Unaligned Troupers

Wielders of unaligned magic for the purpose of entertaining.

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Wabeno

Esoteric jugglers who use the energy of learning and using skills. They juggle special clubs that allow them to move this energy.

Figgum is the art of esoteric juggling. It is the skill of juggling skills, of suspending a skill in order to use another, defeating the mortal limitations one might have in learning and keeping skills by removing some temporarily, and by transfering skill in one thing into being skill in another.

The idea is that if one can learn one skill, then the act of learning has input into one's mind and body simply some essence of skill that can be converted to knowledge of another. To learn to juggle, therefore, is to learn literally all skills, if one is willing to temporarily know less about juggling and more about, say, calculating the slope of a curve or mixing cocktails or writing poetry. The one limitation is that they must be physically or metaphysically capable of it - a wabeno cannot draw the skill of flying from a bird unless they have wings to use.

Once one can juggle to a certain degree (usually maintaining five clubs in a basic pattern), one can begin the meditative process to sensing the inner resource that is raw skill rather than specific skill. The wabeno focuses on the motion of their juggled objects. This shape is not just a focial point for meditation, but a representation of their skill.

While meditating upon the shape, a wabeno must remove all sensations outside of the shape itself. This means everything - not just sight but even the blaze of light still burnt on their retinas; not just sound but even the buzz inside their ears; not just the taste of food but the taste of their own saliva and the feel of their own mouth; everything but the shape. They they may feel the clubs as their hands touch them, but the air that moves because of them must be set aside. They must completely focus on the clubs that form the shape, and then erase the clubs. Erase the feel of their hands touching the clubs. Erase everything but the essence of the circle being formed. This is the hard part.

If - and this is a very big if - they manage this, they will have a circle of pure skill before them. In order to use it, they then must be able to step through it. This is both in the physical world and in their meditative trance. This is a matter of sheer will power and awareness for most, though their skill at juggling will also come into play.

Once they have gone beyond the circle for the first time, it becomes easier in subsequent attempts. It also allows them to imbue their clubs with different skills. When they juggle, each club comes to represent a skill. The minimum number of clubs for this to work is five, and one club must be their juggling skill. In order to imbue a club with skill, they must first (a) have the skill and (b) use the skill within a few minutes of their meditation. During meditation, after they have passed through the circle, they must then focus on that skill and place it into the circle. Once in the circle, all skills are one skill, so they can be converted, transferred, or temporarily removed. A new skill, one the wabeno does not have, can be attained then if either (a) someone with that skill throws them a club, (b) some emblem of that skill is added to the juggling circle, or (c) they draw raw skill from the circle and attempt something.

If another person with a particular skill set throws a club to the wabeno and consensually intends to send one of their skills, the wabeno will gain the skill if they catch the club. The trick is, however, that (a) they must catch it and (b) they have to then give up one of their clubs. The total number of skill points a wabeno has can never exceed what they already have. In other words, if you add up all the skill points a wabeno has, and they add up to 101, then someone throws them a skill, they must drop the equivalent number of points in order to gain the number of points in the skill given to them. Call it the law of preservation of skill. The wabeno may choose not to take as many points in the skill as is offered, however.

If the wabeno sacrifices their juggling skill, it can make them fail with the circle. If they do this, they may permanently lose the points they sacrificed. It is a very bold and assured wabeno who uses their juggling skills for these purposes.

There is a very limited amount of time raw skill will exist outside the meditative trance. A wabeno must draw the raw skill, break the trance, and then engage in the attempted skill within about 10 minutes. They may stretch this if they are willing to permanently sacrifice skill points. Anything they attempt must be within their total numbers of skill points. They must sacrifice temporarily other skills to do it. The skill created must also be a skill others have - they cannot completely invent a skill no one has used before. If no one can do it, the skill cannot be invented via figgum. It has to be figured out first. Raw skill exists as a conglomeration of all extant skills within Shem or the locality the wabeno is in at the time. This is up to the GM's discretion.

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

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Wisin

Those who practice esoteric exercises to invoke the magic of the body that allow them to control their own bodily growth and transformations.

In order to tap into the power of the body, one must give of the flesh. This means physical sacrifice in the form of cutting flesh, or it means dedicated gathering of lost skin, hair, and nails. The former is used only for sacred ceremonies, initiation rites, and extreme occasions (such as during famines or droughts) where significant power is needed. The latter is more common, and the materials are always burned in a small ceremony.

Different cultures identify different body parts as untouchable. Some view circumcision as a sacred rite, for instance, while others view it as mutilation (and some differentiate between bodily dimorphic variations). Most cut a small slice of skin from an upper arm or lower leg in ceremonies, while some will take a bit off an ear or even as much as a fingertip. The commonest form of flesh-giving, however, is simply body piercing. Whatever the rite is, whatever the flesh is, it is usually engaged when a person reaches maturity within their culture and has decided to become a wisin (or cultural equivalent). This initiation is what gives them the power to have control over the body magic within themselves.

Wisin practice magical, seasonal changes to their diet, special grains, spices, and milk, and special exercises, along with occasional rites to re-engage themselves with the body magic within. These latter are usually smaller rites of flesh-giving.

Exercise always begins with a ritual of cleansing and grooming the body, preserving hair, nail, and skin that comes off in the process in special pots. They wash with a mild soap, using pure water, and scrub with harsh stones that scrape excess skin. They shave specific parts of themselves (this varies by culture, usually either the face, arms, legs, or head). And a wisin always has trimmed nails. They then engage in extreme exercise of some sort:

• Running: long-distance or sprinting in significant quantities is the most common form of exercise used.
• Lifting: lifting extremely heavy weights, usually composed of common objects, is often used to complement running.
• Stretching: a vital part of every wisin's routine.
• Stillness: one of the hardest forms of exercise a wisin may use, standing or sitting in a single difficult position for hours is used to focus on single areas of the body.
• Swimming: swimming is one of the most potent, common full body exercises.
• Climbing: climbing is done in areas where mountain or tree is commonly accessible for the purpose.
• Repetitions: a broad category of repetitions movements or strenuous physical activities, which could include pull ups and sit ups and other common exercises.
• Obstacles: obstacle courses that engage multiple forms of exercise are used for more advanced wisin.

Wisin never use gyms or other modern structures, always focusing on outdoors exercises and as many common objects or natural resources to engage in their work as possible.

The diet of the wisin includes special grains, spices, and milk. They eat this as a form of gruel or porridge, usually, but they can be mixed with other foods in variations in order to expand the diet or alter flavors. They must eat some of the diet every single day to maintain body magic.

A wisin's practice does not have the same effect as normal exercise. Instead of strengthening their bodies, it simply feeds the body magic within them, and then they choose how that body magic is used. They do this by burning the flesh given and breathing in the smoke before going to sleep. When they awaken, the changes they (usually lucidly) dream of take place. The more natural the change, the easier it is to effect. Common changes include

• Muscle building
• Growing height
• Building weight
• Strengthening bone
• Improving organ performance
• Self-healing
• Improving immune system
• Neutralizing poisons
• Toughening flesh
• Changing hair color or eye color
• Minor body shape changes (changing nose shape, lengthening fingers)
• Skin or hair color change

Changes always take place through a process of natural growth, meaning they take time from when they are begun. They happen gradually after initiation.

Powerful wisin can alter their bodies more dramatically, even changing forms. This takes extreme measures. Some notable alterations include

• Growing extra limbs
• Growing new or extra organs
• Altering reproductive organs
• Stopping senescence
• Growing body parts not congruous with their species (wings for humans, gills for avians, etc.)
• Changing skin texture or composition (stoneskin, barkskin, etc.)
• In extreme cases, altering species

These are almost always temporary; permanent major form changes usually come with permanent loss of powers.

Some wisin practice transferring their body magic to another in order to alter another's body, usually for purposes of healing or blessing someone going on a quest. This process requires taking some of their flesh, mixing it with one's own, and both wisin and target breathing the smoke then resting. The target must also eat the special diet and engage in special exercises beforehand if they are healthy enough.

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