Iru is the god who made your world. He lives in the middle of the island - you have spoken with him. First he made the infinite sky, then he filled half of it with the sea. This was a lot of hard work, he has told you, but he thinks it was pretty fulfilling, and worthwhile. After that, he made the Island, where you live. He made the trees, grasses, hills, villages, towers, animals, fish and people. He also made a lot of strange, unusual little things, passion-projects still scattered around the island.
Then, Iru made Facilities, because manually running the world was difficult, and time consuming. These include the Windmill, which makes the wind, the Sun, which makes the light, the Rain Drum, that makes the rain, and the Coal Factory, that makes the coal. Every Facility is run and protected by a Head, a unique being with a specific fixation on their task. The Heads don’t age, and none of them have been replaced - yet, anyway.
Then he made his House, and the garden it’s in. Then he made a few other, practical things, and dogs, which everyone approves of. Then - well, that’s where we’re at, at the moment. He has mentioned a lot of things he would like to do, but he hasn’t gotten around to them. Yet, anyway.
In this world, there is no disease. There are no predatory wild animals. There are no armies or guards, and people will be confused by weapons, because there is no theft or violence beyond a friendly brawl or a lively wrestle. This is a world without harms and dangers, mostly.
Yet, anyway.
To start creating your character, pick a name. Names consist of three syllables, and every syllable must contain a vowel. The last syllable must be one of the ones in your home village’s name. For example, Kareku, Brubohan, Mitujo, Deboha, Riskoka, Polatu, and so on, and so on.
You resemble a simple humanoid, with skin of a single bright colour (red, pink, green, white, etc). The colour you are has no bearing on anything in this world. Your irises are black, and so is your hair - the style you wear varies by your home village.
Step 1: Roll 3d6 for the traditional D&D stats, and derive modifiers from them as in G24 - as always, bonuses go to the stat, not the modifier, unless otherwise specified. You have one Skill to start with, of your choice. Everyone on the island speaks the same language, which doesn’t need a name to distinguish itself from any others.
Step 2: You have a 2-in-6 chance of having a 1HD dog, which is loyal to you, and morally good. It's also a single bright colour, but not the same as yours. Dog names tend to be monosyllabic.
Step 3: Roll on this table three times for starting items:
Rainhat (Woven of Local Grass)
A Loud Horn [1]
Solid Walking Stick [1]
A Flute
A Large Clay Jug (Currently Contains Fish Sauce) [1]
A Slot of Paper (1 Quire) [1]
A Wooden Helmet (Light Armour) (For Ballgames)
Kicking Ball [1]
A Bag of Sugar [1]
A Bag of Dye (Your Choice of Colour) [1]
A Pipe, and 6 Doses of Smokeable Leaves
A Disc (See Below).
Step 4: Pick your village of origin
Hanku
Just across the Short Grass from Iru’s House, Hanku is the oldest village in the world, and the place wrestling came from. The people here are quite proud of that, and everyone works hard to preserve Hanku’s reputation. The people build things with stone chiselled from the Plateau, and carve their own statues, and when asked if what they’re carrying is heavy, they just grunt and say it’s awkward.
Chief Matiku is gentle, patient, boisterous, grouchy and double the size of anyone else.
In Hanku, the hairstyle is a ponytail.
You have +1 Inventory Slot and +2 STR.
Tuka
The road south through the Bulbous Grasses eventually leads to Tuka, which is picturesque, and bright, and perfectly positioned to always get the most sunlight. Tuka is the happiest, nicest and most peaceful village, with the best fields - everyone says the people of Tuka are the ones who discovered that eating too much makes you fat.
Chief Ablotu is soft-spoken, kind, melancholy, a poet, and honest even to his detriment.
In Tuka, the hairstyle is a bun.
You have +1 to Saves, and +2 CON.
Iku
This village sits right next to the Drafts, south of the Curly Grasses, the building where Iru tests his new creations. These are usually dangerous, and people are not allowed to go into the Drafts. For this reason, the people of Iku Village are allowed to have spears, and are tasked to keep people out. Your spear is at home, of course.
Chief Raetku is excitable, perceptive, arbitrary, really hot, and sleeps past noon every day.
In Iku, the hairstyle is a short high ponytail.
You have +1 to Hit and +2 DEX.
Iba
Hidden away in the northwest, sitting by the Broom Grass and beyond the Zigzag Grass. Being so close to the Rain Drum, they get all the excess rain as it spills out west, so this is a village of wide eaves, and little waterwheels turning in the channels, filled by the constant downpour. These waterwheels turn little mills and machines of their own. The people are thought of as secretive but industrious.
Chief Foreba is puckish, ancient, tiny, mercurial and knowledgeable.
In Iba, the hairstyle is long and flowing.
You have an extra Skill and +2 INT.
Taba
This village is north of the Bristly Grasses. The grass here is unpleasant, and the ground is rocky - they say it’s tough to live here, but that’s the way they like it, and it gives them perspective. This is a village full of deep storage cellars, a network of connecting tunnels, and many secret rooms where nothing of particular import occurs.
Chief Inunta is slow-moving, thoughtful, dispassionate, and a former philosopher.
In Taba, the hairstyle is braided.
You have +1HP and +2 WIS.
Iraka
Sitting at the east end of the Split Grasses, it’s the biggest village of them all - nearly a thousand people! It’s crazy! It’s so big that Iru has allowed the Village to have two chiefs, which means they get a lot more and a lot less done. They say living here makes you sharp - nobody can be certain, but it definitely gives you some social cache.
Chief Tibora is tall, dour, unflappable, rude and a great sailor.
Chief Moyuka is short, cheerful, easily-stressed, friendly and a great builder.
In Iraka, the hairstyle is short and neat.
You have +1 to Initiative and +2 XHA.
Joeio
The village under the Wind Mill, at the end of the road through the Tall Grasses. Everywhere, little whirligigs, lesser windmills, windchimes and bells, taking advantage of the constant clear wind that whistles through town. They say living here is always rejuvenating and refreshing, since the wind blows through everything, and nothing gets left sitting still for long. They say the people move just as quick.
Chief Mijajo is mighty, extremely fast, serene, slightly boring, and really, really gullible.
In Joeio, the hairstyle is shorn short.
You have +1AC and may re-roll your lowest stat.
Raha
Iru had big plans for Raha Town, but he hasn’t got around to them yet. There are no buildings, it’s just a big foundation block out in the Brush Grasses, set down into a deep moatlike footprint. People from the other villages who have struggled with life, or people with strange ideas, have congregated at Raha. Some even venture into the Dark Forest, gather fallen wood, and try to construct houses of their own. Other people think of Raha as a strange and disordered place.
Chief Omkera is artistic, visionary, a liar, a cheat, and really, really likeable.
In Raha, there’s no set hairstyle. Madness!
You have +2 to a randomly-determined stat, and +1 to another randomly determined stat. You can roll the same stat twice, of course.
Step 5: Roll for the theme that dominates your dreams.
Water - You are a philosophical type.
Dust - You are either an excellent or a terrible liar, secretly toss a coin.
Air - You are relentlessly light-hearted.
Grass - You are uncomplicated and reliable.
Machinery - Your anger is incandescent.
Ice - Your sadness can become consuming.
Trees - You never panic, or become angry.
Light - You are obsessive about your passions.
Soil - You are taciturn and reserved.
Electricity - You fall in love at the drop of a hat.
Metal - You never forget a grudge.
Paper - Your patience is infinite.
These are both true facts about the personalities of those who dream of Paper or Machinery, etc, and also kind of the local equivalent of astrology.
Step 6: In your old village, you had a task, or at least, something to occupy your time. What was it? Select one of the following options:
1. Grass Gatherer
Skill: Weaving, Grass Drying
Items: Three slots of a kind of grass mentioned in the description of your home village, three slots of any other kind of grass.
Grass is a foundational thing for most villages. Nobody eats it, of course, but it’s useful for a lot of everything else - baskets, awnings, hats, clothes in a pinch - and it burns, if you happen to not have any coal. Properly drying grass is a Gatherer’s skill - it takes fire and an hour, and changes the properties of the grass. Iru’s grass doesn’t decay on a timescale you really have to worry about.
Drooping Grass - About eight feet tall, but the top two feet or so droops off to one side. In the fields, they all droop in the direction of the wind. Famously smells excellent, the juices of fresh drooping grass are used as perfume, sometimes. Dried drooping grass becomes a large crook or hook of sorts, and is quite stiff and sturdy.
Bulbous Grass - About five feet tall, with a soft wobbly stem holding up a large bulbous top full of stored rain. Swung at something, it bursts and covers it in faintly vegetal water. If dried, the bulb deflates, and the grass becomes something like a huge water-resistant ladle.
Sharp Grass - Grows in tall, triangular blades, about two feet long. Have a bit of an edge on them. Pieces of sharp grass (3 to a slot) are nonlethal weapons (1d4) that are ruined if they deal max damage. Dried sharp grass deals maximum damage automatically, and thus breaks automatically.
Broom Grass - About four feet long. The final foot is split into a wide, broomlike plume of stiff fibers. Of use, well, as a broom, really. Dried broom grass makes for a huge makeshift torch - the dried plume burns readily and for a while, but the stem resists fire.
Zigzag Grass - Grows in stiff back-and-forth zigs and zags, to a height of about five feet. Split open, zigzag grass smells memorably unpleasant, one of the few really bad smells in the world - people will avoid it if they have a choice, though animals don’t care. Zigzag grass can be woven to “interlock”, forming a stiff sort of sheet. When dried, this is basically a perfect fence. Mercifully, when dried, it doesn’t stink.
Bristly Grass - Can get seven feet tall, at every foot of growth, the heavy stem splits off a thick ring of stiff, rather sharp and unpleasant bristles. Can be smoothed down for safer carrying. Unfurled bristly grass has a smell and nature that is repellent to animals, and turns them. Dried bristly grass is a large, unpleasant object, like a spiky walking stick, It can’t be smoothed down or carried easily, but serves as a great barrier if jammed into the ground next to other dried bristly grass.
Brush Grass - About two feet tall. The second it leaves the ground, it splits into many small, soft fine leaves. Bound to sizes, perfect for a paintbrush, or similar. Woven brush grass is fancy and comfortable. Dried and crushed, it becomes a natural bright red pigment that you can make without needing to get dye from the Dust Factory.
Tall Grass - Eight feet tall. Bendy, flexible, bright green, topped with a little leaf. Perfect for weaving into a bivouac or similar, or a bigass basket, or anything else woven and semi-permanent. Makes for excellent frameworks. Can be dried while in shape, to make the shapes you’ve bent it into permanent.
Split Grass - Best gathered when it’s about two feet tall, split grass can reach heights of seven feet. No matter what height it is, the bottom half is a single stem, then it splits into two slender ones in the upper half. Fresh split grass has a sweet-smelling sap-dew on the inside of the leaves, which dogs cannot resist approaching to lick. When dried, it effectively becomes a wooden Y shape.
Curly Grass - About five feet tall, grows in lazy curls that occasionally entangle those walking through it. Fire-resistant - wrapping yourself in a cloak of woven curly grass will protect you from open flame. Dried curly grass is useful as a spring for a few days, before it cracks and breaks.
Short Grass - About a foot tall, but as thick as a finger, and very sturdy. Three slots of it can be easily woven into light armour. If it's dried, it stiffens, becoming springy and tough. With three slots of fresh short grass, and three slots of dried short grass, you can make medium armour.
Seagrass - The most difficult to get, since it grows under the East Bay. Grows twelve feet long, straight and smooth underwater, but twisty and uncooperative in air. Edible. Mostly got in curled bales in Taba Village. When dried, effectively functionally identical to good solid rope (and is still edible, just extremely chewy).
2. Fisher
Skills: Boating, Fishing
Items: Net (2 slots), Bag, Access to a Boat
Iru filled the sea with all kinds of strange things, and people have been catching them with nets for a long time now. It supplements your fields, and it’s a nice diversion for an afternoon. Still, it’s riskier than most pursuits - Fishers are thought of as small-scale daredevils, since most people have no idea how to swim.
3. Musician
Skill: Playing Music
Items: Musical Instrument (per Village), lyrics for eight songs (written down).
In Hanku, a little drum, in Tuka, a bagpipe, in Iku, a flute, in Iba, a horn, in Taba, a string instrument with a long neck, in Iraka, a string instrument with a short neck, in Joeio, a big drum, and in Raha, whatever you feel like. In all villages, accompanied by song. Everyone likes Musicians.
You can burst into song to re-roll a Reaction, so long as the person or creature reacting has any feelings at all. Anyone can do this, of course, but it’s only going to be a better reaction if the person is a competent musician.
4. Philosopher
Skill: Identifying Iru’s Creations
Items: Slot of Paper (1 Quire), Brush and Ink.
Knowledge is the easiest and most pleasurable thing to gather, as they say.
Upon seeing anything Iru made (which is everything), you know at least roughly what it is. If it’s common knowledge, you know a useful extra fact. If it’s otherwise secret, you’ve got an excellent hunch.
You know another Philosopher in every other village. Roll 1d6 for each of them - 1, they have an opposite view of the world to you, 6, the same, the rest, a spectrum between those points.
5. Farmer
Skill: Agriculture, +1 CON.
Items: A Farm Tool [1d8, -1/-1], Bag of Grains [1], Straw Sunhat
Not the most glamorous task, but the most common, and the most appreciated. It certainly toughens you up, too. You can come across as a simple, serious, down-to-earth and/or ordinary type of person to almost anyone, even if you are secretly wildly insane and full of acquired knowledge.
You know how to move sheep and kine without issue.
6. Cook
Skill: Cooking, +1 CHA.
Items: 3 Delicious Treats [1], Pot [1], Ladle.
Everybody likes a Cook, and everybody likes to travel with a Cook. Everyone makes food when they need to, but people who dedicate themselves to making food excellently are used to being beloved.
With three or more ingredients, you can prepare a hearty meal while camping, resting, or similar. Anyone who partakes in the meal gets 1d6 Temporary HP the next day.
7. Wrestler
Skill: Wrestling, Grappling, +1 STR.
Items: Mask, Jug of Oil [1], Piece of Chalk, White Rope (To mark the circle).
Wrestling is the only form of inter-village conflict which exists - a ritualised form of conflict resolution, that began in Hanku Village. Wrestling has strict rules (first person to get thrown out of the circle, no hair pulling, etc.), and is quite ritualised. Wrestlers all know each other, and they all have a stage-name and a scary mask.
8. Quarrier
Skill: Stonework, +1 STR.
Items: Hammer (1d6), Chisel, A Rock (1 Slot)
It was your task to use a hammer and chisel to gather stone, or maybe glass from the Glass Hill, for the purpose of making and repairing houses. They say Quarriers only ever respect other Quarriers, and a sort of sub-society exists among them, where taciturnity and a good eye are favoured traits.
10. Radio Historian
Skills: Electronics
Items: Quire of Paper Written with old Broadcasts, a random Disc from the table below.
In your grandparents’ time, the Radio was a Facility, up near the Drooping Grasses, across the Ha-Ba Strait from Taba Village. The Radio played music and shared news in the soft voice of the Head of the Facility, and little machines that could hear and reproduce the Radio’s voice were spread around. But, a while ago, it broke. Iru hasn’t repaired it yet. This has given rise to a group of interested individuals, who wish to preserve what the Radio said, and the songs it played. They can do this by briefly reviving the old listening machines, when they can find them.
Their symbols are the Discs, strange things the Radio used to use. Once upon a time, with the power of the Head of the Radio, a Disc could give someone a strange talent. Nowadays, of course, they can only be activated with the use of those old Radio-machines, and most of those aren’t portable.
1d8 Discs:
Happy Tune - For the next [sum] rounds, everyone who can hear the Disc is incapable of feeling sad, downtrodden, regretful, vengeful or tired.
Blast Waves - Every [lowest] rounds, a tangible, gelatinous thump of sound shakes out of the Disc, shoving everything unsecured [dice]+3ft away from the point of origin. Large creatures can save. This happens [dice] times.
Sound Dome - While this Disc is playing, a hemispherical dome with [sum] * [dice]HP with a [dice]10ft diameter exists, centred on the Disc. The dome is translucent, can't be passed through by anything but air, and the air inside is cool.
Fight Music - Up to [dice] creatures of your choice hearing this Disc have +[dice] to hit for [sum] rounds.
Silence - For [sum] minutes, there is no sound within [sum]*5ft feet of this Disc.
Calm - [sum]HD of creatures hearing this Disc activate lose their rage, vitriol, or hatred, if they have any. They can’t get it back for [dice] hours.
They say the Head of the Radio, the giant deer-bird called Doremi, vanished away across the water towards the places where Iru hasn’t built anything. Probably, she’s still out there, somewhere, flying over the grey waves.
11. Spy
Skills: Surveillance and Disguise, and you can read the secret Mika writing.
Items: Foliage Disguise, Mask, Big Cloak
Mika Tower is a huge windowless block in the east of the island, just off the fields of Split Grass. In an earlier idea for your world, Iru had a much grander scope in mind, and envisioned the Mika Tower as a home of a mysterious order surveilling all from their isolated stronghold, keeping notes in their own cryptic hand. This never really came to pass, but people still occasionally go to live in Mika, and act as “spies”, who surveil the rest of the island with varying subtlety. They record what goes on, and occasionally pass this info on to Iru. Occasionally, through the power of gossip, the spies become unintentional journalists.
12. Dreamer
Skill: Flirting OR Poetry OR Rhetoric OR Comedy.
Items: None extra.
You decided not to work. You can Speak With whatever it is you dream about, whenever you like. Water is taciturn but wise, Dust is gossipy, Air is inattentive but everywhere, Grass is honest and simple, Machines are task-based, Ice is poetic but ephemeral, Trees are old and have long memories, Light is knowledgeable but only exists in the present, Soil is laconic and sensation-focused, Electricity is flighty and passionate, Metal is locked in on heat and movement, and Paper knows about what is and was written on it.
Step 7: Choose the Facility in which you previously worked. Roll 1d12, and don't worry that the list is 11 entries long, there's a result for 12 just after.
Pottery - At the Pottery, you learned how to feel through clay, stone and soil, and interpret the vibrations - in short, you have Tremorsense 60’. As your bones jumped from the machines and you sweltered in furnace heat, you also picked up some of the toughness of stone - critical hits against you are normal hits.
Here, they turn soil into clay, and clay into fired objects. They also turn clay into spare stone, if the need arises. A huge, dome-shaped building, loud and muddy, full of thundering, pounding machinery that shakes and rattles the bones. It’s quite dark inside, except where the coal-fired furnaces glow.
The Head of the Pottery is Katogu, a huge rumbling mechanical contraption with four forward-facing arms, huge jaws like a beartrap, glowing headlight eyes, and massive wheels that she thunders around the Pottery on. She’s tough, stubborn, unstoppable, an engineer, and a bit of a speed demon. She wants more excitement in her life.
Through the post, she sends blueprints and receives ornaments.
Dust Factory - At the Dust Factory, you learned how to walk very lightly, to not disturb settled dust - you make no sound you don’t mean to. You also learned a lot about the Island’s past from the Head of the Facility - you gain another Skill, which is History.
One of the oldest Facilities, and far out of the way on top of the Plateau. Here, they make all the dust - ready to be turned into sand, ash, sugar, dyes, or other kinds of powder. Huge bins of it stand ready to be taken down to the coast, to be mixed with water to make soil. The Dust Factory itself is sort of like some kind of ancient tomb or temple, that also happens to be a functional building. It is lit by shafts of light swirling with dust.
The Head of the Dust Factory is Babate, a huge bristle-faced, brush-tailed animal, something like a massive mustelid with hands and a beard. They are very old, older than the rest of the Heads (apart from maybe Hamitu). They are irritable, hidebound, quite reclusive, and occasionally startlingly aggressive. They would like some more recognition.
Through the post, they send polemics and receive questions.
Loom - At the Loom, you became an excellent climber, and also learned how to throw strands, such that you can wrap a rope or a string around something with great accuracy at a distance of up to 30’.
All the fabric in the world is made here from the fibres of various grasses, and the furs and wools of various animals. All the fabric is hard-wearing, long-lasting, takes to dyes well, and is comfortable - aside from the tent-material, which is just the first three. The Loom is a vast, airy structure. Beetling machine shuttles dance back and forth across rainbows of warp and weft suspended taut in the air around the towering vertical framework.
The Head of the Loom is Chibota, a huge, slender, slightly mechanical spider with a cutesy bird head. Cheep cheep! She climbs around the active sections of the Loom, checking and rechecking. She is attentive and peaceable, but a perfectionist.
Through the Post, she sends swatches and receives tailors’ measurements.
Carpentry - At the Carpentry, you learned how to leap between machines, quickly unsticking the processes, riding the conveyors, and avoiding the saws. Due to this nimbleness and skill, if you take a full turn to make ready, you can automatically dodge anything it’s possible for a human to dodge (one dodge per turn spent making ready, naturally). You also gained the ability to read lips, due to the necessity of communicating through the noise of the saws.
Trees become wooden objects in this large squarish building, which is full of buzzing saws, rattling conveyor belts, towering ladders and tall glass windows. The roof is covered in an emergency supply of backup trees, in case the rest of them suddenly vanish.
The Head of the Carpentry is Wakawu, a tall monkey-like being with a wooden mask, a belt of tools, and a staff that changes size on command. She is observant, cunning and nimble, but overconfident. She likes to write and boast. She wants more free time to wander, and secretly, to visit the sky.
Through the post, she sends stories and receives rumours.
Paper Factory - At the Paper Factory, you learned how to make origami objects that work as if they were the real thing (but only once), and how to write a really nice letter (allows for reaction rolls &c at distance).
When Iru’s people wanted to write books and send letters, they needed paper. He pre-empted this need with the Paper Factory. The Paper Factory is a large, forlorn building, which turns quick-growing trees into pulp. The smell of paper pulp reaches the Ha Postal Relay across the valley they share.
The Head of the Paper Factory is Hamitu, a small, boring, unassuming man, bald as an egg, white as a sheet of his paper. He wears strange black trousers, a white tunic tucked into them, and a really weird, thin black scarf, tied in a knot and tucked under the collar of his tunic. He is diligent, quiet, and has a habit of dozing off.
Through the Post, he sends and receives letters.
Wind Mill - At the Wind Mill, you learned how to use the air to cushion a fall - you can ignore the first 3d6 of any fall damage. You also learned how to ride the air when you jump, doubling the height and tripling the distance you can leap.
This great wheel of fans makes all the wind, turning inexorably on the big hill west of Joeio Village. Nothing in the world is farther west. It rattles and turns upon its vast scaffold, pushing the air into bespoke shapes that whirl and swirl out east, to carry away fogs and bring in the proper amount of rain. It gets calibrated every morning, but mostly runs itself, so they say it’s an easy job.
The Head of the Wind Mill is Ohtasu, a huge, slender green snake with leaf-like wings and flower-petals that can close around her face. She likes to fly around the island at night. She’s intelligent, has a great sense of humour and is soooo cool, but has a habit of avoiding problems. She misses Doremi.
Through the post, she sends jokes and receives maps.
Spear Locker - When you came to your new job at the Post Office, you were allowed to keep your spear, since you can be trusted with it. It’s a weapon (1d8), with a three-digit number on it (roll 1d1000, something special happens if you roll 1 or 1000). You also learned how to hold your spear in a way that frightens unarmed people and small animals, causing them to not approach or bother you, and to flee you if you run at them. You have +1 to Hit.
A huge, dark building on the south coast, surrounded by a grey-white beach. It has no windows, and only one huge door. All of the spears are kept here. They are numbered, so we don’t lose track of them. Entry to the Spear Locker is forbidden except if you work there.
The Head of the Spear Locker is Skathati, a tall, serious metal humanoid with six arms, carrying the venerable Spear 001. She is an appreciator of art. She is the only person in the entire world with an idea of martial valour and/or skill at arms, which means she’s lacking a rival to position against.
Through the Post, she sends challenges and receives drawings.
Rain Drum - At the Rain Drum, you learned how to bring rain to your position - for each hour you spend in an elevated location performing wind-calculations and using dust to seed the clouds, it will rain over that spot for an equal number of hours tomorrow. You also learned how to instantly turn a cup of water into a cloud of vapour roughly 10~ across, at least partially by splashing it on the ground.
The Drum is a gigantic hollow mountain full of vats, staircases, and towering vertical water-machines. It has excellent views. Rain is made up down in the mountain’s depths, then launched up out of the hollow top of the mountain, to be spread around in the right portions by the wind.
The Head of the Rain Drum is Boralo, a large wooly something, thumping along on long arms and stout legs. All that can be seen of him through the thick curly white wool are a pair of soulful eyes.
He is thoughtful and philosophical, but very rarely bothers to write or speak. He wants to understand Iru.
Through the Post, he sends puzzles and receives solutions.
Harbour - At the Harbour, you learned how to swim well, and also how to hold your breath for up to ten minutes.
The promise of other islands, not yet fulfilled. But someday soon. Surely. An open structure attached to the south of Iraka Town, where lots of boats float. Most of them are from Iraka Town, but a few are huge, inoperable boats of the future, which will run on coal when Iru finishes them. Around the Harbour, a thick wall protects the boats from the sea, full of offices and corridors - far too many for the current amount of workers.
The Head of the Harbour is Dimoda, a gigantic shimmery blue fish with stout legs. He is the largest thing alive, and usually lives in the bottom of the Harbour. His eye is about as wide as a standing person. He tries to be cheerful, but the world is too small for something like him, and Iru doesn’t seem to be moving to expand it any time soon, so you can feel a kind of sadness in him.
Through the Post, he sends dictations, and receives snacks.
The Sun - Up on the Sun, you learned how to store light in shiny objects, so that they glow in the dark for an hour, and also how to see hidden things and secret doors when sunlight is shining on them.
It hangs up there, lighting the day, a fuzzy gold concentricity. In the morning, it turns on above the Sun Maintenance Island, and flies in a wide, lazy arc up east, then down to the south. When it reaches the end of the motion, it turns off, and during the night, it flies back. Your shifts were three flights of the Sun.
The Head of the Sun is Ramatu, a mirrored shining cat with eagle’s wings and a lovable face (:3). He dozes a lot of the time. He’s universally beloved and popular, but a little bit of a diva.
Through the Post, he sends poems and receives invitations.
Coal Factory - At the Coal Factory, you learned how to Detect Coal and Fire 120’, even through walls, and also how to instantly ignite Coal that you’re touching. Burning Coals can be thrown for 1d6 fire damage.
Black walls, huge hazy hot chambers, towering chimneys, dark residue everywhere. It’s large enough to contain “Suio”, a pseudo-village of people working at the Factory. It makes all the coal you and others burn for heat and cooking.
The Head of the Coal Factory is Yanayo, a fireproof steam-driven giant with strong arms and a disclike face. He does all the heavy lifting around here. He’s diligent and patient, and always has been, but when you worked there, he was beginning to occasionally become despondent and angry.
Through the Post, he sends complaints and receives orders for more coal.
Now, though, you work for the Post Office. It’s right next to Iru’s house. It’s a busy, lively, dusty sort of a place, hall after drafty hall filled with messages halfway sent and dreams ready to be expressed.
The Head of the Post Office is Meohmi, a giant fluffy beetle with a nervous, stressed-looking human face, and fuzzy hands on the ends of their front legs. They buzz about sorting the letters and packages again and again, preparing the deliveries. They’re constantly worried about getting everything delivered right, delivered on time, oh gosh, oh gosh!
They never send or receive Post, but they read everybody’s mail.
If you rolled a 12, you've always worked for the Post Office, and have seniority of a sort over these newbies. At the Post Office, a long while ago, you learned the trick of reading a letter without ever opening it, and how to talk to dogs. They tend to respond monosyllabically.
Your job is simple! You just have to deliver messages to people, in the Villages, and in the Facilities, and sometimes, in other places. When you go to a given Village or Facility to deliver, people will give you messages to bring back to the Post Office, which get added to the list of messages you need to deliver at a later date.
THE POST
Each in-game day, the referee may also choose to generate an additional Delivery, using the following method tables.
At the start of the game, the referee may also want to generate a starting list of a few deliveries.
First, roll 1d6. Roll for the Destination, and the Package. Then, there is a 2-in-6 chance of a Complication.
Destination (1d20)
There’s a 1-in-6 chance the Delivery is for the Chief of a Village or the Head of a Facility, which may change what it is.
Hanku Village
Tuka Village
Iku Village
Iba Village
Taba Village
Iraka Town
Joeio Village
Raha Town
Loom
Pottery
Dust Factory
Carpentry
Paper Factory
Wind Mill
Spear Locker
Rain Drum
Harbour
The Sun
Coal Factory
Iru’s House. The only things ever delivered here are prayers.
Package
If you don’t already know what the package is, you can roll on the following table to find out.
An ordinary letter.
A threat.
A love-letter.
A poem or song.
A drawing.
An invitation.
A secret.
A prank.
An insult.
An order.
A decoration.
A request.
A map.
A compliment.
A response.
A dismissal.
A delicious treat.
A pressed flower.
A weird object.
A dried fish. Ew.
Complication (1d10)
There’s a spearhead in the package - this is forbidden. They’ll be in trouble if they deliver it, of course, but they’ll also be in trouble if they open the mail.
The target of the delivery has a famously large, irascible dog that they love a lot.
The target of the delivery is currently out sailing, and you’ll have to figure out who to leave the delivery with in their absence.
The target of the delivery is dreading the package, and will avoid you in your attempts to deliver it.
The package is something perishable and time-sensitive.
The package is something stolen from a randomly-determined Facility - a part, a piece of a uniform, something decorative, even.
The written address is garbled, or if it was submitted with a spoken adress, it's been recorded incorrectly or incompletely.
The address has recently been demolished, incorporated into another building, or otherwise made challenging to deliver to.
The target of the delivery left their village to live in the woods, recently, for some reason.
The package also contains a rare, valuable Disc.
If a prayer bound for Iru’s House rolls a Complication, then it always is this: it contains something Iru will not want to read.
ADVANCEMENT
For every successful delivery you make, you get 1XP. This is party-wide, and if you deliver, say, four packages at once, you get 4XP.
You spend XP with the Heads to improve your stats, but only if they like you (personally). This is sure to be the case if you used to work for them.
Each successive improvement costs [fibonacci], starting at 3.
I.e., if you have +0, it costs 3XP to get +1, then 5XP to get +2, then 8XP to get +3. This is based on the number of times you’ve improved, not how high your starting value is. If you come out of character creation with +2 to Hit, it costs 3XP to get to +3 to Hit, 5XP to get to +4, and so on.
XP Spent With…
Katogu - Improves AC.
Babate - Improves Damage.
Wakawu - Improves Saves.
Chibota - Improves Dexterity.
Hamitu - Improves Intelligence.
Ohtasu - Improves Initiative.
Skathati - Improves To Hit.
Boralo - Improves Wisdom
Dimoda - Improves Constitution.
Ramatu - Improves Charisma
Yanayo - Improves Strength.
Meohmi - Improves Inventory.
And here’s a secret - if you can find Doremi, she improves MD.
To learn new Skills, it’s the same, but you need to spend a week off in an appropriate Village, and it starts at 5XP.
IRU
Iru is grey, and has white hair, usually worn long. He wears a white robe with voluminous sleeves, and white sandals. He has a third eye in the middle of his forehead. Sometimes, his third eye appears in other places, when he wants to see them. Through the Post, he sends nothing and receives prayers.
Iru lives in a little house, which is simply decorated - it was intended originally as a place just to rest, and maybe to eat some food, if he felt like it. It was not originally intended as a place to live through the year. He expected to be out building. But, well, there’s nothing more permanent than something intended to be temporary.
Iru is frustrated, tired, and sort-of omnipotent. He spends a lot of time asleep, or looking out at his garden as the rain falls on it. He is not cruel, mean, or rude, but he has lost most of his passion, so it seems. If some disaster threatens the little island he made, Iru will act, sometimes even hastily. Otherwise, he spends most of his time indoors. Who can say why he does not build anymore?
Iru is much better at creating things than he is at destroying them.
