Elemental Seekers

Those who use elemental magic to investigate, seek, find, explore, range, hunt, transport, travel, or communicate.

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Arktos

Type: Ranger

The arktoi (sing. arktos) are young women or non-men who serve the moons. Through intensive meditation and training, they become great huntresses and users of lunar magic. They are trained at the Ark-temnis, the bear sanctuary, on each of the moons.

At age seven, young women (usually, but not always) feel called to the bear sanctuary. They go and are taught to be arrhephoros, or basket carriers. They carry the baskets of sacred offerings in ceremonies and begin learning how to be an arktos. At age nine, the arrhephoros join the choir of the sanctuary, called the okeana. They are still arrhephoros, but they have special duties to sing at ceremonies and festivals. At age ten, they graduate to aletris, or miller of corn, and wear yellow robes. In this period, they serve by making the food of the sanctuary (at least, the non-meat food). They learn the importance of all living things. At age 13, the girls (and others) would gather for the traditional dance of arkeia. During this dance, they dress as she-bears (in actual skins) and perform a slow, sacred dance that matches the movements of the bear. An older arktos (usually a young man) plays the diaulos, or double flute. The arrhephoros bring basekts of figs. The aletris watch, having prepared the foods eaten afterward. The aletris wear krokoton, their yellow dresses, and those who have turned 13 shed their krokoton to wear the bear skins during the ceremony. At this point, them become an arktos.

Arrhephoros work as basket bearers and students. Aletrises are millers and cooks. Okeanae must sing during ceremonies. These duties are all simply forms of training, however. The arktoi have many duties they must carry out. First, they are defenders of wild life. They punish poachers and others who hunt unnecessarily, or those who destroy the environment. Second, they protect young children and women. They are midwives. Third, to honor the moons by shining like their light. This last is both figurative and literal. Figuratively, it means embodying the virtues of chastity, caring, and wisdom (maiden, mother, crone). It also means making regular offersing to the moons. Literally, they glow under moonlight.

Males (and any who do not feel comfortable in the sphere of women) who wish to be arktoi become daphnises. Their role is to provide entertainment, performing on the diaulos, on the lyre, and by singing. They are still taught to hunt, and they must meet the rules of behavior and faith, but as their abilities are different from that of an arktos, they have different duties. The duties of a daphnis are to provide music and entertainment to arktoi, at the sanctuary and otherwise; to teach and care for the children; to stand guard during the new moons; and to be liaisons to the cities. They learn to fight so they can stand guard, but their main roles are music and diplomacy.

An amnisad is an arktoi who for some reason cannot or will not be a hunter. Usually this is because of infirmity, though sometimes trauma or simply personality get in the way. Regardless, their place is to care for the animals and weapons of the sanctuary. Amnisades' duties mirror the arktoi, but as they do not hunt or patrol, their duties focus on taking care of the sanctuary's animals and mending, repairing, or making weapons for the sanctuary. They are also the ones who work in the Weaving House.

When an arktoi reaches the age of the "crone" (this varies by individual), she becomes a phaesporian, or light-bringer. She loses her powers of night and becomes the wise woman who guides them through the day. They are teachers, counsellors, and mystics, and their role is one of advice only. Phaesporians' duties are to offer advice to the leading arktoi, to tend things during the day, and to make sure the mirrors and windows that guide the moonlight are well tended. They define the wisdom of the crone.

Their first duty is to protect the wild life of Stayflies (or wherever they may roam). The arktoi take turns going on patrol in groups of three, ranging all the wilderness of southeastern Ranu. If they catch anyone abusing the hunt (i.e., over-hunting, killing mothers or children, hunting in protected areas, etc.), they hunt them down and kill them. They also look for signs of pollution, over-logging or cutting, and other attacks on the environment. This, too, they punish with killing, though it is difficult to find the ones truly in charge. In these cases, they cast hexes on the places being harmed, which repel those who would do them harm.

Arktoi do not recognize the laws of men. Instead, to them, poaching is hunting in areas where they have placed a hex of protection, or in over-hunting or killing women or children among the animals. A lord's claims mean nothing.

Areas an arktos casts a hex upon become "bear sanctuaries" (ark-temnis), referring as much to protecting the bears there as to the fact that an arktos protects it. These areas can be as vast as a country or as small as a den where animals live or a pond where they go to drink. The arktoi leave markings in these areas to warn others, painting the trees, rocks, or other permanent features with a bloody crescent moon. Any violate these areas are hexed.

There is some confusion in that their home is called Ark-temnis, which also means bear sanctuary, but this is because it is also a bear sanctuary. It simply means it is the first and foremost of them. Further, a group of arktoi is called a "sanctuary".

• If someone hunts in a bear sanctuary, they are subject to one of the following hexes;
• Transformation into an animal, so that they might know what it feels like to be hunted. Animals include guinea fowl, deer, or bears.
• Hunted or killed by an animal, so that they may know what it feels like to be hunted. A bear, boar, hunting dogs, or stag will hunt down perpetrators.
• Blindness and forgetfulness, so that they may not hunt again.
• Revocation of healing, so that they may know what it is to not have the favor of the Moons. This is for those who have previously been tended by the arktoi. The disease or injuries they had will return.
• Ostracization from women, so that they may know what it is not to have the favor of the Moons. All women who see the perpetrator will instinctively distrust or hate them.
• Return to childhood, meaning their minds become childlike, so that they may have innocence once more.
• Terror at night, so that they might know what it feels like to be hunted. If the sun is not up, they begin to experience irrational terror.
• Voicelessness and tastelessness, so that they cannot disrespect the Moons with their tongues. It will be as if their tongues were shot off with arrows, so they cannot speak nor taste the fruits of their poaching.
• Financial ruin, so that the damage they have done to Gaia may not be rewarded. By the next new moon, their fortunes will be gone.

One who violates a bear sanctuary must roll against the combined will of the Ark-temnis, which is nearly impossible for a mortal to defeat. As such, it is inevitable that a violator will be hexed. However, it is possible to undo almost all of the hexes, either by penance (replanting or cleaning up the sanctuary, helping animals, etc.) or by other esoteric means (use of industrial magic may break it, though the latter is often the cause of the hex in the first place).

The duty of an arktos is to protect young children and women. They do this by taking time in serving as midwives and healers in groups of three. They travel a circuit of towns and villages (cities are seen to be too divorced from nature) and tend those in need. They practice basic herbalism, midwifery, and healing arts. If a major pestilence hits, the whole sanctuary will go to help.

The vow to honor the moons requires that arktoi remain chaste, care for those in need, act with prudence and diligence, make regular offerings to the Moons, and maintain their other duties. The vow of chastity is often misunderstood. They do not eschew sex. They eschew marriage and motherhood. The former is a refusal to take part in patriarchy and the laws of man. The latter derived largely from practical issues, but has become a more rigid tradition over time.

Because sex that results in pregnancy is a violation, technically they may sleep with anyone so long as they do not get pregnant. This often manifests in simply not having sex with cis men or anyone who might get them pregnant, but of course many young women are not always so inclined. Protective measures are taught and practiced regularly. If a maiden gets pregnant accidentally, she is given a choice: abortion or no longer being an arktos. If they choose the latter, they are allowed to remain as a woman in need, but they cannot participate in anything, including festivals. If a maiden intentionally gets pregnant, she cannot be an arktos any longer. There is no shame in leaving in this manner, though not all arktoi respect the decision on a personal level.

Because they avoid sex that may get them pregnant, many view arktoi as a cult of lesbians, which is inaccurate. However, this reputation has drawn many queer women to them, and thus there is some over-representation.

If an arktos gets married, she is banished from the sanctuary entirely. This is the much graver violation. This has also often led people to think the arktoi are against love, or loving men, but that is not so. It is simply the institution of marriage and the ownership and control of women they object to. In societies where the struggle for women's rights has lessened the patriarchal nature of marriage, the arktoi still refuse - they view the entire institution as evil and an insult to the Moons.

Some cruel men believe that they can force an arktoi to violate her vow by raping her. Anyone who try this are hunted, humiliated, tortured, killed, and flayed. Their skins are hung outside the community they came from as a warning. An arktoi who is impregnated by rape is allowed to remain an arktoi and keep her child. She must simply serve as an amnisad during her pregnancy and for as long as she needs afterward.

Daphnises are held to the same standard of chastity, though because fatherhood is unrecognized among the arktoi, they are only accountable for getting someone pregnant if the arktoi involved calls for it. They often do not, though this is not always considered just.

The bear sanctuary is as much a sanctuary for women as it is for animals. Women in need, children in need, or anyone who has been a victim of abuse or acts of violence against nature. They are fed by the aletrises, daphnises, and amnisades, given comfort, healing, and shelter, and protected from any who might pursue them. They are given three months of protection, and then they are guided to a sympathetic community. If they need further protection, they may ask and often receive, in three month increments.

Every month, the arktoi must make offerings to the Moons. This happens when the Grey Moon is full. As arrhephoros, they are not required to make offerings, just to pray during the ceremonies. As aletris or okeana, they offer grain. As arktoi, they offer the fruits of the hunt (usually skins, especially boar skins). The amnisades offer weapons for blessing. The daphnises offer music. And any visitors are encouraged to make offerings of things the sanctuary might need: textiles and garments, fruits and vegetables and spices not grown locally, any useful materials that are not readily available. They also accept spindles, whorls, loom equipment, and epinetra (sing. epinetron), pottery worn on the thighs of weavers, for weavers are sacred to the Moons. There is always a weaving house at the sanctuary.

The Weaving House is a stone dome on the grounds of the bear sanctuary. It has a set of colored glass windows in its top. During the day, these windows keep it cool and filter the light to make the looms within more visible. At night, under the moons, it makes the entire house glow. The looms are made from offerings and designed to be safer than most looms; they are designed with the women who use them in mind. Here, the amnisades make the tunics and shifts of their sisters, as well as all clothing and other textile products needed.

If there is a new moon and no full moon in the night sky, arrhephoroses, aletrises, okeanae, arktoi, and amnisades all must rest. (A full moon and new moon together cancel each other out.) They are very weakened by the new moon. The more new moons, the worse it is for them. The daphnises, therefore, take up guard during those nights. They are given clear vision so they may be adequate guards, and their training as fighters does come into play, as many think they can raid Ark-temnis when the arktoi are weakened.

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

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Cosmonaut

Type: Cosmonaut

A cosmonaut is a space traveler. They use cosmic magic to do so safely, efficiently, and accurately.

To become a cosmonaut, one must simply sign onto the right ship that sails the cosmos, and the sailors will train them. They are taught the mundane tasks of being a sailor of outer space, and after many years, they slowly but surely are taught to attune to the cosmos itself and gain the magical abilities that make cosmonauts distinct.

Cosmonauts must be in outer space - outside the range of moon, planet, or other orbital body - and in the midst of the emptiness of space. They must have absolute calm, quiet, and deprivation of senses as they meditate. This experience is repeated as the cosmonaut trains until they are able to release their consciousness into outer space at will. Once they have achieved this, they will do this often as part of their work, and eventually, the spirits will sense them and send them into a vision where they are tested. If they prove worthy, if they are a friend to the cosmos and nature, if they are dedicated to their work, they will be granted the abilities they need.

Every cosmonaut has slightly different sets of abilities based on their role on the ship. Some common abilities include the following:

• Astral projection: the most common and basic ability of the cosmonaut is to astral project, sending their consciousness into the emptiness of space to explore and to analyze the exterior of the ship.
• Farsight: many cosmonauts develop farsight to make them good lookouts, giving them the ability to see the vast distances of space to safely help the ship travel.
• Stellar navigation: while most space-sailer ships have a specific person who focuses on navigation, many cosmonauts have a minor ability in it, using the stars to know where they are going.
• Starlight belly: many cosmonauts end up being nourished by starlight as they travel, which helps them stretch rations on long journeys.
• Empty mind: most cosmonauts can meditate in the emptiness of space and let their mind clear perfectly, amplifying their AWA such that they know where the nearest astral body is.
• Weightless rigging: many cosmonauts develop the ability to control the rigging magically so that they can control multiple lines on the ship at once.
• Gravity anchor hoist: a gravity anchor is a magical device that controls gravity on the ship; many cosmonauts develop abilities allowing them to know how to work such a device.
• Sail repair: there are many kinds of sails on cosmic ships - ones that sail by cosmic or solar winds, ones that sail by light, ones that sail by other esoteric energies - and cosmonauts often learn how to repair all of them magically.
• Cosmic helming: the helm of a cosmic ship varies depending by type of ship, but elite cosmonauts will be trained in how to use the one on the ship they work on.
• Deep cargo: some rare cosmonauts learn how to make the hold of a ship bigger on the inside than the outside.
• Radiation shielding: many cosmonauts who are not innately protected from radiation develop an ability to create a magical barrier to protect them from it.
• Vacuum sealed: many cosmonauts who are not innately protected from the vacuumof space develop the ability to seal their bodies so they can move through it safely.
• Spacebreathing: many cosmonauts who need air to breathe develop the ability to breathe without it.
• Core heat: many cosmonauts who are not innately protected from the cold will develop an ability to heat themselves to protect from the chill of deep space.

Only plicators can use the space-folding to move ships through space. This is not an ability cosmonauts get. Other abilities may be possible. Consult the GM.

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

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Elevantor

Type: Transporter

Elevantors are attuned to the lunar rupes, the massive escarpments found on the Grey and White Moon. They use their powers to replicate the massive cliffs and create elevations, lifting people up high cliffs.

They gain their abilities by communing with the rupes, wandering them, climbing as much as they can, working as guides and helpers for a long time before eventually meeting the spirits of the rupes and being tested. They are tested on their devotion to the rupes, to the moons, and to nature, and they are tested on their knowledge of the rupes, of climbing, and of survival. If they are deemed worthy, they are granted some abilities to help people travel the regions:

• Elevanting: raising the ground up the side of a cliff or wall like an elevator by literally lifting the ground.
• Hands of the escarpment: the elevantor can touch the side of a cliff and have hands come out of it to grab anyone falling.
• Separating wall: the elevantor can create walls, anywhere, that separate two areas, especially via elevation, by slamming their feet onto the ground.
• Uplfting voice: they can channel the elementals of the rupes and speak in an uplifting voice, empowering others near them.
• Bending wall: any wall can be bent under their touch, difficulty varying by wall size, composition, and thickness.

Elevantors work in service to the lunar communities along the rupes, helping them get up and down, revered for their part in the community.

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

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Indagater

Type: Investigator

Indagaters use pattern-recognition to investigate mysteries and find answers to complex questions. They develop this ability by studying patterns of weather and climate, attuning to it, and then wielding that to enhance their minds.

To become an indagater, most have mentors or elders to train them. One must spend time in as many different kinds of weather as possible in the region they live in. Indagaters almost always live on the Green Moon; a few will come from the Grey Moon, with its rare and light weather. None come from the White Moon. (Some may come from Shem, of course, or other planets.) Depending on which orbital body they are from, they may have different abilities based on the different weathers they commune with. They must commune with at least three kinds of weather to establish a pattern, usually in different seasons. To commune with the weather, they must go into it naked, let it wash through and over them, and survive. If they do this enough times, they begin to be protected by spirits and given the abilities they need to connect their mind to weather patterns.

An indagater gains various abilities based on the weather they commune with. On the Grey Moon, these are common:

• Clement weather: calm and pleasant weather gives a clear mind and bonuses to AWA.
• Deep freeze: deep freezes allows the indagater to focus on a single thing with great intensity.
• Intense heat wave: heat waves expand the indagater's mind so they can sense things further out, but it makes the AWA scattered.
• Light mist: mist clouds the mind but improves STH.
• Lightning discharge: blasts of lightning are epiphanies.
• Small dustdevil: dustdevils represent the frantic moments when the mind races and one finds focus difficult but takes in more information.
• Small duststorm: duststorms are confusion. Though these impede the mind, they allow for recharging of the mind.
• Soft breeze: a soft breeze calms the mind and soothes it.
• Vague haze: haze also clouds the mind, but it improves WIL, as it is protective.

On the Green Moon, these are possible, depending on region:

• Blizzard: blizzards combine the deep freeze and the power of a storm, allowing the indagater to focus on multiple things at once.
• Clement weather: calm and pleasant weather gives a clear mind and bonuses to AWA.
• Deep freeze: deep freezes allows the indagater to focus on a single thing with great intensity.
• Drought: drought dries the mind and allows an intense clarity that is long-lasting and gives better AWA bonuses.
• Dustdevil: dustdevils represent the frantic moments when the mind races and one finds focus difficult but takes in more information.
• Duststorm: duststorms are confusion. Though these impede the mind, they allow for recharging of the mind.
• Firewhirl: firewhirls appear over wildfires; only the most experienced and powerful indagaters capture these; they grant danger sense and increased reaction.
• Hail storm: hail storms represent repeated and obsessive, driving thoughts that do not relent until they are resolved.
• Hard wind: hard winds drive the mind to a specific thought, fact, memory, or piece of information.
• Heat lightning: blasts of lightning are epiphanies.
• Heat wave: heat waves expand the indagater's mind so they can sense things further out, but it makes the AWA scattered.
• Heavy fog: heavy fog brings deep sleep but no dreams.
• Heavy haze: haze also clouds the mind, but it improves WIL, as it is protective.
• Heavy snow: heavy snows bring deep sleep with powerful dreams.
• Light mist: mist clouds the mind but improves STH.
• Light snow: light snows bring light sleep and soft dreams.
• Monsoon: monsoons bring greater WIL.
• Soft breeze: a soft breeze calms the mind and soothes it.
• Squall: squalls allow for sustained focus on a few thoughts that drive one to a specific conclusion.
• Sunshower: sunshowers let indagaters think two thoughts at once.
• Thundersnow: thundersnows bring lucid dreams.
• Thunderstorm: thunderstorms bring repeated conclusions.
• Tornado: tornadoes bring increased reaction and circular logic.
• Torrential rains: torrential rains bring WIL bonuses.
• Waterwhirl: waterwhirls (which appear on lakes on the Green Moon) allow for improved reaction and fluctuating WIL.
• Windstorm: windstorms allow for multifocus thoughts.

Once weather is absorbed by the indagater, they release it into their minds to wield it. They gain a certain number of uses for each weather they absorb. If a form of weather contains multiple possibilities, they must choose one to absorb at a time during a single weather event. For example, tornado and thunderstorm often occur at once; they an only absorb one during that storm. Every use of their powers makes their mind weaken temporarily; sleep always heals this.

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

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Mahalu

Type: Transporter

A mahalu is someone who can capture a comet and use it to travel the cosmos. They do this either by using magical nets or by getting on the comet, fusing chains to them, and using them to steer.

Comets are huge. Small ones are a quarter-mile wide. Large ones can be over 50 miles wide. But mahalu don't care about this - they have butterfly nets that reach into the sky, ignore pespective and spatial reasoning, and grab the comet as if it were the size they see it as. Once captured, they can simply ride them where the comet is going, holding onto the handle of the net, or they can pull the comet down, take it out, allow it to attain its actual size, then jump on and attach chains to allow them to steer it.

In order to do this, they must train under a mentor or elder, communing with the cosmos, focusing on comets, and studying their orbits and powers. Comets have enormous magical power, especially as omens, and understanding this allows a mahalu to predict and prepare for them. They must be a friend to the cosmos and to nature, and they must be able to understand how vast space is. But once they can do this, they can wait for the next comet to come past, meditate, and have a vision in which the comet grants them their abilities.

Comets move on average about 175,000 mph. Mahalu end up trailing them in their tails if they are using their nets, which means they are in a spray of vapor. The many dangers and characteristics of a comet are all protected against by their magic, and the mahalu can learn to wield some of them:

• Bow shock ram: the bow shock is a visual phenomenon that occurs as the comet hits solar winds; when the comet has one, the mahalu can intensify the comet's speed and use it as a magical ram. The bow shock prevents this from destroying the comet and results in radiation damage as well as impact damage to the target.
• Coma aura: the coma is the light atmosphere around the comet generated by offgassing and rotation; the mahalu may draw this around themselves as well, giving them protections from the dangers of space.
• Comet catching: using the net to catch a comet.
• Comet steering: using the chains to steer a comet.
• Icy nucleus: the nucleus of the comet is its icy body; the mahalu can, if they stand on the comet, draw the ice over them and into them, forming an icy core in themselves that attunes the to the comet, making it easier to steer and protecting them from cold and heat.
• Orbital path: the path of the comet around the sun can be attuned to as well, letting the mahalu teleport along it in short spurts.
• Tail shield: the tail of the comet wraps around a mahalu using a net, giving them protections.
• Side jet: jets are releases of gas from the comet; this happens heat weakens parts of it. The mahalu can control these, letting the comet keep its shape, while using the jets to change course.

Mahalu are very powerful and very rare.

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

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Maxinaut

Type: Explorer

A maxinaut is an explorer of all things in outer space. They are cosmonauts who delve deeper and further, who explore rather than simply sail, and who are driven to find all that outer space has. Many leave the solar system in search of wonders.

Maxinauts must train first as cosmonauts, and they have many similar abilities (see above), but they gain new abilities as they explore the cosmos and find other cosmic phenomena to attune to. This process is the same as with cosmonauts, but they have greater capacity and more experience, having spent many decades more in space, traveling further.

Some other abilities a maxinaut might have include the following:

• Megadensity: neutron stars are collapsed cores of supergiant stars that are nearly as dense as blackholes; visiting one allows the maxinaut to make themselves or their ship super dense for a brief period to draw in anything nearby.
• Frozen volatile: volatiles or ices are frozen materials usually on the very outer reaches of a star system; visitng them gives the maxinaut the ability to freeze any material in between their hands.
• Cluster armor: star clusters give the maxinaut the ability to create a +8/+8 armor of intense starlight temporarily.
• Exoplanetary house: visiting an exoplanet allows the maxinaut to align themselves to a different form of astrology.
• Galactic formation: visiting a new galaxy allows a maxinaut to take on a new form entirely.
• Galactic superwind: experiencing a galactic superwind allows the maxinaut to create a microversion to sail their ship.
• Centered core: visiting a galactic core allows a maxinaut to center themselves spiritually, gaining bonuses to WIL.
• Farstar consciousness: visiting a star more than 20 billion lightyears away gives the maxinaut the ability to cast their consciousness at least that far via astral projection.
• Unlit fuse: visiting a protostar (brown dwarf) allows a maxinaut to become an unlit fuse, ready to erupt into incredible power as soon as they are attacked.
• Blackhole palm: visiting a blackhole and somehow surviving allows the maxinaut to create a microblackhole in their palm to drawn things in and absorb them.
• Pulsar beam: visiting a pulsar allows a maxinaut to emit an electromagnetic beam of incredible power.
• Quasar blast: visiting a quasar allows a maxinaut to unleash a blast of electromagnetism that eradicates anything it hits.
• Nebulous mind: visting a nebula allows the maxinaut to cloud their mind and become one with the cosmos for a brief period.
• Dark matter shadow: visitng dark matter allows the maxinaut to make themselves invisible to all sensory methods.
• Binary dance: visiting a binary star system allows the maxinaut to perform a dance with another maxinaut that raises both of their ATH.
• Cosmic dust: interacting with cosmic dust allows the maxinaut to create and control it.
• Cosmic ray: experiencing a cosmic ray allows the maxinaut to create microversions of them from their hands.
• Magnetar aura: visiting a magnetar allows the maxinaut to have a supermagnetic aura.
• Astral straight: visiting a straight of star types (five, six, or seven different sizes in order) allows the maxinaut to increase one stat by +3 for as many rounds as they have stars in their straight, by focusing.
• Nova blast: visiting a nova star allows the maxinaut to release a blast of starlight.
• Gravitational wave: experiencing a graviational wave allows the maxinaut to create a hyperlocalized microversion of one.
• Supernova torpedo: visiting a supernova allows the maxinaut to empower the torpedos on their ship to create massive explosions.
• Kilonova bomb: visiting a kilonova allows the maxinaut to create an energy bomb that simulates a kilonova when it explodes.
• Self-hypernova: visiting a hypernova allows the maxinaut to self-destruct themselves or their ship in a blast so big it might destroy a planet.
• Cosmic sea: in the cosmos there are great voids where nothing exists or perhaps nothing is detectable; crossing one of these allows the maxinaut to enter a stasis for long periods of time.

Many other abiliites are possible. Player may research objects and phenomena in outer space to come up with new ideas, with GM's permission.

PRO +2 ATH +4 STR +1 AWA +4 WIL +2 PRS -1 STH +1

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Navitator

Type: Ranger

Navitators are rangers of the lunar maria. They only exist on the Grey Moon.

Navitators have a lunar mare they are bonded to. In order to commune with one, they must be accepted as part of it. This requires living in the mare lunar revolution around the sun and a day without causing undue harm or neglecting to fight for it.

Their first vision is brought on as they start their bonding to the mare. They will then sleep, unprotected, in the emptiness of the mare, and they will have a vision of their territory. They will then awaken, wild and feral, and eat ravenously, inhaling the elemental magic from all around them, and then partake of the dust and stone of the mare to have another vision. Their second vision will be a "green dream", a dream-quest to find their animal companion. When they awaken, their companion will be there to protect them.

When they awaken, they will feel everything in their territory all at once. This takes some getting used to, so most go a little mad at this point until it becomes manageable. Once they are in control again, they will be able to exert some influence over the mare around them. The first thing they will do is form boots from the stone of the mare. Then they will find in the dust where they spilled their own blood a weapon, usually a bow and arrows. And finally, they will carve their own small shelter in the ground.

Due to living in a mare and wielding its elemental energies, navitators are usually covered in dust and dirt. Enemies of the mare will find it repugnant. Friends of the mare get used to it.

A mare must maintain their abilities by leaving an offering or blood sacrifice to the spirit of the mare every year. Abilities include but are not limited to the following:

• Fungi speech/Animal speech/Plant speech: they may choose one of either Fungi, Animal, or Plants within their mare or other lunar flatlands to be able to speak to. This is usable anywhere.

• Lunar survival: they are immune to the deep cold and heat of the moons, to the low atmospheric pressure and air density, and the light gravity. This is usable anywhere applicable.

• Opened crevasse: they can slam the ground with the butt of their weapon to create a deep crevasse to drop targets into. This is onlu usable in a mare or other lunar flatland.

• Moonstone armor: they can call upon stones from the lunar maria to wrap around them as +7/+7 armor. This is only usable in a mare.

• Crystal claw: hands of lunar crystal erupt from the mare ground to grab someone. This is only usable in a mare or other lunar flatland.

• Direction sense: they always know which way is which. This is usable anywhere.

• Crystal maze: they can command the crystals of the mare to create an impenetrable maze to trap people. This is only usable in a mare.

• Breath of the mare: they can breathe in the sparse lunar air and unleash a small stream of icy air, length 300', power 13. This is only usable on the Grey Moon.

• Teal cry: they can unleash a cry that calls any mare animals to their aid, range of 500'. This only works if animals usually native to mare are nearby.

• Teal blood: they are immune to radiation. This is usable anywhere.

• Aura of open expanse: they can focus and meditate, creating an aura that repels all chaos and turbulence, creating a zone around them into which nothing can enter that is not a friend to them. They often use this to repel attacks. This can only be used in a mare or other lunar flatland.

• Lifesdust: if they sleep in the dust of their territorial mare, they will be healed of all wounds and illnesses. This is only usable in their home mare.

• Moonlight vision: they can see in any level of light if they have seen light reflected off a moon in the last 100 hours. This is usable anywhere.

If a navitator remains steadfast in protecting the mare, the mare will help them. Their abilities may weaken as they use them, as anyone might get tired, but they can regenerate them without resting by eating dust and stone of the mare.

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

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Plicator

Type: Transporter

A plicator is one who folds space by bending space like a blackhole. They use a knowledge of the cosmos, a connection to the cosmos that guides them, and special compasses and ships that allow them to fold space itself in order to move through it faster than light.

Plication does not work over short distances. Or rather, it does, but the folding would destroy everything around it, knotting reality, if it were tried. The minimum distance for plication to work seems to be about a million miles (1.6 million km), or about five times the distance between Shem and her moons. The maximum recorded distance traveled via plication was about 100 lightyears (about 600 trillion miles or 966 trillion km). Therefore, one who wishes to plicate needs to be in the cosmos or moving toward it. They must also be very careful of when, where, and how they plicate, as they must avoid unfolding into an hostile environment. Plicators learn early to wield a form of farsight first.

To plicate, one must be attuned to a blackhole. Which blackhole is determined by one's location in the cosmos and cosmic time (the amount of time since the creation of the universe, measured in gigayears - it is 13.8 gigayears at present). As both of these things are determined on such a vast scale, anyone located within the local solar system is nearest the same blackhole, the one at the center of the local galaxy. To attune to this blackhole, one must either be exposed directly to its power (which is not usually possible) or "walk the event horizon". This latter is a vision that requires astral projection and the bending of the consciousness. If they are deemed worthy by the cosmos itself, their mind will enter the blackhole, see all there is, and come back enlightened.

All travel is instantaneous, so issues of relativity do not come up. Once space has been folded, one must step forward immediately or space will unfold without them. Failure to use the plication will result in a backlash on the plicator that causes serious trauma. Something must go through.

To check if it is safe to plicate somewhere, plicators use astral projection first. This is the sending of one's consciousness over vast distances, and it is done via meditation and acute awareness of one's self. Meditation must be done while moving through space - on a ship or some device - and it requires starlight be touching the meditator. It takes many years to master this art, with guidance.

Compasses must have needles made of the star metal bia. The casing should be made of green quartz mined from asteroids, a mundane radioactive metal, or from some kind of neutral plastic. A proper compass is a sphere with markings for every direction: cosmic north, south, east, west, up, down, and all of the in-betweens. To align such a compass to cosmic magic, it must be allowed to sit in starlight without interference from sunlight or moonlight for at least a 12 days.

To use one, a plicator must ascertain the blackhole by consulting starcharts and horoscopes, then adjust the compass to align with the direction they wish to go. Then they must invoke the blackhole through movements. This requires a triangulation of one's position based on the location of their blackhole.

All plicators are good at geometry.

The movements done by a plicator are called astrotraction. There are twelve "forms" one stands in to reflect a constellation, and then perform a set of movements based on the blackhole. The proper completion of astrotractive movements will engage the cosmic magic and fold space.

Once space is folded, the plicator has less than a second to make any adjustments needed to the compass. They develop very quick reactions to do this.

Many space ships travel by plication. The compass is placed on the nose of the ship, with controls on the bridge, and a core of radioactive bia or a powerful radioactive stone. They have cosmic sails for shorter travel that catch solar winds.

PRO -1 ATH +1 STR -1 AWA +3 Reaction +5 WIL +3 PRS / STH +1

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Promontorist

Type: Ranger

Promontorists are rangers of the lunar promontoria, huge mountain capes. They only exist on the Grey Moon or White Moon.

Promoontorist have a lunar promontorium they are bonded to. In order to commune with one, they must be accepted as part of it. This requires living in the promontoria a full lunar revolution around the sun and a day without causing undue harm or neglecting to fight for it.

Their first vision is brought on as they start their bonding to the promontorium. They will then sleep, unprotected, in the emptiness of the promontorium, and they will have a vision of their territory. They will then awaken, wild and feral, and eat ravenously, inhaling the elemental magic from all around them, and then partake of the dust and stone of the promontorium to have another vision. Their second vision will be a "green dream", a dream-quest to find their animal companion. When they awaken, their companion will be there to protect them.

When they awaken, they will feel everything in their territory all at once. This takes some getting used to, so most go a little mad at this point until it becomes manageable. Once they are in control again, they will be able to exert some influence over the promontoria around them. The first thing they will do is form boots from the stone of the promontorium. Then they will find in the dust where they spilled their own blood a weapon, usually ropes. And finally, they will carve their own climbing hook from the lunar stone.

Due to living in a promontorium and wielding its elemental energies, promontorists are usually covered in dust and dirt. Enemies of the promontoria will find it repugnant. Friends of the promontoria get used to it.

A mare must maintain their abilities by leaving an offering or blood sacrifice to the spirit of the mare every year. Abilities include but are not limited to the following:

• Fungi speech/Animal speech/Plant speech: they may choose one of either Fungi, Animal, or Plants within their promontoria to be able to speak to. This is usable anywhere.

• Lunar survival: they are immune to the deep cold and heat of the moons, to the low atmospheric pressure and air density, and the light gravity. This is usable anywhere applicable.

• Cape line: they can pull with their ropes and reshape walls, structures, anything made of stone, into the shape of their promontorium. This is usable anywhere large stones or stone structures are present.

• Moonstone armor: they can call upon stones from the lunar promontoria to wrap around them as +7/+7 armor. This is only usable in a promontorium.

• Sudden slope: they can slash the ground with their feet to make a sudden slope appear. This is only usable in a promontorium or other lunar slope.

• Direction sense: they always know which way is which. This is usable anywhere.

• Arc reversal: they can spin many times to reverse the shape of an arc of a slope or cliffside. This is only usable in a promontorium or other lunar slope.

• Breath of the promontoria: they can breathe in the sparse lunar air and unleash a small stream of icy air, length 300', power 13. This is only usable on the Grey Moon.

• Teal cry: they can unleash a cry that calls any promontorium animals to their aid, range of 500'. This only works if animals usually native to promontorium are nearby.

• Teal blood: they are immune to radiation. This is usable anywhere.

• Aura of lunar reflection: they can focus and meditate, creating an aura that repels all esoteric energies, creating a zone around them into which nothing can enter that is not a friend to them. They often use this to repel magical attacks. This can only be used in a promontorium or other lunar slope.

• Lifesdust: if they sleep in the dust of their territorial promontorium, they will be healed of all wounds and illnesses. This is only usable in their home promontorium.

• Moonlight vision: they can see in any level of light if they have seen light reflected off a moon in the last 100 hours. This is usable anywhere.

If a promontorist remains steadfast in protecting the promontorium, the promontorium will help them. Their abilities may weaken as they use them, as anyone might get tired, but they can regenerate them without resting by eating dust and stone of the promontorium.

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

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Psychopomp

Type: Guide

A psychopomp is a guide of the dead. They show the souls of the dead where to go and how to get there after they die. They wield the elemental magic of death in order to nudge, coerce, or otherwise send these souls onward. If a soul lingers in the Spirit Realm longer than it should, they send them along as well. They hate the undead and will seek them out to destroy them. While most psychopomps are beings who exist for this purpose, many mortals, especially those who worship Death Herself also take up the work.

The Nether Realm is where the dead go after they die. They all must traverse its strange wildernesses, temples, cities, and unexplainable phenomena in order to get to their final repose or their next cycle. Psychopomps assist the souls of the dead through the Nether Realm. Those beings who exist for the purpose of being psychopomps simply dwell in or around the Nether Realm, but mortals who take up the craft must use a method called beyonding. If a living mortal enters the Nether Realm physically, they will die very quickly without very potent protections.

In order for a mortal to safely enter the Nether Realm, they must send their soul through a form of metaphysical projection called beyonding. To beyond for the first time, one must meditate upon one's own mortality for four straight days and nights, drinking nothing but water, eating nothing at all, and especially not killing anything. As they meditate, they will become conscious of their own soul, which will allow them to release it from its bonds and head, temporarily, into the Nether Realm. This is extremely difficult, only possible in special places, under guidance of an experienced psychopomp. Once someone is used to it, they can do it more easily. It is also very dangerous, for their body and their soul are exposed. As such, powerful protections are placed on the body. The soul must be trained to defend itself.

In the Nether Realms, grey mists leak in from the Grey Lands, the plane of the undead, consuming souls and turning them into the undead. It is the most dangerous thing in the Nether Realm. Special tools protect psychopomps from these mists, such as symbols of their faiths or magical elemental keys. The Nether Realm has also deep, dangerous forests, vast white deserts, and ancient mountain ranges full of strange beings. There are also vast seas, lakes, and rivers of nether waters that must be crossed. The waters will trap any soul that falls into them, and they can only be released if pure silver coins fall into their hands. Psychopomps often station themselves on ferries to help the souls of the dead to cross these bodies of waters. These ferrymen are very powerful and combine other magical arts with their work. They often charge silver to living psychopomps who wish to use their services, dropping the silver into the waters to release trapped souls.

Once a psychopomp is in the Nether Realm, they are free to go as they please. If they are part of a group, they will usually be given a territory to cover. They must search out wandering souls and offer them guidance. In order to do this, they must be able to sense souls, and they must know their way in the Nether Realm. This latter is attained through years and years of study.

The more souls they guide on to the next realm, the more poarta builds up within their souls. This gives them different powers as they gain the elemental magic of death:

• First soul: soul-speech - allows communication with any soul
• Fourth soul: soothe afterlife trauma - alleviates the pain of being dead and lost
• Eighth soul: veil-making - makes it easier to craft nether veils.
• Sixteenth soul: key-making - makes it easier to make mictlanium keys.
• 32nd soul: direction sense - only works within the Nether Realm.
• 64th soul: soul-shield mark - mark an ankh on the souls of the dead in order to give them protections from the Nether Realm's dangers.
• 128th soul: commune with ancient dead - allows user to speak to the dead even if they have gone to their afterlife
• 256th soul: rally souls - calls souls to the user.

Other powers may be gained through other means of building up the elemental magic of death:

• Soul-kill - permanently kills a soul.
• Nether-flame - a flame made from gates energy that can harm souls and things of the Nether Realm.
• Nether-lightning - a bolt of gates energy that can harm souls and things of the Nether Realm and can kill the living
• Soul dance - a communal dance with the dead within a many miles wide radius that calls them to the user and allows the user to wield their power
• Reaping - the power to be there at the moment of death and carry a soul Nether Realm, the power to kill with a touch of your blade, the power to command souls
• Soul sensing - to sense the souls of the dead within the Nether Realm, psychopomps use special veils made of nether cloth, which is cloth made from fibers from within the Nether Realm. These veils must be worn on their actual bodies, and thus will appear on their souls. Through these veils, they can see souls as if they give off a form of heat. Veils are made from nether cloth, made into a fine gauze, crafted by the psychopomps themselves. They do not let anyone else touch it once they have started making the veil, as it connects to their souls.
• Talismans - many psychopomps wear or carry talismans which are powerful symbols of protection against esoteric energies.
• White garb - all psychopomps wear white while they are working, for it is a powerful color of protection in the Nether Realm. It is known to distract the great nether worms that devour lost souls.
• Death masks - in the Nether Realm, the beings that dwell there have very good memories. If they remember your face, they will assume you are one of the lost dead, and they will prey upon you. If they do not recognize your face, they will be more likely to believe you are alive. One must change masks frequently in order to not be recognized. Masks and veils can be combined.
• White keys - psychopomps carry large, white keys made of mictlanium metal. These keys allow them to open special gates in thin air that will draw the dead through to closer to their destinations. In the mortal realm, these keys will open portals to the Nether Realm that will act as blackholes, sucking in the souls of the dead and any undead.
• Servitor-talking - servitors (invisible servants of the DIvine) are commonly found in the Nether Realm and are often helpful or at least sympathetic. Psychopomps develop the skill of speaking their language in order to be better guides.
• Sending - any psychopomp will destroy any undead they come across, but some psychopomps specialize in hunting the undead. They have the power to send the undead. This is the act of driving the undead into the afterlife. It is usually done by directing the elemental magic of death at them or opening portals with keys. To direct this magic, a psychopomp must have a special weapon, such as a bow or crossbow made of ash wood, a dagger of silver, a flail made of mictlanium, a hammer to drive in stakes, reaping scythes, or annointed whips.

In the mortal realm, psychopomps often spend time in graveyards in order to make sure the dead are moving on from them. Graveyards and all burial grounds are sacred to them, and they will fight to the death to protect them from desecration. Pyramids and other great tombs are especially potent. If a psychopomp attends a funeral, they will perform a ceremony in order to make sure the soul moves on. Their own funerals are complex and often obscure due to the rituals they request ot protect their souls.

When a mortal psychopomp dies, their death is attended by Death Herself in order to make sure the enemies they made in life do not seek to harm them after death. Thus, a psychopomp may seek to defeat an undead enemy of great power by killing themself. This is, however, a last resort, and it does not always work - sometimes Death Herself will not deign to involve herself in the conflict, merely sending the soul on. Life is sacred to psychopomps, as it is what defines the souls they protect.

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

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Reverberator

Type: Messenger

A messenger who can control elemental sound via a special tuning fork, creating intricate works of sound that can cause different effects to bodies, minds, souls, or hearts.

To tap into elemental sound, one simply has to listen, but to wield it, one must have special materials. Reverberator use tuning forks that can capture elemental sound and transform it into a sound that can be wielded. The tuning forks used by reverberators are made of a liquid metal called quickbismuth.

The reverberator's main weapon is their voice. The tuning fork will emit a heavy, piercing thrum, seemingly impossible sounds, that will respond to the voice of anyone holding the tuning fork. Reverberators train to be able to control the elemental vibrations. Their voices take in the magic and contort it to their intentions as they use pitch, volume, and tempo to incite certain effects.

Reverberators cannot use elemental sound produced by mortal voices - if the fork is reverberating with mortal speech or song, for instance, the elemental sound will be affected by the other energies present in the person who initiated it. As such, when their forks are vibrating, a reverberator needs silence from themself and those around them. Other sounds, from different sources, will affect different aspects of a target:

• Object sounds affect physical bodies. These sounds are anything made by something inanimate and not mechanical.
• Animal sounds affect emotions. Any sound a non-mortal animal makes will work for a reverberator.
• Weather sounds affect the soul.
• Mechanical sounds affect the mind. Anything constructed as a machine is a machine, from simple machines like levers to complex ones like computers. True sounds affect the Name, the entirety of the thing. True sounds come from the moment the universe began and can only be sense by the most sensitive and potent tuning forks, and only wielded by the most powerful reverberators.
• Echoes affect body, mind, heart, or soul as the reverberator chooses, but will only affect that after they select it.

Throwing one's voice is a vital part of a reverberator's skillset. They must learn to be top-notch ventriloquists so they can send elemental sound where they wish it to go.

Reverberators tend to have excellent hearing, but even deaf people can become reverberators, working by the sense of vibration instead. A sounder will not forget any sound that they've heard twice or more.

Reverberators can use their powers to mimic almost any sound their fork has captured.

Tempo, pitch, and volume have different affects on the elemental sound used:

Tempo affects precision. If the tempo is faster, the spell is less precise.

Volume affects power. The louder, the stronger the spell.

Pitch determines the effect. Low or high pitch distorts, middle pitch calms.

The pitch causes one of these effects:

• Distort: the most basic effect is that the sounds will vibrate the target such that they become distorted. If the target is a living body, nausea or other physical disruptions occur. If it is emotional or mental, confusion tends to be the effect. Soul distortion can cause a temporary loss of self, and Name distortion will cause all of the above.
• Calming: the other common effect is that sounds will soothe the target, soothing bodily aches, stilling mental turmoil, lowering emotional intensity, or affirming metaphysical identity. Name calming does all of the above and more.
• Amplify: elemental sound will improve the voice or hearing of a person it is directed at if the reverberator directs it to their ear.

More specific affects are determined by the will of the reverberator.

Reverberators will rupture the ear drums, glass windows, or even the skin of targets with a directed attack, but this will use all of the elemental sound their fork is giving off.

Typically, a tuning fork will allow for six uses of normal successes, three of special, one of exceptional, or six uses of normal failure, three of special, one of exceptional. Six exceptional successes or failures in a row will break a fork.

PRO / ATH / STR -1 AWA +2 Hearing +4 WIL +1 PRS +3 STH /