Unaligned Warriors

Those who use unaligned magic to fight.

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Bataie

Type: Pugilist

A bataie is a hand-to-hand warrior who is empowered by their relationships with other people.

In Affaria, the batai started as lower-class people who needed to defend their communities. They drew upon their friendships, families, even coworkers like fellow peasants, to find strength, and fought without weapons because they had none. It became a tradition in some communities that certain members who were popular in town would train as a bataie to be the town’s champion.

To become a bataie, one must be a decent fighter, skilled with unarmed combat, and someone who is well-liked in town. They must know most of the people in town, and they must be willing to stick up for them against outsiders, traitors, and other foes. Then they must learn from the older batai, being trained in combat and the magic they draw from their social connections. The latter is a strange sort of magic that seems antithetical to their methods, but their popularity often hinges on their fighting ability.

First, they train in understanding their feelings, then train in understanding how they feel about others. Once they have better emotional intelligence, they are given a special string, which they wrap around their fists. They then train to focus on their feelings about different people as they fight, sensing the resonance of the emotions coming from them, and seeking to channel them into the strings. Eventually, they take this string and sew it into their chests, over their hearts, and form a network of threads that represent the nine most important relationships they have. If they are attuned to their hearts, no blood will flow, the threads will glow, and they will be able to convert their feelings into STR, PRO, or ATH.

A bataie can only draw upon this magic if they have a social connection to someone within range of them. If they are in their home village (or neighborhood), this encloses the entire area. If they are outside of this, it is more limited. But anyone they can call a friendly acquaintance or better may be source for their magic. The more well-defined Relationship Motivations the character has, the more magic they may draw from.

Every Relationship type will come with a specific use:

• Friendly acquaintance: for every three friendly acquaintances defined, the bataie takes +1 to a single dodge or parry per combat.
• Friend: +1 per friend defined and nearby to one attack per combat, max +6.
• Close friend: +3 if the close friend is nearby, +1 if the close friend is further away, to one base stat for the entire combat.
• Lover: if a lover is nearby, the bataie gains +3 to STR for the entire combat, +1 if they are further away.
• Family member: +1 per defined non-close family member who is nearby to one wound or stun attack roll per combat.
• Close family member: +3 to ATH if a close family member is nearby, +1 if they are further for the entire combat.
• Coworker: +1 per defined coworker nearby during combat to a single wound or stun defense roll per combat.
• Mentor/teacher: one auto-counterattack per combat if a defined mentor or teacher of bataie combat is nearby during combat.

And so on. Negative relationships (enemy) or distant ones (stranger, distant family member, bad breakup ex-lover) give them nothing, but should be defined to emphasize the positive ones. If a player has other relationship types they wish to include, they may consult the GM.

The bataie may be tasked with a special mission for their community or be seeking a lost friend, relation, or family member, giving them profound reason to be on a quest.

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

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Nemuritor

Type: Military

The nemuritori are the elite soldiers of the Affarian military.

Affaria is a voivoideship (ruled by a noble called a voivoid) that gained independence from the Empire of Burev some decades ago. During their struggle for independence, certain soldiers swore vows to fight for eternity if need be to free their country from control of the empire. These were soldiers loyal to their voivoide and their country, but not fighting for the people. They were fighting for their own reasons, and they swore their loyalty not to ideals, but to the country itself.

Their voivoide took this vow seriously and sought magic to bind them to it. He sought the advice of a powerful numerologer, and the numerologer contrived a spell of numerological power and mathemagical complexity. He used his magic to invoke the eternal, and each of the nemuritori were thus infused with the power. To accept this magic, they had to fit certain criteria:

• Every nemuritor must have a name that adds up to a prime number numerologically.
• Every nemuritor must have an understanding of numerological magic.
• Every nemuritor must be a skilled soldier and of good health at the time of the spell.

If they meet these criteria, they are subjected to the spell. If they survive the spell and aren’t drawn into the infinite beyond, they gain special insights and abilities:

• Eternal life: they are blessed/cursed to be as eternal as their country, Affaria, meaning they do not die unless the country does. However, this does not make them immune to fatal damage - they just don’t die. There is a special hall in the main castle of Affaria with four nemuritori in comas and one who is just a barely conscious head.
• Counting march: every step they take as a march is counted, never starting over. At every power of 2, they gain a new point to a base stat of their choice. The player will start somewhere between 300,000 and 800,000 steps (rolling a d100 to determine how many, 5,000 steps per number rolled - i.e. a roll of 20 would be 100,000+300,000 steps).
• Numerological armaments: they can invoke the alphanumerics of their weapons and armor against the alphanumerics of the weapons and armor of their foes, altering the scores rolled, if they know the right words for their foe’s armaments. In other words, they can add up the alphanumeric of “longsword” and invoke this ability to make their foe’s longsword have a different score against the alphanumeric of their “morningstar”. This is only advisable if the alphanumeric comes out lower than their weapon’s (or armor’s). This only works if they perform a special maneuver involving a specific number of movements with their weapon or armor.
• Mathemagical rest: as people blessed/cursed to live theoretically forever, they have the option of entering a longer than natural rest and skip long periods of time. They do this with a complex mathemagical equation involving the alphanumeric of their name. This rest can restore them if they are seriously injured, but coma or loss of a body part cannot be recovered without other magicks.
• Infinite complexity: the spell that makes someone a nemuritor invokes the number infinity, a number most numerologers cannot wield. This always has a side effect on the nemuritor, giving them the ability to alter the probabilities of combat rolls. If they invoke this ability in combat, they alter which dice they roll, but with limitations.

The nemuritori are few. The numerologer who created them, Grozav, is also apparently eternal, though most in Affaria are not. The nemuritori often answer to Grozav over everyone else, and there is political tension in the court because of this. Some answer to the voivoid, some to Grozav, and some have a different understanding of their oath to the country.

A player who chooses to be a nemuritor will be one who has gone on a mission for the voivoid, Grozav, or on their own recognizance. They may be a newer one or one from the original war against Burev, or somewhere in between.

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

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Svetistrijelac

Type: Archer

Svetistrijelci are archers bound by Divine oath.

One of the main laws of Ottavia is one of religious freedom. As such, many faiths are present there that are not present elsewhere in the region. Among the unaligned faiths of the region, there is a tradition of having their own guards (when appropriate to the faith), and among those are the svetstrijelci, archers whose arrows are guided by faith in their chosen Divine. They wear blindfolds in combat and rely upon Divine favor for protection and skill. (If someone is already blind, they must plug their ears instead.)

To become a svetistrijelac, one must be a follower of a specific Divine or Divines. They must be devoted to their faith and anointed in their faith by the formal structures thereof - they must be ordained or otherwise approved or hired by the organized faith - or, in rare cases, directly chosen by their Divine(s). They spend years training as an archer, a guard, and a soldier, as well as studying the tenets of their faith and the teachings of their Divine(s). And they are tested in trials for their skill and their beliefs. Assuming they pass, they are blessed in special ceremonies (or met with a Divine vision) and granted special abilities:

• Guided shot: a shot taken while blindfolded requires a roll of faith to hit instead of archery skill.
• Godhand shot: once per combat, they may triple the power of their attack and make it magical/unaligned with a quick prayer. As an unaligned magical attack, it will ignore aligned magical defenses.
• In the hands of deity: if they go into combat blindfolded, they can roll faith instead of dodge, block, or parry.
• Armor of faith: they may invoke this and gain bonuses to their toughness/defense based on their current favor score.
• Divine intervention: they may ask their Divine(s) to intervene in a combat thrice per campaign and see a palpable effect based on their Divine(s) and the GM’s discretion.

They may also invoke the favor of their Divine(s) via prayer or supplication or other religious activities to call for specific effects. The favor they have with their Divine(s) depends on their behaviors, how well they meet the values of their faith and deities, and what they have already asked for. The above listed abilities do not use up favor, but instead may increase it if enough risk is taken.

Note that while they are capable of invoking their faith in combat, they are still capable archers otherwise and may opt to fight without their blindfold if need be.

If the player wishes, they may play a svetistrijelac of a celestial, fey, or elemental deity/deities if no player has chosen those alignments yet. Click here for a list of religions in the region.

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

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Whipmaster

Type: Flexible

Warriors who use ritual conflict to master wielding whips. The rituals of conflict that generate and wield the energy used by whipmasters vary by individual, but they all contain the following:

• A defined space for the conflict. Usually, a circle, ring, field, or contest arena.
• Initial spilling of one's own blood as a show of respect to one's opponent (even if said opponent is inanimate).
• A weapons display. If the conflict is a contest, the conflict itself may be the display, but usually it's a whip dance.
• A battle cry, roar, or other loud (or clearly perceptible) display at the start of the first attack. Some kind of a display of ferocity.
• First strike is always a pulled-shot to be parried, dodged, or an intentional miss as a means of giving one's opponent a chance, proving the whipmaster is no coward.
• True combat follows after all opponents have had their pulled-shot. During this, no blows may be pulled save for a killing blow, and then only if agreed to before hand. It is assumed to be a fight to the death unless otherwise stated, though it is almost always stated to be otherwise.
• If a group conflict is taking place with multiple people on each side, it is expected that whipmasters will work very hard to protect, support, or avenge their side if one is injured, killed, stunned, knocked down, or disqualified.
• An official call of an end to the battle, as agreed upon beforehand. Most are simply timed by an observer. Some are to the death, to first blood, or to a number of points as determined by rules or a moderator. Or even for style.

After the call is made to end, the surviving and conscious warriors must again spill blood to show respect. If they have open wounds, they may simply let them flow a moment. If doing this would cause the death of the warrior, they may simply bow.

At this time, if their combat met the criteria needed, the energy is captured within the defined space. All participating (and surviving) warriors may then re-enter the space, touch the spilled blood, and absorb the power. However, in many such contests, it is agreed before hand that only the winner(s) will do this. When a warrior absorbs the power from the spilled blood, the blood vanished. In order to use the power, the warrior must be thinking of what they wish to improve about themself while doing it (adding to strength, speed, etc.). If they wish to improve a their whip, they must touch the whp to the blood. If the power is not absorbed within seven hours or before another ritual takes place there, it will dissipate.

These rituals invoke the seven qualities of a great warrior:

• Sharpness - skill with one's whip (initial weapon display / true combat)
• Ferocity - the strength of a bull (war cry / true combat)
• Bravery - unflinching from conflict (initial pulled-shot / true combat)
• Speed - the speed of a charging bull (true combat)
• Wits - tactical thinking (true combat)
• Camaraderie- camaraderie with one's fellow warriors (support for allies during the fight)
• Respect - respect for one's enemies (spilling of one's own blood at start and end)

Typically, it is these areas warriors choose to improve after a ritual.

If these are all met during the ritual, the energy will make the spilled blood glow a bright, burning red. Some actions can generate more energy if done in certain ways: the better the display of weapon skill, the more intimidating the war cry, taking a handicap as a sign of bravery, using speed or wit more effectively, etc. The safer a ritual is, the less energy it will produce; the fewer actions taken, the less it will produce. These two sometimes run counter to one another - a dangerous battle may end swiftly if the more dangerous opponent proves how dangerous they are.

In game mechanics terms, every conflict action (hit/parry, hit/dodge, etc.) taken during the fight counts as a point of energy to be absorbed afterward. If a warrior makes a special parry, dodge, or hit, an extra +1, and +2 for exceptional, +3 for critical. If a warrior's weapon or armor are damaged, the extent of damage adds +1 per grade of damage (minor/tie, moderate/normal, significant/special, unrepairable/exceptional).

For the display of weapon skills, a quality roll is made - an extra point of energy is produced per level above base (1-2 above gives +0, 3-5 above is +2, 6-10 above is +3) per warrior performance.

Similarly, if a warrior's war cry succeeds in intimidating their opponent (intimidation vs. WIL), the level of success provides further bonuses, but so does failure. If a war cry is laughed at or makes the enemy more confident, points of energy are lost: exceptional failure (confidence +1 PRO bonus to enemy for one action) is -3; special failure (mockery -1 PRO penalty to warrior for one action) is -2; normal failure (no effect) is -1; tie (no effect) is +0; normal success (LNA to enemy) is +1; special success (LNA and -1 PRO for first action) is +2; and exceptional success (Lose Two Actions and -2 PRO for first two actions) is +3. Because warriors are almost always both performing war cries, they are often rolled against one another instead of against WIL.

The difference in skill, strength, and speed between warriors also affects the number of energy points. A gap of +6 or more will add +1 to every conflict between those stats. For example, a warrior with PRO 13 vs. a warrior with ATH 9 will mean that every time the warrior with ATH 7 tries to dodge, there is a +1 to the points created by that action. This is sometimes exploited by warriors who take a handicap by fighting with a blunted or old or otherwise defective weapon or armor, tying hands behind their back, going in blindfolded, always doing called shots, allowing themselves to be wounded, drawing a deep wound on their initial sacrifice of blood, etc. Anything to expand the gap while prolonging the fight. (Adding to the gap by becoming much better than the opponent too often leads to battles ending quickly or failing because of too many pulled shots, though wearing or using better armor does sometimes help prolong things.)

If a warrior fails to help their fellow warriors when they could do so during a ritual conflict, they will lose points equal to the degree of hit, wound, or stun experienced by the fellow warrior (whichever is highest) - tie is no modifier; normal wound/stun/hit is -1; special is -2; exceptional is -3.

The end results could be enormous gains for a warrior. The best matches tend to do things the old-fashioned way: equally skilled warriors engaging in a prolonged fight due to neither having an advantage. Counterattacks add up.

When a whipmaster absorbs the energy from a ritual conflict and apply it to a stat, skill, ability, power, diversity, or object, the stat increases based on how much beyond the species/national base for that stat the warrior already is. For instance, an average human has an 8 PRO. If someone with this PRO participates in a ritual conflict successfully and takes up the energy afterward, they will gain more than a human with 19 PRO. The scale is thus:

Modifier to Base	Increase Per Point
-7	+3
-6	+2
-5	+1
-4	+.5
-3	+1/3
-2	+1/4
-1	+1/6
0	+1/7
1	+1/14
2	+1/21
3	+1/28
4	+1/35
5	+1/42
6	+1/49
7	+1/56

And so on. The amount of energy generated by skilled warriors becomes much more important, as they will gain very slowly if they do not generated enough in the ritual. Therefore, they make tweaks to the ritual as they become more skilled to increase danger, prolong the match, etc.

Most mortals cannot go above a 42 base, and very few can handle greater than 25.

Whipmasters in training have regular ritual matches in order to build their skills, but due to the physical damage done to them, they often have to take long breaks because magical healing will negate the effects of the energy.

Whipmasters almost always improve themselves with the energy, but they may choose to channel the energy into special magical abilities, though this is rare and often only resorted to in times of dire need for some kind of more esoteric defense/attack.

• Bloodfire: if a whipmaster completes the ritual spilling of blood, war cry, and pulled shot before an actual combat rather than a ritual one, they can still produce some energy. Once 6 points have been generated, if they can do so, they can touch their weapon or armor to the spilled blood and coat it with bloodfire, which is effectively just energy in fire form, adding fire damage bonuses or esoteric defense bonuses and making the weapon or armor unbreakable.
• Retrieval: a powerful whipmaster may store some energy to be able to call up their weapon, armor, steed, or other connected object when needed from any distance. This takes 6 energy points, no matter how far it is teleported from.

Every whipmaster eventually settles not just on whips in general, but an individual whip that they prefer. It is not uncommon for them to name their weapons.

A whipmaster's primary personal weapon must be cared for meticulously. Due to the added power of energy, if the whip is not well tended or given esoteric protections, it will fall apart faster, as it hits much harder or sees more use. Furthermore, a poorly maintained whip can mean the whipmaster fails to meet the standards necessary for ritual or maintaining energy.

PRO +2 Whip +3 Personal Weapon +4 ATH +2 STR +2 AWA +1 WIL / PRS -2 STH +/-2 ESS /