Elemental Rogues

Those who use elemental magic for criminalized activities.

---

Erennanist

Type: Thief

In legend, there was (or is?) a thief named Erennane. Erennane is said to have been a trickster who wanted to deceive the people of Shem, so one night, he snuck out and waited for a moon to be close to rising, then grabbed it in a sack, sneaking away and creating the first new moon as seen by Shem.

Erennanists are thieves who honor this legend and are empowered by the new moon. There are three sects of these thieves, one devoted to each moon, attuned to the cycle of their moon. To become an erennanist, they must be a thief first. If they are thief of skill, the erennanists might seek them out and recruit them, secretly, and teach them their ways. The training always involves periods of deprivation of sight, tests of skill, meditation on the cycles, magical visions, and deep questions into strange lunar mysteries. After a long period of training, during their moon's new phase, the recruit is sent out on their first solo mission and tasked to steal something impossible to steal - a person's deepest secret, a question in the air, the light of a star. During this test, the recruit will see the shadow of Erennane, and if they catch it, Erennane themself will tell how to succeed.

If they do succeed, they gain some of the following abilities:

• Shadowwalk: the erennanist may step into any nearby shadow and teleport to another shadow within 100'.
• Nightleap: the erennanist's movement and especially jump-movement increases or decreases by multipliers based on the phase of the moon (full - halved; gibbous - 1.25x; half - 1.5x; crescent - 2x; new - 3x). Their ATH does not change.
• Secret satchel: they may make a satchel, bag, or sack of some kind capable to holding the abstract.
• Blackest dark: during a new moon, they can create an aura of such darkness around themselves that not even those who can see in the dark can see.
• Lunar whispers: they may whisper and be heard only by those they choose at night.
• Unseen hand: they can, during a new moon, hold the abstract in their hands.
• Inward shadow: they can turn the abstract they have stolen into sheer energy to use to fuel their powers.
• New moon form: during a new moon, they can take on a shadowy form that is untouchable.

Erennanists steal the abstract or the impossible, and they convert these to energies they wield.

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

---

Razboynik

Type: Bandit

Razboyniki are bandits who live in the taiga and survive off the land as much as they do off of robbing the imperials who travel their territory. As bandits, they belong to a band of criminals who rob people in their forests.

The taiga is a massive, mostly coniferous forest that sits in the boreal and subboreal areas of the world. It is sprawling and dominates significant parts of Ranu. The razboyniki are not just bandits, but ones who have bonded with the taiga and become its protectors. They rob the imperials, the rich, the powerful, and those who would destroy their homes in the deep woods.

To become a razboynik, one must join one of the bands of robbers in the forest, and one must prove oneself a friend to the taiga and to nature. They must spend a year and a day living amongst the band, working as a robber, and devoting themselves to nature, and then they must spend a fortnight alone in the woods, communing with it. If they are proven to be a friend to the taiga, they will find their way to one of the most ancient trees, and there they will rest. When they awaken, a beast of the taiga will have found them, and it will guide them back to the band, where they will be given a weapon, a cloak, and boots.

They will gain some of the following abilities:

• Treespeech: they can speak to any tree native to the taiga
• Pinecone bomb: they can take a pinecone and hurl it, letting it explode into wooden shrapnel
• Barkskin: they can make their skin hard like bark
• Snowwalking: they can walk on snow without slowing down or leaving prints
• Needle weapon: they can turn fallen tree needles into sharp piercing weapons
• Beastspeech: they can speak to any animal native to the taiga
• Cold resistance: they are resistant to cold
• Wind leap: they may leap with the wind, gaining significant distance
• Evergreen cloak: if they wear a cloak of green, they gain bonuses to STH in any forest
• Lichen bed: if they sleep on lichen, they will heal more quickly
• Berry sense: they can sense berries nearby magically
• Animal companion: an animal native to the taiga - the one that guided them back to the band - becomes their permanent companion

Some animals native to the taiga include grey wolf, polar bear, [Ussuri] brown bear, [Asiatic] black bear, moose, reindeer, muskox, maral, elk, Sitka black-tailed deer, snow sheep, roe deer, wild boar, long-tailed goral, wood bison, takhi horse, [Eurasian] lynx, stoat, [Siberian] weasel, least weasel, sable, [European] otter, wolverine, [Asian] badger, fisher, timber wolf, [Mongolian] wolf, red fox, arctic fox, grizzly bear, [Siberian] tiger, [Amur] leopard, beaver, squirrel, chipmunk, marmot, lemming, vole, pika, snowshoe hare, mountain hare, red-sided garter snake, common [European] adder, blue-spotted salamander, northern two-lined salamander, [Siberian] salamander, wood frog, northern leopard frog, boreal chorus frog, [Siberian] thrush, white-throated sparrow, black-throated green warbler, golden eagle, rough-legged buzzard, [Steller's] sea eagle, great gray owl, snowy owl, barred owl, great horned owl, crow, raven, grouse, capercaillie, crossbills. There are many species of fish in the streams and rivers, but they are not practical for animal companions.

Players would work with the GM to come up with the entire band of razboyniki, between five and 20 people (player may choose the number), not counting the PC. So pick this if helping come up with NPC ideas sounds fun to you.

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

---

Silver Torch

Type: Vigilante

A silver torch is a vigilante who wields the power of argentflame, the energy of raw lifeforce, in service to fighting the undead, demons, and other unnatural terrors. They are an ancient group with roots in Maraddon to the south, but they are common throughout Ranu in small, secret groups.

The Silver Torches were founded by a legendary bard named Matrim. It is unclear when he lived, though many say he lived in previous iterations of the world. He was a fallen noble who felled an evil emperor, and the Silver Torches were empowered by his blood. They wore silver cloaks, and they would only kill that which should not live.

To become a Silver Torch, one must be recruited by extant Silver Torches. One must be a friend to nature, a believer in the sanctity of life (but not in a right-wing religious kind of way), and a fighter for the living. One must be devoted to protecting the weak and oppressed against the poisons of the industrial world, and one must be opposed to the powers of undeath. If recruited, one is trained in the magical power of elemental life, tested, and marked with silver blood. Once marked, their own blood runs silver and burns with argentflame, which they can summon to use to fight or heal or protect.

• Argentflame weapon: they can wreath their weapon in argentflame, the energy of elemental life, by expending a point of their own STR. This gives them bonuses against undead and makes it impossible for their weapon to kill a living thing.
• Vital flame: they can bleed onto someone, their burning blood healing the target.
• Bloodmark ward: they can mark someone with their burning blood, giving them temporary protection from the undead
• Silver cloak: they can hide someone within their cloak to protect them from undead eyes
• Song of the Torch: this song will call any nearby Silver Torches to their aid, reaching over 25 miles

Silver Torches are very rare. Any player choosing this occupation will work with the GM to come up with their small cabal of secret vigilantes.

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

---

Ucigash

Type: Assassin

Death is a part of nature, and thus, there is an element of death. Death Herself is a deity who is the ultimate psychopomp, the gatherer of souls, and the force of death itself deified. Her followers view natural death as sacred and unnatural death as an affront to their goddess. Furthermore, they view those who avoid natural death by infernal means - especially the undead - as anathema. Thus, some of her followers devote themselves to enforcing nature's intentions and avenging those who died unnaturally. These are called the ucigash, elite assassins who wear white (the sacred color of Death Herself) and know when death is coming.

Unnatural death is death at the hands of other mortals (other than acts of self-defense or accident), in an avoidable circumstance. Avoiding a natural death by infernal means refers to necromancy, demonic contract, exploitative magicks such as feeding on blood or slaves, or other similar powers. Mass death events like genocide, war, intentional famines or droughts, negligent responses to natural disasters, impoverishing or enslaving people, poaching and over-hunting, and so on, but mostly, it means intentional plagues and pollution. Avoiding a natural death does NOT include using medicine, avoiding or fleeing an attack or disaster, feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, or other natural acts of support.

To become an ucigash requires years of study. They learn the religion of Death Herself, the science and mysticism of death, and the arts of killing. And in order to fully wield their power, they must face death, walk through the Beyond, and aide the souls of the deceased for a year and a day, before returning to the world of the living. Once they have completed this impossible journey, they are granted a white key that contains the powers of death and the afterlife. They can open invisible metaphysical gates by placing the key into an imaginary keyhole and opening, creating one of these effects:

• Gate of the Eye: soulsight, the ucigash can see the souls of anyone within line-of-sight, gaining a +6 read people.
• Gate of the Hour: the ucigash knows the hour (not the day, not the year, not the moment, but simply the hour of the day) someone within line-of-sight will die.
• Gate of the Moment: the ucigash knows how someone died if their body or soul is within line-of-sight.
• Gate of the Intention: the ucigash knows how someone who should have died if they are undead or otherwise infernally empowered to not die.
• The Locked Gate: if the ucigash closes all gates in the area, no one may die within range of them (usually 44').
• Gate of the Shroud: the ucigash's body fades into the Nether Realm, making them partially in the Spirit Realm, but invisible to those there.
• Gate of the Banisher: all undead within 44' of the gate must roll against it or be destroyed.
• Gate of the Ending: the ucigash's target rolls against the power of the gate if they are within line-of-sight, and if they fail, they die.
• Gate of the Beyond: the ucigash opens a gate into the Beyond or the Nether Realm, or a returning gate to the Spirit Realm.

Note: the world of Shem is in the Spirit Realm.

Ucigash hung the undead at the instruction of Death Herself. They are very devoted to their faith.

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