UpomachyVigilantes < Shem

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Vigilante

Those who take justice into their own hands.

Budrus

The Red Grith employs vigilantes to keep the peace among their own and to target those who harm their own. Some derive power from strict, disciplined regimens (budruses), while others derive power from the laws and rules of the Red Grith itself. They are called synvakas. The Captain of Muscle is always a vigilante.

Budruses among the Red Grith are known to wield dragonwill. While some who wield dragonwill do so by forming a magical bond with a dragon (or by being a dragon, but that's not available to PCs), the budruses among the Red Grith gain the power by carrying a magical bracelet called a dracutrem. Their dracutrem is always a wristband, bracelet, bracer, or other armguard or jewelry that glows dark red when they draw from it. They draw from it by paying tribute after every shift they spend in vigilance. They mix blood of any victims with their own blood to feed it; if they did not harm anyone on their shift, they feed it their own blood mixed with expensive alcohol.

When they invoke the power of their dracutrem, they gain temporary bonuses to WIL, PRO, STH, or any mental or supernatural abilities they have. The more points they draw from their dracutrem, them more they must put back into it. If they make a powerful offering, they may be able to take on properties of a dragon's powers (consult with GM). They train extensively to become vigilantes.

Budruses keep watch over protectees of the Red Grith, exacting revenge for any harm done to the weakest among them. They protect the beggars, urchins, vagrants, and others who are not combat-oriented, as well as poor families in the territory of the Red Grith. They also hunt down any non-Grith criminals who come into their territory, and they bring the fight to the powers-that-be often. Budruses wear black and maroon cloaks that help them remain stealthy, carry climbing gear and other useful tools for getting around the city unseen, and have a deep knowledge of the city's hidden passageways and understreets.

Their preferred weapons are grappling hooks, wrist-daggers, and chain flails.

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

Coelventian

Vigilantes founded the Blue Grith - the original escaped slaves were vigilantes freeing other slaves - and thus, they have a special place within it. The tradition of escaped slaves turning around to free others continues - these vigilantes are called "renegades", and they gain magical powers as they free others - and others have joined as well. Street guardians mete out justice that the law and authorities won't or can't, protecting the poor and exploited from the injustices brought on by oppression. And coelventians fly on magical winds in order to protect the weak and degraded. Part of the Commitee for Liberation.

Coelventians are fully devoted to the cause of the Blue Grith. Their life's work is freeing the enslaved, and they work to fight for the oppressed as vigilantes. They all swear an oath upon their own souls to serve in this capacity for their entire lives, and any betrayal of, deviation from, or depature from this will result in the loss of their powers - and their souls. They make this very clear to anyone who wishes to join them in the work, but they also make clear the positive sides of it. Anyone who makes this vow and lives the life is guaranteed "salvation" from the powers of the authorities (and possibly the Beyond). None who do this work may be enslaved or imprisoned, and the winds themselves may obey their will. However, this only works as long as they are engaged in the work of protecting the meek, the poor, the enslaved, the imprisoned, the oppressed, the exploited, or the abused. While they can engage in other, related work for the Blue Grith, certain powers are not in place when they are not working as vigilantes. The vow they make is sworn on an angel's feather, and if they knowingly lie, they burn.

Any coelventian who has sworn their vow must still prove themselves worthy by working for at least a year and a day at freeing slaves, fighting oppression, and standing up for the victims of injustice. After this is done, they are sent to a secret location, alone, in a small boat, where they meet a celestial figure who tests them. If they are found truly worthy, they are given a pair of blue wings made of celestial power, giving them certain powers:

Flight: coelventians can fly on the winds. This spends no feathers.
Celeste gale: winds tinged with blue light flow from their wings, stunning any agent of oppression struck by them. This spends 4 feathers per use.
Uplifting breeze: a light breeze tinged with blue light flows from their wings, giving strength to any oppressed grazed by them. This spends 2 feathers per use.
Swift gust: the coelventian turns into a fast gust of wind for one turn, moving 100' in any straight direction. This spends 3 feathers per use.
Feather strike: a blue feather darts from their wings, striking any target for 12/18/24 damage, +3 against infernal targets. This spends 1 feather per use.
Windwall: a blue-tinged wind forms around them, protecting them from missile attacks. This spends 3 feathers per round of use.
Blue whirlwind: for every turn they spend spinning, a celeste whirlwind forms, drawing in every infernal or oppressor within 50', hurling them about, causing major damage. This spends 5 feathers for every three rounds of use.

Other powers may be possible around the themes of salvation or wind. Consult with the GM. Their wings have 20 feathers at a time. They get replenished every night, assuming the coelventian has not violated their vow. The number of feathers increases the more they work.

Part of the Committee for Warfare or the Committee for Liberation.

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

Debyg

The Violet Grith's vigilantes use sympathetic magic. Sometimes, you don't have to hunt down your target. You just need a bit of hair, a tooth, a drop of blood, or even just their name, and via the power of sympathetic magic, you can break their fucking legs.

Those in the Violet Grith who enforce the rules of the lore are vigilantes who learn to use sympathetic magic. They learn from mentors within the Violet Grith who teach them the basic principles and help them gather supplies until they are skilled in the art. Sympathetic magic involves taking a piece of someone (a bit of hair, a tooth, a fingernail, some skin), attaching it to an effigy, then inflicting damage to that effigy to harm the target. To make this work, they must prepare the effigy with a ritual that involves putting a piece of themselves into a magical circle, alongside the effigy and some symbols of power. The ritual must be peformed outside the view of the moons (under a triple new moon or inside where no moonlight spills in). Once the ritual is done, the piece of the caster must be placed on an effigy of the caster and kept somewhere safe. The effigy of the target is infused with magic and ready to be used against someone.

Once the effigy is prepared, the caster must get a piece of their target to apply to it. From there, they can inflict damage or healing to the target at their leisure. The range is generally one mile, but it can be reduced or extended with more potent pieces of the target. Esoteric parts of the target (their feelings, their memories, their soul) are the most potent and hardest to acquire.

Once they have the effigy prepared, they can cause harm by puncturing with pins, lighting it on fire, dropping it in oil, or ripping it asunder. Every harm applied to it must be rolled against the WIL of the target. If they fail, a pin causes a wound, fire causes burning under the flesh, oil causes suffocation, and ripping causes dismemberment. It can be filled with different substances which will have other effects: filled with seeds, it poisons them; filled with leaves, it causes disease; filled with sand, it causes weariness; filled with dirt, it causes personality changes; filled with insects (living or dead), it causes madness.

Fire, oil, and ripping render the effigy useless after one attack. Fillings last for as long as the filling is present and no other effects inflicted; once emptied, the effigy loses power. Pins can be used as often as the debyg pleases so long as the effigy remains intact.

If anyone finds the effigy of the caster, they will have the same power over the caster.

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

Frostheart

Vigilantism is rarer among the Green Grith, but they do see the need to fight injustice, especially environmental injustice. Squamoforts are reptile-themed and -empowered vigilantes, and pistileers are flower-themed and -empowered vigilantes among them, while frosthearts are similar to the drapare, but they kill their hearts to command ice in favor of fighting for the meek rather than just for killing.

In the heart of winter, the powers of ice and snow heighten. At this time, those who can tap into that power may draw it within themselves, freeze their hearts and emotions solid, and gain the power to channel the cold as a weapon.

To do this, frosthearts need to prime themselves emotionally by intentionally dampening, suppressing, or burying their emotions. They must train for years to destroy all feelings within, turning themselves into metaphorical cold-blooded killers before making it more literal. After years of practice, they wait until midwinter, then perform a ritual of diving into the deep, cold river, holding themselves down there for as long as possible while focusing on an emotion and humming a magical song they are taught by a mentor from the Green Grith. They do this over and over again until they have left almost every emotion at the bottom of the river except their passion for protecting nature. Meanwhile, they must avoid warming themselves, for that will return the emotions. This means they must condition themselves to be able to handle the cold as well.

If they are successful, the cold will suffuse them, their hearts and blood will freeze, emotions will vanish, and they will be able to command ice, snow, and cold at will during the colder months. During warmer months, it becomes more difficult, but they can still manage it, but they will need some ice as a focus. They channel the cold and ice by drawing the cold from within themselves and singing softly magical songs, but if they want to unleash greater power, they can cut themselves and use the frozen blood within themselves.

Icicle darts: form three slender icicle darts for cold damage of +5/+5.
Temperature sense: see cold and heat.
Frost aura : an aura of chilled air and frost forms around the frostheart, making it so that anyone who comes close to them must roll against a power equal to the song's difficulty or suffer cold damage at the same power.
Cold night wind: take the form of the cold night wind and move rapidly in a single direction for 100' to escape.
Binding ice: freeze a target in solid ice to bind them.
Solstice dark: absorb the dark of the winter solstice and use it for stealth
Frostheart empathy: sense the emotions of others by dampening their own.

Frosthearts keep only their love of nature and desire to protect it. They see themselves as a part of nature, and they act only in the interests of the Green Grith. If they ever suspect the Green Grith has strayed, they will fight it as well.

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

Pistileer

Pistileers wield the elemental magic of flowers. Dressed in flower petals, they are riots of color who fight against injustice and the purveyors of pollution in Haenor. They gain these powers by partaking in various floral teas, using meditation to seek inner enlightenment, devoting themselves to nature, and performing rituals on the vernal equinox that connect them to every flower in the area. This magic is rooted in ancient nature religions and witchcraft, but it provides them only with very specific powers related to the flowers they choose to wield.

The powers of a pistileer can reflect any flower native to Endruin, so consult the GM to come up with specific flowers, powers, and ideas. But some examples of their associations include the following:

Buttercup: joy, youth, purity, happiness, friendship.
Columbine: minor healing, detoxification, poisons, fertility, betrayal, deception, folly, pleasure.
Daisy: cleansing, nourishment, connection.
Dandelion: fulfillment, movement, renewal, transformation.
Deadly Nightshade, Hemlock, Henbane: poison.
Hellebore: stench, winter, redemption, sanity, poison.
Holly: winter, sharing, renewal, truth, protection.
Pennyroyal: medicine, self-control, pesticide, poison.
Poppy: analgesic, euphoria, sleep, death, peace.
Primrose: pleasure, disaster.
Violet: sexuality, beauty, love.

Pistileers are fighters but also healers and supporters, going out into the community to help people. Thus, their powers are as much support and healing as combative.

No matter which flowers they are bonded to and wield, they always have at least one that can release a spray of nectar that will have some effect on foes, such as sleep, poison, paralysis, confusion, stun, etc.

Players would choose three flowers to begin with, consulting with the GM for what powers they might mean. They may choose from the above or any flower endemic to Great Britain.

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

Renegade

Renegades are the original members of the Blue Grith. Renegades are escaped slaves who vow to help other slaves escape. They are vigilantes who spend their time constantly fighting the slaveowners, and they are led by the Counterblast herself.

Every renegade is trained by other renegades. They generate magical power via acts of resistance to tyranny. While they are enslaved, they are usually unable to wield it, but any act of resistance generates the power. Escpaing enslavement generates so much that every renegade involved in the escape can sense it palpably, and they use it to help the escaping slave sense it and wield it. Not every escaped slave can or will become a renegade - many are too afraid, too confused, too tired, too traumatized to do so. Some are too focused on escape, seeking freedom for themselves, their family, their loved ones, but not to devote themselves to fighting for others. This is respected - no enslaved person is judged for their choice of what to do with their freedom, so long as it is not to enslave or harm others. But those who feel called toward resistance and liberation are recruited immediately.

Renegades gain power by acting in unison. This is why they go in groups to liberate other slaves, and this is why the newly escaped slave joins their group if they choose to become a renegade. Acting in unison creates an enormous amount of power. Their hearts will be filled, their bodies will be filled, their souls will be filled with power, and if they place their hands over their hearts, concentrate, and draw it forth, orange flame of liberation will spill forth. If they have a weapon - and renegades will always have a weapon, and extras to share with new renegades - the spark of fulvous flame will leap to their weapon.

From there, every act of resistance they engage in makes the flame burn brigther.

With enough fulvous flame, they can empower their weapons, their own bodies, armor, or other objects. Any action they undertake to free other slaves will be empowered, and any chain they find will shatter at even the weakest blow of their weapons. Their fulvous flame gives them +3 to any action in resistance to tyranny, +6 to freeing slaves, +9 to breaking chains or jail bars.

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

Squamofort

Vigilantes who bond with reptiles to gain their abilities and fight against injustice and polluters.

The primary method of bonding with animals used by squamoforts is to imitate them in their presence. They must find a wild or feral reptile 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.

Some animals will not allow a squamofort to get close very easily at first, so they must take more extreme measures: living with them. Bonding with reptiles requires extra warmth, usually providing them with some kind of heat source or wrap, or holding them close. This can be very difficult in animals who are not trustful of mortals, and so it takes a long time. No animal takes more than a year and a day to bond with after the squamofort has begun imitating them successfully.

To bond with an animal, the squamofort must so perfectly imitate them that the animal believes them to be one of them. They must fully understand the animal and almost instinctively act like them. And then they must perform a ritual dance with the animal. If they are truly attuned, they animal will follow their movements. At the end of the dance, they will have bonded. The squamofort will then be able to take on characteristics of the animal, use its senses, communicate with it, and more. The exact movements of the dance vary by culture.

The more a squamofort imitates it, the more they become acclimated to how the animal lives. They then become less threatening to animals. Sometimes, they acclimate too far and lose their ability to act like their own species. Most squamoforts are a little weird to other mortals' standards.

Some squamoforts acclimate so far they completely forget how to be their own species. They go feral and believe they are a reptile.

A squamofort typically bonds to an individual animal, but in doing so, they become more readily able to bond with other animals of that species. If they bond with multiple species within a genus, the whole genus becomes easier to bond with. And so on, up to phyla. An experienced squamofort with hundreds of reptile bonds will be able to more easily bond with any kind of reptile, for example. They become very sympathetic to their chosen taxon, if they choose a specialty. Some choose a single species. Some form major bonds with a small group of diverse animals. Some choose an entire class or family. This works best with wild reptiles.

Reptiles native to Endruin include barred grass snakes, common adders, green sea turtles, hawksbill sea turtles, leatherback sea turtles, loggerhead sea turtles, olive ridley sea turtles, ridley sea turtles, sand lizards, slow worms, smooth snakes, and viviparous lizards.

Reptiles in the menageries and zoos of Haenor include annulated sea snakes, bamboo pit vipers, banded racers, black coral snakes, black turtles, bridal snakes, chameleons, collared cat snakes, common bronzebacks, common cat snakes, common green forest lizards, common kraits, common wall lizards, cottonmouths, eastern hognoses, fan-throated lizards, forest cane turtles, golden tree snakes, grass snakes, green keelbacks, green vine snakes, ground skinks, king cobras, monitor lizards, mountain day geckos, mountain skinks, mugger crocodiles, northern water snakes, painted leopard geckos, peninsular rock agamas, pond terrapins, rainbow snakes, rat snakes, red-eared terrapins, saltwater crocodiles, scarlet snakes, slender glass lizards, softshell turtles, southern flying lizards, southern pythons, split keelbacks, star tortoises, timber rattlesnakes, wall lizards, western alligators, western green lizards, western kukris, and yellow throated day geckos.

Squamoforts bond with a handful of reptiles, with one as their primary, and they use the powers and companionship in their vigilantism. They often create outfits to match their primary companion.

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

Street Guardian

Street guardians are vigilantes who serve justice. Not justice as defined by the ruling class, but true justice. True justice is not defined by the laws of mortals nor Divines. True justice is about an objective right and wrong based on what represents the survival of a mortal species and the individuals that make up that species. It is the rights of the many over the luxury of the few. The crimes a street guardian is concerned with are determined by the Blue Grith.

The crimes they are concerned with are those inflicted by the oppressors and exploiters on the oppressed and exploited. These include murder (including genocide or war) by the state or by the ruling class, rape and sexual assault, enslavement and imprisonment, abuse and torture, exploitation and oppression, polluting the world, and so on. These are crimes often done on mass scale or done by the powerful to the disenfranchised. However, they are capable of granting mercy and redemption. Even the most egregious crimes can be redeemed, but they require the perpetrator be willing to spend their life fighting against the injustices they used to inflict, profit from, or champion. When a street guardian shows mercy, they expect a devotion to redemption. When a street guardian metes out justice in the form of death, they must have ascertained there is no hope for redemption, no value to mercy for the perpetrator, then side with mercy for the aggrieved.

In many cases, street guardians will capture even the worst perpetrators and bring them back to face judgment by the Blue Grith. In the field, there are times when someone's life is in danger when a street guardian must pass judgment themselves, and there are times when a crime is so egregious judgment is too clear to ignore. But most, even some of the worst, are captured and brought in. If an anveshak metes out judgment of death, they must return to the Blue Grith to prove it was justified. If they mete out other judgment but show mercy, they must return and ensure the perpetrator is truly seeking redemption. If the perpetrator fails, the street gurdian will often bring them in for judgment before the Blue Grith.

Those who are chosen to be street guardians must be those who have experienced deep injustice. Street guardians are always called by other street guardians, who keep a lookout for those who display a strong sense of injustice. They are tested and challenged by their mentors, and they must find redemption for any past crimes they may have committed (crimes by the standard of the Blue Grith, not the authorities). Once they have done this, they are granted their powers.

Individual anveshaks have powers that are usually circumstantial:

Sensing injustice: their bones resonate when active injustice is played out near them and as a faint buzz when they are near major, ongoing injustices. They learn to ignore the background injustice of Haenor's capitalist society, but specific acts resonate deeply.
Stunning rope : if a target is caught in their rope and is truly believed to be a source of injustice, their rope will stun them into insensibility at command.
Just speed: street guardians can give themselves higher reaction, but it will slow them down later, depending on the bonuses they apply. The higher the bonus, the quicker the come down, capping at +6 for one round of combat, -6 the next.
Yellow spark: a brief spray of sparks of yellow energy stuns all alleged perpetrators within 30' of a street guardian after they leap into a fray. This may only be used on the first round of combat, and only if they approach the combat from more than 10' away.
Principled determination: if questioning a witness, person of interest, or perpretrator, they gain +3 intimidation or persuasion, but -3 to all other PRS rolls.
Inquisitive aura: while engaged in an investigation, they may give themselves +3 PRS or +3 AWA for the sake of any roll involved in the investigation at the cost of -3 to the other stat for up to five minutes.
Targeted focus: if there is someone they are tracking or seeking who has perpetrated an act of injustice (or they earnestly think they have), they may gain +6 to tracking or finding them at the cost of -6 to any roll not related to the tracking.
Answering the call: the street guardian may give any oppressed, exploited, or abused individual or member of the Blue Grith their code name, and if that code name is called out, they will hear it anywhere within the territory of the Blue Grith and be able to move toward it with triple their normal speed. This will work only once until they can get a full night's rest afterward. If another calls them, they will hear, but they will not have the speed to answer.
Righteous strike: street guardians use metal knuckles as weapons, and if they are fighting a perpetrator of injustice, these knuckles will burn with yellow flame that gives them +3/+3 more to stun/wound.
Voice of judgment: if they have captured a perpetrator of injustice and bound them, they may call upon the power of judgment and lay a geas upon them that they must fulfill to be redeemed.

Street guardians are elite fighters for justice within the Blue Grith, the protectors of the many members, and investigators. When someone is brought to the Blue Grith for judgment, it is elder street guardians, often retired, who serve as judges.

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

Synvaka

Synvakas are empowered by the rules of the Red Grith itself. To become a synvaka, they must submit themselves to the higher ups of the Red Grith for approval. Then they must go into a sanctum of the Red Grith and wait. The shortest wait is seven hours. The longest is six days. During that time, either another synvaka will arrive and place their hand on the shoulder of the candidate, a Red Grith officer will call the name of the candidate to name them as worhty, or the time will pass and no reaction will occur in order to mark the candidate as unworthy. If this happens, they may try five more times, once per year.

While in the sanctum, their worthiness is tested internally, as the magic of order will tempt them, challenge them, and test their knowledge. None of this is visible to outsiders, but eventually, a synvaka or leader of the Red Grith will be informed by magic of the success of the candidate. The method of choosing is determined by practical circumstance: if there is a local synvaka in a position to train a new synvaka, they will be called to do so; if not, they will be on their own to train as per the rules of the Red Grith.

Training takes six months, much less than other wielders of order magic, because they are hampered by being criminals. They must study the rules of the Red Grith and be tested upon them. To graduate to a full synvaka, the candidate must spend six days in meditation upon the rules, stand up to a series of combat tests, and then be tested on difficult situations by their mentor. If the mentor views them as worhty, they are given their club and knuckles and a jurisdiction.

The role of the synvaka is to enforce the rules of the Red Grith. They are vigilantes to police the criminal organization on the basis of its own rules. Thus, they gain certain powers to do that:

Invocation of the code: if they speak ritual words during combat with a violator, they can bind them with a magical red rope of energy.
Street judgment: if they find someone guilty of a violation and they have no uncertainty on the matter, they can impose judgment then and there, magically placing a geas on them to redeem themselves or face painful punishment (including possibly death).
Red shield: if they are defending a member of the Red Grith against a violator, they gain bonuses to PRO and STR during the combat.

Other powers may be possible under specific circumstances. Consult the GM.

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

Topic revision: r1 - 07 Jun 2025, SallyJaneBlack

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