GURPS Magic in the Shadow War
The ritual- and spirit-based system that is used to simulate Voodoo and Lodge magic is in many ways incompatible with the sword-and-sorcery magic system used in other GURPS worlds. Spells like Zombie and Summon Spirit would contradict some of the basic tenets of the Shadow War game world, and incantations like Fireball and Flesh to Stone have no place in a contemporary dark-fantasy campaign. If the GM and players decide to add normal magic to the campaign, it should be very rare and hard to...
Knowledge Without Initiation
Doctor Fuller wiped his forehead. Once again he imagined what his colleagues would think of him now a respected college professor, on his hands and knees, drawing mystic symbols with colored cornmealpurchased at a Santeria store ten blocks away. Then the thought faded, replaced by a feeling of urgency. He didn't care about anything other than stopping the curse that was killing him. He hoped that 15 years studying the rituals of Voudoun practitioners had given him enough knowledge about magic....
Initiate of the Servants of Hecate
Age 21 5'3, 102 lbs. short red hair, green eyes and freckles. ST 9 -10 IQ 14 45 Basic Speed 5.25 DX 10 0 HT 11 10 Move 5 Attractive 5 Common Sense 10 Initiation Second Level 15 Patron Local Circle, on a 6 or less 8 Duty Servants of Hecate, on 9 or less -5 Pacifism Self-defense only -15 Sense of Duty Humankind -15 Stubborn -5 Fervent anti-smoker -1 Even-tempered and mellow -1 Cat lover -1 T'ai Chi enthusiast -1 Dislikes loud macho men -1 Path of Protection-14 8 Curse Sanctum-14 0 Reversal of...
Conducting Rituals
Most rituals and ceremonies have five separate steps see below , each designed to focus the will of the caster. The more advanced Initiates can eliminate some or most steps from a ceremony and still make it effective, but most magicians who take such shortcuts risk having the ritual fail or backfire. Different schools of magic change the elements or the exact order of each step, but for the most part they are always present. Repetition is an important element of most ceremonies. The same...
InBetweener
These beings do not quite belong to either the material or the spirit world. The majority are shape-changers, able to shift between two or more forms, most of which are inhuman and grotesque. All are physically superior to humans and very hard to kill by normal means. For the most part, they lead lonely lives, often hunting normal humans for amusement or sustenance. Damned by many religions, feared as monsters by most humans, In-Betweeners can be interesting, and often tragic, characters....
Serial Killers
The serial-killer problem is much bigger than even the most fanciful crimi-nologists would have us believe. Over a thousand of these murderers plague North America alone, and many more are scattered around the world. Only a handful are caught every year. The others are too smart or too powerful. Many are Initiates, using their powers to cover their tracks and prevent capture. Some even work in groups, coordinating their efforts much like a military unit. They are the masters of human sacrifice...
Organization
There are two levels of organization in most Voodoo societies local and global. Most bizongues have a number of local chapters. This is the outermost layer of the Voodoo societies groups that operate within one community, seemingly isolated from the rest of the world. These local groups in turn owe allegiance to a larger society that spans local and even national boundaries. The bizongues have many layers of organization, and the lower echelons may not have any idea of the scope of the...
The Slave Trade
Slavery is illegal in most parts of the world but it has not ceased to exist. Before, the ostensible purpose of slavery was labor, but there was always an underlying sense of power and grandeur that came from owning another human being, of having the power of life and death over him a power as sickening as it was tempting. Even today, many people long for that power. White slavers provide women and children for those who use them to satisfy their cravings. Pleasure has replaced labor as the...
Examples of Rituals In Play
Leon completed the incantation. Come on he shouted in heavily accented Creole. Come here, Rupert By Baron Samedi, I command you. By Baron Cimetie, I call you to my side. By Legba, I open the doorways for you. A tingling feeling over Leon's scalp presaged the arrival of the ghost. His supernatural senses soon allowed him to see Rupert's translucent form standing before him. The ghost was angry at being summoned, angrier still to see that his summoner was an old enemy. He coiled to strike at the...
Levels of initiation
Initiation is purchased in levels, also called circles or grades. The prices are not cumulative that is, to purchase the Fifth Level of Initiation, you don't have to pay for levels 1-4 first, but simply the listed price for Fifth Level. Characters wishing to advance to a higher level need only pay the point cost difference between their current level of Initiation and the higher one. The Seventh Level and beyond are not recommended for beginning characters even in a Cinematic campaign, and...
Parapsychologist
This subset of the scientist type see p. 52 is open-minded enough to seriously attempt to understand unexplained phenomena. Although several so-called parapsychologists are actually professional debunkers knowingly or unwittingly controlled by the Lodges, most are sincere individuals who brave professional ridicule to explore the unknown. Regrettably, they, too, may bring along too many prejudices and a refusal to accept that which cannot be seen or measured a refusal that won't protect them....
InBetweeners
These beings are shapeshifters, able to transform into different people or animals, or grotesque combinations of the two. Many feed on human flesh, flavored with fear and pain. Their numbers are slowly increasing, becoming a greater danger with every passing year. Most In-Betweeners serve the Corruptors, either directly as cult or criminal leaders, or indirectly by spreading terror and death in their wakes. A few try to live independent lives or even oppose the machinations of the Mayombe and...
Drug Lords
The illegal drug trade produces billions of dollars in revenue every year, more than the total budget of many a small country. Most of that money ends up at the top of the criminal food chain, in the hands of the drug lords. The heads of Colombian drug cartels, the crime bosses in the U.S. and the Caribbean, and the smugglers from Jamaica, Haiti and Panama are millionaires or billionaires with enormous influence. Unknown to the press and the authorities, however, a force behind these drug lords...
The Protectors
These Initiates operate mostly in the U.S. and Canada. They are the sons and daughters of Haitian or Cuban emigrants who have knowledge of Voodoo theology and a Western education and world view, and they have combined the two in ways that often anger traditional Voudounistas. The Protectors concentrate on the fight against the Corruptors. Their goal is to clean up the slums of North America and to mend the ills of the Caribbean islands. Their weapons are Voodoo rituals, Initiate powers and...
Conclaves
Voodoo societies have periodic and special meetings. Regular meetings are held locally, and are only attended by the local bizongue members and the occasional guest. The heads of all local societies gather together at least once every two or three years. Failure to send at least a representative or substitute for the leader is considered to be a grave insult and punished accordingly. These conclaves consist of a number of ritual activities in which the leaders of the bizongue contact their...
The Lucumi
The Lucumi is the largest bizongue in the Americas, almost as large as one of the European Lodges, their equal in mystical power and perhaps in political influence as well. The Lucumi was founded by Initiates from all over the Americas, most of whom had arrived as slaves from Africa. These Initiates held long debates, conducted in the dream world see p. 20 where distance and physical confinement were meaningless. The Voodoo priests saw two different possible futures one in which children of all...
The Dahomets
During the 1810s, shortly after the Haitian revolution, the self-styled King Henry Christophe imported a number of African warriors from the Kingdom of Dahomey to act as his personal bodyguard. These Royal Dahomets used their war skills and their supernatural powers to subdue Christophe's enemies. The Royal Dahomets disappeared from history books in the year 1820, when Cristophe committed suicide and his kingdom ceased to exist. In reality, however, the Dahomets remained a powerful presence in...
Voodoo in Everyday Life
Leonora crossed herself twice more, gathering her courage. The santero had clearly described what she needed to do if she wanted to end the curse. She shuddered. Mr. Gonzales was a barrister as well as a santero, and his advice to her in legal matters had always been impeccable. She had never sought his services as a santero, though what use did she have for love philters and charms Her looks and her natural charisma had gotten her all the attention she could ever want. And perhaps her looks...
The Leopard Society
The Leopard Society traces its origins to West Africa, to a fierce people called the Efik, who dominated the slave trade. The Efik were controlled by the Egbo, secret societies that used the leopard as their symbol. Fierce warriors and magicians, the Egbo were greatly feared and respected. It is believed that one or more Egbo were sold into slavery and brought to America. The current incarnation of the Leopard Society became active in the 19th century, when the danger of the Corruptors and the...
Santeros and Babalawos
The santeros of the Spanish Caribbean are very similar to Haitian houngans. They are known as the children of the orisha. More powerful priests, known as babalawos, are usually the leaders of a Santeria house, the traditional gathering place of Initiate santeros. Santeros have adopted many Spanish traditions and incorporated them into their hierarchy and customs. The godfather or godmother padrino and madrina relationship, which is very important in Hispanic culture, is established between a...
Magic in The Shadow War Continued
Controlling or convincing spirits to perform specific tasks is closer to fantasy magic than is mind over probability. Spiritual entities can affect the world directly, albeit with difficulty. Poltergeist effects, apparitions, spontaneous human combustion and other supernatural phenomena can be caused with the help of spiritual assistants or servants. Magicians can also ask spirits to provide information, advice or even superhuman powers. The down side of dealing with spirits is that they cannot...
Santeria and Macumbe
Santeria is common throughout Latin America, especially in areas with a large black or mulatto population, like Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil. The Voodoo forms that appeared in Spanish and Portuguese areas are different from French Voudoun, due to the nations and cultures that influenced them. Santeria and Macumbe are a product of Yoruba beliefs combined with Spanish Catholicism. The Yoruba and Dahomey kingdoms were often at odds in Africa, and their religious...
Secret Societies
A subculture among the sorcerer-priests of Voodoo consists of secret groups that form an elite. Most houngans and santeros are not invited to their councils. These secret societies known as bizongues or cabildos have goals above and beyond providing minor cures and spiritual protection to the believers. The bizongues are major players in the Shadow War, on both sides of the conflict. These societies seek power, either as a means of achieving their goals, or for its own sake. Their purposes are...
Houngans and Mambos
The clergy of Haitian Voudoun are called houngans priests and mambos priestesses . They are Initiates with varying levels of power usually relatively low , who concentrate on the more mundane pursuits of magic. They prescribe herbal medicines, simple rituals and amulets to solve the problems of their clients. They also are the organizers and leaders of many festivals and public religious celebrations and holidays. These holidays are celebrated with dances, during which the houngans and mambos...
Psychic vs Spiritual Magic
There are three schools of thought among Initiates as to the sources of magic. Most advocates of these ideas tend to be younger, less powerful Initiates the true masters of arcane knowledge seem to be above such concerns. Most of these occult theorists belong to the Western Lodges, and often discover that the more they dwell on the subject, the more prone they are to fail at using magic. Perhaps this is a result of the caterpillar syndrome, named after the story of the caterpillar who, when...
A Brief Disclaimer
Voodoo is more than a myth or a superstition it is a religion with millions of followers. The Voodoo described in these pages is based on the magical side of that religion, and is not meant to portray the actual performance of Voodoo in the real world. Neither does this book describe actual magical rituals or other occult practices. Both the Lodges and the Mayombe are wholly fictional, and In-Betweeners are mythological creatures of African and Voodoo legend. All the conspiracies mentioned in...