An Adventure About a Printing Press (Glåugust '26)

Iskadar has two big papers of note. The first is the Triumphant Messenger, which is the oldest newspaper in the world, leans to the makerite-old-capitalist “Bog” faction of city politics, and has an extremely strict editorial policy. The second is the Canal View, the first issue of which was ten years ago, that leans to the moralist-secular “Spark” faction of city politics, and is famous for printing outright lies.

The Boswel family, one of the great Admiralty families of the city, own both the Messenger and the View, thanks to the cunning business acumen of the late Radal Boswel, deceased father of the current family head, Hana Boswel. All other papers are printed in a basement or by a union, and don’t often have influence beyond their local district. The Boswel papers, however, reach around the world.

Hana Boswel is (like her father, and a string of ancestors reaching right back to Hell), a horned and red-eyed recusant (it’s a more polite term than brimstone). Recently a much admired heiress and debutante in High Society, now, five years on in harder times, she has debuted and inherited and finds herself rather bored of the serious lifestyle. Ms. Boswel desires a little excitement back in her life.

She achieves this excitement in part with daring investigative journalism - both by investigating on her own time, and by hiring people to get the latest scoop. She puts her pieces in the View, because her public reputation is as a well-known Spark. The rest of her excitement derives from attempts to stamp out any pamphlet, paper or bulletin in the environs of the City of Cities that she doesn’t have a controlling stake in.

The current target is an underground paper operating off a single press down in Bellwether, by the name of Announcer, which is a heavily syndicalist-leaning little outfit that reports on the excesses of High Society. Boswel found their issues amusing, until they started printing about her.

She has hired a group of disreputables - a few thieves-in-law from the city, to keep the local criminals happy, and then some subcontractors from Ozann to round out the numbers.

The leader of the outfit is Letitia “Tish” Vogel, an associate of the Stroza Family, formerly of Zarumaa, currently of Bellwether. A veteran of the War, she learned to operate a heavy repeating rifle in the valleys around empty Amacos, and she’s still a dab hand with it. She took her gun home from the war, deserted the day after the truce, and by this mechanism, dodged the Treaty’s ban on magazine guns. So some people call her Magazine Tish.

Her second in command is Enlo Tokaba, a Daorac nationalist assassin who failed to take out her target at an international conference in Iskadar, and was too afraid and embarrassed to return home to her terrorist cell. Enlo’s a trained climber, excellent shot, skilled knife-fighter, and practiced poisoner. Oh, and Tish’s girlfriend, which is why she’s here in the first place.

They’re accompanied by Forge, Icono, and Elezan,. three hardened Iskan gangers with long handguns, knives and a hand-grenade between the three of them. They’re fairly competent, but are primarily guided by bravado.

The head subcontractor is a low-level Ozannar wizard, by the name of Vano Piemi. He does this sort of shit - low level legbreaking, threats, breaking-and-entering - as more or less his day job, and his spells (Knock, Invisibility, &c) reflect this. He’s a skinny, unlikeable, but undeniably good-looking sort of a fellow, wearing an abominable bright orange jacket.

He has brought six low-grade thugs from his hometown, canal-girt and smoke-shrouded Shinaca. The Shinacans are not particularly competent, but they are armed with wooden clubs and metal piping, and they’re enthusiastic to be paid.

The thugs are under fairly express orders not to kill anyone, or hurt them too badly, just to intimidate them - and to smash the printing press. They will only escalate to violence if it becomes personal.

Their first attempt was seen off by an accidentally timed police raid on the illegal narcotics lab next door (no relation to the Announcer), which has given Ms. Sew Galiandra, the editor of the paper, time enough to scrape some funds together to hire you, to see off Tish and her crew when they circle around to try again. You are also under express orders not to kill anyone, because it would be a real ball-ache.

A Spellbook, Pursued (Glåugust '26)

The famous necromancer, Avrendus, put together his magnum opus, the dark tome called the Codex Corporeal, hundreds of years ago. Since then, it has gained a great reputation across the world for both enlightenment and moral decay.In the haunted port of Cilano, the first run of the book came off the Frightful Presses (operated by skeletal hands). Every would-be necromancer and dark wizard likes to claim to own a piece or typeset from them. 

The Codex is a necromancers’ catechism, of sorts, containing both the basics of “biomancy”, as it calls it, pages of carefully written theory, and esoteric advanced techniques ciphered throughout. There’s an amusing mirror of the trade in fake relics that orbits the Church - a trade in fake printing-press components, manuscript pages, and notebooks.

In that trade, of course, sometimes, a genuine piece comes onto the market from a private collection, a looted church warehouse, an appraised estate or excavated wizard-tower. Then shady figures with wealth engage in a war, hidden from public view, to bid on this quill or that scrap of paper. After all, hidden among these trinkets and trivia could be the secret of Avrendus’ infamous immortality

However, it is a once-in-a-lifetime event for an actual copy of the Codex Corporeal (even ones in varying states of intactness or interpolation) to become available in the moonlit markets. Most of the intact books of the first edition are in the possession of the Church, the split-up treasure hordes of toppled liches, or - most terrifyingly - in the current possession and daily use of active liches.

You, my friend, are a wealthy Iskan, and you are also a necromancer. Your secret contacts have told you that the semi-reputable auction-house Alveig and Vindar has come into a new possession - a first edition copy of the Codex. They’re holding a black auction, and your agents have secured you an invite. Unfortunately, according to the diligent reporting of your secretary, there are three other people who have both the means and the competence to compete with you. They will attempt to foil you first at the auction, then, if you win, afterwards, with less formal methods.

 

The First Pursuer: Millefoile Metadana Victorié de Vanil

A noblewoman, from an ancient house of the Verdaran peerage. She is absurdly rich, from her family’s ancient war loot, and personal friends with Mr. Lowas Alveig, one of the proprietors of the auction house. The House of Vanil were rather famously allies of Avrendus, considering their lands in northern Verdara were very close to his home in Cilano. They managed to repent of this publicly enough to keep their lands (after all, it’s troublesome to dislodge peers in the wooded hills), but never truly abandoned the secrets he taught them. Millefoile is the latest in a long line of necromancer-countesses.

Lady de Vanil is a calculating schemer and a reckless duellist. She arrived in Iskadar via her very distinctive personal yacht, which is secretly armed with a light cannon. She is excellently trained in the Celadon style of swordwork, light on her feet, and an athletic acrobat. She is accompanied by ten of her household guards, three of whom are secretly analgesic undead, and a fourth is a very skilled sharpshooter with a long-barreled rifle.



The Second Pursuer: Dovmek Torowa Oskoni

Of course, in the new Ozann Union, the old families, merchant consortiums and banks are kings, just as they were when Ozann was a collection of troubled city-states no more than a decade ago. The Oskoni Bank is one such institution - family-owned, and happy to involve itself in all the grim business it needs to, in order to make money. International organised crime has an old friend in the Oskoni Family. He has no interest in necromancy as an art, and isn’t one himself, but his family is very aware of the value of this book, and seek to possess it, to resell to the rest of you at a higher price.

Mr. Oskoni is cool under pressure and a remarkably quick draw with his double-barrelled pistol. He arrived in Iskadar on a small airship owned by the bank, accompanied by four crew and six extremely well-trained mercenaries, all veterans of the War of the Ruins.



The Third Pursuer: Lindē Dolcator

An official of the Cantosian government. Specifically, a member of their secret service, the Office for State Survival, or Ofstatsur, to use the usual Common abbreviation. The Cantosian regime’s mixture of utopian, eleutherian (free-sorcery) and syndicalist positions has resulted in them becoming the foremost necromancer-state on Aclas, and thus an international pariah for most of the last two centuries. Isolated in their mountains, an uncomfortable detente has been reached between them and the rest of the world - but Ofstatsur know it will not last, and the perfidious social-complex will return to destroy their way of life. Thus, they seek out any information that will empower their position.

Mrs. Dolcator is a fiery ideologue and an icy professional. She arrived in Iskadar via a deniably chartered yacht, bringing with her a group of eight Ofstatsur wetwork specialists, two analysts, and a state necromancer. She herself is a necromancer, armed with a loyal military ghost that will rip and tear at the soul of those she directs it to.

Amulets from Aclas (Glåugust '26)

In a troubling world, people often appeal to higher powers for protection.

Or to lower ones. 

1. Holy Clay Disc
   Strung on a length of very fine chain to allow it to be worn around the neck. Marked with the Maker’s Holy Icon. Created in specially blessed furnaces in Tylon that burn with a sweet-smelling smoke. The wearer gets +1 to all Saves. Demons, visitors, ghosts and the undead cannot touch the amulet. If they are weak, they will flee if you make to touch them with it. 

2. Dragonforged Ring
   Gleaming bronze in an almost organic, smoothed shape, created by extreme heat. Bent into an approximation of the Serpent’s Ouroboros symbol. Never tarnishes, never forms a patina, never fully becomes cold. Easily affixed to a haft, helm or banner-pole. The bearer deals +2 damage with metal weaponry (guns are metal, naturally), and also gets +2 to Saves vs. any dragon’s breath weapon.
   
   

3. Golden Dried Fruit

Comes from the wilderlands of former Vadhela. Resembles no fruit you know, but is a rich yellow-gold. Dried outer rind, with a sort of gummy, candied squish to it. A thick stem is the anchor point for a long twine cord. The wearer suffers halved (or otherwise reduced) effects from poisons, and has +2HP so long as the fruit is on their person. Eating the fruit destroys it, but cures one disease or poisoning completely, no matter how severe.
 

4. Manhunter’s Arrowhead
   Barbed. Made of a black iron. Attached to a chain of the same. Smells of blood. While you carry this, you deal +2 damage to sentient creatures. The arrowhead has another purpose - if you truly hate someone, hold the arrowhead in your mouth and dream darkly. You will meet a slender, insect-like knight in a nightmare-place, and in asking questions, he shall empower the arrowhead to destroy your dearly loathed one. Once thus prepared, if the arrowhead pierces the target, they must save vs. mutilation, or, if they’re bloodied, save vs. death.
   
   

5. Grey Merchant’s Seal
   An octagonal badge with a pin, made of brass. Depicts an open hand, flanked by two eight-pointed stars. Once of obscure meaning, now a notorious symbol of Hell’s influence. Some joke it shares this with the albatross badge of the Iskan Stock Exchange. The wearer of this is marked as a Grey Merchant, who sells perfect solutions to life’s pains. Regardless of if they actually are a Merchant or not, they get +2 [sum] to Hellish spells and -2 Reaction. They also have complete power over an imp assigned to the badge itself, which can be summoned by focusing on the badge and spilling a drop of blood on it. The imp is workshy, cruel, slightly disgusting, insectoid, and serves as a conduit to its superiors down below.
   
   

6. Luminous Shell
   Beautifully reflective, and spiralled - cracked open to display a slightly glowing interior, somehow still damp with a sweet-smelling slime. Must’ve come from some kind of mollusk. Attached to a crude length of knotted cord. Wearing this, or being near it, you are immune to nightmares while dream-travelling in the Astral Sea. 

7. Living Seed Pod 

Contained inside a kind of carefully carved wooden reliquary, in the style of the closed island of Muzarged. A waxy seed, gradienting from an orangey-yellow to a deep, bluey green. Distinctly alive, faintly warm, smells wonderful. If you have carried the seed for 24 hours or more, plants will not harm you, and the touch of your skin has a tingling, analgesic quality. If planted, it will eventually grow into a huge, strange, rhizomatic plant, which will spread all over with fuzzy creeping vines, attaching especially to other plants. If it attaches to plants which bear fruit, grains, etc, it will begin to grow their fruits or grains itself. 

8. Shard of Unmelting Ice
   A shard of pure, clear, almost luminous ice, jagged and painfully cold. It never melts, and is actively dangerous to hold in one’s hand for this reason - it will draw heat from you without cease. Thus, it is contained inside a carved glass vessel - a hexagonal-prism jar with a thick metal-capped base, and a lid set with a carrying ring. The bearer of this amulet will inexplicably survive a lethal blow, once, then the ice will suddenly melt into water like tears. 

9. “Normal Amulet” 

An entirely normal protective amulet marked with a Holy Icon, made of silvery - er, brassy metal, and it has a thick cord for hanging around your neck. Sometimes it has an Ouroboros, or a geometric shape. Sometimes it moves when you aren’t looking at it. Vibrates in the presence of mimics and doppelgangers. 

10. Monstrous Tooth
    A crooked, not entirely animalistic tooth, yellowy and sharp-tipped. Snapped off at the top, tied to a length of frayed, red-dyed cord, to allow it to be worn around the neck. While bearing the tooth, your natural tendency towards animalistic violence is enhanced. You also expand your crit range by 1, or by 2 if you’re a ghoul.  

11. Jagged Shard
    A chunk of an unidentified metal that defies scientific examination, sharp on every edge and covered in metallic thorns on the flat. A thick bit of gut-cord is wrapped around it, to allow someone to carry (or even swing) it. While wielding this shard, your natural tendency to guilt, regret and hesitation is excellently suppressed, allowing you to act in a totally merciless manner. 

12. Petrified Eyeball
    A huge spheroid of the almost-glutinous translucent stone created by petrification. Distinctly, an eye, though from what kind of creature it originated is hard to say. Held in a net of thick cords, which bunch together into a looped handle. Rolls around, allowing the cavity of the collapsed iris to swivel. When you are holding this, you get an extra save vs. petrification, and see a faint shimmer in your vision when turning your head or opening your eyes would expose you to a gaze attack. 

13. Dried Worm
    Once a living, squirming thing, now dead. Red-grey, and curled up inside a small glass jar, full of dust that has come off it. It’s labelled in Carvelian, or Undercommon. Certainly not an ordinary earthworm, or even a leech - bladed mouthparts are visible near its spiny head. If you are holding this jar, you have -2 to all saves vs. mutation, but in exchange, you have +2 to saves to resist mundane diseases, poisons and alchemical elixirs. If you become affected by a disease, poison, or alchemical elixir, you can consume the worm to transform the affliction into a permanent themed bonus. You can also consume the worm to make temporary mutations permanent.  
    
    

14. Squirming Gobbet
    A lump of cold, still-wet flesh, tied in a carrying-net of dock-rope. Pale, slightly bluish white, striated flesh. Never rots, never dries, but is entirely bloodless. The bearer of the gobbet won’t die from drowning. Note - this is absolutely not the same thing as breathing water.   

15. Ancient Battery
    Some kind of metal canister, dug up in the soil of Cilos. It’s slightly swollen from within. Made of dull, brass-like metal covered in bright blue “rust” - it has a tight lid with a thick, crude screw-cap, half-open but jammed shut by the rust. Touching the metal causes intense tingling in your hand. It smells like cleaning chemicals if you hold it near your nose. It’s strung on a chain. While bearing the battery you always know the direction of north, and, with focus, can “feel” the direction towards the nearest exit from any structure, tomb, dungeon or similar you are in.  

16. All-Seeing Eye
    A disc of black, shining glass, flawless and resilient. Suspended within it, strips of gleaming, iridescent metal sketch out the shape of an eye. While holding this amulet, you occasionally receive involuntary waking visions or hallucinations, warning you of incoming danger, plots against you, or opportunities. 

All of these amulets provide +1MP (Miracle Point) to those appropriately aligned with them.

Resurrection in Aclas (Glåugust '26)

Powerful clerics of the Maker can seek out a departed soul in the Astral Sea and, in a sense, “weld” it back to the original body. This can only be done if the cleric reaches the body of the deceased within about an hour of their demise, and only done if the body is more or less in one piece. Those returned in this manner only live for as long as the cleric who revived them does - when that cleric departs for the Sea, they bring everybody they revived along with them. The souls of those revived in this way are faint, emberlike things, barely burning.

A cleric’s resurrection is not something that happens every day, or even every year, but occurs enough such that terms like the vernacular “half-alive” have developed. More politely, they might be called the “deferred”, the “spared” or the “preserved”, though that last one has fallen out of favour as the term has applied more and more to things like canned food. In scientific terms, they can be referred to as a “reconstructed duality”, or a “bounded psychospheric echo”. In less polite slang, they get called “church-dead”, “life-debtors” or “second chancers.”

 

Acting in imitation of this, naturally, are wizards, who hate to allow any power to be outside of their hands. People have assumed it’s the dream of any wizard king or magocrat, but only a few have pursued the practice. Indeed, Yvaine the Great, most famous modern incarnation of that particular class, actively disdained the idea for religious reasons.

The most famous and luridly discussed method of resurrection is Total Indefinite Comprehensive Psychohylic Reconstruction, a spell written by the famous necromancer Avrendus - it is more commonly called “True Resurrection.”

It works. Perfectly, on anyone, no matter how long they’ve been dead. If you have even a scrap of flesh, a chip of bone, or a tooth (it doesn’t work with a lock of hair, alas) you can reconstruct them to prime health.

However,

The casting is laborious. It’s classed as a 9th Level Spell, in textbooks of theoretical necromancy. The casting is time-intensive - a full 24-hour ritual. Avrendus, an old-fashioned wizard who didn’t blink or sleep so much anyway, found this quite easy, but for a modern sorcerer used to feather beds and chamomile tea, it might be too taxing. The ritual requires, really, a whole dedicated chamber, and an entire laboratory setup for the various steps.

These are the practical issues. Then follow the moral ones. Firstly, a large pit of around a ton of fresh meat is required, of which at least ~10% must be sourced from the genus of the target of the spell. In theory, a more intact body requires less meat, but the exact tables for calculating this sort of thing were lost in the Forbidden Archives Fire of 1641, so the modern necromancer must alas overdo it, for the sake of surety. Secondly, the requirement of an anchor, who must be present for the entire casting - this must be a living person with a strong mutual attachment to the deceased. If the spell fails, the anchor is in danger of suffering a soul-damaging and possibly fatal event - recorded examples exist of failed True Resurrections killing the anchor, or even inverting their soul and turning them into a vampire. Thirdly, the pain.

The first recorded appearance of the spell was the resurrection of Oblate Kiln Carritho, a priest of the Church of the Maker, who had unsuccessfully tried to kill Avrendus and been split into multiple pieces. Avrendus resurrected him as a simple demonstration of the process, after having his wife kidnapped. Mr. and Mrs. Carritho were then returned to their home in Kelos, unharmed (in the long run), and were left untroubled for the rest of their natural lives. Later on, Carritho developed a reputation (fair or not) for developing a strange sympathy for Avrendus.

After this, things began to be called “Carrithine Dilemmas”, or a Carrithine Fallacy - that which purely appeals to power or practicality.

1d10 Soon-to-be Executees (Glåugust '25)

 Locked up in the Exits Wing of Iskadar City Jail, all heading for the noose, the blade, or the bullet-bitten wall… 

1. Name: Ramus Wolfram
   Known Aliases: “Arwol”, “Sparks”
   Age: 42
   Genus: Human
   Citizenship: Tergain
   Former Profession: Military Mage, Academic Mage, Historian
   Charges: Desertion, Terrorism, Producing Seditious Literature, Red Magic (Cloudkill)
   Notes: Graduate of Nethelos’ College of Spires (Evocation, thesis in anbaric thaumaturgy). Highly decorated in 3rd Tergani Sorcerer’s Corps in the last war. Member of a number of Ochlocratic groups and a former member of the proscribed Anti-Magnate League.
   To be beheaded by silvered guillotine. 

2. Name: Ahnda Harm
   Known Aliases: “Tauru Mahdu”, “Big Ahn”
   Age: 26
   Genus: Ogre 
   Citizenship: Idraan
   Former Profession: Stevedore, Docker, Irregular Labourer
   Charges: Assault, Battery, Breaking and Entering, Murder, Racketeering
   Notes: Height and musculature impressive even by Ogrish standards. Plays poorly with other inmates. Close associate of smuggling and extortion outfits in the lower city, serving as a legbreaker and “executioner”.
   To be hung by the neck until dead.
   
   

3. Name: Vaïn Windla
   Known Aliases: “Little Blue Eyes”, “Little Vanity”
   Age: 56
   Genus: Hylen / Elf
   Citizenship: Iskadar-Viciar
   Former Profession: Bodyguard, Concert Flautist
   Charges: Murder, Duelling, Coercion, Racketeering
   Notes: Expert practitioner of a number of fighting styles, some of which are proscribed under Iskan law (a contributing but not deciding factor in Windla’s sentencing). Proudly refuses to recognise the validity of Iskan law, especially the duelling ban.
   To be hung by the neck until dead.
   
   

4. Name: Marta Devardi
   Known Aliases: “Marta the Spike”, “Scaly Marta”
   Age: 50
   Genus: Human (Scytel)
   Citizenship: Iskadar / Ozann Union
   Former Profession: Railway Engineer, Machinist
   Charges: Manufacture of Devices with Intent to Harm, Industrial Sabotage, Terrorism, Sedition, Treason, Possession of Illegal Explosives, Smuggling.
   Notes: Disgruntled former employee of the Vis Guild turned veritable Syndicalist revolutionary. Anti-Makerite sentiments. Operates in conjunction with Syndicalist elements based in Yessul, extradition to Yessul denied. 
   To be shot by firing squad.

5. Name: Meryon av Telov
   Known Aliases: “Merry”, “Old Man Merry”
   Age: 66
   Genus: Human (Irregular)
   Citizenship: Iskadar 
   Former Profession: Dock Foreman
   Charges: Sedition, Red Magic (Mutation), Conspiracy to Summon, Smuggling
   Notes: Telov is probably best classed as the head of a small cult. Mutations render him amphibious. Charismatic, with a number of followers on the outside, a special guard around the clock is required.
   To be executed by silvered guillotine.

6. Name: Ethos Malan Fuzan
   Known Aliases: N/A
   Age: 29
   Genus: Human
   Former Profession: Shop Clerk, Accountant
   Charges: Murder, Coercion, Red Magic (Necromancy), Prostitution, Sedition, Producing Seditious Literature, Assault, Racketeering, Smuggling.
   Notes: Evaded capture for crimes beginning 8 years ago, known to the City Watch, due to “patronage” of formerly-influential, now-disgraced Senator Prudence Hamartia.
   To be executed by silvered guillotine.

7. Name: Isa Penny Elamaa Rosana
   Known Aliases: “Little Isa”, “Red Rose”, “Silver-Tongue Penny”, “Elly Mallen”, “Rosie Tybar”, “Minnie Pinvel”, “Liza Whelk”, “Miryam Ejko”, “Agonia Villiers”, “Missy Louden”
   Age: 27
   Genus: Human
   Citizenship: Iskadar / Zarumaa
   Former Profession: Lounge Singer, Art Critic, Stock Trader.  
   Charges: Red Magic (Enchanting), Smuggling, Racketeering, Coercion, Inheritance Fraud, Financial Fraud, Securities Fraud, Insider Trading, Theft. 
   Notes: Rosana is a consummate conwoman and a pathological liar - learning and utilising enchantment magic was a simple outgrowth of pre-existing habits and activities. Daedalus personnel immune to all enchantments, no matter how subtle, are best employed by handing Rosana.
   To be executed by silvered guillotine.  

8. Name: Verix Rasanisa
   Known Aliases: N/A
   Age: 29
   Genus: Raksha
   Citizenship: Iskadar / Medir
   Former Profession: Martial Arts Instructor, Night-club Bouncer
   Charges: Assault, Breaking and Entering, Murder, Duelling, Loitering with Intent to Harm
   Notes: Assault charges are especially high in number due to her habit of beating people in the streets of Iskadar with a baseball bat to “hone her art”. Has a strong mental association with old warrior clades of the Medirran Empire, directs her behaviour accordingly. Once she has made an enemy of a fellow inmate, no recovery between them is possible.
   To be hung by the neck until dead.  

9. Name: Xolani Thanim
   Known Aliases: “Doc”
   Age: 59
   Genus: Human
   Citizenship: Ekaros
   Former Profession: Surgeon, Physician
   Charges: Red Magic (Body Manipulation, Necromancy), Conspiracy to Replicate Red Magic, Sedition, Smuggling, Operating as a Medico without Proper License, Assault
   Notes: Believes his repeated and unrepentant campaigns to spread illegal body-modifying necromantic magic to be a “moral war against illness”. Previous extradition back to Ekaros has not prevented his return and resumption of his activities. Apparent associate of necromantic cells in operation in Cilano and the Ozann Union, although evidence is inconclusive.
   To be shot by firing squad. Further extradition denied, official complaint by Ekarine ambassador entering legal system.
   
   

10. Name: Bitter Earth 14
    Age: 33
    Genus: Daedalus (First-generation “Forged”, Handmade)
    Citizenship: Iskadar / Athrun
    Former Profession: Automatic Infantry, Chemical Plant Hazard Worker
    Charges: Sedition, Treason, Terrorism, Smuggling, Racketeering, Possession of Illegal Explosives, Explosives Manufacture, Illegal Ooze Manufacture
    Notes: Leader of the “Anti-Organic League” or “Meatgrinder” terrorist cell implicated in the 1819 Huisca Train Station Bombing. Believed to have been a decorated member of an Athrunnar paratrooper unit in the last war. Hermitlike isolationist. Requests for unusual materials to be supplied to cell are to be denied regardless of circumstance.
    To be dismantled. Athrunnar government’s attempt at extradition of brain case pending. 

Realisation of the Self (Class: Mystic - or the Aclas Psionic)

 

THE MYSTIC

+1 Paradigm and +1 Power per Template. 

A - Crown, Focus, Insight

B - Telekinesis

C - Telepathy

D - Manifestation 

Paradigms

Paradigms are restrictions, in a sense (as we all know, restrictions create creativity).

You pick your own Paradigms. They are phrased as “I will never…”

Here are some examples:

• I will never kill anybody.

• I will never behave cruelly.

• I will never mistreat the meek and powerless.

• I will never speak.

• I will never leave the City of Iskadar.

• I will never let the sunlight touch my bare skin. 

Paradigms are not just things you won’t do, but things you can’t. 

Your soul is a tiny star, and all stars naturally dictate what is real, and when you would otherwise -  break a Paradigm, that is - reality rewrites so that you don’t. 

If you try to game this system, you will probably meet a grim fate due to unintended consequences.

Not being able to die has its disadvantages when you stand on a landmine. 

I reserve the right to say “no, that’s not a good paradigm.” 

Powers

The reward for being limited by Paradigms, of course, are Powers. 

Powers are freely usable abilities which change the world in ways people normally can’t. They don’t cost Spell Points or MD, and they’re not once-per-long rest or whatever dogshit - they’re inherent, and you can use them whenever and as much as you want. 

Your powers can be anything, in theory - this is a case of negotiating abilities in a freeform way with Me, the DM, instead of carefully picking them from a huge-ass list. 

In practice, they can be anything as long as they obey the restrictions and explanations put out in Crown and Focus. 

Your powers do not read as magic, because they aren’t magic. They’re truth. 

Crown

Your Powers are limited to an area [templates]x10 metres in size originating from the middle of your forehead, where your soul is. You cannot do anything outside of this area… yet. 

[Fun fact! The Solar System is the Sun’s Crown. Isn’t that nice?]

Focus

Your focus is a noun or a verb - your choice!

Your powers are all themed around your focus. 

For examples of Powers from Foci - 

• Cutting - You can cut things as if by knives at a distance. 

• Painting - You can paint monsters to life with time and supplies. 

• Doors - You can open any door, no matter how locked, and lock any door in a way that cannot be overcome by normal means. 

• Equipment - You can summon invisible psychic tools and weapons. 

&c.

Insight

You can ask the DM for Insight into a person’s fears, emotional state or obsessions and receive a little tidbit of information, so long as they have a soul. 

Telekinesis

You can exert force as if you were standing anywhere you can see. 

Telepathy

You can speak directly to someone you’ve met before at up to a mile’s distance, audible only to the chosen target. 

Manifestation

You can make your soul appear, a bright flame upon your brow, and shed its light. 

This banishes darkness and destroys creatures to which light is inimical. 

Your light burns things you don’t want to exist for 1d8 unreducible damage per round, no save (though, blocking your light with an object still works). Things burned up by your light are completely destroyed.