Elemental Calkers

Those who primarily wield elemental magic. Mages.

---

Blueheart

Type: Empathicist

Bluehearts attune their emotions to the flow of waters, submerging themselves and letting their emotions flow out. As they do this repeatedly, the water becomes filled with their metaphorical and literal hearts, and it starts to absorb back into them. This makes them capable of contorting their bodies like water so long as their emotions remain fluid and flowing in the world. To do this, bluehearts spend years training under a mentor. Like all elemental magic users, they must be friends of and protectors of nature, and for them, especially waters. They usually come from elemental communities near bodies of flowing water.

The rituals required to become a blueheart involve submersion, bleeding into the water, infusing oneself with water, and focusing on and understanding one's feelings. This culminates in the blueheart's magic being attuned to their own heart and the flow of waters, making them one and the same. Their heart beats to the rhythm of the nearest body of water, and their emotions make water react. If they are angry, water boils. If they are happy, water dances. If they are sad, water ripples and wraps around them. If they are curious, water flows toward the subject of their curiosity. If they are jealous, water seeks to take what they wish they had. If they are confused, water reacts unexpectedly, and if they are doubting, water rears back. Even the most powerful bluehearts cannot perfectly control this; water around them is constantly reacting, even if they are under control.

Those who train well enough to control their emotions do so in the same way actors learn to draw from memories to feel specific things or how people learn coping mechanisms and self-awareness via therapy, mindfulness, or journaling. Any method that teaches them how to do this is fair game, but the player must decide how their blueheart did it. The end result is that the blueheart has water control powers that they roll PRS to wield, and the player specifies certain effects mapped to certain emotions - they effects must match the emotion, and they cannot contradict the examples above (though they may build on them).

Some magical effects beyond controlling water that they might tap into are as follows:

• Stillwater calm: they can still waters with their own calm, then use those waters to soothe the emotions of others.
• Bloodflow focus: they can control the flow of their own blood by controlling their emotional state, directing it to specific areas of their body to encourage faster healing.
• Static freeze: they can empty their hearts entirely and cause water to freeze.
• Tidal intensity: their emotional strength may be tied to the tides themselves if they are attuned to a nearby sea or ocean, giving them bonuses and penalties depending on the state of the tide.
• Total submersion: if they submerge entirely in water and release all of their emotions, they can become a figure of water and blood that is connected to every heart within 10' of the entire body of water. This greatly exhausts them and takes weeks to recover from fully.

Bluehearts are rare and considered strange magic users even by other elemental magic users. They rarely work for imperials; most find work helping others emotionally.

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

---

Huldramaskar

Type: Masker

Huldramaskars are mages who wear special masks that allow them to blend into and draw energy from different kinds of forests.

To become a huldramaskar, one must commune with a forest of any kind, becoming one with it, and connecting to the greenery within it. One must be a friend to nature and the woods, one must be a protector of the green, and one must be an enemy to industrial powers. To do this, one must adhere to intensive rules of loyalty and service to nature.

Huldramaskars spend years training, learning, and communing with nature before the elementals of the woods approach them and connect with them. Once the elementals come to them, they test them rigorously before allowing them to choose a mask from the energies of the forest, shaping it from wood, moss, leaf, and earth, and sometimes animal parts. The mask contorts to the face of the huldramaskar and allows them to sense the energies in the forests, speak to the living things there, and take on abilities there. The basic abilities they get are as follows:

• Forestspeech: the ability to speak to any animal, plant, or fungus of the forest they are in.
• Greensight: the ability to sense the energies flowing through the woodlands they are in.
• Camouflage: the ability to fit into and hide in any woodland they are in.
• Barkskin: the ability to make their skin tough as tree bark.
• Rootsense: the ability to sense what the roots of every plant in the woodland sense, knowing about the woodland and what is in it.
• Leafstep: the ability to teleport anywhere under the forest canopy.

If they visit the forest for at least a month, they may take a specific ability from it and use it even outside of the forest, depending on the kind of forest it is:

Forest	Description	Effect	Rarity	Location
Alpine forest	mountainous coniferous forests	bonus +1 ATH.	Common	Northern Talunese mountains
Grove	a small group of trees	ability to teleport to other groves nearby	Common	Anywhere trees can grow
Montane forest	forests in the mountains, usually broadleaf	bonus +1 toughness and +1 climbing	Common	Mountains
Old-growth forest	ancient forests	one-time use ancient nature secret	Common	Anywhere forests can grow
Orchard	intentionally grown woods with trees grown for a purpose	magic pocket full of fruit	Common	Anywhere forests can grow
Riparian wood	forests next to bodies of water	water finding	Common	Anywhere forests can grow
Sparse woodland	woodlands with few trees, usually in xeric or grasslands areas	bonus +1 STH	Common	Anywhere forests can grow
Taiga or boreal forest	the massive forests in the subarctic to arctic region made mostly of conifers	taiga animal form and +1 hunting skill	Common	across most of the northern and southern subarctic and arctic
Thicket	small group of dense trees	bonus +1 parry or block	Common	Anywhere forests can grow
Tropical forest	forests in tropical areas	permanent rootsense	Common	Tropical region
Exoforest	a forest on another planet	If you can give me a backstory that makes this work, consult the GM (me) about what that will give you.	Nigh impossible	Other planets
Bluebell wood	forests blanketed with bluebells in the spring	bonus +1 PRS and a one-time restoration from a mortal or less wound.	Rare	Mostly northwest of Talune, some in Talune
Cloud forest	rain forests in high mountains on the southern continents where clouds are persistently present	cloudwalking and dream sight.	Rare	Southern continents
Deodar forest	sacred forests of deodar trees in the highest mountains	bonuses to any elemental faith they might have, cold resistance, or mountain climbing skill.	Rare	Southeastern continent
Elfin forest	forests of short, tough trees or shrubs, found in areas with poor soil or high elevations.	survival skills.	Rare	High elevations or deserts
Pine barren	sparse pine woodlands in acidic, infertile lands	resistance to acid and undeath	Rare	Western continent
Pocket forest	constructed forests of native plants	return to pocket forest once	Rare	Anywhere forests can grow
Sclerophyll forest	forests in chaparral or other arid regions	resistance to heat	Rare	Arid regions, mostly western continent
Secondary forest	replanted forests	encourage plant growth	Rare	Anywhere forests once stood
Thorn forest	spiky woodland among the scrub	energy drain thorn whip attack	Rare	Scrublands
Broadleaf forest	a common forest of deciduous trees	the ability to send messages on leaves, which float through the air to their target.	Unavoidable	Anywhere with forests
Confier or needleleaf forest	forests of confiers	bonus +1 PRO and a needle spray attack spell.	Unavoidable	Anywhere with forests
Evergreen forest	forests of evergreen trees	extra longevity and a one-time recovery from disease.	Unavoidable	Anywhere with forests
Glade	a clearing in a forest; common in any forest,	ability to rest in a glade and recovery two wound levels, restore from disease, or lose all forms of exhaustion and malady, once per month.	Unavoidable	Anywhere with forests
Temperate forest	forests in temperate areas	permanent leafstep	Unavoidable	Temperate zone
Woodland	between a sparse woodland and a forest, a moderately sparse woodland	permanent forestspeech	Unavoidable	Anywhere forests can grow
Beech forest	made primarily of beech trees	the ability to speak up to three new languages.	Uncommon	Temperate zone
Cypress forest	small, tough forests with extensive root systems	root messaging magic.	Uncommon	Far western continents
Faeriewood	the magical, fairytale forests of Faerie, full of illusions and dreams	one-time use of dream reading, minor glamour charms, or the ability to speak to fairies.	Uncommon	Faerie
Forest steppe	a steppe interspersed with small woodlands	riding skill.	Uncommon	Just northwest of Talune
Gallery forest	a forest along a waterway interjecting into a landscape without forest, such as a forest along a river in a desert or grassland	ability relevant to the landscape they interject into (grassland, desert, tundra, etc.).	Uncommon	Tundras, grasslands, deserts
Jungle	a form of extremely dense forest, usually but not always tropical, often humid	animal speech, camouflage, or vine armor.	Uncommon	Usually tropical areas
Rainforest	humid forests with dense vegetation	regeneration	Uncommon	In high precipitation areas
Sugar bush	stands of maple trees within forests	long lasting jar of maple syrup	Uncommon	western continent
Tugay	arid riparian woodland	waterwalking	Uncommon	southeastern continent
Forest of Genesis	the legendary forest at the north pole around the World Tree	ability to make trees grow vibrantly, call tree spirits and elementals, and wield raw elemental magic.	Unique	North pole
Silverwood	magical forests full of elemental life	nigh inmortality	Unique	Faerie
Bloodwood	a forest of bleeding, horrific trees that eat mortal flesh	drains the huldramaskar of strength.	Very rare	Northeast of Talune
Light forest	a form of forest with crystalline leaves	farsight.	Very rare	the floating continent of Gyrha
Lunar forest	forests on the moons not likely available to the huldramaskar	lunar survival magic.	Very rare	The moons
Nightwood	forests that grow in perfect darkness, often growing upside down, white bark	darkvision	Very rare	Underground
Petrified forest	forests that have been buried and petrified	bonus +1 toughness and one-time ancestral memory	Very rare	Underground
Purma	farmlands restored into rain forest	restore dead plants, thrice	Very rare	Former rain forests
Rainbow forest	magical forests full of rainbow light	protection from infernal magic	Very rare	Usually on the southern continent
Sallow forest	forests filled with industrial energy	kills the huldramaskar slowly, gives them cancer	Very rare	Near industrial areas
Skywood forest	elemental forests on floating continents, usually coniferous	flight	Very rare	Floating continent of Gyrah
Subterranean forest	magical underground forests	cave sense	Very rare	Underground
Uafan woodland	nightmare forest	intense nightmares	Very rare	Faerie

Other forests and woodland types are possible. Consult the GM.

Any forest listed as "unavoidable" is automatically already visited by the huldramaskar. They then get three common forests to start, plus any forest that fits into their backstory. Anything uncommon, rare, very rare, or unique must be approved by the GM and justified in backstory.

Huldramaskars are loyal only to the elementals of their forests and defy industrial magic everywhere.

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

---

Moonwitch

Type: Witch

Sometimes called janare in the local region, moonwitches are attuned to the cycles of the three moons.

There are three moons around the world of Shem: the Grey Moon, the Green Moon, and the White Moon. The cycles of the moons affects the amount of elemental moon energy cast upon the world. The White Moon is the weakest, but it is better when used for attacks and bindings. The Green Moon's is the next weakest, but it is best used for transformations and emotional magic. And the Grey Moon's is the most potent, which is best used for protections, healing, and findings.

Each moon has a cycle ranging from new (unseen) to full (wholly visible), waxing and waning from crescent to gibbous. The White Moon has a 26 day cycle; the Green Moon has a 30 day cycle, and the Grey Moon has a 28 day cycle. Lunar magic is solar magic reflected from the moons. When a moon is new, it produces no accessible lunar energy. When it is full, it is at its greatest strength. (This is reverse if you are on the moons, but that is unlikely to come up.)

The phases of a witch's life are reflected in the phases of the moon:

• Maiden (waxing): associated with the Green Moon (Devica), the Maiden phase is a witch before she reaches maturity. In this phase, she is associated with youthfulness, innocence, newness, rising, energy.
• Mother (full): associated with the Grey Moon (Mati), the Mother phase is a mature witch (not necessarily a mother). In this phase, she is associated with nurturing, protecting, healing, fullness, power.
• Crone (waning): associated with the White Moon (Krona), the Crone phase is an elderly witch. In this phase, she is associated with wisdom, death, withering, age, insight.

Each phase comes with its own powers. A witch casts spells based on the moon her phase is associated with, so if a crone uses magic under a full White Moon it does not matter if the Grey Moon is new.

The practice of witchcraft is a series of rituals, dedications, and traditions that allow them to access the flow and cycles of lunar energy. The practices include sacrifices to the moons. These rituals involve a set of symbolic materials, a giving of blood, and either incantations or readings from ancient texts.

Witches often gather in covens, groups in multiples of threes (no less than three, no more than 27 - though the latter would be a massive coven). A coven always has a maiden, a mother, and a crone for every three witches. These always form subgroups within the coven, each teaching the other generationally. Covens, when gathered and performing rituals together, are immensely powerful. In the colonies, they tend to be covens of three to eleven. Witches may join a coven either by inheriting it via a matrilineal succession or by being initiated. Those who are not born of a matrilineal line of witches must be initiated. Initiations are rituals that occur under a waxing moon.

A brother-witch is a witch who, regardless of gender, serves as a counterpoint in a coven or triad, a fourth member of any three witches who represents the masculine (whether they are or not), represents outsiders, represents the sun. They still wield all the powers of a regular witch, but their outsideness gives them the ability to use certain powers without the presence of moonlight. To become a brother-witch, a witch must be literally or symbolically resurrected after dying (again, literally or metaphorically) under a new moon. The ritual to cause this resurrection is one of the most closely guarded secrets of witchcraft. The power of the brother-witch derives from their crossing of lines between day and night, gender lines, ancestral lines, etc. These are very rare.

Powers that reflect the powers of the Moons:

• Soft light: a witch make create a soft glow of moonlight, usually an orb of it, to appear via simple incantation.
• Finding: a witch may cause a missing or hidden object to glow with soft light via incantation and simple ritual.
• Light step: a witch may make herself or others lighter, as if less affected by gravity, by sigils on clothing or shoes or by potent ritual.
• Tidal draw: a witch may make water react to herself, her will or her gesture, by washing in pure water under the full moon and performing a blood ritual within it.
• Returning cycle: a witch may invoke the ending or re-beginning of a cycle of any kind through powerful ritual.
• Invisibility: a witch may, under a full moon, become invisible by invocation of a complex ritual, washing themself and their clothing in blood, moonwater, and ash.

The most powerful ability witches have is reflecting other powers. Lunar energy repulses other energies, especially infernal ones, providing protections to anyone affected by it. Witches have many rituals, traditions, superstitions, and spells that provide protections to others, giving them lunar energy in some form or another to repel other powers. Marking with one's own blood, creating a poppet or mirrored amulet, or drawing a circle of power are the most common ways.

Witches can engage in a form of divination by looking into mirrors, which absorb lunar energy when left out under the full moon.

Witches can heal and soothe people by using their breath to drive away other energies. They supplement this with herbalism and other arts.

By affecting emotional resonance with lunar energy, witches can affect the emotions of others. They do this through simple incantations.

Powerful witches who have tapped into their ancient, ancestral magic can use the power of the new moon, the absence of lunar energy, the deep night, to draw in and devour targets. This is done via an ancient blood rite.

The most commonly used power of witches is to bind a person, place, or thing to a cycle. This is done via ritual involving something belonging to the target. When the target is bound to something, it will be affected by the cycle of it; for instance, witches use lunar energy to connect themselves to a moon during their initiation (unless they inherited a binding). For others, they may use lunar energy's senstitivity to cycles to cause something to be attuned to a cycle, thus making them react to the cycle. This can be binding to a different energy, or it can be binding to a natural cycle, etc. Unbinding is done similarly, but using lunar energy's reflective properties to break a cycle.

Witches bind to animal familiars via rituals that synchronize their living cycles with the animal. This allows them to sense the thoughts and feelings of the familiar, draw powers from it, see through its eyes, and influence its behavior.

Witches can send their consciousness into the flow of lunar energy around them during full moons. They do this by falling into a special sleep. They can send their consciousness anywhere under the light of the full moon.

The completion of a cycle is a moment of transformation. When witches complete a cycle, they have a moment of transformation, which usually results in their moving from one phase to another in a larger cycle (cycles within cycles, leading to greater and greater transformations). Knowing when they are near a completion, they can tap into the power of lunar energy to transform as the moon shifts phases. They must never do this going to or from a new moon, but any other phase shift will work. They can use a ritual in these circumstances to transform themselves or others (including objects or places), usually subtle changes such as an improvement or penalty, but sometimes major changes, including changing physical or metaphysical forms. The ritual to create a brother-witch is the most powerful example of this.

PRO / ATH -1 STR -2 AWA +4 WIL +4 PRS +1 STH +2

---

Tempestarii

Type: Channeler

Tempestarii are weather mages who use folk traditions for their magic. They are distrusted around the world, but they are also often found in villages where they are paid to keep bad weather away.

The most basic thing a tempestarii can do is direct the weather. Targeting weather at an area requires merely nudging storm clouds or winds, usually, which requires using a vane, a special staff tipped with a weather vane (usually but not always made of bronze). The vane must be attuned every day to the local weather by letting it "soak" in the weather for the first hour after dawn (or the first hour after midnight if in a place where the sun does not rise or does not set within a 24 hour timeframe). After soaking the vane, in order to direct the weather, the tempestarii must take the vane to the highest place they can find (the closer to the clouds, the better), and then sacrifice something--animal, vegetable, or something of personal value--with either a bronze knife or hammer. In order to direct the weather from that position, they must then take nine coins and place them on the ground in a circle around themselves, then tap the bottom of the vane to the coins in the direction they wish to direct the weather. If their will is powerful enough, it will work.

They have up to six of the following to start:

• Clement aura: everywhere within 30' of the tempestarii is pleasantly warm without any unpleasant weather effects.
• Blast of hail: a cone of wind and hailstones hits 30' in front of the tempestarii, damage rating 13/19/25/31.
• Sleet slick: sleet falls in a 30' radius around the tempestarii, slickening the ground.
• Hazy blur: the tempestarii becomes a hazy blur, gaining +3 to dodge and +1 to STH.
• Cloak of mist: a cloak of mist forms around the tempetarii, giving +3 to STH and +1 to dodge.
• Bank of fog: a roiling wall of fog forms in a 50' radius around the tempestarii, obscuring everyone within it.
• Torrential rain: rains fall hard in a 100' radius around the tempesarii, obscuring everyone within it, soaking them, dousing fires, and possibly causing flooding.
• Soothing rain: a gentle rain falls in a 100' radius around the tempestarii, calming emotions, damepning everyone, and making it harder to maintain fires.
• Snowwalk: the tempestarii can walk easily on snow.
• Sunshower: a sunshower (sunlight and sprinkling rain) falls in a 50' radius around the tempestarii, calming emotions, warming or cooling people, and on an exceptional success or more, reducing wound levels by one.
• Thunderous boom: a shattering peel of thunder causes 12/18/24/30 concussive damage in a 30' radius, deafening anyone who makes a special stun failure or more, and breaking glass on a special hit or more.
• Lightning bolt: a bolt of lightning, damage rating 19/26/33/40 streaks out from the tempestarii's vane in a line 50' long. If someone is within 10' of the line, they must roll dodge or be hit by a branch of it.
• Dark cloud: a dark cloud forms in the skies over the tempestarii, reducing light levels significantly.
• Galeforce wind: winds of STR 35 flow in a 100' line out from the tempestarii's vane.
• Pleasant breeze: a pleasant, cooling breeze flows out in a 100' line from the tempestarii's vane.
• Brutal gust: a short, hard puff of air flows out in a 30' line, STR 25.

And one of these:

• Harrowing windstorm: a windstorm 500' wide forms around the tempestarii, winds STR 30, wreaking havoc everywhere within the range.
• Rasping sandstorm: a sandstorm 500' wide forms around the tempestarii, winds STR 25, blinding anyone within it, and rasping anything susceptible to being rasped down (metal, stone, etc.) at a power of 20.
• Ominious storm: a powerful thunderstorm 500' wide forms around the tempestarii, winds STR 20, thunder power 15, lightning power 16/23/30/37 hitting at random, torrential rains, and possible hail.
• Blizzard winds: snow-laden winds at STR 16 flurry around the templestarii in a 500' wide circle, dumping 10" of snow and bringing cold damage to all within it.
• Tornado: a tornado of STR 50 forms near the tempestarii and unleashes all hell.

And these must be earned in-game:

• Summon nor'easter: a non-tropical cyclone 30 miles wide brings massive devastation, coming in from ten miles away, moving at 50 mph, bringing winds STR 40, thunder power 15, lightning power 16/23/30/37, massive waves if near water, short-burst tornadoes, possible hail, and torrential rains.
• Summon cyclone: a tropical cyclone 100 miles wide brings massive devasttion, coming in from 25 miles away, moving at 100 mph, bringing winds STR 60, thunder power 15, lightning power 16/23/30/37, massive waves if near water, short-burst tornadoes, possible hail, and torrential rains.
• Wall of storms: a wall of storms 1 mile wide (a derecho) rolls in from 5 miles away, moving 30 mph toward the tempestarii, bringing devastating thunderstorms with it - winds STR 25, thunder power 25, lightning power 19/26/33/40, torrential rains, possible hail, and maybe a tornado.
• Firewhirl: a fiery tornado of wind STR 30 and fire damage 20/26/32/38.
• Waterspout: a waterspout tornado of wind/water STR of 40.
• Dustdevil: a tornado of dust and sand with wind/sand STR of 30 rasps at a level of 35.

Other spells may be possible. Consult the GM.

Large, loud bells, especially church bells, will dissipate a tempestarii's storms if run twelve times in the midst of the storm. Flowers blessed by any legitimate faithful and tied to a post in an area targeted by a tempestarii will protect crops from their magic.

PRO / ATH +1 STR -1 AWA +2 WIL +4 PRS -1 STH -2