Schiavista

Those who wield drenante use ancient ledgers that track ownership of mercatorial contracts. They make deals with others in order to capture powers and abilities from them.

Drenante

Unlike mashoaab, drenante is a power of dominance and parasitism, not accumulation and value. It is an infernal energy that can only be used for unequal exchanges. They create the illusion of equal exchange sometimes through deceptive measures, but the schiavista always gains more than they give. They do this using ancient ledgers made through infernal arts; any entry into the ledger gives the schiavista power.

Agreements

The schiavista taps into drenante by reducing someone to desperate circumstances and ritually binding them to an agreement. In order to do this, they must have some responsibility for the desperate circumstances their target (ventosa) is in - this can mean something as broad as being a beneficiary of an unfair system or as specific as being the person who created the desperate circumstances (such as killing the person their target depended upon, for example). Then, the schiavista must lure the ventosa into an agreement that is recorded in their ledger. After this, every entry into the ledger draws energy from the ventosa and gives it to the schiavista, while the actions of the target generate energy based on the services or tasks they complete for the schiavista.

Draining

The agreement dictates how much the schiavista will take from their ventosa. A weak schiavista will dictate the taking of something minor, a fraction of the ventosa's power; a powerful schiavista will take entire skill sets or abilities at a time. The schiavista must live up to their side of the bargain - they must be able to forgive the debt or fulfill the agreement on their end, often sparing the life of someone or paying off different debts or something similarly unbalanced. So long as the task is completed and the agreement fulfilled, the schiavista will take from their target what is agreed upon. If the schiavista is clever, they can have subclauses, trickery in wording, fine print, or other chicanery that gives them more than the ventosa realizes.

A schiavista is limited in how much they can take from a ventosa by the agreement, but also by their own personal limitations. They cannot take more points in a skill or power than the highest score they have in a skill or power. For example, if the schiavista's highest score is a 13 in commerce, they cannot take more than 13 points of any single thing from the ventosa. If their highest score is a 21 WIL, then they can take a max of 21. However, they can take as many points as they want from multiple stats so long as they do not take more than their highest stat in any single thing. In other words, they can take a total of 100 points, if those 100 points are split into 10 different stats, skills, or powers, for example. When a schiavista takes more than they can use, that excess is simply lost to both schiavista and ventosa.

Theft

If the schiavista makes an incorrect entry into the ledger (accidentally or on purpose), it will remain true until challenged if and only if the error does not kill the ventosa (for if any base stat hits 0 or any fundamental power for a species hits 0, it will kill the ventosa). However, the challenge can be as simple as the ventosa thinking how unfair it feels as they skill, power, or stat drains. They must be completely unaware of the error. If they notice the error and challenge it, the schiavista can lose an equal amount to what they cheated if the ventosa's WIL is strong enough; even if the will is not strong enough, the agreement will be nullified. Many schiavistas, however, are skilled at fudging the numbers just enough that it is not noticeable to the ventosa. If a player is a ventosa, they must roll AWA to notice against the ledger-power of the schiavista. Ledger-power is determined by how many successful agreements are in the ledger and the WIL of the schiavista.

Advances

A ventosa gains something from their contract, usually clearing up a desperate situation created by the schiavista in the first place. However, some go to schiavistas to clear up situations that were created by others, and therefore, they need something up front from the schiavista - a power, a skill, some knowledge. The schiavista can take from the powers they have gained from others to grant this, or they can create a new power out of old powers transmuted by calculations within their ledger. This latter is called infernal accounting, and it usually comes with a heavy, heavy cost to both schiavista and ventosa - thus making the ventosa a slave to the schiavista, more or less.

Ledgers

The ledgers schiavistas use are created via infernal rites that require dominance and enslavement of others. Most ledgers are ancient and powerful, passed down through families (usually patrilineally), and the ledgers will only work for those who are granted ownership by the previous owner via a document written in blood and bile that is attached to the end of the ledger (meaning every ledger contains an history of its ownership). The catch is that the blood and bile must be from the previous owner, but it doesn't have to have been written by the previous owner - a new owner can kill the old owner and write the document themself. This happens often.

The ritual to create a ledger is very difficult and requires that the schiavista entrap via manipulation and coercion at least 19 victims. They must be indebted unfairly to the schiavista somehow (usually through extortion), and it must be nearly impossible for them to individually save themselves. The schiavista must then call in the debts and follow through with a previously specified threat - usually maiming or murder - for each one, in order of least indebtedness to highest without any of them being able to repay (if they are punished while they have the means to repay, the rite fails). Then, the schiavista must harvest the heart (for emotion), liver (for body), brain (for mind), and eyes (for soul) of the victims. After each kill, the schiavista must preserve the organs by placing them in a single vessel, usually a jar or urn, filled with sand, vinegar, and a drop of the schiavista's bile. Once all 19 are collected, the schiavista must wait for noon on the 19th day of the following month from the final kill. At noon exactly, they must shatter the vessels - all of them at once - and wash a common ledger bound in the skin of all 19 victims.

The ledger, soaked and foul, must be burned along with the preserved organs in a bonfire, openly where others might see, and the schiavista must remain free to re-acquire the ledger once the fires down exactly 19 hours later. The final part of the rite is to paint the schiavista's personal mark on the back inside cover in their own blood, sealing their power over it and marking them as the original owner.

Most ledgers are inherited.

Variations

Most variations of schiavistas come from the Talunese states of Jesenya, but there are some from other parts of the world:

• Ariannwr: a schiavista corporate executive who runs a major business with many ventosas. These originated in western Ansulym.
• Economist: a schiavista who uses their scientific knowledge of economics to manipulate local economies and create potential ventosas. Found all over the capitalist world.
• Executrix: a female schiavista working in a high-powered executive occupation, often leading a company and controlling many ventosas. From anywhere in the world.
• Giocatare: a schiavista who gambles with victims instead of making more straight-forward agreements, risking much to gain much.
• Jiēshòu zhě: those who specialize in draining menab'e from fāxiàn zhě, usually the owners of mines, found in Wuordon.
• Lingua d'uccello: a schiavista who drains powers from cockatiels and other imported birds so they can speak to other avians.
• Perito: an art dealer who exploits desperate artists via infernal ledgers.
• Piker: a schiavista who uses their thieving abilities to steal from others and make them desperate enough to become a ventosa. From eastern Jesenya and western Ranu.
• Pranzetta: a schiavista who makes their steed a ventosa, often using a sapient mortal as their steed.
• Profiteer: a schiavista capitalist who runs an empire of businesses and ventosas; an oligarch of extreme power and wealth, such as the head of the Monsapple family. From anywhere in the world.
• Razzmaster: a carnival owner or leader schiavista who has agreements with most or all of their employees, thus gaining power, and using their carnival or sideshow to draw in ventosas from the crowds as well, usually tasking an employee with gulling them into unfair agreements using rigged games or attractions to coerce them. From all over the world.
• Rilegatore: a schiavista who specializes in making ledgers.
• Sgualdrina: a madam who turns sex workers into ventosas in her bordello or similar establishment or business.
• Sjorovare: a schiavista who is a pirate captain and has a ship crewed by ventosas and a few enforcers. From the Jorgendheim region of Ranu.
• Venditore: a schiavista who is a merchant or retailer, one who specailizes in trading goods in their agreements. Often, they are legitimate business folk who buy and sell something normal, but use special items to lure in the desperate for agreements.
• Verkeefer: a schiavista who works as a fence, using their connections to the criminal underworld to gain victims and steal expensive items. From Lichtburg in Jesenya.
• Xestor: a middle manager schiavista at a larger business, working their way up with their powers. From western Jesenya.

Ventosas

Some special ventosas include

• Giulare: a court jester indebted to a schiavista, forced to perform for them and to use their skills to lure in other victims or to distract them.
• Lavoratore: a common laborer indebted to a schiavista who has been so drained they have nothing left but their desperate tasks before them.
• Loreno: an actor indebted to a schiavista, trading some skill or power for fame or skill on the stage.
• Marinaio: a merchant-sailor who is indebted to a schiavista and mans their trading ship, pleaure vessel, or other boats.
• Paroliere: a writer, often a songwriter, indebted to a schiavista and usually tasked with using their writing skill to lure in other desperate victims.
• Pasticcere: a pastry chef who is indebted to a schiavista and tasked with making sweets and pastries to lure in victims or simply to feed the schiavista's sweet tooth. Often found in extravagant households.
• Piacevoleno: a railway worker indebted to the schiavista who owns the rails or train, usually a servant on a "pleasure train," a luxury craft that carries the schiavista and their cronies in style.
• Piegarsi: an athlete empowerd by a schiavista's agreements, given athletic ability in exchange for something dire, usually a significant part of their lifespan, their soul, or the life of someone important to them, or a task of utmost importance to the schiavista, such as killing someone important or dangerous, etc.
• Uccisorio: an assassin or hitman contracted to a schiavista in such a way that they gain skills and powers to commit their murders while giving skills and powers from their victims via a power given them by the schiavista's agreement.
• Umile: a follower of Yatana who is under the sway of a schiavisa posing as a religious leader, and therefore gulled into being their ventosa in exchange for "faith" powers.

Organized Crime

Organized crime syndicates in central Jesenya use a schiavista-style structure and are common users of drenante:

• Don: usually the schiavista in the organization, always the leader and free of enslavement. Also called the capo dei capi.
• Consigliere: the adviser to the don, often free of enslavement, sometimes also a schiavista.
• Capomandemento: someone who controls significant territory, always free, sometimes a schiavista.
• Sottocapo: an underboss who is free but not a schiavista.
• Caporegime: either the highest ranking ventosa or the lowest ranking non-schiavista.
• Soldato: a ventosa who is a loyal enforcer and warrior for the organization.
• Uccisorio: sometimes soldatos or caporegimes who are specifically used as hitmen are also called this.

The council of dons is called the cupola.

Similar Occupations

Other users of drenante include

• Almoner: a cleric who collects alms for the needy, then uses that position to drain power from the poor who come to them for help.

Societal Role

Schiavistas operate openly in some capitalist societies, and as generally accepted organized crime in others. They are hated in socialist societies, and their powers are rarely used in feudal or autocratic societies, except by the ruling classes.

Skills

Common skills include

• Commerce
• Trade
• Finance
• Manipulation
• Lying
• Business
• Slaving
• Murder
• Cheating

Stats

Modifiers from base of nation/species:

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