Celestial Seekers

Those who use celestial or popular magic to seek, investigate, travel, or communicate.

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Astuz

Type: Scout

Astuzi are scouts who rely upon their cunning. They tap into the power of the Sacred Hunt, a mystical set of spirits who represent the cycle of sustainable hunting developed thousands of years previous by early mortals, attuning to it in the wilds as they work.

To become an astuzi, one must not serve the imperials - if one does, one must leave them behind. One must serve as a scout for groups serving the community, for those who protect and fight for the people. They usually work for small communities or resistance groups, though some take work as guides for travelers in need. They usually come from rural communities or ones in the deep wilderness, and they learn from other astuzi how to become hunters. They study the wilderness they dwell in and know it like the back of their hands. And they attune in rituals to the Sacred Hunt.

The Sacred Hunt is more than mere survival, more than predator and prey, but rather, hunting with a consciousness, hunting knowing how to show deep respect for the prey, for the cycles of life, and for justice itself. Never over-killing, always using every part of the prey, and killing those among the prey that are a threat to the prey's survival as well. Once they are deemed fit, they engage in a ritual hunt in which they track and tag their mentor. After succeeding at this, they must shrive themselves of all power, weaponry, and skill, and then return to the people they serve, living without any possessions or needs. During this time, they will have visions, assuming they are successful, and in these visions, they will see a child who tells them the rules of the Sacred Hunt. If they remember and live by these, after a year, their mentor will have a vision confirming it. Then, their mentor will send them on a solo hunt, during which their abilities will come to them:

• Old Buck's cunning: while in the wilderness, the astuzi invokes the blood of the Old Buck, a spirit of the Sacred Hunt, and gains +1 to +6 AWA.
• Blue Doe's prints: the astuz can see the magical prints of the Blue Doe, spirit of prey, and follow them to viable prey while hunting or to those the astuz is tracking.
• Dapple Pricket's range: the astuz will see a Dapple Pricket if they have gone out of range of their own territory or that of those they serve.
• Black Stag's shadow: the astuz can fade into the wilderness, gaining extra STH, by running in the shadow of the Black Stag spirit.
• Silver Brocket's breath: the astuz can breathe life energy into an injured animal in the wilderness, healing their wounds.

Astuzi are more about finding their ways through the wilderness and finding out the location of their targets than hunting them, so their abilities usually reflect tracking over hunting.

PRO +2 ATH +2 STR +1 AWA +3 WIL +1 PRS -2 STH +3

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Avantindietro

Type: Gondoleer

Avantindietri are gondoleers who have special glass gondolas that allow them to be aware of everything going on around them. They have magical awareness of danger. They gain this power by engaging in special vigils and engaging in protective practices to serve others. Notably, they spend as much time as they can helping anyone who is prone to being preyed upon or harmed either by the authorities or more predatory individuals. The more they do this, the more potent their magic may become, especially combined with regular vigils wherein they watch over and contemplate their role in the community. After years of practice at this, guided usually by a mentor, they gain magical vision and an understanding of how to shape magical glass.

They spend years shaping their own gondola, usually working as a mundane gondoleer in the meantime. They gather the glass from fragments, cast offs, and pieces they find, then they infuse them ritually with their own awareness, creating a gondola that is entirely infused with their perception. After years of ritual and building and shaping, they have a magical glass gondola that they can move through the canals of their cities or the rivers out in the wilds, and with it, they can carry people in need, protect them from danger, and sense everything around them:

• Omnovonavis: their all-seeing boat, which they sail using AWA, and through which, if they close their eyes, they can sense everything around it.
• Danger sense: they have an innate sense of danger that gives them +3 to any defensive rolls, immunity to being surprised by an attack or stealth attacked, and forewarning of anything harmful.
• Vigilant rest: they do not suffer penalties to AWA while sleeping.
• Share vision: if someone else is wearing spectacles, they can look them in the eyes and connect their vision with the other person.
• Clarivitrum: they can touch any glass and infuse it with their own perception.

Avantindietri do not work for the imperials. They take small payments, food, and other tokens of appreciation from those they help to get by.

PRO +1 ATH / Swim +1 STR / AWA +3 WIL +1 PRS +1 STH -1

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Balenacava

Type: Rider

Balenacave are whale riders who attune to their own souls to be able to connect with whales. They come from an ancient seaside tradition of bonding with the whales to protect the people, especially sailors. As oppression and enslavement increased and sailors were in more and more danger, the balenacave developed to counter it amongst the people.

In order to become a balenacava, one must attune to their own soul and seek inner equilibrium. This is a rare ability, and those who achieve it do so via means of intensive meditation and self-reflection. They perform special exercises, mundane chores, and simple acts of support and resistance to the tyranny of the imperials. Once they feel the balance within themselves, they find a place within themselves that shows them their own magical essence. This vision becomes a test. If they pass this test, they then take this vision to the seas and send out their own souls to find a whale.

Once their soul finds a whale, they sing together, and if their songs match, if they are equal, they bond. The whale's soul and theirs connect, merging, balancing. And the balenacava gains special abilities:

• Soulsending: they can send their soul out, projecting their consciousness and magic within miles equal to their WIL times ten.
• Whale call: they can call their whale if they are in waters connected to the sea.
• Song of balance: they can sing whale song that balances the stats of all who hear it with their foes.
• Rising aura: if they ride the blast from a blowhole up, they have an aura of power that increases the STR of all allies who can see them.
• Long breath: the balenacava can hold their breath for hours to swim underwater on their whale. They also gain resistance to cold and immunity to pressure changes.

Balenacave ride the oceans, patroling for those in need, and arrive at seaside communities with supplies. They are transporters of goods and necessities, rescuers of the lost, and protectors of the meek.

PRO +1 ATH +2 Swim +3 STR +2 AWA +2 WIL +2 PRS / STH -2

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Curiofoss

Type: Explorer

A curiofoss is an explorer driven and empowered by curiosity and enthusiasm. The more they let their curiosity guide them, the more powerful they become

In order to tap into their curiosity, they must first indulge it by seeking knowledge or experiences that are not harmful to the world. This just means they can't seek out an experience like serial murder or learn about necromancy, to name two examples. As they follow their curiosity, they must not let it waver, but instead, let it continue to grow as they learn. Similarly, they tap into their enthusiasm simply by following it and using it to do their work. If they lose enthusiasm for their work, they weaken. If they stop being curious, they weaken.

Curiosity can be weakened by boredom, contentment, or rote. In order to maintain it, they must change things up occasionally. However, enthusiasm may be dampened by distraction, so changing things up may risk enthusiasm (for their targeted work). Thus, they must find a balance, maintaining focus on their work while engaging with it in different ways as they go. This translates into a roll of AWA to maintain the balance and WIL to maintain focus.

If they do this, they gain bonuses to their work, going from +1 at the start to +9 at their peak over the course of a single work. Failed rolls will lower that bonus; successful rolls will build it. Since their primary work is exploration, this is where their enthusiasm and curiosity and innovation must lead for it to work. Other paths will weaken them.

As they explore, their curiosity may open up other abilities within themselves. Some that they may gain include the following:

• Splintered attention: their curiosity in everything around them allows them to pay full attention to multiple targets.
• Undiminished interest: they may replace sleep for one turn with exploration.
• Bounding enthusiasm: they may convert enthusiasm into an ATH bonus for one action.
• No stone unturned: they may reroll failed perception rolls twice per session.
• Curious guise: they may make others curious about them, drawing their attention.

Their explorations may not be used to empower or otherwise help oppressors, exploiters, abusers, slavers, impoverishers, imprisoners, indenturers, or other evil people.

PRO +1 ATH +3 STR +1 AWA +3 WIL / PRS / STH /

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Truespeaker

Type: Messenger

Veravoci gain magic by being truthful. They speak no untruths and never deceive intentionally; they put truth into their words, actions, and even thoughts.

The art of truespeaking is more than simply telling the truth. It is a dedication to being truthful. It is avoiding not just lying, but as many forms of deception as possible, and being forthright and earnest in all communication. It means not omitting inconvenient information, not manipulating, not rephrasing, not engaging in spin. It also does not mean "brutal honesty," but rather, compassionate honesty; that is to say, truespeakers do not wield the truth to hurt others when at all possible, nor do they engage in lies to protect others. In order to wield the powers of a truespeaker, one must engage in honest, truthful communication for seven years without fail, repenting for past lies along the way. Once they have achieved seven years of truthfulness, they earn their powers, which grow over time as they retain their truthfulness. Any failure on their part means immediate loss of powers.

Repenting for lies in order to make up for past lies or to repair their powers means engaging in the four steps of reparation:

• Repent: admit to the lies to those to whom you lied or in a public space if the former is not available.
• Reveal: reveal the truth to those to whom you lied or in a public space if the former is not available.
• Reconcile: offer service or repayment or other forms of reconciliation with the aggrieved or engage in public service.
• Restore: restore trust between yourself and the wronged parties if possible, or engage in public service to gain trust of others.

Once these are complete, the truespeaker will have earned or regained their powers. Given that no one will remember every lie they ever told, general repentence is possible through acts of general admission to lies, but the more hurtful lies one has told must be atoned for in as direct and open way as possible. Becoming a truespeaker requires an act of witnessing. This means speaking a profound, difficult truth in a manner that has consequences. The most common version of this is speaking truth to power - denouncing the lies of a bad ruler, for example - but it can be something personal, religious, or philosophical. Truespeaking is an art practiced entirely on a personal level, so it is different for everyone.

Truespeakers work as messengers. They exist across cultural boundaries - they have many names in different cultures - but there is a loose network of them operating around the world. They teach each other how to be truespeakers and instill the values of honesty and truthfulness in each other. They also keep watch on one another. They have a strict code of how much they can charge for their services, which is based on the weight of the truth they must bear and the resources of those they choose to serve. They will not serve those who are deceptive and dishonest - i.e., imperial or colonial governments, for example - and see themselves as servants of the people.

Truespeakers are not held accountable for speaking lies they do not know to be lies unless they could reasonably have ascertained otherwise and unless they SHOULD reasonably ascertain otherwise. Though it is hard to lie to a truespeaker, ignorance is more difficult to detect. A scientist cannot prove their theories by having a truespeaker speak them; if the truespeaker reasonably believes their theories true, they will be able to speak them. Furthermore, if a truespeaker has no reason to doubt something, they are not required to check on the truth of it. If someone asks them to speak "My brother did not kill his wife," the truespeaker should, if possible, try to verify this before speaking it. But if they are asked to speak "The house key is under the rose bush" and there is no context that makes this controversial, they have no obligation to check. Statements about things that are liable to change quickly are considered true if the truespeaker believes to the best of their ability that it is true - i.e., "the sky is blue" is considered true so long as the truespeaker has not witnessed it change to grey before speaking it, even if they do not check, unless there is context to suggest it unlikely the truespeaker would still believe it, such as nightfall or a loud storm.

Truespeakers do not engage in dishonest honesty. They do not seek loopholes, such as saying something as a question in order to avoid speaking a lie, nor do they omit information or phrase things in a way to twist the truth. They speak the truth as fully and openly as possible. Anything otherwise is a deception unworthy of them.

Truespeakers must be their true selves in order to be fully truthful. For this reason, actual truespeakers are very rare, as it is very difficult in many cultures and societies to remain true to oneself. In fact, it can be outright dangerous. Most, of course, do not know their true selves, and therefore, they must seek it. If a truespeaker is on a journey of discovery, this counts as being their true selves, so long as they are honest about it.

Truespeakers gain several powers once they have attained seven years of true living:

• Truesense: the ability to sense the truth. This does not mean they can sense objective truths about the universe, but rather that they can tell when someone is lying and they can tell when there is something intentionally hidden nearby. Sensing more profound, greater truths or sensing when someone speaks ignorance rather than intentional deception is only possible for the most powerful truespeakers, and even then, it is difficult for them.
• Trustyworthy air: truespeakers gain a trustworthy air about them that exists independent of their reputation. People trust them instinctively. Breaching this trust is a major violation of their honesty.
• Repeating: repeating is the ability to repeat a truth they have been told verbatim from memory. This is the power they have to speak true messages.
• Sending: truespeakers can, once every seven weeks, send a message of truth by projecting their consciousness and an image of themselves up to seven miles away.
• Commanding truth: a truespeaker can command another to speak the truth once every seven months.
• Denouncing: after 14 years of honesty, a truespeaker can reveal a deceiver once every seven years with absolute authority. This means that they can reveal a lie told by someone of note once every seven years and be irrefutably believed.
• Revealing: after 49 years of honesty, a truespeaker may speak a truth to someone that they did not know about themselves. They must look them in the eye (or equivalent primary sense), sense a truth the person does not know of themself, then speak it aloud.

Players would be a truespeaker with at least seven years of experience but not 49 unless they consult the GM.

PRO +1 ATH / STR / AWA +2 WIL +3 PRS +3 STH -3

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Ventabast

Type: Pilot

Ventabasti are pilots of rudimentary flying machines. They usually employ balloons and/or flapping paper wings, and they can't carry more than a handful of people at once - and not very far.

Ventabasti are those who fly upon winds of uplift and good fortune, who are attuned to the celestial winds, winds born in the hearts of the people. They are winds of the flapping of the wings of rainbow serpents or angels. They are winds of rising hearts. They make a vow to serve the people before taking on their work, and they live in special and secret mountain communities. Their primary role is to save people lost in the heights. None who do this work may be enslaved or imprisoned, and the winds themselves may obey their will. However, this only works as long as they are engaged in the work of protecting the meek, the poor, the enslaved, the imprisoned, the oppressed, the exploited, or the abused. While they can engage in other, related work, certain powers are not in place when they are not working for the people. The vow they make is sworn on an angel's feather, and if they knowingly lie, they burn.

Any ventabast who has sworn their vow must still prove themselves worthy by working for at least a year and a day at serving their community or the people. After this is done, they are sent to a secret location, alone, in a small craft, where they meet a celestial figure who tests them. If they are found truly worthy, they are given a pair of blue wings made of celestial power applied to their craft, giving them certain powers:

• Flight: coelventians can fly on the winds using their machine. This spends no feathers.
• Uplifting breeze : a light breeze tinged with blue light flows from their wings, giving strength to any oppressed grazed by them, and flying their machines. This spends 2 feathers per use.
• Swift gust: the coelventian calls a fast gust of wind for one turn, moving 100' in any straight direction in their craft. This spends 3 feathers per use.
• Featherfall: they can use 1 feather to help themselves or others fall safely and slowly to the ground.
• Wind of good fortune: if they roll a six on any their dice while using their powers, they take the high die on the next three rolls.

Other powers may be possible around the themes of uplift or wind. Consult with the GM. Their wings have 20 feathers at a time. They get replenished every night, assuming the ventabat has not violated their vow. The number of feathers increases the more they work.

PRO +1 ATH +3 STR +1 AWA +2 WIL / PRS / STH -1

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Vettore

Type: Carrier

The vettori carry people great distances, sometimes on their backs, sometimes in sedan chairs or other bearing vehicles, using magic to enhance their own bodies to do so.

To attune to their own bodies and gain magic to strengthen them, they must first use their strength for others. They must train for years, work as a servant of the people (not the imperials), and use their body, pushing it to the point of personal loss, in order to help others. After years of this, they are tested, and bearing a burden for others for a year and a day. They attune to their strength via special exercises, carrying loads for others, and engaging in deeply compassionate work, and then they carry someone across a difficult terrain as a final test. If they succeed, exhausted, they have a vision, and their blood burns, transforming them. They gain certain abilities:

• Bearable burden: they can carry something for someone else that is heavier than they should be able to carry, including carrying people.
• Strength of the people: if they perform an act of kindness for others, they may gain temporary STR.
• Burning muscles: their muscles may fill with burning celestial energy and they can move STR from one part of their body to another to help someone.
• Gentle giant: if they put their body between an enemy and others, they grow in size by two or three times and gain toughness bonuses to protect them. But they cannot attack while in this form.
• Chosen wounds: they can choose one person for whom to take wounds.

Vettori's powers do not come from helping imperials or others who harm the people. They only serve the community.

PRO +1 ATH +2 STR +3 AWA / WIL +1 PRS / STH -1