-Doctors and many other of which we will not talk for now.
Zoo'p
Zoo’p are Bokor subject to collective noctambulism. They passed a pact in blood with each other and they also are Contractants rather often. Their mutual and respective Contracts oblige them generally to perpetrate an act of violence in group after another throughout their nocturnal roaming. By so doing, they lose rather quickly of their human character and even their look can come to be changed. It is no good at all to cross their way, especially at a crossing, and that's why on Hattea so few people dare tempt the worst by travelling at night out of the villages…
Were-Points
Were-Points are subject to lycanthropy, that is to say, either they are Bokor having obtained a capability of monstruous animal transformation through Contracting or they are victims of Voodoo acts having got a Malediction or having made a violent reaction to a magical aggression. It is said that also some plants of Madladscar or Kalimantan could have similar effects; other also mention that some individuals would have becme Were-Points as a consequence of a mysterious and unhealable disease, by chance a rare one… In any case, meeting a Were-Point is extremely dangerous because they are tormented and violent beings…
Were-Points are living persons who are infected in the litteral sense by a Voodoo Malediction; In that process the person is not killed but the transformation is not reverseable. There exist many a sort of Were-Points, their common feature being that on some nights (or sometimes in a permanent way) a half-man-half-animal form of incredible strength and violence is taken: in gaming terms, the Strength, Perception and Constitution of the character are increased by 5 while his or her Cleverness and Power are reduced by the same amount (minimum 0). The Look becomes for its part 0. Moreover, Were-Points cannot be killed by normal weapons; they can be hurt but they regenerate in a few minutes… Only fire and silver weapons inflict them normal Damage and can kill them. From the point of view of the Bokor, the main drawback of a Were-Point is that it is only very partly manageable and could be quite a lot more diplomatic when transformed…
Leaves-Doctors
Leaves-Doctors are Bokor which specialised in Voodoo Drugs. They know the medical and magical properties of a great number of plants and poisons, the great majority of which can be grown in a garden or collected under the woods by night in function of the lunar cycles. They're all as well healers as poisoners, depending on the order they get from their customers… or of their own needs of the moment: ambiguous characters, it is at least doubtful to have contact with them, it can also be dangerous, frankly speaking!