Criminal

Jacks-of-all-crimes.

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Cenerist

Criminals-of-all-trades among the Blue Grith are called cernerists.

They work by uniting multiple kinds of criminals, bonding with them via unified work, and then transferring skills between them.

Cenerists are criminals who gain power by building unity among different kinds of criminals, creating a system of defense and sharing of magical resources. They magically unionize different kinds of criminals to gain power for everyone in the group.

A cenerist must have at least some experience engaging in the type of crime the criminal(s) they are organizing with practice. They must then organize the the criminals they are working with with other criminals with whom they share experiences and skills. It works best if more than half of the criminals they are working with are gathering or producing something of value. If they have a boss of some kind, the cenerist organizes them against the boss who is taking from them. If they do not have a boss, the cenerist organizes them against the threats of the police, the predators who harm them, and the rich and powerful who seek to imprison or enslave them. They can engage in unified criminal activity that targets their enemies (police, the rich, the church of Mal'och, powerful companies), unarrests, mutual support, warning systems, and other defensive and offensive actions.

To gain their powers, cenerists must complete at least one job with all members of their union in which they use at least one skill of each of their fellow criminals.

The more organized and active the cenerists become in their work, the more magical energy is shared between them. The cenerist becomes part of this system, gaining certain powers as long as the group remains organized.

• Allied eyesight: they can see through the eyes of someone else in their union (if the other consents) at will so long as they are awake and within three miles of each other. If the other does not consent, the attempt will fail automatically. It cannot be forced.
• Shared skill: they can temporarily borrow skill points of any skill they share with another member (if the other conesents), moving skill points between each other at a rate of +1 per round.
• Group defense: if they group is working in tandem on a job, all members of the union will have the defense score (PRO/parry/weapon skill+bonuses, ATH/dodge+bonuses, STR/toughness+armor+bonuses, AWA/perception+bonuses, WIL+bonuses) of the member with the highest defense for the applicable roll.
• Trade places: the cenerist can trade places with any member of their union if and only if that member is in danger, and only if they are within three miles of one another.
• Warning signal: all members of the union can let the others if they are in danger if they are within three miles of one another.

Their powers and skills will vary depending on what kinds of criminals or criminalized workers are involved:

• Arsonist: heat resistance to all members of the union
• Assassin: no penalties to called shots to all members of the union
• Bandit: +3 outdoor survival skills to all members of the union
• Beggar: +3 street survival skills to all members of the union
• Bookie: +3 memory bonus to all members of the union
• Grifter: +1 PRS to all members of the union
• Consigliere: +3 strategy to all members of the union
• Conspirator: +1 AWA to all members of the union
• Cooker: +3 to chemistry to all members of the union
• Counterfeiter: +3 to the relevant counterfeiting skill to all members of the union
• Deviant: +1 WIL to all members of the union
• Embezzler: +3 paperwork manipulation to all members of the union
• Extortionist: +3 intimidation to all members of the union
• Fence: +3 haggling to all members of the union
• Fixer: +3 to know local administrative policies of law enforcement (police, courts) to all members of the union
• Gambler: +3 gambling to all members of the union
• Harborer: +3 toughness to all members of the union
• Kidnapper: +3 read people to all members of the union
• Pickpocket: +3 sleight of hand to all members of the union
• Pirate: +3 sailing to all members of the union
• Pusher: +3 chemistry to all members of the union
• Quack: +3 street medicine to all members of the union
• Revolutionary: +3 oratory to all members of the union
• Robber/Mugger: +1 STR to all members of the union
• Saboteur: +3 to know weak points of a structure or vehicle to all members of the union
• Sensualist: +3 seduction to all members of the union
• Slaver: any slaver in the union will break the union's power
• Smuggler: +3 to know an escape route to all members of the union
• Spy: +1 STH to all members of the union
• Terrorist: +3 to any area-of-effect attack for all members of the union
• Torturer: any torturer in the union will break the union's power
• Thief: +3 to any stealing skill to all members of the union
• Trafficker: any slaver in the union will break the union's power
• Traitor: once-time use of +9 to a single action or attack against the organization being betrayed to all members of the union
• Urchin: +3 speed to all members of the union
• Vagrant: +3 endurance to all members of the union
• Vandal: +3 to the relevant artist skill to all members of the union
• Vigilante: +1 PRO to all members of the union
• Whistleblower: +3 general knowledge of the target organization of the whistleblower to all members of the union
• Witch: +1 to any supernatural abilities of all members of the union

Cenerists can be part of any Committee.

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

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Faatonu

Jacks-of-all-crimes in the Violet Grith use the art of mimicry to copy the skills, powers, or abilities of their fellow ne'er-do-wells.

A faatonu is a criminal who does not specialize in any particular form of crime, but has a little bit of skill in many. They do this by learning the magic of mimicry, which they gain by using magical masks given to them by the Violet Grith. These masks are rare and powerful and only given to the most favored in the organization. Once given the mask, they are trained by a powerful mentor in the Violet Grith, and once deemed ready, they are required to swear an oath of fealty to the organization upon their own skills. If they violate their oath, they permanently lose a vital skill.

There are three ways the faatonu can wield their powers (all while wearing their mask):

• Masked mimicry: if the faatonu spends a year and a day with a criminal with very minimal breaks from their company, their mask will store the skills of that criminal at a -6. If they spend another six months, it goes down a point, and so on, capping at -3. They can invoke this seven times before the mimicry is used up, but when they do, the mask will glamour them into the person they learned from.
• Observe and repeat: in high-stress situations (such as combat), they can briefly observe and attempt a mimicry of a single action, even if it is something they could not possibly know how to do. The difficulty varies by the difficulty the action was rolled against - they roll their mask's magic vs. the difficulty the action was rolled against - but if they succeed, they roll at the score of the previous round -3, -2 for special success, -1 for exceptional, equal at critical. They can use this power in battle or high-stress situations over and over again until they fail (at which point they must wait a day to try again), but they can't repeat the same action twice in the situation.
• Studied imitation: in low-stress situations, if they study someone's actions for at least 10 minutes and at most six months, they will be able to mimic an ability, power, or skill at a -9 at minimum and equal to at most. They can only do this one per skill, power, or ability.

Faatonus can break the limitations on their mimicry via special rituals, consensual intimacy, or other magical means, but these are advanced and difficult. Consult the GM.

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

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Scelestian

NPC only

Scelestians are not jacks-of-all-crimes so much as masters of them all. They are those who have trained in every art of crime they can to become elite in all of them, thus able to wield the Cant and the Hooded Shadow better than any others.

These master-of-all-crimes are multitalented criminals who have spent decades or more practicing the arts of the Cant and the Hooded Shadow. These are the most elite members of the Red Grith, special agents of the Cang (and probably the Cang himself) who exist in the shadows and do what they must to keep control of their city.

There is an ancient cant, a variation on language, a secret code and a dialect and a pidgin, a set of rhymes and ciphers, that only those who have been pushed outside the law may wield. The Cant derived from the first people who had to steal from other mortals to survive, and it grew into a complex, panlingual cryptological esoteric puzzle. The Cant cannot be understood by anyone who serves the laws of the state that make people criminals, and it gives those who speak it special powers. To access it, one must have committed a crime in a place one has been, knowingly, and one must have done so without other esoteric power. One must have committed this crime for purposes neither related to upholding the oppressive structures nor overthrowing them. The crime must violate a law existing on the books in the place it was broken, and it must be knowingly committed. If the crime is later decriminalized, it will still empower the scelestian. If the crime is unknowingly committed, but the criminal later discovers it was/is illegal, they have a brief window to take advantage before they lose access to the cant (until they commit a crime again). In that brief window, they will see a shadow, and if they follow that shadow, they will begin to see things they never noticed before. This will lead them to the closest wielder of Cant, who, if they are recognized as someone exposed to the shadow, will recruit them.

From there, they will be trained in the Cant, and eventually tested via a series of criminal activities. If they pass, they will be initiated into the Hooded Shadow, the power of concealment from the law.

The Hooded Shadow empowers them in any criminal activity, and scelestians train in so many criminal activities, they learn to apply it to any or all of them. They can empower flames to be unseen to better engage in arson, ensuring a structure burns. They can hide their manipulations of people to better their skills as a conspirator. They can use the shadow to make themselves more intimdiating as an extortionist, or they can use it to become practically invisible as a spy, thief, or assassin. Any criminal activity, they can empower with it.

The most powerful can steal intangible things like a person's feelings, their abilities, or even parts of their lives. They can wield the Hooded Shadow consume people's souls, turn flame into shadow, or alter their own forms. They are true masters of the Hooded Shadow, able to do anything they need to with it to commit the crimes they choose to commit.

In order to wield it, the scelestian must use the correct canting rhymes. They must maintain the Hooded Shadow by remaining outside the law, never cooperating with the authorities, and never going straight. This does not mean never following any law, but rather, never betraying the Red Grith and never surviving off anything but criminal gains. Any violation will destroy the Cant immediately. The more crimes they knowingly commit, the higher the score they have in the shadow, but any use depletes it, meaning they have a limited amount of shadow to use. Furthermore, some crimes only count as one instance even if prolonged - i.e., selling drugs to a dozen people is just "selling drugs", not twelve instances of it. They must be broken up with other crimes in-between. Rape and sexual assault do not generate the Hooded Shadow, as these are infernal acts.

It takes them decades to master all forms of crime, but once they do, they become major players within the Grith. Only a handful have ever existed. Only criminal acts tasked by the Red Grith generate shadow.

PRO +3 ATH +3 STR +3 AWA +3 WIL +3 PRS +3 STH +6

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Segulu

In the Green Grith, some criminals take a jack-of-all-trades approach, attuned certain skills to different planets. When a specific planet is ascendant in the night sky, they are better at that skill.

Segulus wield the power of the planets of the solar system by attuning themselves to their movements through the night sky. Their first attunement is based on the day of their birth. The second is the year of their birth. The third is the time of day of their birth. After this, the other twelve planets (Shem is not counted) are optional, but they can be attuned to via night-time rituals when the planet is ascendant. They can only perform these rituals once per year, and most segulus are only capable to attuning to six planets at most. Those who go beyond this risk losing touch with reality. The following chart is a guide to the planets and what they are best at empowering.

Planet	Description	Criminal	Month	Year	Time of Day
Sallit	The Blue Jewel, a twin planet to Shem, half her size, a beautiful blue ocean planet.	Deviant, Pirate, Smuggler, Witch	Merian 24 - Guthspell 20	1831	12:01-1:36 a.m.
Daialoth	The Ice Giant, a gas giant with solid icy poles, and a single thin ring.	Fixer, Hijacker	Reeptim 11 - Gegaderung 4	1824	12:49-1:24 p.m.
Mythoth	The Duchess, a bluegreen gas giant with a single thin ring and net-like storms on its surface.	Bookie, Embezzler, Fence, Pusher	Ecne 17 - Reeptim 10	1823	11:13 a.m.-12:48 p.m.
Jahur	The Temptress, a beautiful green planet with strange flora and fauna, hidden beneath green clouds.	Baiter, Sensualist, Revolutionary	Angyn 30 - Merian 23	1830	9:25 p.m.-12:00 a.m.
Thurudrill	The Duke, a violet gas giant with two sets of rings that intersect each other.	Counterfeiter, Saboteur, Traitor	Gebyrd 23 - Ecne 16	1822	9:37-11:12 a.m.
Weptaram	The Marshal, a gas giant, largest in the solar system, with a massive set of rings.	Kidnapper, Vigilante	Gaed 28 - Gebyrd 22	1821	8:01-9:36 a.m.
Behial	The Warrior, a planet of molten lava and lead, a red planet.	Bandit, Brawler, Robber	Angyn 6 - Angryn 29	1829	7:49-9:24 p.m.
Colos	The Messenger, a small planet of molten iron and lava.	Arsonist, Grifter, Thief	Wistfullian 17 - Angyn 5	1828	6:13-7:48 p.m.
Gallyneg	The Happy Marble, an orange and white super puff planet.	Bootlegger, Cooker, Quack, Vandal	Gaed 4 - Gaed 27	1820	6:25-8 a.m.
Inoxuil	The Mindflayer, a dense, jungled toroidal planet.	Consigliere, Conspirator	Berendnis 10 - Gaed 3	1819	4:49-6:24 a.m.
Ane	The Daughter, a tiny, distant planet of yellow and pink ice and blue stone.	Pickpocket, Urchin	Hrafyl 23 - Wistfullian 16	1827	4:37-6:12 p.m.
Avagen	The Eye, a red planet that is half-gas, half-stone, with strange crystalline wonders.	Gambler, Spy, Terrorist	Geblowan 15 - Berendnis 9	1818	3:13-4:48 a.m.
Unim	The Wanderer, a strange planet with an irregular orbit that has an atmosphere of pink crystals.	Assassin, Beggar, Vagrant	Gegaderung 29 - Hrafyl 22	1826	3:01-4:36 p.m.
Kruurach	The Stone Giant, a rocky megaplanet with no life.	Harborer, Torturer, Whistleblower	Guthspell 21 - Geblowan 14	1817	1:37-3:12 a.m.
Parsadus	The Knight, an iron megaplanet with oceans of cyanogen and metallic continents.	Extortionist, Gangster, Mugger	Gegaderung 5 - Gegaderung 28	1825	1:25-3 p.m.

If they attune themselves to a planet, they will gain bonuses to the relevant skills at the right month, year, or time, but the ritual must match the skillset with the planet correctly.

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