Elemental Warriors

Those who use elemental magic to fight.

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Frostheart

Type: Melee

In the heart of winter, the powers of ice and snow heighten. At this time, those who can tap into that power may draw it within themselves, freeze their hearts and emotions solid, and gain the power to channel the cold as a weapon.

To do this, frosthearts need to prime themselves emotionally by intentionally dampening, suppressing, or burying their emotions. They must train for years to destroy all feelings within, turning themselves into metaphorical cold-blooded killers before making it more literal. After years of practice, they wait until midwinter, then perform a ritual of diving into the deep, cold river, holding themselves down there for as long as possible while focusing on an emotion and humming a magical song they are taught by a mentor from their community. They do this over and over again until they have left almost every emotion at the bottom of the river except their passion for protecting nature. Meanwhile, they must avoid warming themselves, for that will return the emotions. This means they must condition themselves to be able to handle the cold as well.

If they are successful, the cold will suffuse them, their hearts and blood will freeze, emotions will vanish, and they will be able to command ice, snow, and cold at will during the colder months. During warmer months, it becomes more difficult, but they can still manage it, but they will need some ice as a focus. They channel the cold and ice by drawing the cold from within themselves and singing softly magical songs, but if they want to unleash greater power, they can cut themselves and use the frozen blood within themselves.

• Icicle blade: form three slender icicle blades for cold damage of +5/+5.
• Temperature sight: see cold and heat.
• Frost aura: an aura of chilled air and frost forms around the frostheart, making it so that anyone who comes close to them must roll against a power equal to the song's difficulty or suffer cold damage at the same power.
• Cold night wind: take the form of the cold night wind and move rapidly in a single direction for 100' to escape.
• Binding ice: freeze a target in solid ice to bind them.
• Solstice dark: absorb the dark of the winter solstice and use it for stealth
• Frostheart empathy: sense the emotions of others by dampening their own.

Frosthearts keep only their love of nature and desire to protect it. They see themselves as a part of nature, and they act only in the interests of the elemental communities they are from.

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

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Kreeslasiev

Type: Morrigan

Kreeslasievi are women or other non-men who draw magical power from the twilight in order to fight imperial powers.

The magic of twilight is the magic of transitional phases, of being in between, of the falling sun and rising moons, of fading light and ascendant dark. This magic has many properties only accessible to those who fit into a transitional idiom themselves - people who do not fit into society, people who are different, people who have broken with tradition to seek something new, people who are on a journey of change.

Sometimes a warrior finds themselves seeking such a change, and in doing so, they find themselves drawn to the twilight spirits. They seek them out, seeking the power of that in-between time to draw from, and they begin to have strange dreams and visions. Eventually, they find themselves in a seemingly unending twilight and must face aspects of themselves, shadows and light forms that represent parts they wish to change. If they succeed in facing them, they are transformed magically.

Their magical transformation always involves becoming more like what they wish to be, but also involves taking on aspects of shadow and night, fading light and setting suns. If they accept these, they gain certain abilities to help them as a warrior:

• Twilight phase: during twilight, they can become translucent, improving their STH and making themselves semi-insubstantial, allowing everything but exceptional or critical hits to pass through them.
• Darkvision: they can see in the dark.
• Aura of the rising moons: they may invoke the rising of the moons to repel esoteric energies.
• Light of the setting sun: they may invoke the setting of the sun to blind or distract foes.
• Sword of dusk: they may make their sword harder to see, giving themselves bonuses to attack, and giving it elemental energy.
• Song of gloaming: they may sing a song of the twilight and infuse any who hear it with a calm, helping them rest through the night.

All kreeslasievi serve their elemental societies as secretive warriors, often working as spies, scouts, or assassins.

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

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Krsnik

Type: Guardian

Krsniki are those who send their minds and souls into animals in order to fight the undead. Their opposites are the kudlak, a form of vampire that takes on the appearance of an animal at night, when both clash. They are often bound to specific villages, but some are set loose to hunt their opponents across the realm.

A krsnik is usually someone who has trained to fight the undead, but sometimes, it is someone who is chosen by the powers of nature to do so. Either way, they learn to release their souls as they sleep to find a nearby animal to borrow.

Many are trained by elemental spirits, taught about medicines for people and domesticated animals, their elemental ancestors, and the ways of the harvest. They are tasked with serving their communities and protecting them from evil, and they often study also under shamans or other leaders of the community.

Once they prove themselves able and worthy, a fighter for the powers of nature, a wielder of elemental soul magic, they gain abilities:

• Soulflight: they can release their souls from their bodies and send them to find an animal to merge with.
• Animal form: they can merge with any animal, but they prefer ones capable of putting up a good fight.
• White beast: once they merge with an animal, it becomes temporarily white (unless it already was) and gains heightened senses, elemental attacks (that is, their natural defense mechanisms are infused with elemental magic), and temporary protection from death - if their body is killed, they will recover, but the krsnik will not.
• Foe sense: they can always sense when a kudlok is near.
• Elemental cross: they can mark a natural place with a cross and unleash its elemental soul, speaking to the living essence of nature in that place.

Their enemies, the kudloki, are those who wield imperial magic to perform similar spells, sending their souls into animal corpses and controlling them. These are a form of necromancer who find dead animals to animate this way. They bring bad weather, dark times, grey mists, and terrible calamities to villages.

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

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Vsadnik

Type: Mounted

The vsadniki are riders of the steppes. They are connected to the wide grasslands that stretch through parts of Ranu, and they are known for their incredible riding skills. They are mounted archers feared for their deadly aim.

Vsadniki gain their magic by bonding with the steppes. To do this, they must prove themselves protectors of the grasslands and of nature, friends to the beasts and plants and other living things of the steppes, and enemies of industrial and imperial powers. And they must spend many years riding the steppes, learning all about them.

Geopolitical borders mean nothing to them - they are of the steppes. And thus, they sometimes ride through imperial or other lands as well. When they do this, they often find themselves facing off against those who would harm nature. These are the times they most prove themselves.

After years of this, they are visited by the greater elemental of the steppes, a vast being of grass and earth and beast, who tests them in their riding, their devotion, and their skill. If they succeed, the elemental grants them a special steed and special abilities:

• Blade of grass: they can pick up any piece of grass from the steppes and make it into a temporary but extremely sharp blade to fight with if their primary weapon - horsebow - is unavailable.
• Cold resistance: they are less affected by the cold than others.
• Hardened step: they can draw from the steppes to keep going when others need rest, if they are on any kind of grassland.
• Windblown sight: they can see further when the wind is blowing.
• Steppe-riding: if they are riding their steed, they can draw upon the magic of the steppe no matter where they are and keep riding without rest for days.

They also may have any of the following steeds: Brown bear, Giant dragonfly, Giant red fox, Giant rock centipede, Giant steppe eagle, Giant steppe polecat, Grey wolf, Horse, Onager, Red deer, Reindeer, Roe deer, Saiga, Tarpan, Thecodontosaurus, Woolly mammoth

They are feared and hated by imperials, whom they often fight with.

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

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Zlatimech

Type: Heavy

Zlatimechi are the golden warriors of Dulocha. They are warriors who are touched by the sun.

In many tales in the region, heroes seek out special golden objects to complete a quest, trick a villain, or prove their worth. Zlatimechi are the source of some of those tales - they wear all golden armor and wield a golden weapon.

To become a zlatimech (pronounced with a soft ch), one must be a servant of the sun. One must be a friend to nature, an enemy to industrial powers, and a strong and noble warrior. One must prove onself in battle, and one must go on a quest. The quest will take them throughout the region, eventually coming to a great mountain, a World Mountain, atop which they can see the sun in all its glory. There, they must perform a vigil, let the sun touch them, and then carry its flame down without letting it go out. They take the flame to their home town, castle, village, or city, and there present it to the community leaders, who will order the flame be made into weapons and armor for the zlatimech. With their golden armor and weapon, they go out into the world to fight enemies of the sun, slaying undead, industiral powers, and other infernal forces. As they quest, they gain magical abilities:

• Sunfire blade: they can wreath their weapon in the yellow fires of the sun and cause enormous heat, radiation, and elemental damage to enemies.
• Corona armor: they may rim their armor in a corona of light that burns those who get too close and adds elemental protection.
• Golden honor: they may swear on their honor and if they live up to it, gain more magic from the sun.
• Rays of the heart: they may unleash rays of sunlight from their own heart to illuminate the way.
• Solar swift: they may move fast like a solar wind once per day.

After the start of the campaign, any zlatimech will be allowed to go on a special quest to gain a griffin as a steed.

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