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Unaligned Seekers
Those who use unaligned magic to investigate, hunt, or explore.Accipitrary
Type: Hunter Hunters who bond with hawks and falcons via the ritual of the hunt. Accipitraries are much like survivalists, but they specifically attune to hawks and falcons. Most mortal societies once depended upon hunting for their survival. Many still do. Hunting is a sacred rite for many because it represents survival. Hunting is an ancient conflict, therefore, and one of the most powerful in the world. While there are cultural variations in how the ritual of hunting works, there are commonalities in how tapping into the magic of survival works:- A ritual initial hunt in which they offer their own blood
- A specific prey caught or killed on their first hunt that they attune to for life, always a prey that hawks or falcons also hunt
- A period of attuning to that specific prey and use every part of it
- A period of attuning to that specific prey by being prey, becoming deeply vulnerable
- A follow-up hunt or hunts in which they attune to a predator, some kind of hawk or falcon
- A period in which they define their range or territory
Specific powers will vary depending on the prey and predator they attune to, but they will have variations on the following:
- Camouflage: some form of STH bonus coming from blending in with their territory, coming from their prey attunement.
- Patience: some source of patience for waiting on their prey, often coming from their prey attunement. This often takes the form of circling.
- Determination: some source of WIL for not giving up in seeking resources to survive.
- Tracking: some form of heightened abilities while following a specific prey.
- Senses: heightened senses based on their predator attunement, usually eyesight.
- Blood: blood magic invocation by offering some of their own gives bonuses to tools or weapons.
- Companion: an animal companion that joins them when they are most desperate, usually their hawk or falcon attunement.
- Range: bonuses while within their territory.
- Special tools or weapons: reflecting their territory and/or their hawk or falcon attunement, involving feathers or talons.
All survivalists must be resolved to the hunt as their form of survival and not take meat they did not earn. This does not mean refusing to accept a meal, but that they cannot eat if they have not done some work for their range, predator, prey, or their own survival within the last seven days. Self-reliance is a source of power for them, and though they can accept help from others, they will start to lose magical power if they rely solely on others - unless that other is their hawk or falcon companion.
Their companion is always a local hawk or falcon (or one local to where they first became an accipitrary if they are from elsewhere). They will have the ability to communicate with it, see through its eyes, and direct its actions (with consent).
PRO +3 ATH +2 STR +2 AWA +3 WIL +3 PRS / STH +3 ESS +1
Blijedijahach
Type: Rider Blijedijahachi are riders who have had a near-death experience and accepted their mortality, which allows them to perform great, death-defying stunts and actions while riding their steeds. Blijedijahachi are usually already the kind of person who would try something foolish while riding. They respect their steeds, but their own necks are a little less valuable to them for any reason the player chooses. They usually seek out a thrill, and in doing so, find themselves in a situation where their life is endangered. Perhaps it’s a nasty fall. Perhaps it’s an attack by something dangerous. Perhaps it’s getting lost, exhausted, starving, thirsty. Perhaps it’s a combination of factors, like riding while ill then getting lost. Or perhaps it’s something more magical. But whatever it is, the blijedijahach finds themselves near death. In mechanical terms, they would have injuries, illness, or damage to themselves equal to a mortal wound. And in this moment, they understand their mortality. Not just that they can die, or that they are mortal, but the impact of mortality. The importance of it. The fact that this makes what time they have brief compared to the universe. The fact that what comes next is unknown and unknowable. The fact that what came before is only know via imperfect means. The fact that they can die means they can fail. They are imperfect, limited, fragile. And that makes them… special, wonderful, magical. It means they, in their insignificance, have still made an impact. They will be missed, remembered, and have been loved. They have touched other lives. In understanding this, they understand mortality and death. And in this moment, they find their mortal will, and they are able to recover when others would not, and they know they have been given another chance at a life most barely get one chance at. And they know they did it from the power of their acceptance, their nearness to death, and that henceforth if they get close to death, the magic will come to them. The magicks they gain include the following as they continue their stunts and risk-taking:- Moment of acceptance: they can focus and meditate, finding that power of acceptance of their mortality, and gain a clarity on the dangers around them.
- Mortal certainty: they can instill the certainty of an eventual death into someone with their gaze, stunning or intimidating the target.
- Steed’s trust: if they knowingly do something that could get them killed but will risk their steed, they can reassure the steed and ensure its survival by taking a greater risk unto themselves.
- Death-defying ride: they can go on a wild ride on their steed and be protected from death temporarily once per month.
- Final stunt: they can perform and succeed at an impossible stunt on their steed if they do it knowing they will die, but they will, of course, actually die.
Neumoljiv
Type: Detective A neumoljiv is an agent of a dragon who investigates crimes within the dragon’s territory. They are bound to the dragon’s service and gain magic from it. Neumoljivi often seek out service from the dragon, taking a regular job as a watchman, constable, or servant, and then show skill and resolve in their work. If they impress their superiors, they may be recommended to test for becoming a neumoljiv. To become one, they must pass five trials presented by the dragon:- Trial of Power: they must prove their strength of body and mind against strong opponents. A neumoljiv will be tracking some powerful foes and needs to be strong to do so.
- Trial of Territory: they must prove their knowledge of the dragon’s territory and its laws. They cannot enforce laws and investigate crimes without this.
- Trial of Discipline: they must prove themselves disciplined and willing to work hard, to train when needed, and to keep a routine that pleases the dragon. They cannot be lazy or weak-willed in the eyes of the dragon.
- Trial of Majesty: they must prove a capable leader. They are expected to be able to lead the lower-ranked guards and agents of the dragon.
- Trial of Accumulation: they must pass a trial that combines all four of the previous trials.
- Meticulous examination: they may draw upon their draconic magic to help them notice every minor detail of a location, though this will take them some time to do.
- Disciplined core: they can choose two skills that are their main skills they train on every day, giving them high die for those skills.
- Unbreaking interrogation: they can invoke their draconic magic while interrogating someone to make themselves relentless, untiring, until they have answers or the target is unable to continue
- Dragonflame strike: if they have found their quarry, they may draw upon draconic magic to give their weapon of choice dragonflame.
- Draconic focus: they may go without rest while pursuing a lead, drawing on draconic magic, but if they do anything other than pursue the lead in that time, they will need to rest.
Udaryat
Type: Slayer An udaryat is someone who, if paid the right amount of gold, will find a way to kill almost anything. They are specialized mercenarial hunters with a magical contract that requires constant gold, but gives them great abilities. Those who become udaryati are usually mercenaries or hunters to begin with. They often have done assassination work before. They know how to kill. But they either want more or find a need for more, and they seek out someone with the magic to give them the ability to kill something powerful. They find someone like a mercator or some powerful unaligned magic-user, and they make a deal. Out of greed or out of need, the sponsor requires gold, and thus, the contract requires the udaryat finds gold. Specifically, magical, unaligned gold called o’dahbaa. O’dahbaa has the value of what it took to acquire it. It can be created via magical contracts. An udaryat is given magical abilities to allow them to slay what they seek to slay, and in doing so, via their contract, the target will be partly turned into this magical gold, which the udaryat must return to their sponsor. If they do this, they gain more magic. Usually, the udaryat makes a deal, is given magical abilities, and then must find lesser targets to slay for their sponsor as they build up enough gold to slay what they truly seek. Their contract will specify their abilities, the prices for them, and what beings they may slay for the purposes of the contract. It can be amended if they go back to their sponsor. Some of their abilities include the following, which all will have prices to keep using:- Appraise foe: they can, with a glance, know either one of their foe’s base stats, magical powers, or abilities, or three of their foe’s substats, skills, or lores.
- Contractual boost: their contract has a clause that allows them seven boosts to seven different mundane skills, substats, or lores seven times.
- Expensive boost: their contract allows them one boost of +7 to one base stat, seven times, but it costs them a lot to use it.
- Gilded armor: they can use up some o’dahbaa to gild their armor temporarily to give it extra protections and themselves a PRS bonus.
- Drain value: if they mortally or critically wound a target (or kill it outright) on their accepted list of slaying, they may touch them with their weapon and drain the value from them, turning it into o’dahbaa. This is their only entirely free ability, though it can still fail.
Vadasz
Type: Hunter
Most mortal socieities once depended upon hunting for their survival. Many still do. Hunting is a sacred rite for many because it represents survival. The Great Hunt is an ancient conflict, therefore, and one of the most powerful in the world. Those who engage in the Great Hunt are part of an ongoing, worldwide ritual that generates b'qar constantly. To become part of it is to move with the flow of the Great Hunt, to become part of the Hunt. And it means to become one with the beasts who hunt.
In order to become part of the Great Hunt, every vadász must go through a ritual Hunt to gain its power. For the original vadász, this is a cultural ceremony that takes place when the hunters are 12 years old. The child is trained from a young age to be a hunter, guided usually by their parents or close family, taught everything they can learn about hunting. When they are 10 years old, they are left overnight alone in the deep woods, and retrieved in the morning. Every month, they repeat this, often with fewer and fewer resources each time, until they are 12 and can survive a night alone, naked, with nothing.
Once they can do this, they are taken out to a clearing specially set up for a ceremony. A circle is marked with the forest's detritus (leaves, twigs, stones, etc.). In the middle of the circle, every potential vadász stands, naked, and is coated in the fat of a boar, the blood of a stag, and the spit of an adult vadász. They are then cut across the forehead, palm, lower leg, upper arm, chest, or hip, depending on the town, the child, and the vadász. Their own blood mingles with the other fluids. Then, they are given a sip of wine or spirits from a horn, handed a knife and a piece of string (to cut wood and form a bow and arrows), and told to wait for the full moon(s) to rise. The circle is set ablaze, the vadászok dance around it, and all of them sing ancient songs.
When the full moon is at its height, the fires will spontaneously vanish. Each potential vadász will see the image of their prey for the night - a stag, a boar, a rabbit, some difficult prey - and they will rush into the forest as if racers from a starting line. They will then hunt through the night and rest by day. They will have seven nights to complete the hunt. If they fail, they do not get to be vadász, but there is usually no other penalty - there is no shame in not being a vadász, for it is an elite thing. If they succeed in catching and killing their indicated prey (and not other prey, though they are free to catch other beasts to sustain themselves through the seven days), they gain a title based on their prey.
During the hunt, they are expected to make their own bow and arrows, clothing, and other necessities from what they catch.
What prey a vadász first hunts tells of their skills and role as a hunter. It takes a cunning and swift hunter to kill a rabbit. It takes a noble and strong one to kill a stag. It takes a brave and fierce one to kill a boar. Consult the GM for a list of prey and what it grants them.
Before the next full moon, they must use every part of what they catch. If they do this, the next full moon will bring the new vadász out again for a second ritual. Once more, the circle is formed, but without flame. They will have only what they made from the first hunt. No adult vadász will be there to sing or dance for them, so they must sing and dance for themselves. They must use the fat, blood, and spit of their own kills and one another (for the spit). They re-open their original wounds, dance and sing, and when the moon(s) reach the highest point of the night, the prey animals arrive. These will be images of the prey they killed. If they were properly honored, the prey animals will dance with the vadászok. If they were not, the vadász who failed must pay a price of blood. Depending on the transgression this can be as light as a small drop or as horrific as their death. Usually, as these are children, it is just that they forgot some small step and are required to pay a few drops. Once they are paid up, all will dance, and then all will run through the forests, not stopping the entire night, until dawn fades the prey animal, and the vadász bond with them.
Every hunter is a predator, one who seeks, slays, and devours the meat of their prey. When one joins the Hunt and the flow of b'qar as it pulses, scatters, waits, and stalks the world, one hunts alongside the other predators. For every mortal hunter there is a beast that flows through them as they hunt.
After the initial ritual in which the vadász bonds with their permanent prey, they may sense other predators as they hunt. While it is not forbidden to hunt other predators (in fact, it is encouraged), it is forbidden to hunt the predator one senses during the hunt. This predator is one's guide, and one must take cues from them as they hunt. If they do this, they will potentially gain attributes of the predator, sometimes permanently, but usually just for the duration of the hunt or at most the season.
Eventually, after many seasons, a veteran vadász will be hunting alone. They will be up against a prey that they realize they cannot catch, kill, trap, or otherwise bring down. They will sense a predator hunting alongside them, though they cannot see it, and they will realize the time has come to become the predator. Making an offering of their own blood, they will mark every tree or rock near them, then meditate until they sense a beast nearby. When they open their eyes, an actual predator animal will be there before them, and it will guide them in the hunt. If they catch their prey before the next dawn or dusk (depending when they start - at least eight hours must pass), their predator friend will grant them a permanent feature (usually a stat or sense bonus), give them a mark on their face or upper arms, and grant them the ability to call upon them for help. They keep these features until they fail to honor their prey properly, until they use the calling ability, or until the next full moon. However, after they have had this experience, they will be able to make a blood offering with or without the other conditions that led to this in order to call upon a new predator friend.
If they get the same predator friend seven times in a row, they will be permanently marked and will gain a new title based on the predator. If they have seven different predators in a row, they gain a new title based on this. Other patterns may also gain them a title or a mark, but always in series of seven.
Each vadász has a specific range they are allowed to hunt. This range is based on their culture, home, and so on, usually, but also on the power of the Hunt. Some rare vadász realize their range is far away, and they must journey out to find it. Most are close to home. Regardless, they all have a bond to their range and have heightened senses within it. It is their duty to care for their range, and thus, they must keep it clear of poachers, fires, and pollution. They must tend the animals and plants there, and they must keep an eye on the signs within it. They may allow others to hunt their range, but only respectfully, and if they seek to hunt another range, they must make offering and get permission from the vadász there. If they hunt a place with no vadász or other rangers, they must make offering. All vadászok have these powers:- Camouflage: a vadász can blend in with their range at will. If they are in wilderness elsewhere, they still have a stealth bonus so long as they are not (a) in violation of the will of another ranger and (b) too contrasting with the environment in their clothing colors.
- Patience: a vadász will have extreme patience compared even to other hunters. They will be able to survive longer without food or water than others, better able to ignore other bodily needs (even sleep) for longer periods, if and only if they are actively hunting something.
- Stalking: if a vadász has a prey sensed in any way, they gain power to stalk them. They gain stealth bonuses, bonuses to senses, and bonuses to use their bow and arrows.
- Smell: a vadász always has a heightened sense of smell, no matter what.
- Blood: the blood of a vadász is a sacred offering to the Hunt. If spilled in combat or by accident, that blood will have b'qar in it tha can be wielded by any. If the vadász collects their own blood and smears their arrows, knife, or other tools with it, those tools will gain bonuses. If they intentionally spill blood, it must be left where it falls for the Hunt, unless used in a ceremony of some kind.
Zamkatelj
Type: Trapper A zamkatelj is a trapper who is bonded to a dragon’s service and works as a trapper for the dragon. They are tied to the dragon’s territory, but they may use their magic in similar terrains elsewhere to a lesser degree. If they are from Spokojno, the terrain will be mountains. If not, the GM will work with the player to design the dragon and terrain. Zamkatelji are skilled trappers who usually worked for the dragon for years before being picked to bond and gain its magic. They must show they are devoted to the dragon, its territory, and the living things therein. And then they must pass its trials:- Trial of Power: they must prove they are strong enough to handle the animals they are trapping in the dragon’s territory.
- Trial of Discipline: they must prove they are strong enough of will to maintain the disciplined routines and trapping schedules, to train and have the skills for their work, and to meet the quotas the dragon insists on.
- Trial of Majesty: they must show they are capable of being a leader to other, lower-ranked followers of the dragon.
- Trial of Territory: they must know every inch of the territory they trap in. They must know every rock, river, and road. Every plant, animal, and fungus. Every nook and cranny.
- Trial of Accumulation: they must then pass a trial combining the four previous trails.
- Territorial bounding: sensing the boundaries of the territory and their changes.
- Trapper’s sight: seeing through the eyes of any animal of their territory near one of their traps. This lets them know if the trap has been sprung, if it is too obvious, or if they need to adjust it.
- Familiar ground: recognition of other draconic territories. They instantly know if they have stepped into the territory of another dragon.
- Draconic wing: teleport to parts of territory. They gain energy wings that carry them to the above-mentioned marked features.
- Return to den: the trapper can return to the dragon’s den at will once per five weeks.
- Immunity to being lost: outside the territory, they can take this immunity.
- Dragonsteel cage: they can transform a cage of any material into the magical draconic metal drachesch five times to hold a very strong animal.
GrandGuignol
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