Offerings to Icons and djinn

Third Horizon culture: the spiritual

Checking on the Coriolis Discord, I read that the publishers are OK with players recreating tables, figures and data from the RPG source material where the only purpose is the facilitation of playing their game and I hereby promise this is my only intent with this article. The Icons are taken directly from the Core Rules but all else is my own invention - Doctor Weather

Offerings always seem like such a strange thing to me. When there's a priesthood around to take the offering and make use of it, albeit perhaps "on behalf of the gods", I can see a system at work but otherwise an offering would just... sit there. To make sense of this I'm working through the nature of offerings to Icons and djinn in the Horizon.
Temple offerings: the priests are assumed to use them and everyone knows
It's fully assumed that the priests will use whatever's offered in their work shepherding the people through life. The priests are doing the work of the Icons, so a gift to the priests is effectively one to the Icons.
Direct offerings: carried through prayer and fire
Direct, non-physical offerings such as promises and poems simply carry with a prayer. If a physical offering can be 'transported' in some way then a prayer can be used to direct that transportation to the Icons, for example burning the item.

Icon offerings

	Temple offerings	Direct offerings
Messenger	A small vessel carved out of sugar	Burning a prayer written on a piece of paper
Dancer		A meal, dance or song - preferrably all three
Gambler	The Gambler appreciates simple offerings, such as dice, Gambler cards from an Icon deck, a mug of wine or some other kohôl.
Deckhand		A well-kept home, ship or business
Merchant	Birr (sometimes gold leafed sugar birr), fancy raw materials, delicacies or cut crystals
Judge		Confession of your failings and lies, with remorseful penance
Traveller	Knotted hemp rope or a crude string; a figurine of a ship; a dromedon, a horse or some other transportation craft
Lady of Tears		Burning myrrh, white candles or small fires
Faceless One	A mask or black and white stones	A drop of your blood

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Offerings to the djinn

Djinn can actually take physical offerings
Those djinn who have learned to live within human civilisation, such as the household djinn on Dabaran, can actually take physical offerings back to their own world and receive them gratefully.
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CC61, segment of The Deckhand

• Icon offerings
• Offerings to the djinn

Related articles

• Djinn
• Icons