Grifter

Con artists.

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Bamboozler

Trickery is extremely common in the Violet Grith, and its best practicioners are wielders of the energy of dreams, which they capture in mirrors and release as illusions as part of their cons and grifts. Others use the art of lateral thinking and storytelling to confuse and befuddle their targets. The most potent wear special cloth masks with distorted grinning faces and engage in massive, performance art-like pranks.

Bamboozlers capture dreams and use their images to create illusions to trick their targets.

The art of capturing dreams is an ancient one, practiced by many peoples. In Endruin, they use a net made from magical materials. The net is hung in the sleeping area only while gathering is wanted, and if the net is no closed before sunrise, the dream energy will escape.

Dream energy must be applied to a mirror specially crafted for imaging. The mirror must be kept covered by a cloth heavy enough to keep light from touching the reflective surface until the bamboozler is ready to capture an image. If they fail to do this, the dream energy will escape (as will any other captured images). The quality of the mirror and the amount of dream energy determines how many images may be captured within the mirror. An average mirror with standard amount of dream energy can hold up to six images. The very best mirrors with maximum dream energy will hold 24 images.

Truly powerful bamboozlers can capture an image so well that the targets lose part of their being, usually turning them into colorless versions of themselves with muted emotions and an inability to dream. Most bamboozlers do not intend to do this.

Nets are made from magical materials. They are not bound by any other material - anything other than their basic thread will render them less potent. Nets must be large enough to cover the head and shoulders of the dreamer in order to be effective. The finer the mesh, the more dream energy is captured, but there must be a mesh--it cannot be a solid fabric.

Common or magical mirrors can work if they are large enough (about 9" in diameter) with a backing and glass that are not corrupted by any other magical energies.

Coverings must be solid and thick enough to keep the mirror from seeing any light. Anything less will cause dream energy and images to escape.

A bamboozler uses the images in their mirrors in order to craft illusions and glamours. Glamours change the appearance of the user or the target (usually a small object), but the changes are superficial and only quasi-physical. Illusions are more complex. Unlike illusions made from black nommos or uafas, these illusions are never solid, but they can implant in someone's mind so that they are convinced that the images are solid. Most are external illusions, like complex mirages.

Images can only be shaped from the images captured; however, the captured images can be broken down into colors and the illusions painted to be almost anything. The illusion is limited to the colors captured and amount of light within the images.

To shape images into illusions or glamours, the bamboozler must first let loose an image, and then use a special needle and thread to guide them into illusions. The needle and thread should be magical. The bamboozler must be dexterous and swift, but also careful in their crafting, to get the right images.

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

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Grinning Mage

Trickery is extremely common in the Violet Grith, and its best practicioners are wielders of the energy of dreams, which they capture in mirrors and release as illusions as part of their cons and grifts. Others use the art of lateral thinking and storytelling to confuse and befuddle their targets. The most potent wear special cloth masks with distorted grinning faces and engage in massive, performance art-like pranks.

To become a grinning mage, one must be recruited by them. They are very secretive and never inform others of who they are. They only operate when they know they won't be caught, and anyone who is caught is immediately stripped of their paraphernalia via magic so as not to expose the group. (Though rescues often happen later.) To be recruited, one must show a propensity for mischief, a knack for trouble, a yen for surprises.

They wear masks with distorted grinning faces on them.

Grinning mages generate and wield magic by performing stunts, incredibly, bizarre, inexplicable stunts that sew confusion and inspire mischief. The element of surprise is the most potent ingredient - they must do something no one expects. If they can devise something, grand or small, that will surprise people, they will have some ability to do it if and only if they do it entirely for the pleasure of surprising people. It must have no agenda but mischief. Furthermore, it must involve a narrative of possibility that results in the perception of an impossibility. In other words, it must be improbable, but not impossible.

The bump is the instinct grinning mages have for mischief. The moments of inspiration and the awareness of opportunities. They have this bump so long as they have their masks on their person (worn or not). Sparking is when a grinning mage has had the bump and begins to engage in improbable mischief. During this time, they have bonuses to actions required for the mischief. If they fail to achieve mischief, the spark fades and cannot be regained to achieve that particular mischief. It will only return when wholly new mischief is devised. While sparking, the grinning mage must have their mask on, and they must act quickly to take advantage of the magic.

The grin is the moment the plan come together. During this moment, the grinning mage, still masked, will bask in the mischief caused and soak in the magic through their grin, fueling themselves for the next surprise. If a grinning mage is unmasked, they will lose the anonymity needed to achieve surprises and mischief. As such, their masks vanish if they are caught, so that they are not known to be grinning men, thus exposing and destroying the power of all grinning men. Raspberries do not refer to the fruit, but to the act of blowing raspberries, which is done with the tongue to make a rude noise. Doing this while masked causes the mask to do the same, extruding a wet cloth tongue that disturbs anyone who sees it.

Once mischief is done, there is always a period where the grinning mage has to recover from the work. This varies depending on the improbability of the prank. The more absurd and improbable, the longer the recovery period is. The only exception to this is when a grinning mage's prank causes a someone who is opposing the grinning mages to break down. If this happens, they can act again instantly to finish the target off.

Grinning mages love to use firecrackers in their work. The sudden eruption is a good source of surprise, and the smoke can help provide a getaway. All grinning mages have a pocketful of these at any given time. All grinning mages can pull a large, iron-scaled rainbow trout out of their pockets and slap people with them if they are sparking and need to drive people away from their mischief. It has no wound score, nor can it cause coma. Its stun power is either 13 or +3, whichever will get the best result.

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

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Miracleworker

The con artists in the Blue Grith have a very specific purpose: to make others believe in miracles.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Part of the Commitee for Liberation or the Committee for Support.

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

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Nazmiri

Con artists in the Green Grith use their skills to trick the powerful in order to either distract them, to steal from them, or to lead them to damage industrial works. These con artists wield the power of the stars to either misguide their targets via twistings of astrology or to wield starlight to influence their actions. They can, as they claim, make the stars say anything they want.

Nazimiri train for years on reading the stars to know how their movements, positions, and qualities affect the lives of people, and then manipulate the messages they get from them to deceive and manipulate people. They do this by keeping the truth in how they interpret the stars, but keeping it vague or skewed to drive someone to do what they want. Often, they build up trust with little accuracies before the full manipulation kicks in. Their intention is always to manipulate someone - usually a gullible rich person or noble - into acting in some way to benefit the Green Grith, either by giving them money or having them make green business decisions. Usually the money, though.

Astrological interpetation varies by culture, but in the Green Grith, they use one tied to ancient nature religions long since destroyed by the Endruinite ruling class. The following chart assumes the character was born in Haenor.

Constellation	Month	Hour	Year	Description	Element	General Meaning
The First Tree	Geblowan 11 - Berendnis 3	12:01 a.m. to 1:30 a.m.	1799, 1815, 1831	The first tree whose seeds created every other tree	Wood	Generation, beginnings, longevity
The Green Shield	Berendnis 4 - Berendnis 26	1:31 a.m. to 3 a.m.	1800, 1816, 1832	A folk hero who had a shield made of green metal who slew an evil dragon	Metal	Bravery, determination, sacrifice
The Druid	Berendnis 27 - Gaed 18	3:01 a.m. to 4:30 a.m.	1801, 1817, 1833	A keeper of ancient lore who taught many ancient heroes	Nature	Wisdom, knowledge, cunning
The Bearer of the Firmament	Gaed 19 - Gebyrd 11	4:31 a.m. to 6 a.m.	1802, 1818, 1834	A giant who caught the sky when it fell	Wind	Strength, endurance, protection
The Three Dancers	Gebyrd 12 - Ecne 3	6:01 a.m. to 7:30 a.m.	1803, 1819, 1835	Three women dancing as lovers, fated to dance forever after being killed as witches	Moons	Grace, love, communion
The Daughter of the World	Ecne 4 - Ecne 26	7:31 a.m. to 9 a.m.	1804, 1820, 1836	The first daughter of Mother Shem who named all the animals	Animal	Learning, growing, understanding
The Observers	Ecne 27 - Reeptim 18	9:01 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.	1805, 1821, 1837	Eight stoic figures tasked with recording all of history	Time	Witnessing, analysis, the past
The River Raft	Reeptim 19 - Gegaderung 10	10:31 a.m. to 12 p.m.	1806, 1822, 1838	A hero whose raft carried them from river to river on a quest for a magical egg	Water	Flowing, transitions, urgency
The Great Boar	Gegaderung 11 - Hrafyl 2	12:01 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.	1807, 1823, 1839	A giant boar who helped a hero find food when it was most needed during a quest, giving his life to help the hero in the end	Earth	Nourishment, giving, sharing
The Pouring Pitcher	Hrafyl 3 - Hrafyl 24	1:31 p.m. to 3 p.m.	1808, 1824, 1840	A pitcher used to water a flower garden that grew a legendary blossom	Flower	Restoration, purification, renewal
The Tricow	Hrafyl 25 - Wistfullian 17	3:01 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.	1809, 1825, 1841	A three-headed cow grazing on the stars, a symbol of the three astral bodies (sun, moons, stars), the cosmos itself	Star	Universality, oneness, containing multitudes
The Mouth of the Worm	Wistfullian 18 - Angyn 8	4:31 p.m. to 6 p.m.	1810, 1826, 1842	The mouth of the great worm that will devour the universe, the great light of the end	Light	Ending, all-consuming, finality
The Headless Reader	Angyn 9 - Angyn 31	6:01 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.	1811, 1827, 1843	A figure whose knowledge was unheeded, a figure of darkness	Shadow	Forewarning, dangerous knowledge, insight
The Five Brothers	Merian 1 - Merian 23	7:31 p.m. to 9 p.m.	1812, 1828, 1844	Five heroic brothers who embodied different characteristics, but all working together in a way that complemented each other	Storm	Complementary skills, unity, community
The Mother of Many	Merian 24 - Guthspell 18	9:01 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.	1813, 1829, 1845	Mother Universe's face in the stars	Chaos	Love, acceptance, nurturing
The Burning Scorpion	Guthspell 19 - Geblowan 10	10:31 p.m. to 12 a.m.	1814, 1830, 1846	A scorpion whose sting burned like flame who killed a cruel tyrant who mocked it	Fire	Self-actualization, self-defense, self-esteem

During the month, time, or year of a constellation, an astrologer may invoke their power; a nazmiri, whose powers are weaker due to using them so cavalierly, may still wield some of them, but in a more illusory manner, dazzling with starlight versions of the different elements.

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

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Taelter

In the Red Grith, con artists wield emotion magic to manipulate their targets. They are called taelters.

The manipulation of emotion is a magical art done via special string figures. All emotion creates a resonance around those who are feeling them, and those with the right skills can sense them. This resonance causes string figures to react. One must be extremely dexterous to form the string figures, weaving through them at remarkable speeds, in order to wield their power, and they must be one of these nine formations:

• Cat's cradle: senses emotion
• Coconut palm tree: strengthens or weakens emotions
• Dancer: moves emotion from one person to another
• A growth in the tomana tree: releases emotion
• Hammock: captures emotion
• Lizard: changes one emotion into another
• Saw mill: breaks stored emotion into smaller parts
• Two islands joined by a log: combines emotions
• Yam thief: steals emotions, which are stored in the strings and release to fuel the above forms

See here for more info on these figures.

These nine formations are fairly commonly known, but they can be invoked by taelters and others who know their secrets if they use them correctly. They must be done with two hands, even if the user has more than two hands. To properly wield them, they must be keenly attuned to their own emotions. This requires a sense of self-awareness beyond what most people have, an understanding of feelings deeper than average. Taelters achieve this through years of training, usually paid for by the Red Grith.

If they achieve this state, they can draw in their emotion to keep it from affecting the string figures, allowing the strings to react only to those of the people near them. Then, if their fingers are deft enough, they can move the strings to direct that emotional resonance to their own ends.

After they learn this skill, they must learn how to do it in a way that others don't notice, because what good is the con if the target knows their emotions are being manipulated? And then it's just down to their skills as a con artist. Some go big with elaborate hoaxes and long cons, while others stick to street tricks and sleight of hand. But their purpose in the Red Grith is to bring in coin.

If a taelter loses attunement with their own emotions, they will lose their powers.

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