Unaligned Piners

Ruddy

Miners who gather materials in special sacks that help draw out the menab'e, the raw energy of resource, within them, which they then convert to special objects that allow them to draw on the esoteric resource in different ways.

In the colonies, ruddies are miners or prospectors who gather menab’e from minerals and metals. They must find it, mine it, and refine it to use it. They sense the menab’e with a special machine that resembles a samovar - they call it the resonator, but its original anime was a dìzhèn yí. It often takes multiple ruddies to operate the machine and use special flat stone clubs to strike ore veins or other targets. The resonator reacts to the vibrations on the club, showing the direction and strength of the menab’e. All tools used to find, mine, and work must be made with unaligned materials, and the primary tool of mining (usually a pick or sifting pan) must be washed in “red water”, which is water with menab’e dust in it.

Their most important tools are their ruddysacks, which are used to smelt the ore as well as carry it. If someone else tries to carry it or use the menab’e they mined before they smelt and mold it, it will lose its power. They add dust from the mines or water from the stream to the fire to make it capable of melting the ore or dividing the minerals, then pour the results into the ruddysack. They then carry it to a special location, pour it into a receptacle with mine or stream water, let it separate and cool, forming cool liquid metal or a mineral solution and a separate muddy mixture. The mixture is removed, the metal or solution is taken to a specially designed mold - in the colonies, the molds are always shaped like the owner’s logo or mark. In the mold, it hardens, creating a tool that can be used by anyone.

It can at this point be wielded by anyone who has been taught the method to tap into it - literally a tapping pattern that is determined by the shape of the mold and the ruddy who made it. No more than seven taps, no less than three, it is always in an arrhythmic pattern designed to be hard to guess. Once tapped, the mold will flash red and the user will have esoteric resources to draw upon. Tapped molds can do one of the following:

• Improve base stats temporarily

• Improve skills temporarily

• Improve powers temporarily

• Fuel unaligned powers or magic

• Fuel a battery or other power source

• Give temporary abilities

• Stave off death or unconsciousness for a round

• Remove penalties for a brief period, or some penalties

• Improve weapons, armor, or items temporarily

• Convert into aligned energies at the cost of the entire mold

Other uses are possible. Tapped molds get used up when the menab'e is gone. How much menab'e is in them depends on the original ore and the skill of the ruddy who made it.

In a typical mine in imperial colonies, bosses take about 80% of the ores that are mined. Some are smart enough to wait until after it has been molded so that they can access the menab'e, but most take the raw ore and sell it as a raw material to others. This stolen menab'e is a point of contention when the miners are organized. Because so many of the tools needed for this are expensive or difficult to build, ruddies often need sponsors, patrons, or investors. Hence, they become exploited by the ruling classes often.

Ruddies will start with two molded objects with 10 points each, 25 points of unrefined menab’e, and a handful of tools.

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

Semivalet

A semivalet learns to wield the magical emotional resonance created by their personality from a mentor who helps them get by as a servant for the rich and powerful. They are encouraged to be themselves, but to use the magic of their emotions to control their reactions and get through the day.

They gain the ability to wield these emotions by washing in rushing water (usually a shower) while experiencing intense emotions. They do this by focusing on intense memories, and in order to get a wide range of emotions, they repeat the process for years. Any experience that gives them an intense emotion must be focused on for hours afterward, meditated upon right up until they rest for the night, and then the following morning, they wash in a torrent of water while focusing on the memory and feeling. Then, they gather the water to mix with the next experience. Once they have done this with 100 experiences, they flash a bright light through it. The light is captured in the torrent, and then they wash in it again. This lets the emotional resonance absorb into them, giving them certain abilities.

• Torrential mask: semivalets can wash their faces in the morning with some of their waters and keep their emotions hidden throughout the day, even if they are openly expressing them, choosing who can see and who cannot (effectively +6 to resist read people).

• Delayed response: semivalets can store emotional responses that might get them fired and keep them delayed for up to 12 hours, feeling them fully later.

• Read personality: semivalets can fully understand someone’s personality via read people/PRS instead of just getting a general sense of their reactions.

• Light in the eyes: semivalets can let the light of their personality shine through their eyes, giving them bonuses to persuasion and performance.

• Emotional release: semivalets can unleash the full force of their emotions in a wave of light, hitting everyone within 30’. They roll at a power of PRS+6 to overwhelm everyone within range with the intensity of the emotions.

Other abilities may be possible. Consult the GM.

Every time they use one of their abilities, they risk losing some of their emotions permanently. They must roll AWA after every use, with the difficulty rising throughout the day (starting at 10, then going up by 2 with every use). The more they use them, the higher it gets. On an exceptional or critical failure, they lose one of their emotions. It resets after they get a full night’s sleep.

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