Elemental Wranglers

Those who use magical elemental animals.

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Assorbirere

Type: Novotherianist

In seaside elemental commununities in the region, there are those who gather sponges for trade as part of their culture. These have developed over the many years to bond with and take on certain aspects of the sponge's bodies and abilities. These are the assorbirieri, divers whose role in the elemental communities is very important.

To become an assorbirere, one must train to be a diver first. One must be a friend to the sea and to nature. And one must understand sponges as living animals. This takes years of training, culminating in their test with an elemental sponge spirit. If they survive the ordeal - and some do not - they gain strange abilities and have visions and dreams related to life as a sponge. In short, it gets outright weird. Some abilities they gain are as follows:

• Waterbreathing: all assorbiriere can breathe underwater.
• Long diving: all assorbiriere can dive deep and remain for long periods of time safely.
• Absorb energies: all assorbiriere can absorb esoteric energies cast at them.
• Organless survival: if an assorbiriere loses a vital organ other than their brain, they will survive without it.
• Mesohyl frame: an assorbiriere may be able to turn their skeleton into a gelatinous substance that allows them to move through narrow spaces.
• Spongin armor: an assorbiriere may be able to turn their outer body into a chalky substance that makes them tougher temporarily.
• Cell shifting: an assorbiriere may be able to alter the function of the cells on the surface of their bodies, shifting them from basic skin cells to spines, disease resistance, absorbing cells, stronger musculature, or simply changing colors.
• Water chimney: an assorbiriere may be able to channel water up from every part of their body and out their mouth in a bizarre eruption.
• Rash touch: some assorbieri may be able to touch someone and cause a painful, itchy rash.
• Healing touch: some assorbieri may be able to touch someone and cure disease in them.

Assorbirieri are rare in their communities. They have strange dreams of what it is like to be a sponge, which often slowly drives them to believe they truly are one. Most end up in their late middle age just going comatose underwater and living for a few years there.

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

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Horsefriend

Type: Horsemonger

Horsefriends are exactly what they sound like. They bond to horses via elemental magic and become part of the herd. Like other wielders of elemental animal magic, they must prove themselves friends to nature and to their bonded animals. It takes years of training and study, connecting, even living among the herd. In ancient times, they were a vital part of the domestication of horses and creating a communal connection between their people and wild horses. In current times, they are horse traders with a strong sense of whom they should trade with - they will never trade or sell to someone who would harm a horse, and if they find out someone is harming a horse they sold or traded, the horse will be called back.

Horsefriends consult with the horses before trading or selling them. They will buy horses with less examination, however; any horse is welcome in their stable. They tend to work with horses in ways that use less restriction. They are skilled horse healers as well, saving horses that others would put down. They do not subject them to racing, showcasing, or other performative and sometimes cruel uses. They work with them. They use no bridle or saddle, and they only shoe for protection.

After they train and are tested by elemental horses, they spend time living as a horse in the herd, culminating in gaining special abilities:

• Horsespeech: horsefriends can talk to any equine.
• Herdmind: horsefriends bond to the entire herd and share a mind with them while in proximity.
• Equine endurance: a horsefriend may carry a great weight instead of having a horse do it and bear it as if they are as strong and durant as the horse.
• Free running: a horsefriend may run alongside a horse in full gallop and both maintain their speed.
• Oat feast: a horsefriend may share oats with a horse, both eating together, and share strength with each other.
• Stormmane: a horsefriend may hold the mane of a horse they ride and ride through inclement weather without harm.
• Hooves of light: a horsefriend may ride a horse and empower their hooves to walk on light.
• Hooves of iron: a horsefriend may place a horseshoe on their person and walk as if their soles are made of hard iron.
• Blood restoration: the blood of a horsefriend can heal a horse.

Some horses give horsefriends special abilities or bonuses. They can only work with elemental or unaligned horses, so infernal horses like helhests and cheval mallet, celestial horses like white horses and pax equus, or fey horses like faeriesteeds and feresis cannot bond with them.

Equine	Alignment	Type	Description	Effect
Achdari	Unaligned	Onager	Wild onagers of the southern continents
Aisoyimstan	Elemental	Aloga	Horse spirit from the western continent connected to winter and snow	Cold resistance
Alagh	Unaligned	Onager	Onagers of the southern continent with tough skin	Toughness bonus
Arase	Unaligned	Horned Horse	Horned horses of the southern continents	Strength bonus
Arion	Unaligned	Tarpan	Legendary fastest horse	Speed bonus
Astral Horse	Elemental	Aloga	Constellation horse spirit	Space-breathing
Capall Uisce	Elemental	Water Horse	Basic water horse	Swimming bonus
Ceffyl Dwr	Elemental	Water Horse	Trickster water horse who protects nature	Elemental form
Chollima, Storm Herd	Elemental	Tarpan	Legendary storm horse of the east	Ride with the storm front
Domestic Ass	None	Donkey	Stubborn common donkeys	Willpower bonus
Domestic Horse	Elemental	Horse	Common horses	Bonuse on open grassland
Enemithende	Unaligned	Zebra	Zebras of the cape mountains	Mild empathy
Eohippus	Unaligned	Horse	Ancestral horses	Ancestral connection
Eşek	Unaligned	Khulan	Extremely strong khulans	Strength bonus
Forest Horse	Elemental	Horse	Long-legged horses, Kalobatippus	Bonuses in forests
Gadha	Unaligned	Onager	Onagers known for quick learning	Fast learning edge
Giant Zebra	Unaligned	Zebra	Aptly named	Speed bonus
Gulldras	Elemental	Drasillr	Legendary storm spirit horse	Immunity to electricity
Hestr	Unaligned	Giant Horse	Legendary horse of an ancient hero	Strength bonus
Hippocampus	Elemental	Water Horse	Water horse of the seas	Waterbreathing
Hvítrdras	Elemental	Drasillr	Bright horse of light	Longsight
Idube	Unaligned	Quagga	Quaggas known for being easily trained	Fast learning edge
Kavaju	Unaligned	Tarpan	Equus lambei, horses of the northwestern mountains	Mountain riding
Khiimori	Unaligned	Tarpan	Swift horse of the winds on the steppes	Soul protection
Kintrinalogo	Elemental	Aloga	Legendary harvest spirit horse	Expand meals
Kopytnyy	Elemental	Aloga	Equus lenensis, horses of the taiga	Bonuses in coniferous forest
Ladryan Herd	Unaligned	Giant Horse	Massive war horses	Prowess bonus
Marrdras	Elemental	Drasillr	Sea treading messenger horse	Waterspeech
Mountain Ass	Elemental	Donkey	Hardy donkeys of the mountains	Mountain climbing
Mukhatat	Elemental	Zebra	Desert zebras	Dry survival
Mule	None	Mule	Common mules	Easy sleeping
Mýkjaskskór	Unaligned	Drasillr	Eight-legged spirit horse	Aura of authority
Nillekma	Elemental	Horned Horse	Horned horse of the southern continent	Healing horn
Ongon	Unaligned	Khulan	Khulans of the wild steppes	Neutralizing aura
Pegasus	Unaligned	Winged Horse	Winged horse of the stars	Flight
Pitse e Tilodi	Elemental	Zebra	Plains zebras	Zebrafriend
Pundamilia	Unaligned	Zebra	Maneless zebras	Resistance to faith
Puuku	Elemental	Aloga	Horse-spirit horse	Bonuses to all horsefriend abilities
Rǫðulldras	Elemental	Drasillr	Horses that draw the sun across the sky	Solar aura
Sabit Ayak	Unaligned	Onager	Local onagers used in smuggling	Stealth bonus
Shabdiz	Unaligned	Giant Horse	Fast horse of an ancient king	Neutralizing aura
Shabrang	Elemental	Aloga	Legendary horse of an ancient hero	Lunar empowerment
Snærdras	Elemental	Drasillr	Black horse of darkness	Shadowstep
Sthira Khutta	Unaligned	Khiang	Khiangs with hooves of menab'e	Resource sensing
Taltos Steed	Unaligned	Horned Horse	Horned horses bonded to certain shamans	Hunting bonus
Tiěmǎ	Elemental	Tarpan	Metal-skinned tarpans	Metalskin
True Herd	Elemental	Aloga	True elemental horses	Bonuses to all horsefriend abilities
Turaga	Elemental	White Horse	Horses of the sun	Solar empowerment
Wild Horse	Elemental	Horse	Common wild horses	Untamed resistance
Wind Horse, Buraq	Elemental	Aloga	Legendary wind-riding horse	Flight
Æsdras	Unaligned	Drasillr	Horses powerful enough to bear deities	Bonuses to faith

Obviously many of the above are not common or native to the region. Some are unique or legendary. Consult the GM before choosing one as a member of the herd for the start of the game. Sme must be justified with backstory. Common domestic horses are assumed to be the bulk of the herd.

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

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Pellician

Type: Zoanthrope

Pellicians are mammalian mortals who train with elemental animal magic to learn how to turn into certain kinds of mammals. They are part of the ancient nature religion in the area, members who, in the long past, were exceptional protectors and hunters whose ability to transform served the community by helping them with the local fauna. In current times, they are greatly oppressed by imperial powers, demonized as monsters, and they hide what they are and what they can do. But they still serve a purpose to their elemental communities, usually as protectors.

To become a pellician, they spend years training under another pellician. They spend time with the animal they will be taking the form of, bonding with them, living as them, learning of them. They are tested time and again to see if they are devoted to their animal (they must never harm the kind of animal they will be bonding with, no matter what). And they are tested for their devotion to nature. After years of this, they eventually meet an elemental animal that performs a final test, and they wake up in their new form. They then spend a year and a day in that form before turning back into their metahuman form.

All pellicians gain the ability to speak to their bonded animal, to sense through their senses, and to sense when they are near. Other abilities vary by animal:

Mammal	Bonus	Ability
Alpine Ibex, Chamois	+1 endurance	Snow step
Alpine Marmot	+1 cold resistance	Pain relief
Alpine Shrew, Bicolored Shrew, [Common] Shrew, [Etruscan] Shrew, [Eurasian] Water Shrew	+1 STH	Tail climbing
Arno River Dog	+1 PRO	River run
[European] Badger	+1 stubbornness	Digger claw
Beech Marten, [Common] Genet, [European] Polecat, Stoat	+1 PRO	Bounding
Black Squirrel, Red Squirrel	+1 speed	Gathering
[Common] Bottlenose Dolphin	+1 swimming	Intimidation
Brown Bear, Cave Bear	+1 STR	Hibernation
Brown Rat	+1 disease resistance	Plague aura
Cape Hare, Mountain Hare, [Sardinian] Pika, [European] Rabbit	+1 reaction	Danger sense
Cave Lion	+1 PRO	Roar
Crested Porcupine	+1 toughness	Spine blade
Cryptic Myotis, Greater Horseshoe Bat, Grey Long-Eared Bat, [Common] Noctule, [Common] Pipistrelle, Western Barbastelle, Whiskered Bat	+1 hearing	Echolocation
[Sardinian] Dhole	+1 PRO	Island run
Field Vole, Snow Vole, [Common] Vole, Water Vole	+1 STH	Secret sniff
Fin Whale, Humpback Whale, [North Atlantic] Right Whale, Sperm Whale	+1 STR	Tidal wave
Forest Dormouse, Hazel Dormouse, House Mouse, Wood Mouse	+1 STH	Size changing
Gray Wolf	+1 PRO	Hunter's howl
[West European] Hedgehog	+1 toughness	Rolling
[European] Hippopotamus	+1 STR	River maw
[Eurasian] Lynx	+1 STH	Vanishing
[Southern] Mammoth	+1 STR	Trumpet
[Roman] Mole	+1 smelling	Tunneling
[Mediterranean] Monk Seal	+1 swimming	Seaspray insight
Orca	+1 PRO	Targeting
[European] Otter	+1 ATH	Water dance
Red Deer, Roe Deer	+1 endurance	Stagsdance
Red Fox	+1 AWA	Cunning scheme
Wild Boar	+1 PRO	Rage
[African] Wildcat, [European] Wildcat	+1 ATH	Nine lives
Woolly Rhinoceros	+1 STR	Charge

Pellicians only serve imperials if they are hiding what they are. Most pose as hunters or gamesmasters, people who work with animals of some kind.

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

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Scalesmith

Type: Reptilist

Scalesmiths bond with various reptiles and use their skins, scales, or body parts to make various objects. Scalesmiths are friends to reptiles and never kill them for their work, but use their cast off scales or skins or gather them after a natural death. They do this to honor the spirit of the reptiles.

Scalesmiths are part of the ancient elemental communities. They learned to use the parts of various reptiles to provide for the community much needed clothing, armor, or tools. They do this via a similar process to other elemental animal magic users, spending long periods of time living with and bonding with reptiles. Many have a bonded animal companion that lives as long as they do. This animal companion is often their assistant in crafting as well.

After they prove themselves a reptile friend and protector of nature, they are tested by an elemental reptile spirit. When they pass, they gain insights into all the uses of reptile parts. They are trained in their communities to craft. The abilities they gain are as follows:

• Reptilespeech: they can speak to any reptile.
• Enduring treatment: they can use their own spit and blood to make reptile parts longer lasting.
• Molting: they can molt their own skin like a snake and alter their own appearance.
• Scale sense: they can take any reptile part (not just scales) and sense different ways to make them into useful crafts.

Other abilities vary by their reptile companion. The following are common or unique to the area:

Reptile	Type	Alignment	Description	Effect
Aspidochelone	Chelonian	Elemental	Massive island whale-turtle with a volcanic form	Heat resistance, swimming bonus
Dragon Turtle	Chelonian	Unaligned	Large turtles that breathe fire	Firebreath
Fastitocalan	Chelonian	Elemental	Massive island whale-turtle with a watery form	Waterbreathing, swimming bonus
Green Sea Turtle, Leatherback Sea Turtle, Loggerhead Sea Turtle	Chelonian	None	Sea turtles common to the area	Swimming bonus, toughness bonus
Marginated Tortoise	Chelonian	None	Large land tortoises	Toughness bonus, endurance bonus
[European] Pond Turtle, [Sicilian] Pond Turtle	Chelonian	None	Common pond turtles	Toughness bonus, swimming bonus
Blue Crocodile	Crocodile	Elemental	Magical waterbreathing crocodiles from the southern continent	Waterbreathing, prowess bonus
Dawn Crocodile	Crocodile	Elemental	Magical crocodiles that glow in the dawn, from the southern continent	Sun empowerment, prowess bonus
Saltriovenator, Scipionyx	Dinosaur	None	T-rex-like dinosaurs	Hunting bonus, prowess bonus
Tethyshadros	Dinosaur	None	A kind of hadrosaur	Calm presence
[Mediterranean] Chameleon	Lizard	None	Color-changing lizard	Stealth bonus, color changing
Miqyas al'Raml	Lizard	Elemental	Lacertas lizards found in the vast deserts of the southern continent
Sand Lizard	Lizard	None	Common lacertas lizard	Desert survival
[Italian] Slowworm	Lizard	None	Legless lizards	Athleticism penalty, willpower bonus
[Italian] Three-Toed Skink, [Mediterranean] House Gecko, [Western] Green Lizard, Ocellated Lizard	Lizard	None	Common lizards to the area	Athleticism bonus
Tree Gecko	Lizard	None	Geckos found in wooded areas	Bonuses in forests
[Sicilian] Wall Lizard	Lizard	None	Common lizard on the islands	Wall climbing, athleticism bonus
Wolfram Gecko	Lizard	Unaligned	Geckos with metal skin who are skilled hunters	Hunting bonus
Ceresiosaurus	Nothosaur	None	Huge aquatic reptile	Swimming bonus, strength bonus
Eudimorphodon	Pterosaur	None	Large flying reptile	Flight, athleticism bonus
[European] Adder, Horned Viper	Snake	None	Dangerous venomous snake	Venomous bite
Amphisbaena	Snake	Elemental	Legendary two-headed flying serpent	Flight, athleticism bonus, earthblood
[European] Cat Snake	Snake	None	Fast, venomou snake with grey and black scales	Athleticism bonus, venomous bite
Basilisk	Snake	Elemental	Massive, legendary serpents with a petrifying gaze	Petrifying gaze
Falak	Snake	Elemental	Fiery legendary serpents	Fire resistance, fire skin
Garafena	Snake	Elemental	Legendary serpent which guards the Alatyr on a legendary island	Earthblood
Grass Snake	Snake	None	A common green snake, nonvenomous, living near water in grasslands	Bonuses in grasslands
Green Whip Snake	Snake	None	Stubborn forest snake	Bonuses in forests
Javelin Sand Boa	Snake	None	Smaller boa common to the arid regions	Strength bonus
[European] Ratsnake	Snake	None	Nonvenomous snake that eats rodents	Bonuses against rodents
Wyvern	Wyvern	Elemental	Powerful apex predator reptiles with draconic bodies, rear legs, wings, and no forelegs	Stinging venom, flight

Scalesmiths craft things from scales, skins, bones, horns, fangs, wings, tails, stingers, venoms, blood, spit, shells, any part of the reptile. Commonly, they make clothing, footwear, or armor, but tinctures, ointments, weapons, and other things are not unheard of. It is up to the player to come up with ideas with the GM's input.

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

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Scuoterverm

Type: Wormer

Scuotervermi are those who farm annelids as a form of wielding earth magic, specifically to disrupt faults and cause earthquakes. They are very powerful and dangerous wielders of elemental power whose role in their elemental communities is resistance to imperial tyranny and industrial poisons.

To become a scuoterverm, one must be trained (usually in secret) by other scuotervermi. They are not animal friends, but rather, wielders of earth magic, and thus, they gain their magic in a similar fashion - burying themselves, sensory deprivation and meditation, and learning geology and seismology via a mystic lens. They study and train for years, bonding to the earth, focusing on earthquakes to commune with them, and eventually being tested by an elemental attuned to tectonics. If they pass, they gain the ability to sense and affect faults, tectonics, and earthquakes via the medium of annelid worms.

• Annelidspeech: they can speak to any kind of segmented worm.
• Worm sounding: they can sense worms underground by tapping their feet.
• Fault sensing: they can sense faultlines by placing their ears to the ground.
• Gap finding: they can sense gaps and caves underground by sense of smell.
• Worm rumble: any annelid they have spoken to in the last week, they can send a message to subsonically to encourage them to rumble, and if there are enough nearby, they all begin to shake, causing minor shakes and trembles in the earth.

The more powerful they are, the greater the shake they can cause. They operate as secret, terroristic agents of elemental communities seeking to fight imperial and industrial powers. They are very careful with their abilities, seeking not to harm elemental communities, cause cave-ins or avalanches, or cause industrial spills.

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

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Wildsmaster

Type: Wrangler

Wranglers who bond with animals by imitating them, going partially feral to do so, and thus gaining the ability to communicate with them, influence them, call upon their aid, or mimic their abilities. Wildsmasters are wielders of animal magic who commune with animals by imitating them and traveling or living with them, taking on their habits and gaining their powers. They wear headgear that symbolize their animal friends after they leave them.

Wilding is the art of bonding with animals and taking on their qualities. The primary method of bonding with animals used by wildsmasters is to imitate them in their presence. They must find a wild animal and gain its trust enough to get close to it to begin imitating it. They do not merely need to copy movements, but to copy the general behavior of the animal, and for that, they must know about the animals and why they behave the way they do. They do this through intense observation and training from their mentors.

Some animals will not allow a wildsmaster close very easily at first, so they must take more extreme measures: living with them. This can be very difficult in animals who are not trustful of mortals, and so it takes a long time. No animal takes more than a year and a day to bond with after the wildsmaster has begun imitating them successfully.

To bond with an animal, the wildsmaster must so perfectly imitate them that the animal believes them to be one of them. Then they must perform a ritual dance with the animal. If they are truly attuned, they animal will follow their movements. At the end of the dance, they will have bonded. The wildsmaster will then be able to take on characteristics of the animal, use its senses, communicate with it, and more. The exact movements of the dance vary by culture.

The more a wildsmaster imitates it, the more they become acclimated to how the animal lives. They then become less threatening to animals. Sometimes, they acclimate too far and lose their ability to act like their own species. Most wildsmasters are a little weird to other mortals' standards. Some wildsmasters acclimate so far they completely forget how to be their own species. They go feral and believe they are their primary bonded animal. If this happens and they do not break out of it within a few years, they usually end up taking on the animal form permanently.

There are several broad categories of animal. Depending on the species of the wildsmaster, these can be more or less difficult to bond with. Most mortals are mammals and thus bond better with mammals. Merfolk, fish folk, and undines bond better with fish, etc. Consult the GM for details. Plant folk, fungus folk, and non-animal mortals find it more difficult to be wildsmasters.

A wildsmaster typically bonds to an individual animal, but in doing so, they become more readily able to bond with other animals of that species. If they bond with multiple species within a genus, the whole genus becomes easier to bond with. And so on, up to phyla. An experienced wildsmaster with hundreds of reptile bonds will be able to more easily bond with any kind of reptile, for example. They become very sympathetic to their chosen taxon, if they choose a specialty. Some choose a single species. Some form major bonds with a small group of diverse animals. Some choose an entire class or family.

A caged or domesticated animal loses its wildness and thus some of its elemental animal magic, making them nearly impossible to bond with. Feral animals (those who have un-domesticated themselves) can be bonded with, though it is a little more difficult.

Some powers of a wildsmaster include the following:

• Animal features: transforming their own bodies to take on features of the animal. If those physical features are paired with abilities, they will gain those abilities.
• Animal forms: the ultimate use of a wildsmaster's powers is to take the form of an animal. Because of issues of mass, they cannot usually take the form of animals much smaller than they are or much larger, but they can take forms close to their size of animals that aren't usually that size. For example, they could become a six foot tall ant or six foot long whale. However, these distorted forms cannot last long as they use up too much energy to maintain. Very powerful wildsmasters can merge their consciousness with an animal, thus allowing them to experience animals of different sizes. The form a wildsmaster takes will always match their own relative age as well - an elderly wildsmaster will become an elderly animal and so on. It is rare for children to learn wildsmaster skills, especially not so well as to be able to take an animal form, but if they did, they would take on a juvenile form.
• Animal abilities: animals abilities can be mimicked by a wildsmaster if they have bonded with that animal, or they can be taken on if they are powerful enough.
• Animal senses: wildsmasters can take on the keenness of eye of an eagle or the sharp nose of a dog the same way they would any any other ability, but they can also move their consciousness into the animal and experience what the animal is sensing, temporarily. They can see through the eyes of their bonded animal, for instance. They cannot think the animal's thoughts, though. Their thoughts remain their own, so they can smell what a dog can smell, but they do not necessarily process the smells the way a dog would.
• Animal vocalizations: communication between wildsmaster and animals is vital. Before they bond with any animal, they must learn to communicate via what mortal means they have. Once they have bonded, they can share thoughts and instantly communicate with their bonded animal. But they can also more skillfully communicate with other animals of that species, and often within the same genus. The more they bond with, the better their communication skills become, though animal type matters greatly.

Other abilities are possible based on the animals being bonded with. Consult the GM.

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