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Last Updated On 1 June 1998

# Ancestor Bundles

## DESCRIPTION

Ancestor Bundles are typical Shamanic Medicine Bundles. They contain many different components, maybe with runes or symbols as decoration, typically decorated with feathers, bones, cloth, and so on. All Ancestor Bundles contain at least one item sacred to the ancestor to be contacted, perhaps a piece of the ancestor's body or a picture of the ancestor or something owned by the ancestor during life. In more civilised areas, Ancestor Bundles may well take the form of icons or small shrines which would sit in the family shrine and allow the ancestor to be called.

## CULTS

### ASSOCIATED:

  Daka Fal, Shamanic cults

### ENEMY:

  Humakt, other Death Rune Cults

### HOSTILE:

  People who were hostile to the ancestor while alive

## KNOWLEDGE

Common, Shamanic.

## HISTORY

When Daka Fal taught people to contact those who had died and were part of their family, he also taught how to contact individual spirits more easily, so as to make it easier and less dangerous to contact these spirits. Thus were created the first Ancestor Bundles.

## PROCEDURE

Ancestor Bundles are made by shamans who know the ritual to make them. This ritual may be a Spirit Magic spell or a HeroQuest spell, depending on he individual GM's preferences. The Shaman makes an Ancestor Bundle using the techniques that his culture uses to create Medicine Bundles in general. So, elven shamans will use plants and stones in the manufacture whereas praxian shamans may use bones, feathers and cloth, troll shamans may use bones, hair, cloth and polished stones and so on. However, all Ancestor Bundles have to contain some kind of link to the ancestor, so a troll Ancestor Bundle may contain a finger of the ancestor, a lock of hair, a piece of cloth worn by the ancestor and so on.

The cost of creating an Ancestor Bundle depends on the ritual used but is typically 1-3 POW.

## POWERS

Ancestor Bundles enable easy contact with the ancestor specified in the creation of the Bundle. One need not know one's exact genealogy in order to summon this ancestor when using an Ancestor Bundle, all one needs to know is that one is a direct descendant.

A Summon Ancestor spell is still required to summon forth the spirit and there is no chance that the wrong spirit will be called. The ancestor tied to the Ancestor Bundle is typically well-disposed to the user of the Bundle, subtract the user's POW from any reaction rolls which need to be made.

Summoning Spirits which are not one's ancestors using these bundles is a bad move and cause the user's POW to be added to reaction rolls. Also, the only spirit which may be summoned is the ancestor in question. This may be used to trap a spirit who is not one's ancestor.

## VALUE

Ancestor Bundles are worth a great deal to the descendants of the Spirit in question. Depending on the relative power and prestige of the ancestor, an Ancestor Bundle may sell for anything from 500L to 20000L. They may also be sold to enemies of the Ancestor for around half the amount.

## NOTES

Some Ancestor Bundles are extremely sought after. Any Bundle that ties to a Mistress Race Troll is valuable to the trolls as many trolls are descended from these beings. In places such as Prax and the Rubble, Ancestor Bundles may allow powerful ancestors to be summoned in times of war, in which case Bundles tied to mighty warriors or magicians are especially sought after.

Some families will summon ancestors of rival clans using these Bundles and will then bind or destroy those ancestors to weaken their enemies.