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The Pastores

Written by Thomas B. de Mayo

Original Illustrations by Thomas B. de Mayo. Map of St. Simon’s after the Map of St. Bartholomew’s, by Michael Patty. Other illustrations from Dover Publications Electronic Clip Art Series, Celtic Designs and Viking Designs.

Additional Editing by Karen Arnold.

Layout and minor editing by Andrew Dawson.

Playtesting by Karen Arnold (“Etain”), Karen Knierman (“Guy”), Jackie Monkiewitz (“Antoine the Leper”), Ry Herman (“Alienor”), & Patrick A Young (“Saif”).

Thanks to Doyle Wayne Ramos for encouragement

This book is dedicated to Karen Arnold.

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THE PASTORES is published by Chaosium, Inc.

THE PASTORES © 2005 Chaosium Inc. as a whole; all rights reserved.

Text for THE PASTORES is © 2005 Thomas B. de Mayo.

“Chaosium Inc.” is the registered trademark of Chaosium Inc.

Similarities between characters in THE PASTORESand persons living or dead are strictly coincidental.

Address questions and comments by mail toChaosium Inc.

22568 Mission Blvd. #423Hayward, CA 94541-5116 U.S.A.

Please do not phone in game questions; thequickest answer may not be the best answer.

Our web site www.chaosium.com always contains thelatest release information and current prices.

Chaosium publication 0313. ISBN 1-56882-264-2.

Published in March 2005. Printed in the United States.

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Contents Pastores Background ................................................5

Introduction ..........................................................5 History..................................................................5 The K’n-Yan Connection.....................................6 Theology ..............................................................6

The Historical Magna Mater ...........................7 Organization & Practices .....................................7 Connections: Past and Future...............................8

Shub-Who?.......................................................9 Personalities and Families....................................9 Active Cultic Centers .........................................12

Getting Rid of Begon .....................................13 The Bestiary .......................................................15 Allies ..................................................................17

Freezing Zap Ray...........................................18 Gaspar du Nord? ...........................................21 Serpent Men & the Hyperboreans .................21 Adding the Black Man ...................................23

Enemies ..............................................................24 Using the Pastores in Play..................................25 A Pastores Glossary ...........................................26

Pastores Scenario I: The Tree with White Fruit .....27 Brother Gilles is Missing ...................................28 The Journey........................................................28 Layout and Personages of Les Pins....................29 What Really Happened ......................................31 Investigation in Les Pins ....................................31

Temptations ...................................................33 Further Investigations and Disasters ..................34 Resolution ..........................................................35 Consequences and Rewards ...............................35 Game Statistics...................................................38

Pastores Scenario II: Sleipnir .................................43 They Say That Lord Barek Has Gone Mad…....43

Rumor Chart (Roll 2d6).................................44 Pillage and Rapine .............................................44 Visiting the Adoné .............................................45 Barek’s Manor....................................................47 Subsequent Developments .................................49

Consequences and Rewards............................... 49 Statistics ............................................................. 49

Pastores Scenario III: The Hunt ............................. 51 First Indications ................................................. 51 The River ........................................................... 52 The Inn............................................................... 52 Meeting Guillaume ............................................ 52 Refugees ............................................................ 53 Dealing with Adelard......................................... 53 Conclusion ......................................................... 54 Game Statistics .................................................. 54 Handout: Brother Guillaume, age 31................. 55

Pastores Scenario IV: The Singing Flesh-Beasts of St. Simon ................................................................ 57

My Old Friend, Brother Eustace….................... 57 Travel to the Abbey ........................................... 58 Arrival at the Abbey .......................................... 59 What’s Really Going On ................................... 61 Further Developments ....................................... 62 Consequences .................................................... 65 Game Statistics .................................................. 65

Pastores Scenario V: Begon ................................... 67 Instructions ........................................................ 67 Arrival in Begon ................................................ 68 Investigations in Begon ..................................... 68

Begon Rumors (Roll 1d6) .............................. 69 Dreams of the Dead....................................... 70

Prisoners of the Adoné....................................... 72 Body Part Table (Roll 1d6) ........................... 73

The Monastery of St. Sabastien and St. Patrick. 74 Rollo’s Revenge................................................. 76 Conclusions & Consequences............................ 78 Game Stats ......................................................... 78

Handouts ................................................................ 79 Pastores Scenario I: The Book Fragments......... 79 Pastores Scenario I: Philippe’s Prayer Book ..... 80 Pastores Scenario III: Brother Guillaume, age 31........................................................................... 82

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5

Pastores Background

Introduction The Pastores are a fertility cult rooted in an alliance of several noble families who worship Shub-Niggurath in

her form of the Magna Mater, and a variety of other Mythos entities under the guise of her sacrificed Son. Their cultic practices involve the breeding, transformation, and periodic sacrifice of the human populace under their control, as well as extensive self-transformation of their ruling houses. Ancient beyond human memory, the Pastores aim to exploit the current lawlessness of France to expand their temporal power and subvert local religion, ultimately instituting the open worship of the Magna Mater in their domains and harnessing all of rural society to their breeding programs. Associated with the Pastores are a handful of independent sects and sorcerers who do not share their theology but recognize them as powerful allies.

The first part of this book describes the Pastores in detail – their beliefs, their practices, and the resources, allies, and leaders with which they threaten the health of the realm and any investigators unfortunate enough to encounter them. It includes advice on how to incorporate and utilize them to best effect in a new or ongoing Cthulhu Dark Ages campaign. The second part of the book contains scenarios featuring the Pastores. Together, they constitute a loosely connected campaign.

History The Pastores are but the most recent incarnation of a pre-Roman (and indeed pre-Celtic) fertility cult. In

prehistoric times, they had commerce with the subterranean civilizations of K’n-Yan (or their European equivalent) from whom they gained several kinds of initial breeding stock and shared in the worship of Shub-Niggurath, Yig and Tsathoggua. They adopted these Gods as their own, retaining their worship long after K’n-Yan had faded into myth. Over the millennia, many peoples invaded their fertile patch of Europe, but the cult survived, intermarrying with each invading group. In times of strength they bred their herds openly; in times of weakness, they hid them beneath the earth and pretended to succumb to the attacks of their enemies.

The Roman conquest brought them under a stronger rule than any that they had previously experienced, and, after the appalled Romans exterminated much of their breeding stock and purged their leadership, they were once again forced to hide their true practices. Yet, they found a niche of sorts within the Empire, for the Magna Mater and kindred Goddess religions were well established throughout the Roman world. Once memory of their more blasphemous practices had faded, their priests and matrons joined the Roman religious establishment, and their nobility intermarried into the Roman aristocracy.

The collapse of Roman authority in the 3rd century permitted the revival of open breeding on their slave-worked plantations for several decades, but the restored Empire of Diocletian brought this to a halt. Constantine and his successors eventually forced them to feign conversion to Christianity. They developed a cryptic Latin terminology to hide their activities, and took the name Pastores (or shepherds) to mask their true nature. The 5th-century turmoil made the cult nearly free from supervision. They grew too bold. The resultant purge under Clovis and his newly Catholic Franks nearly broke them. Only a few branches of the family escaped, along with a small portion of their breeding stock.

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