These esoteric guilds of truth-seeking occultists have long operated in secret across the World Above. The Five Orders have always been the most notable, and the Sun King banned them - for many reasons, the greatest of which is their insistence on literacy.
Scribes have survived, hidden or as royal collaborators, but now, as the Defiant cause rises, the quill and tome return to the light of day.
THE SCRIBE
+1 MD and +1 Scribe’s Art per Template.
Starting Items: Sensible Clothing, a slot of books (3 tomes, probably, on subjects of your choice), a personal Grimoire (⅓ Slot), 3 Rations (1 slot), a light weapon, 30 gold coins, and two pieces of Scribal Equipment.
Suggested Skills: 1) History 2) Theatre 3) Literature 4) Poetry 5) Physics 6) Alchemy
A - Literacy, Quill, Arts and Scripture
B - Identify
C - Translation OR Rhetoric
D - Austere Mind
Literacy
Whether you were a sanctioned Scribe or a rogue one, you are one of the few from the World Above with the forbidden skill - reading. Note: PCs from FIRMAMENT are presumed to be illiterate, due to the tyranny of the Sun King.
Scribes, however, by the very definition, are literate. You can easily read all writing.
Books are a useful source of information for you. When you have a book, you can ask any question on its Subject and receive relatively accurate information, unless the answer to your question is broadly unknown or unanswerable. In certain cases, if an action you are undertaking is covered by the Subject of a book you own, you may roll an extra dice and take the higher result - picking a lock is easier with a book on lock construction to hand. Having multiple relevant books allows for multiple extra rolls.
Quill
You are possessed of the most basic of the Scribe’s tools, a magic quill.
You can summon your Quill from anywhere, it takes up no slots, and deals 1 damage if you stab someone with it (this is considered very uncouth). It’s made of shimmery light-stuff, so breaking it would be a serious feat.
The quill can do the following things:
Write on any surface with glowing lines, in any colour of your choice.
Perform Inscriptions with the correct surface, as dictated by your Scribal Order.
Learning to inscribe on new surfaces is a matter of improving one’s Quill, which is a process forgotten by most modern Scribes, but surely it’s just out there, waiting - we just haven’t opened the right book yet.
Arts and Scripture
You are a member of a Scribal Order, who taught you your arts - their methods dictate where you can Inscribe, and, at least at first, what you can inscribe. Your membership gives you Opinions, Arts and Inscriptions - see below.
You also have MD, which work like the usual GLOG dice.
Each Order gets four modifiers (Arts) that can alter their Inscriptions, or provide other effects. You learn one Art of your choice per Level (note, Level, not Template).
You can learn Arts from other Orders via their books, if you have them when you level up. With a month of downtime study, you can change one Art you know for another contained in a book you have. (You are assumed to have written down the Arts you gained at start or by levelling up).
Spells are Inscriptions, which are rarely instantaneous effects - either delayed, activated or ongoing. You Invest MD into these Inscriptions, rolling them as you do so. The effects often either end or occur when you reclaim your MD. Expended MDs are still expended when you reclaim them.
Roll 3d6 at Level 1, and then you must find new Inscriptions out in the world. You can teach other Scribes your Inscriptions as a Downtime Activity.
When you’ve got access to a great source of Scribal Lore, you can roll 1d10 on your spell list to learn a new Inscription, moving up or down the list if you roll duplicates. (You can do this once per source of Scribal Lore).
Mishaps…
Scribal Error - For the next [dice] days, the Inscription you were trying to use is mangled in some way, doing something adjacent to its original purpose. It takes you that many days to sort out your notes.
Tense Confusion - There’s a [dice] round delay after you activate this Inscription.
Memory Fault - Forget [dice] things about yourself until you get a good night’s sleep.
Mass Missive - Everything literate within [dice] miles is informed of your presence.
Punctuation Problem - MD only return to your pool on a roll of 1-2, for this Inscription and the rest of the day.
Faux Pas - An offended spirit of [dice]HD appears.
Triples cause Severe Mishaps - [dice * 3] instead of [dice].
Identify
Your extensive reading and Scribal education truly comes to the fore.
You have a [Templates]-in-4 chance of automatically knowing what Spell a Spirit is, what a magic item does, or an interesting historical fact or tidbit about something with which you are otherwise unfamiliar. You can attempt Identify once-per-thing. You cannot Identify people.
Translation
You can perfectly understand languages you don’t speak, but cannot yourself speak them. This applies even to esoteric, bizarre or otherworldly languages.
Rhetoric
With a minute’s polite conversation or oration, you can convince a crowd of your point of view, and Charm mundane NPCs into, at least, neutrality (although this won't change their opinion of you). Further, spirits will actually deign to debate you, and recognise you as an equal in conversation - if not status.
Austere Mind
You have achieved crystalline mental perfection. You cannot be charmed, made afraid, possessed, or otherwise made to act against your own will. If you sit next to a sleeping person, you can read their mind, literally, like a book. You can also converse psychically with people, magic items and strange creatures that you lay a hand upon.
The Final Mystery
There is the greatest Inscription, Rewrite, which none in this time now know - whatever you write on a target becomes true. It is the quest of all Scribes to locate it.
SCRIBAL ORDERS
Law Scribe
What is the World? The abandoned kingdom of the divided Ur-Spirit, All Truth Absolute.
Esoteric Symbols: Fourfold Square, Keystone, Inverted Crown, Monkey-Atop-Throne, Laughing Queen.
Inscribe on: Clay and Stone.
Arts of Law Scripture:
Aristocracy
The Method that Rules the Sun
When you are the highest-[template] Scribe in a mile radius, gain +2[sum] to all Inscriptions. Ties are given to the Scribe with the highest HD.
Parliament
The Method that Rules the Stars
Other Scribes can add their MD into your Inscriptions, up to a limit of 5 extra MD. If you suffer Mishaps when you roll, all participating Scribes suffer the mishap.
Council
The Method that Rules the Moon
With at least four Scribes, you can perform an hour’s ritual that creates an extra floating MD, which any of the four can access.
Anarchy
And The Void Is Absent of Rule
Any time doubles, triples, etc. are rolled on MD in your line of sight, you regain an expended MD.
Inscriptions of the Law Scribes:
Thesis
Write up to [dice] conditions as part of the Inscription. If anyone that fits the conditions reads them, you know immediately, and can choose to deal [sum] damage to them, manifesting as a stabbing feeling in their eyes. Affected creatures may save for half. The eyes of those killed by Thesis are destroyed.
Decree
You inscribe a Rule that must be followed. If anyone within [dice * 30 feet] breaks that Rule, they instantly take [sum] damage and contort in agony. Anyone under the effect of Decree knows what the Rule is. The agony effect can trigger [lowest] times. A Rule can only bar active behaviours, not passive ones (like breathing or thinking.)
Boundary
Invest MD to mark a Boundary Line up to [dice * 10 feet] long.
Creatures you do not wish to pass the Boundary must save or be unable to cross it in any way. Creatures with equal to or less than [dice] HD fail this save automatically.
The line can be arranged in any shape you like, and remains until you reclaim your MD.
Creatures which would not physically cross the Line (such as burrowing under it, teleporting over it, or flying miles above it) can bypass it.
Interruption
After you use this Inscription, if anyone attacks or otherwise attempts to harm you in the next [sum] hours, you may immediately attack them first with a +[dice +2] bonus to hit and to damage. You can recover the MD invested in Interruption at any time, ending the effect without triggering it.
Deferral
Inscribe in advance of taking damage. After you take damage, you may then choose to store up to [highest + dice] of that damage in this Inscription, as a reaction. When you reclaim the MD, you then take the damage. Active Deferrals feel like pins in one’s ribs.
Impel
The surface upon which you inscribed becomes a temporary humanoid construct, with [15 + Dice] Strength and [dice] HD. It will fulfil [dice] tasks to the fullest possible extent, then cease to be. Invested MD cannot be recovered until the construct completes its task or is destroyed.
Memorandum
Store up to [sum] words at the inscription point. When a creature passes by, those words are spoken aloud, and then repeated. This can happen as many times as you wish, so long as the MD remains invested, or [dice] times after you reclaim the MD. You can also select specific creatures you wish to trigger the message when you inscribe, so long as you’re familiar with them.
Iconoclasm
Upon activation, the targeted surface reacts as if struck by [sum] iron hammers.
Citadel
One of the Great Works of the Law Scribes.
Inscribe a huge and complex glyph over the course of an hour. While standing on the glyph, you may expend MD to activate it, targeting soil and stone within 100ft to be rapidly shaped into fortifications, in a great rumble and a cloud of dust. Multiple castings of Citadel smoothly meld together, allowing you to assemble fortifications as needed for the situation. The fortifications require a daily maintenance of 1 expended MD, which can be done at the glyph. If this is missed, the fortifications collapse into sand, gravel and loose clay over the course of eight hours.
Rolling 1D, you may raise a two-floor blockhouse with arrow-slits facing all around (10ft square), or a 30ft long, 5ft deep trench.
Rolling 2D, you may raise a three-floor tower, 15ft in diameter, with arrow-slits facing all around and a peaked roof, a dome-shaped cellar with a single circular entry at the top (10ft diameter), or a 30ft long, 5ft tall tunnel up to 10ft underground.
Rolling 3D, you may raise an oval-shaped encircling wall, 30ft long and 15ft wide, a three-floor “donjon” with a cellar (no windows, 10ft square), or a 20ft square patch of waist-deep mud.
Rolling 4D, you may raise an oval-shaped wall, 50ft long and 25ft wide, a four floor tower with a battlemented roof platform (15ft diameter), or a 20ft square stone gate which opens or closes at the command of any Scribe standing on the Citadel glyph.
Upheaval
One of the Great Works of the Law Scribes.
Inscribe a huge and complex glyph over the course of an hour. This covers a flat area about 10ft wide, probably on a stone floor. Standing upon the glyph, you may roll MD to cause a shaking of the earth at a point you can see within a mile.
The earth within [dice]*100ft of the target point violently shakes and cracks for [sum] minutes. Most buildings will collapse, unless they are specifically designed to be earthquake proof, probably crushing anyone inside. Roads split, and trees uproot and topple. Creatures in the affected area with less than [sum]HD cannot keep their footing, move at any speed, or aim anything.
Additionally, select [dice]-2 of the following effects:
A [sum]ft wide, [sum]ft deep sinkhole opens at the target point.
An obscuring cloud of dust covers the entire affected area.
Thunderous cracking echoes audible for [dice] miles around come from the affected area.
Soil, sand and clay in the affected area temporarily partially liquefacts, causing people, animals and unsecured objects on the ground to sink up to 2ft into the ground.
Buried objects, animals, and similar up to 20ft below the target area are ejected to the surface.
Iron Scribe
What is the World? A reality of systems, across which the Kin-Clans of Spirits eternally war.
Esoteric Symbols: Sword-sans-point, Bell, Dagger-and-hand, Scruple, Upright Hound.
Inscribe on: Anything metal.
Arts of Iron Scripture:
Blade Engraving
Supposedly, a good motto makes it sharper.
Inscriptions on weapons increase the value of [dice] by 1.
Iron Mind, Iron Form
Both must work in unison.
You gain +1 Damage Reduction against physical attacks for each MD currently invested in Inscriptions. Your skin visibly gains a metallic sheen while you have bonus DR.
Fencing Education
Iron Scribe texts often double as manuals of swordsmanship.
Holding your Quill in your offhand allows it to count as a Shield - you use it in the manner of a main-gauche.
Flashing Blade
Separate his head and neck. A good retort.
While you have 3 or more MD invested, you have +1 Attack per turn.
Inscriptions of the Iron Scribes:
Sharpen
Inscribed weapon gains +[dice] to hit and damage while MD are invested. Sharpened weapons make a ‘singing’ noise.
Heat Metal
Any metal component of the inscribed target superheats when you activate this inscription. Anything touching the target takes [highest] damage. If they’re holding something they can drop, they do. If they want to keep a hold of the object, they must succeed on a HRTS roll. This lasts for [dice + 1] rounds.
Sunder
You split a metal object to a depth of [dice] inches when you activate this Inscription. The target is either what you inscribed on, or something touching it.
Fortify
inscribe on something metal - that, or something else inanimate it's stuck in/attached to, becomes absurdly durable, gaining [sum]HP which must be depleted before it can be damaged. If the Fortify HP is reduced to 0, the damage from the attack that reduced it to 0 doesn’t overflow onto the object.
Mage Armour
Whoever’s touching the inscribed metal object has +[dice] AC. This appears as a faint metallic shimmer over the affected target.
Catapult
Place runes in a location - releases an impulse of force when activated - you choose the direction of the force. Something struck by a catapulted object, or catapulted into something by an object, takes [sum] damage. The blast of force reaches out to [dice * 5] feet.
Flash Forge
Turn raw metal into a shaped object, or a shaped object into raw metal, with a wave of shimmering heat. You can affect metal touching the thing you’ve inscribed on. You can reshape 1 Slot of metal per turn, for [sum] turns. These turns do not need to be contiguous.
Cage
Upon activation, the glyph transforms immediately into a cubical cage made up of iron bars, [dice + 2] feet on a side. Creatures that fit inside that cage are imprisoned, unless they make a save to escape. Creatures which don’t cause the cage to shatter, spraying them with sharp metal. They suffer [sum + dice] damage, save for half. In both cases, the save has a -[lowest] penalty.
Iron Forest
One of the Great Works of the Iron Scribes.
When you cast this inscription, it needs to be divided between four objects you have on hand and can inscribe on. Next, set [dice] conditions under which the Inscription will attack a person (e.g. “If they are attacking me”). Once you have done this, the MD are invested and the inscription is primed to activate.
At any time within the next [sum] days, you can activate it so long as all of the objects are within 200’ of each other. Once it’s activated, [sum] 10ft long shards of metal are summoned into the area between the inscribed objects. These shards hover in the area, then attempt to fly into and impale anyone that fulfills the Inscription’s targeting conditions.
The shards attack with a +[dice] bonus, crit on 18-20, and deal 2d8 damage each. If any dice shows an 8, or they crit, this indicates an impalement.
Blade Designed to Kill
One of the Great Works of the Iron Scribes.
This Inscription is used on either an extant weapon, or an appropriate number of slots of raw metal. Invest MD - the Inscription will activate when you reclaim them. When you Inscribe on the metal or weapon, choose a specific, and individual creature. You do not necessarily need to be familiar with them, so long as you’re aware of their existence. If you inscribed on raw metal, it will transform into an appropriately-sized weapon when the Inscription is activated.
Once activated, for a period of [sum] days, the weapon will have +[dice+3] to hit and damage against the specific, selected creature. If you land a hit with the blade, you may also choose to end the inscription and instantly deal an additional [sum] irreducible damage, in a sparking convulsion of hot metal. Doing so destroys the weapon.
Dream Scribe
What is the World? The dream of the Lord of the Moon, Serpent Slumbers Deeply.
Esoteric Symbols: The-Disk-in-Eye, Possum Playing Dead, Comet, Snake-Spiral, the Bound Circle.
Inscribe on: Plants, animals, or the surface of water.
Arts of Dream Scripture:
Grimalkin
Ding Dong Dell. The Cat Fell Down the Well.
Accompanying you is a black blob in the rough shape of a cat. It’s very uncanny, and reacts to damage more like a rubber ball than a breathing creature. It has all the uses of a loyal, rubbery cat, including counting as an animal for your Inscriptions.
Lost and Found
Sing a Song of Six-pence. A Pocketful of Rye.
When something leaves your inventory, you know it’s rough location until the next sunrise.
In the Garden
Ring, a Ring of Roses. A Pocketful of Posies.
Inscriptions on plants in a maintained garden increase the value of [dice] by 1, or by 3 if you personally maintain the garden.
The Wild Spirit
Three Blind Mice. Three Blind Mice.
Inscriptions on untamed animals increase the value of [dice] by 1.
Inscriptions of the Dream Scribes:
Send Sight
You inscribe a rune on the target. The sight of one of your eyes is placed in the rune, allowing you to see from it. You can see out of the rune until you reclaim your MD. If the thing you’ve inscribed on is destroyed, save or go blind in that eye for [sum] days. Runes on the surface of water drift with the current, but are unable to be destroyed by physical things.
Fog of Sleep
You conjure a fog that lulls all creatures of [dice] or less HD to sleep over the course of [lowest] minutes. It covers an area of [dice] *100ft around the inscription, following the inscription if the centrepoint moves.
Bird Call
[sum] local birds are summoned to the point of the Inscription. The flock will favour you [dice] times, by answering questions, retrieving objects they can carry, or attacking a target you choose. They disperse and return to normal birdness when you retrieve your MD.
Lost for Words
Inscribe, creating a luminous, swirling glyph on the inscribed surface. The next person (that isn’t you), who sees this rune must save, or enter a state of comfortable numbness for [sum] minutes. The numb feel no pain, feel no fear, feel no panic or urgency. If they are literate, they become unable to read for the duration. In the numb, emotions are suppressed, and complicated, difficult thoughts are slow and twisty, as if coming from a mind half asleep.
Feed the Wolf
Choose a person you have met, and inscribe. They must save or be pursued invisibly by a dream-creature which inflicts upon them worsening fear. If you have a possession or body part (such as a lock of hair), there is no save.
This can last for up to [sum] days, slowly spreading. Every [highest] days, the curse advances through one of [dice] stages. Reaching the latter stages is not guaranteed:
The first stage is a general sense of phobia and dread emanating from the point of the inscription - this lingers wherever the inscription has been, meaning that places can become phobic if the inscription goes there.
The second stage is visual hallucinations of something the afflicted is afraid of in the areas affected by the inscription.
The third stage is visual hallucinations and intense nightmares of a creature representing those fears, which interrupt rest and cause distress in the waking.
The fourth stage is the physical manifestation of the nightmare creature, which attacks the afflicted. It is a [dice]+1 HD oneiros, fears sunlight, but has an immunity to something thematic to the fear being played upon.
If the creature spends a number of days equal to their HD outside of areas affected by the inscription, they get to save again to completely dispel it.
Echoes
Summon [dice] ghostly images of yourself with 1HP, which appear at the inscription point. They can’t go more than 100ft from the inscription point. The inscription point will drift with the current if on the surface of water.
Meddle
Inscribe a complex glyph, over the course of ten minutes. Once the glyph is complete, faint shimmers fill the air in a 50*[dice]ft radius, moving if the point of inscription moves. At your command, these shimmers can briefly take the shape of minor, transitory illusions, which can shape and affect the outcomes of actions. When a dice is rolled within the affected radius, you may nudge its result up or down by [dice]+1. You may do this up to [dice]+2 times.
Find the Path
When the inscription activates, the inscribed target walks (or otherwise moves) the first [sum]*50 feet of a path towards a stated target. If you inscribe on water, [sum] * [dice] gallons of the water will flow quickly along the path as a temporary, fast-moving river.
Back Of Your Mind
One of the Great Works of the Dream Scribes.
Inscribe a complicated glyph over the course of a minute, and invest MD. The next time a thinking creature reads this glyph, you can choose to have your body temporarily vanish and become a thought inside the mind of the creature. There is no save.
While you are inside someone’s mind, you can speak into their head - either as your own disembodied voice, or pretending to be an internal monologue. People don’t often take orders from strange voices in their head, but may consider themselves to be mad. You can also hear their internal monologue, and physically interact with their dreams when they sleep. You may roll SKLL to attempt to dig into and learn about their memories and feelings - this is painful and headache-inducing for the target.
After [sum] hours, when you uninvest MD, if your host drops to 0HP, or if they go more than [dice] miles from the original glyph, you become physical again. You appear either right next to your host, or at the original inscription point.
Implant Idea
One of the Great Works of the Dream Scribes.
Inscribe a complicated glyph over the course of a minute, and invest MD. The next time a thinking creature reads this glyph, they must save with a [dice] penalty, or have a thought or memory of your choice implanted into their conscious mind. Regardless of if they succeed or fail, the glyph vanishes and erases itself from the target’s memory - they cannot recall it. You may select up to [sum] people the glyph will not trigger against.
Implanted thoughts blend smoothly - ideas, observations and feelings all seem to be one’s own. If these thoughts relate to a current or impending situation, the target will act according to them (“I should go and check the other end of the hall, I think I heard a noise.”, for example). If the thoughts are exceptionally dissonant (a desire to attack allies, abandon important duties, break strongly held oaths, etc.) the target may reject it, and doubt their own sanity - remember, this is suggestion, not mind control. Play on impulses already present - a tired guard on the last hour of his shift may want to leave his post early and fuck off home.
Implanted memories can be positioned up to [sum] months into the target’s mental past. If you are aware of what the target was doing at a specific time, you can replace the memory of a specific period up to [dice] hours long. Otherwise, implanted memories may be somewhat jarringly dropped among unrelated recollections. People will act as if implanted memories are normal and accurate, as most prefer to trust their own mind rather than assume they are mad. If prevented with physical evidence their memory is incorrect, or if the surrounding recollections jar extremely (i.e., an hour of violent combat in the middle of an evening of peaceful embroidery) they may save again to dispel, suffering dissonance and distrust of their own memory on a fail.
Skull Scribe
What is the World? The rotting corpse of the Ur-Spirit, called Empty Lies Undone.
Esoteric Symbols: Ribcage, Intestine, Open Mouth, Divided Brain, Rat-worm.
Inscribe on: Flesh, skin and bones, especially skulls.
Arts of Skull Scripture:
Power Projection
What use is power when it can’t be applied?
You can set conditions for your Inscriptions to activate, which can be fulfilled even when you’re unconscious or unaware.
Wage Theft
Give.
Whenever an Inscription of yours, or something you've Inscribed on, does damage, you can heal yourself for [dice].
Dialectic
Many minds think gestalt thoughts.
You can increase the [sum] of an Inscription by 1 for each skull you have to hand.
A human skull takes up 1 slot.
Caput Mortuum
All decay produces - corpses bloom.
When you Expend an MD, increase the [sum] of the Inscription which caused it to Expend by 2.
Inscriptions of the Skull Scribes:
Lumpen
Animate a dead body by investing as many [dice] into it as it had HD. The Lumpen is loyal and active until you reclaim your MD.
Restructure
Inscribe. When you un-invest your MD, you activate the Inscription. You heal [sum] to the target or something touching the target, but give [dice] fatigue to the target of the healing. Higher [sum] values result in visible weight or hair loss. Restructure’s healing can also be passed to something touching the original target of the inscription, when activated.
Theory
Write down [highest] questions on a target. When you reclaim your MD, the Inscription is activated and they must save or speak the answers to the questions aloud. Corpses fail this automatically, and can answer things about their life.
Spectre
Inscribed target becomes intangible for [sum] rounds, reduced to a smoky shadow that flickers in the light. This Inscription activates when you un-invest your MD. If you end your turn inside solid material, you are ejected to the nearest pocket of air and take damage as if you’d fallen that distance.
Solidarity
Inscribe on up to [dice]+1 creatures. When any of the inscribed creatures takes damage, they may choose to activate the inscription and divide the instance of damage equally (rounding down) among all participants.
Resistance
While a creature made of flesh is Inscribed with this rune, they have +[dice]DR against mundane weaponry (guns are not mundane), and make HRTS rolls with a +[dice] bonus. This gives their skin and flesh a hard, leathery feeling while it is active.
Accumulation
When the inscription is triggered, the flesh you inscribed on twitches and seems to steam. If it is a corpse, it decays rapidly, giving you a pool of points equal to [sum] or the creature’s max HP, whichever is lower. Points from Accumulation last until the next sunrise, and can be added to HRTS and MOVE rolls at a 1:1 basis. It can also be used to make rolls on the Death and Dismemberment table less severe. If you apply Accumulation to a living creature and trigger it, you may transfer up to [sum] points from your pool to them.
Upsurge
The flesh you inscribed on pulses and writhes. If the target has less than [sum] HP, they explode, killing them and dealing [sum] damage to all nearby, save for half. Creatures unwilling to explode may save. Corpses, of course, have 0HP, and have no will to save with.
Conclave
One of the Great Works of the Skull Scribes.
Take a skull, Invest MD, combine it with yourself. You can search the emotions and memories of the skull's owner, wear their face and use their voice, but their thoughts may affect yours. While you have a skull conclaved with you, you metaphysically are the person the skull once belonged to - in terms of magical detection, spirits, and metaphysical rights and obligations.
In Perpetuity
One of the Great Works of the Skull Scribes.
Invest MD into self - while you have MD invested, you are immune to death and do not age. Note that you are not immune to injury, or to any other unfortunate conditions.
Tome Scribe
What is the World? A story written in the book of the Ur-Spirit, All Truth Orator.
Esoteric Symbols: Flaming Quill, Litanies and Rubrics, Prismatic Crown, Open Book, Torch.
Inscribe on: Paper.
Arts of Tome Scripture:
Litany
In the beginning was the Word…
You can, at the beginning of your turn, declare that you are chanting Litany. While you do so, you and all companions are immune to fear, charm, possession and all similar mental effects, and are also protected against effects that directly target the soul. Allies gain a +[templates] bonus to Morale.
Analyse
Thorough examination reveals what we seek.
When you use Identify, you can roll MD to ask [dice] extra questions about the subject.
Scrollcraft
The value of words is in having them read by someone else.
You can store your MD in pieces of paper. A prepared scroll takes a day to make. Choose one Inscription you know: anyone holding the scroll can use that Inscription at 1MD. Once the scroll is used, the MD either returns or is expended, as normal. 3 Scrolls fit in an inventory slot.Post-Script
Sometimes, control is more valuable than power.
You may set any one MD you roll to read 1. You can do this before or after rolling the dice. You must rest before you can do this again.
Inscriptions of the Tome Scribes:
Lights
Invest MD. Conjure [dice] small lights, which can move as you choose within your line of sight.
Commit To Memory
Invest MD to turn an object of up to [dice] slots in size into writing, causing it to take up no slots. It remains as writing until you reclaim your MD. If that which you inscribed on is destroyed, so is the object.
Good Fortune
Write down the name of your target. That person can add a d6 to their d20 rolls [dice] times. There is no range restriction. Your MD are invested until the target has used all their Good Fortune.
Explosive Runes
Lay down runes. They remain until you reclaim your MD, and explode when someone who isn’t you (or one of [dice] creatures you designate) gets within a foot of them. The explosion deals [sum + dice] damage, save for half.
Warding Sign
You create [sum] paper talismans, which you can attach to physical surfaces. These talismans act as alarms, revealing the presence of approaching creatures and telling you if they are People, Spirits, or Otherwise. If you place all of the talismans in the same place, they can form a spiritual barrier which denies a magical creature passage if it fails a save, with a penalty of [dice]. If a creature forces past this barrier, the talismans burn.
Levitate
From the point where you inscribe, a cylindrical pillar of faint golden light emerges, up to [dice]*10 feet tall, and 10 feet in radius. In the pillar, you, any object of [dice]*3 or less slots, and any ally touching you, can move weightlessly vertically as you desire. Allies in contact with creatures touching you may also Levitate - holding hands in a large circle or chain is effective for all participants. You may also attempt to move enemies vertically within the area of Levitate, though they are allowed a save.
Laws of Artificial Form
Inscribing, you create a lattice of light, which temporarily takes the form of an effectively indestructible mundane object, which appears anywhere you please within [sum]ft of you. Chemical properties (ex. Flammability, explosiveness) can only be replicated with [dice] at 4 or higher. The object can be up to [dice]*3 slots in size. Creating complex mechanisms requires a SKLL check, otherwise they are nonfunctional. After [sum] minutes, they collapse into light and a soft exhalation of warm air.
Laws of Natural Form
Inscribing, you create a lattice of light, which temporarily takes the form of a mobile, loyal animal which understands the languages you do. It appears anywhere you please within [sum]ft of you. Created animals have [dice]HD, and can be up to the size of a cat / dog / ox / elephant. You can create birds, of course. Attempting to create an animal not extant in nature requires a SKLL check, otherwise it suffers [lowest] unusual defects and mutations once created. Animals created with the Laws of Forms are simple simulacra, obey you always, and lack instincts of their own. After [sum] hours, or if their HP is depleted, they collapse into light and a soft exhalation of warm air.
Read Ahead
One of the Great Works of the Tome Scribes.
You receive a description in text of a probable future, involving a person or object of your choice. You can read up to [dice] days into the future, and can specify [dice] conditions, such as, ‘If Boggs goes down to the chantry play tomorrow, despite his protests’, and so on. The future you see is never set in stone, and fate can always be changed.
Invisible Palace
One of the Great Works of the Tome Scribes.
You inscribe a portal-doorway to a palace of [sum] rooms. Keep a note of the highest [sum] you cast this spell with, as it’s the same palace every time. Re-casting with a higher [sum] adds more rooms. The palace has a strange, diaphanous feeling to it, as if it is made of gossamer, frozen in time. It contains furniture and furnishings (eerie, slightly dreamlike ones), but no food.
Scribal Equipment
Myrrh Incense. Spirits are supposedly fond of incense. Which spirits like Myrrh, you’ve never been told.
Needle and 50’ of Thread. Colour of your choice!
Folding Pavilion. Huge canvas tent that takes up three slots. Sleeps six, has a groundsheet and is pretty well water-proofed.
Fine Coat. Velvet, samite, chiffon, tweed, or anything like that. Fancily made and very presentable. Takes up no slots.
20 Sheets of Heavy Gauge Paper, wrapped in another, bigger sheet of wax paper, to keep out damp. The Scribe Direnç said damp was the only foe of the Scribes that equaled the Sun King.
Ceremonial Mask. Description is at your discretion. Often used in the secretive meetings of Scribal Orders.
Compass, with a gold bar, pointing towards Irgavio Sol and the Throne Illuminate, at the world’s centre.
Treatise on an Obscure Subject. Which obscure subject is your choice. Almost universally written in secret by a passionate Scribe with a name that is challenging to pronounce.
Biwa, an instrument, the kind of which they say resounds through the onyx halls of Sar Arum on feast days.
Firecrackers, light ‘em, and they cause a bloody racket for 10 rounds (which is a minute).
Scented Soap, your choice of smell.
Statuette, of the famous Law Scribe Rustici, who is said to have given laws and governance to the Torni Plain in olden times. He is bearded, wears a crown, and carries a monkey.
Trained Songbird, small and cute. Will dance, and come back when you whistle. Cage takes up two slots.
Vellum Scroll. Old fashioned, but durable. Counts as flesh for Skull Scribes. Comes with a heavy wooden scroll case.
Rose Perfume. Whatever you spray it on smells pleasantly of roses, disguising any other smell.
Smallsword, a light blade, of refined mien.
Trance Slime, a viscous bluish slime of unknown provenance. A Dose of this places the imbiber in a calm, lethargic, contemplative state. Perfect for meditation. Three small clay pots fit into a slot, each containing a Dose.
Book of Sonnets and Haikus, which, supposedly, most spirits will stop to listen to if you read them. Compiled by the Astrologer Holtzmann, who burned to death explicably in the city of Dramyth.
Ironcloth Coat, a voluminous coat in an old-fashioned style, made of shimmering woven steel. Lined in silk, with silver and gold threads woven through the hems. Confers +2 AC, and counts as a metal surface for Iron Scribes. Takes up 2 slots.
A Curio!
Eerie Skull - Has entirely too many eye-sockets. The precise number of eye-sockets changes day to day, in fact. A very grisly curio.
Eclipse Candle - The man you bought it from claimed it was made from the flesh of a dream. When lit, burns with a whispering white-edged black flame that casts no light, but reveals things all the same. The candles know who they serve, and show nothing to those who have nothing they ought to be shown. The non-light induces migraines, and staring into eclipse candles for a long time induces permanent blindness.
Strange Wooden Mask. Depicts an animal, or a person. Brightly coloured, patterned and painted. While you wear it, you have a completely different voice, and magical detection counts you as a different person.
MIGHTIER THAN WHAT, a light pen-knife of sacred steel. As it is made of sacred steel, it’s totally indestructible. The wielder of this knife can cause it to appear in their mouth at any time, and it will never cut them.
Jade Whistle, shaped like a winged dog. Owning this confirms that you have the friendship of a Simargl, a magical winged dog of great nobility and glory. Literally everything loves the Simargls. You can blow the whistle to have it appear, but, when you do so, you are depriving the world of this majestic being, for a time.
Perfect Sun Mirror - Bronze, decorated with curling flames. Shimmers with a deep internal radiance. Hold it high to the Sun’s beams, and it will absorb their power - once between dusk and dawn, you may project a ray of sunlight from the mirror. Additionally, if you stand with your back to the sun and frame your face in Her radiance, upon the mirror, you shall see into your true self - be warned, it is a sight few are prepared for.
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