Celestial Enlighteners

Those who wield celestial magic to teach, learn, or gather information.

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Benetenebriologer

Type: Scholar

The power of celestial shadow is very rare, something only found in the rarest places, and only the most devoted ever find it. Its power is to hide one from the watchful eyes of imperial or colonial powers, from the infernal, the abusive, the oppressive or exploitative. Benetenebriologers are those who study celestial shadow and use it to help them study and learn about all things opposed to the infernal, imperial, and colonial.

Those who find the celestial shadows do so in unexpected ways. They must know they are looking for it - and often, this means having a teacher or trainer or mentor who tells them of it - and they must be worthy of it, meaning having no ties to the imperial, colonial, or infernal. It takes years of study to find it, and longer to learn to wield it. If they prove worthy and insightful, however, it will fill them and teach them its secrets.

They may gain certain abilities:

• Tenebrous ink: they may write with any ink and turn it into shadows that can only be read by those worthy of it.
• Shadowsight: they may see in the shadows portents and signs of danger and power.
• Dark blue: they may meditate in shadow and gain knowledge forbidden by infernal or imperial powers.
• Miraculous night: they may in the darkest of night evoke a miracle if and only if they are willing to sacrifice themselves.
• Hopeful whispers: they may speak in a whisper and give hope with magic knowledge to those they choose.
• Ebon secrets: they may wrap words in ebon dark and keep them secret no matter what.
• Obscure lore: they may know things unknowable if they read in the dark.

Benetenebriologers find the secrets that threaten the infernal and imperial and colonial.

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

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Circumspectionist

Type: Researcher

An circumspectionist is a researcher who is empowered by the virtue of prudence. They practice caution and care in everything they do, taking long stretches of time to study and research before making any decision or taking any action. They are thorough and attentive, and this devotion to prudence gives them power. Embodying a virtue means living it as closely as possible. To embody prudence, one must choose the safer and surer way. One must think ahead and prepare. One must be wise and provide advice.

Those who embody prudence gain insights into danger ahead of them. They can sense when something will be more difficult than it needs to be and take the right path to find the right result. They gain PRS bonuses to make them better advisers, and they gain strong empathic powers. They also gain the power to grant protection and insight to others by researching special methods.

Their thoroughness makes them slow, but it also makes them powerful. They gain bonuses to research the longer they choose to take on it, but they may also choose to roll without bonus and take a different kind of result (see chart below):

Time	Bonus	Non-bonus Result
1.25x as long	+1	No changes to results
1.5x as long	+2	Ties are normal successes
2x as long	+3	Ties are normal successes, normal failures are ties
2.5x as long	+4	Ties are normal successes, normal failures are ties, special failures are normal failures
3x as long	+5	Ties are normal successes, normal failures are ties, special failures are normal failures, exceptional failures are special failures
4x as long	+6	Normal successes are special successes, ties are normal successes, normal failures are ties, special failures are normal failures, exceptional failures are special failures
5x as long	+7	Special successes are exceptional successes, normal successes are special successes, ties are normal successes, normal failures are ties, special failures are normal failures, exceptional failures are special failures
7.5x as long	+8	Exceptional successes are critical successes, special successes are exceptional successes, normal successes are special successes, ties are normal successes, normal failures are ties, special failures are normal failures, exceptional failures are special failures
10x as long	+9	Exceptional successes and special successes are critical successes, normal successes are exceptional successes, ties are special successes, normal failures are normal successes, special failures are ties, exceptional failures are normal failures
25x as long	+10	Any failure is a normal success, ties are exceptional successes, normal and better successes are critical successes

Other abilities they may gain include the following:

• Prudent practice: if they apply their prudence to any task, it gains similar bonuses or has similar results as their research, but scaled down if it is not research-related.
• Circumspect inquiry: if they apply their prudence to their research in a way that keeps them from being caught, they may apply +1 to +6 to STH if they choose to hide what they are researching.
• Attentive description: if they apply their prudence to a written or spoken description of something they have researched, they gain bonuses to being understood.
• Cautious step: their steps will sound different if they are in danger.
• Careful study: if they study an object, person, or location with prudence, they gain perception, read people, or AWA/PRS bonuses.
• Wary word: if they warn anyone of a real danger or risk, they target must roll WIL vs. the power of prudence of the circumspectionist or be unable to heed it.

Circumspectionists will usually have an area of research outside the imperial or colonial academic structures, and their independence from such is required for them to use or have their magic.

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

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Clanscribe

Type: Scribe

A user of emotional bonds via familial love to record the history of their "families" (literal or metaphorical). They do this through special marks and symbols of their clan (chosen or not).

A clan is a group of closely interrelated families of any kind. Clans exist in many cultures around the world, and figurative clans exist everywhere communities and people are together. Clans are founded upon emotional bonds, cemented via blood rites, and carried forward by tradition.

The basis of clan magic is the emotional bond created between members of a clan. These emotional bonds allow them to communicate over impossible distances, share skills, protect one another, sense via each others' senses, share powers, and do other things if they are trained in these arts and perform the correct traditional rituals. To form the emotional bond, a feeling of love must be felt between members of the clan. They form automatically between anyone who has performed the same blood rite of initiation into the clan.

An existing clan will practice certain traditions that only the clan knows and follows. These reaffirm the emotional bonds of their family and maintain the magic at the heart of the clan. There are always multiple families within a clan.

Every clan's initiation ritual is different. Blood must be involved, and the intention to recognize the one being initiated into the clan must be there. It cannot be accidental, even if it is informal or even if other words are used. The basic common ingredients are

• Blood shared with or spilled in the presence of an existing clan member - always the initiate must give blood; it is best if the initiator also does

• An oath of membership and vow of protection ("Do you swear to protect...?")

• Agreement of all parties, explicitly expressed

• An act of service to the clan as proof of intention and commitment

• An invocation of the clan's symbols

The child of someone who is part of a clan is automatically part of the clan without being initiated. However, they only may partake in the defensive powers provided - that is, they have the magical protections of the clan. Until they are formally initiated, they do not have the other powers of the clan. A clanscribe or even just a member automatically has bonuses to protecting children, and special rites exist to protect them.

Every new generation of a clan builds up greater clan power as their ancestors' power remains in their blood.

Sometimes people change clans. Departures can be automatic (if one's emotional state so profoundly alters that the clan bond is broken), or they can be intentional and directed by tradition (usually, marriage ceremonies involve a ritual of breaking the bond and a new blood initiation). These vary clan to clan, but the main ingredients include a ritual of symbol-breaking and a new blood rite. If one is not changing but just leaving a clan, all it takes is the appropriate breaking of symbols.

Every clan has a set of symbols and marks that represent them. If the clan changes over time, the symbols may change, but a rite involving a majority of clan members must be performed to do so. Clanscribes carry simulacra of the symbol used to found their clan to invoke their powers. Creating such a symbol involves a a rite of founding that is done by the clan to empower the clanscribe, requiring a series of blood rites that bond the founding members to each other and to the symbol of their clan.. Once a clanscribe is empowered, they gain certain abilities revolving around keeping the histories of the clan and doing the work of writing, teaching, readingm and studying for them.

They use the power of their clan symbol to perform their duties, giving them certain spells:

• Written in blood: if they use their own blood as ink to write with, their gain bonuses to understanding what they wrote or communicating it to another member of the clan.
• Written in fire: if they write something of note for the clan, draw their symbol, then burn the parchment, the parchment will not burn but the ink will, creating a piece of writing that only the clan can understand.
• Scribesmemory: if they spill their blood on any piece written by a former clanscribe for their clan, they will gain access to the memories of that scribe.
• Bonded parchment: they may enchant parchment with their symbol so that anything written on one piece will appear on the others.
• Uniting accord: they may scribe an accord to bring a union of two people - a contract like a marriage - that brings them into the clan. This is only done with the most trusted.
• Image of the beast: they may draw a sketch of their clan beast, sign it with their symbol, then burn the paper to call all such beasts within a mile to their aid.
• Blood armor: if they mark a child of the clan with their blood, that child will be protected from all attacks for a time.
• Clan call: they may write out a call to the entire clan, invoke their symbol, and tear the paper through the symbol to call the entire clan.

To invoke a clan symbol varies by symbol and clan. To break the clan symbol is to revoke a bond. Intention matters - the intentional destruction of a symbol is a rite. Dropping and breaking a symbol won't force you out of the clan, but it will be seen as a bad omen and give the one who broke it penalties (-1) for upwards of 13 days if it is a minor symbol and upwards of 13 generations if it was, say, the founder's own symbol. These penalties can be rectified by a ritual of re-initiation after a quest to make up for it. Clan quests always are acts of service to the clan. A quest can be invoked to empower a warrior or chief, initiate or re-initiate a member, grant a new power, or find a new symbol.

Clanscribes must record clan history, keep track of the clan’s genealogy, keep documents and do the writing for clan members, keep track of the clan’s deeds and feats, and track inheritances, if applicable to their clan.

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

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Sage

Type: Teacher

Sages are keepers and advisers of celestial wisdom.

They are walkers of the Long Path, a philosophy that states that the more difficult path is the one that teaches the most lessons. By intentionally seeking this out - with discernment of what is a difficult path and what is an impossible one, what is a worthwhile path and what is unnecessarily difficult or dangerous - they generate deep wisdom and celestial mental powers.

To become a sage, one must have walked the Long Path for two-thirds of their life. There are no young sages, for being a sage is an achievement defined by converting long life experiences into celestial magic. They are people who have attained at least 20 notable goals on the Long Path and gained magic and specific abilities from it. This means the player must develop an extensive backstory to justify this with notable life events and difficulties, including pivotal moments where they made crucial and difficult decisions, and the latter times when the knowledge gained from this was applied to improve the lives of those around them.

As a sage, they have learned hard lessons and shared deep wisdom with people for years. They spend much time meditating on it and seeking the wisdom and magic within themselves. They learn to draw it out and store wisdom externally in urns or jars, creating yellow psionic clouds that can be shared with others to give them memory and experience and applied knowledge.

They also have the following powers:

• Heightening: sages can psionically open the mind of a person who is willing to listen to them, making them more receptive to learning.

• Referencing: if someone comes to a sage with a problem, they can psionically explore the supplicant’s mind and find relevant memories to draw forth for them to learn from and apply.

• Associative identification: a sage can psionically scan a person or thing and compare them to something from their past to gain an insight into them/it.

• Strategic splitting: a sage can meditate on a problem, spending psionic energy, and foresee the consequences of four different decisions.

• Wise hesitance: a sage can sacrifice a round of combat or a minute of time out of combat to psionically assess a situation to gain bonuses to their next action.

Other powers may be possible. Consult the GM.

PRO -1 ATH -1 STR -1 AWA +5 WIL +2 PRS +1 STH -1