Reprobates

Criminals in the eyes of the White Crown.

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Aaronian

Alignment: Elemental

Homeless, jobless, or otherwise impoverished folks who use the magic of the seasons to survive. Aaronians attune to the seasons. While other wielders of this elemental magic use festivals to connect to the seasons, aaronians do not have the resources for that. Instead, they rely upon smaller recognitions of the turning of the seasons:

• Year's beginning: on the first day of the year, the aaronian will find something to toast the year and what is to come.
• Vernal equinox: on the vernal equinox, the aaronian will either plant something or restore something.
• First thaw: when the snows begin to thaw (this may come earlier or later), the aaronian will give warmth to someone else.
• Beltane: on May Day, the aaronian will either find someone to share a bed with or a fire to sit around.
• Summer solstice: on the summer solstice, the aaronian will either eat acorns or some other summer food.
• Midsummer: on midsummer, the aaronian will find a tree to sleep under or fresh water to share.
• Harvest time: at harvest time, the aaronian will find a big meal to share.
• Leaves changing: when the leaves begin to change color (this may come earlier or later), the aaronian will begin gathering for the winter.
• Autumnal equinox: at the autumnal equinox, the aaronian will find a new outfit.
• First snow: when the first snows fall (this may come earlier or later), the aaronian will give warmth to someone else.
• Winter solstice: on the winter solstice, the aaronian will stay up all night, keeping watch.
• Midwinter: at midwinter, the aaronian will give someone a gift.
• Year's end: on the last day of the year, the aaronian will get a good night's sleep.

If the aaronian misses any of these things, they will not have the magic of the season that comes next on their side. The more they meet them, the more magic they get. Some of the spells they gain are as follows:

• Vernal relief: during the spring, the aaronian may bring relief from pain, illness, or worry with a comforting touch.
• Rejuvenating breath: if they meet their springtime rituals, they have rejuvenating breath to use any time, thrice per year, to cure exhaustion.
• Summery bright: during the summer, the aaronian may keep the sun's light with them even after dusk by holding a bit in their hand.
• Golden warmth: if they meet their summertime rituals, they have the power to bring a soothing warmth up to ten times per year to stave off bitter cold.
• Autumnal aura: during the autumn, the aaronian may draw upon an intimidating, terrifying aura.
• Plentiful bulbs: if they meet their autumnal rituals, they have the ability to multiply root vegetable up to six times per year to feed up to ten people at once.
• Brumal blanket: during the winter, the aaronian can turn any flat object of sufficient size into a warming blanket.
• Joyous tide: if they meet their wintertime rituals, the aaronian can bring joy and mirth with the clinking together of stones.
• Hunting season: if they meet all of their seasonal rituals, the aaronian can gain a hunter's senses to know where to find food, water, or shelter seven times per year.
• Feast of Harvest: if they their harvest time rituals, the aaronian can choose one difficult night to create a shareable, delicious feast.
• Annual awakening: if they meet their year-end and year-begin rituals, the aaronian can awaken someone on the verge of death and restore them once per year.

Other powers are possible. Consult the GM.

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

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Borrower

Alignment: Celestial

Borrowers gain power from gratitude. They are thieves who steal from the rich and powerful in order to give to the poor or meek, and they gain special abilities from practicing thankfulness in every aspect of their lives. In order for this to be possible, they must eradicate their own egos, engaging in their work solely for satisfaction of doing it.

Doing this takes years of work under a mentor, but once they reach an acceptable state of selflessness, they are taught the ability to generate a coin, a blank metal coin made of pesete, a form of magical gold that is made of emotion. If they are thankful for something, they give the coin to the person they are grateful toward. If they are grateful toward something, they make a sacrifice of the coin by flipping it into the waters. If they are thankful to a Divine, they offer it at a temple. They generate the coin by focusing on their emotion for hours (for the first time), until it manifests in their palm (mechanically, this is a series of difficult WIL rolls). The coins are not spent like real money, but rather become something needed by the one it is given to - something small, usually, like a bit of food or water.

The more they give away, the more successful they will be in their work. As they give out their coins, they gain points they can apply to skills or stats relevant to the job they wish to undertake, which is always a specific, targeted object, person, or location they are going to burgle. The bonuses they get go away after a day, so they have to finish the job quickly. Most borrowers can only generate six points per job, but as they continue their work of Robin Hooding, they gain greater capacity.

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

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Cadger

Alignment: Unaligned

Homeless, jobless, or otherwise impoverished folks who use magic to find resources in the streets.

Menab'e is a rare, reddish form of coal that can be converted into other useful materials by those who know how to use it. All it takes is a little bit of it for a skilled wielder to transform it. Menab'e is mined in the colonies, and often some of it is lost in transport or discarded for being unusable by the lords. Cadgers gather this up.

The gain menab'e, one must gather resources of various kinds and transmute them via one's own ingenuity. A beggar who has gathered (via begging, scavenging, or petty theft) seven useful but distinct objects can begin the ritual. The first step is to use each object for something helpful to oneself without losing it. While a coin or piece of food, for example, is useful, it is difficult to make use of it without losing it, so cadger favor other objects they can gather. Once each object has been used, they must be collected together in a small circle (made of salt, blood, or simply drawn somehow on the ground). They will then break each item in the circle.

The cadger will then make an offering of some part of themselves - it can be as direct as blood or as esoteric as their memory of their parents or their ability to dance. This offering is made vocally if it is not possible to offer physically. If they are sincere, and if their offering is susbtantial enough, the circle will begin to glow. The cadger will then need to attempt to reassemble the broken items in the circle (without removing them) by simply placing the pieces back together. If their offering is suitable and their resourcefulness great enough, the items will reassemble magically, and within the circle will be a single piece of menab'e.

From then on, this piece of menab'e will be the source of the cadger's power. The seven items will all have a bond to them as well, each one with +1 more to their primary function. Anything the beggar begs off of someone, scavenges from the city, or manages to scrounge or otherwise gather (non-violently acquire) can be empowered by their piece of menab'e. The menab'e can be drawn from for +1 to +7 to any useful object or survival skill up to seven times. The more taken from it, the smaller it gets, and for every seven points used, one of their useful objects will lose its +1. Once all 49 points are used, the menab'e will be gone. It can be extended, however, if the original circle remains intact and new objects are offered to it. They need not go through the full ritual; they simply must be added and left there for seven days before being taken out. These useful objects must be gathered as well, not bought, traded for, or taken by violence.

If a cadger loses their original circle, they must begin the process over again entirely, and they lose all stats and bonuses gained from it.

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

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Gamine

Alignment: Elemental

A girl-urchin who is protected by the moons and the autumnal elementals, gamines are young girls or non-men who find the autumn to be invigorating. They are drawn to its powers as the urgency of preparing for winter falls on them, and they begin to connect with elementals of that season as they grow. The autumn itself chooses to protect them and grant them magicks to get them through childhood. Those who survive to adulthood are often called to deeper forms of witchcraft.

During their earliest years on the streets, gamines are trained by autumnal elements and older gamines who notice their powers growing. If they seek these powers, if they are engaged and accept them, they face a series of subtle but gentle trials that assure their devotion to nature. They gain a small flock of skippers (a kind of butterfly) that protect them at all times. These skippers can repel magical attacks (power 10+), attack others (10/15/20/25 damage), and block attacks (block score 13+). They grow weak in spring and strong in autumn.

Gamines also have the following powers in the autumn:

• Autumnal hardening: as the autumn progresses, they draw from its power to strenghten themselves against hunger, illness, cold, fear, and physical attacks, going from +1 in each to +6 by the middle, then waning to +1 again.
• Harvest forager: during the autumn, they can sense where edible food is within 30' at any given time.
• Chilling persona: as the temperature drops, they gain intimidation points, +1 per 5 degrees below 50, maxing at +6.
• Fearsome determination: after Eighenihtes, they can re-roll any failed roll once a day, ending once winter begins.
• Abscission: once the leaves start falling, they can emulate it by shedding skin, hair, or equivalents, and turning them into magical talismans to use throughout the year by binding them to fallen leaves. These talismans are 3 points of autumnal energy each, and can be used any time to use any of the above powers (autumnal hardening costs 3 points per point of hardening to any given resistance, harvest forager costs 6 points per use, chilling persona costs 2 points per point of intimidation, and fearsome determination costs 9 points per re-roll, but can only be used once per day).

Other powers may be possible. Consult the GM.

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

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Giver

Alignment: Celestial

A denizen of the streets who can sacrifice their health for that of others. A giver is usually a homeless person, beggar, or otherwise impoverished person living on the streets (not in the wilderness) who sees it as their duty to help others. They take up the practice of supporting others, often sacrificing themselves in some small way, even though they are not themselves in any condition to do so. After surviving doing this for years, it becomes instinctual. Though they are not pracitcing this with intention or insight, they are tapping into the celestial power of self-sacrifice for others (for others who are also suffering, not for the rich and powerful).

A giver learns the following abilities over the years:

• Absorb symptom: the giver can take the symptom(s) of an illness, but not the illness itself, by placing their hands on the sick person.
• Take wounds: the giver can take the wounds of someone else by embracing the injured person.
• Share meal: the giver can share their food with someone else, giving up an entire meal, and still feel sustained.
• Share shelter: the giver can grant someone else shelter for a night, giving up their own, and still be sheltered.
• Share blanket: the giver can share a blanket with someone for a night, giving up their own, and still be warmed.
• Give blood: the giver can give blood to someone simply by bleeding onto them.
• Donate organ: the giver can touch someone who is in need of an organ and magically transfer theirs over, and the functioning organ will work for both target and giver.

All of these powers only work if and only if the giver does these things for other impoverished, enslaved, oppressed, imprisoned, exploited, or beleagured people, and never, ever to the rich and powerful or their agents. If they are tricked into helping someone who is powerful, they have a day to make up for it by either taking it back or by giving up some part of themselves.

They must also never, ever engage in selfish actions, exploitation, oppression, enslaving, imprisoning, or evil violence, or they will permanently lose their powers.

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

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Lowrunner

Alignment: Fey

A smuggler who wields the lore, a lowrunner makes a deal with fey powers - usually offering their services as a smuggler - to gain certain magicks contained in the lore to abet their work. This comes in the form of certain superstitions:

Some superstitions they can wield:

• Black cat: a black cat crossing one's path means animals in the area are watching out for you.
• Burial paths: avoid walking on them to avoid disturbing the dead.
• Charmstones: pebbles painted with simple designs from long ago that are said to be able to heal disease in people and animals.
• Coal gift: a dark-haired person bringing coal on NYE brings good luck.
• Coins in trees: putting a coin in a tree will bring wealth.
• Counting magpies: one for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told, eight for a wish, nine for a kiss, ten a surprise you should be careful not to miss, eleven for health, twelve for wealth, thirteen beware it's the devil himself.
• Covered mirrors: covering a mirror at night prevents surveillance, invasion of the domicile, and evil spirits.
• Devil's triangle: a section of the Reever Sea that they avoid at all costs, lest they vanish forever.
• Ears burning: if one's ears burn, someone is talking about you.
• Fire jumping: jumping over fires on Beltane will protect you from fire for the summer.
• Four-leaf clover: the leaves of a clover represent hope, faith, love, and luck. Wearing one in your clothing brings all four for the day.
• Funerary bread: eating bread over a corpse puts the soul of the dead at peace by devouring its sins.
• In-door umbrella: opening an umbrella in-doors brings bad luck in weather.
• Killing ravens: if a raven is spotted on a government building, killing it will bring misfortune to the authorities working within.
• Knock on wood: prevent disaster (+3 to any base stat used against anything that would be disastrous to them, like being arrested).
• Ladybird: if a ladybird lands on a person, they should make a wish.
• Lands offering: any land upon which a massacre or atrocity took place requires an offering to avoid being cursed.
• Midsummer rain: rain on midsummer's day means 40 more days of rain.
• New year debt: paying off debts before midnight on NYE prevents financial ruin in the following year.
• Owl hoot: impending death.
• Rabbit rabbit rabbit: on the first day of the month, they say "rabbit rabbit rabbit" upon waking to have good luck.
• Red thread: red thread tied to the wrist protects from surveillance.
• Slow-boiling kettle: a slow-boiling kettle represents the presence of dangerous magic.
• Spilling salt: spilled salt brings bad luck. Throwing spilled salt over the shoulder prevents that.
• Walking under a ladder: they avoid this for fear it will bring disaster.
• Washing days: don't wash clothes on holy days or the soul might be washed away.
• Water gathering: if water is gathered at the half-hour, it will be poisonous.
• Witches' marks: etchings in buildings that protect from magic.
• Witch's window: a diagonal window that keeps magic out of a house or wagon.

Lowrunners can only intentionally invoke seven of these per week without bringing disaster upon themselves. They can gain more by paying extra to their benefactors.

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

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Miracleworker

Alignment: Celestial

A con artist who uses unmagical random acts of kindness to encourage belief in miracles. There are those who believe in miracles, and these people know that the only way miracles can happen is if people believe in them, so they make it their life's work to convince people that miracles exist by tricking them into thinking a miracle has occurred by engaging in random acts of kindness. These "miracleworkers" are con artists who go out of their way to ensure no one knows what they are doing.

Miracles only occur if someone believes they are possible. In a world full of magic, this gets complicated, as many things we would consider miracles are mundane, and many miracles get assumed to be magic even by experienced esotericists. Miracles must, therefore, be subtle to be believed.

To generate belief in miracles, they must generate hope. They must be such that there is not even a magical explanation. No clandestine fairy benefactor. No angelic delivery. No demonic contract. This is... difficult. Nearly impossible in a world such as Shem, though some mileage is gotten out of the fact that many of the most oppressed not-too-incorrecly believe that those who use magic are not on their side. But the truth is, every act of kindness generates much less belief than one might want. It takes many, many to create enough belief to have an impact, and most miraclemen accept that in their lives, their work will only have a small impact. In general, the acts of kindness are their own reward, anyway.

An act of kindness must be for someone genuinely in need and who will not pay forward the kindness with oppression and horror (i.e., not usually a member of the ruling class). The ruling class only works if the miracle is guaranteed to turn them to fighting the oppression they were once responsible for. Acts of kindness can be as simple as delivering food to as complicated as saving a town from ruin.

To fake a miracle, a miracleworker must not be seen to be performing their acts of kindness, or at least not to be performing the crucial part that must be taken as a miracle. As such, miraclemen take no credit. They also must be skilled at deception, stealth, and acting. They must understand the circumstances people are in and what they truly need, and they must be content to not even know if what they did had the effect they wished.

If a miracleworker has performed at least one fake miracle convincingly, they may roll a d1000 in times of dire need to see if a miracle may occur. Before they roll, they call the number it will roll. If they land on it, a miracle occurs. The more fake miracles they convincingly perform, the higher the chances get. For every 25 convincing false miracles, they may pick an extra number. For character generation, roll a d100 to see how many false miracles the character starts with in their backstory.

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

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Mudlark

Alignment: Elemental

A wielder of elemental magic who scavenges from mud. Mudlarks commune with the mud to gain magical control of it, using a four-step process to connect with it: sleeping on it, sleeping in it, drinking it, then breathing it. Each of these is done over the course of four days each until the mudlark feels at one with the mud. The first two steps are sometimes done on accident, but once done, the mudlark begins to understand the mud better and seeks the further powers at the beckoning of elemental powers.

Once attuned to the mud, the mudlark gains certain powers associated with it, controlling it with a long pole:

• Sifting touch: the touch of the mudlark can move layers of mud aside, ranging from 10" to 100'.
• Wall of mud: the mudlark can make a wall of mud 10' long, 6" thick, and 8' high form before them with a gesture of their pole.
• Diamond in the rough: by spending at least 10 minutes gazing into the mud, the mudlark can sense anything valuable buried in it within 10'.
• Toshing friend: if they are toshing, they can call any nearby rodents or small animals to assist them.
• Mudslide: they can expend all of their power to call a massive mudslide.
• Slurry flow: they can make the mud more watery and flowing by plunging their pole deep into it and twisting it.
• Moving ways: they can move a boat or boat-like object over mud of any thickness by using their pole like an oar.

Other powers may exist.

For the purposes of a mudlark, any earth mixted with water can count as "mud", including wet clay, slurry, sewerage, and more. As workers in mud, they are often filthy and therefore disliked by society.

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

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Pilferer

Alignment: Unaligned

Pilferers are extremely skilled thieves who wield the Cant and the Hooded Shadow. They are the elite thieves.

There is an ancient cant, a variation on language, a secret code and a dialect and a pidgin, a set of rhymes and ciphers, that only those who have been pushed outside the law may wield. The Cant derived from the first people who had to steal from other mortals to survive, and it grew into a complex, panlingual cryptological esoteric puzzle. The Cant cannot be understood by anyone who serves the laws of the state that make people criminals, and it gives those who speak it special powers. To access it, one must have committed a crime in a place one has been, knowingly, and one must have done so without other esoteric power. One must have committed this crime for purposes neither related to upholding the oppressive structures nor overthrowing them. The crime must violate a law existing on the books in the place it was broken, and it must be knowingly committed. If the crime is later decriminalized, it will still empower the pilferer. If the crime is unknowingly committed, but the criminal later discovers it was/is illegal, they have a brief window to take advantage before they lose access to the cant (until they commit a crime again). In that brief window, they will see a shadow, and if they follow that shadow, they will begin to see things they never noticed before.

For a pilferer, their first crime should be any act of theft. It will mark them as a potential pilferer. If they follow the shadow, it will lead them to the closest wielder snatcher or other wielder of Cant, who, if they are recognized as someone exposed to the shadow, will recruit them. From there, they will be trained in the Cant, and eventually tested in the work of the crime family. If they pass, they will be initiated into the Hooded Shadow, the power of concealment from the law and empowerment of crimes. Their initiation will be stealing from a rich, well-defended mansion.

• Identify: the shadow covers the eyes, allowing the wielder to only see what object they seek. This costs 1 shadow point per 15 seconds of use, giving +6 AWA to finding the target for that time period.
• Appraise: the shadow fills the mind, allowing the wielder to know the wealth of those they are observing. This costs 1 shadow point per 15 seconds of use, giving +6 AWA to gathering value for that time period.
• Unseen: the shadow subtles the movements and enshrouds the body, making it harder to see the wielder. This costs 1 shadow point per 2 points of STH, lasting an hour.
• Distract: the shadow spreads around, distracting the target or those chasing the wielder. This effecitvely gives the wielder +3 STH per 1 shadow point used for 15 seconds per point.
• Grab : the shadow forms a hidden hand to pick the pocket. This costs 10 shadow points for a small object, 16 for a medium one, 22 for a large, 28 for an object impossible to take without being noticed (i.e. the clothes the target is wearing).
• Swap: the shadow frames two objects, switching their places. This costs 16 shadow points for small objects, 20 for medium ones, 25 for large, 32 for objects impossible to take without being noticed.
• Backstab: the shadow enables the wielder to strike behind someone from any location within 10'. This costs 8 shadow points for +3 to hit, with another 3 for every +1 to hit.
• Escape : the shadow opens a path to escape. This effecitvely gives the wielder +3 STH per 2 shadow points used for 1 minute per point.

Consult with the GM for other potential uses.

In order to wield it, the pilferer must use the correct canting rhymes. They must maintain the Hooded Shadow by remaining outside the law, never cooperating with the authorities, and never going straight. This does not mean never following any law, but rather, never betraying other criminals they are working with, never giving back what is stolen wtihout permission, never ratting out their fellow thieves, and never surviving off anything but criminal gains. Any violation will destroy the Cant immediately. The more crimes they knowingly commit, the higher the score they have in the shadow, but any use depletes it, meaning they have a limited amount of shadow to use. Furthermore, each pickpocketing or shoplifting only counts as one crime, even if it results in multiple charges, unless a more serious crime (murder, for example) is committed. Rape and sexual assault do not generate the Hooded Shadow, as these are infernal acts.

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

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Rambler

Alignment: Fey

A gambler who follows the winds of good fortune, good or ill. Fortune is an energy that cannot be controlled, but it can be nudged. Tweaked. Maybe. If you're lucky. And it can be sensed. Ramblers can sense the winds of fortune. Like anything to do with fortune, this ability develops by chance, usually when they are young, and it comes with a price. How they sense the winds varies - each rambler has a different way of interpreting it, and it is not unusual for them to have it slightly wrong. Being able to sense the winds is called "being touched".

Those who can sense and choose to follow the winds of fortune become subject to the whims of those winds, meaning they risk falling on hard times. For ramblers, those hard times often leave them adrift in the world, hence their name. This is determined by the classic set up of triple rolls. A triple roll will alter the rambler's luck:

• Triple 1s: luck lowers by one level
• Triple 2s: luck lowers by two levels
• Triple 3s: luck raises by three levels
• Triple 4s: luck lowers by three levels
• Triple 5s: luck raises by one level
• Triple 6s: luck bottoms out
• Triple 7s: luck tops out
• Triple 8s: luck lowers by four levels
• Triple 9s: luck raises by two levels
• Triple 10s: luck raises by four levels

The levels of luck are as follows:

1. Calamity
2. Very bad luck
3. Bad luck
4. Neutral
5. Good luck
6. Very good luck
7. Miraculous

A person with calamitous luck will be unable to succeed at any roll and horrible things will happen to them. A person with miraculous luck will be unable to fail at any roll and amazing things will happen to them. With very bad luck, they will always take the low die on rolls and bad things will happen to them, while a person with very good luck will always take the high die and good things will happen to them. With bad luck, they will always take the low die, but no narrated bad things will happen to them. A person with good luck will always take the high die, but no narrated good things will happen to them. A person wtih neutral luck takes the middle die and has no narrated effects upon them.

Calamitous luck cannot be escaped except by tripling out. Miraculous luck will go away very quickly. The more extreme the luck, in either direction, the more improbable events become around them.

Following the winds of fortune also means they are driven to wander. Ramblers see the world as full of opportunities. They seek to find them.

A rambler's primary occupation is gambling. While they use the typical skills of all gamblers - reading people, assessing the odds, the occasional cheating - they rely far more on luck than others.

A tell for a gambler is some quirk, some action, some common gesture that informs them what another person is about to do. But for a rambler, tells are also what informs them of the nature of the winds of fortune. It's how they sense the winds. This varies for every rambler. For some, it might be the feeling of breath upon the back of their necks. For others, it's a twinge in their knee. For some, it's when a clock strikes seven when it's not actually seven. For others, it's when something narrowly misses them. The variation is extreme, and sometimes, the ramblers are wrong about their tells.

Ramblers believe they can nudge the winds of fortune through a variety of superstitions. If they have seen a tell, they believe the winds of fortune are flowing their way - that they have good luck - and that this can be embraced if they do certain things. The most famous of these is blowing on dice before rolling them, but these superstitions vary greatly. It can be something more broad, such as not sleeping with your head on a pillow for a week after seeing a tell, so as to maintain good luck, or crossing yourself twice before making a bet, or even something completely unseen, like counting to seven seven times before each hand. Most revolve around acts of gambling, but some are less specific. These will, if they work, temporarily boost their luck up to three levels if their luck is good or lower. If their luck is very good or miraculous, these will instead simply cause narrated good things to happen. If their luck is calamitous, these will not work unless they roll a triple to get out of calamitous luck.

For all ramblers everywhere, the number seven is lucky. Doing something seven times will bring luck. Seeing or engaging with the number seven will always indicate a positive shift in luck.

If a rambler makes a bet, their luck will control it more than anything else. Placing any bet, no matter how big, no matter how small, engages the winds of fortune (unless other energies are already at play). Once a bet has been made, the rambler's sense of the winds will heighten as well, and they will know they have a short window to engage one of their superstitions (if not already applied).

Escalating the risks on a bet will heightened the winds of fortune even more, raising them to extremes and pushing luck either to calamitous or miraculous if done enough. Ramblers use this recklessly sometimes.

Like anyone touched by the winds of fortune, ramblers have insights and intutions they cannot explain, brought on by straight rolls and some variants:

• 012 roll: flicker - rambler knows something important has happened or will happen, but not what.
• 050 roll: major intuition.
• 123 roll: mild intution
• 234 roll: vague insight.
• 246 roll: major intuition.
• 345 roll: same as last straight.
• 369 roll: clear insight.
• 456 roll: vague insight.
• 567 roll: mild intuition.
• 678 roll: moment of distress - wild misunderstanding.
• 789 roll: thunderbolt moment - perfect understanding.
• 890 roll: clear insight.

Note on 0 rolls: a roll of 0 is a roll of 10, but because the classic d10 shows 0 as a zero, these can be interpreted as such when it comes to straights. A roll of 050 is not actually calculated for gameplay purposeds as 0, 5, 10, but still 5, 10, 10. However, it will still be considered a straight.

An insight is a clear understanding. An intuition is a certainty without understanding.

Slot machines are always rigged with misfortune. Always. Therefore, no amount of superstition or other luck-tweaking can affect them.

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

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Scoundrel

Alignment: Unaligned

A master-of-all-crimes. These master-of-all-crimes are multitalented criminals who have spent decades or more practicing the arts of the Cant and the Hooded Shadow. These are the most elite of criminals.

There is an ancient cant, a variation on language, a secret code and a dialect and a pidgin, a set of rhymes and ciphers, that only those who have been pushed outside the law may wield. The Cant derived from the first people who had to steal from other mortals to survive, and it grew into a complex, panlingual cryptological esoteric puzzle. The Cant cannot be understood by anyone who serves the laws of the state that make people criminals, and it gives those who speak it special powers. To access it, one must have committed a crime in a place one has been, knowingly, and one must have done so without other esoteric power. One must have committed this crime for purposes neither related to upholding the oppressive structures nor overthrowing them. The crime must violate a law existing on the books in the place it was broken, and it must be knowingly committed. If the crime is later decriminalized, it will still empower the scoundrel. If the crime is unknowingly committed, but the criminal later discovers it was/is illegal, they have a brief window to take advantage before they lose access to the cant (until they commit a crime again). In that brief window, they will see a shadow, and if they follow that shadow, they will begin to see things they never noticed before. This will lead them to the closest wielder of Cant, who, if they are recognized as someone exposed to the shadow, will recruit them.

From there, they will be trained in the Cant, and eventually tested via a series of criminal activities. If they pass, they will be initiated into the Hooded Shadow, the power of concealment from the law.

The Hooded Shadow empowers them in any criminal activity, and scoundrels train in so many criminal activities, they learn to apply it to any or all of them. They can empower flames to be unseen to better engage in arson, ensuring a structure burns. They can hide their manipulations of people to better their skills as a conspirator. They can use the shadow to make themselves more intimdiating as an extortionist, or they can use it to become practically invisible as a spy, thief, or assassin. Any criminal activity, they can empower with it.

The most powerful can steal intangible things like a person's feelings, their abilities, or even parts of their lives. They can wield the Hooded Shadow consume people's souls, turn flame into shadow, or alter their own forms. They are true masters of the Hooded Shadow, able to do anything they need to with it to commit the crimes they choose to commit.

In order to wield it, the scoundrel must use the correct canting rhymes. They must maintain the Hooded Shadow by remaining outside the law, never cooperating with the authorities, and never going straight. This does not mean never following any law, but rather, never betraying other criminals they are working with and never surviving off anything but criminal gains. Any violation will destroy the Cant immediately. The more crimes they knowingly commit, the higher the score they have in the shadow, but any use depletes it, meaning they have a limited amount of shadow to use. Furthermore, some crimes only count as one instance even if prolonged - i.e., selling drugs to a dozen people is just "selling drugs", not twelve instances of it. They must be broken up with other crimes in-between. Rape and sexual assault do not generate the Hooded Shadow, as these are infernal acts.

It takes them decades to master all forms of crime. Only a handful have ever existed.

PRO +3 ATH +3 STR +3 AWA +3 WIL +3 PRS +3 STH +6

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Youngblood

Alignment: Elemental

An urchin who imitates the small, downtrodden creatures of the streets to survive, youngbloods do not use the elemental power of animals, but rather, the elemental power of the hunt - or specifically, of prey. Unlike those who bond with animals or act as hunters, they act as prey, tapping into the life and mind of prey by living as they do. This isn't always a choice - many urchins are targeted by police and other predators in the streets, and members of those surviving on the streets teach them to tap into the mindset this gives them to find magic to survive it. They turn the world's cruelty around and learn to wield it.

Whether they have preyhood thrust upon them or they seek it out, youngbloods train for months to capture and maintain the mindset, then spend even more months living it and attuning to it. Once they can enter it at will, they then train again for months to connect with the elemental energy it generates. At this time, they also seek out the street vermin (mice, bugs, pigeons, stray animals, foxes, rats, etc.) and befriend them. They must befriend at least four different animals considered vermin. The most common are pigeons, rats, mice, and various insects. Once they have done this (usually by feeding them), they start to be able to draw from the magic that they are connecting to.

• Pigeon messenger: they can coo and call pigeons to deliver messages for them.
• Mouse climb: they can climb vertical surfaces like a mouse.
• Rat's resistance: they can protect themselves from disease by befriending rats.
• Vulpine speed: they can as fast as a fox.
• Myrmecocommunication: they can leave a message like an ant for others in the form of a small piece of stone.
• Flea leap: they jump like a flea.

Which powers they get depend on the four vermin they connect to. Consult the GM with other ideas. They use these powers to survive and protect other homeless people.

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