Shepherds of Souls provide both physical and emotional comfort to dying patients and their families and help guide souls to the world to come. Outside of the Avodai community, people believe Shepherds of Souls are dangerous wizards who commune with Death and feed on the souls of the living. Some Lumdai believe all Rafa have these powers.
An important part of their role is to ensure their patients do not become dybbuks, ghosts who possess the living. They do this in two ways: by providing their patients the opportunity to make any last amends and by overseeing the burial rites. They are experts in exorcism and communicating with the dead. During the Mourning Moon, they wrap graves in string, which they then light with the Eternal Flame to invite in the spirits of the community’s beloved ancestors for a meal. Death assigns a cat-shaped Messenger of Death to accompany each Shepherd of Souls and transports souls to the world to come. The Messenger of Death helps comfort both the dying and their Shepherd of Souls in their difficult duties.
Specialty Boon #
Once per game session, players of this specialty can freely take advantage of the Shepherd of Souls’ specialty boon:
The Scale’s Tipper #
Being accompanied by a Messenger of Death is different than some might think. While in the service of death’s eventuality, these spirits willingly offer up their life energy to improve patient’s quality of life. Your next Rafa Skill costs nothing, because you energy bend with the Messenger’s life energy.
Describe how it feels to manipulate another’s life force.
Rafa Bag Supplies #
- Blankets and towels
- Painted timbrel for rituals
- Juniper and myrrh for incense
- 1 hand pie of choice
- 5 silver dollars
Herbal Remedies #
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Tea for Sleep
Recipe
Make a tea of marjoram leaves and lemon balm.
Instructions
Take before bed for a calming sleep.
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Tea for Pain
Recipe
Make a tea of white willow bark and ginger to treat pain including headaches, back pain, and menstrual cramps.
Instructions
Brew tea.
Mind is freed from minor to moderate pains only.
Recommended Starter Skills #
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Calm
Different specialties calm patients differently. Counselors focus on entrancing the subject, while Shepherds of Souls offer more physiological relief. Rafa Yoni caused so many adverse symptoms casting Calm that the Society banned him from casting it.
This skill calms a patient. Tell the Rafa what anxious thoughts enter the periphery of their mind.
Side Effects
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Ease Pain
A wise Rafa once said that pain leaves marks on the body and the mind. A deeply unserious Rafa once said that pain is weakness leaving the body, and they were made to retake their ethics courses twice.
This skill lowers a patient’s pain. Tell the Rafa how the pain makes itself known as it departs the patient.
Side Effects
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Energy Boost
While boosting the energy of a patient, some Rafa emit a gentle light, while others bring a crisp sea breeze with them. Rafa Yohanan, blessed be her memory, shortly after Freka fell to the ocean, was rumored to cause her patients to twinkle in the darkness of the night.
This skill revives and boosts a patient’s energy. Tell the Rafa about their patient’s energy and how it hums.
Side Effects
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Shepherd a Soul
The Light promises a World to Come that all Avodai seek to be worthy of. Rafa promote balance by performing rites that ensure souls arrive at their appointed place. Sometimes that’s the next world, other times it’s as a gilgul. Without the proper rites, a soul is in danger of becoming a dybbuk.
This skill guides a soul safely to its next destination. Tell the Rafa about the journey they see ahead of this soul.
Side Effects
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Speak to Those in the World to Come
Departed souls find it traumatic to be lured back from the World to Come, so Rafa Goya, blessed be her memory, brought herself close enough to the veil to converse with them in their element.
This skill allows the Rafa alone to speak with souls that have passed completely into the next world. Describe what form this soul takes in the World to Come.
Side Effects
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Staunch Bleeding
Scholar Asher, blessed be his memory, wrote that, “as the blood of life flows within us, so does the Light flow through all the spaces in this world. Even the most full, and especially the most empty.”
This skill stops a patent’s bleeding. Tell the Rafa about the qualities of their patient’s light.
Side Effects
Advanced Skills #
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Breathe
Breath is life. All Rafa learn different types of controlled breathing to activate different conscious states, and in turn they become conscious of how emotions and breath dance with each other.
This skill helps a patient breathe. Tell the Rafa what is carried on the wind, like breath, that rises up around them?
Side Effects
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Exorcism
Not long ago, many nervous and mental disorders were assumed to be possession by a dybbuk. Poor diagnosis subjected many unfortunate folks to the trauma of a Rafa attempting to separate their soul and mind when there was never a demon to extract.
This skill flushes a Dybbuk from a person. Tell the Rafa what the spirit within this body feels like as they push against it.
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Identify Possession
Avodai gossip incessantly about whose erratic behavior might be the early signs of possession. Even when it is a true possession, such interference could be benevolent or malign. This makes it vital to get a Rafa’s professional assessment before jumping to conclusions.
This skill confirms possession by a Dybbuk or haunting by a Gilgul.
Side Effects
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Invite Ancestors
Attaching a wax candle on a deceased person’s grave and lighting it with eternal flame, a Shepherd of Souls summons that specific soul to converse. For the Day of Mourning, Shepherds develop smaller candles for people to send wishes into the World to Come.
This skill allows a dead soul to communicate with everyone in the vicinity. Tell the Rafa what news of our world they request.
Side Effects
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Locate Ghosts
Ghosts all emanate an otherworldly glow but can disguise this with shapeshifting efforts. Using energy bending to calm ghosts, ancient Rafa forced souls of the dead to reveal their emerald auras. This applies to Gilgul and Dybbuk alike.
This skill allows the Rafa to detect and identify ghosts in their vicinity, so long as they aren’t possessing a human.
Side Effects
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Reveal True Name
Names have power, particularly among spirits. To know one’s name is, often, to know of their motivations, habits, and weaknesses. Use this knowledge kindly.
This skill forces a spirit or ghost to reveal their true name. Tell the Rafa what intuition about the spirit’s nature they instantly glean from the name they learn.
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Sedate
“Hypnosis is excellent at lulling someone to sleep when you don’t have medicine to spare, but it always leaves patients in a groggy stupor afterward. So, don’t prescribe it if they have to work the next day.” – Rafa training manual.
This skill helps a patient fall asleep. Tell the Rafa what soothing thing from the patient’s past fills their mind.
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Unburdening
Some emotions weigh on us, all the heavier when we can’t let go of them. We can cling to them subconsciously with greater strength than any conscious effort.
This skill helps a patient release emotions and guilt. Tell the Rafa what physical weight they feel on their body as the patient unburdens themselves.