For people with spoken history and Animist beliefs instead of recorded writing, communicating distance and navigation of a journey are hard concepts. Thus, the idea of Songlines was created- by singing the words of a specific song for that particular journey, you navigate the way to your destination. A song might describe traveling toward the setting sun for three days and nights, stopping at a particular lake when the song cannot be heard over the cicadas nearby. It might then describe turning beside the old grandfather tree towards the mountains, and following the river until the rocks sing the song back towards you (echoes in a canyon). A songline only works in one direction for a journey- you need a different song to get back, or the next song might only take you to a different destination. Listening to the song of the land is the same as walking on this songline and observing the land. Therefore, unlike a map, the song doesn’t make sense without the context of being in the location, but once you’re there, it’s easy to know what to do next. Songs are taught to children like parables: as tales of the people who made these journeys, the adventures they had along the way, and how they felt as they made the journey. By following the instructions in the songs they know, a person can navigate the same path spiritually and geographically. A low-level Songline might be like taking a family road-trip: you follow the same route walked by your parents before you, and their parents before them, stopping at the same sites for food and water, sleeping at the same camping spots, and coming together as a family, until you reach the destination your family has been going to for many generations. In addition to normal journeys like “how to reach the next town”, more powerful, secret Songlines are taught as Bardic ritual magic. They don’t have to be used to make the specific journey, but their effects will be limited in usefulness if the creatures encountered and events are not ‘correct’. It’s important to note that you’re not just walking the same way as the people in the song, you’re literally walking the same steps as them, and taking the emotional journey that they took as well. For example: Journey to Battle the Hydra (3rd-level Divination) Casting time: 1 hour (ritual) Range: Personal Components: V Duration: Until the next sunrise This song tells the story of Durru, a warrior who traveled across the land, evaded angry water spirits, got lost and then trapped by goblins before escaping, fled a powerful Stone Giant, and battled a Hydra, barely surviving its poison. When you cast this spell, you and up to six targets, who must remain within 10ft. during casting, gain all of the following effects. The specific triggers do not have to be encountered in order to gain the relevant benefits, they are the point in the song where that event happens. • Beginning the journey: when you leave town, you succeed automatically on a Diplomacy check to make your way past unfriendly guards. • When you leave the path near the rock that looks like an old turtle: gain advantage on Jump checks to cross a river, and a +1 circumstance bonus to AC against angry water elementals. • When you are lost and hungry below the mountain with a hook like a witch’s nose: gain advantage on Survival checks to find food and water, and on Con saves against goblin traps. • When you flee the Stone Giant: you take disadvantage on Dex saves against not falling down an escarpment. • When you pause to watch the sunset over the canyons: gain the benefits of a Long Rest from taking a short rest when you watch the sunset. • When you battle the Hydra: a creature gains disadvantage on reaction attacks made with its Reactive Heads. • When poisoned by the Hydra’s venom, and remembering the faces of your loved ones: gain advantage on Con saves against a Hydra’s poison ability. • When returning to confront the father of your beloved: automatically succeed on one Intimidate check when presenting the heads of the Hydra. There are also Bardic/Druidic rituals to learn the Songlines of an area you journey through- to gain knowledge of the song for that journey, and be able to travel that journey in the future, or use its effects as needed. (This concept is inspired by Australian Indigenous culture, with respect and thanks) (Originally posted on Game Masters Stash on 20 November 2018) Categories All Comments are closed.
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