Pilgrimage

Basic Information

A pilgrimage is a long journey to a place of religious significance, such as an important shrine or place where a relic of a religion is located. Someone who undertakes a pilgrimage is called a pilgrim.

Sources

Bibliography

1. Wikipedia entry

Canterbury Tales Chaucer, Geoffery (various editions, including translations to modern English)

Game and Story Use

• Many pilgrims will need protection on their long and often dangerous journey. This can be a good job for PCs, especially if they are members of the same religion.
• The closure of a pilgrimage route could spark war - that, after all, was what the First Crusade was about. Alternatively - especially in wars between states with the same religion - pilgrims might be permitted to cross an otherwise closed front line freely. This was frequently the case in medieval Europe and even today many Islamic states who otherwise restrict travel make special exceptions for Haji.
• Major pilgrimage sites and routes will also often be major places of commerce, as lots of industries, organizations, and facilities will spring up to support pilgrims and their needs. And as the pilgrims often come from faraway lands, such locations can also be very cosmopolitan. In other words, they can make for great adventure towns.
• A pilgrimage could often be assigned as a penance to atone for sins or an act of grace for someone seeking a favour from their deity.
  • A pilgrimage might also need to be made under specific conditions - a great way to strip over equipped PCs of their gear.
• Just as often, a pilgrimage had the air of a modern holiday tour about it - as per the Chaucer cited above.
• Pilgrim is a good disguise for a traveller with less holy motives - there were not that many excuses for travel in the middle ages and being a pilgrim was one that would allay suspiscion (sometimes). Even if the traveller was off the main routes he could pose as a seeker of obscure local holy places - especially if he already had the badges of some of the more famous sites.