LunarTotems/Cow

Introduction

Imani was hungry. She couldn't remember when she hadn't been. Despondently, the child pushed a curling lock of dark hair from her ebony skin. Dust seemed to have settled everywhere in the village, and there was still talk among the elders that they should abandon the land as it had abondoned them. A small voice said the Shaman would return with a new god.

Soon, they said. But the days had slipped past, longer and longer.

And Imani was still hungry.

She looked up and saw something on the horizon. She leaned forward, seeing the flickering white robes, making out the bald headed man, and shouted for her parents.

It wasn't long before the entire village was ready to greet their spirit caller.

His white robe was dusted from his travels, his sandles ratty. As he moved, bones on leather thongs rattled against his wooden staff, and when the old man reached the crowd, he stopped, smiled, and patted the white cow beside him.

It had to be divine. It's perfect white skin was marred only by faint, curling threads of silver, the color of her horns and hooves. The cows face was gentle, and it watched Imani with a motherly affection.

"Well, what did the gods say?" A man cried out, anticipation reaching a climax.

"I am your new god." Her voice was clear and soft. She was broad shouldered and tall. Imani thought she was beautiful in the same way her mother was. Silvery curly hair surrounded her maternal face. Where her skin should have been dark, it was instead the palest white: the color of perfect purity, utterly unspoiled. Even dirt seemed to be shed from her as she moved where the cow had been.

"And I will see that your suffering ends. Before the day is out, we will have a feast celebrating the end of the famine."

As she sayed this, she lifted Imani onto her shoulders, and walked into the crowd, her tatoos glowing, a dark purple mark glowing upon her forehead, and suddenly, the girl wasn't so afraid anymore.

Kamaria Life Bringer

Symbology : fertility, purity, divinity

The cow is among the most ancient of sacred animals. In Egypt, a cow sculpture with a golden sun between it's horns was paraded about in a nocturnal passion play depicting the death of their god Osiris -- an annual event performed on Egyptian All Souls' Day. The cow figure itself represents Isis, the wife of Osiris, who was in search of the body of her dead husbant. Isis, the foremost Egyptian goddess, was associated with abundance and fertility.

Cow cults existed in Greco-Roman cultures; the beast is still sacred in India, where it is considered a being of great purity and fertility. In Hinduism, the bovine represented the female power in nature, whereby the earth itself is concieved as a cow and all vegetation and food derive from its milking.

Charms :
Finding the Spirit's Form: Cow
Ox-body (4 x -2s)
Tale Spinning Mastery
Infection Resisting Method
Lick Wound
Beast Instict Method
Terrestrial Circle Sorcery
-Summoning of the Harvest
-Water from Stone

Cow Form : Strength 5, Stamina 4, hooves + Horns(+1B damage), milk.

Tell : Pale white skin.

A cow is not something you'll see many players take. It doesn't kill stuff, it isn't crafty, it doesn't fly, swim, or look yucky.

It chews cud. And looks at you funny. Then chews its cud some more.But there is alot of mythic thought behind the cow. Here, I chose to play up the generous earth mother aspect. But the cow can represent a pure, divine princess just as easily. As a divinty, it could represent the golden horned leader of men also, making for a good changing moon.

With Kamaria, I also wanted to show something else: Lunars can be healers as well. People remember that Lunars have a law against surrender or fleeing, but they forget the law that demands you be generous to those beneath you. They remember glory, but forget succor. Kamaria is just as valid a concept as Nasketew. Perhaps more.