Celestial Reprobates

Criminals and others outside the law who wield celestial magic.

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Aberrant

Type: Deviant

A person who uses awareness and self-actualization to let their inner power come forth as they transform their gender. The criminalization of queerness and gender variance in Endruin began long ago. Though the ruling class is predominantly a female-assigned species, they hold to patriarchal values that consign them to a behind-the-scenes or figurehead-like role in order to maintain patriarchal order. Thus, they have criminalized same-sex relationships and sex and any kind of gender variance beyond the patriarchal binary. Those who are criminalized for being queer and/or trans are often mentored by other "deviants" within the organization and shown the magic of musalu.

Musalu is a magic that uses mirrors to see the true self and externalize it. This process is a two-way street - one may use this magic to shrive oneself of patriarchal assumptions, but in order to use it, one must shrive oneself of patriarchal assumptions. This requires a back-and-forth process, one that builds on itself, starting slow and speeding up as the aberrant sheds layer after layer of lies, assumptions, and indoctrinations. This culminates in greater self-control, self-awareness, and self-confidence. The more they do this, the greater their musalu becomes. It also gives them certain powers.

• Revelatory reflection: if the aberrant places their mirror before the face of a target, the target rolls WIL vs. the power of the aberrant. Failure means they experience a revelation relating either to themselves or to the patriarchal lies they have been indoctrinated with. This may only work once per target. If done during combat, target will be stunned or lose next action.
• Alter self: if the aberrant stands between two full-length mirrors, they may use their musalu to alter their own form temporarily into anything of comparable size. If the alteration is closer to their perceived true self, it may not be temporary. If it is not, it will last for an hour or until the aberrant chooses to let it go. If the form is that of something or someone who has special powers or abilities, they may gain those powers or abilities if they succeed exceptionally or critically. If they fail, they may lose some of their own powers due to a loss of confidence. Difficulty is determined by how far the transformation takes them from their true self.
• Confident presence: if an aberrant is within a certain distance of their true self (determined by GM and player), they gain an aura that gives confidence to everyone within 33' of them who is allied with them. This lasts 3 minutes and can be used once per day. It gives +1 to +6 to all actions.
• Beautify: if the aberrant directs their musalu at a person or object, they may give it a shimmering rainbow aura that makes the target beautiful to anyone who sees them, giving a +1 to +6 PRS for 5 minutes, but also exposes something unexpectedly true about that person or thing to anyone who sees them. If the target is unwilling, they roll WIL against the aberrant's magic.
• Protect egg: any unhatched trans and/or queer person within 33' of the aberrant may gain +3 to toughness, WIL, parry, or dodge if the aberrant touches them with their mirror.

Other powers will develop based on the true self of the aberrant. Consult with the GM.

If the aberrant stops living their true self, they will begin rapidly losing their powers.

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

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Borrower

Type: Thief

Borrowers gain power from gratitude. They are thieves who steal from the rich and powerful in order to give to the poor or meek, and they gain special abilities from practicing thankfulness in every aspect of their lives. In order for this to be possible, they must eradicate their own egos, engaging in their work solely for satisfaction of doing it.

Doing this takes years of work under a mentor, but once they reach an acceptable state of selflessness, they are taught the ability to generate a coin, a blank metal coin made of pesete, a form of magical gold that is made of emotion. If they are thankful for something, they give the coin to the person they are grateful toward. If they are grateful toward something, they make a sacrifice of the coin by flipping it into the waters. If they are thankful to a Divine, they offer it at a temple. They generate the coin by focusing on their emotion for hours (for the first time), until it manifests in their palm (mechanically, this is a series of difficult WIL rolls). The coins are not spent like real money, but rather become something needed by the one it is given to - something small, usually, like a bit of food or water.

The more they give away, the more successful they will be in their work. As they give out their coins, they gain points they can apply to skills or stats relevant to the job they wish to undertake, which is always a specific, targeted object, person, or location they are going to burgle. The bonuses they get go away after a day, so they have to finish the job quickly. Most borrowers can only generate six points per job, but as they continue their work of Robin Hooding, they gain greater capacity.

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

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Gentler

Type: Criminal

A gentler is a generic term for a gentleman thief, gentlewoman thief, or gentleperson thief, a master criminal fueled by cunning to engage in extravagant crimes. Moriarty-meets-Robin Hood, they commit their elaborate criminal schemes for the good of the people and to weaken the empires. They are thieves with a sense of justice, motivated by a belief in teaching lessons to the rich and powerful or those who harm the people. They are part con artist, part conspirator, and all thief. Many are seen as tricksters.

A gentler thinks of themselves as a hunter of sorts, and their marks are prey. From this, their magic derives, as they attune themselves to the Sacred Hunt, but not as a ritual hunter. Instead, they draw only from the cunning of the fox, the rabbit, and the cat. They attune to the magic of outwitting the powerful. A gentler gains magic by learning from another gentler via ritual, training, and tapping into the elaborate schemes as they play out. A good gentler always saves some magic for later. They also gain power from sharing the proceeds of their schemes with those in need. Like all celestial occupations, a gentler may not be an abuser, oppressor, exploiter, or other ally to the imperial and colonial powers.

Various abilities are available to gentlers, but some common ones include the following:

• Fox’s tail: a gentler may invoke the power of the fox to create multiple illusory versions of themselves.

• Rabbit’s foot: a gentler may invoke the power of the rabbit for a swift escape when needed.

• Cat’s paw: a gentler may invoke the power of the cat to steal a small object unnoticed.

• Owl’s hoot: a gentler may invoke the power of the owl to discreetly call on the aid of other criminals.

• Deer’s antler: a gentler may invoke the power of the deer to protect themselves from infernal powers.

• Eyes of the hunter: a gentler may invoke the power of the hunt to analyze their mark for weaknesses.

• Subtle blue: a gentler may invoke the power of subtlety to hide in plain sight.

• Sudden shadow: a gentler may invoke the power of shadow to teleport behind someone instantaneously at an inopportune moment (for the target).

• Slick talker: a gentler may improve their skills of persuasion by rubbing their hand over their head.

• Quick tongue: a gentler may confuse a target by talking faster than usual.

• Shiny glass: a gentler may produce fake diamond from their pocket even if they don’t have one.

• Pass around the proceeds: a gentler may gain points for the above magic by sharing the well-gotten gains they have stolen from the rich and powerful.

As jacks-of-all-crimes, they have some skills with at least seven and at most thirteen of the following: arson, killing, animal handling, banditry, begging, bet-making, bootlegging, street fighting, law, accounting, investigating, making drugs, counterfeiting, hiding their true identities, embezzling, extortion, selling stolen goods, cleaning up crime scenes, hiding bodies, gambling, running front organizations, grifting, making safe houses, hijacking, kidnapping, mugging, picking pockets, shoplifting, piracy, selling drugs, illegal medicine, community organizing, activism, bank robbery, sabotage, sex work, smuggling, spycraft, terrorism, theft, torture, street survival, vagrancy, vigilantism, whistleblowing, and maybe even witchcraft.

Beginning gentlers will have a skill total of 120 split across the above skills.

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

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Miracleworker

Type: Grifter

A con artist who uses unmagical random acts of kindness to encourage belief in miracles. There are those who believe in miracles, and these people know that the only way miracles can happen is if people believe in them, so they make it their life's work to convince people that miracles exist by tricking them into thinking a miracle has occurred by engaging in random acts of kindness. These "miracleworkers" are con artists who go out of their way to ensure no one knows what they are doing.

Miracles only occur if someone believes they are possible. In a world full of magic, this gets complicated, as many things we would consider miracles are mundane, and many miracles get assumed to be magic even by experienced esotericists. Miracles must, therefore, be subtle to be believed.

To generate belief in miracles, they must generate hope. They must be such that there is not even a magical explanation. No clandestine fairy benefactor. No angelic delivery. No demonic contract. This is... difficult. Nearly impossible in a world such as Shem, though some mileage is gotten out of the fact that many of the most oppressed not-too-incorrecly believe that those who use magic are not on their side. But the truth is, every act of kindness generates much less belief than one might want. It takes many, many to create enough belief to have an impact, and most miraclemen accept that in their lives, their work will only have a small impact. In general, the acts of kindness are their own reward, anyway.

An act of kindness must be for someone genuinely in need and who will not pay forward the kindness with oppression and horror (i.e., not usually a member of the ruling class). The ruling class only works if the miracle is guaranteed to turn them to fighting the oppression they were once responsible for. Acts of kindness can be as simple as delivering food to as complicated as saving a town from ruin.

To fake a miracle, a miracleworker must not be seen to be performing their acts of kindness, or at least not to be performing the crucial part that must be taken as a miracle. As such, miraclemen take no credit. They also must be skilled at deception, stealth, and acting. They must understand the circumstances people are in and what they truly need, and they must be content to not even know if what they did had the effect they wished.

If a miracleworker has performed at least one fake miracle convincingly, they may roll a d1000 in times of dire need to see if a miracle may occur. Before they roll, they call the number it will roll. If they land on it, a miracle occurs. The more fake miracles they convincingly perform, the higher the chances get. For every 25 convincing false miracles, they may pick an extra number. For character generation, roll a d100 to see how many false miracles the character starts with in their backstory.

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

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Pebble

Type: Beggar

Pebbles are beggars who gain power by living humbly, which allows them to protect others and gain insights into the people around them. Called "pebbles" originally in a derogatory way, they accepted it and made it their own.

To tap into the power of their own humility, they must become completely selfless. They must not seek power, nor deprivation. They must be beggars made by consequence of the oppressions of the world, not because they chose to become one. They must find humility not through trauma or fear or self-hatred, but through understanding, compassion, and genuine altruism. They must see the betterment of others as greater even than their own survival, but they must not intentionally sacrifice of themselves. Instead, they must reach the state where doing for others is so instinctual it does not occur to them that their giving and serving and helping and supporting might be to the detriment of themselves. They must truly see it as beneficial. They must truly give up the idea of themselves as better, greater, or even equal to others, but also not lesser. Instead, their self is unkown to them after a certain point. All that is left is how much good others deserve. It takes years for most people to actually achieve this.

If they can achieve this - and that is a major if - they gain the power of humility. If they live this way for a year, they gain deep powers from this virtue.

• Undeserving presence: their humility protects them against infernal attacks, giving them a +3 to any stat used to defy infernal magic.
• Giving of self: if they are hale and healthy, nourished, or otherwise better off than someone else physically, mentally, or emotionally, they may touch them and transfer some of that to the other to heal, nourish, or otherwise support them. They may also use this power to pre-emptively take damage for others in combat.
• Seeing beyond: as they see beyond the performances of self in themselves and others, they have insights into what others truly are, giving them a +3 read people if this power is invoked. It lasts 30 seconds. If used in combat, it gives them a +3 to dodge or to hit, but uses up the power instantly if they do so.
• Humble appearance: as they do not see themselves as noteworthy, nor do those who would harm them, giving them a +3 STH. They may turn this off temporarily.
• Repeling touch: as the power of humility within them is celestial, the powers of the infernal cannot bear their touch, giving them a power of 11+ when touching (but not striking) a being of infernal power to repel them.

They are a crucial part of the support networks for the indigent, enslaved, homeless, jobless, and deprived, but there are few who can achieve this state.

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

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Sweetbug

Type: Urchin

A sweetbug is a derisive word for a girl who lives on the streets that has been reclaimed by some of them who use magical powers to protect anyone who is subject to patriarchal violence. A sweetbug does not have to be a girl, but must be someone affected by patriarchal violence. They cannot be over 18 years old.

Sweetbugs are young people living on the streets who have connected magically not to their blood ancestors but their “street ancestors”, people who lived on the streets as children in the past. They must be dead, but they may have only lived part of their lives on the streets. They are always also those who were affected by patriarchal violence, and thus, they give guidance, protection, and support to others in similar situations. Most stumble into this accidentally, but some are taught by older urchins. Most are guided by ancestors after their first accidental connection.

If a sweetbug engages in patriarchal violence, they will lose their abilities and connection.

All sweetbugs have a specific “ancestor” who is their primary guide, and they are given different abilities for their survival:

• Bugsting: sweetbugs may stun men or purveyors of patriarchal violence who are attempting to attack them with a strike from their palm that hides a +7/+2 stinger.

• Embrace of the hidden: a forgotten ancestor will embrace the sweetbug, rendering them unseen to predatory eyes.

• Eyes of the survivors: ancestors guide the sweetbug in finding food or water.

• Repellant countenance: sweetbugs can appear unpleasant to predators and traffickers by simply blinking twice.

• Loosened bonds: a sweetbug may slip free from chains, ropes, or other bonds.

• Ancestral tutelage: the sweetbug may directly learn from or inquire of their ancestors.

• Channeling the foremothers: the sweetbug may directly channel a specific ancestor, usually their guide, and allow them to control the sweetbug’s body temporarily.

Sweetbugs evolve their abilities depending on circumstance. Other abilities are possible. Consult the GM.

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