Unaligned Warriors

Those who use unaligned magic to fight.

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Bersagliore

Type: Archer

Bersagliori are attuned to their own bodies. They perform magical exercises and practices in order to heighten their eyesight and take utmost control of their vision, making them extremely skilled archers. The exercises they do are augmented by a diet of special fluids that help them perform their magic.

To become a bersagliore, one must be a skilled archer to begin with, and they must spend years studying eyes, bodies, and vision, ultimately taking control of their sense of sight by controlling their body in ways that are only possible magically.

Many get this training from academic sources or from military sources, but some come to it via mentors. They study and train for many years before they gain enough magical control to be precise enough to alter their own eyes via body magic. When they achieve this, they gain specific abilities:

• Sharpen vision: the bersagliore can sharpen their aim by sharpening their vision.
• Longsight: the bersagliore can alter their eyes such that they can see further, though this temporarily sacrifices their nearsight.
• Precision focus: the bersagliore can focus their eyes such that they can see one point much more clearly than any other, giving them bonuses to their archery on repeated shots.
• Enduring sight: the bersagliore can make their eyes more resilient and moistened such that they can keep them open longer and use them longer without resting them.
• Bent lens: the bersagliore can alter the lens of their eye such that they are able to see around corners.

Most bersagliori end up working for imperial militaries, though some are mercenaries, private security, or working for other groups.

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

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B'sheb'laa

Type: Heavy

B'sheb'laas are warriors who draw magic from the power and strength of dragons. They wear heavy armor and wield heavy weapons, all made possible because of the draconic magic at their disposal. This description assumes an unaligned dragon. For fey, celestial, or elemental, consult the GM.

To become a b'sheb'laa, one must be in service to a dragon. One must be accepted by the dragon and willingly working for them as a warrior. One must prove onself as a warrior, train for years, and be able to show their strength even before gaining power. And then they must pass the trials of the dragon:

• Trial of Discipline: they must prove they can follow orders and a routine of exercise and study.
• Trial of Power: they must prove themselves strong enough to survive the energies they will wield and the dragon’s demands.
• Trial of Majesty: they must prove they have a sense of authority and the ability to lead.
• Trial of Territory: they must prove they know and respect the dragon’s territory.
• Trial of Accumulation: they must prove they know all of the previous trials again.

If they pass all five trials, they are taken to the dragon and given their magic, usually in the form of a small scale they carry. This scale contains raw dragon magic, which they can use for several abilities:

• Dragonflame: they can bring dragonflame onto any weapon they have or breathe it out (though the latter is dangerous).
• Strength of the dragon: they can give themselves temporary STR bonuses.
• Will of the dragon: they can give themselves temporary WIL bonuses.
• Aura of power: they can unleash an aura of raw draconic magic around themselves, which can empower allies or repel magic.
• Five-headed strike: they can, at great cost, strike five times in one round.

The work they do for dragons is usually quests, warfare, or guarding their hoards. They wear heavy armor and are known to use warhammers, maces, flails, chain-flails, polearms, heavy axes, or other large weaponry.

PRO +3 ATH +1 STR +4 AWA +1 WIL +2 PRS -1 STH -3

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Manofluent

Type: Martial Artist

Inertia is powerful even in its mundane form, but magical inertia is part of the flow of all magical energies. Manofluenti learn to sense it and the flows of all energies by moving constantly. Their martial art involves only using their hands to fight.

Manofluenti study under masters of the artform of manofluency, the inertial martial art. They train for decades, engaging in constant movement, special exercises, meditations on movement and inertia, and study of physics such as they are understood. They understand inertia as the Spirits of Movement and Stasis. They sense them, engage with them, dance with them, and honor them. After decades of training, they are tested by their masters. If they pass, they are sent into a state of stasis for a year and a day, during which their minds and hearts move and nothing else. When they come out of it, they are truly attuned to inertia and can wield special abilities:

• Guiding the flow: they can sense the flows of all energies and guide them with their hand movements.
• Unmoveable self: if they remain perfectly still and even stop their hearts and minds, they can remain alive and conscious for a brief time in this state and become unmoveable.
• Heartbeat in the hands: if they remain perfectly still except for their hearts and minds, they can focus for a certain amount of time and channel all of the inertia formed by their internal movements into their hands.
• Constant motion: the more they move, the more they build up power, culminating after many rounds in a a powerful attack, movement, or reaction.
• Inertial sense: they can sense the power of inertia and the energies all around themselves.

Manofluenti work for none but their own orders, which are obscure and often remote. They engage with other people outside their orders in search of understanding of the movements and lack thereof of the world around them.

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

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Shpaltngever

Type: Gunslinger

One who uses the power of division to split their targets perfectly. Life is a continuous cutting motion. To tap into the power of division, one must contemplate the cutting motion, the power of fission, and see life as nothing but a series of cuts through moments, through possibilities, through probabilities. Life is a continuous cutting motion, and splitters see it and know it and experience it.

Shpaltngevers tap into the power of paradoxical magic, the energy of breaking contradictions and thus reality, directing it to solid matter and splitting passages through it. They do this through decades of meditation and reordering their thoughts, hyperfocus, and self-control, culminating in them splitting themselves and becoming a vessel of division such that they can channel it into their firearms.

For every use of their splitting power, they risk dividing themselves further. Their power can split through any solid matter at a power equal to the difficulty they roll against to survive the use of their power. If they wield a power of 22, they roll one of their base stats against it:

Roll	Effect
Critical failure	Their entire being (True Name) splits in half and they die, with their half-souls being destroyed as well; the attempt to split something fails; their gun breaks
Exceptional failure	The base stat they rolled is permanently halved and their soul is cut in half; they barely survive and must find a way to restore their soul or lose their entire being; the attempt to split something fails; their gun breaks
Special failure	The base stat they rolled is permanently halved; the attempt to split something fails; their gun breaks
Normal failure	The base stat they rolled is temporarily halved; they must rest for a number of days equal to the difficulty they rolled against without using their power; the attempt to split something fails; their gun breaks
Tie	The base stat is temporarily halved; they must rest for a number of days equal to half the difficulty they rolled against without using their power; the attempt to split something fails; their gun breaks
Normal success	The base stat is temporarily halved; the target is split in two; they must rest for a number of days equal to half the difficulty they rolled against without using their power
Special success	The base stat is unaffected; the target is split in two; they must rest for a number of days equal to half the difficulty they rolled against without using their power
Exceptional success	The base stat is unaffected; the target is split in two; they must rest for a number of hours equal to the difficulty they rolled against without using their power
Critical success	The base stat is unaffected; the target is split in two; they must rest for a number of hours equal to half the difficulty they rolled against without using their power

Difficulties are based on the size and abstractness of the target.

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

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Weaponmaster

Type: Warrior

Warriors who use ritual conflict to master specific weapons.

In the distant past, warriors learned that the act of ritual conflict would generate an energy that would allow them, their weapons, and their armies to grow stronger, faster, and more capable of warcraft. Thus were founded the first weaponmasters, as they honed their abilities with their specific weapons to become supernaturally excellent with them.

Every weaponmaster has a specific weapon they focus on. While use of a specific kind of sword can translate into many other kinds of swords, after their first year of training, a weaponmaster will always be better at their specific chosen weapon. For instance, they learn to use broadswords rather than just swords, or ngaos instead of polearms, or recurved bows instead of bows, etc. So while a khopesh-user might share similar skillsets with a tulwar-user, the prowess substat for a khopesh-master will be higher than their skill for using any other slashing blade. They will still have a higher skill in the tulwar or falchion than the rapier or longsword, however.

The rituals of conflict that generate and wield the energy used by weaponmasters vary by weapon type, but they all contain the following:

• A defined space for the conflict. Usually, a circle, ring, field, or contest arena (i.e., archery butts or shooting targets).
• Initial spilling of one's own blood as a show of respect to one's opponent (even if said opponent is inanimate).
• A weapons display. If the conflict is a contest (i.e., two archers competing for best results rather than shooting one another), the conflict itself may be the display, but usually it's a sword or spear dance, gun spinning, etc.
• A battle cry, roar, or other loud (or clearly perceptible) display at the start of the first attack. Some kind of a display of ferocity.
• First strike is always a pulled-shot to be parried, dodged, or an intentional miss as a means of giving one's opponent a chance, proving the weaponmaster is no coward.
• True combat follows after all opponents have had their pulled-shot. During this, no blows may be pulled save for a killing blow, and then only if agreed to before hand. It is assumed to be a fight to the death unless otherwise stated, though it is almost always stated to be otherwise.
• If a group conflict is taking place with multiple people on each side, it is expected that weaponmasters will work very hard to protect, support, or avenge their side if one is injured, killed, stunned, knocked down, or disqualified.
• An official call of an end to the battle, as agreed upon beforehand. Most are simply timed by an observer. Some are to the death, to first blood, or to a number of points as determined by rules or a moderator. Or even for style.

After the call is made to end, the surviving and conscious warriors must again spill blood to show respect. If they have open wounds, they may simply let them flow a moment. If doing this would cause the death of the warrior, they may simply bow.

At this time, if their combat met the criteria needed, the energy is captured within the defined space. All participating (and surviving) warriors may then re-enter the space, touch the spilled blood, and absorb the power. However, in many such contests, it is agreed before hand that only the winner(s) will do this. When a warrior absorbs the power from the spilled blood, the blood vanished. In order to use the power, the warrior must be thinking of what they wish to improve about themself while doing it (adding to strength, speed, etc.). If they wish to improve a weapon (or armor or tool), they must touch the weapon (or armor or tool) to the blood. If the power is not absorbed within seven hours or before another ritual takes place there, it will dissipate.

These rituals invoke the seven qualities of a great warrior:

• Sharpness - skill with one's weapon (initial weapon display / true combat)
• Ferocity - the strength of a bull (war cry / true combat)
• Bravery - unflinching from conflict (initial pulled-shot / true combat)
• Speed - the speed of a charging bull (true combat)
• Wits - tactical thinking (true combat)
• Camaraderie- camaraderie with one's fellow warriors (support for allies during the fight)
• Respect - respect for one's enemies (spilling of one's own blood at start and end)

Typically, it is these areas warriors choose to improve after a ritual.

If these are all met during the ritual, the energy will make the spilled blood glow a bright, burning red. Some actions can generate more energy if done in certain ways: the better the display of weapon skill, the more intimidating the war cry, taking a handicap as a sign of bravery, using speed or wit more effectively, etc. The safer a ritual is, the less energy it will produce; the fewer actions taken, the less it will produce. These two sometimes run counter to one another - a dangerous battle may end swiftly if the more dangerous opponent proves how dangerous they are.

In game mechanics terms, every conflict action (hit/parry, hit/dodge, etc.) taken during the fight counts as a point of energy to be absorbed afterward. If a warrior makes a special parry, dodge, or hit, an extra +1, and +2 for exceptional. If a warrior's weapon or armor are damaged, the extent of damage adds +1 per grade of damage (minor/tie, moderate/normal, significant/special, unrepairable/exceptional).

For the display of weapon skills, a quality roll is made - an extra point of energy is produced per level above base (1-2 above gives +0, 3-5 above is +2, 6-10 above is +3) per warrior performance.

Similarly, if a warrior's war cry succeeds in intimidating their opponent (intimidation vs. WIL), the level of success provides further bonuses, but so does failure. If a war cry is laughed at or makes the enemy more confident, points of energy are lost: exceptional failure (confidence +1 PRO bonus to enemy for one action) is -3; special failure (mockery -1 PRO penalty to warrior for one action) is -2; normal failure (no effect) is -1; tie (no effect) is +0; normal success (LNA to enemy) is +1; special success (LNA and -1 PRO for first action) is +2; and exceptional success (Lose Two Actions and -2 PRO for first two actions) is +3. Because warriors are almost always both performing war cries, they are often rolled against one another instead of against WIL.

The difference in skill, strength, and speed between warriors also affects the number of energy points. A gap of +6 or more will add +1 to every conflict between those stats. For example, a warrior with PRO 13 vs. a warrior with ATH 9 will mean that every time the warrior with ATH 7 tries to dodge, there is a +1 to the points created by that action. This is sometimes exploited by warriors who take a handicap by fighting with a blunted or old or otherwise defective weapon or armor, tying hands behind their back, going in blindfolded, always doing called shots, allowing themselves to be wounded, drawing a deep wound on their initial sacrifice of blood, etc. Anything to expand the gap while prolonging the fight. (Adding to the gap by becoming much better than the opponent too often leads to battles ending quickly or failing because of too many pulled shots, though wearing or using better armor does sometimes help prolong things.)

If a warrior fails to help their fellow warriors when they could do so during a ritual conflict, they will lose points equal to the degree of hit, wound, or stun experienced by the fellow warrior (whichever is highest) - tie is no modifier; normal wound/stun/hit is -1; special is -2; exceptional is -3.

The end results could be enormous gains for a warrior. The best matches tend to do things the old-fashioned way: equally skilled warriors engaging in a prolonged fight due to neither having an advantage. Counterattacks add up.

When a weaponmaster absorbs the energy from a ritual conflict and apply it to a stat, skill, ability, power, diversity, or object, the stat increases based on how much beyond the species/national base for that stat the warrior already is. For instance, an average human has an 8 PRO. If someone with this PRO participates in a ritual conflict successfully and takes up the energy afterward, they will gain more than a human with 19 PRO. The scale is thus:

Modifier to Base	Increase Per Point
-7	+3
-6	+2
-5	+1
-4	+.5
-3	+1/3
-2	+1/4
-1	+1/6
0	+1/7
1	+1/14
2	+1/21
3	+1/28
4	+1/35
5	+1/42
6	+1/49
7	+1/56

And so on. The amount of energy generated by skilled warriors becomes much more important, as they will gain very slowly if they do not generated enough in the ritual. Therefore, they make tweaks to the ritual as they become more skilled to increase danger, prolong the match, etc.

Most mortals cannot go above a 42 base, and very few can handle greater than 25.

Weaponmasters in training have regular ritual matches in order to build their skills, but due to the physical damage done to them, they often have to take long breaks because magical healing will negate the effects of the energy.

Weaponmasters almost always improve themselves with the energy, but the same rituals can be used to provide a war mage with power, for instance. War mages build up the energy within themselves to unleash as fire, lightning, magical arrows, magical shields, etc. A weaponmaster may choose to do this as well, in rare cases, though this is rare and often only resorted to in times of dire need for some kind of more esoteric defense/attack.

• Bloodfire: if a weaponmaster completes the ritual spilling of blood, war cry, and pulled shot before an actual combat rather than a ritual one, they can still produce some energy. Once 6 points have been generated, if they can do so, they can touch their weapon or armor to the spilled blood and coat it with bloodfire, which is effectively just energy in fire form, adding fire damage bonuses or esoteric defense bonuses and making the weapon or armor unbreakable.
• Retrieval: a powerful weaponmaster may store some energy to be able to call up their weapon, armor, steed, or other connected object when needed from any distance. This takes 6 energy points, no matter how far it is teleported from.

Every weaponmaster eventually settles not just on a specific weapon type, but an individual weapon that they prefer. It is not uncommon for them to name their weapons. Weapons that do not have a repeated use (bombs, grenades, projectiles that cannot be recovered) are obviously not so personalized, though sometimes they hold one in reserve or as a "lucky charm" to represent the bond.

Some weaponmasters choose their fists, feet, body in general, or special powers such as breath weapon to master. In these cases, powers such as retrieval may actually be used to restore or heal the part or power in question.

A weaponmaster's primary personal weapon must be cared for meticulously. Due to the added power of energy, if the weapon is not well tended or given esoteric protections, it will fall apart faster, as it hits much harder or sees more use. Furthermore, a poorly maintained weapon can mean the weaponmaster fails to meet the standards necessary for ritual or maintaining energy.

Some weapons may require slight adjustments. A rapier-master will have more speed than strength. An archer more speed and perception. And so on.

PRO +2 Weapon Type +3 Specific Weapon +4 Personal Weapon +6 ATH +2 STR +2 AWA +1 WIL / PRS -2 STH +/-2