Warforged are practical folk; being reverent does not require acts of empty ritual. The Godforged know that their god awaits its body, and they are confident in their role in bringing about the ultimate merger. Thus, their rituals have a purpose and an outcome.

Prayers

The Godforged do not ask for their deity’s intercession. After all, it has already granted them souls. Rather, they believe they owe the same to their god. Their prayers take the form of promises: “I vow to open your eyes that you may look on your creation.” Sometimes a prayer is an offer of thanks, especially at times when the warforged believes he has added to the soul: “What you bestowed on me I have now augmented, thanks be to your vision.”

Minor Rites

The first ritual any Godforged undertakes is that of recognizing that it has a soul, which leads it to the Becoming God. The triggering event could be almost anything: an emotional response to an artistic creation or a beautiful landscape, the death of a comrade and thoughts of afterlife, an intellectual challenge posed to it directly, and so forth. Whatever the form, this event leads the warforged to consider for the first time something bigger and more enduring than its own body. Different warforged respond in varying ways. Some enter an extended period of “shutdown,” in which they appear inactive but are in fact engaged in intense thought with no physical activity. Others add a ritual activity to each other action they take, such as a repeated phrase (“in the name of the Becoming”) or a flourish after a combat move or more mundane activity.

One uniquely Godforged rite that is followed by all members of an assembly is to engrave, stamp, attach, or otherwise permanently affix the Mark of the Becoming to their bodies. The warforged are aware of the dragonmarks that set apart certain members of the humanoid races, and some have heard of the draconic Prophecy that they embody. The Godforged know that they fulfill a destiny, so marking themselves in the same way seems completely logical. An assemblage’s Architect chooses the precise form of the mark, but all such marks share the central feature of an opening construct eye.

Major Rites

The cult of the Becoming God does not hold festivals in the usual sense, but the heart of the religion is its ongoing ritual. It is the duty of each Godforged to bring a piece of the god’s body to add to its construction. A typical group travels for several hours a day, then its members search the rubble, taking shifts to avoid mental fatigue. A warforged who has excavated a suitable component presents it to the assemblage’s leader for examination and approval. If the Architect finds it good, that follower carries the piece of its god, attached fi rmly to its own body, for the remainder of its existence or until it finds the Firstforge, whichever comes first. Should a Godforged fall while on the quest, its piece of the sacred body is taken up by the Architect (along with those of all the others lost along the way). Some of the older leaders carry so much material that they have a bizarre, overmechanized appearance.

Those not actively searching engage in contemplation of their god, often absent-mindedly fashioning doll-like objects as they do so. Adventurers returning from the Mournland have brought back specimens of this warforged art, which has a ready market among collectors in Breland. The elders of certain churches have also acquired some of these figurines and are studying their
meaning with some concern; the Scions of the Forge are especially interested in them, for obvious reasons.

Because there are so many small assemblages, each following its own interpretation of the divine quest, it would be impossible for the cult to maintain uniform worship without the exchange of information. When the Godforged first began to wander in the wastes, they formed assemblages from random meetings, and they encountered other such groups by happenstance. Whenever groups met, they would discuss the great task and their own activities in its furtherance. They then separated, each incorporating portions of the other’s ritual into its own. As more assemblages formed and came into contact, the awareness of a larger movement spread, and one of the more perceptive Architects recognized the value of regular updates on the search. Each time its assemblage encountered another, that leader proposed a Great Assemblage to be held at a landmark within the Mournland. Eventually the idea of an annual gathering spread through the assemblages, and it is now a tradition. At a Great Assemblage, the Architect of each group presents its assemblage’s plan so that all members can synchronize the record. Items of note might become central missions for the assemblages in the coming year, such as gathering more material from a particular ruin or observing a magical phenomenon in more detail.

The Calendar

The Great Assemblage meets on the first day of the month of Eyre (associated, appropriately, with the Mark of Making) and remains in convocation until all matters of importance have been discussed, usually about a week. The location changes from year to year; the gathering place for the next Assemblage is decided at the close of the current one.

The Godforged do not mark the passage of years with the Galifar calendar. Instead, they record the years spent in search of the Firstforge and the full awakening of the god. Sentient warforged have existed since 965 YK, and they gained recognition as free folk thirty-one years later. The concept of a construct god predates the emancipation of the warforged, but the great task itself began only then. Thus, the 998 YK corresponds to the second year Before the Becoming, or 2 BB. If and when the god is embodied, the reckoning will shift to After the Becoming.

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