Baiter

Criminals who engage in animal baiting and fighting practices or work with animals in some way.

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Adyb

Animal baiting and fighting is not something the Blue Grith partakes in much. When they do, they send someone into other animal fighting rings to try to free the animals there or disrupt the injustices going on. More often, they send these agents to disrupt the ruling class's cruelty to animals, such as on factory farms, mistreatment of pets, fox hunting and hare coursing, and other terrible things. They train agents in beneficial connections to animals in order to do this.

An adyb is someone who uses celestial magic to help animals, creating bonds with them, and gaining animal friends to help them. This magic is itself illegal in Endruin, but they also use it to fight against animal cruelty by the ruling class. They always have a rescue animal as a magical companion.

To learn to wield these powers, they spend a lot of time with abused animals, helping to heal them. As they do this, they form emotional bonds that they focus on and nourish, eventually getting so intensely close that they are able to tap into the emotional magic of them. Once they are able to do this, they find they can understand and communicate with the animal. From there, new powers begin to emerge, and they train with the Blue Grith in how to develop them. Once they are ready, they begin animal rescue operations.

Powers include the following:

• Animal friendship: any animal that has been abused or neglected will immediately find the adyb to be their friend after a PRS+6 roll by the adyb against the animal's fear.
• Animal communication: they have a rudimentary ability to talk to all animals, better with abused or neglected animals, and with complete clarity with their primary animal friend.
• Animal healing: they can give a drop of their own blood to any animal and heal its wounds (reduce down one level, ex. from deep to normal).
• Animal calling: any animal they are friend with can hear them silently call for help from a mile away, but they can only respond in real time.
• Animal senses: they can borrow the senses of their primary animal friend if they are within 50'.
• Animal instincts: they can let the instincts of their primary animal friend take over during combat, giving them bonuses to PRO, reaction, and dodge.

The more animals they rescue, the more powerful they become, and other powers may become available.

Part of the Committee for Liberation.

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

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Csali

The animal baiting operations of the Red Grith are a major source of income, and the ones who run it use their connection to the magic of the hunt to connect with and train animals.

Csalis gain special abilities by engaging in a ritual hunt. While ritual hunting magic is common in many societies, among the Red Grith, it has been adapted to urban living, criminal activity, and local animals rather than hunting for survival in a nomadic community.

Csalis are trained by the Red Grith for seven months for wrangling animals before they begin the ritual hunt. Their first hunt is always a trial in which they must find and tag their mentor or trainer, during which the mentor or trainer does their very best to avoid detection or being touched while dressed as the animal the csali will be working with. The tagging is simply a normal wound hit. If the mentor or trainer is harmed more than this, the hunt is a failure, for part of the trial is control and precision.

After the csali succeeds in their "first hunt", they must live as the animal they will be wrangling for another seven months. During this time, they must live on their own and avoid being caught by their mentor or trainer. During this time, they must engage in rituals that leave them vulnerable, often meditative practices in public spaces. During these meditations, they will see a vision of a symbol that will come to define them. This will be the animal they plan to work with.

Unlike slayers, their training stops here. Once they have their animal vision, they are able to influence and work with that animal. Mostly, they work with local animals, though sometimes animals are imported. However, they only gain a magical bond to the local ones. Options include the following:

• Badger-baiting
• Bear-baiting
• Bull-running
• Cockfighting
• Crab-fighting
• Dogfighting
• Donkey-baiting
• Duck-baiting
• Hog-baiting
• Horse-fighting
• Hyena-baiting
• Insect-fighting (must be specific)
• Lion-bating
• Rat-baiting
• Spider-fighting
• Wolf-baiting

The csali will have incredible magical control of their chosen animal, able to command them with a word or gesture with an absoluteness even the best mundane trainers can't manage.

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

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Figreim

The Violet Grith has a small number of animal baiters and fighting operations, but those they have use the powers of animal stories to make their animals more able to fight.

A figreim is an animal friend who charms them with fairy magic. They often have a fey animal as a friend. They do this by performing a quest for a powerful fey animal (to which they are led by a member of the Violet Grith). Once they have the basic power to befriend animals, they may gain more by doing favors or quests for fey animals.

Typical quests include the following:

• Airitech: fey wolves want a hunting contest, usually trying to catch a very clever rabbit.
• Aonbharr: fey horses wish to dance with their friends, but the steps must be exactly right.
• Cait sith: fairy cats usually want a piece of twine, but one from the clothing of a powerful magic user.
• Cu sith: fairy dogs often have someone fetch a bone for them, but a bone of magical significance from a legendary tomb.
• Dobhar-chu: fairy otters (or otter-dogs) need a toy to play with, taken from a powerful prince.
• Donn cuailnge: fairy bulls require a cow wife, but one worthy of them.
• Ellen trechend: three-headed vultures want food, special food, rotting food found in foul places.
• Onchu: these venomous water dogs require magical apples found only in obscure orchards.
• Reynard: the most powerful of all fairy animals is the fox, and a quest for him requires stealing something of great value from a very powerful adversary of the fey.
• Salmons of knowledge: fairy fish require protection from fisher hooks, which comes in the form of sunken boats or free worms.
• Water horse: a water horse of any kind demands a swimming contest, which may be nearly impossible to win.

Other fey animals and quests may be possible. Consult the GM.

Powers they may gain include up to five of the following. They may gain more by doing more quests:

• Animal speech: they may gain the ability to speak to specific kinds of animals or all animals, depending on their benefactor.
• Beast glamour: the figreim may take the illusory form of an animal for an hour once per day.
• Encouraging snap: a snap of the fingers will encourage any animal in battle, allowing it to re-roll a failed roll or take +3 on their next attack.
• Ancient lore: if their benefactor is a salmon of knowledge, the figreim may whisper to an animal and give it knowledge of magical lore, allowing it to impart that wisdom to another within eight hours.
• Song of Mists: the figreim may sing an ancient song that fills the animal with fey mists, giving it +3 to STH for an hour.
• Strength of the Bull: if their benefactor is a fairy bull, the figreim may let an animal drink a drop of their blood and gain +3 STR for an entire combat.
• Waters of life: the figreim may give a dram of whisky to an animal to heal its wounds one level (from deep to normal, etc.).
• Speed of the Horse: if their benefactor is a fairy horse (not a water horse), they can give an animal +3 ATH by rubbing its neck in a special pattern.
• Eyes of the Cat: if their benefactor is a fairy cat, they may give an animal +3 vision by closing its eyes for ten seconds.
• Nose of the Dog: if their benefactor is a fairy dog, they may give an animal +3 olfactory by rubbing its nose in a special pattern.
• Ears of the Wolf:: if their benefactor is a fairy wolf, they may give an animal +3 hearing by scratching its ears in a special pattern.
• Splash: if their benefactor is a fairy otter, they may give an animal +3 swimming by rubbing its feet in a special pattern.
• Wings of the Vulture: if their benefactor is a fairy vulture, they may give an animal the ability to fly for 15 seconds by stretching out their arms and speaking a special rhyme.
• Bestial instincts: they may give the animal +3 PRO by speaking a special rhyme on the animal's name.
• Illusory animals: they may create illusory animals (up to two), images of the animal they are working with, by throwing fairy dust over them.
• Great leap: they may give the animal the ability to teleport up to 30' once per day by washing them in fairy soap.

They usually have an animal friend they prefer to work with, but they can work with almost any animal that isn't bonded to someone else.

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

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Tierist

In the Green Grith, animal fighting is seen as an obscenity. They employ certain individuals who can bond with animals to infiltrate these (often legal) rings and save the animals.

Tierists bond with animals in order to be able to guide and protect them in baiting and betting situations. They act as secret supporters for abused animals.

The power to bond with animals is limited to wild or feral animals, not with domesticated or owned ones. As such, tierists, who work almost exclusively with owned animals, cannot fully bond. Instead, they form partial bonds that allow them to influence the animal and to have milder forms of animal powers.

They must find an animal and gain its trust enough to get close to it to begin imitating it. They do not merely need to copy movements, but to copy the general behavior of the animal, and for that, they must know about the animals and why they behave the way they do. They do this through intense observation and training from their mentors. Because they work with non-wild and non-feral animals, they do not have to do this to the same extremity other wielders of this power might, but they must have enough trust and imitation of the animal that the animal believes they are the same kind of being, and then they must coax it into a ritual dance, and sometimes, they must liberate the animal as well.

Once they have done this, they will be able to do some of the following:

• Influence animal

• Animal speech

• Empower animal

• Heal animal

• Animal senses

• Animal strength/athleticism

The more a tierist imitates an animal, the more they become acclimated to how the animal lives. They then become less threatening to animals of all kinds, making it easier to bond with the next animal. Sometimes, they acclimate too far and lose their ability to act like their own species. They go feral and believe they are the last animal they bonded with.

Tierists spend a lot of time infiltrating animal fighting rings, rescuing animals, and terrorizing zoos.

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