Chaplain
Chaplain
Superiors: Head of Personnel
Difficulty: Easy
Guides: No external guides.
Access: Chapel, Morgue
Duties: Hold services and funerals, cremate people, counsel the crew.
Departmental Head
Head of Personnel
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Also known as the Counselor, the Chaplain's role is to provide psychological support to the crew who need it. Besides your office, the crematorium and the morgue, you have no access.
It is vital that you use the radio to call people to the Chapel, because otherwise it is less frequented than the Library.
Duties
Each chaplain is free to invent the details of their rituals.
- Funerals: You have a stock of coffins you can use for wakes and space burials (that is, launching them out of the mass driver). Some employees appreciate wakes being held for friends and loved ones. See below.
- Psychological care: This includes counselling, pharmaceutical remedies (consult the chemist), and confessions. You have a confession booth; you and the confessor enter separate rooms and switch on the radio terminals. Most crew members rarely if ever submit to psychological care of their own initiative; offer to help when someone looks troubled. Prisoners are most often in need of attention.
- Church Services: Give sermons and sing hymns. Feel free to make these up, just try to keep it relatively sane.
- Other possible activities: Investiture of new acolytes and paladins, dedication of mechs, gravitational singularities, psychical research and seances, and pilgrimages to various places.
Religions
If you decide to go the religious route, the most common NanoTrasen-approved religions (fluffwise) in the year 2556 include:
- Acolysm; the unifying of many major Earth religions.
- Technologism; the belief that robots and cyborgs are holy
- Order of the Great Lady; the belief that the human race was gifted with the knowledge and ambition appropriate by a large, dragon-like alien who we now call Lady Elzra.
However you are free to propagate any present day religions you know of, or even invent one of your own! Just make sure it doesn't go against NanoTrasen and its values, or you may well end up in the brig.
Thanatology
The Mass Driver's primary purpose is for burials-at-space; wooden caskets are provided for this purpose. Caskets function likes lockers; place the body in the casket, give a eulogy (over the radio if no one is present), move the casket into the driver and fire it.
Note that some crew members may seek to use the Mass Driver as a way to exit the station into space. This should generally not be allowed without very good explanation.
The Crematorium is used to turn bodies into ash. Remember to strip the body before cremating it.
The Chapel
Your Chapel is more than just a place for you to perform your religious duties, it is also the holiest place on the station.
Cultists cannot use blood magic, runes, and most of their equipment while inside. Their runes will fizzle out and their magic will fail to work. Additionally, they cannot construct cultist buildings inside. there is no counter except by summoning their god.
Revenant powers are completely disabled inside the chapel.
Non-powered Vampires are unable to use their abilities are instead met with "Your powers are useless on this holy ground."
Cultist and Wizard Constructs will be slowly damaged while in the chapel and will die in roughly 15 seconds.
Feel free to use this to your advantage and remove the unworthy from your holy domicile.
Propitiating the Gods
The Pray command is like an adminhelp, but is In-Character, and should be worded deferentially (e.g. "Oh Great and Wise Pelor, please grant your humble servant...). It is advised that you only pray later in the round; the gods have a habit of ignoring early prayers.
Prayers are more likely to be answered if they are somehow thematically appropriate: wishing for an RCD for no apparent reason is unlikely to be fulfilled, but praying for, say, a divine mission or the tools to complete such are more amusing to the gods.
You have candles and crayons in your locker. Candles can be set anywhere and lit (they eventually burn down). Crayons can be used to draw runes (commonly placed in front of the podium), as well as graffiti (not really your style) and letters (allowing you to write out messages across the ground).
Do not expect any prayers to be answered. Gods are fickle beings. Nobody knows what they are going to do next in their great designs.
Artifacts
Your Book
You begin the shift selecting your god, religion name, and holy book appearance. It can also hold a small number of items in it.
Striking someone with it has a chance of either healing or causing brain damage. Try not to do with without good reason. Hitting someone on the head with a book is not considered normal behaviour by any means. Additionally, striking a tank of water can bless it, converting the water inside to holy water.
If someone were to fart on it, they'd likely invoke the wrath of whatever deity you worship.
Crusader Armor
A dated suit of plate armor that was previously used as part of a holy crusade. Provides decent armor. Wearing this armor will slightly slow your movement speed.
Null Rod
An odd item that is said to repel the evil magic of Occult Gods. Made entirely out of obsidian, the rod will reveal and dispel runes, and protect the wielder from them. Some variations of the null rod even allow the chaplain to deconvert brainwashed cultists. Use it wisely. It's also a good melee weapon in general, should you come to need it. It's possible to turn it into a different artifact. Simply use it in your hand to transform it (Warning: You can only do this once, choose wisely!).
| Object | Description | Special Notes |
Null Rod |
The old classic. Does nothing special, really. | 15 damage/hit, grants wielder immunity to some cult magic, does 25 extra damage and nullification to revenants. Tiny item. All variants below also have these properties, except where noted on the variant. |
|---|---|---|
God Hand |
A glowing, fiery, red gift from the gods. You won't drop this one. | Does burn damage instead of brute. Undroppable. |
Blue Holy Staff |
A blue staff. Doesn't hurt as much as a null rod, but can be used to parry blows in combat. | 5 brute damage. Huge item. |
Red Holy Staff |
A red staff. Doesn't hurt as much as a null rod, but can be used to parry blows in combat. | 5 brute damage. Huge item. |
Holy Claymore |
A weapon fit for a crusade! A sword capable of parrying hits in combat. | Sharp. Bulky, Back or Belt slot item. |
Dark Blade |
Spread the glory of the dark gods! A sword capable of parrying hits in combat. | Sharp. Bulky, Belt slot item. |
Sacred Chainsaw Sword |
Suffer not a heretic to live. A sword capable of parrying hits in combat. | Sharp. Bulky, Belt slot item. |
Force Weapon |
Outfitted with a long-lasting battery. A sword capable of parrying hits in combat. | Sharp. Bulky, Belt slot item. |
Hanzo Steel |
Capable of cutting clean through a holy claymore. A sword capable of parrying hits in combat. | Sharp. Bulky, Back or Belt slot item. |
Extradimensional Blade |
Once the harbringer of a interdimensional war, now a dormant souvenir. Still sharp though. A sword capable of parrying hits in combat. | Sharp. Bulky, Belt slot item. |
Dark Energy Sword |
Woefully ineffective when used on steep terrain. Still sharp though. A sword capable of parrying hits in combat. | Sharp. Bulky, Belt slot item. |
Nautical Energy Sword |
Convincing HR that your religion involved piracy was no mean feat. A sword capable of parrying hits in combat. | Sharp. Bulky, Belt slot item. |
Light Energy Sword |
If you strike me down, I shall become more robust than you can possibly imagine. A sword capable of parrying hits in combat. | Sharp. Bulky, Belt slot item. |
Monk's Staff |
A long, tall staff made of polished wood. Traditionally used in ancient old-Earth martial arts, now used to harass the clown. Can parry blows. | 13 damage/hit. Bulky, Back slot item. |
UNREAL SORD |
Don't. Just....don't. | 4.1 damage/hit. Belt slot item. |
Reaper Scythe |
Ask not for whom the bell tolls... Better at penetrating armor, but can't parry. | 35 armor penetration, bulky, sharp, back slot item. |
High Frequency Blade |
Bad references are the DNA of the soul. Better at penetrating armor, but can't parry. | 35 armor penetration, bulky, sharp, back slot item. |
Possessed Blade |
When the station falls into chaos, it's nice to have a friend by your side. Yes, this sword talks. Better at penetrating armor, but can't parry. | 35 armor penetration, bulky, sharp, back slot item. Allows a ghost to inhabit the blade, giving you a companion. |
Relic War Hammer |
No additional functionality to the normal null rod. | Huge, Belt slot item. |
Chainsaw Hand |
Good? Bad? You're the guy with the chainsaw hand. Permanently turns your hand into a chainsaw. There are no drawbacks to this. | Sharp, undroppable. |
Clown Dagger |
Used for absolutely hilarious sacrifices. Honk. | Sharp. |
Athiest's Fedora |
The brim of the hat is as sharp as your wit. Throwing it at someone would hurt almost as much as disproving the existence of God. | 25 damage when thrown. It is also a hat. |
Dark Blessing |
Particularly twisted deities grant gifts of dubious value. You can't drop this unless you lose your hand. | Undroppable, sharp, looks like changeling armblade, gets you suspicious looks from security. |
Carp-Sie Plushie |
An adorable stuffed toy that resembles the god of all carp. Activate it to receive the blessing of Carp-Sie and never be attacked by wild carps. | 13 damage/hit. Once used, space carp will ignore you. This effect expires if you are cloned. |
Arrythmic Knife |
They say fear is the true mind killer, but stabbing them in the head works too. Slows you down and speeds you up randomly. | Randomly increases/decreases your speed. Sharp, Huge item. |
Unholy Pitchfork |
Holding this makes you look absolutely devilish. | Sharp. Normal size item. |
Prayer Beads |
Using these to pray near someone will have a chance to heal them. Can also deconvert cultists. | Usable only by Chaplain/ERT. After 15 seconds of using this on a non-moving target, it deconverts cultists and has a 25% chance to heal 5 brute/oxy/burn/fire. This item is extremely powerful when used to aid sec during cult rounds. |
Prayer Bread |
A staple of worshipers of the Silentfather, this holy mime artifact has an odd effect on clowns. | Works as Prayer Beads, except that when held, it nullifies the power of clowns, silencing them and draining them of color. This ability only works on roundstart clowns. |
Holy Salt |
A salt shaker with 'holy' salt. using it alerts ghosts. Also makes you salty over that you could have taken something practical. | Allows you to call ghosts to you. |
Growing a God complex 
The chapel is a relatively secluded part of the station, and odds are the AI won't be keeping an eye on it. You can drag around bodies, as well as both space and cremate bodies without looking suspicious. It's your job, after all. You also have access to a reasonably powerful set of armor that you won't look suspicious wearing, and a good melee weapon that you're allowed to carry.
The chaplain also has access to two specialized items restricted to their role. His Grace, a toolbox that grants massive healing, stun immunity and gains damage with every kill and devours its victims whole, however, the wielder will be devoured if they fail to feed his grace enough. In addition, the Missionary Starter Kit allows the chaplain to temporarily mindslave personnel over a distance.