A High Hunt, also called a Wild Hunt,[3][note 1] was a religious celebration in tribute to the Beast Lord Malar.[1][2]
Description[]
High Hunts were required to be held four times per year, one for each season. They were organized and run by a Huntmaster or Huntmistress.[1] The Bloodmoon Circle, a sect of Malarites in the Hullack Forest, celebrated their High Hunts on Midwinter, Greengrass, Midsummer, and the Feast of the Moon.[4]
It was a sporting event that consisted of a predetermined "mark," usually a human male, being equipped with non-magical weapons, armor, or other items, then set loose, usually in woodlands with a guarded boundary. The participants of the hunt (armed only with ceremonial daggers, their natural weapons (if any), or a pair of Claws of Malar and adorned with trophies from creatures that they had previously slain) had to then find and kill the mark before the following sunrise. If the mark escaped or otherwise survived until sunrise, he earned immunity from any subsequent hunts and could also ask anything of the Huntmaster or Huntmistress, unless it involved the deaths of followers of Malar.[5][6]
Malar could choose to allow exceptions to the rules usually imposed on High Hunts. In one such case, he allowed the vampire Dhusarra yr Fadila el Abhuk to conduct a High Hunt in Waterdeep, and lifted the time restriction on hunting in this urban environment. However, he also prevented anyone involved in the hunt from leaving the city without direct divine intervention.[6] The Bloodmoon Circle, being all lycanthropes, did not grant a boon to anyone who survived a High Hunt except to give them their choice of lycanthropy strain and join the group, or die.[4]
Appendix[]
See Also[]
Notes[]
- ↑ Prayers from the Faithful mentions a ritual conducted by Malarites in 1281 DR very similar to the High Hunt, but calls it Wild Hunt. It is unclear if this is an error, a name variant, or a different rite.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Julia Martin, Eric L. Boyd (March 1996). Faiths & Avatars. (TSR, Inc.), p. 106. ISBN 978-0786903849.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Eric L. Boyd, Erik Mona (May 2002). Faiths and Pantheons. Edited by Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, et al. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 43. ISBN 0-7869-2759-3.
- ↑ Ed Greenwood and Doug Stewart (1997). Prayers from the Faithful. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 16. ISBN 0-7869-0682-0.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Eric L. Boyd, Erik Mona (May 2002). Faiths and Pantheons. Edited by Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, et al. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 175. ISBN 0-7869-2759-3.
- ↑ Eric L. Boyd, Erik Mona (May 2002). Faiths and Pantheons. Edited by Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, et al. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 43–5. ISBN 0-7869-2759-3.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Eric L. Boyd (September 2005). “Vampires of Waterdeep: Blood of Malar”. Dungeon #126 (Paizo Publishing, LLC) (126)., pp. 62–77.