Grandma has left us alone but little yellow flowers sometimes grace the corner of our rooms (Ancestor Worship)

17 Jul, 2026

An idea I had yesterday, has not been tested it but the underlying systems all have, so I'm confident it works.

But if the great sun move not of himself; but is as an errand-boy in heaven; nor one single star can revolve, but by some invisible power; how then can this one small heart beat; this one small brain think thoughts; unless God does that beating, does that thinking, does that living, and not I. By heaven, man, we are turned round and round in this world, like yonder windlass, and Fate is the handspike.

When a character is generated, pick one ancestor to guide you and roll another one. Put them on each side of a scale starting at 0 | 0. The ancestors will shape your behaviour; whenever you try to go against them and their wishes, roll 2d6; the GM will roll 2d6 plus their current value on the scale, and whoever wins gets final say on how the character acts.

Whenever you affirm yourself over an ancestor, reduce their spot on the scale by 1 and increase the other ancestor's by 1 - thus the scale might look like -1 | +1, or -2 | +2, always mirrored.

Whenever you act according to the wishes of that ancestor, however, you may gain that bonus on the action you're trying to accomplish.¹

Our Ancestors

1. Mother No

Your mother's passing was no surprise, she put up a fight to the very end, and any memories you have of how she was before are tinged by the little frail thing she became for the last few years.

Your mother went through a great many things which she never talked much about, and through her suffering she found strength. She will keep you going independently of what happens; just imagine what people would say if you gave up now! You simply must shrug it off, and don't you dare cry or I'll give you something to cry about.

That determination comes at the cost of paranoia. Don't do this, what would people think? Don't wear this, don't go there at night, don't trust them, be more careful! Mother No can always find a reason to be sceptical of any person or situation.

2. Father Yellow

Little yellow flowers covered the whole house when your father died. People looked up to him both in the sense that they respected who he was, and also in the sense that they needed to crane up their necks to see his face. His passing came as a shock; an accident did him in, the kinds of mistake he never used to commit. I guess he got old.

Father was skilled at managing people and doing things with his hands. He could always invent a new way of doing something, or have the vision to see how a project would find its conclusion. Yet his greatest boon was how easily he mixed into society: no one in their right mind ever called your father "strange", or "peculiar"; there was no situation in which he did not know the "right" way of doing something under the eyes of society, and it is in this that he will guide you.

However, father will also try his best to steer you away from that other sort of behaviour. He will sternly stare you down or angrily belittle you for stepping outside of the bounds of society, and he will certainly not be there for you if you flaunt the laws of gender and good custom.

3. Auntie

She - or perhaps he, depending on their whim, but most often she - was the black sheep of the family, there is no way around it. She lied, cheated, stole, and there is only so much that people were willing to put up with. We told her it would caught up with her eventually, and in her death it finally did. They say she tried cheating the Devil, but you know how people are.

It's not that auntie lied easily, although she did; it's that people wanted to believe her. Even with her reputation, even knowing she would break your heart and sell you for a fistful of dirt, she could still talk her way in and out of trouble and be home in time for dinner. And with her guidance, you can too.

However, auntie could never truly fit in, and she refused to. The same world that turned its back on her, that hunted her down? You would be a fool to do anything to it other than shun it and be shunned in turn. Society is a den of vipers, auntie will make sure of that.

4. Uncle Yesterday

They say your uncle passed of a broken heart, and you have no reason to doubt that. You had seen him walking around with a blanket around his body, shivering from cold even in high summer; by the end there he wouldn't even sleep, just wander around at night and wait for the sunrise as if it would bring something different. They found him standing up, the blanket fallen on his feet, and an expression in his face like shattered porcelain.

Uncle was smart. You remember when you were a kid and he would sit you down on his lap and point at the stars in the sky and tell you about asterisms, or at the animals and tell you about lizard tails or which plant you can or can't eat. You can still feel his hand on your shoulder telling you these things even today.

But your uncle was weak, that's what the men said. Not in a tone of insult, no one would ever insult him to his face, but rather as a recognition of fact. He felt things too much, he cried if you raised your voice and got depressed if left out. And now you do too.

5. Winter Leopard

Your grandmother's bad heart was what did her in, and everyone knew it would come sooner or later. In a way, it was an act of mercy. You remember her kind eyes distributing candy to the kids, even when half her face was paralysed and she couldn't move very well. The room where she died still smells like chocolate.

That is what your grandmother guides you towards: kindness. She would explain to you that even the prayers of the tiniest ant reach the great heavens, and through this she told you the best ways to help people heal, both their bodies and their souls.

Yet you also remember how she got when her mind became muddled. You had heard from your parents that she was headstrong and angry, but it was only when that baleful temperament turned towards you like the eye of Balor that you truly understood what they meant. Granny's anger was what made you realise you were an adult for the first time, and now you too start seeing red every so often.

6. Lucky Rainbow

Your grandfather had called out his passing many different times, all of them wrong, due to his flair for the dramatic. It seemed like he could bounce from anything; something inside of you believed he would be around forever, no matter what happened. After grandmother died, though, he stopped dyeing his hair and became smaller and smaller, until one day he simply disappeared, and you knew what had happened.

Grandpa Lucky was vain and dramatic, and everyone loved him for that. He could make a friend anywhere, and you're pretty sure he did. Grandpa always met aggression with a disarming ingenuity; one time the ornery cobbler told him he disliked him and that he talked too much. With a smile, your grandfather said "But why do you tell me this? I like you so much!" and soon they were fast friends.

People knew too that your grandfather was an incorrigible rake. He burned a lot of his good will by chasing girls much younger and being seemingly unable to stop flirting with folk.

7. Swift-Footed Master of the Lance

They say he was the greatest warrior that ever lived; this was in the time of your grandfather's grandfather. He fought in the greatest war the land has ever seen and was killed when he attempted to fight an army on his own for his lost love - amidst a field of bodies, he stood with a spear through his heart and his foot through his rival's ribcage.

The Swift-Footed Master of the Lance guides the sword of the mighty to do deeds of arms, especially in the name of love. Yet be careful: the Swift-Footed Master of the Lance was known to be prideful and not to believe a fight could be lost. He pushes others into this reckless behaviour, and they burn twice as bright yet half as long.

8. Red Mountain

There is a famous statue of her overlooking the sea. It is so realistic that they say it's her true body turned to stone, though no magic ever since those days has been able to turn her back. The statue depicts a woman twice as big as the tallest man you know, leaning on a club that could be the fingerbone of something which we nowadays lack a word for. There are muscles bulging in her back and over her ribs that most people lack, yet those who are guided by her find that their flesh coils in new ways under their skin.

Red Mountain was simple. She never made a boast she couldn't keep, never made a promise she didn't think she would be able to accomplish, and expected everyone to abide by that. By the other side of the token, however, she did not believe in second chances, and could not understand why "the pansies" were so committed to sparing women and children. Red Mountain never thought of herself as cruel, necessarily, but the world around her knew her violence.

9. Forty Six Roads

Forty Six Roads lived beyond the days anyone can remember, many generations ago. She was a venal woman who flaunted a huge belly that folded over her thighs, slept anywhere there was shade, and ate enough food in a day to keep a small family fed for a week. She was lazy, indulgent, and infuriatingly easygoing, much like those she guides.

And yet, Forty Six Roads is renowned as one of the wisest sages of her generation, not being a lot of help for matters of knowledge but being keenly able to intuit a great many truths from very little information. She would sometimes stand in the rain with a smile on her face and say she was "listening to the world". Not only that, but she pushes those she guides to always have a gift on hand, and to never keep much more than they can carry - not while there are those who need it more.

10. The Conquering Stallion

The preeminent king of our people who ruled once upon a time, when the sky was young and flowers bloomed at night, for they did not know they needed the sun just yet.

The Conquering Stallion was the fairest ruler the world has yet seen. He knew exactly where resources were needed the most, how to solve any conflict, and what had to be done to ensure that the needs of a community were met. Thus, he guides people towards maintaining justice and fairness in all things.

Yet he never forgets how society ought to be ordered. The Conquering Stallion is the paramount of stability, and to him, that stability can only come so long as all know where they stand. Pay homage to those above you, be kind to those below you, and under no circumstance suffer a fool to invert this order. And when rulers themselves are unjust, the Conquering Stallion's counsel talks about steering, of substituting them with another claimant or surrounding that ruler with advisors, but never to depose them and upset the order he fought so hard to establish, long long ago.

#gameable content