Elemental Faithful

Those who wield elemental magic via faith.

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Calcopilare

Type: Monk

Off the coasts of much of Talune, there are rocky isles, stacks, skerries, faraglioni, and other rock outcroppings in the waves and surf or just beyond, and amongst these there are sometimes found small, remote communities of monks called calcopilari. The calcopilari lead a monastic, isolated lifestyle in which they honor the elemental spirits all around them, in the waves, in the surf, in the isles, and in the rocks. They spend time gathering shells, pearl diving, fishing, crabbing, gathering shellfish and other sea fauna, seaweed and algae, and so on to survive. They live simple lives of subsistence, keeping their monasteries going amidst the spray and stone.

Their faith is an ancient one, honoring the seas and islands, believing them to be manifestations of elemental powers. They have a mixture of meditative and prayerful practices, practical work, and tending of nature. They support local communities by trading with them, usually trading fish or small crafts, and communing with the seas and the isles. They also engage in a physical practice, a set of exercises designed to connect them to nature, keep their bodies strong, and protecting their islands. This involves daily swims, standing on solitary sea rocks and balancing on them, deep dives, surfing, and breathing exercises.

To become a calcopilare, one must be accepted into the monastery. To do this, one must be able to swim out to it, which is a task in and of itself. If one reaches there, they are rigorously tested before they even begin training, just to see if they have temperament for the isolated lifestyle. Those who are accepted must then train in faith, strength, work, and understanding of nature and the seas and isles. It takes years before one rises from acolyte to monk, and when one does, they are then tested to see if they are worthy of the magic inherent to their monastery. This involves a trial by the isle's elemental.

The rocky islands the monasteries are on are sometimes small, mossy rock stacks, and sometimes they are massive. Either way, there is an elemental within them which can grant magic to the monks:

• Rockskin: they can turn their skin into hard rock to protect themselves.
• Shellbreak grip: they can make their grip temporarily so strong it can shatter clam or crab shells.
• Diving lung: they can take on deep breath and dive deeper and longer than others.
• Stack leap: they can teleport between rock stacks in the seas.
• Wave motion: they can perform an in-and-out motion with their arms to encourage larger or smaller waves if they are in the sea or near it.
• Algae robes: if they wear algae as robes, they become +2/+2 robes with +3/+3 more vs. industrial magic.
• Salt spray: they can spit a spray of saline that stuns anyone it hits.
• Stack balance: they can stand in perfect stature atop a rock stack and be unshakeable.

These abilities may vary by monk, as some calcopilari gain abilities that help them with their daily tasks, such as the ability to sense and find clams or crabs or even pearls.

The monks serve their own communities and faith and resist industrial magic.

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

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Druid

Type: Druid

Druids are the leaders of the ancient nature religion. Locally, they are often called benandanti.

Druidism is meditative and communal art that allows one to draw upon the energy of natural law throughout the world, communing with all life, wielding Mother Shem's might, and channeling it through staves. Druids wear special robes and are protectors of forests. They wield the energy of the structure of nature, of natural law, of raw, unformed elemental order.

All druids have an intermediary who guides, protects, supports, and empowers them. The intermediary is the being that serves as the conduit between them and the full power of Mother Shem. Most druids' intermediaries are simple viridianites, though some have more powerful elemental figures that they serve. While intermediaries often exist almost anywhere, they can only be communed with by a druid within a natural setting of some kind, with rare exception.

Viridianites are conscious elementals taking the form of a raw element - fire, water, earth, storms, metal, etc. They are a mere facet of the power of Mother Shem. They take many forms and embody many different elements, but they also have general types that relate to how they interact with a druid and the natural world:

• Beast: embodiment of an animal representative of the elemental energy in question. Usually offers summoning powers.
• Collective: embodiment of a multiplicitous form of elemental energy in question. Usually offers form-changing powers.
• Crone: embodiment of wisdom and power of the elemental energy in question. Usually offers control or influencing powers.
• Elder: embodiment of firm, devoted service to the form of elemental energy in question. Usually offers the power to be a conduit to that elemental energy.
• Fighter: embodiment of the elemental energy as a form of attack, and usually offers combat-based powers.
• Guide: embodiment of the elemental energy in question as a form of seeking, finding, or awareness, and usually offers powers based on the senses
• Healer: embodiment of an elemental energy's power to heal. Usually offers powers that heal bodies, minds, souls, hearts, or Names.
• Maiden: embodiment of a fresh and innocent servant of an elemental energy. Usually offers powers of improvement.
• Mother: embodiment of an elemental energy's supportive, nurturing form of an elemental energy. Usually offers the ability to imbue powers on others.
• Plant: embodiment of a plant representative of the elemental energy in question. Usually offers cleansing powers.
• Protector: embodiment of the elemental energy as used to defend or repel attack. Usually offers shielding, barriers, or other protective powers.
• Representative: embodiment of the elemental energy or one of its sub-forms. Usually offers greater powers of any kind.

Communing with an intermediary requires meditating in a natural place near where the viridianite (or other intermediary) dwells. While meditating, the druid must take in nature with all of their senses. They must feel, smell, hear, see, taste the world and focus on those sensations above all others, opening the druid to nature itself. While in this trance-state, the viridianite or other intermediary will engage the druid’s consciousness, their very soul, and if the druid is attuned to natural law, they will infuse the druid with their power. For a druid to be attuned to natural law, they must serve nature’s interests, live in nature, and protect nature. They must dwell in nature and live amongst it without violating it for a year and a day, standing up against any who might violate it that they are aware of in their area, and cause no unnecessary harm to it (i.e., they may hunt for food, but they may not kill unnecessarily; they may dispose of natural waste, but not in a manner that harms the environment; etc.). Then, on one of the sacred days of nature, they must perform a blood oath. Once they have performed their blood oath and communed with their intermediary, they must serve natural law for so long as they are a druid, for so long as they are bound to their intermediary. This means being a defender of nature and wielder of elemental energy in opposition to those who violate it - polluters, poachers, clearcutters, arsonists, etc.

Druids may need to or choose to alter the form of their service during the course of their lives because of their relationship with their intermediaries. There are many reasons a druid might need to or want to change intermediaries. They might simply have need of a different set of powers or a different type of elemental energy for some task or purpose, or they might have need to move to a new landscape where their intermediary would not survive. Or they might simply want a change. Regardless, in order to change, they must commune once more, meditating on nature, and engage directly with their intermediary. Almost all intermediaries will respect a request to disengage, to disunite, as they are not evil, though some will be reluctant or disappointed. If there is, in rare circumstances, an intermediary who refuses to disengage, it becomes a contest of wills between the druid and the intermediary, and the results of the exchange - no matter how it goes - will cause severe metaphysical damage to both. To gain a new intermediary, the druid must commune with nature in a different area and attract a different intermediary. It will be much easier, having done it before and proven their trustworthiness and dedication to natural law, unless their previous intermediary had a bad relationship with them. This may be done almost immediately after leaving a previous intermediary.

Viridianites are not inmortal. Sometimes, they die. Sometimes, they are killed by pollution or other violations of nature in spite of a druid’s best efforts, and sometimes, they simply grow old. In these cases, the druid suffers as well, and there must be a time of mourning, cleansing, and recovery for the druid before finding a new intermediary. During this time, the druid will be especially vulnerable. Sometimes, intermediaries initiate the disunion. This can be for many reasons - the druid may be a failure, or the intermediary may know they are dying, or there may be some task or quest or even just a thing the intermediary wishes to do that requires leaving the druid. In these cases, the intermediary calls the druid, who must meditate to engage them, and the intermediary will usually, if they have a good relationship, leave the druid with some power to hold them over until they can find a new intermediary, though it will be less than what their full power is.

If a druid betrays natural law, the intermediary is betrayed. If the druid, for example, compromises with or allows for pollution within the intermediary’s realm, this is a grievous violation of natural law and a betrayal of the intermediary. It will harm the intermediary, who will often react by violently rejecting the druid, stripping them of power. This process is also painful for the intermediary. It often inadvertently creates industiral energy, the infernal power of pollution and industrial toxins, and creates afulianists, a form of infernal druid of industrial wastelands.

Natural law is concerned with the balance of power between intermediary and druid. If one is greater than the other, there is always a risk that one will dominate and control the other, and this is a violation. Therefore, the unity between them is always a situation where it is clear who has the power and what the terms of their agreement are. There is always clear consent between them. But sometimes, feelings develop between them - they are mortal, after all - that leads to complicated relationships. If a druid or intermediary realizes their feelings have become inappropriate to the power-relationship they have, they are bid by natural law to sever their communion. Love between a non-viridianite and a viridianite is not a violation of natural law - it is considered a beautiful thing, though obviously complicated - but being in communion while these feelings are present is a violation, as it creates too many complications. If disunion is brought about by this circumstance, the disunion is always gentle, consensual, and respected, causing no metaphysical damage (though perhaps a broken heart is involved). Some power is always left behind, permanently, within the druid.

As a druid serves their intermediary, they build up elemental energy through ritual, meditation, and service. If they have need of power from their intermediary, they may make a specific request, not unlike a supplicative prayer, but usually, they simply are granted new powers from their intermediary as they complete tasks, achieve goals, or simply earn respect.

Each intermediary is different in the kinds of abilities they give and the number of abilities they are capable of giving (or the strength of the abilities). Types include

• Sense: a druid may be able to sense their elemental energy or variations thereof. Example: a druid serving an intermediary of the desert may be able to sense shifting sands or distant oases.
• Improve: a druid's touch can improve an object or organism attuned to their intermediary's elemental energy. Example: a druid serving an intermediary of the winds may improve the flight abilities of a bird, may a breeze stronger, or strengthen the lungs of a mortal.
• Protect: a druid may grant protection to another, to a place or a thing, or to themselves from either their own element or from an energy their elemental energy opposes or is strong against. Example: a druid serving an intermediary of flame may make someone resistant to heat or repel cold. A druid serving an intermediary of plant life may turn their skin to bark; a druid serving a metal-based intermediary can create a wall of metal.
• Attack: a druid may channel their intermediary's power through their staff and unleash raw elemental blasts. Example: a druid serving an intermediary of elemental light may unleash elemental light that blinds foes.
• Heal: every elemental energy has a healing quality of some kind that a druid may invoke if they have the appropriate material. Example: a druid serving an earth intermediary may turn loam into a healing substance that cures illness or wounds.
• Cleanse: a druid may channel their intermediary's power through their staff and unleash elemental waves that cleanse any area of pollution or infernal energies. Example: a druid serving an intermediary of natural law may unleash a wave of natural law magic that eradicates pollutants from a pond or stretch of land.
• Influence: a druid may sing a song that is imbued with their elemental energy that influences beings or things attuned to their intermediary's elemental energy. Example: a druid serving an intermediary of animals may sing a song that draws animals to them.
• Imbue: a druid may infuse something or someone with their elemental energy, giving them temporary powers. Example: a druid serving an intermediary based on the wetlands may give a person the power to know their way through swamps, or a druid serving an ice-based intermediary may give a person the ability to breathe frost.
• Summon: a druid may summon their intermediary or a being their intermediary sends. Example: a druid serving intermediaries of the sea may summon one of her the Sea Mother's fish children.
• Conduit: a druid may become a conduit for the full might of their intermediary. Example: a druid serving an intermediary of a continental elemental may draw upon the full might of the continent they represent and unleash power to reshape the land around them.
• Greater: a druid may invoke a very potent power based on their elemental energy. Example: a druid serving an intermediary of Death Herself may make someone temporarily immune to death; a druid serving a weather-based intermediary may be able to create the storm for which the elemental is named.
• Form: a druid may take on another form based on their elemental energy. Example: a druid serving an intermediary of volcanoes may become a living wave of magma; a druid serving an intermediary of natural law may take the form of an elemental ern.

An intermediary may grant a druid multiple powers of the same kind (i.e., improve flight ability and improve breathing granted by a wind elemental) as well.

The strength of a druid's powers varies by the druid's own personal mental and physical strength, the power of the intermediary, the amount of favor a druid has with their intermediary, how much their intermediary agrees with what the druid intends to do with the power, and their environment.

• Personal condition: if a druid is tired or wounded, they will be less able to channel their powers. If a druid is not physically strong, some powers will be harder to manage. If a druid is not mentally prepared, some powers will overwhelm them.
• Intermediary power: if a druid's intermediary is a common elemental, it will not be able to provide as much power as a Divine. If the intermediary has been weakened somehow, it will also not be able to provide as much power.
• Favor: if a druid has displeased their intermediary, they will have to regain trust and good graces from the intermediary to be allowed to have more power.
• Agreement: if a druid, for instance, lashes out in anger with their power, an intermediary may draw back their power. If a druid sets about cleaning up pollution from an area, an intermediary is likely to grant more power than usual.
• Environment: if a druid serving an intermediary of the desert, their intermediary will be able to send them more power. If the same druid is in a swamp or rain forest, much less so.

These are determined by GM's discretion and player's input.

Druids often have living companions drawn by their elemental power. These are most often animals, but may sometimes be plants, fungi, or esoteric creatures. These companions can communicate with the druid (and only the druid), though this is interpreted through the druid’s understanding. Usually, this is a wild animal indigenous to the area the druid is in, and one associated with the druid’s primary energy.

The intermediary will grant not just powers to the druid, but also “beneficence”, or kindnesses that are reward for good service. This may take the form of improving the taste of food or other bodily pleasures, bringing a sense of comfort and certainty, or granting strength or powers that benefit the druid in ways that may not directly serve nature but do not violate it either (i.e., the power to stay warm in spite of the cold). In rare cases, a druid may be granted an incredibly powerful beneficence, such as resurrection from the dead, invulnerability to disease, or the power to re-direct storms, in exchange for profound acts of service.

Druids commune with nature in order to engage their intermediary directly to initiate themselves into their power, but they also regularly commune with nature to remain connected to it and to their intermediary. They do this in part to recharge their elemental powers. The more loyal they are to natural law, to their intermediary, to Mother Shem, the more powerful they become. Intermediaries often test druids. They do this by asking questions to test their knowledge, by sending them on tasks or quests to see if they will protect and preserve nature, and by observing them as they engage the mortal world’s temptations of power and luxury. Though druids are welcome to partake in natural pleasures, they are forbidden from engaging or using things that violate natural law. This takes the form of things like using plastics or combustion engines or in more esoteric powers. Some druids entirely merge with their intermediary upon their death, leaving part of their consciousness with the viridianite or other being.

Druids in the Talunese region are leaders of the ancient nature religions that often criminalized there.

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

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Flowerbearer

Type: Attendant

The ancient nature religion, with its variations throughout the world, often attunes to the seasons. In the Talunese region, there are those who attune both to the seasons and the lifecycles of flowers. Flowerbearers are those whose role in the religion is to go out and gather flowers in the springtime as part of worshiping the various elementals of plants, the seasons, and the cycle of rebirth.

Flowerbearers were traditionally young girls, but as the ancient nature religion was demonized and suppressed by imperials, it became a role of honor for anyone in the faith, chosen for their skill with growing flowers, understanding nature, and devotion to the specific elementals represented by spring and flowers. Flowerbearers have thus evolved into attendants of the representation of spring, rebirth, and blossoming flowers, an elemental called by many names, but in the Talunese region, she is called Dea Veris ("Spring Goddess" or "Spring Maiden"). Flowerbearers specifically attune to the growth and cycles of flowers, which they gather in honor of her and perform specific rituals throughout the year, bringing them to her.

Flowerbearers meet Dea Veris three times every spring. On the first day of spring (the vernal equinox), the mid-spring festival (equivalent to Beltane), and the last day of spring.

On the day of the equinox, the flowerbearers begin gathering flowers. On this day, anyone aspiring to be a flowerbearer joins them, usually young women but not always. They gather flowers for the whole of the day, and at midnight, they bring them to a pool of water sacred to their faith. There, they place the blossoms atop the water, floating them, and as they float under the moonlight, Dea Veris appears in the reflection. One of the flowers floating there will then glow, and the seniormost flowerbearer will gather it to distribute its petals amongst all who attended, even those who are not flowerbearers. These petals give magic to anyone who bears one, especially flowerbearers.

At the mid-spring festival, there are three parts of the festival. The maypole dance, the feast, and the bonfires. The feast is for everyone. The maypole dance is only for those of the faith. The bonfires are for those who wish to honor Dea Veris with rituals of sex and love. Flowerbearers have many roles on this day, from handing out flowers, tending the feast, performing the dance, and engaging in the bonfire rituals. It is claimed children conceived on this date are more likely to be chosen as flowerbearers, but this is unproven. During the dance and the bonfires, Dea Veris appears to the flowerbearers and grants them boons.

The festival for the last day of spring welcomes the summer. It is a festival of wildness and joy. It is a celebration of the changing seasons, the warmth, the sun, and Dea Veris's last day of the year. The festival involves a final gathering of flowers, ritual feasting and dances, special drinks of spring and summer (nectar wine and acorn tea), and a blood sacrifice. During the sacrifice, Dea Veris appears to the flowerbearers and chooses one to be the next year's sacrifice. This is an honor that may be refused without offense, but rarely is.

Those chosen to be the sacrifice spend the summer, autumn, and winter being honored, feted, and brought gifts. They are cherished. The next spring, they are the lead flowerbearer (but not the seniormost). They spend the season gaining great insights into the cycles of nature, sharing their wisdom, and preparing for the sacrifice. When the time comes, at the spring-end festival, they are taken into a bed made of flowers that died over the spring, and the seniormost flowerbearer plunges a knife into the heart of the sacrifice. If they are worthy, they burst into platinum flames and become a cloud of butterflies made of light as their blood makes the dead flowers come back to life. If they are unworthy, it hurts and they're sent home in disgrace, and the flowerbearers are weaker for the coming year, generally embarrassed and confused by the betrayal. (Being unworthy is very rare and only possible if the chosen is a terrible traitor, so the consequences generally get worse the reveal.) The butterflies of light then choose the new flowerbearers, and the sacrifice is reborn the first day of spring the following year to become one of the elder flowerbearers.

There are many other rituals, rites, and spells used by flowerbearers, many of them taking place in other times of the year. These will be discussed with the GM if you choose this occupation.

Once a person is chosen during the spring-end festival to become a flowerbearer, they begin gaining sacred abilities and responsibilities:

• Vernal petal: the petals given out during the equinox festival give every flowerbearer a specific task to perform and an ability to go along with it, usually to do with finding a specific flower, protecting a specific place, or helping a specific person. Once the task is complete, the petal becomes a source of elementqal energy.
• Nectar of spring: a flowerbearer can collect nectar from six different flowers, mix them into a tincture with dew, and use it to give energy and heigthened awareness to themselves or others.
• Platinum butterfly swarm: the butterflies of platinum light created in the spring-end festival are always with flowerbearers, acting as magical protection, having a magical attack of elemental energy (11/15/19/23) and defense (+4/+4 vs industrial energies, +2/+2 in general).
• Woven basket: the flowerbearer makes a basket every year woven of flower stems and twigs to carry the flowers they gather in the spring. This basket keeps the collected flowers fresh throughout the spring. At the end of the spring, the basket is used for the sacred bed in the spring-end festival. They must then make a new one over the next nine months.
• Gathered energy: every flower they gather during the spring gives them more flower magic (it takes 25 flowers to make 1 point of energy). If they are kept in the basket, the flowerbearer may draw on them for magic. If they are given to Dea Veris, Dea Veris may offer them other abilities for them.
• Blossoming aura: the flowerbearer may wield their magic to create an aura of many colors (based on the flowers in their basket). This aura protects them from industrial magic, uplifts anyone who is a follower of their faith or a friend to nature within it, and gives them PRS bonuses.
• Pollen cloud: if they crush a flower in their hand, they may turn it to pure pollen, blow on it, and create a massive cloud of pollen as a distraction, poison, or to cause other effects depending on the flower.
• Rite of rejuvenation: the flowerbearer may call upon Dea Veris's magic by offering up over 1,000 flowers of at least 20 varieties to restore the youth to one person, but this may only ever been done once and not to themselves. They can do a lesser version of this rite to give youthful energy to up to ten people for a week at the cost of 200 flowers of 12 varieties.
• Flower dance: they may perform a dance amongst unpicked flowers and draw magic from them; as long as they keep dancing, the more magic comes to them. When they finish the dance, they will temporarily hold a colorful sphere of floral energy that they can direct to illuminate, poison, paralyze, confuse, restore, heal, energize, tire, distract, or have some other effect as per GM's discretion.
• Hummingbird hover: flowerbearers may throw a handful of petals up and step into them, hovering like a hummingbird temporarily.
• Stinging strike: flowerbearers can take a thorn or beesting and use it as a weapon, turning it into the equivalent of a stunning dagger +5/+2.
• Rite of rebirth: the flowerbearer can perform a difficult and powerful rite to mark someone with their own blood and the nectar of 1,000 flowers of 50 different varieties. This mark will cause the person to die within the year and be reborn the next spring with new magic. They can do this once outside of the central festivals of their faith.

Most flowerbearers have a favorite flower which they prefer to gather, and if they gather these, it will give them a special ability. Consult the GM.

If one plays a flowerbearer who has been sacrificed and reborn, they will have more abilities and magic that the GM will discuss with you.

The faith of flowerbearers is at best frowned upon and at worst illegal. They never serve imperials.

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

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Mortebianca

Type: Nun

Mortebiance are nuns who worship Death Herself. Death Herself is the personification of death, representation of death as a part of nature, elemental death, and a psychopomp figure who guides souls through the afterlife.

The sisterhood of the mortebiance exists in remote areas. They wear all white, cover their faces and heads, spend much time in prayer, and believe that Death Herself has tasked them to perform special rites that prevent the perversion of death by infernal powers. They are enemies to the undead especially. They are called upon by the people to perform funerary rites, and they are known for their vows of silence, non-interference, and poverty. They live off what little they make in tributes and contributions from those they help at funerals.

The vows are sacred and complex. They are silent only within their abbey walls. Outside, they speak, often giving words of comfort to the families of the dead. They are death doulas in effect. But within their own walls, they never speak. They communicate through writing, gesture, and shared understanding. Their vow of non-interference is one that requires that they neither kill nor save someone on the verge of death, unless that person is at risk of becoming undead. They will also not interfere with others' work to save someone from death, unless it involves causing undeath. They will kill for self-defense or if tasked with it by their abbess, though this is not something the public knows. And their vows of poverty are fairly direct - they do nothing for profit that involves their faith. They may not profit off their holy work, though they may accept gifts, tributes, and so on if it is not ostentatious or excessive. In short, they may only take things that help the abbey survive, not for personal gain or luxury.

Their beliefs are that death is sacred, a part of life, and something not to be corrupted. It is also not something to be inflicted wantonly - they view war, murder, and neglect as sins. They believe that death is a respite. What comes next is up to the soul of the dying, but if nothing else is true, it is true the life they are in will be over, and they will not bear its burdens any longer. However, it is not to be rushed. Death is meaningless without life, and they are in no hurry to move on, nor to have others do so. Death is natural and must come naturally. Suicide is not seen as a sin, but it is a tragedy, and a mortebianca will go out of her way to prevent it. They do not offer euthanasia, either, though this is something that they do not seek to prevent if the situation calls for it; they take a practical approach to it and look the other way.

To become a mortebianca, one must have a longer than usual goth phase. No, sorry. One must be found suitable to the life of a hermetic convent. Those who seek out the convents or abbeys of the mortebiance are rare already, and they only select those they deem capable of living in silence and serving the sacredness of Death Herself. Once chosen, there are still tests and trials. The part of the convent wherein the nuns teach acolytes is one of the few areas speaking is allowed, though even there it is quiet and rare. Acolytes begin by taking on their white robes and veils. They never reveal their faces thereafter except when they kiss the dead to send them on (part of their funerary rites). They eat alone, bathe alone, and sleep alone, and these are the only times they take off the veils. If an acolyte fails at this, they have four chances before they are expelled.

After years of training, they are tested. They are given four tests - a test of knowledge, a test of faith, a test of devotion, and a test of acceptance. The first is simply a series of questions. The second is a challenge to their beliefs. The third is a temptation. And the fourth is a simulation of their death. This fourth test is always secret, so they do not know it will happen. They truly believe they will die. If they accept it, they pass. If they fight it, they may still pass depending on how they fight it. But usually, resistance is failure, and they are expelled.

All mortebiance carry a white metal key, which is the symbol of their faith. As they work as a sister of Death Herself, they gain certain magical abilities provided by the elemental personification of death:

• Sending kiss: if someone is recently dead (within a week) or on the verge of death, the mortebianca may kiss their forehead or equivalent and bless their soul to resist any form of undeath.
• Veil of souls: their veils give them soulsight, which they can turn off and on, using it up to four times per day.
• Locking and unlocking: their key, if pressed into the flesh of a living person, may turn off their connection to death. If they are locked, they are locked into living, even if they suffer a wound or malady that should kill them. If they are unlocked, they are released from this state. They only use this power if approved by Death Herself, their superiors, or to prevent someone falling into undeath.
• Nether guide: if they believe someone is in danger in the afterlife, they may send a fragment of their own souls into the Nether Realm to guide them. This weakens them temporarily, so they only use it in rare circumstances.
• Grave sealing: if they use their key, tapping it upon a gravestone, tomb, sacrophagus, coffin, urn, or just the grave, they can prevent anything undead from rising from it.
• Gate of the Beyond: in desperate situations, they may open a full gate to the Beyond and the Nether Realm with their key. This portal will unleash the energies of death to draw all nearby souls into it, eradicating the undead. It will kill a lot of people.
• Prayer for death: in very rare circumstances, the mortebianca may pray for someone to die. Death Herself may accept and do so. There is always a price.

The work of the mortebiance always involves funerary rites, emotional support, guidance, and corpse disposal. They have four different funerary rites they perform: cremation, burial, carrion offering, and water burial. Each of these has its own rites and rituals.

They do not serve anyone but Death Herself. Imperials fear them, though some still use them.

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

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Nericelu

Type: Pilgrim

Nericelu are the religious pilgrims who serve Ati Thi, the Mother of the Sea, and sail her seas to honor her and visit the sacred sites. They are divers who can go deep to find sacred sites beneath the waves and swimmers who can go to the remote islands and sailors who travel port to port. They never stop sailing, always honoring her by being in harmony with her waters.

The religion of the seafarers focuses deeply on keeping the seas happy, and it is considered vital for a ship sailing within the seafarer culture to have a nericelu on their vessel. The nericelu are those who know how to honor the seas. They know the rites and rituals, the animals to leave alone and those to fish for, the ways to avoid the shallows, the look of the deeps, and the source of doldrums. They have the list of which places are sacred, and they know the ceremonies to perform when sailing through them.

To become a nericelu, one must be raised in the seafaring faith or come to it and be converted. They must be taught by their elders and others who honor the sea, and they must learn as they sail. They must be good sailors, and they must be so devoted they are willing to give themselves to the seas. The initiation rite is a baptism by drowning in deep sea waters, and those who prove themselves worthy and friends to nature and the seas will be saved by dolphins. This rarely goes wrong, as those who are unworthy are never allowed to get this far in their training.

If they survive this rite, they are given these abilities:

• Dolphin calling: they may call dolphins to guide them once per week.
• Seawalking: they can walk on seawaters as if they were undulating ground.
• Deep swimming: they can safely swim extremely deep into the seas.
• Shallow sensing: they can sense how deep the waters are
• Doldrumbreaking: they can make a seawind come when the air is still by sacrificing blood.
• Current drawing: they can draw the currents to them by sacrificing feelings.
• Waterbreathing: they can breathe underwater like a fish.
• Fishspeech: they can speak to fish.
• Whale singing: they can sing to whales and gain their wisdom.
• Cephalopod dancing: if they dance with a squid, nautilus, or octopus, they gain extra arms for a day.

They are a very special part of the faith of the seafarers, and when they are on land, they are honored with feasts that they always refuse and give back to the community.

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

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Rasul

Type: Prophet

The ancient religions of the star-watchers periodically find someone among their number who is attuned to the cycles of comets. These people, called rasuls, know when comets will arrive, what they mean, and how to draw magic from them.

A rasul does not happen randomly. Though people born under a comet might be more likely to attune to them, one must study, train, and be a friend to nature and the cosmos to become a rasul. They must be a follower of the worship of the cosmos, know astronomy and astrology, and have an understanding of the movements of orbital bodies. They are usually someone who is more interested in comets than other orbital bodies, and thus, they are chosen to learn more about them and seek attunement. Attunement happens if and only if they can figure out when the next comet will appear, be under the night sky when it arrives, and somehow magically connect to it. This last part requires mystical and spiritual training.

If someone is thought to be a potential rasul, they are given special elemental lenses and scopes to study the cosmos, sent into the cold night to test their resistance to the lower temperatures, and asked deep, probing questions about the universe to test their knowledge. Once they are deemed worthy, they are given access to ancient information (whether written or oral, though usually written) to figure out the next comet's arrival. If they are right and if they are ready, they go out, naked, and seek its light. They follow its path deep into the wilds, and they find something elemental to connect to it - a large body of water reflecting it, a large natural fire resembling its light, or simply something very high up and close to it. Once there, they call out to it and leap at it or its symbolic representation. If they are worthy, their minds leave their bodies and interact with the elemental of the comet, giving them cosmic knowledge. If they are wrong, they usually hurt themselves and need a little assistance, which is why other followers are usually not far behind just in case.

Once proven worthy, they return to their communities and begin sharing their cosmic knowledge. They also gain magical abilities:

• Bow shock shield: the bow shock is a visual phenomenon that occurs as the comet hits solar winds; rasul can replicate this, creating a powerful shield in front of themselves and others out of light and energy.
• Coma aura: the coma is the light atmosphere around the comet generated by offgassing and rotation; the rasul may emit this around themselves as well, giving them protections from magic, especially infernal or industrial magic.
• Icy tail: if the rasul moves quickly, they form an icy tail steam that freezes people behind them.
• Predictive cycle: the rasul attunes to a comet and knows its movements, as well as those of many other comets, and they can use this to predict their arrivals and their meanings. See below.
• Vast endurance: like a comet, the rasul may travel for long distances without tiring.

The arrival of comets have different meanings depending on different effects they have and how they look. Here are some portents they might represent:

• Arrival: the comet may represent the arrival of someone or something of great importance.
• Departure: the comet may also represent the departure of someone or something of great importance.
• Disaster: the comet may portend a major disaster, such as flood, volcanic eruption, storm, or earthquake.
• Journey: most comets represent someone or something going on a very long journey.
• Passage: many comets represent the passage of one thing to another. This may mean the end of an era and the start of another, the moving of some great thing or person from one place to another, the shifting of political or social powers, and so on.
• Plague: some comets mean a great plague is coming.
• Victory: some comets mean victory for the rasul and their faith.
• War: some comets mean a great war is coming.
• Wisdom: and some rare comets mean a great revelation and deep wisdom will come to the rasul and their people.

Most comets portend multiple of the above.

All rasuls gain cosmic knowledge and share it. This is the wisdom and words of the elementals of the comet and the cosmos. This is how they work as a prophet.

They are often persecuted by imperials.

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

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Vulcanotrice

Type: Priestess

Vulcanotrici are priestesses of the volcanoes. They are sometimes called majare on some islands.

Those who live in the shadow of volcanoes often worship them, either as sources of power, figures to be appeased, or simply forces of nature. They are usually led by the vulcanotrici, the priestesses who commune with and connect with the volcanoes, giving them enormous elemental power to protect their people.

The cultures below the volcanoes are not all followers of the volcanic elementals, but those who are inevitably develop a role that takes lead in interacting with them. Volcanotrici take this role not because they are braver or more powerful, but because they see something others do not. Though it is traditionally a role for women or non-men, it does not have to be. Most are, however.

To become a volcanotrice, a person must live near a volcano. They must be part of or join a religion worshiping the elementals of the volcano. And they must have an interest in and insight into the volcano. If they grow up in such a culture, this usually happens when they are young. They are trained when they are older in the ancient faith, the rituals and rites of the faith, the stories and legends of the culture, and the science of volcanoes, or a mystic version thereof. When they are trained and ready, they are taken with the other volcanotrici up the volcano (as far as it is safe to do so), where they perform initiation rites. This involves removing all protective clothing, washing in ash, breathing in smoke, and cutting one's flesh with obsidian or volcanic stone. If no smoke is present, a burning censer is brought with them. After this, if the rite works, the volcanotrice will feel a warmth insider herself that protects her from the volcano. She will then ascend until she finds molten lava, then dive in. When she arises, hairless and burnt, she will find her eyes have become spheres of molten red and black lava, and she has a communion with the volcano elemental.

The elemental will test her. If she is found unworthy, she will awaken in the community below, whole and hale, but without power. If she is worthy, she will find her flesh restored, her eyes burning, and her hair replaced with flame. She will gain the following abilities:

• Immunity to heat: they are unaffected by any kind of heat.
• Heat vision: her lava eyes allow her to see heat.
• Smoke form: she can take the form of smoke once per day.
• Ashen skin: she may turn her skin to ash to absorb infernal energies to protect her from them.
• Volcanic command: she may speak in a voice as loud as an eruption to command and lead.
• Lava snake: she may summon a snake made of lava to serve her.
• Tephra flow: she may draw out the tephra of the volcano (only if she is near it) in a massive avalanche.
• Gaseous cloud: she may summon a cloud of toxic gases and acid once per week.

All of these abilities are contingent on her loyalty and service to the community and volcano. They are designed in part to defend against enemies of the community.

Her role in the community will be to lead the rituals that appease the volcano, keeping it safe or warning them of impending eruptions, and to perform sacrifices (usually livestock), lead prayers and rites, and advise the community in spiritual matters.

They are always loyal to the volcano and their community instead of any imperial power.

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