Bodyguard

Those criminals whose job it is to guard other criminals.

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Fantsert

Bodyguards in the Red Grith wield magical paper that becomes hard as stone or steel. They do this by training with magic similar to the harborers of the Red Grith.

A fantsert has the ability to turn any kind of paper or parchment into an impenetrable barrier, but to do this, they must either weaken their own bodies, the form of some other object, or by sheer force of will. Sharanas gain the power to do this by turning their own bodies into a barrier through repeated stressing, usually in ritual combat sparring or by self-inflicted strikes. They do this for hours every day, using blunt clubs made of unaligned materials, and train in combat and medicine as well. During their exercises, they meditate on the nature of boundaries and barriers, until they are able to infuse whatever they are touching with the strength to resist that they are building up in themselves.

The three methods of strengthening materials available to them all have their risks:

• Drawing from their own body means reducing their own toughness (substat of STR), with a conversion of -1 toughness for every +2 to the barrier.
• Drawing from another object destroys that object, reducing it to dust. The relative toughness of the object determines how much is transfered, with materials like paper giving very little strength and materials like diamond giving enormous bonuses.
• Using only their will power means that the attacks against the strenghtened barrier go against their mind instead of the barrier. So any damage done will cause them to lose points of WIL temporarily, with any exceptional or critical damage being in part permanent.

Fantserts do this specifically and only with paper, which they use to wrap around wards to keep them safe.

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

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Gloinfeoil

Gloinfeoils (glonfyells) are gangster and others of the Violet Grith who learn to wield the power of fairy glass to protect themselves and others. They usually start off as some other kind of criminal, usually combat oriented, but fall into protective roles. Some come the other way, being interested in fairy glass, and find their way into it. Regardless of how, they eventually come to a point where they either learn the lore of fairy glass or they make a deal with a powerful fey to capture its power.

Fairy glass is called vekontan, and it is imbued with merriment, celebration, and inebriants. Anything placed in it becomes intoxicating. But it also has other strange properties, such as distorting reality as seen through it, being nearly impossible to break without magic or fragile as can be depending on a person's beliefs, and able to capture things other than liquids. Those who seek to learn its lore usually do so because they are drawn to its intoxicating power, and thus, many gloinfeoils are equivalent to drunken masters.

The various protective abilities they gain include the following:

• Imbibing powder: if the gloinfeoil crushes up some fairy glass and imbibes it, they gain bonuses to all base stats, but also become immensely intoxicated and in for a massive hangover.
• Revealing concavity: any concave piece of fairy glass can be used to see unexpected distances, around corners, behind oneself, or through walls.
• Shimmer shine: a cup made of fairy glass can hold light in it, and this light becomes a shimmering energy the gloinfeoil can pour over their ward to give them magical protections.
• Glass-skin: while drunk or otherwise intoxicated, the gloinfeoil's skin becomes unbreakable fairy glass.
• Moment of clarity: gloinfeoils will have a profound moment of clarity if their ward is in any danger.
• Tippling song: if singing a drinking song while drunk or intoxicated, the gloinfeoil can inspire others around them to violence

Gloinfeoils are very rare and often beguile their foes because they are underestimated for being intoxicated.

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

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Lumpur

The Green Grith employs bodyguards for some of their informal leaders, but mostly they employ them for people who are being specifically targeted. The bodyguards of the Green Grith come from the mud of Flodweg, the river, and the wetlands. They are wielders of elemental earth magic in the form of mud, and they learn to wield it similar to other wielders of elemental earth magic - by burying themselves in it.

Lumpurs gain the magic by being buried in the mud and by being pelted with it. These crude forms of communion only allow them some powers, unlike a full earth mage, but it is enough to make them powerful protectors. The rituals are violent, dangerous, and only available to the most foolhardy, but those who survive them gain some of the following abilities:

• Clay armor: cover onself in mud and form it into a solid armor of +5/+5, or apply it to another.
• Mudwall: stamp the ground and send a wall of mud up around oneself and others.
• Seeping form: press oneself against a wall or other solid form and seep through narrow spaces.
• Mudsling slide: send a spray of mud cascading up and into the faces of anyone within 10' in a semicircle in front of them. Failure to dodge or block means targets suffer -3 to vision. Once per fight.
• Clinging clag: hurl a clod of mud or even dry dirt, which will transform, and cause it to cling to a target, weighing them down immensely.
• Rippling earth: place an ear to the ground and hear the ripples of mud and earth to know if anyone is coming.

Lumpurs do not have other trials they can go to to gain new magic, but they do learn other abilities over time. They train for years to be skilled at protecting their wards.

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

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Yukatsa

Some of the gangsters in the Blue Grith act as bodyguards, being able to take wounds for their wards. They do this by devoting themselves to the defense of others. Called yukatsas, they gain their powers by ritually turning their bodies into shields. They engage in a series of body-strengthening exercises first, then engage in ritual combat to toughen themselves, then spend time in deep meditation on the meaning of protecting others and their own power. After long hours of meditation, they are tested by a mentor in the Blue Grith, being forced into multiple situations where they must act to protect someone at great risk to themselves. If they succeed, they gain the power to take wounds for their wards and other defensive powers.

Their defensive powers derive entirely from those they mark as their wards. They mark someone as a ward via a touch (usually hand to shoulder) and a vow of protection (usually a very brief and direct statement such as "I vow to protect you", out of practicality). If the target is willing, there is no roll; if the target is unwilling, they roll WIL vs. WIL.

The yukatsa has these powers when they have someone marked as a ward:

• Body shield: any physical attacks on the ward instead roll against the yukatsa's full defense (toughness+armor) and the yukatsa receives the stun and wound instead of the ward.
• Shielding vow: any magical attacks on the ward instead roll against the yukatsa's WIL. If the yukatsa normally succeeds, the magical attack suffers -3 against the ward; special success means -6; exceptional means -9; critical means -12. If the attack hits 0, it is negated completely. If it goes into negative numbers, it is sent back at the caster.
• Locate ward: the yukatsa can know the direction and distance to their ward is at any moment, no matter how far away they are.
• Aura of protection: if the yukatsa has three or more wards within 20', they can extend an aura of protection against all attacks at a power equal to their WIL+STR for up to 3 rounds. This barrier will not cause wounds to the yukatsa, but the yukatsa will have a -1 per point of damage repelled to WIL and/or STR for a round. If this takes them to 0 or below, they are not killed, but are stunned for the round.
• Counterguard: in place of a counter attack, a yukatsa may choose to add +3 to their next parry, dodge, toughness, or defensive WIL roll.
• Meek reflection: if the yukatsa protects anyone nearby, even if not a ward, who has a STR or WIL below 8, they will gain a bonus equal to the difference between the protectee's STR or WIL and the yukatsa's to their respective stat for the next round. This only works if the protectee is not an exploiter, oppressor, abuser, or wielder of infernal powers.

Yukatsas are very rare, and in the Blue Grith, they are often set to protect the weakest amongst the organization on special missions, especially protecting freed slaves as they are escaped from the city. Part of the Commitee for Warfare.

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