Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[starsongky]

I've got a Shaman character in mind, but none of the Guardian Spirits I've found really fit what I want. My shaman's a half-breed, father's from Deadwood, mom from one of the nearby tribes. She's tolerated by both societies but never really accepted by either one, so she's been traveling all over trying to find where she belongs. I'm thinking of a scout-explorer, some tracking & survival skills, enough fightin' to defend herself if she has to. Her main edges are Kemosabe & Gift of Gab, so she can talk with all kinds of people and learn about their ways.

The Spirit I really want for her is Horse - wild palomino, plow horse, cowboy or city slicker, Horse is a valued companion everywhere, to both white men and red. But it doesn't exist yet, at least that I can find.

Are there rules or guidelines anywhere the Marshall and I can use to design a Guardian Spirit: Horse?

[Gavinfoxx]

Just musing here, maybe there is a Horse spirit in one of the other editions? Reloaded maybe? I'm not familiar with Reloaded, maybe someone else can interject?

Looking at the existing Guardian Spirits, what abilities, what associated medicine, and what oath would fit your character concept best?

[catalac]

[ValhallaGH]

[Mr. Wilson]

I will attempt to help you when I have the time, but I'm at work.

The problem with a horse is that they were not reintroduced into North America until Cortez brought them over in his conquests. It wasn't until the late 1600s that many plains tribes had access to the horse. For this reason, many Native American cultures don't have myths regarding the Horse.

However, there are a few. First, this legend is of the Choctaw tribe (a Southeastern tribe): http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/TheTaleoftheWindHorse-Choctaw.html

This next legend is a Cree legend: http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/the-legend-of-the-white-horse-plain.html

I haven't done a huge amount of research, but that's all I could find on a quick cursory search.

That isn't to say the horse wasn't important to the tribes on the plain; the introduction of the Horse made hunting buffalo much simpler because a horse could outrun a buffalo. They were prized for their utility.

As a "halfbreed", a horse spirit guardian is a great concept. I'll see what I can come up with when in the next few days.
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Only now, at the end, do you truly understand the power of the Dark Side....

[hallahetta]

Indian Spirit Horse Legend

The tales of the Indian spirit horses can be found etched into the pedigrees at the Appaloosa site. The most popular sites where the history of the Indian spirit horses can be found include the Lolo Pass, Yakima, White Bird Canyon, Palouse Valley and the Walla Walla Valley as well as the Snake River. The original story dates back to 1762 and variations of the legend of the Indian spirit horses continued to develop until the 1877 war of Nez Perce.

http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/articles/usa/Indian-Spirit-Horse/2901

The article above might give you some more insight on the few stories of the spirit horse legend. Most famous is perhaps the ghost horse.
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Part of an ongoing deadlands classic adventure -- [Deadlands - Short story] The Sun sisters

[Waxahachie]

While the horse wasn't native to the Americas and brought over by the Europeans, it eventually became very valuable to many tribes, especially those of the plains. Some of the tribes (Comanche, if I remember my Ghost Dancers correctly) even get a free Edge just for being from that tribe called Born on Horseback that eliminates the penalties from shooting from horseback. So I would say that while they were a foreign animal, they still have become as important as many non foreign animals.

Considering that Ghost Dancers had a butterfly Guardian Spirit, it is a little odd that they didn't include the horse despite its foreign origins. I'm not an expert, but a little googling dug up a lot of Native American tales and stories about the horse and the horse spirit, so it's not as rare as some might think even if not as prominent as more central animals.

If you were going to make one with your Marshal for your game, I would suggest that you look at the legends that you can find, and then select a tribe for whom the horse was most important and vital (I'd guess those legends would probably relate to those tribes). Then I'd start using the others as a model for it. Given what I've seen so far, I think probably the Earth Medicine Way seems appropriate but that's up to you.

It would be cool if you would share whatever you come up with on here

[Gavinfoxx]

FYI, there was something in the horse family in the Americas 10,000 years ago... just saying. One theory for why they disappeared is that they were hunted to extinction by humans. You could integrate that into the story?

[catalac]

[Mr. Wilson]

So I put some more thought into it, and some of the powers are pretty easy to nail down.

For instance, the blue and legend powers are simply straight rips from the other guardian spirit entries.

The question is, since we're making it up from scratch, what do YOU want out of the spirit edge.

For instance, for favored medicine, I can point to four different families that make sense: ghost (the first myth I posted), blessing, earth (each of these last two to represent the horse's utility), and war (for obvious reasons).

I lean towards ghost and blessing myself, but could easily be persuaded to the other two.

After that, the white and red chip powers should be pretty easy to figure out.

As for the Oath, I would think an oath regarding loyalty to the tribe (never turning down a request for help or something like that) would make sense. Or, something about easing the suffering of others would work.
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Only now, at the end, do you truly understand the power of the Dark Side....

[catalac]

[starsongky]

We did notice that consistency in the Blue & Legend chips Mr. Wilson mentioned, so those were easy. Buffalo and Raven cost double character points, apparently because they both offer two favored Medicine Ways instead of just one, so the Marshall and I agreed Horse would also cost double to get that second Way.

Here's what we finally worked out:

Guardian Spirit: Horse

Associated Medicine: Blessing and Earth

Description: Wild mustangs once roamed free across the plains. While they have adapted to men's ways, as companions and helpers, they are still happiest on the run with the wind in their manes.

White: Spirit grants the Speed of the Horse favor (same as Speed of the Wolf), with Appeasement value equal to points currently stored in guardian spirit when it's invoked. Points are not actually spent, just used to determine effects.

Red: Spirit grants the Commune favor, with Appeasement value equal to points currently stored in guardian spirit when it's invoked. Points are not actually spent, just used to determine effects.

Blue: Refill the guardian spirit's Appeasement pool.

Legend: On a successful Hard (9) Spirit roll, increase Guardian Spirit edge by +1.

Oath: Horse is a wild spirit, born to roam free. He cannot stay in one place for very long. (TN for all rituals goes up by 2 every week spent without travelling.) If corralled or imprisoned, he must try to escape at all costs.

[Mr. Wilson]

Looks good, I was going to suggest the speed of the wolf favor, cause it makes sense for a horse.

Well done.
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Only now, at the end, do you truly understand the power of the Dark Side....