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Dhavaer
2007-03-05, 06:15 PM
From an example of a result of the Bibliolalia incantation, when applied to a Mayan temple of which the PCs have only a passing reference:


"The priests of Mokochem, known as the Tongueless, abandoned their temples every summer. They returned every winter, but claimed never to have left."

How would you interpret this, and how would you use it if you were running a campaign?

pestilenceawaits
2007-03-05, 07:24 PM
I would have them leave some sort of insidious creature to guard the temple (maybe the reason they are the tongueless) maybe hint that the temple is full of priceless artifacts that are left unguarded and the PCs just happen toknow where to look for it.

TheOOB
2007-03-05, 07:59 PM
The priests could be spirited away to some far of plane of existance, and return with magically modified memories. Perhaps they are used for some fel purpose while they are gone, and they don't even know it.

Stormcrow
2007-03-05, 08:00 PM
Have them Journey on the Astral while their bodies sleep in the temple. Guarded by some constructs. They have abandoned it, but they are still there.

PinkysBrain
2007-03-05, 09:01 PM
How would you interpret this
They go dormant in the summer, having some kind of summer sleep in the temples secret dungeons (every temple has secret dungeons).

and how would you use it if you were running a campaign?
That's a rather strange question, it's not like you rolled a die and that result came out. If I were running the campaign I would not give that result to the incantation, I would give them something appropriate for my campaign.

Did you just think it up at the spot as something which sounded interesting and you are now forced to build a side quest around what you said or something? :)

How about some vampire priests who just hate the bright light of summer and go below ground during it?

Dhavaer
2007-03-05, 09:29 PM
Did you just think it up at the spot as something which sounded interesting and you are now forced to build a side quest around what you said or something? :)

I didn't create it, it's an example of the results the incantation can give.

alchemy.freak
2007-03-05, 11:27 PM
Perhaps the Priests are just Illusions or dreams of the god(s) they worship, or of the main caster of the incantation. the only thing is that they are not the only illusions there......

gaymer_seattle
2007-03-06, 12:32 AM
I have to look at this from a couple different perspectives. First, the whole "tongueless" thing. Is this known to be figurative or literal. If it is literal, then the priests won't be confirming nor denying much of anything verbally.

Next, why would someone abandon something, take it back, then deny it? My best guess is that there is something that drives them away during the summer, but they are afraid to admit to it.

There is also the issue of the interpretation of abandoning.

That all aside, here is how I would handle this.

The Tongueless, as they are known, are an aesthetic order of priests who inhabit a series of temples that exist partially out of time. The priests themselves are pseudo telepathic and appear to speak the language of who ever it is they are talking to, but in reality it is their psychic ability that is merely translating. They have no official language of their own.

During the summer months, the barriers between planes weaken and shift and the priests and temples move to a parallel plane, while another temple takes its place. There are an infinite number of other temples, however on the Fall Equinox the Priests return. Any unfortunates who happen to be in the other temple at the time are never heard from again

LurkerinthePlaygnd
2007-03-06, 12:39 AM
It could be that the "tongueless" priests simply took a vow of silence in worship of their agrarian god. Leaving the temple in the summer could refer to them going out to physically work the fields for the glory of their god, but leaving their "hearts" with the temple, thus, symbolically at least, never leaving.

As to how you might use it in a campaign...*shrug*...I dunno.

Emperor Tippy
2007-03-06, 12:41 AM
maybe they just spend the summer in the ethereal plane and stay in the ethereal version of the temple. They are there but not.

AoiRorentsu
2007-03-06, 01:22 AM
A more mundane explanation might be that, wherever they went, their hearts remained at the temple and all that it stood for in their minds. It might be a precept of the order that as long as you keep the teachings of the preisthood (or whatever) in mind, that once you attain the spiritual enlightenment of joining you never really "leave" the temple.

I guess just don't rule out it being flowery rhetoric

Jack Mann
2007-03-06, 03:40 AM
They don't leave the temple. They just appear to leave it. In fact, they simply take a different form in the summer, changing as their tongueless god changes with the seasons. They become invisible and inaudible, but they still watch, they still guard.

Jothki
2007-03-06, 04:30 AM
Hmm, Mayan. That would still be far enough north of the equator that the seasons of summer and winter could be considered to exist, right? If it were Inca, it could be a rather simple groaner.

One can leave a place without abandoning it, but can one abandon a place without leaving it?

Edit: Thinking about it, it is specifically stated that they return, so they almost certainly would have to have left in some manner. I had a thought that the priests might be different every time, so that when the order returned as a whole, no member would have ever left. Still, the order as a whole would have left, so that feels like an ugly semantical fudge. It still might work, though, and sounds interestingly plottish.

Matthew
2007-03-06, 03:33 PM
Hmmn. I would go with them physically leaving the temple, but leaving their spirits behind. A number of other explanations are attractive, but I think this one is probably the clearest.

Mewtarthio
2007-03-06, 03:44 PM
Well, all the good explanations have been taken already (memory alteration, changing forms, parallel universes, figurative speech, etc), so all I have left is this:

Every summer, the priests went to Cancun (which I believe is located in historically Mayan lands) and got totally wasted. "Tongueless" was the name given to them by the many loose women with whom they made love (a reference to how utterly horrible they were at kissing). When they returned, they were too embarassed to admit what had happened, but no good at making excuses, so they just attempted to claim that they never left in the first place.