Six Ages Ride Like the Wind: Guide to Gamari Horse Mother

Gamari Horse Mother is one of the trickier rituals in the game. It’s also a solid way to power up a female warleader and can provide a really cool treasure! Here’s how to get those rewards, among others.

The wiki article on this ritual[sixages.fandom.com] offers similar advice on the ritual, but in a different format and with more pictures and text.

This ritual is a little unusual in that, rather than taking on the god’s role, the quester plays the role of an advisor and helper to Gamari.

You can start the game knowing this ritual if you made particular choices during Clan Creation: your Famous Event was anything other than the Milk Gift of Busenari, and when the First Clan split your ancestors were the best herders.

Otherwise, you learn this ritual by sacrificing to Gamari.

• Horses.
  Usually grants 25 horses, which is a lot (worth as much as 100 cows!) May give fewer if the ritual went less well.
• Protection for our existing horses.
  Grants Horse Bounty for some length of time—probably about seven years. Not entirely sure of the mechanical effects.
• Strengthening of the quester’s abilities.
  Increases Combat and Leadership by one point each—same as skills as Elmal’s ritual, so using both is a great way to strengthen an Osaran warleader.
• A magical treasure.
  Usually the Gamari Blanket (which grants divine blessing, i.e. bonuses on certain tests, to Gamari worshippers), but can be something else if you already have it, like Gamari’s Caparison (+3 horses a year) or Gamari’s Feather (makes a shrine/temple to Gamari sustainable with fewer worshippers).
• A flying horse.
  The Flying Horse is a treasure that can help you in battle. It doesn’t seem to die in battle, but does have a limited lifespan. (This is my favorite reward here, because I think it’s awesome. I do not actually have a mechanics breakdown of how useful it is, though.)
  To obtain, you must successfully fight Zorak Zoran (the foe who ate Hippogriff’s wings), and the option must also be unlocked with choices outside the ritual—you can learn from the Pure Horse Clan if they offer you a treasure and you ask for lore instead, or you can learn it by asking the priestess who’s trying to breed a winged horse about her process.
• War magic against imperial foes.
  This refers to the Dara Happan empire.
• War magic against Alkothi.
  The Alkothi are terrible foes, but attack very rarely.
  Note that Alkothi are also Dara Happan, though you may occasionally encounter Dara Happans other than the Alkothi.
• Help others to accept the Cenala revelation.
  Must successfully assist with Hyalor’s Long Ride option in the ritual for this reward to appear.
  Conditions must be met outside the ritual for this to show up—it’s not clear if there have to be clans that used to acknowledge Cenala and abandoned her, or if there must be rejecters that aren’t as vehement. (There is no equivalent reward for rejecter clans.)

If you put at least two points of Sacred Time magic in particular areas, some choices in the ritual will be boosted. While this isn’t essential, it can help a lot, especially since this ritual is relatively difficult in general.

The three types of magic that come up throughout this ritual are War, Harmony, and Diplomacy. You don’t necessarily need all three—depending on your quester’s skillset and the choices you make, either War/Diplomacy or War/Harmony can work, and a very specific skillset (extremely high Leadership and Food) makes a path that uses only Harmony magic viable.

Exploring magic can also help with one particular choice (which is only available to Cenalan clans).

As with other rituals, there is a penalty for trying to perform this ritual too frequently. Wait at least five years after succeeding at the ritual to try it again.

A certain event can create an exception to this rule—if you  it will become an auspicious time for a Gamari ritual, even if you just held one last year.

You can ask both Riders and Wheels to help youin this ritual, since she is one of the goddesses you share. However, Riders are much easier to convince!

Convincing other clans (of either culture) is a test of Diplomacy vs. Skepticism. As such, the Golden Honeycomb treasure and the Snake Spirit can help you out here.

Other factors that can help convince Riders include having a circle member who worships Gamari, or one with the Matriarchal personality trait. Having a temple to Gamari will also demonstrate your dedication to her. Allies are likelier to help than non-allied clans. And as usual when dealing with other clans, diplomacy magic (two points or more) will help.

On the other hand, trying to repeat the ritual too soon (with five years of the last time you tried it) will inflict a penalty. Your neighbors know as well as you do that that’s a risky idea!

While the Cenala schism is active, fellow Riders who agree with you will almost always agree to help as a matter of course. (If you get a reputation for accepting help but not giving it, though, they may stop showing up—so be sure to help out when you get “please help us with our ritual” events from your neighbors!) This automatic help will go away if you solve the schism.

You can also ask Wheels to help as well, though it’s more difficult. However, it is extremely difficult to get through this ritual without offending any Wheel helpers you have around (and doing so will cost you a treasure). Personally, I’d leave the Wheels out of it for this one!

If you do try to get help from Wheels, a different array of factors can influence your success. Having a circle member who despises Wheels will, naturally, hurt your chances, as will having a Hyalor worshipper or more women than men on the circle. On the other hand, having a circle member who worships Relandar or one with the Teamwork personality trait can help.

If you have a treasure sacred to Gamari, you can have your quester take it into the Gods War. I am not sure if this boosts your overall odds of success, but it does open up a new option in the ritual (the only ritual where this is the case) as well as in some of the situations you can end up in if your quester strays from the ritual path.

And of course, you launch the ritual with a sacrifice. You can sacrifice up to 35 goods, 35 cows, and 17 horses. Personally, I usually sacrifice 35 goods and no cows or horses. You might want to sacrifice more if you’re suffering Divine Disfavor, couldn’t get other clans to help, or are trying to do the ritual too soon.

Only women who are not shamans are eligible to perform this ritual. And a worshipper of Gamari will reach the her side more easily than someone devoted to another goddess. This manifests not as help performing the ritual actions, but as a starting boost towards your quester’s odds of getting a reward.

The recommended skills are Combat and Leadership, and a quester who’s good at both will indeed be well set to make it through the ritual. However, it’s good to also have some skill at Diplomacy or Lore (in addition to Leadership) to get through the second stage.

Combat alone can get a quester through three out of four ritual stages successfully, which is generally enough to pass. And high Lore combined with either Magic or Combat might be a solid alternate path through the ritual.

Keep in mind that Sacred Time magic can help your quester a lot—you can use it to compensate for any weaknesses she has!

While the hero Ayvtu does not worship Gamari, she does have a special advantage at many of the warlike options in the quest. Additionally, she is generally skilled in Combat, useful in this quest. However, Ayvtu is not guaranteed to succeed, and like any quester she can die if she bites off more than she can chew in the Gods War.

This stage deals with Gamari’s painful transformation from Hippogriff to horse goddess, at the hands of the many terrible enemies of her unreliable friend Yamsur.

It’s not possible to prevent Gamari’s transformation—and your clan might not want to try! Rather, the quester can help her endure it.

Note that failure at the first three options risks your quester’s life, and failure at the third does not.

• Test: Combat vs. Duel
• Magic: War
• Personality: Warlike, Daring, Matriarchal
• Other Bonus: Nyalda first god, temple to Nyalda, Ayvtu is the quester, Bear Spirit active
• Other Penalty: Patriarchal personality chief (?)
• Notes: Although Maran Gor is a Ram goddess, the ProRam and AntiRam traits are not checked here, and neither is your ancestral enemy..

• Test: Combat vs. Duel
• Magic: War
• Personality: AntiRam, Warlike, Daring
• Other Bonus: Vingkotling ancestral enemy, Ayvtu is the quester, Bear Spirit.
• Other Penalty: ProRam personality

• Test: Combat vs. Duel
• Magic: War
• Personality: Warlike, Daring
• Other Bonus: Uz ancestral enemy, Ayvtu is the quester, Bear Spirit.
• Reward Unlocked: You must succeed at this option to gain the Flying Horse reward. However, that reward also requires conditions to be met outside the ritual.
• Notes: ProRam and AntiRam seem to be checked here?

• Test: Leadership vs. Confidence
• Magic: Harmony
• Personality: Teamwork, Arbitrary, Optimist; Pessimist, Pragmatic
• Other Bonus: Yelm first god, Ring member worships Elmal, Elmali chief, Turtle Spirit active.
• Notes: This option seems to be relatively difficult—after all, the myth emphasizes that Yamsur did not in fact help Hippogriff when she needed it most. However, failure here is a lot less dangerous than the other options!

In this stage, the quester must help forge the bond between Gamari, goddess of horses, and Hyalor, god of horse-riding.

I’ve noticed that this is also the stage where failures sometimes catapult my ritualists into random parts of the Gods War.

All options here are helped by having a circle member or chieftain who worships Gamari, and also by having a circle member with the PureHorse trait.

• Test: Singing (Diplomacy + Leadership) vs. Credulity
• Magic: Harmony
• Personality: SongQuoter (bonus), Harsh (bonus) Merciful (penalty)
• Other Bonus: Yelm first god, Gamari circle member; PureHorse circle member, Rat Spirit active.
• Notes: Success here reveals the relationship between Yamsur and Hyalor.

• Test: WedCultures (Diplomacy + Magic?) vs. Skepticism
• Magic: Harmony
• Personality: Pure Horse, Intuitive, Teamwork, Individual (penalty?)
• Other Bonus: Gamari ring member; Gamari chief; PureHorse personality ring member; the Snake Spirit and Golden Honeycomb can help with the test.

• Test: Oration (Diplomacy + Lore) vs. Skepticism
• Magic: Harmony
• Personality: Daring, GodSeeker, PureHorse
• Other Bonus: Gamari circle member, Gamari chief, PureHorse circle member; the Snake Spirit and Golden Honeycomb can help

• Test: Mythology (Lore + Magic) vs. Confidence
• Magic: Diplomacy
• Personality: AntiWheel, Xenophobe
• Other Bonus: Gamari circle member, Gamari chief, PureHorse circle member, Turtle Spirit.
• Notes: If you’ve managed to persuade Wheels to help you in this ritual, they won’t be happy about you insulting their founding god here!

In this stage, the rival god Samnal attempts to bind Gamari in chains. How does the quester attempt to thwart him?

Note that all but one of the options here offend Wheels if you have some attending—and the exception is both extremely costly (giving Samnal a treasure) and requires you to have had a Gamari treasure on hand and to have brought it along with you.

• Test: Lore vs. Resentment
• Magic: Harmony
• Other Bonus: Elmali chief, Yelm first god, Rose Spirit
• Other Penalty: Not having a worshipper of Elmal on the circle will cause a penalty here.
• Notes: Succeeding at this option annoys Wheel helpers. Failure does not, but will hurt your chances of getting a reward from the ritual.

• Test: Combat vs. Duel
• Magic: War
• Personality: Warlike, Daring, AntiWheel
• Other Bonus: Ayvtu quester, Bear Spirit
• Notes: If Wheel clans helped you, they will be angry if you take this option. Failure here can kill your quester.

• Test: Bargaining vs. Customer
• Magic: Diplomacy
• Personality: AntiWheel (presumed penalty), Arbitrary, GoldenCity, Miser, Spendthrift
• Other Bonus: Trade Wind Spirit’s Assess ability.
• Notes: This is the only option that will not annoy attending Wheels, which is basically the only reason to consider doing it.

• Test: Leadership vs. Fear
• Magic: Harmony
• Personality: AntiWheel (bonus), GoldenCity
• Other Bonus: Hyalor circle member, Hyalor chief, Yelm first god, AntiWheel chief, Sakkar Spirit
• Notes: If you persuaded Wheels to help you with the ritual, they’ll be angry about this choice.

• Test: Deception (Bargaining + Leadership) vs. Skepticism
• Magic: Diplomacy
• Personality: AntiWheel, Waffler, Harsh (bonus), Merciful, Matriarchal (penalty)
• Other Bonus: Raven circle member; Snake Spirit
• Notes: If you persuaded Wheels to help with the ritual, this option will anger them.

In this stage, your quester chooses a famous deed of Gamari to assist and reinforce. Some, though not all, of these options unlock unique rewards.

Frequently, at least one option will be missing. I haven’t been able to figure out a pattern as to which are available when.

• Test: Food vs. Divine
• Magic: Harmony
• Personality: Merciful, Teamwork
• Other Bonus: Fire Spirit

• Test: CombatLore (Combat + Lore, at risk of being obvious) vs. Foreignness
• Magic: War
• Personality: AntiEnemy (if Dara Happan ancestral enemy), GoldenCity(I think)
• Other Bonus: Dara Happan ancestral enemy, Relandar circle member, Ayvtu is quester, Salmon Spirit
• Reward Unlocked: “War magic against imperial foes.”

• Test: Combat vs. Duel
• Magic: War
• Personality: Warlike, Daring, AntiEnemy (if Dara Happan ancestral enemy), Ayvtu quester
• Other Bonus: Dara Happan ancestral enemy, Bear Spirit
• Reward Unlocked: “War magic against Alkothi.”

• Test: CombatLore (Combat + Lore) vs. Bullheadedness
• Magic: War
• Personality: PureHorse, Golden City,
• Other Bonus: Hyalor circle member, PureHorse chief, Ayvtu quester, Whistling Wind and Lion spirits
• Notes: Success here may help Beren out with his goals, just a little.

• Test: Mythology (Lore + Magic) vs. Elusiveness
• Magic: Exploring
• Other Bonus: Hyalor ring member, Hyalor chief, Sprouted Shrine, Ayvtu is quester, Hare Spirit, possibly Inilla’s Find and Dostal’s Tracking blessings.
• Notes: You must know the myth “Hyalor’s Long Ride” to see this option. You can learn this myth by sending a noble to visit Cenala. Success here pleases the ancestors.
• Reward Unlocked: Success here unlocks option to make some clans believe in Cenala as a reward.

By lyreofsheliak