She is the Goddess of Healing, Mercy, and Childbirth. It is said she feels the suffering of every living creature, and as a result is constantly concerned with helping people in distress.

Initiation

Most priestesses grow up in the cult and once they have shown an attitude of continuous mercy to those in pain or who are poor, they can apply to become a priestess.

Structure

The Cult of Shallya has a feudal structure, with each shrine or temple owing a tribute to a larger local temple.

This temple then pays further tribute to the chief temple of the nation. All the chief priests and priestesses meet once every six years with the Matriarch in Couronne.

The adherents on Shallya aim to avoid killing, so playing Bloodbowl seems to be against their morals. However, they explain this by saying that they want to play in order to build healthy bodies and to help the unfortunate players who become injured. They also see it as an opportunity to make penance, especially for the orphans who wish to become initiates.

There was a team developed for MidgardBB league and this roster tries to honour that, but with the obvious constraints of the FUMBBL client and the Warhammer lore.

Optional Rules

In order to reflect the cult's dedication to peace, mercy and healing within the FUMBBL client, the coach can abide by the following rules:

• Never strike the first blow. Therefore if the Shallya team goes first, they cannot hit the opposing players until the following turn.

• If it is in the coach's power, they must allow the other team to receive the ball first. This means that they can therefore legitimately act in self-defense. This keeps within the sacred rules of the cult.

• If the coach feels that a player (not a penitent orphan) needs to carry out a penance or pilgrimage, they can ask them to leave the team for a period of time. They are still associated with the team, but can only return when the coach believes they have sufficiently atoned for their sins. In reality, this means the coach can retire players and bring them back at a later date. The coach needs to keep a record of the penitent players on the team's bio. When they wish to bring a player back, the league commissioner will give the coach money to buy that position and then add any additional skills, stat increases or SPPs. Even though the roster is limited to the positionals, 6 Initiates, 2 Priestesses and 2 Wandering Monks, they can have any number of penitent players. For example, a coach may request Priestess Heilgard to make penance. She is retired from the team and her details are entered into the team’s bio. The coach can now hire another Priestess, Filiberta to replace her. Maybe a game is scheduled where Heilgard’s skills are beneficial, so the coach places the Filiberta on penance and brings back Heilgard. Finally, the penitent player cannot be permanently injured before their period of penance. If they have a niggle or stat decrease, they must go to the Hospital first.

• Shallyan Hospital - A coach can send a permanently injured player (stat decrease or niggling injury) to the local Shallyan Hospital. Unlike a player sent on a penance, they remain in the team, but a note is placed on the team bio that the player is in hospital. The player is then retired and misses a game. After the game, the league commissioner will then give the coach money to buy that position back. The commissioner will then add all the skills, stat increases and spps to that player. While the player is at the hospital, they cannot be replaced. For example, the Wandering Priest Bretwhilm has lost 1 point of Strength. He goes to hospital, the coach retires him for one game. The coach cannot buy another Wandering Priest for the game Bretwhilm misses. If a player dies, they die. Going to the hospital will not help.

(It is entirely up to the coach/league commissioner if they choose to include any of these rules. These rules do not apply in Open League play).

Penitent Orphan

Majority of initiates were originally orphans who grew up among the Cult of Shallya. They wear little armour and act as the linemen of the team.

Initiate

As they play Bloodbowl to improve their minds and body, they focus on the agility part of the game. In the original MidgardBB roster, the linemen position (monks) had access to general and agility on a single. This has been adopted for this team. Also as they focus on the agile elements of the game, they have been given the Dodge skill. The player's price is the same an Amazonian linewomen, who has the same skills and stats.

Priestesses

They tend to stay in the urban areas and minister to those in the locality. Like the initiates, the original roster gave the Priest position access to general and agility on a single, so this has been adopted. Like the initiate, the priestess has the Dodge skill to reflect their preference for the agility side of the game. And Side Step shows that they are more advanced in their abilities compared to the Initiates.

The original roster gave the priest the Bless trait. This meant they could get a +1 to almost all their rolls. In order to represent this, the Priestess has the Blessed by Shallya trait. This trait gives the player the Pro skill and Fan Favorite trait. The Fan Favorite trait reflects how the Priestesses of Shallya are greatly loved by everyone for their kindness and mercy.

Wandering Priest

The male priests tend to wander the country doing their part to bring mercy and relief to the poor and suffering. The cult allows them to carry a walking staff to protect themselves. The original roster had players who could carry a quarterstaff. This would give the player +1 Str, Mighty Blow and Multiple Block. This has been added to this roster, but they additionally have the No Hands trait to show that they have to use both hands on the staff. The quarterstaff is an illegal weapon to carry onto the pitch, and therefore treated as a Secret Weapon. Dauntless has been also given to this player as the combination of Dauntless and Multiple Block creates a strong player, who can even knock out two ogres at the same time!

Design Notes

The problem with this team is that they shouldn't really play Bloodbowl. However, as precedent was made with their roster in the MidgardBB league, there is an argument to include them here.

The main issue was to how to include this unusual roster within the FUMBBL client. The rules set out in the MidgardBB league could easily be played on tabletop, but the restrictions on the FUMBBL client means I had to be more creative.

The penance rule was an interesting addition, as it means the coach can have more control over the team's TV. This means if they are playing against a low TV team, they can tell a player to make penance, which means the coach can temporarily reduce the TV of the team restricting the available inducements.

The hospital means that the Shallyan players can last longer than teams with similar AV.