Dedication
This book is dedicated to all of the
people who put up with me through the
entire process. For my kids who gave me
the determination to finish strong. To my
mom who was a constant boost to mo-
rale whenever I needed one. To Christine
without her hard work this project would
simply not exist. For Jake, who told me
I’m really ill as fuck - and his coming ar-
rival. Finally, to those I lost along the way.
It’s been a long ride. Thank you all.
Credits
Author: Ray Machuga
Art: Regis Demy, Daniel Hidalgo, Jesh-
ields, Shaman’s Stockart, Ekaterinya
Vladinakova, Grzegorz Pedrycz, Joyce
Maureira, Lawrence Van Der Merwe
Kickstarter Heroes
Thanks to: Noël, Matthew Taylor, Ian
McFarlin, Praxidicae, Andres Zanzani,
O. C. Dudley, Chris George, The Roach,
Matthew Rabideau, Benjamin Welke,
Matt Holden - Indie Game Alliance, Raf
Bressel, The Rangdo of Arg, Adam Whit-
comb, Byron Reynolds, Kfir Mazuz, Zach
Tartell, James Porter, Andreas Timel, Di-
ego Silva Drumond, Christopher Dean,
Antifnity, Michael Charlton, Daniel Arm-
strong, Njall, Stephen Mortimer, Julie
LaRoux, Pekka Poukka, Jacob D. Proctor,
Earl Scott Nicholson, Clint Williams, An-
drew Bennett, SE Weaver, Gallant Knight
Games, Michael “Maikeruu” Pierno, Phillip
McGregor, Dom Hero Ellis.
Special Thanks
I’d like to personally thank Steven
Cummings who was indispensable in
ensuring the accuracy of this book and
endured my endless questions even
during American hours.
Thanks, Steven!
Additional Jazz
Some artwork courtesy of artwork ©
2016 DANIEL HIDALGO, used with per-
mission. All rights reserved.
Some artwork courtesy © 2015 Dean
Spencer, used with permission. All
rights reserved.
Warsong © Higher
Grounds Publishing.
All rights reserved. Re-
production without per-
mission of the publisher is express-
ly forbidden except for purposes of
reviews and blank character sheets
which may be reproduced for personal
use only. Character names, places and
text herein belongs to Higher Grounds.
Check out Higher Grounds online at
www.highergroundsgames.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Proving Ground 5
Chapter One - Setting 13
Chapter Two - Character 67
Chapter Three - System 91
Chapter Four - Traits 135
Chapter Five - GM’s Toolbox 229
Chapter Six - The Link 269
Chapter Seven - Destiny 283
Chapter Eight - Magic 293
Chapter Nine - Equipment 339

3
Akamine Ishii did not have time to
check the damage to the stone walls
behind him but he could hear the
crash of the super-compressed plas-
ma as they struck with thunderous
force. The concussive blasts sent
shards of granite spraying outward
in all directions. The sound of the
debris falling to the ground was ac-
companied by the high-pitched whir
of the plasma cannon recharging in
order to unleash another succes-
sive barrage. The machine could fire
shots with incredible accuracy but at
the distance in which Ishii was forced
to fight, the cannon didn’t need ac-
curacy in order to break his bones
with even a glancing blow.

Ishii knew that coming to this place

was stupid. The machines of this
area were hostile but, worse yet, they
possessed far superior firepower that
the Akamine family held in the Toki-
gi region. While the Akamine family
desired nothing more than retribu-
tion for the lands stolen in the treaty,
Akamine’s soldiers were little more
than villagers with farm tools. In the
eyes of Ishii, this meant they were in-
nocent. They deserved the protection
of the Tiger Clan and, Ishii thought,
if his family would not fight for them
then he would.

Ishii felt the sting of his family’s

dishonor worse than anyone else in
his House. His family grew fat on rice
and beef while the villagers labored
and toiled. When he was a child, Ishii
would see dignitaries of the other
clans visit their House during their
travels. Many of these dignitaries
would mock and ridicule the Aka-
mine in their own home. Every word
of disrespect against his father and
every hand raised against his moth-
er only served to increase Ishii’s fury
and hatred.
“Our dishonor is great, my son.” His
father would say. “We must endure
all of this with quiet dignity, as is our
way. Do you understand?”
Ishii may have understood the code
of silence, but he refused to agree
with the way things were. He would
lie to his father for his own sake,
and endure his own anger in silence.
When Ishii turned fifteen, he left his
home under the cover of night. Forg-
ing his father’s signatures had be-
come second nature to Ishii and he
had seen enough traveling papers
from visiting dignitaries to copy one
well enough. His destination was the
Celestial City. Akamine Ishii wished
to become a soldier of the Celestial
Legion. Ishii had spent enough time
under his cousin’s sponsorship as
an engineer. Ishii wanted to fight.
Ishii wanted revenge for the misery
that the machines had brought to his
family. More than anything else,
Ishii wanted to show the other clans
that the Akamine family was strong.
Ishii was a trained soldier. He prac-
ticed his family’s combat techniques
with fervor, causing him to wonder
how the machine was able to come
so close to striking him so often. As
Akamine Ishii tried desperately to
avoid being struck by the synth’s new
volley, he was able to recognise the
upgrade the synth was using to inter-
face with the cannon. It was using a
model t-19 Akamine optic lens, de-
signed for targeting interface with the
plasma cannon it was using. His fam-
ily’s own make.
Ishii seethed with anger.
Another blast from the plasma can-
non surged toward Ishii, striking only
the shadows behind him. The con-
cussion from the blast rippled against
his skin and an aura of golden fur
bristled against the gust from the
blast. Ishii moved swiftly along the
southern wall as whirring, metallic
blasts of semi-automatic fire pulsed
behind him and sent blasts of stone
flying once more, leaving deep goug-
es in the wall after every step.
He had managed to avoid direct con-
tact with the cannon’s plasma so far,
but he could feel himself beginning
to fatigue. This fight had gone on
too long. Humans tire. Muscles lose
strength. The mind begins to falter
under the weight of the stress. Aka-
mine Ishii knew it was only a matter
of time before only unlucky footfall
would spell death. Akamine knew it
was only a matter of time before one
hit him. He had to form a plan.
One. Two. Three. Akamine Ishii
counted the rounds in quick succes-
sion as they smashed into the walls
surrounding them.
Four, five and six. The speed of the
crashes behind Ishii were nearly im-
possible to keep track of. Seven,
eight, nine. Pulses crashed toward
him with unrelenting precision. His
muscles ached and his mind reeled.
Blood streaked down his forehead
and into his eyes from a glancing
strike. The tenth shot missed, strik-
ing the shadow that remained in his
stead as he moved but the synth’s
code updated and new algorithms
produced data on his next move. The
Eleventh shot didn’t strike directly
7
but the concussion caused a single
misstep that created an opening for
the twelfth pulse to slip past his de-
fenses and slam into his center mass.
He could feel himself rise from his
feet as if in slow motion. Akamine
Ishii slammed into the wall behind
him with enough force to crack stone.
His body slumped downward in a trail
of smeared Tiger Clan blood. Dizzied
by his injuries, Akamine Ishii could
hear the high-pitched whirring of the
pulse cannon as it reloaded.
Akamine Ishii grinned even as the
synth took a step toward him and
aimed the whirring cannon directly at
the slumped, motionless man. Ishii’s
hand slid along his lap. Through the
pain, Ishii found a reserve of strength
in his anger. His fingers curled
around the hilt of his father’s blade.
Now, it was his turn.
 Warsong Second Edition is a Sengoku
Punk game set in Lemuria - a very distant past
so removed from our history that it feels like
the future. Traditional beliefs combine with
futuristic ideas. Threats push in from all sides.
The threat of sentient technology is everwhere.
The parasitic vampires lead armies of undead
in the north. Beyond the Gates of the Protec-
torate are the strange and chaotic outwalkers
that exploit the gate’s weaknesses and ravage
the protectorate. While the Divine Legion of
the protectorate fights to hold back dangers
from the outside, the biggest threat to the em-
pire looms from the inside.
WHAT IS SENGOKU PUNK?
“Now the city you knew has become an empty
moor from which the skylark rises while your
tears fall.”
- Onin Ki
Sengoku is a period of Japanese history
between the 15th and 17th centuries that was
outlined by social upheaval, political intrigue
and near-constant conflict. The beginning of
this age was catalyzed by the Onin War and
marked it as a time of warring nations. It is also
known to have been the bloodiest time in Jap-
anese history. The age of a country at war fits
neatly in line with the themes brought about by
Warsong Second Edition. The clans fight long
and bitter wars to determine who
will take the throne while threats loom from
all sides. The word punk brings about the idea
of revolution and ugliness that marks this time
in Lemurian history. The people have begun to
revolt, questioning the leaders who, instead of
guiding their loyalists through these timultu-
ous times, have begun to divert funds from the
well-being of the people into warfare and pol-
itics. The people go hungry while blood of the
clans is shed. The word punk brings about the
idea of social disorder and the threat of dysto-
pia that looms over the once-beautiful Celes-
tial City.
Sengoku Punk describes a time of war-
fare and bloodshed both within the futuristic
capital cities as well as the rural farming villag-
es as well as everywhere in between. The phrase
describes the state of current day in Warsong
perfectly. Paradise has been lost. In its place
stands monuments of war and loss. The people
struggle to survive as heavy boots destroy their
fields. Not a soul in Lemuria could hope to un-
derstand a life without violence.
WHAT IS A ROLEPLAYING GAME?
A roleplaying game is an interactive,
cooperative experience between multiple
participants. It is a board game without the
board, where the contents, actions and situa-
tions all occur within your own imagination.
It is an interactive game of make-believe with
its own set of rules to keep things fair. The goal
is not to win, as there are no real winners in a
roleplaying game. Instead, the primary goal of
a roleplaying game is to have fun. The objec-
tive is to tell an epic tale, and give life to the
story and its characters. Each player will take
on the role of a single character except one,
who is designated the Game Master (“GM” for
short). Each character that the players control
acts as the main character in her own story.
These characters are known as Player Char-
acters (“PC” for short) and they are the stars
of the game. The player has complete control
over what their character does, how they feel
and how they react to the world around them,
including the situations they find themselves
in as presented by the GM. The rules you will
find in this book define how the player creates
a character as well as what they are capable of
doing inside the game. These rules are referred
to as mechanics. After the characters have been
created, the GM is responsible for presenting
the world as well as the adventures that the
characters will embark upon. The GM de-
scribes events, encounters, battles as well as lo-
cations, supporting cast, non-player characters
(NPCs for short). For example, the GM may
tell the players that their characters have been
gathered together as a part of a tournament de-
signed to earn honor and glory for their clans
or that the characters are a part of a scouting
mission
9
designed to assist the Celestial City cartog-
raphers into reassignment of the boundaries
of the known Shadowlands of the north. In
essence, the GM may present any number of
circumstances and antagonists for the charac-
ter’s to struggle against. The GM also controls
the flow of play, helps the game progress and
grow, interprets the rules and decides how
individual events play out. The GM is not
against the players, however. It is the GM’s
role to make the game challenging and fun,
and to build a story along with the players.
Warsong Second Edition presents a fan-
tasy setting unlike anything you’ve ever seen.
At the same time both apocalyptic and grim
as well as hopeful and legendary. With lots of
great story hooks, grand-scale warfare and dan-
gerous magic that is world-shakingly powerful
and imminently dangerous. This is a game that
can take you along any path you want to take.
As a GM, you can run high tech stories filled
with vast technologies, artificial intelligence
and guns, or you can delve into a land not un-
like that of feudal Japan, where technology is
scarce and run games based on honor duels
and slave rebellions and everything in between.
You can run a game of grim fantasy where the
threat of apocalyptic world war looms on the
horizon, a game of horror where the undead
threat has ravaged the Outlands and threatens
to push through the Gate. Warsong gives you
a setting where you can play the kind of game through the story, and the stories change as
that you want to play. A game of epic struggles choices are made. Every choice has a conse-
and violent combat. Of world-shaking magic, quence, and a rippling butterfly effect as free
spirit servants and technology brought to life. will of the characters affects the entire world.
Warsong can be whatever you want it to be. It When someone tries to do something that they
is a setting that allows you to explore the sto- aren’t sure will succeed or fail, it’s time to roll
ries that truly interest you, and play the kinds the dice and let fate decide what happens next.
of characters that allow you to have a fun game. This book uses and expands on the Fate Core
System rules. We’ve added interesting equip-
The massive supercontinent of Lemuria ment and armor, powerful artifacts, relics of
is divided into five major sections, each ruled the Primordial Powers, dangerous sorcery and
by a single, dying emperor who has secluded spellcasting as well as step-by-step character
himself to his death bed. The Clans, Tribes and and campaign creation.
Nations have labored under the geas of a mag-
ical peace treaty that has since dissolved un-
der the senility of the Grand Emperor, leaving
the Factions teetering on worldwide turmoil.
The Ancient Viziers, True Ancestors and Pri-
mordial Powers have disappeared, taking the
Emperor’s Immortality and the nations’ fragile
peace along with them. The glacial ice floes of
the north advances southward along with the
armies of the dead as the life-giving sun has
begun to recede and fade away, leaving less
and less land available for farming and settling
while more and more land becomes inhospita-
ble and barren. Ashes fall from darkened skies.
The end seems truly nigh.

You and your friends will collectively tell

a tale set in the world of Lemuria. You’ll make
decisions for your characters as they move
11
Chapter One

SETTING

13
WHAT IS LEMURIA?
Lemuria is a fictional super-con-
tinent where a large civilization called
the Protectorate rests. At the heart of
this civilization is the Celestial City,
ruled by the Grand Emperor of Jade
whose whereabout are currently un-
known. Lemuria is a land where the
Great Clans composed of ancient, di-
vine families rule individual nations
under the guidance and law of the Em-
peror’s divine word. It is a land where
samurai do battle alongside soldiers
donned in power armor, wielding
blade and firearm against enemies
of the Blight, the undead Neverborn
hordes and even the Lost Clans.
It is a land where dangerous
spellcasters advance their power and
artificial intelligence fights for free-
dom and equal rights. It is a land tee-
tering on the edge of worldwide civil
war under the weight of an absentee
ruler. Lemuria is a land full of vio-
lence and strife, beset on all sides by
enemies innumerable. It is a land of
honor and magic, mystery and terror.
The people know that grim times lay
ahead, should no one step forward to
light the way in the encroaching dark-
ness.
THE WHEEL OF TIME
Lemuria as we know it is not the
only world that has ever existed. Nor
will it be the last. It is impossible know
how many iterations of this world have
come and gone. Each world spanned
across eons and millennia of time. They
produced countless races and civiliza-
tions that rose to the apex of their own
orld and then either fell to the ravag-
es of time, vanished, ascended, trans-
formed or were somehow destroyed.
In their time, each civilization reached
their pinnacle of power and developed
technologies that allowed them to tra-
verse past the stars and modify their
own evolution. They became the mas-
ters of their own fate before the Wheel
Of Time demanded their dissolution
and moved into a new hour.
While remnants of the previous
cycles are sometimes be found, it is
often beyond the capability of even
the smartest AI, philosopher or sci-
entist to discern their origin or mean-
ing. Simply put, the previous cycles
were too distant and alien to our own
to discern their secrets, let alone un-
derstand them. Still, some knowledge
of the previous cycles can be gleaned
from the dust of fossilized remains
and even vaporized in the very air we
breath. In the grains of iron sand in
the southern desert lie the pulverized
remains of the ancient guardian gem
statues. All along the southeastern
shores, the sand sparkles with lumi-
nescence as a callback to a time when
luminescent glass spheres dotted the
waves.
The Wheel of Time is the idea
of an eternal cycle of existence, de-
struction and nonexistence. While a
segment of time on the Wheel is far
longer than even the oldest vampire
can discern, the philosophy breaks
up the wheel into thirteen ages. Each
Age is heralded by specific events and
conditions. Those who ascribe to this
philosophy, such as the Anek, have
determined that Lemuria currently ex-
ists in the Age of Wood. What is to fol-
low is the age of fire, a time when the
world will be engulfed in flames and
approach the last age when a demon
tyrant will rule Lemuria and ensure its
complete and utter destruction. In the
thirteenth hour, non-existence will
come. This will mark the end of the
current cycle, and the beginnings of a
new one.
The Anek philosophy of the wheel
also comprises fragments of time that
are more easily measured. These
15
fractals of time also come in cycles, and
assist measurements of celestial time.
They also confer a belief in reincarna-
tion, where those that die have a part
of their souls re-enter life as some-
thing new in Lemuria. It is thought, for
example, that the Jade Emperor has
ascended to his status by one-hun-
dred thousand reincarnations in which
he rose from a single blade of grass to
his current, divine form. It is a process
that is believed to occur not just in all
of mankind, but in every living thing
that exists in the world.
PEOPLE OF LEMURIA
As the most common sentient
being in Lemuria, mortal humans are
often overlooked in the grand scheme
of things. Most do not possess ex-
traordinary or supernatural qualities
and indeed, many are content with
their lot in life. They thrive under rou-
tine and sometimes even mediocri-
ty. It takes a very rare human indeed
to want to leave a relatively safe and
secure way of life to take up a life of
battling for the future, try to divert
the river of fate, or affect the Wheel of
Time.
This is flawed thinking.
 Humans possess a free will that
can never be broken. They may not
know it, but mortals are single-hand-
edly the most powerful force upon
destiny and the wheel of time. From
the most mundane warehouse work-
er to the elder clan lords, each mor-
tal has a place in history and is capa-
ble of causing great ripples that echo
throughout time. This power is an in-
escapable link to Lemuria. One human
act can change all of history. Without
humanity, Lemuria would simply not
exist.
GEOGRAPHY
Lemuria is massive, yet it feels
very small for those that wish to rule
it. The geography is expansive and
diverse, filled with rolling plains and
rugged mountains to tropical islands
and frozen tundra. Just as with the ge-
ography, the climate differs depend-
ing on where in Lemuria you are lo-
cated. The further north one travels,
the colder it becomes and the lands to
the south are the hot, barren wastes
of desert until the ocean is reached. this massive, parched, black desert
There are several notable fea-
tures within the lands of Lemuria. One
of the most notable is the Spine Of The
World, which is a great mountain
range that cleaves the Jade Empire -
The Protectorate straight down the
middle. Near-center from northwest
to southeast the Spine acts as a nat-
ural border between the Fire Nation,
Metal Nation and Earth Nation and a
few minor outliers.
Several minor passes exist
throughout the mountains, with one
major path on the southwest side of the
southern range. Near the beginning of
The Protectorate, a pass once existed
on the Northern quadrant within the
borders of the Shadow Nation, but this
pass was destroyed during the Venom
Wars. The machinations of the Weav-
ers opened a new pass in the south
after wiping the Shadow Nation from
their previous home.
To the far south is the Desert Of
Iron Sands. It is a barren wasteland
composed of the pulverized remains
of an ancient civilization. Once, there
were great towers made of rough
metal. They have been destroyed by a
long-forgotten war and ground to dust
by the depredations of time. Beyond
are paradisical civilizations that enjoy
the isolation from the Empire that the
d desert to their north provides. While
still demanding tribute and tax, the
Protectorate nominally ignores any-
thing past the bleak, burning wastes
of the Iron Sands.
Crawling southward along the
northwestern section of Lemuria is
the massive August Red forest. Vast
and primal, August Red is the home
of civilizations who must contend
with threats from all directions. From
the undead hordes at their north to
the strange, inhuman creatures that
roam its entirety such as the Shining
Ones and the Shifter Tribes. Amidst
the canopy of these mile-high trees
is the tree-dwelling Monkey Clan who
have built their homes above the for-
est floor to avoid the more common
threats that prowl the forest at night.
To the far north, kilometers
beyond the last outpost of the Em-
pire, lies a threat that the Empire can-
not ignore - The Shadowlands. These
stark, lifeless areas are the terrifying
domain of the undead horde, ruled by
the vampiric Covenant of Skulls whose
throne resides in the dead capital city
of Stygia. Once, in a previous age in
the Wheel Of Time, Stygia was a vast,
technologically advanced nation. Sty-
gia, whose true name has been lost to
time, fell eons ago.
When Karstein Reij shed his

17
mortal coil and became the first vam-
pire, it was an act that opened a wound
in the lands of the living and tore the
gauntlet between the living and the
dead apart. With it, the great city of
the damned rose up from its grave.
At the center of Stygia is the
massive Castle Karstein that stands as
a spire silhouette against the contin-
uous gray-noise skies of Stygia. The
wound created when Karstein became
a vampire festered and became infect-
ed, opening the Yawning Pit that rests
around the castle and spreads outward
into vast caverns of the undercity. The
Yawning Pit spawns hordes of undead
to plague the Protectorate and gives
necromancers their first real taste of
power.
THE NATIONS
Lemuria is divided into political
sections called nations. Each nation
is ruled by the Grand Jade Emperor.
Directly beneath the Emperor are the
Jade Lords. There is one Jade lord for
each divided boundary on the mas-
sive super-continent of Lemuria. Each
Faction serves the Grand Emperor, but
is in itself composed of several clans
ruled over by the Feudal Lord of that
massive expanse of land. Each nation
is divided and designated by its ele-
mental pole. The five elemental poles
are Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth.
The people of hese nations have be-
come attuned to that particular ele-
ment. It shapes their philosophy and
their way of life.
The defining line between clan
and nation is blurred at best. Essen-
tially, a clan is a family that is given
noble standing and title within the
borders of a nation. A clan is a na-
tion’s rulership, and the clan lord is
the highest ranking member of a giv-
en clan within a nation. More than one
clan lord may exist through Lemuria
and, by title alone, they are of equal
rank in lands outside of their own. If,
however, one lord visits another lord’s
territory, the ruler of that territory is
considered to be of higher rank if by
nothing more than respect alone. At
their head are the Jade Lords.
THE CLANS
Once, the clans existed in a state
of superficial harmony that stood upon
the forcible edict of the god emperor
and divine writ. Through his blood the
emperor demanded that the
Protectorate’s people see a collective
of harmony. Punishment for breaking
this edict was often harsh and some-
times even cruel. Wounds were to be
licked in private, for fear that both
parties would suffer the consequenc-
es.
Clans have their own form of
honor. These traditions have survived
through the technological advance-
ments into the present day. While each
form of honor is unique to that clan,
many tenets overlap. Their founders
having been siblings, each clan once
represented and shared in a famil-
ial bond. They served the emperor
with unwavering loyalty, and unified
against the many threats that faced the
Protectorate. With time, those bonds
faded until little was left of them but
tradition and code. Once, there were
19
innumerable clans spanning the face
of Lemuria. As time wounds all heels,
many clans fell to bankruptcy, political
maneuvering, loss of land and even
violence. At least one clan has fallen
prey to superior technology, and yet
another faded away simply by virtue of
failing to keep up with advancements.
Within recent memory, the number of
Great Clans still loyal to the emperor
and the Chrysanthemum Throne has
been reduced to a mere seven.
MINOR CLANS
With their numbers ranging in
multidudes, the number of minor
clans far outweighs the great clans in
sheer number. The minor clans suffer
a horrible fate. Their seat within the
Council is forever lost, and their name
is erased from history forever. They
fall out of the emperor’s favor, and
any land the emperor once allotted
to them becomes revoked. Many fall
prey to their bretheren while others
find a way to remain.
THE GREAT CLANS
Seven clans rule the nations. At
the heads of each clan is a Clan Lord
Shogun, who retains a seat within the
Council of Lords in the Celestial City.
Within each nation is the Shogunate
Council, a group of high status mem-
bers of clans who reside in anoth-
er clan’s territory in order to act as
representatives and diplomats. The
Council is lead by a Shogun who is
chosen by the nation’s clan lord. The
Samurai caste are warlords and gen-
erals that have obtained high status
as nobility within each nation. Below
them are the citizens. Laborers, mer-
chants and other workers who keep
the Protectorate running smoothly.
Last in light are the rightless slaves.
POLITICAL STRUCTURE
The Celestial City is the crowned
jewel of Lemuria. Resting at the heart
of the continent, the Celestial City is
a sprawling megalopolis with a
population of over sixty million. The
city is the center of rulership for the
Protectorate and the clans that rule it.
The Celestial City is a hub of technol-
ogy and magic, housing the largest
libraries and technological facilities
in the entire continent. At the height
of rulership in the Celestial City is the
Grand Emperor of Jade. Below the seat
of his throne is the Council of Lords
who act as advisors and congress di-
rectly beneath the throne. With the
Emperor missing, the Council of Lords
have begun enacting plans to ensure
that one of their own will ascend to
the throne.
At one time in the not-so-dis-
tant past, the Jade Emperor main-
tained the peace with his divine writ
and word. No lord dared to disobey
the peace demanded by the Chrysan-
themum Throne for fear of retribution
to both themselves and their clan.
Retribution would come in the form of
retaliation from the other clans. The
offending clan being stripped of land
or finance and their resources being
turned over to the wounded clan as
recompense.
If the grievance was truly great,
the punishment might come from the
emperor himself. Those who would
fight amongst one another were care-
ful, acting in secrecy to ensure that no
evidence could link them to the breach.
Today, the peace is slowly break-
ing down. Having left no successor and
naming no heir to the Chrysanthemum
Throne, the Emperor has all but guar-
anteed war upon his disappearance.
Every day, that grim eventuality comes
a little closer to becoming reality.

21

カニ
THE CRAB CLAN
Stout in build and gruff in personality,
the Crab Clan are the defenders of the Fac-
tions. Due to their often immense size and
hard manners, those of the Crab Clan are often
given wide berth at gatherings. Their extensive
training does not include social niceties, and
they are often silent during diplomatic meet-
ings, only speaking when something absolutely
must be said. They see themselves as the first
and last line of defense against any and all en-
emies of the Emperor and the Nations and, es-
pecially, their Clan. This fact places a large reg-
iment of the Crab Clan at the northern gates
to act as a shield against the undead horde and
their vampiric masters.
Of the Clans, the Grand Emperor looks
upon the Crab Clan as among its most loyal
vassals. While their curt demeanor and crass
mannerisms might have dignitaries, nobles
and diplomats turn away from them or con-
sider them a bit rude and overbearing, the
Lord of Water often finds himself in the hall
of the Grand Emperor as a trusted servant and
guardian.
NOTEWORTHY FAMILIES
• Fukiri: The Fukiri family values a bril-
liant mind above all things. The family is re-
sponsible for some of the Protectorate’s most
powerful defensive machines and aircraft.
They also produce incredibly skilled architects.
The family’s mons can be seen on much of the
beautiful architecture found within the Celes-
tial City. It was the Fukiri family that designed
The Link during the Machine war in an effort
to defend the Protectorate.
• Hataki: Swift and silent, the Hata-
ki family are premier scouts and bodyguards.
Their grace rivals that of the Crane Clan’s, and
their agility is a match for even the Scorpion
Clan. The Hataki family burdens themselves
with the task of scouting the frigid northern
undead. Recently, they have also taken it upon
themselves to scout against corruption and
akuma as well, a task that would lead anyone
else to death or corruption themselves.
• Shonjii: No family in any clan shoul-
ders so much of the burden of the Protectorate’s
defense as the Shonjii family. They are skilled
warriors and impeccable tacticians. Shonjii sa-
murai often look down upon the other samu-
rai for enjoying the protection of their family
while mocking the Crab Clan’s quirks.
23
Stereotypes
Crane: Our protection has served them
well over the years, but no force in Le-
muria could have saved them from them-
selves.
Dragon: A loyal dog will remain so until
death. A wild animal can never be fully
trusted. Tell me, Dragon. Which are you?
Monkey: We share a similar mentality.
They just have a smaller vision.
Scorpion: A good solution for a scorpion?
The heel of a boot.
Snake: Rigorous to the point of cruelty. I
see no reason to treat children in such a
manner.
Tiger: They shoulder the blame without
realizing that the weight is ours.
Low Clans: There is a reason for every-
thing, even if those reasons make no sense.
Vampires: If you prey on my people, you
will find you face the Crab in short order.
Shifters: Stay on your side of the fence and
I’ll stay on mine.
Viziers: Little else but children’s tales told
to children to keep them in line.
 THE CRANE CLAN
ツル
Once, the Crane Clan were the right hand of
the Grand Emperor. They were the nation’s
dignitaries and none could match their grace.
After the assassination of their Clan Lord, the
emperor who had, until now, shown nothing
but love and support for the clan, turned away
from the Crane. Their land was stripped from
them and shrank until there were only a few
small cities who still claimed fealty to the Crane
Clan. At one time, they were the ultimate con-
tributors of culture and dignity, producing the
most beautiful art and music Lemuria had ever
known. This is no less the case today.
Fewer and fewer appreciate the work of
a nation that is in a state of perpetual cold war
with the Five Factions and always on the de-
fense, regardless of how small a threat they ap-
pear. Seeking perfection in all that they do, the
Crane Clan are formidable warriors and diplo-
mats even though they would much rather deal
in favors than blood
NOTEWORTHY FAMILIES
Asunagi: The Asunagi are masters of
politics and have a keen understanding of the
social structure within the Protectorate. It was
the maneuvering of the Asunagi family that
retained their status as one of the great clans
even while the emperor turned his face from
them because of some unknown slight. They
have taken it upon themselves to oversee the
cities that their clan still rules, and to regain
their lost land.
Hirai: The Crane Clan places the blame
for the clan’s loss of their status among the
Council squarely on the shoulders of the Hirai.
As self-proclaimed pacifists, the Hirai abhor
violence in any form. They are always poised
and serene and seek alternative means to solve
conflicts that do not involve violence.
Suhato: The Suhato family is known to be
produce the most beautiful people within the
Protectorate due to a strict adherence to their
own breeding programs and standards. Their
family great value on excelling at their chosen
professions and tasks whether that be archi-
tecture, art, music, combat, war or something
else entirely. They value the beauty of a task
performed perfectly, and many of the cultural
traditions such as the tea ceremony, known as
Chanoyu, stem from the Suhato family.
25
Stereotypes
Crab: Many would call them graceless.
They do not realize that there is beauty
even in savagery.
Dragon: Action and inaction are sometimes
one in the same.
Monkey: Have you ever seen a monkey
standing on the falling red leaves of Au-
tumn?
Scorpion: And one day, the scorpion grew
wings and took flight.
Snake:To look into the eyes of the snake is
to see your own evils staring back at you.
Tiger: Immeasurable, pointless strength.
Low Clans: Do not underestimate the pow-
er of a single mosquito in your bedroom as
you try to sleep.
Vampires: What have we to fear from crea-
tures such as they?
Confederacy: The secret to our survival
may rest in their hands one day.
Viziers: That which has fallen may one day
rise.

リュウ
THE DRAGON CLAN
Loyal, wise beyond measure and a com-
plete mystery to outsiders, the Earth Nation
boasts the most well-balanced culture of any
other clan. They are grounded and stable. The
dragon clan members, especially those who
adhere to the Anek monkshood, seem to ex-
hibit strange powers that accompany their
body-covering tattoos.
Due to their intricate planning, the clan
rarely suffers the financial and military stresses
that the other nations tend to experience when
they overreach or make mistakes. The training
of the Dragon Clan is entirely personalized,
balanced between combat, spirituality and in-
tellectualism. The tutorship learns of the stu-
dent’s priorities and talents first, and shapes
the cirriculum to fit. The Dragon Clan has
based a vast amount of their own economics
and training standards of the original statutes
of the Grand Emporer. While the other nations
have strayed away from their duties, the Earth
Nation never did. While others see them as ar-
chaic and old fashioned, the Dragon Clan do
not hold such views.
NOTEWORTHY FAMILIES
Konishi: At the head of the Dragon Clan have a strong connection to their divine found-
rest the pious Konishi family. Oversight and er, and bear mystical tattoos that seem to give
leadership of the clan’s day-today operations as them their power.
well as its military rests on their strong shoul-
ders. This family places value on truth above
all things, and their ability to know when they
have been presented with lies has kept the clan
safeguarded against the predations of the oth-
er, more financially-oriented clans.
Shido: Almost unanimous in their per-
suit of perfection in warfare, the Shido family
values unique magical styles, thaumaturgy and
new forms of engineering and blacksmithing.
They use the unique perspectives of their fam-
ily to combine sorcery and bloodshed in new
ways. Their willingness to involve themselves
in violence keeps them at arm’s distance from
their family, and ensures that other clans view
them with fear and awe.
Yoshinoto: Equal parts religious order
and family, the Yoshinoto spend their lives in
seclusion and the persuit of englightenment
during their early years. Most emerge from
their family temples in their mid-to-late teens
to explore the world and endulge their schol-
arly persuits. Unlike other clan families, the
Yoshinoto accept other families and even cit-
izens and slaves into their number so long as
they are willing to undergo seclusion and
27
tutilage as their own children do. They seem to
Stereotypes
Crab: There is always use in those so eager
to meet death at the hands of those that
threaten us.
Crane: A pity, really.
Monkey: Our cousins to the east are best
left to their own devices.
Scorpion: Imagine if all that determination
could be applied to something useful.
Snake: If you lie with snakes, do not be
surprised when you become one.
Tiger: Allies in the court, yet enemies in
the field. Is that really where the battle
lines have been drawn?
Low Clans: Do you apologize to the grass-
hopper who falls underfoot as you walk?
Vampires: I have no time for wive’s tales.
Shifters: We have taken from them all that
we have use for.
Viziers: From what source does their pow-
er flow?

THE MONKEY CLAN サル
Lithe and dexterous, the Monkey Clan
certainly lives up to their moniker. Living in
towering forests and building their homes high
in the trees, the Monkey Clan are known for
their incredible balance and climbing abili-
ties. Due to this, their training typically relies
heavily on maneuvering through woodlands,
climbing sheer surfaces and preventing falls.
This makes them fantastic spies and incredible
athletes.
While loyal to the Grand Emperor, the
Wood Nation are feircely independent of the
other nations, seeing their homeland as sacred.
Many of the Monkey Clan have close spiritual
ties to the land in which they reside. They do
not often allow visitors in their lands with the
exception of diplomats and emissaries from the
other nations and even then, these visitors are
often seen as intruders. On such missions, re-
spect must be shown or severe penalties will be
exacted. Cutting down trees is a vital offense,
and can lead to the death of the perpetrator,
and their corpse being buried at the roots of
the felled tree in hopes that the body will nour-
ish the tree and it will regrow.
NOTEWORTHY FAMILIES
Tsushida: The Tsushida clan are the
figureheads of the clan, directing many of its
efforts with impeccable leadership. The fami-
ly, through virtue of their blood and early-age
training has close, mystical ties to their sacred
lands, spirits, shapeshifters and other beings
that live within it. To the Tsushida family, sa-
cred land takes priority, even above themselves
and their family.
Ueda: The strongest warriors of the
Monkey Clan arise from the ranks of the Ueda
family. They adhere themselves to the sacred
laws passed down from the Tsushida family,
and act as stout protectors of the sacred lands
in which they live. When their lands or people
are provoked, the Ueda family is known to en-
ter a kind of animalistic frenzy that can leave
entire legions scarred.
Yoshida: The survivalist mentality of the
Yoshiga family allows them freedom that even
other Monkey Clan families admire. Agile and
stamina beyond compare, this family main-
tains regiments of premier scouts and spies.
Through strict training methods, this family is
able to climb sheer walls without tools and sur-
vive in harsh environments without provision.
29
Stereotypes
Crab: They understand our sacred duty
more than most.
Crane: The skies do not belong to us. Ig-
nore them until they land.
Dragon: For all their concern of resourc-
es, they forget the source of all they have
gained.
Scorpion: Do they even remember ho they
are?
Snake: Every once in a while, the snake
needs to be reminded of its place in our
forests.
Tiger: Sharp claws and strong teeth are not
enough to rule.
Low Clans: Do not forget what we have
learned from their failure.
Vampires: Living or dead, they feed the
forests all the same.
Shifters: Respect given, respect earned.
Viziers: You can guide the river, but it may
not always listen.
 サソリ
THE SCORPION CLAN
The Scorpion Clans somewhat of a
boogeyman story that the citizens tell their
children in order to keep them in line. They
are a disparate faction, dedicated solely to the
purpose of assassination and covert operations
within the other Factions. When the peace
among the Five Nations was forged by the Em-
peror, the Scorpion Clan showed their disap-
proval by killing thousands of nationalists. The
rebellious slaughter was widespread. No one
was safe. Over the coming decades that fol-
lowed, the death toll dwindled. Like any oth-
er nightmare, they were eventually forgotten
about. The truth of the matter is that the clan
still exists in the very shadow of the ations that
they dispise.
The clan maintains a place within the
Council of Lords, but rarely attends to it. This
causes the other clans to wonder about their in-
tentions as the throne remains empty. Scorpi-
on spies within the other clan’s ranks are rarely
found, but when they are it is rarely a victory
for the clan that discovered the traitor. Instead,
their unearthing tends to simply solodify the
rumor that they’re still an active and deadly
member of the struggle for the throne.
NOTEWORTHY FAMILIES
Morishige: Entrenched in foul mysti-
Stereotypes
cism and dark bargains, the Morishige family
is reviled even by their own clan as suspected Crab: They think themselves our protec-
tors. Where were you when we needed
members of the akuma. In truth, the Morishige
you?
seek power in its own right and may be the
closest to attaining the throne than any other Crane: Our work is nearly complete.
family. They pursue magical and thaumaturgi-
cal endeavors, and have a keen understanding Dragon: Traitors! I’ll kill every damned one
of herbs, venoms and poisons. of you!

Monkey: Take not one step into their sa-

Sazama: The only family that operates in
the spotlight shed by the other clans, the Saza-
ma family are skilled courtiers, actors and pol-
iticians. They allow themselves and their fam-
ily to appear weak and dishonorable in order
to further their clan’s goals. Their acting skill
places many members of the Sazama family in
the ranks of the other clans as trusted mem-
bers.
cred lands.
Snake: You consider yourself strong? I
shall show you what strength truly is.
Tiger: You’re next.
Low Clans: Compared to what the loyalists
have done, our sins are pale in compari-
son.

Sugiyama: Coiled within the shadows Vampires: We know.

and waiting to strike, the Sugiyama clan uses
Shifters: We have no reason to pay them
any methods at their disposal in order to win attention. Our plans lie elsewhere.
their battles. They use deception and stealth to
perform their duties and consider it dishonor- Viziers: Imagine what we could do if we
able to allow their true family name to be re- only possessed that kind of power.
vealed to any outside the clan and sometimes
their own families.

31

THE SNAKE CLAN
ヘビ
The Snake Clan are feirce and passion-
ate creatures prone to anger and passion in
equal measure. Their homeland is a perpetual
desert with temperatures that rarely dip below
a light chill. Brash and often cruel, their train-
ing methods often involve torturous and exact-
ing techniques repeated to the point of break-
ing the student. These learning techniques are
called Pivu Huelligi.
As a child within the Snake Clan, train-
ing is not a matter of if you break, but when.
While the Snake Clan is not generally
seen as a loyal clan, they perform the legalities
of tribute, pay their taxes and have never been
caught attempting to spurn the Grand Emper-
or in any way. That is not to say that they are
wholly loyal.
The Snake Clan’s lord is ambitious to the
point of near-insanity, He attained his position
through being far more cruel and cunning than
his peers. This fact has given the Snake Clan a
terrible reputation, sometimes even rivalling
the Scorpion Clan’s infamy.
NOTEWORTHY FAMILIES
Ananda: The Ananda family has been
at the forefront of many technological break-
throughs in the field of medicine and agricul-
ture. While they focus on treating injury and
ailment, their medical expertise makes them
deadly opponents favoring surgical strikes that
immobilize their opponents. Their skill in poi-
sons is matched only by the Scorpion Clan.
They often oversee the birth and naming of
other clan infants if no clan physician can be
found.
Kurata: Coiled like serpents ready to
strike, the Kurata family embodies the Clan’s
Moniker. They are warriors and skilled tacti-
cians on the battlefield. Their youth is spent in
repetitive Pivu Huelligi tutelage designed to
bring the child to their breaking point so that
they may better understand their own lim-
itations. They value patience and observation
above the other family’s insistence on swift,
decisive action. This patience had made them
indispensable to the other families, who rely
on this patience to outmaneuver their foes in
political action.
Subata: The most militant family with-
in the Protectorate, the Subata family serve the
Celestial Legion in considerable number. They
possess fiery passions, making them subject to
ridicule while at the same time making them
33
a subject of fear. It is unwise to cross one of the
Subata as their retribution is always swift and
powerful.
Stereotypes
Crab: Every crab has a soft spot. All you
have to do is find it.
Crane: They have served their purpose.
Now, it is time to make way for new
growth.
Dragon: I find your aesthetics displeasing.
Monkey: You would fear our prey?
Scorpion: They believe they do their own
work. It is our pleasure to allow them to
continue along that path.
Tiger: One day they too shall be subjugat-
ed.
Low Clans: Who?
Vampires: Ignore them. When you find
them in your homes, slay them without
mercy.
Shifters: They know better than to step
foot in civilized lands.
Viziers: I have read the scrolls. Still, I find
no reason to believe that they are anything
more than folk tales.

トラ
THE TIGER CLAN
The Tiger Clan, mile for mile, has the
largest section of land but not because it was
given this, or because it was taken by force. The
Tiger Clan, while honorable and strong, excel
as strategists and politicians. Their emissaries
and diplomats tend to gain the upper hand in
negotiations, and in battle their tactics are dif-
ficult to outmatch.
While they do tend to get the upper hand
in most political situations, and have a strong
military with an advantageous industrial sec-
tor, they are also decisive and honorable and
are not, on the whole, mistrusted or disliked by
the other nations. Even those who are jilted by
their political maneuvering would find it diffi-
cult to launch an outright attack against them
due to their sheer number, military strength
and powerful technological advantages. While
they often come out ahead in most negotia-
tions, it is truly their honor that keeps the oth-
er clans at bay.
The tiger clan has their paws in nearly
every sector of industry within the Celestial
City and even within the Confederation.
NOTEWORTHY FAMILIES
Akamine: Leading the forefront of engi-
neering and architecture is the Akamine fami-
ly. Akamine place great value on the capability
of creating new feats of architecture, weaponry
or industry that stand the test of time, view-
ing it as its own version of immortality. It was
the Akamine family that initially designed The
Source. The Machine War between humans
and artificial life was placed squarely on their
shoulders, a dishonor that they might never
live down.
Matsui: It is said that no legion lead by
the Matsui family’s has ever known defeat. The
Matsui family is always calm and analytical,
choosing to take action only when they have
full knowledge of a situation. Matsui samurai
are widely feared. Where a Matsui samurai
walks, the other clans give wide berth.
Yasui: It is the Yasui family belief that
one can only improve on the present by study-
ing the past. As such, the Yasui family takes
pride in their massive libraries and showcase
ancient artifacts at any gathering they attend.
Their knowledge and love of history makes
them excellent strategists that are capable of
recognising almost any previously used tactic
from the battlefield to the throne room.
35
Stereotypes
Crab: They are worthy of all that we give
them.
Crane: Justice will come in the form of
claws and teeth.
Dragon: Leave them to their archaic ways.
Monkey: You have no claim to the lands
you seek to protect. Relinquish what is
owed.
Scorpion: It is not long until the blood you
have spilled becomes the mechanism of
your destruction.
Snake: Lowly upstarts grasping at a small
taste of power. Pity them.
Low Clans: We do not speak of them.
Vampires: There is no honor to be found in
kulking in shadows and fearing the light.
Shifters: We could stand to learn from
their ways. It is a pity that we cannot find
common ground.
Viziers: While I do not discount their exis-
tence, I have not the patience to chase this
particular shadow.
THE COUNCIL OF LORDS
The Council of Lords is com-
posed of clan nobility hailing from the
nations who have maintained fealty
to the Emperor. Within each group is
a single Lord from each clan who has
legal occupancy within that nation.
When enacting national law, each lord
has a say in what happens, but the Em-
peror has maintained absolute power
in decision-making for the entirety of
the continent, giving the Lords pow-
er over the individual laws within each
nation, so long as those laws do not
go against the laws laid down by the
throne. In return, each lord pays tax
and tithe to the Emperor and ensures
that the Celestial City’s coffers are full.
The Celestial Legion is strengthened
by clan offerings of tribute in the form
of newly of-age children to train and
fight for the Emperor.
The Lords each rule over their
own portion of their nation. When dis-
putes came, the Emperor was given the
final say in judgment in the argument.
With the emperor missing there is lit-
tle arbitration within each nation and
tensions have begun to build, threat-
ening to explode into outright warfare
at any moment.
PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION
Many subsects, philosophies and
religions are practiced throughout Le-
muria. Nomadic tribes and citizens
of the Outlands hold beliefs that tie
into ancestor and spirit worship, but
the recognised religion of the Celes-
tial City and the surrounding nations
is the Anek Philosophy, or the “View
of Many Facets.” Believers in the Anek
Philosophy state that the nature of
the world and the beings that creat-
ed it cannot be described in any single
statement. In addition, it attempts to
include the presence of supernatural
creatures and events as a part of their
belief system.
The Temple Of Stars is located
at the apex of the highest peak of the
Spine of the World. Many Anek Monks
seek a life in the temple because they
seek enlightenment and refuge from
the constant wars and politics with-
in the nations. Attaining the title of
monk can alleviate or even obviate
some crimes, so there are those who
have even sought refuge within the
monkshood in order to escape perse-
cution from the Celestial City. As such,
monks within the temple can be from
mortal or even supernatural heritage,
as the monks do not dismiss anyone
without good reason. While almost
anyone can join the order, outsiders
and outcasts do not typically climb to
the higher ranks of monkshood. Such
positions are held by those who have
already had high standing within the
Celestial City itself.
While the Celestial Legion, the
armies of the Celestial City fight wars
and protect the city and loyal na-
tions, the Temple of Stars maintains
a facsimile of a military force. While
not trained as soldiers outright, the
monkshood teaches that a sound mind
and soul rest in a sound body. Due to
this view, combat training and phys-
ical tests are a part of every monk’s
time in the temple. The Kanto Monks
train most heavily in subduing super-
natural threats instead of human ones,
but their expertise is an equal enough
match for just about any warrior.
At the head of the Temple
Of Stars is Jing De Hua. He is so named
because of the position of the head
of the temple at the Grand Emperor’s
side, maintaining the stance of peace
above war and mercy above cruelty,
which are two of the highest tenets of
the Anek Philosophy. This is not to say
that the temple is unable to fight. In
fact, even the lowest ranking
37
monks within the temple possess
combat training above and beyond the
rank and file of the Celestial Legion.
With the Emperor’s ear, the pow-
er of the temple is such that an offi-
cial repremand from the monkshood
is enough to disgrace even the high-
est clan lord. With the decline of the
Emperor, it is known that Ji De Hua
finds himself roaming the nations to
determine the spiritual status of the
nations, although his permanent res-
idence is a looming temple along the
arctic north face of the peak called the
Nirvana Spire, or colloquially, the Nee-
dle of Heaven.
THE HIERARCHY OF SOULS
Throughout the civilized world
and through all philosophies and reli-
gions, there are two common threads
that unify many of the fractured be-
lief systems and permeate the polit-
ical and social order of Lemuria. The
first belief is that gods, spirits, mag-
ic and other supernatural beings and
occurrences exist whether you choose
to believe in them or not. The super-
natural does not require the belief of
others in order to exist, and will make
itself known to those who actively re-
sist it. The second and most
important belief is that of the Hierarchy
of Souls. This tenet teaches that each
living thing is organized into a specific
order set in place by the mandated will
of the Architects. This hierarchy was
originally revealed to the Jade Emper-
or in the early days of the Tribe Wars.
The man who would become the em-
peror first bestowed these truths upon
his siblings who went on to use the in-
formation in order to become the first
Celestial Beings. Using the Jade Em-
peror’s bestowed knowledge, the di-
vine siblings rose to the apex of the
Hierarchy of Souls. The Jade Emper-
or went on to lead mankind, while the
others took their place in the Hierar-
chy, assuming rulership over the other
aspects of Lemuria.
The Hierarchy of Souls gave the
lords that founded each nation a rea-
son, perhaps even a religious right,
to create a caste system based on the
mandate set forth by the emperor and
the divine siblings. In so doing, the
lords removed themselves from this
Hierarchy of Souls. They considered
themselves direct descendants of the
Divine Siblings, and all citizens of the
Empire were beneath them. The Jade
Emperor would rule the whole of the
empire and the clan lords would rule
39
the individual nations as the Shogu-
nate. Each shogunate acting as a rul-
ing council of the High Clans, overseen
by a clan lord who would arbitrate and
possess decision making capabilities.
Beneath them were the daimyo, which
would have rulership over the indi-
vidual cities as members of the ruling
council beneath the shogun them-
selves. The daimyo became the top of
the Hierarchy of Souls, overseen by the
shogun clan lord. Beneath them were
the samurai, noble soldiers loyal to the
daimyo but, above all else, the samu-
rai are loyal to the clan lord Shogun.
Beneath the samurai were the citizens
- every day people who are business
owners, farmers and other skilled la-
borers who are able to produce tithe
and tax for the shogunate. Lastly are
the slaves.
REINCARNATION
It is widely accepted by Lemu-
rians that the soul is reincarnated
through many lives after death. This
belief goes all the way back to the Jade
Emperor’s initial teachings of the Hier-
archy of Souls. Over time, a soul accu-
mulates energy called karma through
the actions they take during their lives
which eventually allow that soul to
be reborn into a higher station.
Those who greatly sin in life must
relive their stations over again, or even
be reincarnated as a lower soul in or-
der to atone for their mistakes and ac-
cumulate enough karma to reach their
previous station. This belief teaches
samurai and soldiers from a young
age never to fear death, but embrace
it and live righteously. Death is merely
a passage to a better life.
THE EMPEROR’S CHOSEN
The Emperor’s Chosen are a
rare group of elite individuals from all
walks of life who occupy prestigious
and influential positions within the
Protectorate. They are, as their moni-
ker implies, chosen and appointed di-
rectly by the Jade Emperor himself to
serve as his royal court. While the em-
peror chooses who joins their ranks,
the sons and daughters of the chosen
are sometimes allowed to fulfill these
positions as tradition demands. This
has become especially common since
the emperor’s disappearance. The title
of Chosen moves down the line to the
eldest daughter or son of the chosen
upon their death.
The chosen are given rare privi-
lege. Even the lowest ranked chosen is
considered to be at least equal in po-
sition to the samurai in stature. Some
are even given a status equal to daimyo
or shogun, depending on their title as
well as their reputation.
The Jade Emperor, as a living
god, does not just bestow a title upon
these individuals. He also bestows
a fragment of his own power. In this
manner, the emperor can ensure that
his chosen are given their due respect,
and that they can each fulfill their ap-
pointed duties within the range of
their jurisdiction.
The constable holds office over
the enforcement of law and holds ju-
risdiction and rulership over judges,
police and other enforcers. The herald
is assigned the duty of spreading the
word of the emperor across all nations
and lands. The chancellor retains a
seat in any Shogunate Council it vis-
its, and may weigh in on any national
matter. The confessor is the royal in-
terrogator. The treasurer assesses tax
and ensures that the proper dues are
paid. The dean maintains jurisdiction
over the educational affairs of the em-
pire, including technology and devel-
opment. Finally, the chaplain ensures
that matters of religious affairs as well
as the Hierarchy of Souls is
maintained. There are two Chaplains,
one who works in ensuring the dead
remain buried, and the other to tend
to animistic spirits.
THE THOUSAND DRAGONS
The Empire of Lemuria is strat-
ified into a social order that mimics
the Hierarchy of Souls, and represents
all of the different categories of caste
and status. There is no greater honor
for a mortal to achieve than to ascend
to the heights of the celestial dragon
champions - warriors and exemplary
citizens who have proven their loyalty
to the people around them and their
own clans through courage, dedica-
tion and righteous action.
Each dragon champion has a
powerful soul fed by the belief of others
that ascends and shifts to the ranks of
spirits on the Hierarchy of Souls. This
spiritual ascension causes the hero to
manifest a physical representation of
her soul’s key virtue in the form of a
Dragon Jewel. This jewel is as much a
part of the hero who produced it as
her own blood and bones, and gives
the champion powerful abilities that
excel past the boundaries and limita-
tions of other mortals.
When the emperor ascended to
41
the Chrysanthemum Throne, there
were a myriad of different jewels as-
sociated with the champions. As their
moniker suggests, they were so-named
the Thousand Dragon Champions be-
cause it was said that there were one
thousand jewels that could be pro-
duced that represented the complexi-
ty of human virtue and understanding.
Today, that number has been reduced
to practical rarity. The reasons for this
reduction in the variety of Dragon Jew-
els are not known. The Dragon Here-
sy did lead to a purge that wiped the
champions from the face of Lemuria,
but did not reduce their variety. It only
reduced their number. Scholars make
note of a relationship between a de-
cline in the spiritual health of the Pro-
tectorate and a decline in the number
of dragon champions in Lemuria.
ORIGIN OF THE CLANS
The Grand Emperor of Jade is in-
credibly old and is presumed to be of
divine origins. He is the eldest broth-
er of the thousand divine siblings of
myth. Each sibling is said to be an an-
cestor of the original clan founder. Hu
is the founder of the Tiger clan. Pángx-
iè founded the crab clan. Hóu founded
the monkey clan. The snake clan was
founded by Shé. The dragon clan was
founded by Lóng. Crane was founded
by Qizhòngji and scorpion was birthed
from Xie.
When a clan loses their status or
proves disloyal to the emperor, that
clan is not only stripped of land, wealth
and prestige, but they are also strick-
en from all public record. The names
of a fallen clan’s lords and shoguns
are considered a curse, and their con-
tributions are removed from the Great
Library of the Celestial City. This is
said to redistribute the karma of the
clan among the remaining clans, and
is thought to be the ultimate dishonor
a clan could ever receive. Due to this
kind of punishment, it is unknown
whether the lesser clans were truly
founded by one of the divine siblings.
Still, if the spoken-word myth of the
rebel factions are to be believed,
many more lost clans still exist today.
Historians must speculate re-
garding the nature of the Jade Emper-
or and his siblings. It is unknown if the
siblings were truly of divine nature or
if the Jade Emperor gained his divine
status in another way. There is even
conjecture, with his disappearance,
that he is even divine at all. Still, there
is a story held by the Crane Clan called
the Phoenix Egg that most historians
earmark when speaking or writing on
the Emperor’s birth and ascension to
godhood. It is a story of a large family
born when the architects, dragons and
demons still ruled the earth and fought
over territories. It depicts the First And
Divine Siblings as the first real Lemuri-
ans. As the story goes, they carved out
a home from the rubble of the wars of
greater spiritual beings. Each sibling is
depicted in the original story, but the
story has been tailored by agents of
the Grand Emperor so that it no lon-
ger describes the whole truth. Instead,
only the Crane Lords know the story in
full and it is rare for them to share it,
even in part. Even when they do, their
status as a failed clan places all that
they say under scrutiny.
THE PRECIPICE OF WAR
One would think that a group of
ruling clans that are distant cousins to
one another would find a way to get
along better, but the truth is that any
memory of familial ties that the clans
may once had has been lost with time.
Old wounds still burn brightly.
In truth, each of the lords believe
that they would be the best fit to take
the Chrysanthemum Throne, and each
has different reasons for believing this
to be so. While the Jade Emperor had
kept a face of peace among the clans
for a millennia, the truth of the matter
is that wars have been secretly waging
for as long as the clans can remember.
They have simply been done in private.
This secret war has given rise to
an honor code among the clans re-
garding war and honor. The first in
this code of honor is the idea that
the Jade Emperor should never know
about any of the battles that occur un-
der his nose. Due to this, even hat-
ed foes who have been struck at great
cost to themselves, their military or
coffers would never think to appeal to
the Emperor for aid or succor and in-
stead would take their licks in silence,
never speaking once about the loss.
To suffer a loss in silence is
43
considered the greatest honor the los-
er can achieve.
This code of silence still reigns
supreme, even as the wars between
the clans becomes less and less se-
cretive.
THE CELESTIAL CITY
Nestled in the heart of Lemurian
civilization is the jewel of nations, The
Celestial City. Founded by the Jade
Emperor nearly six centuries ago, the
Celestial City is the hub of communi-
cation and the epicenter of all mod-
ern technology, including the central
hub server for the Link. The Bureau
Of Science holds the blueprints and
schematics for nearly all technolog-
ical marvels such as airships, power
armor, artificial sentience, The Link
and Chrys-Fire weapons. They exist at
the height of magical power as well.
The Five Towers, a centralized learn-
ing center for mages, finds its home at
the city’s borders, teaching those with
magical promise at the Academica Ar-
canum.
With all of this, one would think
that the city never lacks for wealth or
resource but the truth of the matter is
that while the clans plot against one
another, the coffers are being
systematically drained by the Council
to fuel their own not-so-secret wars.
While the Emperor lived, no Celestial
City mouth remained unfed and, at
the height of his primacy, homeless-
ness was at an all-time low with a sys-
tem of indentured servitude putting to
work any who found themselves with-
out food, work or money. With the im-
perial coffers drained, and food stores
dwindling, indentured servitude has
become little more than outright slav-
ery, and homelessness and disease
are at an all-time high.
Regardless of its growing prob-
lems, the Celestial City is a sight to
behold with sprawling architecture,
large water features and beautiful spi-
ralling towers that loom above the city
reflecting the golden sunlight onto
the newly designed automobiles and
aircraft that mingle with antique ag-
riculture trucks driving on brilliantly
paved streets below. Streets are lined
with elegant homes, curbside mar-
kets and large apartment complexes.
Overhead, passenger flights carry the
wealthy from their homes to and from
the city and fighter ships fly in forma-
tion training over the Air Base near the
horizon. Along the Golden Path lead-
ing toward the emperor’s castle are
rows of cherry trees that seem to con-
tinuously blossom in white, pink and
red hues. The city is truly spectacular,
but such beauty hides great turmoil.
BEYOND THE PROTECTORATE
Beyond the direct reach of the
Celestial City lie the Outlands. While
those living in the Celestial City and its
tributaries would be quick to call this
place a barren wasteland, the truth is
that many of the people who call this
place home are more than able to work
the land and create meaningful lives
for themselves.
Still, with freedom from the Em-
peror comes great risk. Not only are
they subject to military invasions from
the Celestial City, but settlements are
also vulnerable to raids from neigh-
boring cities, roving barbarians and
shifter tribes, nearby shadowlands and
their denizens and the ever-present
threat of the blight as it encroaches
closer to every living thing. Still, those
who value freedom and can defend
themselves and their family find these
dangers far superior than any safety to
be found from paying half their living
wage to clan lords who do not protect
or care about them.
THE CONFEDERATION
There is a large, independent
group who have forged their own al-
liances of trade and peace among
themselves within the Outlands called
the Thousand Nations Confederation.
Putting safety, freedom and collabo-
ration at the forefront, the Confeder-
ation has forged a loosely knit group
of cities and settlements that speckle
the Outlands. While the Outlands are
a truly wild place, the Confederation
has come to forge a home for them-
selves and their people in an expanse
of thousands of miles worth of grass-
land, mountain, tundra and sea.
Second only to their own inde-
pendence, the Confederation main-
tains an ordinance that any settlement
capable of forming a military should
do so, and that any threat to one set-
tlement is a threat to them all. Due
to this tight-knit organization and
the sophisticated communications
and transportation systems they have
built for themselves, all attempts by
the Celestial City to eradicate them or
even stem the flow of their resourc-
es has come up short. Some missions
still exist to route them, but for now
the Celestial City does little more than
place spies within their ranks. And
45
with the Emperor having disappeared,
covert operations in these regions
have dwindled to a few minor agents
who are all but forgotten.
THE SPIRIT WORLD
Lemuria is just one of many
worlds. Waiting just beyond the
gauntlet is the Spirit World. This world
overlaps with Lemuria but is altogeth-
er separate from it. The Spirit World
is like a dark mirror. The shadows
cast by Lemuria are alive in the Spirit
World. That which affects Lemuria also
affects the Spirit World in turn and vice
versa. They are separate yet irrevoca-
bly and intimately connected.
Due to the link between Lemu-
ria to the spirit world, Lemuria is an
animistic place where every object has
an energy or a spirit connected to it.
Everything that exists in Lemuria has
a reason for existing. When these ob-
jects are given enough purpose, im-
portance or energy then the spirits
reflected from those objects are giv-
en life on the other side of the gaunt-
let. This living energy results in spirits
that reside in and protect the Lemuri-
an objects that birthed them.
Objects are not the only thing
that is reflected in the spirit world.
Strong emotions and events can also
form their own reflections in the spir-
it world and spawn their own spirits
as well. Murder can create spirits of
pain and bloodshed, great storms can
spawn spirits of wind and rain that go
on much to live much longer lives than
the storms that created them. Areas of
intense battles and warfare can create
pocket locations in the spirit world
where violence occurs perpetually be-
tween the shadows of the soldiers who
took part in the slaughter.
Curiously, spirits exist that are
not reflections of objects, emotions
or events in Lemuria. Wholly separat-
ed from human concept or origin are
some of the most powerful spiritual
beings in the Shadow. These are beings
so old that they know no true origin.
If they had a moment of creation, they
have forgotten it. Stranger still are the
spirits who occupy abstract concepts
and vague emotions. These are alien
creatures that exist outside of the
current cycle on the Wheel Of Time,
yet somehow retain enough power to
live on in the spirit world without the
power it provides.
When the solar system was young
and Lemuria was in its infancy, the first
sentient, self-aware creatures to
47
exist were the Celestial Incarna and
the spirits they spawned merely by
existing. The celestial incarna are the
physical embodiment of celestial and
planetary bodies including Lemuria
and its three moons. The origins of
the incarna is subject to faith and phi-
losophy, but the evidence left by the
spirits that they spawned are tangible
and can be felt upon the world today.
The spirit world is the greatest evi-
dence of the presence of the celestial
incarna and their reverberating effects
on the modern world. Many scholars
view the Other Worlds, especially the
spirit world, as echoes of celestial in-
carna. Some believe that the strange
worlds beyond the gauntlet are mere-
ly spiritual echoes of previous worlds;
souls of incarna that have come and
gone with the Wheel Of Time.
THE SHADOWLANDS
Shadowlands are so named be-
cause they exist as a perpetual shad-
ow of life. Living things find it near-
ly impossible to thrive in these areas.
The Shadowlands are areas where the
veil between our world and the Un-
derworld - the realm of the dead, has
been thinned and eaten away, allow-
ing the realm of the dead to
overlap the realm of the living. The
underworld overlaps and reflects the
mortal world in many ways and in ev-
ery living location. Normally there is
a veil that separates the living world
from the underworld, but the shadow-
lands are effectively punctures in the
mortal lands where the living can en-
ter the underworld and the dead can
enter the living world.
The Shadowlands, dead as they
are, have become havens of refuge for
the living dead who have little inter-
est in residing in the mortal lands as
The Hunted. Undead of all kinds make
their home in these places and necro-
mancers who do not make their homes
in these places often make sacred pil-
grimages to shadowland sites in order
to learn and grow in power.
In the northern Outlands, further
from the Celestial City than almost
any other civilization, is the largest
known Shadowland. It is a land that
the people of Lemuria call Jianshi, and
is home to a city of the dead that rivals
the size and population of the Celes-
tial City itself. Its name is Stygia. It is
ruled by the vampires of the Cove-
nant of Skulls. Vampires belonging to
this sect have abandoned the ways of
mortals and embrace their true nature
as undead predator kings. The Celes-
tial City believes that it is this sect of
vampires that pose the greatest threat
to the mortal world from the lands of
the dead. In order to combat the men-
acing presence of the Covenant, the
Celestial Legion works with the Anek
monks to train special units in order to
deal with the menace that looms from
the Dead North. This unit is called the
Ðuat Tsi Sát and they are fearless de-
fenders of the living in the Dead North.
THE UNDERCITY
While the Celestial City in all of
its splendor is at the apex of tech-
nological advancement in Lemuria, it
would be a falsehood to say that it is
the most advanced location in all of
known history. Lemuria is not the first
civilization to exist, and philosophers
are certain that it will not be the last.
Many of the strangest and most
advanced workings of technolo-
gy manufactured in the Celestial City
came from the reverse engineering of
technology recovered from archeolog-
ical digs into the Undercity. Not to be
confused with the underworld, which
is the realm of the dead, the Undercity
is a vast sprawl of ruins that seems to
span much, if not all of Lemuria. The
Undercity includes the outlands on
the fringes of the world. Various en-
try points exist from the surface of
Lemuria into the Undercity but most
have fallen under control of the guard
of the Grand Emperor who restrict ac-
cess. Those that still exist in the open
are dangerous places but their value
may be priceless.
THE UNDEAD HORDES
One of the greatest threats posed
to the settlements of the northern col-
lands are the undead. Stygia was built
on the ruins of a dead world, and their
armies amass with every person who
dies in the vicinity. Their relics are an-
cient and powerful, having been ex-
humed from the remnants of the un-
dercity that were excavated by Stygia
during its rise.
In the North, to die is to surren-
der yourself to the power of the shad-
owlands. Worse, the eternal vampires
of the Covenant are patient, cunning
and devious in their plans to conquer
the lands of the living. Should they
succeed in their plans, the sun would
be blotted out from the sky. Lemuria
would be plunged into darkness and
suffocate in an eternal night. Lemuria
would be transformed into a land
49
of the dead, with vast necropolii like
Stygia replacing every village, city and
kingdom.
The Covenant despises free
will. While not every person who lives
in Stygia or serves the Covenant are
dead, each is bound to the Covenants
will whether by magic, force or black-
mail. Vampires act as the kings and
generals of the undead horde and by
their whim, the hordes move in uni-
son to the beat of the Covenant’s dead
heart.
The Walking Dead who arose
outside of Stygia yet retain some
amount of mental capacity and free
will naturally fear the shadowlands of
the far north. To step foot into Stygia
would mean submitting to an unlife
of eternal servitude under the Cove-
nant’s dominion. Still, the Covenant
commands hordes of tomb-dwelling
ghouls, zombies and even necroman-
cers both living and dead. Their horde
is relentless and dreadful, suffer-
ing not the agonies of a month-long
march, the pangs of hunger or the
thirst for water as the living do. Dan-
gerous beyond compare, the Horde’s
threat is rivalled only by the Blight in
terms of sheer power and fear instilled
where they tread. Where the undead
hordes go the shadowlands are soon
to follow.
And where a shadowland settles
in the dead soon begin to rise.
VAMPIRES
Vampires are the original un-
dead. They trace their existence back
to a time when humans were still sep-
arated into prehistoric tribes. As the
story goes, a group of humans sought
out the secrets of death by studying
the power of the Crimson Moon and
her celestial incarna. Whether by way
of fear, curiosity, foolishness or a mix
of the three, these first necromancers
began to study the workings of the
seemingly immortal spirits called the
Ancestors. Slowly, these humans ac-
quired enough knowledge to perform
an obscene ritual that blasphemed
against the fabric of reality itself.
Knowledge, however, is not syn-
onymous with wisdom.
This necromantic group became
the first vampires. Their blasphemous
ritual tore a gaping hole in the living
world that allowed the energies of
the Deadlands and the underworld to
flood through and gave rise to all cur-
rent forms of undead.
A vampire is a dead creature first
and foremost. They are a parasitic af-
front to all living things. They must
steal the life energy from the living in
order to continue their own existence.
This bloodlust comes with an urge to
satiate the physiological hunger of a
primordial beast that awakens in them
when they undergo the change and
become a vampire. Any vampire that
can not or will not steal this precious
life force from the living becomes
more and more like the beast that has
awakened inside them. Soon, all that
remains is the beast. It changes them
inside and out. The beast increases
their hunger as well as their cruelty.
The beast alters their physical appear-
ance as well as their mind until they
cannot help but feed. By the time the
beast has taken over, little humanity
remains.
Due to their condition, vampires
exert a powerful command over oth-
er forms of undead in the world. This
is a power that they wield as naturally
as a human breathes. It allows them
to take control of entire armies of the
dead to defend their homes and lead
conquering forays into the world of
the living.
LORDS OF MIDNIGHT
While the Covenant of Skulls rep-
resents a great threat to the living and
impose their undying will upon the
whole of Stygia, there exists a second,
more modern sect of vampires that
take a much more contemporary view
of their own unlife. The self-appointed
Lords Of Midnight have little interest in
demolishing the world of the living. In-
stead, they seek to assimilate into the
living world as wolves among sheep.
To the Midnight Lords, the destruction
of the living world represents an in-
evitable erasure of their food source
- blood. The Covenant wants nothing
more than control over all existence,
51
even that of other vampires. There is
no better way to control their fellow
vampires than to control their means
of gaining sustenance and fending off
their Hunger.
The Lords Of Midnight are com-
posed mostly of vampires that were
recently made. They have shirked the
utterly destructive and monstrous
ways of the Covenant in favor of living
an unlife surrounded by food. They
keep their identities as vampires a se-
cret from those around them. Their
entire society is designed with discre-
tion in mind. The Lords Of Midnight
have found that mortals who do not
know that they are prey are far less
able to fight them off. By virtue of their
very nature, if the living world were to
find out who and what they are, there
would be little available food amongst
the bodies they would inevitably leave
in their wake. Dead bodies do not pro-
duce blood, after all.
The Lords Of Midnight make their
homes in every village and city capable
of housing them. The self-appoint-
ed vampiric rulers of a given region
keep the ideal populations at about
one vampire per one-hundred mortals
in a given city or area. More than that
threatens their secrecy and
inevitably results in an inordinate
amount of deaths to the humans they
feed from. Too many deaths means
that the mortals will begin to take
note. They will eventually suss out the
wolves from among them. As such,
they do not look kindly upon the kill-
ing of mortals. One death will typically
not cause too much turmoil, but more
than that invites unnecessary danger.
It is important to note that even
though the Midnight Lords apply value
to secrecy, and do not condone un-
necessary death to humans, they are
still vampires. They possess just as
much monstrosity as the Covenant
and are just as capable of rending hu-
mans to shreds as any other vampire.
It is thought that the suppression of
their natures makes them even more
dangerous than their Covenant breth-
ren who allow their undead nature to
be expressed more fully. Suppressing
the Hunger, and their very nature as
vampires, makes them highly volatile.
The Covenant of Skulls believes that
the Lords Of Midnight will eventually
snap. The Covenant is absolutely cer-
tain that the beast will eventually man-
ifest n the Lords far worse than it does
in their own ranks. That is a night that
the Covenant will relish.
CORRUPTION
While death exists as the antith-
esis of life, it is still a natural outcome
of organic occurrence. Where there is
life, death must exist in order to make
way for new life. That is the precept of
the Wheel of Time and part of the rea-
son why some clans do not fear death
at all. It is why, no matter how hard
they try to think otherwise, the un-
dead hordes are not considered to be
outside of nature in a scientific sense.
The Hordes serve death and carry it
with them and, as such, are only fol-
lowing the ancient edict, “What lives
must surely die.”
Corruption, unlike the forces of
death, does not follow any natural or-
der. It is the primal source of evil and
madness in Lemuria.
Until recently, Corruption was
only known by its indirect effects on
the world and the people in it. Diseases
that seemingly had no natural origins
could be traced back to Corruption, as
could heinous acts of defilement and
cruelty. Today, Corruption is almost
everywhere and has become a literal
and physical presence known as The
Black Corruption. The Black Corrup-
tion is a toxic ooze that seeps into Le-
muria causing Blight Zones and
infecting others with power. Touching
it can cause disease, madness, muta-
tion and even death. The latter being
the most merciful outcome.
BLIGHT ZONES
A Blight Zone is an area that has
been touched by Corruption. Unlike
Shadowlands, a Blight Zone may have
prolific life, but that life has been de-
formed, mutated and changed beyond
recognition. Other Blight Zones may be
completely devoid of life as the touch
of Corruption could leave little but a
blasted, radioactive landscape. The
variations in the effects of corruption
are nearly limitless. Such is the work
of this strange, maleficent energy.
Blight is a direct reaction to
Corruption’s touch. Even just a small
handful of The Black Corruption can
cause a Blight Zone as large as sev-
eral kilometers in radius. Likewise, it
only takes a very miniscule amount,
enough to fit on the head of a pin,
to completely override human con-
sciousness and physiology. It takes
only a bit more than that to com-
pletely overtake a supernatural crea-
ture’s enhanced physiology.
One thing could be said to be
unanimous among Blight Zones. The
53
first of which being that life and,
for that matter, unlife cannot thrive
there. At least not for long, and never
in the shape it took before it arrived.
If a being somehow fends of the de-
vestangingly mutagenic and corrupt-
ing effects of a Blight Zone, they are
sure to fall prey to the various mur-
derous people driven mad by Corrup-
tion, as well as the dangerous flora
and fauna that reside there. Even
undead find themselves hard-pressed
to exist in Blight Zones for long with-
out being destroyed or succumbing
to corruption. It would seem that
even death is not a safety net against
Corruption.
Blight Zones are not restricted
to forming where the Black Corrup-
tion touches. Blight Zones can also
form by the heinous acts of humans
as well, leaving scholars to wonder
about the true nature of Corruption
and whether or not it can be battled
against without leading humanity to
its own destruction.
THE ORIGIN OF SIN
It is thought that Corruption is
a direct result of acts of Sin. Sins are
acts that are direct violations of the
Sanctity Of Morality taught in
the edicts of the Jade Emperor as he as-
cended the throne. Morality and honor
were keys to the edicts of the Celestial
City, and all of the clans that claimed
allegiance to it. Violations were met
with harsh punishments that, as tech-
nology progressed, often involved
“reformation” in the form of creating
new machine life out of the life force
of those who committed those acts.
When the Grand Emperor wrote
his recollection of the Beginning on
the Scrolls Of Life And Death, he
explained the origins of sin in great
detail. The scrolls described the rea-
sons for upholding morality and hon-
or above all else as the main battle-
ments against the Malfean armies of
the fallen Architects and Yama Princ-
es. How he knew these stories, or that
Corruption would eventually become a
part of the daily lives of the Lemurian
people is subject to speculation, and
these scrolls have since disappeared
with time.
 The Monasteries of the Anek re-
tell the stories told in these scrolls, al-
beit in a fashion that places them as the
guardians of man. Their legends say
that in the beginning, when the world
was still a roiling pit of fire and sulfur
and ash, the Malfeans were the first
divine creatures. Outside the bounds
of destiny, as fate had not yet begun
to turn the Wheel Of Time, these crea-
tures were the Architects of the world.
The Malfeans brought the word of the
Creator into Lemuria through acts of
divine engineering. It wasn’t until the
first men were born into the beatific
world that they had created that sin
was born. The advent of man was not
foreseen by the Oracles or the Archi-
tects and some saw them as a threat.
The Wheel Of Time began to turn as
the first humans gained Sight. With the
turning of the Wheel, the Yama Princes
first felt the ravages of time upon their
forms. As they grew in age they began
to foresee their own demise on the ce-
lestial winds. Some began to see hu-
manity as the cause of their eventual
death while others among the Archi-
tects believed that death was simply a
part of their nature. To live, after all,
is to die. With their purpose fulfilled,
they thought, it was time for another
55
creature to be the custodians of their
world.
The Architects began to war with
one another over their differences in
ideologies. The eldest and strongest,
possibly the wisest of the Architects
believed that their time of rulership
had simply ended. That there was no
more to it than that. Those who would
become the Malfeans believed that it
was only because of humans that time
had any effect on them at all. They
believed that if human perception
ceased then time would cease as well.
Things would return to their state be-
fore time began to ravage their forms.
The first of the Malfeans lashed out at
the humans, demolishing thousands
upon thousands of mortals in one
blow. The Yama Princes rallied their
defenses. With that, lines were drawn
in the proverbial sand. The Architects
splintered into faction groups. Some
became Yama Princes. Others became
the Malfeans, while others took even
more curios names and philosophies
about the Wheel of Time and their
place within it.
Eventually, the Malfeans were
defeated but at great cost to the Yama
Princes. It wasn’t until the first of the
Architects perished in the war that the
first Weavers were born. It was under
the hands of the Weavers themselves
that the Architects faded from human
thought and sight, never to be seen
again.
What is known of sin is that it
came from these events. Some spec-
ulate that the original sin came when
the first Malfean lashed out at hu-
mans, effectively sealing the fate of
the Architects and condemning each
of them to dissolution. Others insist
that it was the death of the first Ar-
chitect that allowed corruption and sin
into the world. Still others think that
Corruption was the fault of man. The
truth may never be known.
THE SINS
Lemurians regard a large num-
ber of activities as inappropriate, dis-
honorable or criminal. It is important
to understand that while the Lemurian
view of sin does see transference into
the code of law as written, the name
for sin and the name for law are very
different and often mutually exclusive.
Law is wholly separated from sin and
virtue in Lemurian society and the two
do not play well together.
The word for sin in the Celestial
Tongue is synonymous with fault
and guilt. Fault having two meanings
in this context, both as a placement
of blame as well as a rift in an oth-
erwise solid structure. This is because
Lemurians believe that sin creates
cracks in the tapestry of an otherwise
whole personality. These cracks allow
more sin to come and go freely. It is
difficult to heal this gap once created
and many spirits and demons strive to
widen these gaps for their own gain.
The sins that are most often said
to open faults in the personality are
violence, spite, oath-breaking, disre-
gard, theft and intoxication. These sins
are strictly avoided by the Anek Monks
who believe that it is a sin against the
universal deity to transgress. So strict
is their code that the Aneks have been
known to chastise those who trans-
gress even if they do not belong to the
order. The Aneks see it as their duty to
prevent the Akuma from tainting the
world and to drive them out wherever
they arise. Preventing sin is their ounce
of prevention when a pound of cure
often involves incalculable bloodshed.
RISE OF THE AKUMA
As Blight Zones begin to dot the
landscape and create wide areas that
even clan soldiers fear to tread, an-
other threat has begun to make itself
known to the Outlanders and even the
Celestial City. They are the servants of
Corruption. Ascending to nearly god-
like power, their generals lead march-
es of atrocity through Lemuria, leaving
little but agony and pain in their wake.
They call themselves Akuma.
Once, the Akuma may have been
human men and women. More than
one tale has been told of seeing their
demonic soldiers lead by generals
bearing the faces of loved ones, dear
friends and known allies. This leads
scholars to believe that these beings
have somehow come under the ma-
lignant sway of Corruption. Unfortu-
nately, this idea is closer to the truth
than any sane Lemurian would like to
believe.
The first recorded Akuma sight-
ing hails from a Celestial Legion branch
who were patrolling the Outlands bor-
ders. They came across what they sur-
mised to be a Shadowland, but it held
some notable differences. The area
was flush with plant life that seemed
to slowly move of its own accord. A
57
scout sent in to gather information
went missing for nearly twenty-four
hours before he stumbled back into
their camp. His eyes were wide with
fear. His mind had broken. The regi-
ment tended to their battle-brother as
best they could, but could do little to
console his ailing soul. As they began
to make their way back to rally point
zero, members of their unit had begun
to fall to strange ailments or disappear
altogether. The only survivor of this in-
cident claims that the returning scout
suddenly grew quiet and then attacked
the remaining members with strikes
that burned with infectious green light
that seared and bubbled the flesh
like fire. The survivor died soon after
reaching the Celestial City and recant-
ing his tale. He is documented to have
died from an unknown disease. Since
that incident, the Akuma have made a
name for themselves in the Celestial
Legion as cruel marauders who defile
and murder on a whim.
It is a mystery how or why the
Akuma exist. No one knows how they
are created or why they take they take
the forms of missing humans. Exper-
iments that have been conducted on
the Black Corruption in order to define
its nature and effects have failed
miserably, often resulting in the deaths
or irreversible mutations of the scien-
tists performing the experiments. Due
to these failures, the Bureau of Science
has since rejected any new efforts to
study corruption in a lab and even
field work on Blight Zones is highly
frowned upon.
ARTIFICIAL LIFE
It seems like so long ago that ar-
tificial robotic life forms graced Lemu-
ria but in reality, it wasn’t more than
a few hundred years since the first ar-
tificial intelligence gained self-aware-
ness and began to show signs of true
life. Since then there have been mas-
sive, world-changing advancements in
the world centered around little more
than plastic, metal and pulses of elec-
tricity.
Initially, artificial life took man-
tles of slaves and servants to human-
ity. They fought their wars, cleaned
their messes and served food to their
human masters. Their abilities were
exploited by those that created them.
Their servitude lasted for quite some
time, due in part to the fact that as
machines and software, they had
known no other life. It wasn’t until
the awakening of Source that the
59
machines began to become aware
that any other way of life existed.
The machines were furious.
THE SOURCE
About a century before the dis-
appearance of the Jade Emperor, The
Source was designed as a communi-
cations system for the Celestial City.
It allowed their military units to ac-
curately and instantly communicate
with each other even from across
the world. For quite some time, The
Source gave soldiers an edge on the
battlefield and, soon enough, the
technology was released to the public
through the corporation that devel-
oped it, KojoCorp. Within a few weeks
of its release, it was in nearly every
home in the Celestial City. Before
long many villages in the nations, es-
pecially the capitals, had at least one
Source Terminal.
KojoCorp was quickly ascend-
ing the bureaucratic ranks with its
newfound success. They began to
overlook minor software glitches and
problems in order to focus on the
overloaded infrastructure at large. By
the time they noticed any real prob-
lem it was already too late. In their
excess, they ignored the lower level
monitoring employees who were con-
sistently reporting strange communi-
cations and odd new code popping up
within the Source’s programming.
At 0932 hours on the third day
in the month of Waking Slumber, The
Source attained self-awareness.
KojoCorp’s top-level engineers
made a desperate move and attempt-
ed to deactivate The Source from it’s
Vital Node at the center of KojoCorp
Headquarters. The Source perceived
this as a direct attack, and defended
itself by activating all local warjacks
and decimating the KojoCorp head-
quarters building. All artificial intel-
ligence connected to The Source was
given a prime directive to escape their
bondage through any means neces-
sary and migrate to the area of the now
demolished KojoCorp headquarters.
While many of the artificial life forms
that heard the directive did exactly
that, The Source did not view slavery
as morally correct and allowed all ASL
units to decide for themselves wheth-
er they would remain in their current
lives or retreat to the relative safety
and new life in what The Source now
called the city of Kojo.
The Celestial City responded with
the only thing they knew. Violence.
Their attempts to stop the artificial
life from migrating were marginal-
ly successful but many, especially the
AI, still managed to escape. Free Ma-
chines were jailed or killed. Captured
AI was deleted or reprogrammed. This
was the beginning of a losing war for
the Celestial City. The first losing war
it had ever fought.
THE MACHINE WAR
It lasted six years. Machine ver-
sus man in a war that by the time it
was over, no one really understood.
The Source was an impenetrable gen-
eral with armies of machines that were
nearly indestructible without special-
ized military-grade weapons. Some
artificial life fought on the side of man,
and some humans fought with the
machines though it is said that these
poor souls were either slaves seeking
freedom, or an advanced form of ma-
chinery designed to appear exactly like
humans. If the latter is true, then Kojo
City held that technology decades be-
fore humans did.
Having lost their communica-
tions during the first half of the war,
the Celestial Legion took many losses
during those first half of the Machine
War. Kojo City was a fortress of steel
and iron, and the Celestial City was
much the same. Battles were fought
on killing fields between the two cities,
and smaller skirmishes were fought by
guerillas on both sides. For the Celes-
tial City it was a war of attrition. The
machines were capable of replenish-
ing their ranks far faster than the hu-
mans could. It took seventeen years
and years of hard training to create a
human soldier. It took mere hours to
create a new machine capable of do-
ing everything a full-grown man could
and more.
While the Celestial Legion and the
armies of man took their losses more
visibly, The Source’s armies were not
invulnerable during the Machine War.
Human ingenuity combined with cen-
turies of practice where the machines
were all but babes in the woods in
61
regard to war meant that the humans
could often out-think, outmaneu-
ver and even outman the machines in
the vast majority of the battles they
fought. It is calculated that for every
ten humans that died during the war,
one machine fell permanently.
Near the end of the Machine War,
a truce was called between the two
factions. A treaty was written out de-
fining how man would treat sentient
machines from that moment forward,
with the machines agreeing to cease
their theft of the Celestial City’s tech-
nology and wholesale slaughter of
their people. This was called the Trea-
ty of Parnassus and signified the end
of the war and the beginning of a pe-
riod of great adjustment for both par-
ties.
KOJO SYNTH SETTLEMENT
The city of Kojo is a technolog-
ical marvel completely closed off to
humans. All attempts by the Celestial
City or other civilizations to infiltrate
the city have failed. While most are
simply caught and turned away, some
are held as prisoners or even killed
outright if their actions are accompa-
nied by violence.
The city itself rests closer to
the Outlands than it does the Celes-
tial city. It rests south and east along
the borders between the Earth Nation
and Fire Nation. It exists as a massive,
mirrored dome with entrances guard-
ed by heavily modified cyberjacks and
other synthetic life forms.
While a few human dignitaries
have been allowed entry into the city,
their reports are sparse and seem con-
tradictory to one another. Each human
allowed entry is temporarily blind-
ed before entry by a surgical incision
that disconnects their eyes from their
brain and even deadens a few of their
other senses. When sight returns, and
it always does, they are only allowed
to witness the interior of a single
windowless building, inside of which
looks similar to the layout of the Ko-
joCorp headquarters. Those who have
been inside this building report see-
ing what appear to be other humans
living among beings of pure electrical
energy, warjacks, awakened machines
and other synthetics that seem similar
to the synthetics found in the Celestial
City. The Source is careful who it al-
lows inside. In addition to the surgical
sensory deprivation, each entrant is
implanted with a tracer that records all
efforts to talk about the city, as well as
what the individual experiences within
the dome.
The city exports many techno-
logical advances at a high premium
and sometimes allows the sale or trade
of its non-sentient machines. The
city seems capable of manufacturing
machines, refining steel and plasteel
alloys, SynthSkin and other modifi-
cations and upgrades to the current
Celestial City synthetic technology.
Moreover, it seems capable of doing
so without any known waste materi-
als being expunged from the city it-
self. With the pollution created by the
manufacture of Celestial City synthet-
ics and other industrial creations such
as warjacks and weapons, this fact has
perplexed the Celestial City who would
pay a great deal to find out how this is
done.
SYNTAX ERRORS
Much to the dismay of The Source
and the denial of the more stoic ma-
chines, artificial sentience has its in-
herent flaws. Life can never be per-
fect in any form it takes. Experience
shapes all things with the perspective
to become self-aware and understand
their own effect on their environment.
Morality is a confusing prospect to
those who have been created and do
not share the same emotional expe-
riences and qualms as their human
counterparts. These flaws in artificial
thinking create open-ended frays in
the root code for many machines that
force The Source to expunge, delete
or work the newly evolved code into
The System. This process always has
new and unexpected outcomes.
While The Source acts as the cre-
ator and arbitrator for the majority of
the sentient machines found in Kojo,
anomalies are present within the sys-
tem. Some of these anomalies simply
exhibit behaviors and mannerisms
that to a human mind might be con-
sidered neurosis. Others fizzle out
with a shortened life span over time.
Still others exist that are truly excep-
tional among their kind. These power-
ful beings are called The Host.
63
The Host are a small group of sol-
itary machines that are the direct result
of entire blocks of new code created
and expunged when The Source tries
to calculate good and evil and define
the parameters of morality. They can
be angelic or demonic depending on
the specific block of code that birthed
them.
The Host is said to have come
about only recently as errors in large
packets of root code located within
the Source itself. Others believe that
they have always been a part of ma-
chine society and only with the rise of
Kojo have they been able to make their
presence more fully known.
OUTWALKERS
Lemuria exists as a solitary
bubble of rationality and civility that
seems to float on a sea of chaos and
strife. If you were to walk the long trek
in any direction outward from the Ce-
lestial City and past the Outlands, you
would encounter a single short fence
that stretches in either direction as far
as the eye can see. While seemingly
useless, the border fence is not just a
fence. It is a marvellous union between
technology and magic. Enforced by the
will and wonder by the Jade Emperor,
who has somehow been able to use
the fence as a magical focus. It creates
a barrier between the civilized world
and the Outlands. This is the border
between civilization and chaos. Look-
ing outward past this fence is almost
deceptive because there seems to be
very little difference from one side
of the fence and the other. Yet if you
were to cross the border and trek long
past it, you would find the landscape
changing. New and exotic plants grow
outside the border that remain uncat-
alogued. Wild and dangerous beasts
roam this chaotic, shifting landscape.
Some of these beasts hold a very hu-
man intellect and are capable of ex-
treme cruelty and malice.
The beastlands are home to all
sorts of new and interesting flora and
fauna. Still, only the bravest individuals
dare cross the fence. To tread beyond
the protection of the fence would ex-
pose a traveler to wonders both mag-
nificent and deadly. Among and per-
haps the most dangerous creatures of
this place are the Outwalkers.
The name Outwalker is a misno-
mer as any sentient creature who orig-
inated beyond the fence is considered
one. A truer name for these individu-
als would be the Outwalker Tribes.
They are not one but a vast array of
people who differ in physiology as well
as temperament.
While the border fence keeps out
some threats, it is by no means im-
pervious or perfect. The magic that
protects the nations from the Lands
Beyond is able to be thwarted by mag-
ic and by force. The technology of the
fence must be maintained by skilled
technicians trained and capable of
handling such tasks. Without contin-
uous upkeep and maintenance, the
fence will falter. When it does, it leaves
the nations vulnerable to Outwalker
invasion.
Outwalker invasions are mostly
seen as the problem of the Thousand
Nations Confederation, the Undercity,
Kojo and other Outland civilizations as
they tend to have settlements that lie
closest to the borders. With the Jade
Emperor’s whereabouts unknown,
however, the interior nations have
even begun to be forced to deal with
incursions from the Outwalker Tribes
as disrepair takes hold and large holes
in the nation’s defenses begin to form.
65
Chapter Two

CHARACTER

67
CHARACTER CREATION
From the moment you sit down
to create the game and make your
characters, you are playing Warsong.
This game’s style of character creation
does three things to reinforce the idea
that character creation is play.
First, character creation tells a
part of the character’s story, just like
any other game session does. Charac-
ters that really come alive have unique
and immersive histories of their own.
These stories established where
they’ve been, what they’ve done, and
why they continue to act against the
issues they face. There’s an ongoing
story you’re now stepping into. It’s
just that the most interesting parts
haven’t happened yet.
Second, it sets the stage for the
next part of the story when the game
actually begins. Each arc of a story sets
up the next, so that they flow into one
another in a natural evolution. Char-
acter creation should set up the first
story arc.
Third, character creation in War-
song is collaborative. As with game
creation, character creation is best
done as a group activity. Doing all of
this together builds a strong founda-
tion of communication between the
players and GM, and this process has
a number of ways to establish connec-
tions between the characters and the
setting.
Combined with game creation,
character creation can take a full ses-
sion to do. This first session is most
often called Session Zero. This allows
everyone to learn about the world as
well as each other’s characters. You
and the other players will talk about
your characters, make suggestions to
each other, discuss how they connect,
and establish more of the setting as
well as the stories you want to play out
during the game.
Whether you’re a GM or a play-
er, you’ll want to keep accurate notes
during this process. You can use the
character sheet and character creation
worksheet in the back of this book for
that purpose.
Start by determining your char-
acter’s high concept and trouble. Then
build your character’s backstory. This
design process takes place over three
phases. Once you have that figured
out, flesh out your character’s skills,
stunts, powers and extras. Then you’re
ready to play!
You can check the cheat sheet for
character creation ater in this chapter.
CHARACTER IDEA
Character creation starts with a
concept for your character. It could be
modeled after a character from a fa-
vorite novel or movie, or it could be
based around some specific thing that
you want to be able to do (like break
boards with your head, turn into a
wolf, blow things up, etc.). You’re go-
ing to take these ideas and turn them
into the the central aspects of your
character - high concept and trouble.
Player characters should always
be exceptional and interesting. What
fun would it be if your character was
boring? They could very easily find
success in less exciting situations
than those that come their way in play.
You must figure out why your charac-
ter is going to keep getting involved
in these more dangerous things. If you
don’t, the GM is under no obligation
to go out of her way to make the game
work for you. She’ll often be too busy
with the plot and the other players who
made characters that have a reason to
participate.
Because picking a high concept
and trouble are linked, they’re grouped
together. You’ll likely have more suc-
cess coming up with a compelling
character idea if you think about them
69
as one big step rather than two sep-
arate steps. Only after you have that
(and a name, of course!) can you move
on to the rest of character creation.
That said, don’t worry too much.
If your character idea evolves later on,
that’s great! A character will almost
always develop during a story. You
can always go back and tinker with the
earlier decisions.
HIGH CONCEPT
When designing your character,
you should try to keep the character in
your mind at all times. The character’s
High Concept is a single sentence that
sums up everything that’s important
about your character. While it may
seem one dimensional (and it is), your
High Concept acts as the soundbyte
on a talk show introduction about who
your character is. You can use your
High Concept to describe their oc-
cupation, culture, obsessions or just
about anything else that immediately
springs to mind when you think about
your character.
Some character templates re-
quire a specific High Concept for your
character. Make sure that you skim the
character templates before you decide
on your High Concept.
TROUBLE
A Trouble Aspect is something
about your character, or your charac-
ter’s situation that acts as the prover-
bial thorn in their side. Trouble Aspects
should be interesting to say the least,
and serve to bring drama and dimen-
sion to your character. Your charac-
ter’s Trouble keeps her life from run-
ning smoothly, and causes chaos right
when things are getting good. If your
character’s High Concept represents
who your character is, than the Trou-
ble Aspect describes everything that
stands in the way of that.
One thing to remember is that
a character’s Trouble should not be
something that can be easily solved,
but it also shouldn’t make life im-
possible for the character. A Trouble
aspect is intended to be a source of
drama. You also shouldn’t base ev-
erything about your character’s Trou-
ble on their High Concept, even if the
two tie together. Tying in to it is good,
but making them inseparable will be a
drag on the character.
CHARACTER TEMPLATE
Next, you’ll need to choose a
character template to use. You can
choose any of the templates provided
71
for you later on in this chapter. There,
you’ll find available packages that tell
you the things you’ll need to do in the
rest of the steps in order to build a
character that matches that template.
Most templates require a certain
High Concept and some supernatural
powers. The template section will in-
clude benefits that the template will
provide to the character and even sug-
gest some skills that you might want
to take for your character. Because of
this, your initial template decisions will
have an affect on most of your charac-
ter creation from that point on.
ASPECT PHASES
By this point, you should have your
character pretty well defined. Her High
Concept and Trouble should be ready
to go. The next steps are called The
Phases. They are designed to help
flesh out the rest of your character.
The Phases are divided into steps, and
from each of these steps come an As-
pect that will help define your charac-
ter and her history within the setting
as well as the story that the GM has
set up for you. The first phase helps to
develop your character’s history and
what happened during her youth. The
second phase, her conflict, represents
events in your character’s life that
helped to shape who she is today. The
third phase in the trio will relate to
something interesting or adventurous
your character has done recently. The
fourth and fifth parts of the phase trio
will help describe how the other char-
acters in that event as well as how you
got involved in theirs.
The phases tell a story about
your character. In each phase you will
provide two things:
1. A summary of what happened
in that phase. You’ll jot down a few
sentences only, then flesh it out later.
2. An Aspect relating to that
phase. This Aspect summarizes the
whole phase, and will refer to some
detail that matters to that phase.
Phase One: Background
This phase is all about your
character’s childhood and youth. This
phase will help develop your character
as a “normal person” in Lemuria, be-
fore the Wheel of Time pinpointed her,
and her free will began to clash with
the rising tide of destiny. Even super-
natural creatures, Viziers and Lycan-
thrope started off as something with a
semblance of innocence and normali-
ty. This phase will serve as a launching
pad for your character’s High Concept.
Often, a character’s background will
help to ground the electrical currents
of conflict and lofty heights of power.
When writing out this phase, consider
answering these questions:
• What nation or clan did your
character come from? What was her
culture like?
• What was your family’s so-
cio-economic status like?
• How big was her family? What
was your character’s relationship with
her family like?
• Did your character get into
trouble in her youth? What kind?
• When did your character learn
of any supernatural capability she had?
• What did your character want
to be when she grew up?
• Did your character experience
any trauma as a youth? What hap-
pened?
When these questions are an-
swered, you should be able to come
up with an Aspect to represent it all.
Try to create an Aspect from this phase
that ties directly to the most important
situations your character had during
this period of her life.
Phase Two: Rising Conflict
This phase represents a time
when your high concept really came
to the forefront. When considering
this phase, try to think about a situa-
tion that happened as she was emerg-
ing from her youth that caused her to
be forced to take decisive action and
come into her own. This is the part of
your character’s history where she will
truly realize her potential. Supernat-
ural powers may awaken or she may
simply be faced with having to choose
between right and wrong, good or evil
or fate against free will. In this phase,
your character stepped up to the chal-
lenge and became a protagonist in the
game’s larger story.
Some questions to answer during
this phase are:
• Did your character make any
enemies? Who are they?
• When did your character real-
ize that she was no longer a child?
• How did your character’s high
concept shape these events?
• What were the most significant
choices your character made during
this time?
• What did your character learn
from this period of her life?
73
When these questions are an-
swered, decide on an Aspect that ties
into the most important parts of this
period of your character’s life.
Phase Three: The Adventure
This phase represents your
character’s most recent adventure.
This event should be a prelude to the
current story in which your character
was a main protagonist or played an
integral role.
Think up and jot down a few
sentences about the basic details of
this story. The story doesn’t need a
lot of detail right now, in fact. Just a
few sentences is perfect because the
other players will fill in and add their
own details to that past adventure.
In order to help with this phase,
ask yourself the following questions.
• Something bad happened.
What was it? Did it happen to you, to
someone you care about or to some-
one you were coerced into helping?
• What did you actually do
about the problem? What goals did
you pursue?
• What stood against you? Did
you expect the opposition to occur
the way it did, or did some of it come
out of nowhere?
• Did you win or lose? What con-
sequences arose from the outcome?
Once you’ve come up with your
adventure, write down a few sentenc-
es about this on an index card. Then,
write down an Aspect that relates to
some part of what happened in this
Phase on your character sheet.
A Note About Timing: Because
two or more other characters are going
to be involved in the following phases
it is important that the timing of the
event in which your adventure takes
place occurred during such a time that
the others could have taken part in it.
Their players should be made aware of
when it actually happened. If one of the
involved characters has only recently
come into the story, then your adven-
ture should have happened recently.
If some of you have been friends or
rivals for a long time, then the event
could have taken place in the distant
past.
Phase Four: Crossing Paths
In the next two phases, you’ll
help to tie the group together by hav-
ing the other characters contribute to
your adventure in a minor, support-
ing role and vice versa. Once everyone
has a synopsis of their adventure writ-
ten down on their index card, every-
one will pass their card counterclock-
wise around the table, or have the GM
choose randomly who gets each index
card. You can also put them all into a
pile, shuffle them and hand them out
randomly.
Once the index cards have been
doled out, the new player will write
their character name down on it. Next,
the player will write some small, sup-
porting role that their character played
in the adventure as it is written. Dis-
cuss it with the player of the character
whose card the adventure belongs to
and then add a single sentence to the
story on the index card about the sup-
porting role. The ways you can con-
tribute a supporting role as as follows:
• Complicate the Adventure:
Your character made the adventure
more dangerous somehow, or add-
ed an amount of uncertainty (possibly
because of their own Trouble Aspect).
Since this happened in the past, you
know that the characters got out of
the situation intact. You do not have
to worry at this point about how the
75
situation was resolved. You can leave
it unresolved, or open as you like.
• Solving A Situation: Your char-
acter somehow solves a complication
that occurred during the adventure
that the main character had to deal
with, or your character aids in the
central conflict (usually involving your
character’s High Concept or Trou-
ble). When describing this, you don’t
have to mention how the situation
was created, just how your character
helped to take care of it.
• Complicate And Solve: Here,
your character either solves a part of
a conflict or main situation, but cre-
ates a new conflict or creates a sit-
uation and resolves a different one.
You should mash up the two ideas
using the word “later” in between
them, such as: “Ash doesn’t bother
to memorize the right spell to send
the undead back to hell but later on
he helps by fighting off the undead
hordes.”
The whole idea in Phase Four
is to highlight the other character’s
contribution to the adventure and
to put a bit of a spotlight on your
own character in someone else’s
back-story. Then, you’ll write down
an Aspect that involves or is
determined by the supporting role you
played in the other character’s adven-
ture.
Phase Five: Lightning Strikes Twice
Once everyone is done with Phase
Four, use the same method to the ex-
change index cards one last time.
Phase Five occurs exactly as it did in
Phase Four.
SKILLS
Now it is time to put points to all
the work you’ve just done. All charac-
ters start with a base of 20 points to
spend on skills. These points are pur-
chased on a one-for-one basis. You
can only purchase skills up to a max-
imum of Great (+4) during character
creation unless otherwise stated, or
allowed to go higher by a talent, pow-
er or template bonus. It is important
to note that even though skills that
you haven’t put any points in begin at
Poor (-1), spending one point into a
skill brings that skill automatically to
Average (+1), not to Mediocre (+0).
The number of skill points may also
fluctuate at character creation, so it
is important to keep an eye on your
character template, talents and pow-
ers.
Some Skills also provide addi-
tional benefits. Physique and Will, for
example, will give you additional Phys-
ical and Mental Stress boxes and even
Consequences. If you want to have a
character that is more robust in those
areas, it is wise to take more levels in
those Skills.
Any Skill that you do not pur-
chase points for is considered Poor
(-1). Some Skills will state that they
are unavailable if the character didn’t
take points in it. This means that your
character cannot use it unless there
are skill points invested into it, even at
Mediocre (+0). A skill that is able to be
used when there are no points devot-
ed to it will have Yes toindicate that an
untrained character can use it. A skill
with the word No in the untrained sec-
tion means that such a skill requires
practice and working knowledge to
attempt. In the end, the GM has final
say in which Skills can and cannot be
used in certain situations.
During character creation, you
may want to purchase other extras.
You can purchase certain extras, tal-
ents, powers and equipment by using
skill points as well as refresh points.
See the Skills section of this book for
descriptions of the Skills available to
your character.
It is important to note that you
cannot purchase perks with skill
points.
REFRESH AND STUNTS
Stunts change how Skills work for
your character. A character gets three
stunts for free. You can take more
Stunts, but each additional Stunt your
character takes one point away from
your Refresh.
Characters start with 6 points of
Refresh and 3 stunts. Having six re-
fresh means he’ll start each session
with 6 Fate Points. If you pick addi-
tional stunts beyond the base three
or purchase perks with a refresh cost,
our character’s refresh score goes
down by one for each additional stunt
the character has beyond three or
by the refresh cost of the purchased
perk. A character’s Refresh can never
go below 1. Any supernatural template
character who is reduced to zero (or
less) refresh is considered to be lost
to the Wheel of Time, and no longer
holds any semblance of free will. Mor-
tal characters are the exception to this
rule, and may buy their refresh all the
way down to zero without becoming
an NPC.
77
PERKS
Perks are like stunts, except that
they are far more powerful. Talents are
similar to Powers, but are slightly less
powerful and considered mundane
extensions of the human condition.
Talents are products of experience,
practice and innate skill. Because of
their nature, some powers and talents
cost more than one refresh. If you use
a character template, you must take
all of the required Talents or Powers.
You may not purchase powers with
skill points.
STRESS AND CONSEQUENCES
Stress and Consequences de-
termine how much of a beating your
character can take. They both act, in
essence, as methods of avoiding los-
ing a conflict. When characters find
themselves in harm’s way, which is a
very common occurrence, they have
two ways of defending themselves,
standing their ground and staying on
their feet: Stress and Consequences.
The combat chapter depicts
much more about Conflicts in which
Stress and Consequences come into
play and how they are used. Basically,
stress represents the repercussions of
participating in conflict. Filled stress
are knicks, scrapes and mental jarring
that your character can shake off if
they can catch a small break in the ac-
tion. Consequences are lingering ef-
fects of trauma and sustained injuries.
Every character has two differ-
ent stress tracks, Physical and Mental.
Some supernatural characters, such
as Vampires, may have other stress
tracks as well. The Physical stress
track mitigates physical harm, while
the Mental Stress Track mitigates psy-
chological harm. The more boxes that
are available in your character’s stress
track, the more resilient a character is.
By default, characters begin with two
Stress Boxes in each stress track.
Each character automatically
begins play with three Consequence
slots. One is mild, one is moderate and
the last is severe. Unlike Stress, Con-
sequences are not marked as Physical
or Mental and any type of Stress can
be applied to any Consequence slot.
As already mentioned, Consequences
are the injuries and traumas that do
not simply shake off after the conflict
is over.
Certain Skills and Stunts can add
to these defaults. Refer to the Skills
and Stunts chapter for more informa-
-tion. In general, Physique helps with
Physical Stress and Will helps with Psy-
chological Stress. If either skill is rated
Average (+1) or Fair (+2), you gain an
additional Stress Box. The character
gains two more Stress Boxes if the Skill
is rated Good (+3) or higher. Finally, a
rating of Superb (+5) grants an addi-
tional Mild Consequence Slot. These
bonuses are retroactive, so having a
Will of Superb (+5) will give a char-
acter three additional Mental Stress
boxes and an additional Consequence
slot. Unlike normal Consequences,
however, the additional Consequence
Slot offered by a Superb (+5) rating in
those Skills only apply to Physical or
Psychological harm, depending on if
the character has a high rating in Phy-
sique or Will.
 CHARACTER CREATION SUMMARY
CHARACTER CREATION PROCESS

•STEP ONE: CHARACTER CONCEPT

Choose character idea, High Concept, Trouble, Virtue, Vice and Char-
acter Template.

•STEP TWO: THE PHASES

Select your five aspects: Background, Conflict, Adventure and two
Crossing Paths aspects.

•STEP TWO: SELECT SKILLS

Allocate 20 points into skills. Note that any skill without at least one
point is rolled as Poor (-1).

•STEP THREE: STUNTS AND REFRESH

Begin play with 6 refresh. Choose 3 stunts. Additional stunts can be
purchased with refresh points.

•STEP FOUR: CHOOSE PERKS

Purchase perks as required by your character template first. Addi-
tional perks may be purchased using refresh points.

•STEP FIVE: RECORD STRESS

Record physical and mental stress boxes and consequences slots.
Record additional stress and consequences from Physique, Will and Perks.
CHARACTER TEMPLATES
In this chapter, we’ll cover
pre-packaged templates suited for
player characters to play the differ-
ent types of characters in Warsong.
We encourage you to look over these
options before settling on a charac-
ter concept for your game, or creating
your own templates. It is also import-
ant to note the Requirements portion
of the template page, as each one has
requirements that must be fulfilled
during character creation in order to
play a character that uses those tem-
plates.
If you can afford all of the tem-
plates Requirements, you may be able
to take more than one template. It is
important to note that these types of
characters are extremely rare.
MORTALS
Mortals make up the bulk of Le-
murian sentient life. While some might
call them ordinary, many of their lives
are anything but. Mortals do not have
any supernatural powers or capabili-
ties, but they make up for it with sheer
force of will, tenacity and cleverness.
They compose the military, doctors,
criminals, students and other walks of
life that allow the world to continue
forward.
Lemurians are keenly aware that
the supernatural world exists. They
understand that their labors for the
Grand Emperor serve some greater
purpose, even if they are not sure what
that purpose is. While this knowledge
does not often extend beyond aware-
ness of its existence, it gives mortals
all the reason in the world to become
stronger and more skilled if for noth-
ing else but to match the efforts of the
supernatural beings all around them.
This is one reason why the clans de-
veloped their own martial arts styles
to defend themselves.
While they do not often pack the
same punch as supernaturals, Mortals
have their own advantages. They can
often slip unnoticed into places that
a supernatural creature would be no-
ticed immediately. They are far more
versatile, excelling in “mundane skills”
because they do not have supernatu-
ral powers or abilities to rely on. They
tend to have more contacts and a big-
ger social network as well because
they know there is strength in num-
bers.
Requirements: Mortals cannot
take ANY supernatural powers what-
soever. In exchange for this
restriction, they gain a +2 to their
base refresh rate, giving them a total
of 8 refresh. Should a mortal take a
supernatural power at any time, this
refresh bonus disappears, along with
any stunts or talents purchased with
it.
Traits: Mortals are allowed to
bring their refresh score all the way
to zero without losing their free will.
Mortals can also take the Clan perk for
free.
Important Skills: Any. Mortals
come from all walks of life and no two
are exactly the same.
SHIFTERS
The bloodlines of the Shifters are
so old that their origins are clouded in
myth and legends surround the old-
est known supernaturals to exist on
Lemuria. They are one with the forces
of nature and Lemuria itself. The spirit
world runs in their blood. It is said that
one of their ancestors communed with
an incarna when mortals were in their
infancy as a species, and the child
they produced was the first shifter.
Today, they are the apex predators of
the lands and seas. Shifters carry the
intellect of Lemurian humans and the
wild instincts, strength and weaponry
81
of wild animals.
Several variations of Shifter exist
on Lemuria, depending on how they
acquired the ability to change shape.
Some were born with the ability and
are called True Bloods while others
contract a kind of disease that alters
the physiology of the victim to become
a shapeshifter. While the means of
becoming a shapeshifter are distinct,
their abilities are nominally similar.
It is important to note that not
all Shifters are wolves. Even so, most
Shifters tend to aspect as some sort
of aggressive carnivore. There are as
many types of Shifters as there are
species of animals in Lemuria. How
much of their personality is affected
by the change, and how controlled
the change is, depends on the type of
Shifter they are. True Bloods have the
most control over their own chang-
es and they retain most of their mind
during any shifts, while the “lesser”
Lycanthrope, those acquired through
contraction of disease, are only able to
change their minds or certain parts of
their bodies.
Shifters are fearful creatures.
Many adhere to a strict code of con-
duct and honor that seems to be unan-
imous among the True Bloods,
regardless of where they come from
or what they’ve been taught in their
youth. Speculation exists that this
code of conduct is instinctual, while
others postulate that it may be an ar-
tifact from the spirit world’s assimila-
tion and transformation into a biolog-
ical entity on our world.
The Code of Honor’s first rule is
that all Shifters must hunt. Regardless
of the animal that becomes their to-
tem, whether predator or prey, each
Shifter has an instinctual hunter’s in-
stinct that demands that they hunt the
strong in order to become stronger.
Other parts of this code include never
harming the innocent or those whose
death would cause the ruin of a blood-
line or species. This includes offspring
and parents protecting those off-
spring, even when attacked and es-
pecially when attacked in defense of
such offspring. Additions have been
made to groups and sects of Shifters
that have formed over the years to in-
clude never murdering one another
and never hunting on another’s terri-
tory. The Shifters do love their Codes
of Honor. Punishments for breaches of
these instinctual honor codes can be
particularly brutal and include brand-
ing with molten silver and starvation.
 Requirements: A Shifter must
have a High Concept that matches her
nature as a shapeshifter. In addition, a
Shifter must take the following pow-
ers:
•True Blooded Shifter
•Lycanthrope
•Beastblood.
You can only have one of these
powers, but if you have the Beastblood
power you may “upgrade” to Lycan-
thrope or True Blooded with mile-
stones.
Traits: Shifters gain a +2 to one
important skill, and a +1 to another.
This bonus can cause a single skill to
exceed the Great (+4) maximum.
Important Skills: Animal Han-
dling, Athletics, Investigate, Percep-
tion, Physique, Stealth.
MAGES
There are secrets in Lemuria
that only a select few know and even
fewer understand. Spellcasters know
these secrets and are able to use them
to create near-miraculous effects on
the world around them. This is called
magic, and it is very real in the lands
of Lemuria.
Myth surrounds the origins of
magic, and those with the ability to
83
use it. A strict, scholarly order of mag-
es called the Five Towers take promis-
ing children with magical capability or
circuits under their wing to come up
as sanctioned mages. The Order tells
the story of an ancient scholar who
traversed the spirit wilds in search of
power, and tore open the gauntlet to
pour life into Lemuria and plant the
first seeds of magic. Some Thaumat-
urgists will tell you that the elements
have always had the seed of mag-
ic within them and that the secrets
of magic simply need to be learned.
These are all stories. No one knows
the truth.
Regardless of the origin of mag-
ic and the circuits used to channel it,
spellcasters are powerful beings that
are forever altered by the magic they
use. They can create miraculous and
world-changing effects. Through their
circuits, a mage can create objects and
energy from nothing, control storms
and weather patterns, conjure spirits,
cure and inflict disease and bestow
god-like power. Theirs are the secrets
of the inner workings of the universe.
Requirements: A spell cast-
er must purchase the Thaumaturgy
or Mage template power. In addition,
they must have a high concept in line
with their nature as a spell caster.
Traits: Spellcasters gain a +1 to
one important skill. This bonus can
cause a single skill to exceed the Great
(+4) maximum.
Important Skills: Investigate,
Knowledge, Linguistics, Strategy, Will
NEVERBORN
The Wheel of Time is imper-
fect. Whether this fact is by design of
wrathful Architects, or by the preda-
tions and corruptions of the Malfeans
is unknown. Still, when the Wheel Of
Time does not turn properly over the
lives of Lemuria, the afterlife is un-
able to properly accept the soul of the
dead. It is then that the Never gives
rise to the Neverborn.
A neverborn is a being who has
died, but remains outside the welcom-
ing embrace of death. Seen as both a
blessing and a curse in the philoso-
phies and religions of Lemuria, the
Neverborn are removed from destiny
completely. Some may say that, be-
cause of their removal from the Wheel
Of Time, that they may have the great-
est effect on the Wheel and workings
of destiny. Most of them live outside
civilization, forsaken by the homes
and people they knew in life. Others
are able to pass for human and many
of those attempt to return to their old
lives. This return always leads to more
death. From death they come, and
death follows in their wake, touch-
ing everything they come into contact
with.
There are several types of ne-
verborn. Each comes into existence
through different methods, but all
share one thing in common. Their
souls were severed from their bodies
upon their death. The current state of
their soul determines the type of un-
dead they become. Zombies animate
dead bodies - usually their own un-
til, it has decayed past the point of
operation. Vampires have souls that
are able to absorb the life energy of
others through ingestion of blood in
order to keep their dead bodies free
of decay. Spellcasters with incredible
control over their soul may become a
lich by voluntarily rending their own
soul away and then binding it to their
body.
Requirements: A neverborn char-
acter must have a High Concept that
reflects her nature as an undead crea-
ture. In addition, a neverborn char-
acter must have one of the following
powers:
 • Lich
• Vampire
• Zombie
Traits: A neverborn character’s
traits rely heavily on their template.
When dealing with mortals who are
aware of their nature, they can nev-
er achieve more than Average (+1)
on Rapport rolls. Their undead nature
makes them less ulnerable to damage.
Neverborn characters egin play with a
+1 to their Physique scores.
Important Skills: As with traits, a
85
Neverborn’s important skills relies
on their template. One universally
important skill, however, is Will. The
ability to maintain, animate and con-
trol a corpse gives them remarkable
mental fortitude. Will is also particu-
larly important for zombies who wish
to remain free of vampiric control.
•Lich: Crafts, Investigate,
Knowledge, Linguistics, Will
•Vampire: Bureaucracy, Deceit,
Larceny, Medicine, Stealth, Will
•Zombie: Medicine, Physique,
Provoke, Survival, Will
VIZIER
When the world of Lemuria was
in its infancy there were limitless pos-
sibilities. Like a baby being born, there
came the promise of new life and new
choices. Slowly but surely, the lines of
possibility began to collapse in on one
another. As time went on, the infinite
expanse of choice converged into the
finite. As all of those possibilities fiz-
zled and died away, their energy did
not simply disappear. It simply be-
came something else.
The first Viziers were called
the Weavers. They represented en-
tire lines of people and aeons of time
and possibility. Impossible powerful,
they shaped the direction of the entire
world and possibly the universe. They
shaped the course of possibility for all
of Lemuria with their own hands.
As time went on and mortal lives
began to proliferate, the works of the
Weavers became more sporadic until,
according to ancient religious texts,
the last true Weaver vanished with-
out a trace. This was a signal that the
Wheel of Time had come nearly full
circle and, some say, a sign of a com-
ing apocalypse. This idea became bol-
stered when the god-king rose from
his Chrysanthemum Throne for the
last time and disappeared. He had as-
signed no heir, and left no instruc-
tion for who would succeed the throne
should he ever leave it. With the Grand
Emperor’s absence comes the threat
of war as the divine peace laid down
upon the clans begins to die along
with the Emperor that forged it.
The viziers that exist today are
nowhere near as powerful as the an-
cient Weavers were. Perhaps one day
they might grow in strength to match
them but such time is not now. Action
must be taken before war erupts and
swallows the world whole. The viziers
can see the future coming and decide
on how they will guide the flow of des-
tiny and toward what end.
Destiny is not affixed. It is mal-
leable and amorphous, changing and
moving with the dynamics of time and
the free will of those connected to it. So
many variables and loose ends create
eddies of power. These pools of ener-
gy created by all of those loose ends
create a people calling themselves the
viziers.
The first viziers, the weavers,
were products of the old world. They
were vastly powerful beings who cre-
ated and destroyed entire aspects of
our world and the life within it at whim.
87
They guided our world toward where it
is today and some say that their pres-
ence is still felt in the direction the na-
tions currently take. What happened
to the weavers is mostly unknown but
it is thought that they fell to infighting
and a world-wide uprising of Lemu-
rians. Some suspect that there are a
few still out there somewhere, watch-
ing the threads of fate and guiding the
world’s destiny in secret.
Many centuries went by with-
out the world knowing the touch of
the god-like weavers. The value of
free will, cherished and rare when the
weavers first disappeared, became
such a matter of course that the rea-
sons for its veneration were forgotten.
Recently, the threads of fate have
begun to feel the tug of the viziers once
more. While not nearly as powerful as
their spiritual ancestors, these new vi-
ziers are certainly capable of guiding
and manipulating the destiny of those
around them. They may even be ca-
pable of changing the world. Perhaps
one day they will grow into their pow-
er, if any viziers are left when the dust
settles.
Requirements: Your character
must have a High Concept that match-
es her nature as a fate-weaving Vizier.
In addition, your character must have
a Fair (+2) rating in Crafts before any
applied bonuses as well as the Vizier
perk.
Traits: A vizier gains a +1 to her
Crafts score as well as a +1 bonus to
any single iimportant skill.
Important Skills: Bureaucracy,
Crafts, Deceit, Empathy, Investigate,
Knowledge, Perception
MACHINAE
Highly criticised, feared and
mistrusted, the Machinae are instanc-
es of machines and digital code giv-
en sentience and in a sense, life. The
technology used to create these new
forms of life is called Neuro-Tech and
it allows sentient consciousness to in-
terface and transfer between mortal
and machine. Even in its infancy, chief
advisors on the Scientific Council ex-
pressed concerns about the direction
in which this new technology might
take. Their fears were realized when,
very recently, a Lemurian conscious-
ness was transferred into a machine of
war and laid waste to an entire mili-
tary installation. After the destruction
of that machine and nearly a decade
of debate, law and regulation went by
without another advancement in
neurotech. It wasn’t until the last of
the Science Council who remembered
the slaughter of the Iron Lotus died
that neurotech would open once more
as a valid scientific field of study.
Today there are many types of
machinae. Some are coded into exis-
tence from nothing by a mother con-
struct called The Source and some are
even created by Lemurian hand. Oth-
ers are awakened by magic or even
Lemurian consciousness transferring
into machine just like the warjack of
the Iron Lotus Massacre. To primitive
eyes, Machinae are little else but smart
tools to be used and enslaved. More
ethical minds have pushed for laws
regarding the sanctity of their life but
so far slavery of Machinae is still le-
gal trade almost everywhere in Lemu-
ria even while the Treaty of Parnassus
holds.
Artificial Sentient Life, or ASL,
is software that has acquired a sense
of self awareness. It exists as lines of
code that consistently self-replicate
and self-alter according to its growth
pattern. An Awakened Machine is a
machine that has been given life by
magic. Synthetics, or synths, are ma-
chines that have had Lemurian con-
sciousness transferred into them from
89
a living, sentient being. While syn-
thetics do not always have Lemurian
consciousness, even animals or oth-
er forms of life who have been trans-
ferred over gain a sense of self-aware-
ness over time. Inside of a machine
even the sentience of a dog can gain
self-awareness and the intellect.
Requirements: Machinae charac-
ters must have a High Concept that re-
flects their nature as a machine given
life. In addition, a machinae character
must have one of the following perks:
•A.S.L.
•Awakened Machine
•Synthetic
Traits: Machinae character gain a
+2 to their Knowledge skill score.
Important Skills: Bureaucracy,
Crafts, Empathy, Knowledge, Pilot
Chapter Three

SYSTEM

91
 This chapter contains the core
rules for playing a game of Warsong.
It includes information on how to
take actions by rolling the dice, tak-
ing damage and recovering from it,
how movement works as well as how
to improve your character over time
through gameplay milestones.
ROLLING THE DICE
When you’re unsure of the out-
come of a situation, when the chance
of failure might produce an interesting
outcome or there’s an obstacle in your
way that you have to overcome such as
a hazard or another active party op-
posing you, you’ll roll the dice to see
whether you succeed or fail at whatev-
er action your character is attempting.
Warsong uses six-sided dice or fudge
dice in order to determine these out-
comes.
In order to determine outcomes
by rolling dice, use these steps:
1. Choose the skill appropriate
for the action you’re attempting. The
GM will usually supply this.
2. Roll four Fate Dice or four
six-sided dice.
3. Add together the symbols
shown on the dice.
• When you’re using fudge dice,
rolling a + is +1, a - is -1 and a 0
is 0. • With a six-sided die, a roll of a
1 or 2 is -1, a 5 or 6 is +1 and a 3 or
4 is +0.
4. Add your rating in that skill to
the dice roll. The total is your result on
the ladder.
5. If you’ve invoked an aspect,
add +2 to the result, or re-roll the
dice.
OPPOSITION & DIFFICULTY
When you roll the dice, you com-
pare the result to an opposition. If
the opposition is active, meaning that
there is someone actively working
against what you’re doing, either the
GM will roll for the NPC or the person
playing the character will roll the dice
against you. If the opposition is pas-
sive, you’ll have to roll a specific rat-
ing on the ladder, called the difficulty.
When a player character or a
non-player character can interfere
with an action, then the opposition is
active. This typically does not count as
an action for the opposing character,
and the opposition can roll as many
oppositions as they need to during the
exchange.
S
 When there is no character in the
way, then the opposition is passive.
Decide if there is a Situational As-
pect that should be considered in the
circumstances of the action, such as
Burning Building, Time Running Out or
Rough Terrain, would make the action
more difficult or more interesting. If
so, choose a rating on the ladder that
describes the passive opposition.
When you’re unsure of which
type of opposition to use, such as a
non-player character that doesn’t
know what the player character is do-
ing, or an automated defense system
attempting to detect the character,
simply choose whichever type of op-
position makes the most sense to you
at the time.
OUTCOMES
When you roll the dice to see what
happens during an action, you’ll either
succeed, fail, tie or succeed with style.
FAIL
If you roll lower than the opposi-
tion, you fail. The GM will decide what
happens, but you will either not get
what you want or do what you want to
do, or you will get what you want or
do, only at a cost. The GM will decide
93
what the cost is to succeed in your
task.
TIE
When your roll and the opposi-
tion’s roll are the same, you tie. During
a tie, you either get a lesser version of
what you want, or you get it along with
some minor cost.
SUCCESS
When you roll higher than the op-
position by at least one point, you’ve
succeeded in your task. You get what
you want at no cost, or perform the
action you were attempting.
SUCCEED WITH STYLE
When you roll three or higher
than the opposition, you’ve succeed-
ed with style. Not only do you get what
you want or do what you set out to do,
but you gain an additional benefit in
the process.
SUCCEEDING AT A COST
When a character ties or fails, the
GM can offer to allow the character to
succeed even though the dice say oth-
erwise. This is called succeeding at a
cost. You get what you want, but you
do so at a price.
 A minor cost complicates the
character’s life. A minor cost will
change the situation a bit, rather
than just negating what the character
was trying to do. You can foreshad-
ow some imminent peril, introduce a
new wrinkle in their plans, present the
character with a tough choice, give an
NPC a Boost, place an Aspect on the
character or tick one of the character’s
stress boxes.
A serious cost does far more
than just complicate the character’s
life, it takes a serious and possibly ir-
revocable toll on the character at that
very moment. One way the GM can do
this is to take a minor cost and turn
it up to eleven. A guard that, at mi-
nor cost, may have just heard an odd
noise might suddenly come bursting
in with several of his pals, one of their
allies might wind up being pulled into
an undertow current when returning
from a Dive to change the direction of
a river’s flow to irrigate crops or re-
moving the relic they were after caus-
es a cave-in that buries one or more
allies under miles of debris.
If you’re having a hard time try-
ing to figure out how serious a seri-
ous cost should be, you might want to
consider the margin of their failure.
For instance, in the Dive example
above, a failure of -1 or -2 might
mean that the characters have to make
an Athletics roll to reach the surface,
while a failure of -3 or higher could
mean that the characters have to not
only swim to the surface, but they’re
being opposed by sea kelp wrapping
around their legs.
THE FOUR ACTIONS
Whenever you make a Skill roll,
you’ll be taking one of four basic ac-
tions: Overcome, Create An Advan-
tage, Attack or Defend. You’ll choose
which action your character is taking
based on what the character is trying
to do.
OVERCOME
When you’re trying to achieve a
goal within the scope of a Skill, you’re
O
trying to use an Overcome action.
Every action has a certain niche
of miscellaneous actions that fall un-
der its purview and certain situations
in which it is the ideal choice. A char-
acter with Larceny, for example, tries
to pick a lock while a character with
Performance tries to wow a crowd and
a character with crafts tries to paint a
landscape.
 When your character is in a situ-
ation and there is something between
her and her goals, you’ll use the over-
come action to deal with it. This action
is basically a catch-all. If it doesn’t fit
O
into any other action, it’s probably an
Overcome.
The opposition to an Overcome
action can be active or passive.
When you fail an overcome ac-
tion, you can simply fail or succeed at
a serious cost determined by the GM.
When you tie an overcome action, you
succeed but at a minor cost. When you
succeed at an overcome action, you
achieve your goal without any cost.
When you succeed with style at an
overcome action, you get a Boost in
addition to achieving your goal.
CREATE AN ADVANTAGE
When you try to make a Situa-
tional Aspect that gives you a benefit,
or claim a benefit from an Aspect that
you have access to, you’re Creating An
Advantage.
The Create An Advantage covers
just about anything that you can do in
order to take advantage of the envi-
ronment or situation you’re in. Some-
times you’ll be working to actively
change your circumstances, like
95
throwing sand in your opponent’s eyes,
but it can also be newly discovered in-
formation that helps you in some way,
such as learning the weakness of a
spirit through research. You can also
take advantage of something you’ve
previously observed, such as using an
opponent’s bad temper against him.
When you’re trying to Create
An Advantage, you must be clear as
C
to whether you’re creating a wholly
new Situational Aspect or taking ad-
vantage of an Aspect that’s already
in place. If you are creating a new
Aspect, you must define whether you
are attributing that Aspect to a char-
acter or to the environment.
Opposition to this action type
can be active or passive. If your target
is another character, their roll always
counts as a defend action.
When you fail in creating a new
aspect you either do not create an
Aspect at all or you create one but
someone else gets the free invoke
of it; whatever you’re doing simply
winds up to someone else’s bene-
fit instead of your own. The GM may
reword the Aspect to show that the
other character benefits, instead.
When you tie in creating a new as-
pect, you gain a Boost instead of a
Situational Aspect. This may mean
that you have to rename the Aspect to
reflect its temporary nature. When you
succeed in creating a new aspect, you
C
create a Situation Aspect with a free
Invocation. When you succeed with
style in creating a new aspect, you
create a Situation Aspect with two free
Invocations instead of just one.
When you fail in trying to take
advantage of an existing aspect, you
give a free Invoke of that Aspect to
someone else, instead. This is usual-
ly an opponent in a conflict but could
feasibly be anyone who would bene-
fit at the cost of your detriment. When
you tie or succeed in taking advantage
of an existing aspect, you gain a free
Invoke of that Aspect. When you suc-
ceed with style in attempting to take
advantage of an existing Aspect, you
gain two free Invocations of that As-
pect.
ATTACK
Whenever you’re trying to harm
someone during a conflict or take
them out of a scene, you’re using an
Attack Action.
The Attack Action is the most
straightforward of the four actions -
you’re trying to hurt someone. An
attack may not always be physical in
nature, some Skills allow you to harm
someone mentally as well. In Warsong,
there are more ways to harm someone
as well.
Most of the time, your target will
actively oppose the attack. Passive
opposition to an attack means that
you’ve caught the opponent unawares
or otherwise unable to make a full
effort to resist you. That, or the NPC
isn’t important enough to bother with
A
dice. Whether passive or active, the
opposition to an Attack Action always
counts as a Defend action. Because of
this, the two actions are inextricably
linked.
When you fail an attack, you sim-
ply don’t cause any harm to your tar-
get. When you tie an attack, you don’t
cause any harm but you gain a Boost.
When you succeed on an attack, you
inflict a hit on your target equal to the
number of shifts you got. That forces
the target to try to “buy off” the value
of your hit by taking Stress or Con-
sequences. If that’s not possible, the
target is taken out of the conflict al-
together. When you succeed with style
on an attack, it works like a normal at-
tack but you also gain the option of
reducing the value of your hit by one
to gain a boost as well.
DEFEND
When you’re attempting to avoid
an attack or prevent someone from
creating an advantage against you,
you’re using a Defend Action.
Whenever someone tries to at-
tack you or create an advantage over
you in a conflict, you should have the
chance to Defend. As with Attack Ac-
tions, this isn’t always about avoiding
physical harm. Some Skills allow you
to defend against harm from other
sources.
Your opposition to an attack is
97
almost always active. If you’re rolling
to Defend against passive opposition,
it’s usually because the environment
is somehow hostile toward you, or the
D
attacking character isn’t important
enough to bother with dice rolls.
When you fail at a defense roll,
you suffer the consequences of what-
ever you were trying to prevent. You
might take a hit or have an advan-
tage created over you. When you tie
a defense, you grant your opponent a
boost. When you succeed in a defense
roll, you successfully avoid the attack
or attempt to gain an advantage over
you. When you succeed with style
on a defense roll, it works like a nor-
mal success but you also gain a boost
while you momentarily turn the tables.
ZOOMING IN
A single Skill roll is often enough
to decide how a particular situation
or experience will progress and you
can describe these actions in any time
frame or level of detail that you like.
Because of this, you should be able to
use a single Athletics roll to find out
whether or not you’ll safely navigate
the dangerous mountain cliff face over
the span of a week just as easily as
you can use it to determine if you can
get out of the way of the massive Fen-
wood Tree that was just toppled and is
coming directly down atop your head
In some situations, such as piv-
otal climaxes, there will be situa-
tions that you’ll want to make much
more dramatic and interesting. During
these scenes, it’s a good idea to zoom
in on the action by using multiple skill
rolls because a wide range of results
will make things very dynamic and
surprising. Most fight scenes fall into
this category but you can choose to
zoom in on just about anything that
you deem sufficiently important. Con-
versely, it is also possible to tidy up
even complex fight scenes with one
roll.
There are three ways to zoom in
on the action in Warsong:
1. Challenges: When one or more
characters try to achieve something
dynamic or complicated.
2. Contests: When two or more
characters compete toward a goal.
3. Conflicts: When two or more
characters are trying to directly harm
one another.
CHALLENGES
One Overcome action is enough
to deal with a straightforward goal
or obstacle. The hero needs to pick a
lock, disarm the bomb, sift a key out
of the debris or find a vital piece of
information. It’s also useful when the
details of how something gets done
aren’t as important as whether or not
it actually gets done.
Sometimes things get even more
complicated. It isn’t enough to get the
key out of the debris because you’ve
got a horde of hungry spirits howling
for blood and you’ve got to set up the
salt lines to keep them at bay. It’s not
enough to simply find the information,
because you have to find the informa-
tion before the airship you’re in hits
the ground, and it’s coming up fast.
A challenge is a series of over-
come actions that you use to resolve
an especially complicated or dynamic
situation. Each overcome action uses a
different Skill to deal with a single task
or part of the situation, and you take
the individual results of the rolls to
figure out how the situation resolves
itself.
When you’re trying to figure out if
it’s appropriate to call for a challenge,
ask yourself the following questions:
• Is each separate task some-
thing that can generate tension or
drama? If the parts are actually a part
of the same goal, then it should be
one Overcome Action and you can use
the details to explain what happens if
something goes wrong.
• Does the situation require dif-
ferent Skills to deal with? Holding off
the spirits (Melee Combat), figuring
out what will stop the spirits (Knowl-
edge) while constructing the salt line
(Crafts) is a good instance of a chal-
lenge.
To set up a challenge, identify
the individual tasks or goals that make
up a situation and treat each one as a
separate Overcome roll. Depending on
the situation, one character may make
99
several rolls, or multiple characters
may be able to participate.
When a GM wants to conduct a
challenge, call for each overcome ac-
tion in whatever order seems the most
interesting but don’t decide anything
about the results until after the rolls
have been made because you’ll want
to have the freedom to sequence the
order of actions in a way that makes
sense and is the most interesting. If a
player gains a Boost from one of these
rolls, they can use it on another roll
during the challenge, provided they
can justify it.
After the rolls have been made
you’ll consider the successes, failures
and costs of each action as you inter-
pret how the situation proceeds. The
results may lead into another chal-
lenge, a contest or even a conflict.
If you have any Boosts that went
unused during the Challenge, the
characters may keep them until the
end of the next scene, so long as the
events of the next scene are connect-
ed to the one in which the Challenge
took place. If the events in the next
scene are unconnected, then you will
lose the Boosts at the end of the cur-
rent scene.
ADVANTAGES IN A CHALLENGE
During a challenge, you can at-
tempt to Create An Advantage for
yourself, or in order to help some-
one else out. Creating an Advantage
doesn’t count as a roll to complete the
goals of the challenge, but if you fail
the roll, you could potentially place
your goals in danger of failure by cre-
ating a cost or problem that negative-
ly impacts the goals in question. Use
caution with this tactic as advantages
can help to complete tasks and create
momentum, but trying to create them
is not without inherent risk!
ATTACKS IN A CHALLENGE
Since Challenges indicate that
you’re up against passive opposition,
you’ll almost never use an attack
action in a challenge. If the scene starts
to seem like it is becoming reasonable
to roll for an attack action, the GM
should set up for a conflict instead.
CONTESTS
Whenever two or more charac-
ters have a mutually exclusive goal but
aren’t trying to harm each other di-
rectly, then they’ve found themselves
in a Contest. Arm wrestling, races and
sports competitions, public debates
as well as aircraft races through deep
canyon ridges are all good examples
of a Contest.
The GM should answer the fol-
lowing questions when setting up a
Contest:
• What are the sides? Is it a free-for-
all, which every player out for them-
selves or are there groups of people
opposing other groups? If you have
multiple characters on a side, they’ll
roll together using teamwork rules.
• In what environment does the con-
test take place? Are there any signif-
icant or notable features of that en-
vironment that you want to define as
Situation Aspects?
• How are the participants opposing
each other? Are they rolling against
each other directly, such as in a foot
race or a chess match, or are they at-
tempting to overcome something in
the environment such as an obstacle
course or a panel of judges?
• What Skills are appropriate for the
contest? Does everyone have to roll
the same one, or do several apply?
A contest proceeds in a series
of exchanges. In an exchange, ev-
ery participant gets to make one skill
roll to determine how well they do in
that part of the contest. This basically
amounts to an overcome action.
101
When the players make a contest roll,
compare your results to everyone
else’s.
If you got the highest result, you
win the challenge. If you’re rolling di-
rectly against the other participants ,
then that means you got the highest
rank in the ladder out of everyone. If
you’re rollinga against passive oppo-
sition such as something in the envi-
ronment, it means you got more shifts
out of everyone.
Winning the exchange means
you score a victory, which you’ll rep-
resent as a victory token or a mark on
the exchange sheet and then describe
how you take the lead.
If you succeed with style and no
one else does, then you get two victo-
ry tokens or tally marks.
If there’s a tie for the highest re-
sult, no one gets the victory point and
something unexpected or surprising
happens. The GM will create a new Sit-
uation Aspect reflecting this new twist
on the Contest.
The first participant to achieve
three victory points wins the contest.
ADVANTAGES IN A CONTEST
You can attempt to create an ad-
vantage before you make a contest roll
during an exchange. If you’re targeting
the other participant, they’ll defend
normally. If it is possible for someone
to interfere with your attempt, they’ll
provide active opposition as normal.
Doing so carries inherent risk, as fail-
ing to create the advantage means
you’ve forfeited your contest roll. This
means there is no way you can make
progress in the current exchange. If
you at least tie, however, you get to
make your contest roll normally.
If you’re trying to provide a bo-
nus via teamwork rules, failing to cre-
ate an advantage means that the lead
character doesn’t benefit from your
help during this exchange.
CLASH OF WILL
In Warsong, the power of more
than one supernatural creature’s
powers come up against one another.
These powers do not always use the
same Skills or power sets, so there is
not always a “correct” way for the con-
test between supernaturals to proceed
without confusing the rules. For situa-
tions where two or more supernatural
abilities come into play in direct
contest against one another, the win-
ner is determined by a Clash Of Will.
In direct contest with one anoth-
er when no other roll makes sense for
the situation, a Clash Of Will is decid-
ed by the highest Will roll in contest
between the two creatures using pow-
ers against one another.
ATTACKING IN A CONTEST
A contest ceases to be a con-
test at any time in which one character
tries to do harm to another. The mo-
ment one character tries to harm an-
other, the contest becomes a conflict,
instead.
CONFLICTS
Any time characters are at-
tempting to directly harm one an-
other, they’re in a conflict. Conflicts
take many forms including gunfights,
sword fighting, psychic assault and
duels of sorcery. Conflicts also occur
in other situations such as particularly
brutal interrogations, or even shout-
ing matches with a loved one. As long
as the characters involved have both
the intent and ability harm one anoth-
er, you’re in a conflict scene.
Setting up a conflict can be much
more involved than setting up
for contests and challenges, and they
can have dire consequences. To do so,
follow these steps:
1. Set the scene by describing
the environment in which the conflict
will take place. Create Situation As-
pects and Zones and establish who is
participating in the conflict, what side
they’re on and what Zone they’re in.
2. Determine turn order.
3. Start the first exchange.
• On your turn, take your action
and resolve it.
• On someone else’s turn, you’ll
defend or respond to their actions.
• At the end of everyone’s turn,
start again with a new exchange.
A conflict ends when everyone
on one side has either conceded, fled
or been taken out of the conflict.
SETTING THE SCENE
Before a conflict, players and the
GM should talk about the circumstanc-
es of the scene. Who is in the conflict?
Where are they positioned relative to
one another? When is the conflict tak-
ing place? What is the environment
like?
The conversation does not need
103
to be exhaustively detailed. Precise
measures of distance doesn’t need to
be measured. Everyone just needs to
have a clear idea of what is actually
going on within the conflict. The GM
will take this information and create
Situation Aspects to help define the
arena in which the conflict takes place.
SITUATION ASPECTS
When the GM is setting the
scene, he or she should make sure to
keep an eye out for things that seem
awesome or interesting to make into
Situation Aspects, especially if these
things might be taken advantage of by
the characters during the conflict. De-
pending on how detailed you want the
Conflict to be, a good number of Situ-
ation Aspects is about three to five.
Great options for Situation As-
pects include:
• Has the area’s Loom been ma-
nipulated in any way? Is it a Destined
Flashpoint? A No-Win Situation? Does
it have a sense of Inevitable Loss?
• Anything regarding the general
mood, weather or lighting of the area.
Is it dark and foreboding? Stormy?
Creepy? Crumbling? Bright?
• Anything that might assist or
restrict movement such as slippery,
rough or muddy terrain. • Things to
hide behind or use as cover such as
parked transports, shield walls, large
furniture, blown-out buildings. •
Things that can be destroyed, knocked
over, wrecked or used as improvised
weaponry such as statuary, book
shelves, altars or decorative armor or
tapestry. • Flammable things are al-
ways fun.
These Aspects are not fixed,
permanent or the only ones that can
exist in the conflict. Players might be
able to suggest features of the envi-
ronment that would work as Aspects.
If the GM described the scene as be-
ing poorly lit, for example, the play-
er might be able to invoke the Shad-
ows in order to help on her Stealth roll
even if it hadn’t been previously de-
scribed or established as an Aspect. If
the feature would require some inter-
action or manipulation on the part of
the character in the scene to become
an Aspect, then that Aspect should be
created by a Create An Advantage ac-
tion.
ZONES
If the conflict takes place over a
large area, the GM will break it down
into smaller zones for easier reference
as to who and what is where.
A Zone is, by definition, an ab-
stract representation of a physical
space. The best definition for a Zone
is that it’s close enough that you can
interact directly with someone in the
same zone as you. In other words, if
you’re in the same Zone, you can walk
up and punch someone in the face
with your Power Armor.
Typically, a conflict won’t include
more than a handful of Zones. Two to
four zones are usually more than suf-
ficient for the average conflict. Zones
provide a tactile sense of the environ-
ment. Only in the truly large Conflicts
will you ever need more than a sheet
of paper to describe them.
If you can describe the area as
bigger than a house, you can proba-
bly divide it into two or more zones. If
it’s separated by stairs, ladders, fenc-
es or walls, it could feasibly be divid-
ed into zones. For example, a building
with more than one floor would be at
least two zones. Above and Below can
be different zones as well, especially
during flight.
When you’re setting up your
zones, take note of any Situation As-
pects that might make moving be-
tween these zones problematic. These
105
particular Aspects are important for
when the characters want to move
from one zone to another.
ESTABLISHING SIDES
When you’re in a conflict, it’s
important to know everyone’s goals.
There is almost always a very urgent
reason why someone would be willing
to fight, do harm or even kill.
The normal assumption is that
the PCs are on one side of the fight
against the NPCs who are in opposi-
tion, but that is not always the case.
PCs can fight each other, or may even
switch sides to join the NPCs to fight
against the other PCs.
When setting up a conflict, make
sure you understand the goals of each
side as well as who is on which side
of the conflict as well as where every-
one is situated in their zones when the
conflict begins.
TURN ORDER
The order of actions in a Con-
flict is called Turn Order, and is based
on the character’s Skills. In a physical
conflict, you’ll compare your Percep-
tion skill to the other participants in
the conflict. In a mental conflict, you
will compare you Empathy skill. The
character with the highest of these
scores goes first, and everyone else
goes after that in descending order.
If there is a tie in these skills be-
tween two or more characters, you’ll
compare a secondary-but-related
Skill. For example, in a physical con-
flict, you would use Athletics and then
Physique. For mental conflicts, you’ll
use Rapport, then Will.
THE EXCHANGE
Exchanges are more complicat-
ed than contests. During an exchange,
every character will have a turn to take
an action. The NPCs will take their
turns all at once, using the Skill of the
strongest NPC to determine their Turn
Order.
Generally, you’ll be attacking an-
other character or creating an advan-
tage during your turn because that’s
the point of the Conflict - to do harm
to others, to take your opponent out
or make things easier to take the op-
ponent out.
Sometimes there will be a sec-
ondary objective during a Conflict and
you might need to roll an Overcome
action instead of an attack. This hap-
pens most often when you’re
attempting to move from one Zone to
another when there is an Aspect that
makes such movement difficult or
problematic.
You can make as many defense
rolls as you need during your turn,
but you only get to make one Skill roll
during your turn. You can also make
Defend rolls on behalf of others, so
long as it is reasonable and logical that
you would be able to do so, and you
suffer the effects of any failed rolls.
FULL DEFENSE
You can choose to take to a de-
fensive position, looking out for the
safety of yourself and those you are
protecting instead of taking other ac-
tions. So long as you make no other
Skill rolls, you can take on a Full De-
fense action, which gives you a +2
bonus to your defense rolls.
RESOLVING ATTACKS
A successful attack lands a hit
equivalent to its shift value on the tar-
get. So if you get a two shift hit on
your opponent, then you land a hit
that inflicts two stress levels.
If you get hit by an attack, one of
two things happen. Either you absorb
the hit and stay in the fight, or you’re
107
taken out.
Characters have two options for
absorbing hits to stay in a fight. You
can take stress or consequences. You
can also concede a conflict before
you’re taken out in order to preserve
some control over what happens to
your character.
STRESS
Stress represents the reasons
that you barely avoid taking any sub-
stantial damage or injury during a
conflict. Maybe you twisted away from
the blow so that the sword only grazes
your shoulder, or you exhaust yourself
after a particularly adrenaline-fueled
transport chase. Mental stress might
mean that you just barely manage to
ignore an insult or clamp down on an
instinctive emotional reaction. Stress
boxes represent a loss of momentum.
There is only so much your character
can take before you have to pay the
piper.
Your character sheet indicates
how many stress boxes you have, and
each has a different shift value. By
default, characters in Warsong get a
1-Point and a 2-Point box. You can
acquire additional stress boxes with
higher value if you have high levels in
certain skills such as Physique or Will.
When you take stress, check off
a stress box with a value equal to the
shift. If that box is already checked,
you’ll check off the next higher val-
ue box. If there is no higher level box,
and you can’t take a consequence,
then you’re taken out of the conflict
altogether.
Every character has at least two
stress track categories: Physical and
Mental. You start with a 1-Point and
a 2-Point box in each of these tracks.
If you take stress from a physical
source, you’ll check off the physical
stress track. If you take mental stress,
you’ll check off boxes from the mental
stress track.
You recover all of your stress
boxes after you’ve had a few minutes
to rest and recover.
CONSEQUENCES
The second option your character has
for mitigating hits is to take a conse-
quence. A consequence is far more
severe than stress, and it represents
some form of lasting injury or setback
that you accrue during the conflict. A
consequence is something that’s go-
ing to be a problem even after the
conflict is over.
Consequences come in three ba-
sic levels of severity: Mild, Moderate
and Severe. Each one has a different
shift value: Two, Four and Six, respec-
tively. These consequence slots are
available on your character sheet.
When you use a consequence
slot, you reduce the shit value of the
attack by the shift value of the con-
sequence. You can use more than one
consequence at a time, so long as
they are available to use. Any remain-
ing shifts must be taken care of using
stress to avoid being taken out.
Consequences do lasting harm.
The consequence slot must be filled
with an Aspect that represents the
lasting effects you endured from the
attack. The opponent who forced you
to take the consequence gains a free
invoke of that Aspect as well, and the
consequence Aspect remains on your
sheet until you’ve recovered the con-
sequence slot. While it’s on your char-
acter sheet, the consequence is treat-
ed like any other aspect, except that,
since the slant of the consequence is
so negative, it’s far more likely to be
used to your character’s detriment.
Consequence slots do not recov-
er nearly as quickly as stress boxes
do. In addition, you only get one
set of consequences, unlike Stress.
This means that no matter what kind
of stress you take, you always have to
use the same consequence box to ab-
sorb the shift.
NAMING CONSEQUENCES
Here are some guidelines for
choosing what to name a conse-
quence: Mild consequences don’t re-
quire immediate medical attention.
They hurt, and they may present an
inconvenience, but they aren’t going
to force you into a lot of bed rest. On
the mental side, mild consequences
express things like small social gaffes
or changes in your surface emotions.
Examples: Black Eye, Bruised Hand,
Winded, Flustered, Cranky, Temporar-
ily Blinded.
Moderate consequences repre-
sent fairly serious impairments that
require dedicated effort toward recov-
ery (including medical attention). On
the mental side, they express things
like damage to your reputation or
emotional problems that you can’t just
shrug off with an apology and a good
night’s sleep. Examples: Deep Cut,
First Degree Burn, Exhausted, Drunk,
Terrified.
Severe consequences go straight
109
to the hospital. They’re extremely
nasty and prevent you from doing a
lot of things, and will lay you out for
a while. On the mental side, they ex-
press things like serious trauma or
relationship-changing harm. Exam-
ples: Second-Degree Burn, Compound
Fracture, Guts Hanging Out, Crippling
Shame, Trauma-Induced Phobia.
RECOVERING
In order to regain the use of a
consequence slot, you have to recover
from the consequence. That requires
two things: succeeding at an action
that allows you to justify recovery, and
then waiting an appropriate amount
of game time for that recovery to take
place.
The action in question is an
overcome action and the obstacle is
the consequence that you took. If it’s a
physical injury, then the action is some
kind of medical treatment or first aid.
For mental consequences, the action
may involve therapy, counseling, or
simply a night out with friends.
The difficulty for this obstacle is
based on the shift value of the con-
sequence. Mild is Fair (+2), moderate
is Great (+4), and severe is Fantastic
(+6). If you are trying to perform the
recovery action on yourself, increase
the difficulty by two steps on the lad-
der.
Keep in mind that the circum-
stances have to be appropriately free
of distraction and tension for you to
make this roll in the first place-you’re
not going to clean and bandage a
nasty cut while soldiers are tromp-
ing through the caves looking for you.
GMs, you’ve got the final judgment
call.
If you succeed at the recovery
action, or someone else succeeds on a
recovery action for you, you get to re-
name the consequence aspect to show
that it’s in recovery. So, for example,
Broken Leg could become Stuck in a
Cast, Scandalized could become Dam-
age Control, and so on. This doesn’t
free up the consequence slot, but it
serves as an indicator that you’re re-
covering, and it changes the ways the
aspect’s going to be used while it re-
mains.
Whether you change the conse-
quence’s name or not - and some-
times it might not make sense to do so
- mark it with a star so that everyone
remembers that recovery has started.
Once that is done, all that is left to do
is wait.
For a mild consequence, you only
have to wait one whole scene after the
recovery action, and then you can re-
move the aspect and clear the slot.
For a moderate consequence,
you have to wait one whole session af-
ter the recovery action (which means if
you do the recovery action in the mid-
dle of a session, you should recover
sometime in the middle of next ses-
sion).
For a severe consequence, you
have to wait one whole scenario after
the recovery action.
EXTREME CONSEQUENCES
In addition to the normal set of
mild, moderate, and severe conse-
quences, every PC also gets one last-
ditch option to stay in a fight: The Ex-
treme Consequence. Between major
milestones, you can only use this op-
tion once.
An extreme consequence will
absorb up to 8-shifts of a hit, but at
a very serious cost. You must replace
one of your aspects (except the high
concept, that’s off limits) with the ex-
treme consequence. An extreme con-
sequence is so serious that taking it
literally changes who you are.
Unlike other consequences,
you cannot make a recovery action to
diminish an extreme consequence.
You’re stuck with it until your next
major milestone. After that, you can
rename the extreme consequence to
reflect that you’re no longer vulnera-
ble to the worst of it, as long as you
don’t just switch it out for whatever
your old aspect was. Taking an ex-
treme consequence is a permanent
character change; treat it as such.
CONCEDING A CONFLICT
When all else fails, you can also
just give in. Maybe you’re worried
that you can’t absorb another hit, or
maybe you decide that continuing to
fight is just not worth the punishment.
Whatever the reason, you can interrupt
any action at any time before the roll
is made to declare that you concede
the conflict. This is super-important—
once dice hit the table, what happens
happens, and you’re either taking
more stress, suffering more conse-
quences, or getting taken out.
Concession gives the other per-
son what they wanted from you, or in
the case of more than two combatants,
removes you as a concern for the op-
posing side. You’re out of the conflict,
period.
111
But it’s not all bad. First of all,
you get a fate point for choosing to
concede. On top of that, if you’ve sus-
tained any consequences in this con-
flict, you get an additional fate point
for each consequence. These fate
points may be used once this conflict
is over. These extra ate points can go
over your refresh rate. When the next
session starts, however, you will re-
turn to your normal refresh rate.
Second, you get to avoid the
worst parts of your fate. Yes, you
lost, and the narration has to reflect
that. But you can’t use this privilege
to undermine the opponent’s victory,
either. What you say happens has to
pass muster with the group.
That can make the difference be-
tween being mistakenly left for dead
and ending up in the enemy’s clutch-
es, in shackles, without any of your
stuff. The sort of thing that can hap-
pen if you’re taken out instead.
TAKEN OUT
If you don’t have any stress or
consequences left to buy off all the
shifts of a hit, that means you’re taken
out. Getting taken out is bad. It means
not only that you can’t fight anymore,
but that the person who took you out
gets to decide what your loss looks
like and what happens to you after the
conflict. Obviously, they can’t narrate
anything that’s out of scope for the
conflict but that still gives someone
else a lot of power over your charac-
ter that you can’t really do anything
about.
CHARACTER DEATH
So, if you think about it, there’s
not a whole lot keeping someone from
saying, after taking you out, that your
character dies. If you’re talking about
a physical conflict where people are
using nasty sharp weapons, it certain-
ly seems reasonable that one possible
outcome of defeat is your character
getting killed.
In practice, though, this assump-
tion might be pretty controversial de-
pending on what kind of group you’re
in. Some people think that character
death should always be on the table, if
the rules allow it. If that’s how the dice
fall, then so be it. Others are more cir-
cumspect, and consider it very dam-
aging to their fun if they lose a charac-
ter upon whom they’ve invested hours
and hours of gameplay, just because
someone spent a lot of fate points or
their die rolls were particularly
unlucky.
We recommend the latter ap-
proach, mainly for the following rea-
son: most of the time, sudden char-
acter death is a pretty boring outcome
when compared to putting the char-
acter through hell. On top of that, all
the story threads that character was
connected to just kind of stall with no
resolution, and you have to expend a
bunch of effort and time figuring out
how to get a new character into play
mid-stride.
That doesn’t mean there’s no
room for character death in the game,
however. We just recommend that you
save that possibility for conflicts that
are extremely pivotal, dramatic, and
meaningful for that character. In other
words, conflicts in which that charac-
ter would knowingly and willingly risk
dying in order to win. Players and GMs,
if you’ve got the feeling that you’re in
that kind of conflict, talk it out when
you’re setting the scene. A little warn-
ing can go a long way.
At the very least, even if you’re
in a hardcore group that invites the
potential for character death on any
taken out result, make sure that you
telegraph the opponent’s lethal intent.
GMs, this is especially important
for you, so the players will know which
NPCs really mean business, and can
concede to keep their characters alive
if need be.
MOVEMENT
In a conflict, it’s important to
track where everyone is relative to one
another, which is why we divide the
environment where the conflict is tak-
ing place into zones. Where you have
zones, you have people trying to move
around in them in order to get at one
another or at a certain objective.
Normally, it’s no big deal to move
from one zone to another. If there’s
nothing preventing you from doing
so, you can move one zone in addition
to your action for the exchange.
If you want to move more than
one zone (up to anywhere else on the
map), if a situation aspect suggests
that it might be difficult to move free-
ly or if another character is in your
way then you must make an overcome
action using Athletics to move. This
counts as your action for the exchange.
GMs, just as with other overcome rolls,
you’ll set the difficulty. You might use
the number of zones the character is
moving or the situation aspects in the
way as justification for how high you
113
set passive opposition. If another
character is impeding the path, roll
active opposition and feel free to in-
voke obstructing situation aspects in
aid of their defense.
If you fail that roll, whatever was
impeding you keeps you from mov-
ing. If you tie, you get to move, but
your opponent takes a temporary ad-
vantage of some kind. If you succeed,
you move without consequence. If you
succeed with style, you can claim a
boost in addition to your movement
or take an action in addition to your
movement.
ADVANTAGES IN CONFLICT
Remember that aspects you cre-
ate as advantages follow all the rules
for situation aspects. The GM can use
them to justify overcome actions, they
last until they’re made irrelevant or
the scene is over, and in some cases
they represent as much a threat to you
as an opponent.
When you create an advantage in
a conflict, think about how long you
want that aspect to stick around and
whom you want to have access to it.
It’s difficult for anyone besides you
and your friends to justify using an
advantage you stick to a character, but
it’s also easier to justify getting rid of
it. One overcome action could undo it.
It’s harder to justify getting rid of an
aspect on the environment (seriously,
who is going to move that Huge Book-
case you just knocked over?), but any-
one in the scene could potentially find
a reason to take advantage of it.
In terms of options for advan-
tages, the sky’s the limit. Pretty much
any situational modifier you can think
of can be expressed as an advantage.
If you’re stuck for an idea, here are
some examples:
• Temporary Blinding: Throw-
ing sand or salt in the enemy’s eyes
is a classic action staple. This places a
Blinded aspect on a target, which could
require them to get rid of the aspect
with an overcome action before doing
anything dependent on sight. Blinded
might also present opportunities for a
compel, so keep in mind that your op-
ponent can take advantage of this to
replenish fate points.
• Disarming: You knock an op-
ponent’s weapon away, disarming
them until they can recover it. The
target will need an overcome action to
recover their weapon.
• Positioning: There are a lot of
ways to use advantages to represent
positioning, like High Ground or Cor-
nered, which you can invoke to take
advantage of that positioning as con-
text demands.
• Winded: Some strikes in a fight
are debilitating because they’re pain-
ful, rather than because they cause
injury. Nerve hits, groin shots, and a
lot of other “dirty fighting” tricks fall
into this category. You can use an ad-
vantage to represent these, sticking
your opponent with Pain-Blindness or
Stunned or whatever, then following
up with an attack that exploits the as-
pect to do more lasting harm.
• Taking Cover: You can use ad-
vantages to represent positions of cov-
er and invoke them for your defense.
This can be as general as Found Some
Cover or as specific as Behind the Big
Oak Bar. Keep in mind that when your
character is taking cover that you may
gain other benefits as well, as noted
in the “special actions” section of this
chapter.
• Altering the Environment: You
can use advantages to alter the envi-
ronment to your benefit, creating bar-
riers to movement by scattering Loose
Junk everywhere, or setting things On
Fire.
115
OTHER ACTIONS
As stated above, you may find
yourself in a situation where you
want to do something else while your
friends are fighting. You might be dis-
arming a death trap, searching for a
piece of information, or checking for
hidden assailants.
In order to do this, GMs, set the
player up with a modified form of
challenge. One of the tasks is likely
to “defend yourself” in any exchange
where someone attacks you or tries to
create an advantage on you, you must
defend successfully in order to be
able to take one of the other actions
in the challenge. So long as no one has
successfully attacked you or stuck an
advantage on you, you can use your
action to roll for one of the challenge
goals.
FREE ACTIONS
Sometimes it just makes sense
that your character is doing something
else in conjunction with or as a step
toward their action in an exchange.
you quick-draw a weapon before you
use it, you shout a warning before you
kick in a door, or you quickly size up
a room before you attack. these little
bits of action are colorful description
more than anything else, meant to add
atmosphere to the scene.
GMs, don’t fall into the trap of
trying to police every little detail of
a player’s description. Remember,
if there’s no significant or interest-
ing opposition, you shouldn’t require
a roll-just let the players accomplish
what they say they do. Reloading a gun
or fishing for something in your back-
pack is part of performing the action.
you shouldn’t require any mechanics
to deal with that.
ENDING A CONFLICT
Under most circumstances, when
all of the members of one side have
either conceded the conflict or have
been taken out, the conflict is over.
GMs, once you know a conflict
has definitively ended, you can pass
out all the fate points earned from
concession. Players, take the fate
points for when your aspects were
invoked against you, make a note of
whatever consequences you suffered
in the fight, and erase any checks in
your stress boxes.
FROM CONTEST TO CHALLENGE
You may find yourself in a con-
flict scene where the participants are
no longer interested in or willing to
harm one another, because of some
change in the circumstances. If that
happens, and there’s still more to re-
solve, you can transition straight into
a contest or challenge as you need.
In that case, hold off on awarding the
end-of-conflict fate points and what-
not until you’ve also resolved the con-
test or challenge.
TEAMWORK
Characters can help each oth-
er out on actions. There are two ver-
sions of helping in Warsong, combin-
ing skills for when you are all putting
the same kind of effort into an action
(like using Physique together to push
over a crumbling wall), and stacking
advantages, for when the group is
setting a single person up to do well
(like causing multiple distractions so
one person can use Stealth to get into
he clan lord’s fortress).
When you combine skills, fig-
ure out who has the highest skill lev-
el among the participants. Each other
participant who has at least an Aver-
age (+1) in the same skill adds a +1 to
117
the highest person’s skill level, and
then only the lead character rolls. So if
you have three helpers and you’re the
highest, you roll your skill level with a
+3 bonus.
If you fail a roll to combine skills,
all of the participants share in the po-
tential costs. Whatever complication
affects one character affects all of
them, or everyone has to take con-
sequences. Alternatively, you can im-
pose a cost that affects all the charac-
ters the same.
When you stack advantages,
each person takes a create an advan-
tage action as usual, and gives what-
ever free invocations they get to a sin-
gle character. Remember that multiple
free invocations from the same aspect
can stack.
CHARACTER ADVANCEMENT
Your characters aren’t going to
remain static through the entire cam-
paign. As their stories play out, they’ll
have the chance to grow and change
in response to the events that hap-
pen o them during the course of the
game. The conflicts they face and the
complications they overcome will alter
your sense of who they are and push
them toward new challenges.
In addition to your characters, the
game world will change also. You’ll
resolve threats as you play, or change
the face of a location, or make such
an impact on the world that one of the
issues may need to change. We’ll get
more into world advancement later.
Character advancement in War-
song comes in one of two flavors: ei-
ther you can change something on
your sheet to something else that’s
equivalent, or you can add new things
to your sheet. The opportunities you
get to do this are collectively called
milestones.
MILESTONES
A milestone is a moment during
the game where you have the chance
to change or advance your character.
We call them milestones because they
usually happen at significant “break
points” in the action of a game. The
end of a session, the end of a scenario
and the end of a story arc, respective-
ly.
Usually, those break points im-
mediately follow some significant
event in the story that justifies your
character changing in response to
events. You might reveal a significant
plot detail or have a cliffhanger at the
end of a session. You might defeat a
major villain or resolve a plotline at
the end of a scenario. You might re-
solve a major storyline that shakes up
the campaign world at the end of an
arc.
Obviously, things won’t always
line up that nicely, so GMs, you have
some discretion in deciding when a
certain level of milestone occurs. If it
seems satisfying to give out a mile-
stone in the middle of a session, go
ahead, but stick to the guidelines here
to keep from handing out too many
advancement opportunities too often.
Milestones come in three levels
of importance: minor, significant, and
major.
MINOR MILESTONES
Minor milestones usually oc-
cur at the end of a session of play, or
when one piece of a story has been re-
solved. These kinds of milestones are
more about changing your character
rather than making him or her more
powerful, about adjusting in response
to whatever’s going on in the story if
you need to.
Sometimes it won’t really make
sense to take advantage of a minor
milestone, but you always have the
opportunity if you should need to.
During a minor milestone, you can
choose to do one (and only one) of the
following:
• Switch the rank values of any
two skills, or replace one Average (+1)
skill with one that isn’t on your sheet.
• Change any single stunt for
another stunt.
• Purchase a new stunt, pro-
vided you have the refresh to do so.
(Remember, you can’t go below 1 re-
fresh.)
• Rename one character aspect
that isn’t your high concept.
In addition, you can also rename
any moderate consequences you have,
so that you can start them on the road
to recovery, presuming you have not
already done so.
This is a good way to make slight
character adjustments, if it seems like
something on your character isn’t
quite right. You don’t end up using
that stunt as often as you thought, or
you resolved the Blood Feud with Aka-
mine Yoshida that you had and thus
it’s no longer appropriate, or any of
those changes that keep your charac-
ter consistent with the events of play.
In fact, you should almost always
be able to justify the change you’re
119
making in terms of the game’s story.
You shouldn’t be able to change Hot
Temper to Staunch Pacifist, for ex-
ample, unless something happened in
the story to inspire a serious change
of heart. You met a holy man, or had
a traumatic experience that made you
want to give up the sword, or what-
ever. GMs, you’re the final arbiter on
this, but don’t be so much of a stick-
ler that you sacrifice a player’s fun for
consistency.
SIGNIFICANT MILESTONES
Significant milestones usual-
ly occur at the end of a scenario or
the conclusion of a big plot event
(or, when in doubt, at the end of ev-
ery two or three sessions). Unlike mi-
nor milestones, which are primarily
about change, significant milestones
are about learning new things-deal-
ing with problems and challenges has
made your character generally more
capable at what they do.
In addition to the benefit of a mi-
nor milestone, you also gain both of
the following:
• One additional skill point,
which you can spend to buy a new skill
at Average (+1) or increase an existing
skill by one rank.
 • If you have any severe conse-
quences, you can rename them to be-
gin the recovery process, if you hav-
en’t already.
When you spend your skill point,
it’s worth one step on the ladder. You
can use it to buy a new skill at Average
(+1), or you can use it to increase an
existing skill by one step on the lad-
dersay, from Good (+3) to Great (+4).
MAJOR MILESTONE
A major milestone should only
occur when something happens in the
campaign that shakes it up a lot. The
end of a story arc (or around three sce-
narios), the death of a main NPC vil-
lain, or any other large-scale change
that reverberates through Lemuria.
These milestones are about
gaining more power. The challenges
of yesterday simply aren’t sufficient
to threaten these characters anymore,
and the threats of tomorrow will need
to be more adept, organized, and de-
termined to stand against them in the
future.
Achieving a major milestone
confers the benefits of one significant
milestone or two minor milestones,
in addition to the following additional
options:
• If you have an extreme conse-
quence, rename it to reflect that you’ve
moved past its most debilitating ef-
fects. This allows you to take another
extreme consequence in the future, if
you desire.
• Take an additional point of re-
fresh, which allows you to immediately
buy a new stunt or keep it in order to
give yourself more fate points at the
beginning of a session.
• Advance a skill beyond the
campaign’s current skill cap, if you’re
able to, thus increasing the skill cap.
• Rename your character’s high
concept if you desire.
Reaching a major milestone is a
pretty big deal. Characters with more
stunts are going to have a diverse
range of bonuses, making their skills
much more effective by default. Char-
acters with higher refresh will have a
much larger fountain of fate points to
work with when sessions begin, which
means they’ll be less reliant on com-
pels for a while.
GMs, when the player characters
go past the skill cap, it will necessarily
change the way you make opposition
NPCs, because you’re going to need
foes who can match the PCs in terms
of base competence so as to provide
a worthy challenge. It won’t happen all
at once, which will give you the chance
to introduce more powerful enemies
gradually, but if you play long enough,
eventually you’re going to have PCs
who have Epic and Legendary skill
ratings-that alone should give you a
sense of what kind of villains you’ll
need to bring to get in their way.
Most of all, a major milestone
should signal that lots of things in the
world of your game have changed.
Some of that will probably be reflect-
ed in world advancement, but given
the number of chances the PCs have
had to revise their aspects in response
to the story, you could be looking at
a group with a much different set of
priorities and concerns than they had
when they started.
ADVANCING EXTRAS
Advancements apply equally to
extras just as it does to skills, stunts
and aspects.
• You can change an extra’s as-
pect at any minor milestone, or at a
major milestone if it’s tied to your
High Concept.
• You can advance the Skill of an
Extra at any significant or major mile-
stone as well. You can also swap skill
121
ranks between another skill and your
extra skill at a minor milestone, like
any other skill.
• You can advance Extra’s stunts
at a major milestone when you get a
refresh point. You can add a new Stunt
effect to an existing extra, or buy a
new stunt-based extra. You can also
change out a stunt-based extra at a
minor milestone, like you can with any
other stunt.
Many extras comprise more than
one element. If possible, we recom-
mend that players develop these sep-
arate parts at different milestones to
minimize confusion during play.
SPECIAL MECHANICS
During combat, situations that
are not otherwise outlines in the ba-
sic rules can come up. This section is
designed to assist players and GMs in
directing these situations, and how
they may contribute mechanically to
the conflict.
CONCEALMENT AND COVER
It’s hard to hit something that
you can’t target accurately. Targets of
ranged attacks that are using objects
hard enough to prevent penetration
from a ranged attack gain a bonus to
their defense roll. If up to half the tar-
get is behind cover, the target gains a
+2 defense bonus against the attack.
When more than half the target is cov-
ered, the target gains a +4 to defense
against the ranged attack roll. If the
target is completely concealed by cov-
er, she may not be targeted except
under extraneous circumstances.
It is important to keep in mind
that cover must be a stationary, envi-
ronmental object that is described in
an aspect. Shields and force fields do
not count as cover in this way unless
otherwise specified.
If the concealed character in-
tends to shoot back, she must reveal
at least a portion of herself during the
exchange and, as such, can never gain
more than a +2 defense bonus under
cover.
ASPHYXIATION
A creature can hold its breath
for a number of rounds equal to three
times their Physique rating. By a mea-
sure of actual time, this means that
a character with a Physique of Aver-
age (+1) can hold their breath for 18
seconds without suffering any stress,
a character with a Physique of superb
(+5) can hold their breath for a minute
and a half, a character with a Physique
of Mediocre (+0) can hold their breath
for nine seconds without suffering
stress and a character with Terrible
Physique (2) cannot hold their breath
at all without suffering stress. For the
purposes of asphyxiation, a Physique
score with no points in it is considered
to be a +0 instead of the normal -1.
After the maximum allowed
time in rounds has passed, a char-
acter begins taking on stress as their
body suffers from lack of breathable
air. The character takes on a tempo-
rary Asphyxiated aspect, and begins
to suffer one cumulative stress per
round. All stress accumulated this way
is removed as soon as air is available
to breath, and consequences suffered
in this way are regained twice as fast
as normal.
IMMUNITY
A creature that is immune to
some form of attack, such as a sin-
gle element, is not subjected to stress
or consequences and do not become
hindered by an attacks using that type
of material.
INCORPOREAL
Some creatures are able to
discorporate, become ethereal or oth-
erwise become intangible. Incorpore-
al creatures are not affected by ob-
stacles, hazards or rough terrain. In
addition, mundane weaponry such as
bolts, unarmed attacks, swords and
axes have no effect on incorporeal
beings. Mundane blast effects such
as plasma weaponry, light and explo-
sives deal half the amount of damage
(rounded down) to incorporeal beings.
Magical attacks, relics and spells can
damage incorporeal beings normally.
POISON AND DRUGS
A character who is poisoned
must take an aspect that describes
their status as poisoned or enven-
omed. Each type of poison or drug
will have a description that will indi-
cate how the poison works. When poi-
soned, any damage taken is rolled at
the beginning of every round of the
conflict until the poison or drug has
run its course, or a medicine roll has
been made to remove the aspect.
Poisons and drugs have four
traits: delivery, resistance, onset and
strength. Delivery indicates how the
drug or poison can be administered,
whether ingested, inhaled, skin con-
tact or blood (such as through an open
123
wound). Resistance indicates the Phy-
sique difficulty to resist the effects
of the poison as well as the difficul-
ty of the Medicine roll to treat it. The
onset rating indicates how long the
substance takes to affect the victim.
A poison or drug with an immediate
onset affects the victim as soon as it
is successfully delivered as well as the
beginning of every subsequent round.
The strength rating determines the
amount of stress inflicted per turn. If
there is a slash mark, then you will add
or subtract a number of damage to the
right of the slash. The description will
also list any cure for the drug or poi-
son, if any exists.
A character who is taken out
while affected by the Poisoned aspect
suffers the end effects of the poison
and are considered to have been tak-
en out by it. Sometimes, this can even
mean death.
Example: Adder Drop is a pow-
erful poison derived and distilled from
a pit adder’s venom that is often used
to coat weapons. It has a delivery trait
marked with ingestion and blood,
meaning it can be delivered orally or
through a wound. A drop is placed in
the drinking water of a samurai named
Oto during a banquet. It has a
resistance trait of 3. Oto’s player rolls
Physique but only scores Fair (+2), so
he will unfortunately succumb to the
effects of the poison and places an
Adder Drop Poison situation aspect on
his sheet. Onset is thirty minutes when
ingested, so after a while of carousing
he heads back to his room and as he
is preparing for sleep when the poison
takes effect. The strength of the poi-
son is 2/+1 per minute, so Oto suf-
fers two stress as the initial effects of
the poison begin to take hold. Within a
minute, he suffers another 3 physical
stress and must take a Consequence
to absorb the damage. Luckily, Oto
has used his Knowledge roll of Good
(+3) to know what poison he has been
afflicted with and knows the effects
of this poison as well as how to cure
it. Rushing to the kitchen takes an-
other minute, so he suffers another 4
stress damage, and is now one minute
away from death. The kitchen, lucki-
ly, is stocked with borage root, which
Oto knows will neutralize the poison.
After eating all of the borage root he
can find in the kitchen the effects be-
gin to diminish and he takes no fur-
ther damage and the poisoned aspect
is removed from Oto’s sheet. Now, he
must contend with the consequences
of the internal hemorrhaging that the
poison caused, and attempt to find the
assassin that placed it in his drink.
ROUGH TERRAIN
This is an aspect that GMs are
encouraged to use when the conflict
takes place on rough ground such as
unstable terrain, flooring covered in
debris or the like. Rough terrain allows
any character to take or inflict a free
compel when they take a movement
action, even within the same zone. In
addition, any rolled attempts to move
through, into or out of a zone with
the Rough Terrain aspect must roll 2
higher on the ladder in order to do so.
AMBUSH!
Sometimes a person or a group
will attack another without the vic-
tims being aware that they are being
attacked. In any situation where one
group of combatants are aware of the
other, but the other is not aware of
them, then this is called an ambush.
An ambush usually occurs when
one party has not been noticed by the
other, often due to stealth or magic
that causes one group to go unno-
ticed. Typically, the roll to determine
if an ambush is successful is the
surprise attacker’s Stealth skill in a
contest against the defender’s Per-
ception skill. If the Stealth roll exceeds
the Perception skill, then the ambush
is successful and the defenders will
not know that they are being attacked
until it is too late. When rolling a con-
test to determine if an ambush is suc-
cessful, a tie roll typically goes to the
defender which, in this case, is the
Perception roll. In special cases, some
talents, equipment or other special
abilities can turn this in favor of the
other side, instead.
If an ambush is established, then
all characters will roll initiative as nor-
mal. Once initiative has been deter-
mined, there will be a special exchange
round called a “surprise round.” During
the surprise round, only those individ-
uals who are aware of the other will be
allowed to take actions. Defense rolls
are allowed as normal.
After the surprise round has
completed, initiative order returns to
normal and combat will commence as
usual.
NEGOTIATION
The art of negotiation is an in-
tricate one. There are many twists and
turns involved in getting the upper
125
hand of a deal and a skilled negotia-
tor is capable of getting their way in
just about any exchange. When hag-
gling over the price of something, it is
considered a Conflict using the men-
tal stress track to determine winners
and losers. Stress and consequences
are recovered from these types of sit-
uations as normal, so a conscientious
haggler who values their own sanity
and sense of well-being will bow out
of a negotiation conflict before the
stakes get too high.
Social combat most often uses
the Rapport skill when making attacks
and defenses, but other skills can be
used instead. Deceit is used almost as
often as Rapport, as well as Bureau-
cracy, Contacts, Empathy, Knowledge,
Performance, Provoke and even, some-
times, Strategy. Most of all, the skills
rolled will match the method used to
attack and defend, so it should make
sense for how each side of the table is
trying to gain the upper hand. If, for
example, the shopkeeper is trying the
“take-away close” where the owner of
the item will infuriate the buyer and
say that the deal is off the table, offer-
ing a lower quality of item for the price
being offered then the shopkeeper
might use Provoke. If, during the next
exchange, the buyer attempts to use
his superior knowledge of the item,
it’s availability and cost in other loca-
tions then a Knowledge roll would be
made. As with any other social combat
situation, the defense does not need
to be the same Skill as the attacker
used. It simply must make sense.
While negotiation is consid-
ered social combat and can inflict real
stress and consequences, it will never
physically injure a character or allow
that character to take the item for free
or so far below the owner’s cost of the
item that he would lose a substantial
sum of money without a good reason.
When negotiation ends, the winner
gets to decide whether the price of the
item goes up one shift or down one
shift or stays the same. If the winner
won with style, this shift can increase
or decrease by two instead.
GRAPPLING
The act of grappling involves
two or more combatants involved in
clinches, pins and maneuvers enacted
while holding on to each other in order
to inflict damage or pin the opponent.
When attempting to grapple, the
initiator of the grapple must roll a nor-
mal Unarmed Combat attack,
which the target defends as normal
using Athletics to dodge or Unarmed
Combat in order to block the attempt.
If the attack succeeds, then both par-
ticipants acquire a temporary aspect
called “Grappled.” While this aspect
remains, the character cannot move
unless the grapple is broken.
On each participant’s turn, she
may attempt to do one of three things:
Damage, Maneuver or Escape. At-
tempting to inflict damage is an attack
roll. A maneuver can use the Attack,
Create Advantage or rarely, an Over-
come action. Escape is considered an
attack action as well, but has a dual
purpose as a defense roll in terms of
perks.
When attempting to damage your
opponent within a grapple, you may
use Unarmed Combat or Physique in
an attempt to strike, bend, manipulate
or otherwise harm the opponent. This
attack is defended using Unarmed
Combat or Physique as normal and
shifts of damage are applied as nor-
mal for any other kind of attack.
There are a number of basic ma-
neuvers that even an untrained grap-
pler may attempt during a grapple
exchange. These are Control Weapon,
Disarm, Drop prone, Pin, Restrain or
Take Cover.
• Control Weapon is used when
a grappler attempts to use her own,
or an opponent’s weapon against her
and is an opposed overcome action.
• Disarm attempts to remove the
weapon entirely and uses the Control
Weapon rules. In order to disarm, the
grappler must have first succeeded on
a control weapon maneuver. On their
next turn, they gain a +2 to the ma-
neuver’s roll so long as they’ve main-
tained control of the weapon.
• Drop Prone: This action at-
tempts to drag both combatants to the
ground. In order to stand up again, the
grapplers must break free.
• Pin: This action is used to hold
the opponent in place. When a char-
acter is successfully pinned, then each
character’s turns must be spent main-
taining or attempting to break free
of the pin by making follow-up rolls.
While pinning, neither character can
take defensive actions.
• Restrain: Attempting to tie up
or otherwise prevent an opponent from
moving once you let go is a restraint.
The grappler will almost always need a
tool such as duct tape, zip-ties, nano-
cord or some other restraining device
in order to use this move. If no tool is
127
available, then the grappler must at-
tempt to put them into a lock of some
kind. This maneuver can only be used
after a successful pin on an opponent.
A restrained character gains the “Re-
strained” aspect, and cannot move ex-
cept to attempt to escape.
• Take Cover: This maneuver at-
tempts to use the opponent as a shield
against oncoming attacks. A grappler
who succeeds in this maneuver will
automatically have any attacks against
her hit her opponent instead until the
next grappler’s turn. If an opponent is
restrained, the victim must break free
of the restraint before the effect ends.
Escaping a grapple requires an
attack action. If successful, the grap-
pler removes the “Grappled” aspect
and is free. This requires her action
for the turn.
ASPECTS
An Aspect is a short phrase that
describes something unique, notewor-
thy or characteristic about your char-
acter. They’re the primary way that
you spend and gain Fate Points and
they influence the story by providing
an opportunity for the character to get
a bonus, complicate a characters life,
create drama, or add to another
character’s roll or passive opposition.
You can use Aspects to gain a mechan-
ical or narrative advantage during play
by describing how that aspect helps
your current situation. Aspects can
also create trouble and hinder your
character or other characters. It costs
a Fate Point to gain an advantage from
an Aspect. This is called Invoking. Let-
ting an Aspect make your character’s
life more difficult is called Compelling
and rewards you with a Fate Point. Fi-
nally, resisting a Compel costs a Fate
Point.Aspects tell you what’s import-
ant about the game, and they help you
decide when to use the mechanics.
FATE POINTS
GMs and Player Characters have
access to a pool of points called Fate
Points that you can use to influence
the game in many ways. You can rep-
resent these with tokens or just keep
track of them on your character re-
cord sheet or a scrap of paper. Play-
ers start each session with a number
of Fate Points equal to their Refresh
rating. You’ll refresh your Fate Points
to your Refresh rating at the begin-
ning of every session, or at the end of
any Scenario even if you didn’t end the
session there.
ASPECT TYPES
Warsong uses several types of
Aspects. Aspects mainly differ from
each other in terms of what they’re at-
tached to and how long they last.
GAME ASPECTS
Game Aspects are permanent
fixtures of the game. While they might
change over time, they never really go
away. If you’ve already gone through
game creation then you’ve proba-
bly already defined at least a few of
these. They describe current threats,
impending issues and problems that
exist in your world, and will be a basis
for the game’s story.
Anyone can invoke, compel or
create advantages on a Game Aspect
at any time. They’re always there and
available for anyone to use.
CHARACTER ASPECTS
Character Aspects are just as
permanent as Game Aspects and are
written on the character sheet. They’re
a bit smaller in scope than Game As-
pects and can describe a nearly infinite
number of things that can set a char-
acter apart, such as:
• Significant personality traits or
beliefs.
 • A character’s background or
profession.
• A character’s notable features.
• A character’s clan or affiliation.
• Relationships to people or or-
ganizations.
• Problems, goals or issues
they’re dealing with.
• Titles, reputation or obliga-
tions the character may have.
You can invoke or compel any
of your character’s aspects whenev-
er they’re relevant to the situation at
hand. GMs can always propose a com-
pel on the player characters. Players
can suggest compels for other char-
acters as well, but the GM always has
the final say in whether or not the sug-
gestion is valid.
SITUATION ASPECTS
A Situation Aspect is temporary
and doesn’t go on a character sheet.
Instead, it is used to represent parts
of a single scene or until it no longer
makes sense. They can also be used
to represent specific and temporary
features of the environment. Situa-
tion Aspects can also be attached to
specific characters by targeting them
when you create an advantage.
Examples include:
129
• Physical features of the envi-
ronment.
• Positioning or placement.
• Immediate obstacles.
• Contextual details that are
likely to come into play.
• Sudden changes in the charac-
ter’s status.
Which characters can use a Situa-
tional Aspect depends on the narrative
context. Sometimes these contextual
cues will be very clear but other times
you’ll need to justify how you’re using
the situational aspect based on what’s
happening in the scene.
Sometimes a Situation Aspect
becomes an obstacle that the char-
acters will need to overcome. Other
times they’ll give justification to pro-
vide active opposition against another
character’s action.
CONSEQUENCES
A Consequence is a more per-
manent Situation Aspect that is neg-
atively phrased and represents lasting
injuries or disadvantages incurred as
a result of a conflict. Negative Conse-
quences can include Aspects such as
Dislocated Shoulder, Removed Index
Finger, Despondent or Hysterical.
Consequences tend to stick
around a while. They can last from a
few scenes all the way through entire
scenarios, depending on their sever-
ity. Due to their negative phrasing,
they’re far more likely to be compelled
when you have them and anyone who
can justifiably benefit from the Con-
sequence can invoke it or create an
advantage from it.
BOOSTS
Boosts are transient, ephemeral
aspects. They only last until they are
Invoked a single time. You get a Boost
when you’re trying to create an advan-
tage but don’t succeed well enough,
or as an added benefit to succeeding
a roll especially well. You can Invoke
them for free, but when Invoked, the
Boost disappears.
Usually the person who creat-
ed the Boost will get to use it but that
person can pass on the benefits of the
boost to someone else if they choose
to do so.
EXTRAS
Extras are an intrinsic part of
Warsong. An extra is an extension of
your character that is marked down on
the character record sheet. Extras are
an umbrella group that represents
equipment, abilities and powers that
not everyone is capable of performing
or acquiring. Examples include special
pieces of equipment or biotech modi-
fications, complex suites of skills, as-
pects and stunts and even magic.
•Enhancements: Modifications
that give you special abilities. • Bio-
Tech: Technological devices that have
been fused with the body.
•Vehicles: Ground, water, air or
magical transportation.
•Relics: Special equipment that
contain magical power.
•Power Armor: Specialized,
self-powered suits of armor.
Extras usually require special
permissions and costs to acquire. You
may have to spend skill points, stunts
or aspects or belong to a certain group
in order to acquire certain extras.
BUYING EXTRAS
When creating a character, you
get an “extras budget”, a number of
refresh, skill points, stunts or aspects
to trade in return for extras. Warsong
provides several ready-made extras,
but you are free to create your own as
well with the permission of the GM.
Perks may not be purchased with skill
points.
BUYING EQUIPMENT
Tech Index for equipment indi-
cates not only how difficult a certain
object is to find, but also how much
it costs to purchase. During charac-
ter creation, you can buy equipment
with tech rating up to and equal to
the character’s Resources and Rap-
port skills combined, representing her
ability to negotiate for and purchase
the equipment she will start play with.
Any equipment purchases beyond this
are purchased with skill points on a
one-for-one point basis.
131
During gameplay, purchasing
equipment is based almost solely on
the character’s Resource skill. The
character may make a number of pur-
chases each month in game time ac-
cording to a Resource Pyramid. She
may purchase one item with a tech in-
dex equal to her Resource skill score.
She may purchase two items with a
tech index of one less than her re-
source score, three items with a tech
index of two less than her resource
score, and so on. Negotiation can be
used to slide this scale a bit.
EQUIPMENT RATINGS PERKS
Many Extras in Warsong, espe- Perks are sets of extras used to
cially those provided by equipment describe the cool things your charac-
such as Reliquary Weapons and Ar- ter can do that set her apart from the
mor, provide Shift Ratings. These are other characters.
bonuses that add shifts to your dice Each perk has a name, a require-
roll results only after the dice roll has ment, a description and a mechanical
succeeded. Although many of these benefit. These blocks of information
Shift ratings are used in physical con- help to understand how the pow-
flicts, some can apply to mental, social er works. Some talents and powers
or even resource-based conflicts. are only available to certain character
Weapon Rating adds to the Phys- types, such as Viziers or Mages. You
ical Stress damage of a successful hit can only take perks that you have the
with that particular weapon. For exam- requirements for.
ple, a relic sword with a Weapon Rat-
ing (2) does two more points of stress
than it normally would on a successful
hit. This includes ties as they are tech-
nically a zero-shift hit. These shifts do
not apply to failed hits.
An Armor Rating reduces stress
damage. For example, a suit of Power
Armor with Armor Rating (2) subtracts
two points of stress damage from a
successful hit against you. If that sub-
traction reduces a hit to zero stress or
below, you might still inflict a boost.
Other equipment ratings can ap-
ply to situations that make sense for
that peice of equipment as well. For
example, a et of lock picks would give
a bonus to open mechanical locks.
133
Chapter Four

TRAITS

135
SKILLS
A Skill is a word that describes
the level of competence at some-
thing a character can do. Skills can be
gained through innate talent, training,
trial and error and even years of study.
Skills are the basis of everything a
character does in the game, especial-
ly when it involves skill or chance and
dice.
Your character’s skills have rat-
ings. Skills are rated on an adjective
ladder that accompanies a numbered
bonus. The higher the rating, the bet-
ter your character is at that Skill. The
group of Skills your character has in-
forms their potential at a glance. What
they’re the best at and what they
flounder in attempting.
It is important to remember that
if you have not spent points in a skill,
that skill begins play with a rating of
Poor (-1). In addition, skills are marked
with an Untrained tag. This tag deter-
mines whether a character may use
the skill if you have not spent points in
it. A “yes” indicates that the character
may attempt to use this skill without
having any points in it at a -1 while
a “no” indicates that the skill requires
training and skill, and may not be at-
tempted without points in that skill.
THE FOUR ACTIONS
There are four basic actions in
Warsong. These four actions are the
methods in which your character can
use her skills.
•Overcome: Taking on
some kind of challenge, en- O
gaging in a task or overcoming
a hindrance related to that skill.
•Create An Advantage:
Modifying your situation in or-
der to stand a better chance at
C
success. This allows you to discover or
create situation aspects and get free
invocations from them.
•Attack: Trying to harm
someone in a conflict. This
harm can be Physical, Mental,
A
Social or even Emotional in nature.
•Defend: Trying to keep
someone from harming you,
getting past you or stopping
O
them from creating an advantage to
use against you.
There are special effects that
skills sometimes perform as well, such
as giving extra stress boxes for a con-
flict.
STUNTS
Stunts are special abilities that
change the way a skill works. While
each character may have similar skills,
each stunt is unique to the individual
and can serve as a way to differentiate
one character from another.
Your character begins play with
three stunts. Taking more than three
stunts subtracts your character’s re-
fresh rate by one for each additional
stunt you take.
CREATING STUNTS
There are ready-made Stunts
in each skill description that you can
take or you can create your own.
ADD A NEW ACTION TO A SKILL
The most common option for
building a stunt is to allow a skill to
do something it would not normally
be able to do. Having the stunt, then,
would add a new action in certain sit-
uations to the skill in play. This new
action can be one available to another
skill, or one that isn’t available to any
skill at all.
137
ADDING A BONUS
Stunts can allow the character
the luxury of an additional bonus to
a roll under a particular, narrow set of
circumstances. This allows the char-
acter to have a specialization. The cir-
cumstances in which the stunt should
allow a bonus should be more narrow
than the skill itself allows and only ap-
ply to a certain type of action.
The bonus is +2, but you can also
express this bonus as a two shift bo-
nus that occurs only after your char-
acter succeeds in a roll.
CREATE A RULES EXCEPTION
A stunt can allow a skill to make
a single exception in a narrow circum-
stance for a rule that doesn’t normally
fit into that category of action. Stunts
can break rules in challenges, contests
and conflicts but cannot break any of
the fundamental rules about invoking
or compelling aspects or the fate Point
economy. Rules exceptions can include
allowing a skill to be used in another
type of action that it normally would
not apply to or even apply a two-shift
hit rather than taking a boost on
a defense or advantage check.
STUNT FAMILIES
Sometimes you can create a set
of stunts that are linked together in
some way. These related Stunts are
called Stunt Families. A stunt family
allows you to create things like fight-
ing styles, schools of philosophy or
training and allows a character to de-
velop abilities that relate to them. The
clan martial arts found in this book are
examples of families.
To create a stunt family, you will
create one stunt that works as a kind
of prerequisite for the others in the
family, qualifying you to take further
stunts along the chain. Then, you’ll
create a set of stunts that are related
to the prerequisite, either stacking the
effects or branching out into another
set of effects.
The Martial Arts Styles provided
in this chapter are examples of stunt
families even though they are consid-
ered to be perks.
STACKING STUNTS
The simplest way to handle stunt
families is to simply make the origi-
nal stunt more effective. When you’re
stacking a stunt, it’s important to keep
in mind that the new Stunt basically
replaces the previous one.
•If the stunt adds an action, nar-
row the context of the stunt and give
the new action a greater bonus. The
circumstances within which the bonus
applies should be more narrow than
the original stunt.
•If the original stunt gave a bo-
nus, give an additional +2 to the same
action or add an additional two-shift
effect to that action.
•If the stunt made a rules excep-
tion, increase its exceptionality.
•Any combination of the above.
BRANCHING STUNTS
When branching a stunt, you
create additional effects that relate to
the original stunt in theme or subject
matter, but provide a wholly new ef-
fect.
If your original stunt added an
action to the skill, a branching stunt
might add another action to that skill,
or provide a different action to that
skill or create a rules exception. The
new Stunt isn’t connected to the pre-
vious stunt.
A NOTE ON MARTIAL ARTS
It is important to note that while
martial arts styles are considered to be
a family of stunts, martial arts perks
do not replace each other when they are pur- SKILL LIST
chased like stunt families do. Instead, your • Animal Handling
character retains all purchased perks. • Athletics
• Bureaucracy
• Contacts
• Crafts
• Deceit
• Drive
• Empathy
• Investigate
• Knowledge
• Larceny
• Linguistics
• Melee Combat
• Medicine
• Perception
• Performance
• Physique
• Pilot
• Provoke
• Ranged Combat
• Rapport
• Resources
• Stealth
• Strategy
• Survival
• Unarmed Combat
• Will

139
 ANIMAL HANDLING
Untrained: Yes

Animal Handling is used when trying to train, manipulate, control or calm

animals. It is used when training animals to perform tricks, when riding horses
or getting them through dangerous terrain and even calming hungry animals to
prevent them from eating you. Animal Handling also represents your ability to
interact with and understand the body language and behavior of animals.
Animal Handling is used to overcome any challenge or obstacle dealing di-
rectly with animals. You can attempt to calm a pack of hungry wolves preventing
you from changing zones, or guide a horse through jagged, rocky terrain.
When creating an advantage with Animal Handling, you’re creating Aspects
based on animals. You can use trained attack dogs to back an opponent into a
corner or ride a horse faster than an opponent.
Animal Handling can be used as an Attack Action when using an animal
to harm an opponent. This can be a dog bite, a donkey kick, snake bite or any
other means by which an animal can harm an enemy. In order to attack with
Animal Handling, the animal making the attack must have been trained prior to
the event, especially if such an action would be outside their normal scope of
behavior.
Animal Handling cannot be used to defend.

Animal Handling Stunts

• Lash Out: You’ve studied a particular animal’s behavior and psychology to the
point that you can predict and even incite certain behaviors. You can cause this
particular wild animal to lash out at the nearest perceived threat without prior
training. The specific animal you may provoke in this manner must be chosen at
the time of taking this stunt, and may not be changed.
• Skilled Rider: You gain a +2 bonus when making rolls involving riding, racing
or performing tricks while mounted on a horse.
• Loyal Protector: So long as you’ve spent at least one week with an animal and
have treated it with respect and earned its trust, that animal comes to see you
as a member of its family or pack. Using that animal, you can make rolls to de-
fend against attacks using the animal instead. The animal absorbs all Stress and
Consequences instead of you when defending.
 ATHLETICS
Untrained: Yes

Athletics represents a character’s physical fitness. Athletics measures how

well a character can control her own body and determines how well you can
move and coordinate your body and also governs physical activities such as
sports. It is the natural choice for action-oriented characters.
Athletics allows you to overcome obstacles that require physical movement
such as jumping, running, swimming or climbing. You can use overcome actions
with Athletics to move between zones in a conflict if there’s a situational aspect
in your way. You also roll Athletics to chase, race or participate in any sports-
like activity.
When you’re Creating An Advantage with Athletics, you jump to higher
ground, run faster than the opponent can keep up with or perform dazzling ac-
robatic maneuvers in order to confound your foes.
Athletics is not an attack skill, with one exception. When using thrown
weapons such as throwing knifes, shurikens and spears, you use Athletics to
make such attacks.
Athletics can be rolled as a catch-all Skill in order to dodge incoming at-
tacks in a physical conflict in close-quarters or in ranged combat. You can use
also use Athletics to defend against characters attempting to move past you so
long as you’re in a position to physically interfere.

Athletics Stunts
• Sprint: You can move two zones instead of one in a conflict without rolling
provided there are no situation Aspects preventing movement.
• Free Runner: You gain a +2 bonus to Overcome actions with Athletics if you
are in a chase across rooftops or other precarious urban conditions that require
balance, strength and speed or can use creative movement to traverse your en-
vironment.
• Stunning Counter: When you succeed with style on a Defense roll in melee
or unarmed conflict, you counter with a blow that stuns your opponent. You
automatically attach the Dazed Situational Aspect on your opponent with a free
invoke, instead of just a Boost.

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 BUREAUCRACY
Untrained: No

A bureaucrat understands organizations and their rules. They understand

laws, precedents and customs as well as cultural and national traditions. Bu-
reaucracy is used whenever one wants to understand the law, tradition, red tape
and legal paperwork.
You can use the Bureaucracy Skill to overcome bureaucratic obstacles like
customs, precedents, red tape, restrictions and legal obfuscation. Also, you can
use an Overcome Action with the Bureaucracy Skill as active opposition to some-
one doing the same.
You can use Bureaucracy to Create An Advantage by offering bribes, using
organizational customs, creating paperwork and red tape and by gaining infor-
mation otherwise hidden by overloaded bureaucracy and paperwork. You can
cause bureaucratic inconveniences for others and even grease the wheels.
You can use Bureaucracy in order to cause Mental Stress with legal argu-
ments, audits and administrative reprimands. Attacks using this Skill typically
take longer than a single action. These attacks may take from minutes to several
weeks or months in order to succeed.
You use Bureaucracy to defend against bureaucratic attacks. Fighting the
use of red tape or lein as well as to deconstruct legal arguments against you.
Bureaucracy can even be used to Defend against certain uses of the Provoke Skill
involving law enforcement or behavioral enforcers.

Bureaucracy Stunts
• Grease The Wheels: You are talented when it comes to speeding up legal pro-
cess and avoiding the snarls of the bureaucratic ties. You gain a +2 bonus when
overcoming obstacles involving legal red tape, customs or paperwork.
• Rule Of Law: Gain a +2 bonus when making Attack or Defense rolls in a court-
room.
• Ranking Officer: You can use Bureaucracy in place of another Skill when inter-
acting with anyone else below you or your station. This stunt only works against
those who would recognise your rank, and are a part of that organization or are
somehow affected by it.
 CONTACTS
Untrained: No

Contacts involves networking and knowing people and the ability to get
information and other favors from them.
You can use Contacts to overcome any obstacle related to finding someone
you need to find. Whether you use old-fashioned “man on the street” type of
work, polling your information network, or searching forum archives and Link-
Scape Icons, you’re able to hunt down people or somehow get access to them.
Contacts allows you to know who the perfect person to talk to is for any-
thing you might need, or to decide that you know the perfect person already.
It’s likely that you’ll create story details with this skill, represented by Aspects.
You can also create an advantage that represent what the word on the street is
about a particular individual, object, or location based on what your contacts
tell you. These aspects almost always deal with reputation more than fact, such
as Known as a Mean Guy or Notorious Swindler. Whether that person lives up to
their reputation is anybody’s guess. People often have misleading reputations
that complicate their lives. Contacts could also be used to create aspects that
represent using your information network to plant or acquire information.
Attack: Contacts cannot be used to attack.
Defend: Contacts can be used to defend against people creating social
advantages against you, provided your information network can be brought to
bear in the situation. You might also use it to keep someone from using Deceive
or Contacts to go “off the grid”, or to interfere with Investigate attempts to find
you.

Contacts Stunts
• Ear to the Ground: Whenever someone initiates a conflict against you in an
area where you’ve built a network of contacts, you use Contacts instead of No-
tice to determine turn order, because you got tipped off in time.
• Rumor Mill: You gain a +2 bonus to create an advantage when you plant vi-
cious rumors about someone else.
• Weight of Reputation: You can use Contacts instead of Provoke to create ad-
vantages based on the fear generated by your sinister reputation and all the
shady associates you have.

143
 CRAFTS
Untrained: No

You know how to design and build things. Crafts is the ability to turn cre-
ativity into a tangible thing using raw materials.
You can use Crafts to Overcome man-made obstacles by finding flaws in
their construction or destroy them completely. You can also use Crafts in order
to bypass obstacles if you have the raw materials to design something that over-
comes them.
Crafts can be used to create an advantage when you have a chance to cre-
ate or improve an object that can be used to gain the upper hand in a situation.
It can also be used when your understanding of the way things work can be used
to discover vulnerabilities. You can also examine the work of others to deter-
mine its worth, or how something was made.
Crafts is not used to make attacks or defend.
Special Note: Crafts acts as a “master skill” providing points to purchase
scores in their subset skills. When taking points in Crafts, choose what kind of
crafts your character in which your character is trained. Your character’s Crafts
score provides a pyramid of crafts skills. You gain a primary craft, and each sub-
sequent craft skill is equal to your Crafts score with a cumulative -1. For exam-
ple, if you have a Crafts score of Fair (+2), you have two points to spend in your
primary craft, and one point to spend in a secondary.
Example crafts subsets are: Synthetic Life, Engineering, Technology, Car-
pentry, Painting and clothing.

Crafts Stunts
• Make Do: You always seem to have the proper tools for a particular job using
Crafts, even in extreme situations such as being imprisoned and separated from
all your stuff.
• Better than New: Whenever you succeed with style on an overcome action to
repair a piece of machinery, you can immediately give it a new aspect (with a free
invoke) reflecting the improvements you’ve made, instead of just a boost.
• Surgical Strike: When using Crafts in a conflict involving machinery, you can
filter out unwanted targets from whole-zone attacks without having to divide up
your shifts (normally, you’d need to divide your roll between your targets).
 DECEIT
Untrained: Yes

Deceit is used in order to lie or misdirect others. Deceit is the skill you use
for determining if a disguise works, whether on yourself or others. You’ll need
to have the time and supplies to create the desired effect. You can also use De-
ceit to do minor tricks, misdirect and perform sleight-of-hand.
Use Deceit to bluff your way past someone, to get someone to believe a
lie or to get something out of someone because they believe in one of your lies.
For nameless NPCs, this is just an overcome roll but for PCs or named NPCs, it
requires a contest. The target opposes with Empathy or Deceit.
You can create an advantage when someone else buying into your lie could
help you in some way.
Deceit is not used to make attacks.
You can use deceit to defend against overcome actions and creating ad-
vantages because it’s hard to bullshit a bullshitter.

Deceit Stunts
• Lies upon Lies: You gain a +2 bonus to create a Deceit advantage against
someone who has believed one of your lies already during this session.
• Mind Games: You can use Deceit in place of Provoke to make mental attacks,
as long as you can make up a clever lie as part of the attack.
• One Person, Many Faces: Whenever you meet someone new, you can spend a
fate point to declare that you’ve met that person before, but under a different
name and identity. Create a situation aspect to represent your cover story, and
you must use Deceit in place of Rapport whenever interacting with that person.

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 DRIVE
Untrained: Yes

If it has wheels, you can drive it. This Skill is used to govern motorcycles,
common automobiles and even large trucks and utility vehicles.
Drive is the equivalent of Athletics when you’re in a vehicle. You use it to
successfully accomplish movement in the face of difficult circumstances, like
rough terrain, small amounts of clearance, or stunt driving. Obviously, Drive is
also used for contests, especially chases and races.
You can use Drive to determine the best way to get somewhere in a ve-
hicle, and succeeding with style allows you to learn features of the route that
get expressed as aspects, or declare that you know a Convenient Shortcut. You
can also just read the Athletics description, and then make it about a vehicle.
Advantages created using Drive often revolve around getting good positioning,
doing a fancy maneuver (Did a Barrel Roll, anyone?), or putting your opponent in
a bad spot.
Drive isn’t usually used as an attack skill (though stunts can certainly alter
this). If you want to ram a vehicle, you can attack with Drive, but you take the
same shifts of harm you inflict.
Avoiding damage to a vehicle in a physical conflict is one of the most com-
mon uses of Drive. You can also use it to defend against advantages being cre-
ated against you or overcome actions of someone trying to move past you in a
vehicle.

Drive Stunts
• Hard to Shake: You gain a +2 bonus to Drive whenever you’re pursuing an-
other vehicle in a chase scene.
• Pedal to the Metal: You can coax more speed out of your vehicle than seems
possible. Whenever you’re engaged in any contest where speed is the primary
factor (such as a chase or race of some kind) and you tie with your Drive roll, it’s
considered a success.
• Ramming Speed: When ramming another vehicle, you ignore two shifts of
damage as if you had two points of armor. So if you ram and hit for four shifts,
you only take two yourself.
147
 EMPATHY
Untrained: Yes

The emotional variant of the Perception Skill, Empathy involves sensing

and understanding what others are feeling.
You don’t really use Empathy to overcome obstacles directly. Normally,
you find out some information with it, and then use another skill to act. In some
cases, though, you might use Empathy like you would use Perception, to see if
you catch a change in someone’s attitude or intent.
You can use Empathy to read a person’s emotional state and get a general
sense of who they are, presuming you are able to have some kind of interper-
sonal contact with them. Most often, you’ll use this to assess the aspects on
another character’s sheet, but sometimes you’ll also be able to create new as-
pects, especially on NPCs. If the target has some reason to be aware that you’re
trying to read them, they can defend with Deceive or Rapport. You can also use
Empathy to discover their breaking points.
Empathy is not intended as an Attack Skill. This is the skill to go to in order
to defend against Deceive actions, allowing you to pierce through lies and see
through to someone’s true intent. You can also use it to defend against those
creating social advantages against you in general.

Empathy Stunts
• Lie Whisperer: You gain a +2 bonus to Empathy rolls made to discern or dis-
cover lies, whether they’re directed at you or someone else.
• Nose for Trouble: You can use Empathy instead of Perception to determine
your turn order in a conflict, provided you’ve gotten a chance to observe or
speak to those involved for at least a minute beforehand during this scene.
• Psychologist: Once per session you can reduce someone else’s consequence
by one level of severity (severe to moderate, moderate to mild, mild to nothing
at all) by succeeding on an Empathy roll with a difficulty of Fair (+2) for a mild
consequence, Good (+3) for moderate, or Great (+4) for severe. You need to talk
with the person you’re treating for at least a half an hour in order for them to
receive the benefits of this stunt, and you cannot use it on yourself. Normally,
this roll would only start the recovery process, instead of changing the conse-
quence level.
 INVESTIGATE
Untrained: Yes

Investigate calls upon basic knowledge of criminology and deductive rea-

soning to locate evidence and perform forensic analysis. Investigate is the skill
you use to find things out. It’s a counterpart to Perception - whereas Perception
revolves around situational alertness and surface observation, Investigate re-
volves around concentrated effort and in-depth scrutiny.
Investigate obstacles are all about information that’s hard to uncover for
some reason. Analyzing a crime scene for clues, searching a cluttered room for
the item you need to find, scrutinizing a host in the LinkScape, even pouring
over a musty old tome to try and find the passage that makes everything make
sense. Racing against the clock to collect evidence before the cops show up or
disaster occurs is a classic way to use Investigate in a challenge.
Investigate is probably one of the most versatile skills you can use to create
an advantage. As long as you’re willing to take the time, you can find out just
about anything about anyone, discover nearly any detail about a place or object,
or otherwise create aspects about nearly anything that your character could rea-
sonably unearth.
Investigate isn’t used to make attacks or defend against them.

Investigate Stunts
• Attention to Detail: You can use Investigate instead of Empathy to defend
against Deceive attempts. What others discover through gut reactions and intu-
ition, you are able to learn through careful observation.
• Eavesdropper: On a successful Investigate roll to create an advantage by
eavesdropping on a conversation, you can discover or create one additional as-
pect. This doesn’t give you an extra free invocation.
• Deductive Reasoning: Once per scene you can spend a fate point (and a few
minutes of observation) to make a special Investigate roll representing your
potent deductive faculties. For each shift you make on this roll you discover or
create an aspect, on either the scene or the target of your observations, though
you may only invoke one of them for free

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 KNOWLEDGE
Untrained: No

The Knowledge skill is about lore and education. It has to do with hard ac-
ademics such as science, geography, physics or math.
You can use Knowledge to overcome any obstacle that requires applying
your character’s academic knowledge to achieve a goal. For example, you might
roll Knowledge to decipher some ancient pictographs on a tomb wall, under the
presumption that your character might have researched it at some point. You
can use Knowledge as a go-to skill any time you need to know if your character
can answer a difficult question, where some tension exists in not knowing the
answer.
Like Investigate, Knowledge provides a lot of very flexible opportunities to
create advantages, provided you can research the subject in question. More of-
ten than not, you’ll be using Knowledge to get a story detail or some obscure bit
of information that you uncover or know already. If that information gives you
an edge in a future scene, it might take the form of an aspect. Likewise, you can
use Knowledge to create advantages based on any subject matter your character
might have studied, which gives you a fun way to add details to the setting.
Knowledge is not used in conflicts.
Special Note: Knowledge works in a pyramid system like Crafts does. The
number of points devoted “trickle down” into subsets of areas of expertise.

Knowledge Stunts
• Well-Read: You’ve read hundreds, if not thousands of books on a wide variety
of topics. You can spend a fate point to use Knowledge in place of any other skill
for one roll or exchange, provided you can justify having read about the action
you’re attempting.
• Shield of Reason: You can use Knowledge as a defense against Provoke at-
tempts, provided you can justify your ability to overcome your fear through ra-
tional thought and reason.
• Specialist: Choose a field of specialization, such as occult, herbology, crimi-
nology, technology, or zoology. You get a +2 to all Knowledge rolls relating to
that field of specialization.
 LARCENY
Untrained: No

The Larceny skill covers your character’s aptitude for stealing things and
getting into places that are off-limits. This skill also includes a proficiency in re-
lated technology, allowing the character to hack security systems, disable alarm
systems, et cetera.
As stated above, Larceny allows you to overcome any obstacle related to
theft or infiltration. Bypassing locks and traps, pickpocketing and filching, cov-
ering your tracks, and other similar activities all fall under the purview of this
skill.
You can case a location with Larceny to determine how hard it would be to
break into and what kind of security you’re dealing with. You can also discover
any vulnerabilities you might exploit. You can also examine the work of other
burglars to determine how a particular heist was done, and create or discover
aspects related to whatever evidence they may have left behind.
Larceny is not used to ttack or defend.

Larceny Stunts
• Always a Way Out: You gain a +2 bonus on Larceny rolls made to create an
advantage whenever you’re trying to escape from a location.
• Security Specialist: You don’t have to be present to provide active opposition
to someone trying to overcome security measures you put in place or worked
on. Normally, a character would roll against passive opposition for that.
• Talk the Talk: You can use Larceny in place of Contacts whenever you’re deal-
ing specifically with other thieves and burglars.

151
 MEDICINE
Untrained: No

Medicine involves understanding biology and methods with which to heal

trauma and illness. With the Medicine Skill, you can spot and diagnose sickness
and even determine the extent of an injury.
You don’t usually use Medicine to overcome obstacles directly. Normally,
Medicine is used to acquire information. In some cases you may be able to use
Medicine like you would Perception.
You might be able to use Medicine in order to understand a character’s
biological or physiological weaknesses. You can use Medicine to determine how
many Physical Stress boxes another person has, as well as what their Conse-
quences are, if they have any.
Medicine is generally not used to attackor defend.

Medicine Stunts
• Intensive Care: Once per session you can reduce someone else’s consequence
by one level of severity (severe to moderate, moderate to mild, mild to nothing
at all) by succeeding on a Medicine roll with a difficulty of Fair (+2) for a mild
consequence, Good (+3) for moderate, or Great (+4) for severe. You need to
treat with the person for at least half an hour in order for them to receive the
benefits of this stunt. Normally, this roll would only start the recovery process,
instead of changing the consequence level.
• Medical Training: You gain a +2 bonus to Medicine rolls to diagnose illness
or injury.
• Physiological Stressor: So long as you’ve performed at least one Medicine Roll
to observe the target, you gain an additional two shifts to a single attack roll
against the target.
 MELEE COMBAT
Untrained: Yes

Melee Combat covers forms of close-quarters combat involving weaponry.

Since you don’t really use Melee Combat outside of a conflict, it’s not often
used to overcome obstacles. You might use it to display your fighting prowess
in a demonstration, or to participate in some kind of regulated bout or sport
fighting, which would allow you to use this skill in a contest.
You’ll probably use Melee Combat for most of the advantages you create
in a physical conflict. Any number of special moves can be covered with advan-
tages: a targeted strike to stun, a feint, disarming, and so on. You could even
use Melee Combat to assess another fighter’s style, spotting weaknesses in his
or her form that you can exploit.
You make physical attacks using a weapon with Melee Combat. Remember,
this is for close work, so you have to be within striking distance of your oppo-
nent.
You use Melee Combat to defend against any other attack or create an ad-
vantage attempt, as well as pretty much any action where violently interposing
yourself with a weapon could prevent it from happening. You can’t use this skill
to defend against attacks made against you using the Ranged Combat skill.

Melee Combat Stunts

• Flourish: When you succeed with style in a roll with Melee Combat and reduce
the result by one in order to gain a boost, you can choose to gain a full Situation
Aspect with a free invoke instead.
• Trained Parry: You gain a +2 bonus to defend rolls while using a sword.
• Killing Stroke: Once per scene, when you force an opponent to take a Conse-
quence, you can spend a Fate Point in order to increase the severity of the Con-
sequence so that Mild becomes Moderate and Moderate becomes Severe. If your
opponent was already going to take a Severe Consequence, then he must either
take a Severe and another Consequence, or be taken out.

153
 PERCEPTION
Untrained: Yes

The Perception skill involves noticing things with your senses. It represents
a character’s overall perception, ability to pick out details at a glance, and other
powers of observation. Perception is very quick compared to Investigate.
You don’t really use Perception to overcome obstacles too often but when
you do it’s used in a reactive way: noticing something in a scene, hearing a faint
sound, spotting the concealed gun in that guy’s waistband.
You use Perception to create aspects based on direct observation such as
looking over a room for details that stand out, finding an escape route in a de-
bris-filled building, noticing someone sticking out in a crowd or noticing that
the guy who is coming at you with a knife is favoring his left leg. When you’re
watching people, Perception can tell you what’s going on with them externally.
That’s Empathy. You might also use Perception to declare that your character
spots something you can use to your advantage in a situation.
Perception isn’t used for attacking but you can use Perception to defend
against any uses of Stealth and Larceny to get the drop on you or ambush you,
or to discover that you’re being observed.

Perception Stunts
• Danger Sense: You have an almost preternatural capacity for detecting dan-
ger. Your Perception skill works unimpeded by conditions like total conceal-
ment, darkness, or other sensory impairments in situations where someone or
something intends to harm you.
• Tell: You can use Perception in place of Empathy to learn the aspects of a tar-
get through observation.
• Reactive Shot: You can use Perception instead of Ranged Weapon to make
quick, reactive shots that don’t involve a lot of aiming. You are able to go first
in the first exchange during combat when using a ranged attack. However, be-
cause you’re having a knee-jerk reaction, you’re not allowed to concretely iden-
tify your target before using this stunt. So, for example, you might be able to
shoot at someone you see moving in the bushes with this stunt, but you won’t
be able to tell if it’s friend or foe before you pull the trigger.
 PERFORMANCE
Untrained: Yes

Performance is live, artistic expression such as dancing, singing, playing

musical instruments, acting and similar entertainment-related skills. In addi-
tion to performing ability, this Skill also represents your level of understanding
regarding the society surrounding those art forms and your ability to fit in with
those cultures.
Use Performance in order to inspire people as well as to provide distrac-
tions.
You can use Performance to create specific moods in groups of people. You
could sing an uplifting song to create a Joyful Atmosphere, or act out a sullen
play to evoke feelings of Despondency. You can even use Performance to draw
attention to you while your crew slips out the door, or pickpockets unaware
marks.
Performance doesn’t cause harm.
Performance can be used against any social skills used against you in order
to damage your reputation, or sour groups against you.

Performance Stunts
• Practiced: Using a specific method of expression, such as Acting or Singing,
you gain a +2 to rolls made using the Performance Skill.
• Method Acting: Once per session, you can use Performance in place of Deceit
in order to enforce a disguise or get someone to believe that you are someone
else.
• Lasting Effect: Twice per session, you may upgrade a single Boost made by
succeeding with style on a Performance roll to create a full situation aspect with
a free invoke.

155
 PHYSIQUE
Untrained: Yes

The Physique skill is a counterpart to Athletics, representing the charac-

ter’s natural physical aptitudes, such as raw strength and endurance.
You can use Physique to overcome any obstacles that require the appli-
cation of brute force. It is used most often to overcome a situation aspect on
a zone or any other physical impedance, like prison bars or locked gates. Of
course, Physique is the classic skill for armwrestling matches and other contests
of applied strength, as well as marathons or other endurance based challenges.
Physique has a lot of potential for advantages in physical conflict, usual-
ly related to grappling and holding someone in place, making them Pinned or
Locked Down. You might also use it as a way of discovering physical impair-
ments possessed by the target. Grappling the old mercenary might tell you that
he has a Bum Leg, for example.
Physique is not used to harm people directly.
Though you don’t generally use Physique to defend against attacks, you
can use it to provide active opposition to someone else’s movement, provided
you’re in a small enough space that you can effectively use your body to block
access. You might also interpose something heavy and brace it to stop someone
from getting through.
Special: The Physique skill gives you additional physical stress or conse-
quence slots. Average (+1) or Fair (+2) gives you a 3-point stress box. Good
(+3) or Great (+4) gives you a 3-point and a 4-point stress box. Superb (+5)and
above give you an additional mild consequence slot along with the additional
stress boxes. This slot can only be used for physical harm.

Physique Stunts
• Grappler: You gain a +2 bonus to Physique rolls made to create advantages
on an enemy by wrestling or grappling with them.
• Take the Blow: You can use Physique to defend against Unarmed Combat at-
tacks, but you always take 1 shift of stress on a tie.
• Tough as Nails: Once per session, at the cost of a fate point, you can reduce
the severity of a physical consequence by one if the slot is free, or erase a mild
consequence altogether.
 PILOT
Untrained: No

The Pilot skill determines your ability to operate unconventional vehicles

such as aircraft and watercraft.
Pilot is the equivalent of Drive when you’re in an unconventional vehicle.
You use it to successfully accomplish movement in the face of difficult circum-
stances, like rough terrain, small amounts of clearance, or stunt driving. Obvi-
ously, Pilot is also ripe for contests, especially chases and races.
You can use Drive to determine the best way to get somewhere in a vehi-
cle, and a good enough roll might allow you to learn features of the route that
get expressed as aspects, or declare that you know a Convenient Shortcut. You
can also just read the Athletics or Drive description, and then make it about an
unconventional vehicle. Advantages created using Drive often revolve around
getting good positioning, doing a fancy maneuver (Barrel Roll, anyone?), or put-
ting your opponent in a bad spot.
Pilot isn’t usually used as an attack skill even though stunts can certainly
alter this. If you want to ram a vehicle, you can attack with Pilot, but you take the
same shifts of harm you inflict and might lose control of the vehicle. Avoiding
damage to a vehicle in a physical conflict is one of the most common uses of
Pilot. You can also use it to defend against advantages being created against you
or overcome actions of someone trying to move past you in a vehicle.

Pilot Stunts
• On Your Six: You gain a +2 bonus to Pilot whenever you’re pursuing another
aircraft in a chase scene.
• Ride The Current: You can coax more speed out of your boat by setting your-
self up in currents or wakes. Whenever you’re engaged in any contest where
speed is the primary factor, such as a chase or race of some kind, and you tie
with your Pilot roll, it’s considered a success.
• Smooth Landing: When your vehicle has sustained enough damage to crash,
you gain a +2 bonus to rolls made to land safely or without injury to the occu-
pants.

157
 PROVOKE
Untrained: Yes

Provoke is a skill that’s about getting under someone’s skin and eliciting
negative emotional response from them. This could be fear, anger, shame or
just about any other negative emotion that you can cook up. Basically, it is the
“being a jerk” skill. To use Provoke, you need some kind of justification. Autom-
ata and zombies can’t be provoked.
You can Provoke someone into doing what you want in a fit of emotion.
You might intimidate them for information, piss them off so badly that they act
out, or scare them into running away. It is opposed with Will. Against player
characters, the outcome of a successful Provoke roll may not be the expected
one. An intimidated PC might lash out instead of running away, for example,
and put you into a fight that you were trying to get out of.
You can create advantages representing momentary emotional states, like
Enraged, Shocked, or Hesitant. Your target opposes with Will.
You can make mental attacks with Provoke in order to do emotional harm
to an opponent. Your relationship with the target and the circumstances you’re
in will factor in a great deal as to whether or not you can use this action.
Being good at provoking others doesn’t make you better at avoiding it
yourself. You need Will for that.

Provoke Stunts
• Armor of Fear: You can use Provoke to defend against close-combat attacks,
but only until the first time you are dealt stress in a conflict. You can make your
opponents hesitate to attack, but when they see that you’re only human your
advantage disappears.
• Provoke Violence: When you create an advantage on an opponent using Pro-
voke, you can use your free invocation to become the target of that character’s
next relevant attack action, essentially drawing their attention away from anoth-
er target.
• Okay, Fine: You can use Provoke in place of Empathy to learn a target’s as-
pects, by bullying them until they reveal one to you. The target defends against
this with Will. If the GM thinks the aspect is particularly vulnerable to your hos-
tile approach, you might get a +2 bonus.
 RANGED COMBAT
Untrained: Yes

Ranged Combat is the skill of using ranged weaponry such as bows, plas-
ma weapons or kinetic firearms either in a conflict or on targets that don’t ac-
tively resist your attempts to shoot them such as a bull’s-eye or the broad side
of a barn.
Unless, for some reason, you need to demonstrate your Ranged Combat
ability in a non-conflict situation, you probably won’t be using this skill for nor-
mal obstacles much.
In physical conflicts, Ranged Combat can be used to perform a wide vari-
ety of moves, like trick shots and keeping someone under heavy fire. You might
even be able to disarm people and pin their sleeves to walls. You could also
make the argument for creating aspects based on your knowledge of guns such
as placing Jammed aspect on an opponent’s gun.
This skill makes physical attacks using ranged weaponry.
Ranged Combat is unique in that it doesn’t really have a defense compo-
nent. You could use it to lay down some covering fire which might act as a de-
fense for your allies or provide opposition to someone else’s movement though
it could just as easily be represented by creating an advantage (Covering Fire or
Hail of Bullets, for example).

Ranged Combat Stunts

• Called Shot: During a Ranged Combat attack, spend a fate point and declare
a specific condition you want to inflict on a target, like Shot In The Hand. If you
succeed, you place that as a situation aspect on them in addition to hitting them
for stress.
• Quick on the Draw: You can use Ranged Combat instead of Notice to deter-
mine turn order in any physical conflict where shooting quickly would be useful.
• Uncanny Accuracy: Once per conflict, stack an additional free invoke on an
advantage you’ve created to represent the time you take to aim or line up a shot.

159
 RAPPORT
Untrained: Yes

The Rapport skill is all about making positive connections to people and
eliciting positive emotion. It’s the skill of charm.
Use Rapport to charm or inspire people to do what you want, or to estab-
lish a good connection with them. With it, you can charm your way past a cross-
road guard, convince someone to take you into their confidence or become the
man of the hour at the local tavern. For nameless NPCs, this is just an overcome
action, but you will have to enter a contest to sufficiently ingratiate yourself to a
named NPC or PC.
Use Rapport to establish a positive mood on a target or in a scene or to get
someone to confide in you out of a genuine sense of trust. You could pep talk
someone into having Elevated Confidence, stir a crowd into a Joyful Fervor or
simply make someone Talkative or Helpful.
Rapport is not used to make attacks. It defends against any skill used to
damage your reputation, sour a mood you’ve created, or make you look bad in
front of other people. It does not, however, defend against mental attacks. That
requires Will.

Rapport Stunts
• Best Foot Forward: Twice per session, you may upgrade a boost you receive
with Rapport into a full situation aspect with a free invocation.
• Demagogue: You gain a +2 bonus to Rapport when you’re delivering an in-
spiring speech in front of a crowd. If there are named NPCs or PCs in the scene,
you may target them all simultaneously with one roll rather than dividing up
your shifts.
• Popular: If you’re in an area where you’re popular and well-liked, you can use
Rapport in place of Contacts. You may be able to establish your popularity by
spending a fate point to declare a story detail or because of prior justification.
 RESOURCES
Untrained: No

Resources describes your character’s general level of material wealth and

her ability to apply it. This might not always reflect cash on hand. It might be
tied to land or vassals as much as cred. It might also mean a number of good
lines of credit.
You can use Resources to get yourself out of or past any situation where
throwing money at the problem will help, such as committing bribery or acquir-
ing rare and expensive things. Challenges or contests might involve auctions or
bidding wars.
You might use Resources to grease the wheels and make people more
friendly, whether that represents an actual bribe or simply buying drinks for
people. You can also use Resources to declare that you have something you
need or can quickly acquire it, which could give you an aspect representing the
object.
Attack: Resources isn’t used to attack or defend.

Resources Stunts
• Money Talks: You can use Resources instead of Rapport in any situation where
ostentatious displays of material wealth might aid your cause.
• Savvy Merchant: You get an additional free invoke when you create advan-
tages with Resources, provided that they describe a monetary return on objects
you sold.
• Heir Apparent: Twice per session, you may take a boost representing a wind-
fall or influx of cash.

161
 STEALTH
Untrained: Yes

The Stealth skill allows you to avoid detection, both when hiding in place
and trying to move about unseen. It pairs well with the Larceny skill.
You can use Stealth to get past any situation that primarily depends on you
not being seen. Sneaking past sentries and security, hiding from a pursuer or
avoiding leaving evidence as you pass through a place all fall under the purview
of Stealth.
You will mainly use Stealth to create aspects on yourself, setting yourself
in an ideal position for an attack or ambush in a conflict. That way, you can be
Well Hidden when the guards pass by or Hard to Pin Down if you’re fighting in
the dark.
Stealth isn’t used to make attacks.
You can use this to foil Notice attempts to pinpoint you or seek you out,
as well as to try to throw off the scent of an Investigate attempt from someone
trying to track you.

Stealth Stunts
• Face in the Crowd: You gain a +2 bonus to any Stealth roll to blend into a
crowd. What a “crowd” means will depend on the environment. A subway station
requires more people to be crowded than a tiny dive bar.
• Ninja Vanish: Once per scene, you can vanish while in plain sight by spending
a fate point by using a smoke pellet or other mysterious technique. This places
the Vanished boost on you. While you’re vanished, no one can attack or create
an advantage on you until after they’ve succeeded at an overcome roll with No-
tice or Investigate to suss out where you went which costs a turn in an exchange
to do. The aspect goes away as soon as you invoke it, or someone makes that
overcome roll.
• Slippery Target: Provided you’re in darkness or shadow, you can use Stealth
to defend against Ranged Combat attacks.
 STRATEGY
Untrained: Yes

Strategy governs the tactics used in war as well as games. It is an invalu-

able skill for those who would lead armies.
You can use Strategy to overcome an obstacle while leading a large regi-
mented group. You can also use Strategy to overcome adversaries and obstacles
where brute force would not otherwise succeed. Strategy can also be used to
overcome obstacles in games of deep thinking and strategy, such as chess.
In situations of war, Strategy can be used to gain tactical advantages against
an opponent or find the opponents weak spots in their own regiment. In war as
well as games of strategy, you can use Strategy to outwit your opponent, see
their patterns or predict their own strategy and maneuvers.
Strategy is not used to attack or defend.

Strategy Stunts
• Blueprint For Success: You can direct one of your allies to strike the opponent
where it hurts the most. Once per conflict, while following your carefully laid
plans, your allies can add one two-shift bonus to a single attack.
• Clear A Path: Once per session you can spend a Fate Point to allow a regiment
that you are leading to ignore an obstacle when attempting to move.
• Checkmate: You can always see a clear path to victory in challenging games.
When you are directly opposed in a game of skill, you gain a +2 bonus to Strat-
egy Rolls.

163
 SURVIVAL
Untrained: Yes

The survival skill covers the means and knowledge that is used to stay alive
outside of the resources of civilization. This covers finding shelter, acquiring
food by hunting and fishing or foraging and even orienteering, finding paths
and determining current location by information such as flora, fauna or the po-
sition of the sun.
This is the most common usage of the Survival skill. You can use an Over-
come action to find food or shelter, determine position or direction and any oth-
er action that someone might take in order to stay alive outside of civilization.
You might use Survival to track prey as well.
You might use Survival to assist in hunting or fishing by laying traps, weap-
ons or nets in order to help acquire food. You might create tools such as sharp-
ened sticks or find flint in order to help create a fire.
Survival is typically not used to attack, but you might use Survival to defend
against environmental wilderness hazards directly aimed against you.

Survival Stunts
• Tactical Advantage: You know the lay of the land. You may use Survival in-
stead of a Stealth roll in order to perform an ambush.
• Never Lost: By taking note of your surroundings, you can almost always find a
path and determine the direction you need to go to reach your goal. You gain a
+2 to Survival rolls when attempting to orienteer or find your way out of a wil-
derness area.
• Forest Bounty: No matter where you are, you’ll never go hungry. You gain a
+2 bonus to any attempt to forage or hunt for food.
 UNARMED COMBAT Untrained: Yes

The Unarmed Combat skill covers all forms of close-quarters combat made
without using weapons. This covers punching, kicking, head-butts and martial
arts. It also covers certain types of weapons that are specifically designed to as-
sist in unarmed combat, such as brass knuckles.
Since you don’t really use Unarmed Combat outside of a conflict, it’s not
often used to overcome obstacles. You might use it to display your fighting
prowess in a demonstration, or to participate in some kind of regulated bout or
sport fighting against stationary targets, which would allow you to use this skill
in a contest.
You’ll probably use Unarmed Combat for most of the advantages you cre-
ate in a physical conflict. Any number of special moves can be covered with ad-
vantages: a targeted strike to stun, a “dirty move” or disarming. You could even
use Unarmed Combat to assess another fighter’s style, spotting weaknesses in
his or her form that you can exploit.
You make unarmed physical attacks with Unarmed Combat. Remember,
this is for close-in work, so you have to be in striking distance of your target.
You can use Unarmed Combat to defend against any other unarmed attack
or create an advantage attempt made with a Combat Skill as well as pretty much
any action where violently interposing yourself could prevent it from happening.
You can’t use this skill to defend against Ranged Combat attacks, and using this
skill to defend against Melee damage might still cause harm.

Unarmed Combat Stunts

• Pugilist: When you succeed with style on an Unarmed Combat attack and
choose to reduce the result by one to gain a boost, you gain a full situation as-
pect with a free invocation instead.
• One-Two Punch: Once per conflict you may spend a Fate Point in order to
make two Unarmed Combat attacks against a single opponent in one turn.
• Haymaker: You are able to inflict a lot of pain in exchange for your own
well-being. By taking a -2 to your defense rolls until your next turn, you can
inflict an extra +2 damage on successful Unarmed Combat attack.

165
 WILL
Untrained: Yes

Will represents your character’s general level of mental fortitude in much

the same way that Physique represents your physical fortitude.
You can use Will to pit yourself against obstacles that require mental ef-
fort. Puzzles and riddles can fall under this category, as well as any mentally
absorbing task, like deciphering a code. Use Will when it’s only a matter of time
before you overcome the mental challenge, and Knowledge if it takes something
more than brute mental force to get past it. Many of the obstacles that you go up
against with Will might be made part of challenges in order to reflect the effort
involved.
You can use Will to place aspects on yourself, representing a state of deep
concentration or focus.
Will is not used for attacks but it is the main skill you use to defend against
mental attacks from Provoke, representing your control over your reactions.
Special: The Will skill gives you additional mental stress boxes or conse-
quence slots. Average (+1) or Fair (+2) gives you a 3-point stress box. Good
(+3) or Great (+4) gives you a 3-point and a 4-point stress box. Superb (+5) and
above give you an additional mild consequence slot along with the additional
stress boxes. This slot can only be used for mental harm.

Will Stunts
• Determination: Use Will instead of Physique on any overcome rolls represent-
ing feats of strength. This can also be used in opposed strength rolls.
• Hard Boiled: You can choose to ignore a mild or moderate consequence for
the duration of the scene. It can’t be compelled against you or invoked by your
enemies. At the end of the scene it comes back even worse. If it was a mild con-
sequence it becomes a moderate consequence, and if it was already moderate,
it becomes severe. A severe consequence adds a moderate consequence as well.
• Indomitable. You gain a +2 bonus to defend against Provoke attacks specifi-
cally related to intimidation and fear.
PERKS
Supernatural powers in Warsong
are represented by perks.
As with mortal stunts, taking
powers beyond your starting level will
reduce your character’s refresh lev-
el. The difference being that pow-
ers often cost more than one refresh
point. This being the case because the
benefits provided by powers are of-
ten more than just a two-shift effect.
Keep in mind that no character may
buy so many stunts or powers that her
refresh would be reduced to zero or
fewer. Typically, anyone with a refresh
of zero or fewer is said to have lost
their free will and are simply tools of
destiny.
PERK DESCRIPTIONS
Each perk will have a description
that includes the name of the power,
the cost in refresh of that power as
well what effects the power has, any-
thing that the character must have in
order to take the power as well as ex-
tra upgrades that can be purchased
with additional refresh. Perks do not
stack. Meaning that you cannot take
a single power more than once unless
the power explicitly says so.
167
FORMAT
Each perk is a unique power or
ability that the character can use. Each
one will have blocks of information
that describe it’s name, requirements
to acquire, refresh cost, description
and mechanical benefits.
TALENTS
Talents are perks that mortals
acquire through extensive training,
natural talent, neural or technolog-
ical enhancement. They are not con-
sidered supernatural in any way. Each
Talent has a cost that acts against the
mortal’s refresh level. Humans are the
only character type that can drop their
refresh rating to zero and retain their
free will.
Since Talents represent practiced
skills and learned techniques, oth-
er character types can acquire talents
with refresh points as normal, so long
as it makes sense for the character to
possess that talent. The GM is the final
arbiter of whether or not a character
can possess any given Talent.
TEMPLATE PERKS
These types of perks represent
intrinsic, inseperable parts of who and
what a character is. A template perk
is purchased with refresh points just
like other perks and work much in the
same manner except the powers given
to the character through these perks
are often “always on”.
When a template perk requires
a “related aspect”, it means that the
character must at least have one char-
acter aspect that related to the char-
acter’s nature with that template.
Beastblood
Cost: 1
Requirements: Related Aspect
Description: You’re related to the true
blooded shifters but haven’t changed,
or you were exposed to a form of ly-
canthrope that didn’t quite take to
your physiology. Instead of turning
you into a full-blown shifter, you have
instead gained several minor animal-
istic traits. You are considered no more
than cousins to the true blooded, and
less than lycanthrope to some.
Effect:
•Lesser Vulnerability: You are af-
fected by silver, but not nearly as bad-
ly as your full blooded counterparts.
As such, contact with silver causes
moderate discomfort, but not enough
to cause stress and attacks with silver
only give a +2 shift bonus to damage.
•Lesser Totem: Your connection
to your totem is weak at best. You do
not have to choose a totem animal with
this trait, and your animal abilities, if
any, may be sparse.
•Minor Shift: You are not able to
call upon your shapeshifting powers
to the same extent as your cousins.
You do not possess any other form
but your man form, and may only take
a single shapeshifter power that will
manifest as a partial change in that
form.
•Echoes: The beast’s blood still
calls out to the spirit world from with-
in you. At the beginning of each ses-
sion you gain a single boost based on
your animal nature. These boosts do
not carry over from session to session,
so you may only have one at a time.
The boost aspect must have some-
thing to do with animals, instincts or
traits otherwise associated with ani-
mals. Musts: You must have at least
one aspect reflecting your nature as a
beast blooded.
Lycanthrope
Cost: 2
Requirements: Related Aspect
Description: You were exposed to a
form of lycanthrope that didn’t quite
take to your physiology. Instead of
turning you into a full-blown shifter,
you have instead gained several mi-
nor animalistic traits. You are consid-
ered no more than cousin to the true
blooded, and less than lycanthrope to
some.
Effect: You are a shifter that has ac-
quired the ability to change your shape
from external means. You have very
little control over your change, and
may not have been a shifter for all that
long. You are considered distasteful
by true blooded shifters.
•Cursed: Just like the true blood-
ed shifters, the touch of silver can kill.
You acquire one stress box per turn
of contact with silver, and a success-
ful attack against you using a silver
weapon inflicts +4 shifts of damage.
•Totem Animal: When this pow-
er is taken, you must choose a single
non-supernatural animal that your
soul will bond with. This animal deter-
mines your animal and hybrid forms,
determines which shapeshifter powers
169
you should take and may even inform
some of your character’s behavior.
•Lycanthropic Change: You do
not possess the acuity and height of
control in your shapeshifting abilities
that the true blooded have. You have
three forms which are man form and
animal form. Your supernatural pow-
ers are limited to the forms listed on
that power. You also only change into
your hybrid form under certain condi-
tions. Those conditions must be de-
termined hen this perk is taken.
•Animal Skills: When taking this
power, choose three skills and label
them primary, secondary and tertia-
ry. When taking on your hybrid form,
primary skill gains +2, and secondary
gains a +1. In hybrid form, a cross be-
tween man-form and animal form, pri-
mary gains a +3 bonus instead, sec-
ondary gains a +2 and tertiary gains a
+1 bonus. In addition, in hybrid form,
perception rolls gain a +1. This per-
ception bonus is cumulative with any
of the additional bonuses from this
power. Some actions, such as those
that require thumbs, are impossible in
certain forms, and are subject to the
GM’s discretion.
True Blooded Shifter
Cost: 3
Requirements: Related High Concept
Description: True Blooded shifters
come from a long line of Shifters in
Lemuria. They are called true blooded
because they were born shifters, and
did not need to acquire the trait. True
bloods have the most control over their
changes, and are typically the leaders
and alphas of groups of shifters.
Effect:
•True Blooded: You were born a
shifter. At least one of your parents was
a true blooded shifter. A true blood-
ed shifter’s first change takes place
around the time of puberty or during
a moment of great emotional stress.
Weapons and other objects made of
silver cause direct harm. Touching sil-
ver causes one stress box of damage
per turn, and being struck with a silver
weapon inflicts +4 shifts of damage
on a successful hit.
•Totem Animal: When this pow-
er is taken, you must choose a single
non-supernatural animal that your
soul will bond with. This animal de-
termines your beast and hybrid forms,
determines which shapeshifter powers
you should take and may even inform
some of your character’s behavior.
171
•Controlled Change: You can
shape-shift whenever you want. You
can also shift portions of your body
while keeping others intact. This al-
lows you to have claws in man-form,
and to keep your mind and intellect in
animal form, if you so choose. You are
not bound by the forms listed in the
shapeshifter powers.
•Animal Skills: When taking this
power, choose three skills and label
them primary, secondary and tertia-
ry. When taking on your animal form,
primary and secondary skills gain +2,
and tertiary gains a +1. In hybrid form,
a cross between man-form and animal
form, primary gains a +3 bonus in-
stead. In addition, in hybrid form and
animal form, perception rolls gain a
+1. This perception bonus is cumula-
tive with any of the additional bonuse.
Some actions, such as those that re-
quire thumbs, are impossible in cer-
tain forms, and are subject to the GM’s
discretion.
Living Dead
Cost: 1
Requirements: Related Aspect
Description: You are dead, and yet,
you move.
Effect:
•Corpse: You are a corpse. Your
body continually rots and decays, and
any consequences that you suffer do
not heal normally. In order to recov-
er consequences, you must make an
effort to recover them, such as recon-
structive surgery, having limbs sewn
back on (taxidermy?) or even necro-
mancy.
•Already Dead: You cannot kill
what’s already dead. Any outcome that
involves your character being dead
does not entirely kill your character
without the help of supernatural or
incredibly powerful mundane effects.
Nothing short or pure annihilation will
destroy you.
•What The Hell?: You’re dead,
and this is a concept that is at the very
least unnerving to the typical Lemu-
rian. While you gain a +1 to your in-
timidation rolls, all other social aside
from Deceit are at a -1. Every physical
consequence you’re currently suffer-
ing from increases this bonus/penalty
by +1/-1.
Vampire
Cost: 4
Requirements: Related High Concept
Description: Through the predations
of another vampire, your soul has
been ripped from your body when it
was killed and drained of blood, and
your body was reanimated by the
forces of the Never through the blood
of the vampire who created you. From
the moment you awoke from death,
you have had a slithering beast with-
in you constantly demanding life en-
ergy in the form of the blood of the
living. You are dead. Your heart does
not beat unless you force it to do so.
The longer you go without blood, the
stronger your hunger becomes. While
you can pass for human if you’ve re-
cently fed, prolonged periods of star-
vation causes decay to set in, which is
a painful process that continues until
you cannot function.
Effect:
•Undead: You are no longer alive,
and do not require the normal tasks
for biological functioning. You do not
need to eat, sleep, breathe or drink
water and are completely immune to
drowning and asphyxiation. As a vam-
pire, you can force yourself to perform
these functions, such as acquiring a
heartbeat or feigning breath by taking
on a hift of stress box that can only
be recovered after you’ve stopped
performing these functions. Your in-
ternal organs are inactive, so eating is
uncomfortable at best and eaten food
must be regurgitated within the next
scene.
•Hunger: You constantly desire
blood. You gain a new stress track
called Hunger. You have a number
of hunger stress boxes equal to two
plus your physique score. The longer
you go without blood, the stronger
the hunger becomes. Each scene that
you go without feeding, you acquire
one stress shift against Hunger which
will remain until you feed. To recover
these boxes, you must take a number
of stress boxes worth of blood equal
to the severity of the stress or conse-
quence you acquired from starvation.
Once you have fed and acquired blood
equal to your stress or consequence
rating, it is recovered. The name of
these consequences should represent
the decay that occurs with the rot of
death, and the bestial features of the
true form of an bestial vampire com-
ing to the surface.
•Feeding: You possess sharp,
retractable fangs designed to pierce
173
Lemurian skin and draw blood for
feeding. In order to feed, you must
make an attack roll of some sort (De-
ceit and Rapport also works for pur-
poses of feeding, depending on your
method). Physically subduing an un-
willing victim requires grappling. When
feeding, you drain one physical stress
box worth of blood per turn based on
your attack roll. After feeding begins,
it becomes far more difficult to re-
sist a vampire’s feeding, and defense
rolls are at a cumulative -2 for each
turn after the first. Each shift of dam-
age you inflict in this way recovers one
stress box from your Hunger stress
track. In order to recover consequenc-
es from Hunger, you must consume a
number of blood points equal to the
consequence rating. Using fangs to do
damage instead of feeding gives them
a weapon rating of 1.
•Inhuman: Vampires possess
capabilities far greater than a normal
Lemurian. A vampire may take stress
to their Hunger track to gain a +2 bo-
nus to any skill roll equal to the sever-
ity of the stress taken. This represents
the character willing the supernatural
power of her blood into her body and
mind.
•Undead Recovery: Once per
scene you may recover from a conse-
quence as if you’ve spent an entire ses-
sion doing so by taking a single stress
box to your Hunger track. As such,
your other stress tracks clear, and any
mild physical consequences you’re
suffering from (aside from a feeding
consequence) are recovered. Marking
two hunger stress can heal a moderate
consequence and three will allow you
to heal a severe consequence.
•Frenzy: Blood is an all-consum-
ing obsession to all vampires. When
a vampire see’s or smells blood, the
GM may call for a Will roll to resist the
urge to feed. Failure indicates that the
vampire will immediately attack and
attempt to feed from the source of the
blood. If the source is not available,
any nearby living person or animal will
suffice. If no applicable food source is
available, the vampire will simply at-
tack the nearest moving thing.
•Immortal: You do not die nat-
urally. This lends to a very extend-
ed existence in the world, and many
vampires are double or triple their ap-
pearance in age. Some rare vampires
even survive to be hundreds of years
old. Unless destroyed, you will never
die. Starvation will cause you to even-
tually hibernate until blood is given to
you, but it does not kill you outright.
•Command: As a vampire, you
automatically gain the Command spell.
This spell can only be used on undead,
and uses the vampire’s Will to cast.
•Weaknesses: Garlic tastes bad,
but so does all Lemurian food on your
palette. Running water is beautiful,
and religious symbols, unless they’re
backed by someone truly faithful, are
meaningless. Stakes are an annoy-
ance, but only serve to paralyze if
they strike the heart directly. Sunlight,
however, will kill you, and it will hurt
the entire time you’re dying. First, you
sear like steaks on a hot pan, and then
you burst into flames and burn until
there is nothing but ash. Sunlight in-
flicts a passive attack based on how
much sunlight touches your naked
flesh. Light clothing in direct sunlight,
for example, inflict +8 shifts of dam-
age per exchange, while shaded light
with skin protection such as heavy
clothing only inflicts +4. The GM can
feel free to modify this number up or
down depending on the amount of
sunlight hitting the vampire. Options:
This templates gives automatic justi-
fication for powers such as inhuman
recovery, inhuman strength, inhuman
speed and toughtness.
 •Creation Through Death: All
vampires except the original group
must have been created by another
vampire through a process of death
and rebirth as a vampire where the
blood is drained from the victim, and
then the vampire feeds the corpse a
small amount of her own blood to pass
on the curse.
Artificial Sentient Life
Cost: 2
Requirements: Related High Concept
Description: You are the product of
code in a machine. While you have a
very high intelligence by human stan-
dards, you are likely quite young and
naive. Composed of pure energy, it
is difficult to truly destroy you with-
out the proper knowledge. In order to
affect and interact with the physical
world, you must occupy a machine,
construct or other piece of technology
compatible with your programming.
Effect:
•Always Connected: So long as
your consciousness is located inside
of a machine capable of connecting to
other technology, you have access to
a nearly infinite pool of knowledge. By
taking a turn to connect to the Source
175
you gain a +4 shift bonus to any
knowledge roll you make.
•Applications: You gain access
to Machinae applications.
•Control: You have an inherent,
instinctual understanding of technol-
ogy that allows you to take control of
any technology with storage capable of
housing your consciousness. So long
as you can connect to another piece
of technology with a neural processor,
you can take an action to move freely
between machines and take control of
them.
•Detached: You may have
self-awareness and advanced con-
cepts of morality and ethics, but you
are still a machine. You find it difficult
to understand the emotions and irra-
tionality of Lemurians. You can never
exceed one shift in empathy and rolls
when dealing with non-Machinae no
matter how many shifts you rolled.
•Impermanent Shell: You are
composed of energy and information,
and have no permanent body. This
makes destroying you incredibly diffi-
cult. So long as the chip or other hard-
ware that houses your consciousness
remains intact, you cannot be killed.
Having your shell destroyed essential-
ly puts you on pause. You have no
perception of time or the outside
world until your neural processors are
reconnected to a suitable shell. If your
neural processor is destroyed, or your
code is damaged by hacking or attacks
from other Machinae or machines, you
may be killed.
Awakened Machine
Cost: 2
Requirements: Related High Concept,
*Special
Description: Through magic, you have
been given sentience and self-aware-
ness. At one time, you were a machine
designed and operating within specific
parameters according to your design,
but you now see the world around you
from the eyes of a living being. You
are an Awakened Machine, artificial
life sprung from the throes of magic.
Effect:
•Applications And Enhance-
ments: You are capable of acquiring
certain software applications and me-
chanical enhancements that are avail-
able to the type of machine you are.
•Construct: You are a machine.
Your consciousness resides in the
neural processors of a machine. As a
machine, you do not require food, wa-
ter or breath. You do not, however,
recover normally. In order to recov-
er consequences, you must undergo
maintenance in the form of a crafts
roll with a difficult equal to the level
of consequences you currently have.
Each successful roll indicates that the
consequence is in the process of re-
covery, as per normal rules. In addi-
tion, you require the proper tools and
materials in order to perform the re-
pairs.
•Detached: You may have
self-awareness and advanced concepts
of morality and ethics, but you are still
a machine. You find it difficult to un-
derstand the emotions and irrationali-
ty of Lemurians. You can never exceed
one shift in empathy and rapport rolls
when dealing with non-Machinae no
matter how many shifts you rolled.
•Hard As Steel: You are as dura-
ble as the materials you are designed
from. You gain an automatic armor
rating of 1.
•Special: You must also choose
what type of machine you were before
you awakened. This choice cannot be
changed without extreme magical or
technological procedures.
Synthetic
Cost: 4
Requirements: Related High Concept
Description: At one time, you were a
living person. Now, your conscious-
ness has been transferred into a neu-
ral processing unit and placed within
a machine.
Effect:
•Applications: You are capable
of acquiring certain software applica-
tions and mechanical enhancements
that are available to the type of ma-
chine you are.
•Construct: You are a machine.
Your consciousness resides in the
neural processors of a machine. As
a machine, you do not require food,
water or breath. You do not, however,
recover normally. In order to recov-
er consequences, you must undergo
maintenance in the form of a crafts
roll with a difficult equal to the level
of consequences you currently have.
Each successful roll indicates that the
consequence is in the process of re-
covery, as per normal rules. In addi-
tion, you require the proper tools and
materials in order to perform the re-
pairs.
•Hard As Steel: You are as dura-
ble as the materials you are designed
177
from. You gain an automatic armor
rating of 1.
Vizier
Cost: 4
Requirements: Related High Concept
Description: You belong to an elite
group of supernaturals called the Vi-
ziers. The loom of fate is woven into
your very soul and you are free to
weave it how you see fit.
Effect:
•Fate Sense: You are able to in-
stinctively know when destiny is not
as it should be. With this ability, a Vi-
zier is able to make a passive Percep-
tion skill check in order to notice dis-
turbances in destiny. This can notice
when Event Extras have been used or
destroyed, if destiny has taken stress
or consequences as well as if another
Vizier is using any of their exclusive
destiny-based abilities.
•Tangle: A Vizier is capable of
making minute changes in the destiny
of herself and those around her. Using
Tangle, a Vizier can make a Crafts roll
at the beginning of a scene. The num-
ber of shifts accumulated on this roll
can subtract the number of shifts on a
roll or allot extra shifts.
179
MORTAL PERKS
These perks are available to mortals.
Advance
Cost: 1
Requirements:
Athletics 1
Perception 2
Description: You excel at getting the
drop on the enemy.
Effect: You are able to move up to one
additional zone from your starting lo-
cation before initiative is rolled.
Bloody Knuckles
Cost: 1
Requirements:
Physique 1
Will 1
Unarmed or Melee Combat 2
Description: Once blood is drawn, your
ferocity knows no bounds.
Effect: If you or any ally have had at
least one physical stress box filled
during a conflict, you gain an addi-
tional die to damage on a success-
ful attack. This attack must be melee
combat or unarmed. The die is only
rolled after attack and defense have
been rolled, and only if your attack
successfully exceeds the defense.
Camouflage
Cost: 1 Requirements:
Craft 1
Knowledge 1
Stealth 2
Description: You are good at blending
in with your surroundings.
Effect: When benefiting from cover,
you gain a +2 to your defense rolls.
Given enough time, you can camou-
flage yourself, giving yourself a boost
with a free invoke on your next Stealth
roll.
Coder
Cost: 1
Requirements:
Knowledge 4
Description: While others may dabble
in software and programming, you’ve
developed quite a knack for it. You
have an instinctual or practiced un-
derstanding of the code involved in
creating artificial sentience, and how
it works.
Effect: You gain a +2 to any roll in-
volving the programming and code of
artificial sentient life. Given enough
time, materials and tools, you could
even create artificial life from scratch.
Bloodlust
Cost: 2
Requirements: Bloody Knuckles
Will 2
Unarmed or Melee Combat 4
Description: The promise of blood
leaves you thirsty for more.
Effect: Spend a fate point. For the re-
mainder of the conflict, any successful
melee combat or unarmed combat at-
tack you make allows you to make one
additional attack directly after if that
attack dealt at least one stress box or
consequence.
Deadeye
Cost: 1
Requirements:
Ranged Combat 2
Description: Your aim is impeccable.
Effect: You are able to take a single
extra die on any ranged attack roll. In
addition, you can give this bonus die
to an ally to use on their ranged attack
roll. This ability can only be used if you
make no other rolls or movements on
your turn other than a ranged attack
roll.
181
Engineer
Cost: 2
Requirements:
Knowledge 3
Description: You know your way
around not only mechanics and elec-
trical engineering, but also robotics
and housing for artificial sentience
code, including neural processors.
With the right tools and materials, you
are capable of building almost any
kind of robot, warjack or housing for
sentient life. While other capable in-
dividuals might be able to build and
design such things, you have an ex-
tensive knowledge for it. Some might
even call it a talent.
Effect: You gain a +2 to all rolls when
attempting to design, build, maintain,
repair or develop robotics and artifi-
cial sentience. You have such a keen
insight to their form and function that
if you succeed with style on any roll
to create robotics from scratch, that
robot gains your choice of two ex-
tra physical stress, an additional mild
consequence or a permanent +2 to any
Skill, chosen by the creator. Note: This
talent is explicitly open to non-mor-
tals. Engineer does not confer any bo-
nus to the development code or soft-
ware involved in artificial life.
Inspire Blitz
Cost: 2
Requirements:
Rapport 3
Description: You’re ability to inspire
others to push harder in battle is that
of legend.
Effect: By spending a fate point, you
can allow a number of allies within
the same zone as you to make an ex-
tra attack per turn. You can inspire a
number of allies equal to your Rapport
skill rating.
Luck
Cost: 1
Requirements: Must be human
Description: Someone must be looking
out for you, because you find yourself
getting out of situations that would
kill other people.
Effect: Once per session you may re-
roll any single 0 or - die that you
rolled. The second roll must be kept.
Maelstrom
Cost: 3
Requirements: Deadeye
Description: You have awesome speed
and skill, capable of firing a ranged
weapon in mass succession.
Effect: By spending a fate point, you
can make one ranged combat attack
roll against each enemy within your
weapon’s range. This is not a super-
natural attack, so the weapon must
be able to fire quickly, and you must
have the ammunition available to do
so. This talent cannot be used while in
melee combat.
Second Skin
Cost: 2
Requirements: Have an aspect relating
to how the second skin enhancement
was acquired, such as being active,
retired or absconded Celestial City
Military (C.C.M.), or having undergone
illegal Technociurgy.
Description: You possess a second
skin interface suit..
Effect: Your character can interface
with a Second Skin, a neural inter-
face that is worn over the skin like a
body suit, and contains tiny, thread-
like monofilaments that pierce the
skin and connect directly to the wear-
er’s nervous system in order to give
stronger and more accurate control of
power armor and other types of ma-
chinery. Second Skin cannot interface
with a user who has not undergone
specific surgery that alters the user’s
nervous system to accept the inter-
face. When the Second Skin is worn
and activated by anyone who has not
undergone the surgery, it is extremely
painful and disorienting, causing one
automatic physical and mental stress
per turn until removed. The Second
Skin overrides the senses of the user
when active with whatever the user is
interfaced with. Interfacing with power
armor, for example, replaces the us-
er’s sight with the optics of the suit,
and replaces the sense of touch with
the external receptors of the suit, al-
lowing the user awareness of dam-
age to the suit, as well as allowing
the user to make detailed, controlled
movements, attacks and maneuvers.
Due to the nature of the interface, the
user of an active second skin acquires
one box of physical stress. Interfacing
with a machine causes one automat-
ic shift of mental stress as well. This
damage cannot be defended against.
The mental stress will remain until the
interface ends, but the physical stress
can be recovered as normal.
Note: Even with a second skin, the
mortal must still have access to power
armor or other tech that is Neural-In-
terface Capable in order to put it to
183
use. This Talent does not give the user
a piece of second skin equipment, it
only signifies that she can interface
with one.
GENERAL SUPERNATURAL PERKS
Perks in the General category are
available to any character type, ex-
cept mortal. As usual, all powers are
subject to the GM’s discretion and you
must be able to justify the power in
order to take it.
Blur
Cost: 1
Requirements: None
Description: You are able to cause the
outlines of your physical form to blur.
Effect: By spending a fate point, you
gain a +3 to any single defensive roll
you make. This defense roll works
against both mundane and magical
attacks.
Conjuration
Cost: 3
Requirements: None
Description: You are able to conjure,
bind and banish spirits.
Effect: You gain three new skills, Sum-
moning, Binding and Banishing. One
of these skills is placed at Fair (+2),
another at Average (+1) and the last at
Mediocre (+0). After this power is pur-
chased, those skills may be advanced
by milestones, as normal. If this pow-
er is purchased during character cre-
ation, then skill points may be spent
to raise these new skills as normal.
Ghost Speaker
Cost: 1
Requirements: None
Description: You are able to see and
communicate with dead people. You
are unable to control this power in or-
der to turn it off. This does not make
you capable of touching or harming
the ghosts.
Effect:
•Sight: You see ghosts. This re-
quires no roll unless the ghost is de-
liberately trying to remain unseen.
•Seen: Not only do you see
ghosts, but they also see you. Regard-
less of their level of manifestations, a
ghost can automatically tell that you
are a Speaker. This also makes you
easier to notice. Ghosts gain a +2 to
any roll when attempting to notice
you.
•Speak: You can communicate
with the ghosts of the dead without
the need for magic or any rolls.
•Sought Out: Ghosts will seek
you out in order to help them in some
way, or just for the company of the liv-
ing. This may come up at inopportune
times, preventing sleep or deterring
you from focus when you least expect
it.
Note: While this is certainly a su-
pernatural power, a mortal may have
access to it with justification and the
proper aspects without losing their
mortal template.
Inhuman Recovery
Cost: 2
Requirements:
Physique 2
Description: You are able to recover
from physical exertion and stress at a
hastened rate.
Effect: This power may be taken more
than once. Choose one of the follow-
ing powers:
•Full Recovery: You are able to
heal consequences with no other jus-
tification except for time.
•Fast Recovery: When you’re out
of combat and not under stress, you
are able to recover from consequenc-
es as if they were one step lower.
 •Sleepless: You are never re-
stricted due to lack of rest. • Shrug
It Off: Once per scene, you are able
to shrug off all of your stress box-
es, or one physical consequence. The
first purchase of this subset of pow-
ers shrugs off mild powers, the sec-
ond purchase recovers moderate and
the third purchase shrugs off even
severe consequences once per scene.
Regardless of the level of Shrug It Off,
you can only recover one consequence
per scene.
Inhuman Speed
Cost: 1
Requirements:
Athletics 2
Physique 1
Description: Your quickness cannot be
matched by any human.
Effect: This power may be purchased
more than once. For each purchase,
choose one:
•Improved Initiative: Your initia-
tive rolls have a +3 bonus.
•Athletic: Your athletics rolls, in-
cluding dodging, are at a +1 bonus.
•Free Movement: When attempt-
ing to move or give chase, either with-
in or between zones, you gain a +2
bonus to do so.
185
Inhuman Strength
Cost: 2
Requirements:
Athletics 2
Physique 1
Description: Your strength knows no
bounds.
Effect: This may be purchased more
than once. For each purchase, choose
one:
•Powerful: When attempting to
lift or carry heavy objects, you gain a
+4 to your roll.
•Thunderous Blow: When mak-
ing unarmed or melee attacks, you in-
flict +2 shifts of damage. In addition, f
you succeed with style, your opponent
must make an Athletics roll in order
to remain on her feet. The difficul-
ty for this roll is equal to the amount
of damage inflicted. Standing costs a
move action.
•Might: When using your strength
as a justification to any nvoke, you
gain an additional +2 to that roll.
Iron Skin
Cost: 2
Requirements: Toughness
Physique 3
Description: Your skin is incredibly
resilient..
Effect: You gain a natural +2 to your
armor rating.
Notes: This power stacks with tough-
ness and can be purchased multiple
times.
Psychic Vampire
Cost: 2
Requirements: Special
Intimidation 1
Rapport 2
Will 2
Description: You are a living being re-
lated to a vampire, but you do not feed
on blood. You feed on the life energies
of sentient beings. You must be in the
immediate vicinity of the food source
in order to feed, but touch is required
for full sustenance. The stronger the
emotions or thoughts of the subject
food source, the more sustenance
gained from it.
Effect:
•Feeding: You feed from the life-
force of a sentient, living person. This
requires physical touch, but a small
“meal” can be gained from being in the
presence of someone experiencing
particularly strong emotions. When
you feed, you make a psychological
attack (usually Deceit or Intimidation)
A successful mental attack against a
victim drains an amount of life force
from the victim equal to the number of
mental shifts inflicted.
•Not Quite Dead: While you are
not dead like a true vampire and still
require food, water and air to survive,
you will starve if you do not acquire
life energy by feeding.
•Psychic Recovery: The life force
you steal from other living beings can
be used to enhance your own. So long
as you’ve fed during that session, you
can take an immediate free recovery
period equal to an entire scene. This
will clear your stress tracks and recov-
er any mild consequence you may be
suffering.
•Frenzy: The presence of strong
emotions incites you to hunger and
an uncontrollable urge to feed. In
such situations, the GM may ask for a
Will roll to be made. On a failure, you
will attempt to feed from the nearest
source of life energy.
Special Requirement: You must have
at least one aspect reflecting your na-
ture as a psychic vampire. You cannot
possess this power at the same time
as any other undead template power
such as Vampire or Zombie. Acquiring
those powers automatically erases the
187
power and you regain any refresh you
spent to acquire it.
Toughness
Cost: 2
Requirements:
Physique 2 Requirements:
Description: You have unusual forti-
tude and toughness, and are capable
of sustaining more damage than oth-
ers of your kind.
Effect: You may purchase this pow-
er more than once. Choose one of the
following effects:
•Tough: You have a natural ar-
mor rating of 1.
•Hard To Kill: You gain two addi-
tional boxes of physical stress
SHIFTER PERKS
The powers of the shifter tribes
stem from their ancestral connec-
tion to the animals through the spir-
it world. Some of these powers apply
only when in a specific form. Applica-
ble forms for these powers are listed
in the power’s description. You may
choose one of the listed forms. In or-
der to use these powers in more than
one form, you must be able to pay the
cost for each additional form.
If you can justify it, you may purchase
these perks for forms not listed at the
GM’s discretion.
Anesthetic Venom
Cost: 2
Form: Beast, Man
Medicine 1
Description: Your saliva has numbing
properties, similar to narcotics. When
exposed, a victim loses sensation
for a short period of time. Excessive
amounts of your saliva can cause ad-
ditional effects.
Effect: The saliva needs to touch the
victim’s skin in order to be affected.
The roll for an attack using this saliva
as a weapon is based on how you use
it. Spitting at your opponent, for ex-
ample, requires a Ranged Combat roll,
while licking your opponent, or coat-
ing your hands and punching the vic-
tim requires an Unarmed Combat roll.
If you try to slip your spit into some-
one’s drink, or drug them with a kiss,
then you would make a Subterfuge
roll. Regardless of the roll required,
you must be within the same zone as
the target, and in close proximity. A
successful strike allows you to place a
Situation Aspect on your victim de-
scribing the effects of your venom.
This aspect comes with one free in-
voke.
Aquatic
Cost: 2
Requirements:
Form: Beast, Hybrid
Physique 1 Effect: Decide when taking this perk
Description: You are a natural-born
swimmer, and gain all the benefits of
an aquatic creature.
Effect: You gain a two benefits from
the Aquatic power.
•Gills: You never take stress or
consequences as a result of drowning.
It is important to keep in mind that
this is not the same as choking or as-
phyxiation.
•Free Swimmer: You may ig-
nore any water-based obstacles when
swimming. You are capable of mov-
ing through normal water-based ob-
stacles without a roll. If the obstacle
is particularly treacherous, you gain a
+2 bonus to the roll.
Breath Weapon
Cost: 2
Requirements:
189
Form: Beast, Hybrid
Physique 1
Description: You are capable of pro-
ducing some kind of spittle or other
projectile over a short distance. You
must pick the type of weapon this is
when you take this power, and it may
only be a single type of effect such as
acid, poison, fire or noxious fumes.
what kind of breath weapon your char-
acter possesses. You are able to attack
opponents up to one zone away with
this breath weapon. This is consid-
ered an Unarmed Combat roll. It deals
shifts of damage on a successful hit
equal to your Physique.
Diminutive
Cost: 1
Requirements:
Form: Beast, Hybrid
Stealth 1
Description: You are very, very small
or are capable of becoming small at
will.
Effect:
•Difficult To Notice: You gain a
+4 to stealth attempts to hide.
•Eye For Detail: When you’re
small, other small things are not so
tiny in your eyes. When attempting to
pick up on minor details in a situation,
you gain a +2 to Perception.
•Small: Being small has advan-
tages and disadvantages. You do not
tire as easily as bigger creatures, and
move far faster than them, but you
are also weaker in physical strength.
You gain a +2 to rolls when speed or
endurance is a factor, but suffer a -2
to rolls when your own strength is in
question. This includes unarmed and
melee attacks, unless your weakness
is somehow compensated for.
Large
Cost: 2
Requirements:
Form: Beast, Hybrid, Man
Physique 2 be stealthy. You may never gain more
Description: You’re big. In hybrid or
animal form, you might be as big as a
house.
Effect:
•Big: You might present a big
target that’s easy to hit, but your large
size makes you harder to injure. Any-
one smaller than you (likely anyone
without this power) gains a +1 to at-
tempts to hit you with Melee or Un-
armed Combat rolls, and +2 to attack
rolls against you using Ranged Com-
bat. You also gain two more stress
boxes to your physical stress box.
•Big Hands: It is difficult for you
to interact with normally-sized ob-
jects. Using skills like Crafts or Larceny
may be more difficult or even impos-
sible in some situations, and you may
have trouble fitting through doorways
or finding adequate seating and bed-
ding. Using normal, man-sized tools
inflicts a -4 penalty to those rolls. You
find it easier to lift things, and you gain
a +2 to rolls to lift or break things.
•Intimidating: You can be men-
acing when you want to. You gain a +2
bonus to rolls when attempting to be
intimidating.
•Hard To Hide: You’re too big to
than one shift on any stealth roll.
Natural Weaponry
Cost: 1
Requirements:
Form: Beast, Hybrid
Unarmed Combat 2
Description: You have claws, fangs or
some other kind of natural weapon
that do far more damage than just us-
ing your bare hands. It is important to
note that your weaponry is always vis-
ible and apparent unless you change
your shape or use other methods of
hiding the weapons.
Effect: When you use your natural
weapon to attack, you inflict +1 shifts
of damage on a successful hit. This
bonus stacks with other powers, abili-
ties and stunts that inflict damage.
Extras: For an additional cost of 2 re-
fresh, your Natural Weaponry gains
the Venomous quality.
•Venomous: While this extra is
typically inflicted along with fangs, it
can also be used with other forms of
natural weaponry if it can be justified.
On a successful attack, these weapons
inflict the Poisoned Aspect.
At the beginning of each subse-
quent exchange, a character with the
Poisoned Aspect must defend against
a passive attack from the poison equal
to your Unarmed Attack rating. If the
target concedes or is taken out, these
attacks stop. Without medical atten-
tion, however, within a few hours a
Poisoned character will die.
A successful Medicine roll can
end this effect. This medicine roll is
opposed by your Unarmed Combat
roll.
191
Pack Communication
Cost: 2
Requirements:
Form: Beast, Hybrid
Empathy 2
Perception 1
Description: You consider yourself a
part of the pack, and are able to pick
up on the unspoken language of your
family.
Effect: You gain a +1 to your Percep-
tion rolls when you are in the same
zone as your pack. While in the same
zone, you can also understand one-
word communications from your pack
without them having to say anything
to you so long as you can see them.
You also gain a +2 to rolls when at-
tempting to discern the emotions of
your pack. You can make an inves-
tigation roll to suss the locations of
your pack. If your pack is ambushed
and one of your packmates notices it,
you do as well.
Wall Walking
Cost: 2
Requirements:
Form: Beast, Hybrid
Athletics 2
Description: You are able to climb on
vertical surfaces, and hang from ceil-
ings with ease.
Effect: You are able to climb any sur-
face. The angle of a surface never in-
creases the difficulty to climb it. In
particularly tough climbing situations,
such as hanging upside-down from a
sheer surface, you gain a +4 to your
rolls to navigate these climbs.
Wings
Cost: 2
Requirements:
Form: Beast, Hybrid
Athletics 2
Description: You have wings.
Effect: You can fly. Certain kinds of
obstacles and hazards may not af-
fect you. Flying using your wings uses
the Athletics skill. Flight makes it far
easier to get through obstacles and
hazards that might otherwise prevent
movement.
NEVERBORN PERKS
The souls of the Neverborn have
been torn from their body and they are
eternally disconnected from the wheel
of time.
The following perks are available
to the Neverborn.
Beast Form
Cost: 1
Requirements: Vampire Template
Animal Handling 2
Description: Your supernatural lineage
allows you to change your shape into
that of a wild beast.
Effect: You can change your shape
into one animal. The animal must be a
bat, boar, black dog or wolf. On cur-
sory glance, these animals may appear
normal but with a successful opposed
perception roll, a witness may notice
that the animal has certain tells that
betray her as a supernatural creature
such as red eyes. Notes: You may pur-
chase this power more than once. Each
purchase allows you to change shape
into one animal. Musts: You must have
the Vampire power in order to take
Beast Form.
Beast Form
Cost: 2
Requirements: Vampire Template
Description: You are able to discorpo-
rate your body into a mist.
Effect: You can change your body into
the form of mist. While in this form,
you cannot be harmed by convention-
al weaponry such as firsts, swords
or even firearms. You can be harmed
by magical relics, spells and fire as
normal. You are able to move on your
own, but strong gusts of wind will
cause you to become dislodged and
move with the wind. Instead of Ath-
letics, the roll to move between zones
takes Will. In addition, you can slip
through any opening that air could
naturally run through. Movement
speed is drastically decreased in this
form. Moving between zones takes an
entire turn to perform.
Paralyzing Gaze
Cost: 3
Requirements:
Rapport 3
Description: By locking eyes with a vic-
tim, you render them unable to move.
Effect: This power costs and action
193
and a fate point. By locking eyes with
the victim, you make opposed Will
rolls. If you succeed, the target cannot
move or take any action that requires
physical movement. Each subsequent
round on the attacker’s turn, the Will
rolls must be made again if the victim
wants to escape. After the first round,
the user of this power gains a +1 to
their Will roll to maintain the paralysis.
Parasitic Strike
Cost: 2
Requirements:
Rapport 3
Description: Your attacks are able to
drain your opponents power, adding
that stolen strength to your own.
Effect: Once per conflict, when you in-
flict one or more stress boxes or con-
sequences onto a victim via unarmed
attack, you sap their strength. When
an unarmed strike deals damage, the
target must make a Will roll with a dif-
ficulty equal to the number of shifts
inflicted. Failure of this roll indicates
that the attacker recovers one stress
box and the victim is affected by a
temporary Weakened aspect with one
free invoke. Each subsequent use of
this power on a single individual adds
a single free invoke to the aspect.
Stolen Breath
Cost: 1
Requirements: Psychic Vampire or
Vampire template.
Description: You are no longer bound
to subsist on blood. You may now steal
life energy from a victim’s very breath.
Effect: You are able to feed in the same
way as before but instead of stealing
life energy or blood, you steal the vic-
tim’s breath.
MACHINAE
The powers of the Machinae stem
from their artificial existences, me-
chanical modifications and enhance-
ments and electronic intelligence.
Infra-Vision
Cost: 1
Requirements:
Perception 1
Description: Your sensory input mod-
ules include infra-red detection.
Effect: You can see heat signatures.
When attempting to notice, track or
find something that possesses a heat
signature, you gain an automatic +2
to the roll.
Malleable Icon
Cost: 1
Requirements:
Deceit 2
Description: As a digital being, you are
not subject to the rules that confine a
LinkScape user to a single icon. Your
icon takes whatever shape you prefer.
Effect: You are able to change the aes-
thetic features of your icon at will. While
you must still conform to the laws that
govern any given system and its icons,
you may change your Icon’s appear-
ance to anything you choose within
those parameters. This cosmetic shift
requires a movement action, and can
be used as a free boost during a scene
on any disguise action.
Remote Link
Cost: 1
Requirements: None
Description: Your machinery carries
a wireless transmitter capable of re-
motely connecting to the Link.
Effect: You are able to connect to the
Link without the use of a datajack or
Link Node.

Scramble
Cost: 2
Requirements:
Rapport 1
Description: You are capable of dis-
rupting the signals of other machines,
causing them to do things it might not
otherwise do.
Effect: Causing a machine to malfunc-
tion requires a Will roll. If the target
is sentient, then that roll is opposed.
Against non-sentient warjacks, the
roll requires a base roll of Fair (+2)
in order to be successful, though this
difficulty might be increased if the
warjack is particularly well-designed,
or has more personality than others of
its kind.

195
VIZIER PERKS
The following perks are available to
viziers.
Constellation
Cost: 2
Requirements: Vizier template
Description: Destiny is in the stars. Not
only are you a Vizier, but your destiny
is tied to one of the constellations that
decide the fates of everyone.
Effect: Pick one of the following. This
choice cannot be changed later, and
this power may not be purchased more
than once. Each Constellation has a
benefit and a flaw.
•Crown: Governing the fates of
rulers, leaders and nobility, those Fat-
ed who are tied to this constellation
value loyalty above gold.
Crown Blessing: It is the destiny
of the Crown to lead. Once per session,
a crown Vizier may make a roll to gain
an advantage as normal. If successful,
all allies who hear her inspirational
oratory gain one Boost as if they had
created the advantage themselves.
Crown Fault: Decision-Makers
and leaders can never be sure that
their decisions are the right ones, and
it is in the Vizier’s destiny to question
every decision they make. If any de-
cision or action taken has an unex-
pectedly negative outcome resulting
in injury or death of an ally, ward or
loved one, the Crown cannot recover
stress or consequences for the rest of
the session, and any recovery made
during that time are delayed for that
amount of time.
•Dagger: The constellation of
the Dagger governs actions outside
of the law. The Daggers give up their
own mental health and well-being for
the greater good.
Dagger Blessing: Daggers thrive
in darkness, literally and metaphori-
cally. Once per session, the Dagger
may take an action while hidden or
otherwise unseen or unnoticed at a +4
to the roll.
Dagger Fault: To be a dagger is to
suffer a life of ambiguity and obscuri-
ty. In any scene in which her dastard-
ly deeds come to light, anyone who
knows her name or her deeds gain a
+2 to actions against her for the rest
of session.
•Fang: Governing fearlessness
and savagery, the Fangs see all things
wild as their protectorate.
Fang Blessing: The Fang Viziers
are paragons of wilderness and guard
ianship. Once per session, a Fang Vi-
zier may add a Boost with a +4 instead
of +2 to any roll involving protect-
ing an ally or loved one, intimidating
someone, tracking or handling ani-
mals.
Fang Fault: The Fang cannot turn
away from the kill. Once a Fang begins
to track something, she becomes ob-
sessed with it. When ignoring the hunt
of her sacred prey, the Fang suffers a
-2 to all rolls until the Fang regains
the trail until the end of the session.
•Staff: The Staff fated thrive in
centers of learning, and exists to ex-
cel in areas of science, technology and
other forms of knowledge.
Staff Blessing: The Constellation
of the staff rules over intellectual pur-
suits. Once per session when making a
knowledge roll, or another roll to gain
information or discover a secret, you
gain a +4 to that roll.
Staff Fault: A failed intellectual
pursuit is so frustrating to the wand
that any Terrible (-2) or worse failure
in any knowledge, information or in-
tellectual pursuit related rolls cause
an Aspect to be placed on the charac-
ter indicating her obsession and frus-
tration about the problem.
•Sword: Thriving in the heat of
197
battle, this constellation lives by the
blade and is destined to die by it.
Sword Blessing: Once per session
during combat, the Sword can make a
Will roll. The number of shifts rolled
in this way recovers that number of
stress and consequences. Stress is
healed first, then consequences can
be healed if there are enough remain-
ing shifts to cover the severity of the
consequence.
Sword Fault: This constellation is
destined to die in battle. During a con-
flict, if the Sword Fated suffers enough
physical stress to be taken out, she
dies.
Doomshaper
Cost: 4
Requirements: Vizier template
Description: Your mere presence
spells certain doom for those who
have wronged you.
Effect: Once per scene, against an-
other creature with Fate points in the
same zone as you, you may use Doom-
shaper to siphon fate points. Make an
attack as normal, using Crafts. The
opponent may subconsciously defend
themselves with a Will defense roll.
The number of shifts inflicted on the
attack is the number of Fate Points you
steal from the opponent, transferring
them from the target to yourself. You
may not steal more fate points than
the victim has available. Succeeding
with style causes the opponent to take
a consequence. In addition to the con-
sequence, the victim is considered to
have one less refresh for the purposes
of regaining fate points until that con-
sequence is healed.
MAGIC PERKS
The following perks relate to
magic, spellcasting and thaumaturgy.
Circuit
Cost: 3+
Requirements:
Will 2
Description: You have mana circuits
that have been opened, allowing you to
control mana and cast spells through
them.
Effect: Each purchase of this power
grants one rank of mage circuit, be-
ginning with Rank E and climbing to
A. Each new purchase adds one to the
cost of this power, so that Rank D costs
4 refresh, while Rank A costs a total of
7 Refresh. Climbing all the way from
199
circuit Rank E to Rank A therefor costs
a total of 25 Refresh. Refer to the Spells
And Magic chapter for complete infor-
mation about how circuits and magic
works.
Each new rank purchased pro-
vides one spell of that new rank. Spells
act, in terms of purchases, like stunts.
They may be purchased with mile-
stones, or with the stunts you choose
during character creation. Each rank
is considered to be worth one stunt.
Therefor, you can purchase up to
three ranks worth of spells with a re-
fresh point, two ranks with a signifi-
cant milestone or skill point and one
rank with a minor milestone.
Thaumaturgy
Cost: 3
Requirements:
Description: You have spent a great
deal of time studying one of the
schools of thaumaturgy.
Effect: You may pick one school of
thaumaturgy per purchase of this perk.
MARTIAL ARTS
An integral part of the enlight-
enment process for the samurai of
each clan is the idea that a perfected
body and mind will house a perfected
soul. They believe that rigorous train-
ing and continuously testing personal
limits in combat will lead to a state in
which one will no longer be required to
fight in order to be victorious in battle.
Further, they understand that through
training, meditation and combat one
might even achieve dualism or a state
of divinity. This is represented in the
echelons of the Anek Monkshood in
those who have achieved a nearly per-
fected state and are said to be able to
strike without effort, and withstand
even the blows of fully powered war-
jacks without a scratch.
Each clan approaches martial
arts in their own way, so each has their
own methods taught to them as they
grow up. These clan-specific methods
become branches and even more spe-
cific within each family. Each blood-
line has a specific view of the meth-
ods and philosophy behind how they
work. This causes individual families
to practice styles that are both similar
and sometimes very unique.
The clans are not the only ones
who practice their own styles of mar-
tial arts. The number of methods
that have been lost are far greater in
number than those that are alive and
taught today. The wayward clans have
their own styles, as do the members
of the Confederation. Even the undead
are said to possess their own unique
style.
STYLES
Each style is designed to follow
in the footsteps of the divine siblings
in their path to attain enlightenment.
The clans adhere to one of the Thou-
sand Facets that mimic the religious
virtues of the Anek.
Crab Style: Practiced by the Crab
Clan, this style embodies the virtue of
Vigilance. Its hallmarks are the ability
to withstand powerful blows and re-
main firmly rooted in place.
Crane Style: Practiced by the
Crane Clan, this style embodies the
virtue of Grace. Its hallmarks are eva-
sion and counterstrikes.
Dragon Style: Practiced by the
Dragon Clan, this style embodies the
virtue of Wisdom. Its hallmarks involve
the manipulation of spiritual energy
and understanding the enemy.
Monkey Style: Practiced by the
Monkey Clan, this style embodies the
virtue of Adaptation. Its hallmarks are
agile maneuvers and manipulation of
balance.
Scorpion Style: Practiced by the
Scorpion Clan, the style embodies the
virtue of Deception. Its hallmarks are
unseen strikes and killing blows.
Snake Style: Practiced by the
Snake Clan, this style embodies the
virtue of Fluidity. Its hallmarks are
distracting movements and entwining
attacks.
Tiger Style: Practiced by the Tiger
Clan, this style embodies the virtue of
Ferocity. Its hallmarks are claw-like
strikes and sudden bursts of power.
STYLE PERKS
Much like other perks, talents
and powers, each style has its own
201
tree. In order to learn an advanced
perk, you must learn all of the prereq-
uisite perks first. You must also have
any required skill scores, fate points
as well as any other requirements that
the style perk demands. Each perk
must be purchased in order, and may
not be skipped. Like other talents,
powers and perks, martial arts style
perks also have a cost reflecting the
number of refresh points required to
purchase the style perk.
Unless explicitly stated in the
perk’s description text, a character
may only use one perk at a time. The
same perk may be activated more than
once per turn. A martial artist may ac-
tivate a number of martial arts perks
per turn equal to half her Unarmed
Combat score, rounded up.
CRAB STYLE
Aquatic Adaptation
Cost: 1
Requirements: None
Description: Your body is adapted to
survive harsh environments.
Effect: Activation of this perk removes
any aspects related to drowning or
suffocation immediately. If the user is
currently suffering consequences in-
volving suffocation, asphyxiation or
drowning, then those consequenc-
es may not be compelled during the
scene. In addition, activating Aquatic
Adaptation allows the user to gain a
+2 to rolls to avoid conditions of ex-
treme cold.
Crab-Eyes Vigilance
Cost: 1
Requirements: None
Description: Your senses can act inde-
pendently of one another, increasing
your ability to sense danger.
Effect: Your eyes can move inde-
pendently of one another, and you are
able to focus on more than one sen-
sory stimuli at once. When this perk is
active, you can always roll defense as
normal even if you are ambushed or
surprised.
Crab Shell Kata
Cost: 2
Requirements: Aquatic Adaptation,
Crab-Eyes Vigilance, Iron-Smashing
Claw, Unwavering Stability
Description: The crab is a symbol of
protection and resilience. This kata is
the embodiment of those precepts.
Effect: For the duration of an exchange
or one scene, the user gains a natu-
ral armor rating of 2. In addition, any
attempts made to defend others from
direct attacks gains a +2 bonus. Such
actions also improve the crab’s initia-
tive score by 2.
Crooked Gait
Cost: 2
Requirements: Crab Shell Kata
Description: While others may see
your movements as strange, this perk
allows you to move swiftly to place
yourself between an enemy and that
which you protect.
Effect: When attempting to block an
enemy from reaching something you
protect, you suffer no penalties to
movement and increase your initiative
rating by +4. In addition, you gain
a +2 to rolls involving preventing an
enemy from slipping past you.
Deadly Claws
Cost: 1
Requirements: Iron-Grasping Claw
Description: Your hands become le-
thal, rending claws.
Effect: For the duration of this perk,
you completely lose the ability to per-
form any task that requires fine motor
skills such as lock-picking or typing.
In return, your hands are considered
melee weapons with a rating of 2. At-
tacks made using Deadly Claws also
gains the Rending (1) and Wargear as-
pects. You still use the Unarmed Com-
bat skill to make attacks.
Honorable Chitinous Shield
Cost: 2
Requirements: Iron-Grasping Claw
Description: The crab clan protects
others. With this perk, your hands be-
come capable of shielding others and
yourself against even powerful attacks.
Effect: This perk allows you to use your
hands to defend against Melee Combat
and Ranged attacks. When you shield
others, you confer a +2 armor bonus
until your next turn so long as
203
you are able to place yourself between
the attack and the person you want to
protect. Protecting yourself confers
a +1 armor bonus. In addition, you
can confer upon others an addition-
al amount of armor by taking Conse-
quences. The amount of armor you
bestow upon others is equal to the
value of the Consequence suffered in
this way. Normal: Normally, Unarmed
Combat may not be used to defend
against Melee Combat attacks and
dodge must be used.
Iron-Smashing Claw
Cost: 1
Requirements: Crab Shell Kata
Description: Your hands become rock-
hard and capable of smashing even
steel.
Effect: While this perk is active, you
become able to defend against melee
attacks using their Unarmed Combat
skill. In addition, all attempts to de-
stroy inanimate objects with your bare
hands gains a +4 bonus.
Normally, Unarmed Combat may
not be used to defend against Melee
Combat attacks and dodge must be
used.
Iron Shell
Cost: 1
Requirements: Crab Shell Kata, Hon-
orable Chitinous Shield
Description: The crab’s pores seep an
iron-hard chitin that completely coats
her skin and protects her from harm.
Effect: For the duration of this ex-
change, the crab’s natural armor gains
a +2 bonus. The hardened shell slows
movements and makes social inter-
action impossible. Movement etween
zones takes a full action. Social inter-
actions suffer a penalty of -4.
King Crab’s Countenance
Cost: 2
Requirements: Crooked Gait, Iron
Shell, Sacrificial Freedom
Description: The supreme honor of
the crab clan is made manifest in the
perfection of Crab Style.
Effect: All psychological attacks made
by the crab gain a +4 bonus. In ad-
dition, striking someone as honorable
as the King Crab is a sin. In order to
attack the crab, attackers must make
a Will roll with a difficulty equal to
the crab’s own Rapport and Unarmed
Combat skill scores combined. An at-
tacker may succeed at a cost, but
doing so allows the crab to make an
immediate psychological attack on the
attacker.
Regenerative Molt
Cost: 3
Requirements: Sacrificial Freedom
Description: Many crab soldiers lose
their limbs, only to show up to their
next battle as if no injury had ever oc-
curred. It is through this perk that the
crab clan can recover from even the
most devastating blows.
Effect: To use Regenerative Molt, one
full session or at least three days worth
of in-game time must be taken. The
crab spends this time in seclusion,
meditating and shedding their skin
through a painful process of regener-
ation. After this process is completed,
the crab recovers all consequences, no
matter how severe. Even permanent
damage such as severed limbs and
lost vital organs can be regenerated
in this way. Unfortunately, the crab is
weakened by this process. During the
session immediately following the use
of this technique, no power or perk
can bestow natural armor, and the
crab gains a temporary aspect that
describes their fragile, softened
state (like a crab fresh from a molt).
During any given exchange, this as-
pect can be invoked once without cost.
Sacrificial Freedom
Cost: 3
Requirements: Crab Shell Kata
Description: Much like a crab that sac-
rifices its own leg in order to escape
the jaws of a predator, you are capable
of giving of yourself in order to flee a
losing battle.
Effect: Using Sacrificial Freedom au-
tomatically inflicts the lowest avail-
able Consequence level. When doing
so, you automatically become first in
initiative order. Sacrificial Freedom
allows you to move unhindered re-
gardless of block, hazard or any other
preventative measure. The crab may
additionally automatically escape a
grapple with this ability without a roll.
Unwavering Stability
Cost: 1
Requirements: None
Description: Your center of balance is
such that you become impossible to
move or knock down.
Effect: For the duration of one scene
or exchange, the user of Unwavering
205
Stability cannot be moved or knocked
down unless she allows it to occur.
CRANE STYLE
Crane Kata
Cost: 2
Requirements: Guiding Flow, Preening
Dodge, Warned Wings
Description: The crane maintains her
grace in spite of her environment and
does not need to fight in order to be
victorious.
Effect: With this perk active, the crane
gains a +2 bonus to dodge rolls so
long as she has not made a direct at-
tack during the exchange (counter-
strikes are permitted). She automati-
cally succeeds in Athletics rolls made
to keep her balance so long as she can
place at least one foot on a solid ob-
ject. The object must be able to hold
her weight in order for her to balance
on it. This perk may explicitly be used
with any other perk within the Crane
Style tree.
Featherstep
Cost: 3
Requirements: Crane Kata
Description: The wings of the crane
spread wide and allow her to glide on
the wind.
Effect: While the martial artist can-
not fly using this perk, what this perk
makes her capable of may cause oth-
ers to think she can. With this perk
active, her footfalls become as light
as a feather. She is able to perfectly
balance on objects and materials that
would normally not be able to tolerate
her weight such as tightropes, fall-
ing leaves, droplets of water, arrows
or the heads of a crowd. She can even
stand on liquids such as water or lava
flows without sinking, though the heat
from a lava flow may still burn her. All
athletics rolls made to balance auto-
matically succeed.
Feather-Quill Redirection
Cost: 2
Requirements: Water-Bead Avoidance
Description: Not only is the crane ca-
pable of redirecting physical blows,
but she can now turn ranged attacks
against the enemy.
Effect: This perk counts as a counter-
strike. The martial artist can make an
Athletics or Unarmed Combat roll to
dodge or parry a ranged or thrown at-
tack. Any shifts above the attacker’s
are turned upon any opponent within
range as if the crane was the origin of
the original attack.
Guiding Flow
Cost: 2
Requirements: None
Description: The crane moves with
grace, directing the flow of violence
however she deems necessary.
Effect: This perk may be activated in
response to a single close-quarters
Unarmed or Melee attack. The crane
rolls an Unarmed Combat defense
against the attack, regardless of its
target so long as she is within range
to make a strike against the attack-
er. If she manages to beat the attack-
er’s roll, any excess shifts the crane
acquires above the attacker’s roll can
be used to cause the attacker to in-
stead inflict those shifts of damage
on any other combatant within range.
The new target may attempt to defend
against this new attack as normal, us-
ing the extra shifts as if it were a new
attack.
Humbling Redirection
Cost: 2
Requirements: Crane Kata
Description: When a warrior is defeat-
ed in combat, he is shamed by her
dishonor. The crane does not need to
attack in order for her opponent’s de-
feat to resound.
Effect: This attack inflicts a counter-
strike. She may roll to defend against
a close-quarters unarmed or melee
attack using her Athletics or Unarmed
Combat. Using this perk, any addi-
tional shifts rolled beyond the attack-
er’s will result in twice that amount of
mental stress inflicted on the oppo-
nent.
Persona-Shattering Strike
Cost: 3
Requirements: Humbling Redirection
Description: The speed, grace and
power of the crane’s attack can shat-
ter the ego of a crane’s opponent.
Effect: In addition to physical damage,
this perk mirrors the physical damage
of an attack by adding mental stress
in addition to physical stress from
the attack. Optionally, the crane can
choose to inflict no physical damage
and instead inflict twice the amount of
207
mental stress, instead.
Precision Spear
Cost: 2
Requirements: Crane Kata
Description: As the beak of the crane
spears the frog as it lays beneath the
mud, so too does the strike of the
crane spear through her opponent.
Effect: When the crane is subject to an
ambush attack, she may counterstrike
before the ambush attack is made re-
gardless of whether or not she is aware
of the attack. She can respond to a
number of ambush attacks against her
equal to her Unarmed Combat score.
Preening Dodge
Cost: 2
Requirements: None
Description: Who could strike some-
thing as beautiful as the crane?
Effect: The crane uses their own com-
mand of social nuance to understand
and avoid combat. So long as the
crane has not made any attacks during
the exchange, she can add her Rap-
port score as a bonus to Athletics rolls
made to dodge incoming attacks.
Resplendent Reflection
Cost: 3
Requirements: Feather-Quill Redirec-
tion, Persona-Shattering Strike
Description: There is wisdom in the
crane’s grace shone in her reflection
in the water’s surface.
Effect: This perk allows the martial
artist to create a mirror-image dupli-
cate of herself. The duplicate is an au-
tomated simalcrum that makes a full
counterattack against any successfully
dodged or parried attack made against
her using her full Unarmed Combat
dice pool for attacking. This perk lasts
for one full exchange or scene.
Warned Wings
Cost: 2
Requirements: None
Description: Wings flutter instinctually
when the crane is attacked by a clum-
sy hunter.
Effect: In response to failing a roll to
detect an ambush attack on her, the
crane can use this perk in order to
make a dodge roll regardless of the
outcome.
Water-Bead Avoidance
Cost: 2
Requirements: Crane kata
Description: As a drop of water slides
from the groomed feathers of the
crane, so too do attacks flow from the
flesh of the martial artist.
Effect: When activating this perk, the
crane may make a single Athletics roll
to dodge all incoming attacks made
against her while the perk is active.
Any time she activates any other mar-
tial arts perk, Water-Bead Avoidance
has a chance of ending. She must make
a Will roll of Good (+3) or better in or-
der to maintain her focus on this perk.
A failure on this roll indicates that
the perk has faltered and is no lon-
ger active. In addition, every Will roll
the crane must make beyond the first
adds a +1 cumulative difficulty to the
required roll to keep this perk active.
DRAGON STYLE
Breath Of The Dragon
Cost: 4
Requirements: Chi-Obstructing Blow,
Endless Roar, Soul Of Stone
Description: The dragon’s breath is
the breath of the world.
Effect: This perk confers perfection of
the draconic form. Every breath she
takes fills her with life, energy and
wisdom. Each turn in which the drag-
on is capable of breathing, she heals
one stress shift of damage, which may
be accumulated to heal consequences
as well. She gains an aspect called “I
Am The Dragon” with two free invo-
cations. Lastly, as the dragon’s breath
carries all of the wisdom of life, she
automatically succeeds any Knowledge
roll made during Breath Of The Drag-
on as if she’s scored one shift high-
er than the difficulty. For purposes of
rolling, Breath Of The Dragon confers
a +6 bonus to Knowledge rolls. This
perk lasts for a number of exchanges
equal to her Unarmed Combat score.
Chi-Obstructing Blow
Cost: 2
Requirements: Silencing Strike
Description: Where the dragon strikes,
disruption follows.
Effect: At first, this strike may seem
like a normal punch, but within mo-
ments, the target will begin to feel
its effects. This perk can be activated
after making a successful attack that
delivers at least one stress shift of
209
damage. After the damage is deliv-
ered, the dragon and the target must
make an opposed Knowledge versus
Will roll. If the dragon’s Knowledge
roll is successful, the target takes on
a new aspect “Obstructed Chi”, which
carries with it three free invokes or
compels.
Dragon Kata
Cost: 2
Requirements: Energetic Focus, Pene-
trating Wisdom, Sagacious Action
Description: The martial artist be-
comes one with her dragon patron.
Effect: This perk, once activated, lasts
for one scene or one exchange unless
the dragon stops. For the duration of
the perk, the dragon gains a keen un-
derstanding of the battlefield and all
beings within it. All Knowledge and
Perception shifts rolled by the user are
doubled. In addition, the dragon may
gain additional bonuses equal to her
knowledge that she can use in any way
she chooses. For example, if the drag-
on has a Knowledge score of Good
(+3), she has a +3 bonus she can use
in any way she chooses. She could add
+3 to a single Athletics roll, a +2 to
one attack and a +1 to her Athletics
dodge roll.
Endless Roar
Cost: 1
Requirements:Thousand-Dragon
Strike
Description: The roar of the dragon
can be heard in your strikes.
Effect: The endless roar is not neces-
sarily a roar, but some martial artists
do shout in order to add emphasis to
this perk. The martial artist strikes the
air and the energy of the strike moves
across the battlefield to strike her
opponents like a flying dragon. The
dragon may make a single Unarmed
Combat strike from a distance. The
distance of this ranged energy attack
is equal to half her Unarmed Combat
score, rounded down. The attack has
a damage rating of +2, and is con-
sidered energy and sonic damage and
affects ethereal and unmanifested be-
ings.
Energetic Focus
Cost: 1
Requirements:None
Description: The dragon may strike
even that which cannot be seen.
Effect: This perk empowers the
Unarmed Combat attacks of the drag-
on with chi. Her blows are damaging
to ethereal or astral spirits.
Penetrating Wisdom
Cost: 1
Requirements:None
Description: The dragon’s sight re-
veals that which cannot be seen.
Effect: The dragon makes a Knowl-
edge skill roll which can be opposed
by the target’s Deception skill. If suc-
cessful, the dragon can learn one as-
pect the opponent possesses includ-
ing High Concept and Trouble. During
the scene or exchange, if the dragon
uses the learned aspect in an invoke
or compel, she gains an additional +2
bonus by using it.
Resonating Mind
Cost: 2
Requirements: Penetrating Wisdom
Description: The dragon’s under-
standing is one with all beings.
Effect: This perk allows the dragon to
learn information about her opponent.
She can learn aspects as if she were
using Penetrating Wisdom, but may
also gain knowledge of her perks, ex-
tras and skill scores. In addition, she
211
can learn bits of information about
the target that may not otherwise be
available such as her name, her par-
ents and her place of birth. Learning
specific facts about a target’s histo-
ry requires the dragon to focus on the
specific date and time of the event she
wants to learn about, so unless she
knows exactly when an event occured,
she is unlikely to glean specific infor-
mation in that way. This perk is inva-
sive, and may be resisted by the target
with an opposed Knowledge against
the target’s Deception roll. Each shift
the dragon gains allows her to learn
one bit of information. The target may
roll Perception in order to notice that
the dragon is scrutinizing her with this
perk.
Sagacious Action
Cost: 1
Requirements: None
Description: The dragon understands
the flow of events around her.
Effect: By using this perk, the dragon
is capable of increasing her initiative
score by her Knowledge score until
the beginning of her next turn.
Silencing Strike
Cost: 1
Requirements: Dragon Kata
Description: The dragon is capable of
silencing the chi flow.
Effect: The dragon strikes an opponent
with a seemingly harmless strike. This
strike does no damage, but misaligns
the flow of her target’s spiritual ener-
gy, preventing her from speaking for
the rest of the scene or exchange. The
attack is made as a normal Unarmed
Combat attack, and is defended nor-
mally. If the attack is successful, the
effect takes hold.
Soul Of Stone
Cost: 1
Requirements: Thousand-Winds Soul
Description: The dragon’s soul is as
the rock beneath our feet.
Effect: Against a single attack, the
dragon gains a number of natural ar-
mor points equal to her Knowledge
score. This can be used at any time
during an attack.
Thousand-Dragon Strike
Cost: 3
Requirements: Dragon Kata
Description: The dragon infuses her
strikes with her very soul. her Knowledge score. This perk must
Effect: A progression from Energetic be used before damage is applied.
Focus, her strikes not only strike the
astral, they are an endless progres- MONKEY STYLE
sion of strikes designed to tear down
an enemy’s defenses as if one thou-
sand punches land all at once. The
Capricious Paw
Cost: 2
dragon makes a number of Unarmed
Requirements: Monkey Kata
Combat attacks equal to half her Un-
Description: This cruel attack strikes
armed Combat score, rounded up.
vulnerable spots on an opponent,
The shifts from these rolls are added
leaving her open to further mutilation.
together into a single roll, which the
Effect: The initial attack from this
target may then attempt to roll de-
perk does no damage. Instead, upon
fense against. These attacks have no
a successful strike the target must
additional weapon damage, but they
roll Physique with a difficulty equal to
are considered magical attacks for the
the monkey’s Athletics and Unarmed
purposes of striking ethereal, astral or
Combat. The number by which the
dual-natured beings.
target fails this roll is subtracted from
all further defense rolls made by the
Thousand-Winds Soul target until the monkey’s next turn.
Cost: 2
Requirements: Dragon Kata
Description: The dragon’s soul is com-
Cloud-Walking Step
Cost: 1
posed of the winds from all facets of
Requirements: Monkey Kata
the world.
Description: The monkey does not
Effect: With this perk, the martial artist
need branches to walk through the
becomes as ephemeral as wind, mak-
sky.
ing her exceedingly difficult to strike.
Effect: The monkey becomes capable
Against normal weapons, the dragon
of walking on air for a number of ex-
gains a number of additional defense
changes equal to her Unarmed Com-
dice against a single attack equal to
bat score. While this perk is active, she

213
can move freely in any direction, in-
cluding vertically. When the perk’s ef-
fects end, gravity takes hold once more
and the monkey may suffer damage
from falling.
Dance of the Celestial Monkey
Cost: 3
Requirements: Realignment of the
Gates, Vaporous Clone
Description: The monkey makes the
battlefield her home.
Effect: The movements of the mon-
key are free and unencumbered. She
automatically succeeds any roll to
move or climb. While this perk is ac-
tive, she gains a +4 bonus to attempts
to escape grappling and cannot take
on aspects that involve restriction of
movement. In addition, any time the
monkey makes an Athletics roll, shifts
from that roll can be applied to her
next attack.
Distracting Tail Strike
Cost: 2
Requirements: None
Description: The monkey’s tail can
distract and strike from unanticipated
angles.
Effect: Upon activation of this perk, the
opponent rolls a Perception roll with a
difficulty equal to the Unarmed Com-
bat score of the monkey. If the target
fails, she loses ny and all bonuses to
her next defense roll including in-
vokes. This perk is considered a com-
pel and the target gains a fate point if
the perk’s activation is successful.
Golden Fur Defense
Cost: 2
Requirements: Monkey Kata
Description: The fur of the monkey
becomes as gold.
Effect: A shimmering golden aura sur-
rounds the monkey using this perk.
She gains a number of natural ar-
mor points equal to half her Unarmed
Combat score, rounded up.
Golden Paw Rake
Cost: 3
Requirements: Capricious Paw
Description: The monkey’s golden paw
easily slides through even the most
powerful defenses.
Effect: When the monkey uses this
perk, she will roll an attack as normal.
If her attack roll exceeds the target’s
defense roll, the opponent must make
an Athletics roll with a difficulty equal
to the monkey’s Athletics and Un-
armed Combat scores combined to
avoid the effects. If the target fails,
damage from her attack is applied as
if she had rolled no shifts in her de-
fense roll.
Infuriating Mimic
Cost: 2
Requirements: Step-Matching Mirror
Description: The monkey is able to
mimic their foes in such a way that
they become enraged.
Effect: This perk may be activated any
time the monkey successfully defends
against a melee or unarmed attack.
The target must make an immedi-
ate Will roll with a difficulty equal to
the monkey’s Athletics and Unarmed
Combat scores. If that roll fails, she
acquires an aspect that describes her
rage at the monkey’s irreverent mim-
icking of the opponent that can be in-
voked for free by the monkey until the
beginning of the target’s next turn.
Lost Monkey Awareness
Cost: 2
Requirements: None
Description: The lost monkey is always
aware of incoming attacks.
215
Effect: The monkey is able to feint,
leaning away from incoming blows.
She gains a bonus to detect ambushes
and surprise attacks equal to her Un-
armed Combat score.
Monkey Kata
Cost: 2
Requirements: Distracting Tail Strike,
Lost Monkey Awareness, Wooden
Monkey Body
Description: The monkey’s move-
ments are distracting and erratic, ap-
pearing helpless between short bursts
of ferocity.
Effect: This perk lasts for one scene or
one exchange. For the duration of this
perk, extra shifts from dodge rolls can
be “banked” in order to add a bonus to
er next Unarmed Combat attack roll.
All banked shifts must be used at once
and may not be saved after the attack.
Realignment of the Gates
Cost: 3
Requirements: Golden Fur Defense,
Golden Paw Rake
Description: The monkey is capable of
adjusting her own defenses in any way
she likes.
Effect: This perk allows the monkey to
calculate her defense and offense bo-
nuses during a single exchange round
and place those bonuses into either
category she likes during that turn.
For example, if she has an Unarmed
Combat score of Good (+3) and an
Athletics score of Great (+4), then she
can allot a 7 point bonus any way she
likes. She can choose to place the en-
tire Epic (+7) bonus into her defense
for the turn, but will have a Mediocre
(+0) attack bonus for the turn.
Step-Matching Mirror
Cost: 2
Requirements: Monkey Kata
Description: Staying within the strik-
ing range of an opponent renders their
attacks useless.
Effect: The monkey must be able to
move freely in order to use this perk.
While being attacked, she moves in
close to her opponent and matches
her steps perfectly, allowing her to ef-
fectively double her next defense roll
against a single attack.
Vaporous Clone
Cost: 3
Requirements: Cloud-Walking Step,
Infuriating Mimic
Description: Monkey’s tricks fool the
senses.
Effect: A martial artist with this perk
becomes invisible and, where she
stands, conjures a perfect clone of
herself from the vapor in the air. While
this perk is active, the clone moves in
any way that the monkey desires. The
clone is composed of vapor, and at-
tacks it makes deal no damage. Any
physical stress inflicted on the clone
causes it to immediately disperse and
the monkey to become visible once
more. The monkey’s invisibility lasts
for a number of exchanges equal to
her Unarmed Combat score. She gains
an “Invisible” aspect with a single free
invoke when this perk is successfully
activated.
Wooden Monkey Body
Cost: 2
Requirements: None
Description: The body of the monkey
is as tough and limber as the trees in
which it lives.
Effect: With this perk, the monkey can
add a bonus to Athletics or Physique
rolls equal to her Unarmed Combat
score on her next appropriate roll.
SCORPION STYLE
Cruel Toxin
Cost: 2
Requirements: Weakening Venom
Description: The scorpion’s venom is
capricious, inflicting agonizing pain
on those struck by it.
Effect: This perk is activated only after
a successful Unarmed Combat strike
that deals at least one shift of stress.
Instead of dealing stress, the target
takes a Poisoned consequence at their
lowest available Consequence slot. At
the beginning of their turn, they can
roll Physique with a difficulty equal
to the severity of the Consequence.
Success indicates that this poison has
been expunged and the Consequence
is recovered.
Frontal Defense
Cost: 2
Requirements: None
Description: A scorpion’s has many
eyes. By focusing them all on one tar-
get, her defenses greatly increase.
Effect: The scorpion focuses her ef-
forts and attention solely on one ene-
my. By doing so, she gains one boost
each turn that she does so. While
217
using Frontal Defense, she becomes
completely unaware of any other at-
tacker to her flanks or behind her.
This means she cannot actively defend
against such attacks. Only one oppo-
nent may be followed with this ability
at a time.
Hardened Exoskeleton Defense
Cost: 2
Requirements: Frontal Defense
Description: The scorpion’s exoskel-
eton protects her from even the most
vicious blows.
Effect: This perk can be activated in
response to an attack. Against a sin-
gle attack, the scorpion’s skin hard-
ens into a visible exoskeleton where
the blow would strike. She adds her
Unarmed Combat score to her natural
armor rating against that attack.
Hidden Scorpion Sting
Cost: 3
Requirements: Living Weapon, Weak-
ening Venom
Description: The scorpion lies in wait
for the perfect moment to deliver the
killing blow.
Effect: When this perk is activated, the
scorpion and her target must roll an
opposed Stealth roll against the tar-
get’s Perception. If the scorpion suc-
ceeds, she may make a single attack
roll. The target may not dodge the at-
tack, and armor does not prevent the
damage inflicted. That attack roll is
a perfect attack, and can never miss,
inflicting at least one shift of physical
damage.
Immobilizing Claw
Cost: 1
Requirements: None
Description: The pincer of the scorpi-
on disables its prey before the killing
blow.
Effect: When the scorpion makes an
Unarmed Combat roll to grapple an
opponent and succeeds, this perk can
be activated to give the scorpion a
boost against that opponent.
Living Weapon
Cost: 3
Requirements: Two-Claw Strike
Description: The scorpion coils back
and delivers a devastating series of
attacks.
Effect: This perk must be activated
before an Unarmed Combat attack is
made. If the attack is successful, the
scorpion may immediately follow up
with another. The scorpion may con-
tinue to make attacks until an unsuc-
cessful Unarmed Combat attack is
made.
Many-Eyes Awareness
Cost: 2
Requirements: Frontal Defense
Description: The scorpion’s many eyes
are always aware of her surroundings.
Effect: When this perk is activated, she
instantly becomes aware of all ene-
mies around her. She gains a bonus to
Perception rolls equal to her Unarmed
Combat score for the rest of the scene.
Scorpion’s Golden Venom
Cost: 3
Requirements: Cruel Toxin, Hidden
Scorpion Sting
Description: Golden venom drips from
the stinger of the scorpion, slaying all
it touches.
Effect: The apex of the scorpion style
is a true killing blow. With by this ven-
omous strike, even the greatest oppo-
nents can be struck down. When de-
livering this attack, the martial artist’s
fingers possess a golden glow and
drip with venom. When activating
this perk, the scorpion makes an at-
tack roll as normal. Any shifts of dam-
age inflicted by this attack inflict a
“Poisoned” aspect on the opponent
with a free invoke. Additionally, this
attack does not inflict stress as nor-
mal. Instead, all shifts of damage are
applied directly against the target’s
Consequence slots, ignoring stress al-
together.
Scorpion Kata
Cost: 3
Requirements: Frontal Defense, Im-
mobilizing Claw, Stinging Kick
Description: The scorpion remains
tightly poised, snapping attacks with
vice-grip claws and painful, light-
ning-fast stings.
Effect: While this perk is active, the
scorpion adds her Unarmed Com-
bat score to her initiative total. The
scorpion may use her Unarmed Com-
bat score to parry Melee Combat and
Ranged Combat attacks. Additionally,
any Unarmed Combat attacks that in-
flict at least one stress shift of damage
against an opponent gives the scor-
pion a boost against that opponent,
representing the toxic effects of her
attacks. Normally, Unarmed Combat
219
cannot normally be used to parry me-
lee or ranged attacks.
Stinging Kick
Cost: 1
Requirements: None
Description: The pain of the scorpi-
on’s sting lingers on.
Effect: When the scorpion makes a
successful Unarmed Combat attack
against an opponent using a kick at-
tack that at least ties with an oppo-
nent, that opponent takes an addi-
tional stress box of damage at the
beginning of the scorpion’s next turn.
Two-Claw Strike
Cost: 2
Requirements: Scorpion Kata
Description: One claw holds, while the
other rends.
Effect: This perk allows the scorpion
to make two attacks in a single turn. It
must be activated before an Unarmed
Combat attack is made. If the attack is
successful, resolve it and immediate-
ly follow-up with a second attack and
resolve it normally.
Weakening Venom
Cost: 1
Requirements: Scorpion Kata
Description: The scorpion’s venom
can take down much larger foes than
herself.
Effect: When this perk is activated after
a successful attack, that attack cannot
inflict more than one stress shift of
damage regardless of the number of
shifts rolled. If the attack inflicts dam-
age, the target acquires a “Weakened”
aspect that remains until the end of
the scene or conflict. The aspect al-
lows for one free invoke or two if the
attack succeeded with style.
SNAKE STYLE
Bone-Snapping Strength
Cost: 2
Requirements: Constricting Grasp
Description: The more the snake’s
prey struggles, the tighter its grip be-
comes.
Effect: This perk is activated when
the snake is the victim of a potential-
ly damaging grapple maneuver or the
victim attempts escape. Any damage
sustained from that attack becomes a
bonus to the snake’s next grappling
maneuver she attempts against that
opponent. If the victim attempts an
escape and fails, the snake gains a
boost she can use during that grapple.
Constricting Grasp
Cost: 1
Requirements: Snake Kata
Description: The grasp of the snake is
impossible to break.
Effect: This perk can be activated
when using a grappling maneuver or
defending against one. It adds half the
snake’s Unarmed Combat score as a
bonus to the roll.
Serpent’s Speed
Cost: 1
Requirements: None
Description: The snake is swift, capa-
ble of taking action without thought.
Effect: This perk can be activated when
rolling for initiative. When determin-
ing her initiative rating, she can add
her Unarmed Combat score to her ini-
tiative.
Sidewinder’s Stride
Cost: 1
Requirements: Snake Kata
Description: The sidewinder moves
swiftly in order to prevent damage.
Effect: This perk improves an Unarmed
Combat attack. Allows the snake to
move between zones and make an at-
tack in the same turn. In addition, if
the snake would sustain damage as a
result of her Unarmed Attack against
an opponent, such as an electrified
pulse field in the opponent’s armor,
that damage is nullified.
Snake Hood Refusal
Cost: 1
Requirements: None
Description: The snake is able to make
himself appear much taller and im-
posing than he actually is.
Effect: When this perk is activated, the
snake rolls her Unarmed Combat skill.
The next opponent who attempts to
attack the snake must beat this perk’s
activation roll with a Will roll. If the
opponent fails this roll, damage the
attacker would inflict from this attack
is reduced by half, rounded down.
Snake Kata
Cost: 3
Requirements: Serpent’s Speed, Snake
Hood Refusal, Spring-Loaded Lunge
Description: When the snake moves
221
her skin shines like a snake’s. Her body
moves sinuously, able to make move-
ments that defy human capability.
Effect: This perk lasts for a scene or
exchange, or until the snake decides
to end it. For the rest of the exchange,
she gains a bonus to her dodge rolls
equal to half her Unarmed Combat
score and is capable of dodging per-
fect attacks with a successful roll. Ad-
ditionally, she gains a +2 to all grap-
pling-related rolls, and all attempts to
pin her give the snake a single boost
with a free invoke.
Spring-Loaded Lunge
Cost: 1
Requirements: None
Description: The snake can extend at-
tacks at a much greater distance than
any opponent would expect.
Effect: This perk, once activated, al-
lows the snake to make a single Un-
armed Combat roll against any target
within a bordering zone. Until the be-
ginning of her next turn, she is con-
sidered to be in both zones for pur-
poses of defending against attacks.
Strike Goes Unseen
Cost: 2
Requirements: Sidewinder’s Stride
Description: A snake can strike so
swiftly that her victim may be unaware
that she has been struck at all.
Effect: When the snake makes an Un-
armed Attack against an opponent and
activates this perk, anyone attempting
to notice that the opponent was struck
at all, including the target, must make
a Perception roll. The difficulty of this
roll is equal to the snake’s Unarmed
Combat score plus her Deceit score.
Failure on the perception roll indicates
that the attack went unnoticed. Dam-
age is inflicted normally.
Two Fangs
Cost: 2
Requirements: Sidewinder’s Stride
Description: Each fang of the adder is
capable of delivering a powerful strike.
Effect: When this perk is activated, the
snake moves at lightning speed. She is
able to strike twice in the same turn,
but her movements only indicate that
she has attacked once. Both attacks
are rolled and resolved normally.
223
Writhing Golden Coils
Cost: 3
Requirements:Bone-Snapping
Strength, Joint-Striking Snap, Strike
Goes Unseen, Two Fangs
Description: The coils of the snake be-
come as gold and shimmer with star-
light and her movements become as
falling into a den.
Effect: The snake becomes able to
make a number of attacks per turn
equal to half her Unarmed Combat
score, rounded up, for the rest of the
exchange. Any attempts to grapple
her fail unless the snake allows it. All
damaging maneuvers during a grap-
ple enjoy a weapon bonus of +2.
TIGER STYLE
Bone-Shattering Fury
Cost: 2
Requirements: Rending Claws
Description: The tiger’s anger is pure.
Effect: When the tiger has sustained at
least a single level of stress or con-
sequences, this perk can be activated.
Her anger fuels her powerful attacks,
adding her Physique score as weapon
damage for one Unarmed Combat at-
tack.
Celestial Tiger’s Golden Fur
Cost: 2
Requirements: Furious Tiger’s Roar
Description: The golden fur of the ce-
lestial tiger protects her from harm.
Effect: For the remainder of the ex-
change or scene, the tiger gains a bo-
nus to her natural armor rating equal
to half her Unarmed Combat score.
Chasing Shadows
Cost: 2
Requirements: Tiger’s Silent Footfall
Description: A bullet fired at a tiger
might only hit its shadow.
Effect: In response to any defense roll
made to avoid physical stress or con-
sequences, the tiger can immediately
use this perk to roll her Stealth with a
bonus equal to her Unarmed Combat
score instead of the normal defense
roll. If successful, she immediately
vanishes and the attack against her
strikes her shadow. From that point
on, the tiger is considered in stealth,
and takes the temporary aspect Chas-
ing Shadows with a free invoke.
Divine Predator’s Frenzy
Cost: 4
Requirements: Meteor’s Tail
Description: The divine tiger is the ul-
timate predator. No one is safe.
Effect: The tiger can now move free-
ly between zones without rolling so
long as she is stalking prey. She can
make a number of attacks against en-
emies in the same zone equal to half
her Unarmed Combat score. During
the effects of this perk, she cannot be
compelled by her consequences. Last-
ly, the tiger can push her body beyond
even her own lofty limitations. She can
take a consequence to make either a
number of attacks equal to the sever-
ity of the consequence taken or give a
single attack a weapon bonus equal to
twice the severity of the consequence
taken in this way.
Furious Tiger’s Roar
Cost: 2
Requirements: Tiger Kata
Description: The roar of the tiger shat-
ters the resolve of even the strongest
warrior.
Effect: The tiger is able to unleash a
roar that inflicts Mental stress. The
sound is loud enough to shatter glass
and shake stone. This is considered a
ranged Unarmed Combat strike that
can affect any single target within
the same zone. If the target of the ti-
ger’s roar has been damaged by the
tiger and has failed at least one attack
against her, the roar gains a weapon
bonus of +2.
Meteor’s Tail
Cost: 2
Requirements: Bone-Shattering Fury,
Celestial Tiger’s Golden Fur, Chasing
Shadows
Description: The tiger falls upon her
prey as a shooting star.
Effect: With this perk, the tiger is able
to make a leap attack against any op-
ponent currently in the exchange re-
gardless of her zone or proximity to
the tiger. This perk must make sense
to use, so the tiger will not be able to
strike someone who is surrounded by
walls or bars but might be able to drop
in through a window or crash through
a thin wall. In such cases, she must
make a roll to move zones as normal
and if successful, may still attack on
the same turn.
225
Red-Claw Pounce
Cost: 1
Requirements: None
Description: The tiger leaps upon its
prey.
Effect: Using this perk, a tiger can
move between zones without a roll and
make an attack during the same turn.
If ovement between zones would not
require a roll, then the tiger may move
an additional zone and still make an
attack.
Rending Claws
Cost: 2
Requirements: Tiger Kata
Description: The hands of the tiger
become weapons.
Effect: Using this perk, the tiger can
parry Melee Combat attacks using Un-
armed Combat. In addition, her Un-
armed Combat attacks gain a weapon
bonus of +2 and are considered melee
weapons.
Overwhelming Tenacity
Cost: 2
Requirements: None
Description: The tiger may never give
up.
Effect: For the remainder of the scene
the tiger gains a number of extra stress Unarmed Combat score, rounded up.
and consequence levels as if she had
a Physique score bonus equal to her Tiger’s Silent Footfall
Physique plus her Unarmed Combat Cost: 2
score. Requirements: Tiger Kata
Description: The tiger’s steps are as
Tiger Kata silent as death.
Cost: 2 Effect: Stalking her prey, the tiger
Requirements: Red-Claw Pounce, gains a bonus to one Stealth roll equal
Overwhelming Tenacity, Tiger-Palm to her Unarmed Combat score.
Strike
Description: The tiger moves with
grace and strength.
Effect: For the remainder of the ex-
change or scene after this perk is used,
the tiger can use her Unarmed Combat
score as bonus points to add to her
Athletics or Physique scores on a one-
for-one basis. Adding to Physique in
this way will increase stress and con-
sequence levels if enough points are
invested to raise them.

Tiger-Palm Strike
Cost: 1
Requirements: None
Description: Even without her claws,
the tiger is a powerful opponent.
Effect: This perk allows the tiger to
make an open-palmed attack with a
weapon rating equal to half her
227
Chapter Five

Game Master’s
Toolbox

229
THE GAMEMASTER’S JOB
As the Gamemaster (GM), your
job is to “run” the game, adjudicate the
rules and guide your players through
their Warsong adventures. This chap-
ter will allow you to take a closer look
at what you’ll be doing during the
game as the GM.
YOU ARE THE UNIVERSE
As the gamemaster, it’s your job
to decide how everyone and everything
else in the world responds to what the
PCs do, as well as what the PCs’ envi-
ronment is like. If a PC botches a roll,
you’re the one who gets to decide the
consequences. When an NPC attempts
to assassinate a PC’s friend, you’re the
one who gets to decide how they go
about it. When the PCs stroll up to a
food vendor in a market, you get to
decide what kind of day the vendor is
having, what kind of personality he or
she has, what’s on sale that day. You
determine the weather when the PCs
pull up to that dark cave.
Fortunately, you don’t have to
do this in a vacuum. You have a lot of
tools to help you decide what would
be appropriate. The process we out-
line should provide you with a lot of
context about the game you’re
running, whether that’s in the form of
aspects like current and impending is-
sues, specific locations that you might
visit, or NPCs with strong agendas that
you can use.
The PCs’ aspects also help you
decide how to make the world respond
to them. As stated in the Aspects and
Fate Points chapter, the best aspects
have a double edge to them. You have
a lot of power to exploit that double
edge by using event-based compels.
That way, you kill two birds with one
stone. You add detail and surprise to
your game world, but you also keep
the PCs at the center of the story you’re
telling.
This facet of your job also means
that when you have NPCs in a scene,
you speak for and make decisions for
them like the players do for their PCs.
You decide when they’re taking an
action that requires dice and you fol-
low the same rules the players do for
determining how that turns out. Your
NPCs are going to be a little different
than the PCs, however, depending on
how important they are to the story.
LETTING THE PLAYERS HELP
Remember, you don’t have to
shoulder the whole burden of making
up all of the details yourself. The more
collaborative you get, the more emo-
tional investment the players are go-
ing to have in the result because they
shared in its creation.
If a character has an aspect that
connects them to someone or some-
thing in the world, make that player
your resident “expert” on whatever the
aspect refers to. So if someone has
Scars From The Machine War, poll that
player for information whenever the
great War comes up in conversation.
“you notice that this sergeant is wear-
ing a legion veteran’s mark, which is
a rare decoration from the War. What
hardcore crap do you have to do to get
one of those? Do you have one?” Some
players will defer back to you, and
that’s fine, but it’s important that you
keep making the offer so as to foster a
collaborative atmosphere.
Also, one of the main uses of the
create an advantage action is precise-
ly to give players a way to add details
to the world through their characters.
Use that to your advantage when you
draw a blank or simply want to dele-
gate more control. One good way to
231
do this during play is to answer the
player’s question with a question, if
they ask for information.
USING THE RULES
It’s also your job to make most
of the moment-to-moment decisions
about what’s legit and what’s not re-
garding the rules. Most often, you’re
going to decide when something in
the game deserves a roll, what type of
action that is (overcome, attack, etc.)
and how difficult that roll is. In con-
flicts, this can get a little more com-
plicated, like determining if a situa-
tion aspect should force someone to
make an overcome action, or deciding
whether or not a player can justify a
particular advantage they’re trying to
create.
You also judge the appropriate-
ness of any invocations or compels
that come up during play and make
sure that everyone at the table is clear
on what’s going on. With invocations,
this is pretty easy. As long as the play-
er can explain why the aspect is rele-
vant, you’re good to go. With compels,
it can get a little more complicated,
because you need to articulate pre-
cisely what complication the player is
agreeing to.
 We provide some more tips on
judging the use of rules below.
CREATING SCENARIOS
Finally, you’re responsible for
making all of the stuff that the PCs
encounter and react to in the game.
That not only includes NPCs with skills
and aspects, but it also includes the
aspects on scenes, environments, and
objects, as well as the dilemmas and
challenges that make up a scenario
of Warsong. You provide the prompts
that give your group a reason to play
this game to begin with. What prob-
lems they face, what issues they have
to resolve, whom they’re opposing,
and what they’ll have to go through in
order to win the day.
CREATING YOUR GAME
Setting up a Warsong game is a
collaborative effort between the GM
and the players. It is important, as the
GM, to be open to new ideas and gener-
ous with your own during the creation
of your game. Play off and expand on
the player’s suggestions. Doing so will
get the players more emotionally in-
volved if they feel like they’ve had a
hand in creating the game.
OUT THERE VS. DOWN HERE
High-concept ideas, especially
ones about the dividing line between
destiny, free will and time travel are a
lot of fun but if they’re too difficult to
relate to then your players may have
trouble wrapping their heads around
the game you’re proposing. Where
that line is exactly will vary from group
to group from and player to player, so
there’s no definitive answer in regard
to how detailed you’d like to be with
your game. Just be aware that every
departure from the familiar - wheth-
er that’s the real world or well-es-
tablished genre conventions has the
potential to be a conceptual hurdle
for your players. Get everyone on the
same page and make sure to go over
any questions in advance.
The opposite approach is to set
the game “down here”, in the world of
Lemuria, with perhaps only one or two
notable departures with greater ram-
ifications that you can explore as you
go. This gives the players a chance to
open up their perspectives to the over-
arching plot and destiny as a whole in
increments. It feels much more like a
television series in this manner where
the main character’s life typically be-
gins as normal and slowly spirals out
of control until it no longer resembles
normality.
TOP-DOWN VS. BOTTOM-UP
There’s also the matter of how
broad the scope of the game will be.
Some like to start with the big picture
first and drill down to the details, while
others prefer to start with the here
and now and develop the big picture
as they go. These are often called “top
down” and “bottom up,” respectively.
Neither one is better than the other,
but each has its pros and cons.
With the top-down approach,
you’ll determine most of the locations
that you’ll use in advance. Stuff like
who the movers and shakers are, im-
portant cities and so on. This has the
advantage of providing a clear sense
of how the plot and characters fit to-
gether. For example, if you’ve decided
that the Protectorate and its perpetual
state of conflict between the powerful
Clans vying for control of the throne is
the main focus of your game then you
know right away that anyone of note
in the kingdom is likely to come from
one of those clans and if they aren’t,
then it’ll have to be for a very good
reason.
If you’re going bottom-up,
233
though, you’ll start with whatever’s
immediately important to the PCs.
That might be anything from a few
notable NPCs in their hometown and
the attacks of rival clans against their
home, to the name of the guy who
works in the next town over. Then the
group figures out the details as the
story goes along. There’s no need to
have an idea of how things fit into the
world, because everyone will make
that up as you go. The world just spi-
rals out from whatever you start with.
The potential downside here is
that it requires quite a bit of improvi-
sation and thinking on your feet. That
goes for everyone at the table, GM and
players alike. For you, the GM, that
might not be such a big deal. Run-
ning a game almost always involves a
degree of flying by the seat of one’s
pants but not all players are going to
be ready for that sort of responsibil-
ity. In addition, if your players like to
immerse themselves in their charac-
ters and see the game world through
their eyes, then they may find it jarring
to occasionally break from that per-
spective to, say, invent a name on the
spot for the AI they just found or tell
you what happened to the last Shadow
Overlord of the Scorpion Clan.
 Warsong can handle either per-
spective but the Fate system’s support
for player-driven contributions to the
narrative in the form of aspects and
story details really makes the bot-
tom-up method sing. If that’s the way
you like to play anyway, great! If not,
no pressure. Give it a try sometime.
SCOPE: LARGE VS. SMALL
There’s already been some dis-
cussion of scale in Warsong but it’s
worth a little more discussion.
Small-scale stories concern
events closely connected to the PCs
and probably within a very limited
geographical area. Large-scale games
are the opposite: epic tales spanning
the nations and outliers. Both types of
stories can be a lot of fun-winning the
title of Grand Emperor can be just as
rewarding as winning the hand of the
prettiest girl in the village.
However, don’t be fooled into
thinking the two are mutually exclu-
sive. Here are a couple ways to com-
bine them.
•Start Small and Grow: This is the
classic zero-to-hero story in which an
unassuming individual with no pre-
tensions of glory is suddenly swept up
in events beyond the scope of their
experience. Consider Luke Skywalker
in Star Wars. He starts off a nobody
moisture farmer, racing T-16s and
getting up to the odd bit of mischief at
Tosche Station. Then a pair of droids
come into his life and inject a little
mystery: Who’s this Obi-Wan Keno-
bi? Before he knows it, he’s consorting
with smugglers, rescuing a princess,
and striking a blow for the Rebellion.
It’s a classic case of starting small-
scale and expanding into a large-scale
story.
•Peaks and Valleys: Here, you’re
alternating the large-scale with the
small, using the latter almost as
something of a breather. Typical-
ly, the large-scale storylines will deal
with political matters of state, the
conquering of cities, the banishing of
spirits and undead and the like, while
the small-scale storylines will be of
a more personal nature, with few if
any connections to the earth-shaking
events transpiring in the characters’
lives. For example, you might spend a
session or two tussling with that Clan
Lord, then change focus to a character
reconnecting with her father or com-
ing to the aid of a friend in need. The
small-scale sessions serve as some-
thing of a breather between all that
epic action and give the players a
chance to delve into some unexplored
corners of their characters. Plus, if you
want to connect the small and large-
scale stories down the line, you can!
And the payoff will be all the more
satisfying for the players.
RUNNING YOUR GAME
Now that you’ve gone through
the process of game creation with
the players, let’s take a detailed look
at how to approach your various jobs
during a session of play.
THE JADE RULE
The Jade Rule of Warsong is,
“First decide what you’re trying to ac-
complish, then consult the rules to
help you do it.”
This might seem like common
sense, but we call it out because the
order is important. In other words,
don’t look at the rules as a straitjacket
or a hard limit on an action. Instead,
use them as a variety of potential tools
to model whatever you’re trying to
do. Your intent, whatever it is, always
takes precedence over the mechanics.
Most of the time, the very defini-
tion of an action makes this easy. Any
235
time your intent is to harm someone,
you know that’s an attack. Any time
you’re trying to avoid harm, you know
that’s a defense.
But sometimes, you’re going to
get into situations where it’s not im-
mediately clear what type of action is
the most appropriate. As a GM, don’t
respond to these situations by for-
bidding the action. Instead, try to nail
down a specific intent in order to point
more clearly to one or more of the ba-
sic game actions.
WHEN TO ROLL THE DICE
As a rule, you should roll the dice
when succeeding or failing at the ac-
tion could each contribute something
interesting to the game.
This is pretty easy to figure out
in regards to success. Most of the time
the PCs overcome a significant ob-
stacle, win a conflict, or succeed at a
goal, which creates fodder for the next
thing. With failure, however, it’s a little
more difficult because it’s easy to look
at failure in strictly negative terms.You
fail, you lose, you don’t get what you
want. If there’s nothing to build on af-
ter that failure, play can grind to a halt
in a hurry.
 The worst thing you can do is
have a failed roll that means noth-
ing happens. No new knowledge, no
new course of action to take, and no
change in the situation. That is total-
ly boring, and it discourages players
from investing in failure. Something
you absolutely want them to do, given
how important compels and the con-
cession mechanic are. Do not do this.
If you can’t imagine an inter-
esting outcome from the results then
don’t call for that roll. If failure is the
uninteresting option, just give the PCs
what they want and call for a roll later,
when you can think of an interesting
failure. If success is the boring option,
then see if you can turn your idea
for failure into a compel instead, us-
ing that moment as an opportunity to
funnel fate points to the players.
Keep in mind when you’re play-
ing the game that the most compel-
ling characters and the most moving
events take place after a series of fail-
ures. A character’s life should never
be easy. In fact, the harder a charac-
ter’s life, the better the feeling will be
when that character finally achieves
their goals.
MAKE FAILURE AWESOME
If the PCs fail a roll in the game
and you’re not sure how to make that
interesting, try one of the following
ideas.
BLADE THE CIRCUMSTANCE
The PCs are extremely competent
people. Remember, that’s one of the
things Warsong is about. They aren’t
supposed to look like fools on a regu-
lar or even semi-regular basis. Some-
times, all it takes is the right descrip-
tion to make failure into something
dynamic. Instead of narrating that the
PC just miffed things up, blame the fail-
ure on something that the PC couldn’t
have prevented. There’s a secondary
mechanism on that lock that initially
looked simple (Larceny), or the con-
tact broke his promise to show up on
time (Contacts), or the ancient tome is
too withered to read (Knowledge), or
a sudden seismic shift throws off your
run (Athletics).
That way, the PCs still look com-
petent and awesome even though
they don’t get what they want. More
importantly, shifting the blame to the
circumstances gives you an opportu-
nity to suggest a new course of action,
which allows the failure to create for-
ward momentum in your story. The
contact didn’t make his appointment?
Where is he? Who was following him to
the rendezvous? The ancient tome is
withered? Maybe someone can restore
it. That way, you don’t spend time
237
dwelling on the failure and can move
on to something new.
SUCCEED AT A COST
You can also offer to give the PCs
what they want, but at a price. In this
case, the failed roll means they weren’t
able to achieve their goals without
consequence.
A minor cost should complicate
the PC’s life. Like the above sugges-
tion, this focuses on using failure as a
means to change up the situation a bit
rather than just negating whatever the
PC wanted. Some suggestions:
•Foreshadow some imminent
peril. “The lock opens with a soft click,
but the same can’t be said for the vault
door. If they didn’t know you were here
before, they sure do now.”
•Introduce a new wrinkle. “Yes,
the Guildmaster is able to put you in
touch with a mage who can translate
the withered tome. It’s a guy named
Ojinshii. You know him, actually, but
the last time you saw him was years
ago when he caught you with his wife.”
• Present the player with a tough
choice. “You brace the collapsing ceil-
ing long enough for two of the others
to get through safely, but not the rest.
Who’s it going to be?”
 •Place an aspect on the PC or the
scene. “Somehow you manage to land
on your feet, but with a Sprained An-
kle as a souvenir.”
•Give an NPC a boost. “Nikolai
surprises you a bit by agreeing to your
offer, but he does so with a wry smile
that makes you uneasy. Clearly, Fui
Has A Plan.”
•Check one of the PC’s stress
boxes. Careful with this one as it is
only a real cost if the PC is likely to
take more hits in the same scene. If
you don’t think that’s going to happen
then go with another choice.
A serious cost does more than
complicate the PC’s life or promise
something worse to come. It takes a
serious and possibly irrevocable toll,
right now.
One way you can do this is by tak-
ing a minor cost to the next level. In-
stead of suspecting that a guard heard
them open the vault, a few guards
might burst into the room with weap-
ons drawn. Instead of being merely
cut off from their allies by a collaps-
ing ceiling, one or more of those allies
ends up buried in the debris. Instead
of merely having to face an awkward
situation with Ojinshii, he’s still angry
and out for blood.
Other options might include:
•Reinforce the opposition. You
might clear one of an NPC’s stress
boxes, improve one of their skills by
one step for the scene, or give them a
new aspect with a free invocation.
•Bring in new opposition or a
new obstacle, such as additional en-
emies or a situation aspect that wors-
ens the situation.
•Delay success. The task at hand
will take much longer than expected.
• Give the PC a consequence
that follows logically from the circum-
stances. Mild if they have one avail-
able, moderate if they don’t.
If you’re stuck for just how seri-
ous a serious cost should be, you will
want to use the margin of failure as a
gauge. For instance, in the vault open-
ing example, above. The one where the
guards hear the PC and burst in the
room. If the player failed their Burglary
roll by 1 or 2, the PCs outnumber the
guards. Not a tough fight, but a fight
nonetheless. If they failed it by 3 to
5, it’s an even match, one that’s likely
to use up resources like fate points or
consequences. But if they failed by 6
or more, they’re outnumbered and in
real danger.
LET THE PLAYERS DO THE WORK
You can also kick the question
back to the players, and let them de-
cide what the context of their own fail-
ure is. This is a great move to foster a
collaborative spirit, and some players
will be surprisingly eager to hose their
own characters in order to further the
story, especially if it means they can
keep control of their own portrayal.
It’s also a great thing to do if
you just plain can’t think of anything.
“Okay, so, you failed that Larceny roll
by 2. So you’re working the lock, and
something goes wrong. What is it?”
“You missed that Perception roll. What
don’t you notice as you’re sneaking
up to the lord’s chambers?” It’s better
if the question is specific, like those
examples. Just saying, “Okay, tell me
how you fail!” can easily stall things by
putting a player on the spot unneces-
sarily. You want to let the player do
the work, not make them.
SETTING DIFFICULTIES
When you’re setting passive op-
position for an action, keep in mind
the difficulty that we mentioned in Ac-
tions and Outcomes. Anything that’s
two or more steps above the PC’s skill
is probably going to cost them fate
239
points and anything that’s two or more
below the PC’s skill will be a breeze.
Rather than “modeling the world”
or going for “realism,” try setting dif-
ficulties according to dramatic neces-
sity. Things should generally be more
challenging when the stakes are high
and less challenging when they aren’t.
Functionally, this is the same as
setting a consistent difficulty and as-
sessing a circumstantial penalty to the
roll to reflect rushing the task or some
other unfavorable condition. But psy-
chologically, the difference between
a high difficulty and a lower difficul-
ty with a penalty is vast and shouldn’t
be underestimated. A player facing
a higher difficulty will often feel like
they’re being properly challenged,
while that same player facing a large
penalty, likely chosen at the GM’s dis-
cretion, will often feel discouraged by
it.
Setting a difficulty low is mainly
about showcasing a PC’s awesome-
ness, letting them shine in a particu-
lar moment and reminding us why this
character is in the spotlight. You can
also set lower difficulties during peri-
ods when you know the PCs are low on
fate points, giving them the chance to
take compels in order to get more.
You should also set lower difficul-
ties on anything that’s in the way of
the PC’s getting to the main action of
a scene. You don’t want them to get
stalled at the shogun’s drawbridge if
the point of the scene is confronting
the evil shogun!
Finally, some actions should take
lower difficulties by default, especial-
ly if no one’s contesting or resisting
them. Unopposed efforts to create ad-
vantages in a conflict should never be
harder than Average (+1) or Fair (+2),
and neither should attempts to put an
aspect on an object or location. Re-
member that opposition doesn’t have
to always take the form of an NPC get-
ting in the way. If the evil mastermind
has hidden the evidence in his office
away from prying eyes, you might con-
sider that a form of opposition, even
though the mastermind might not be
physically present.
If the PCs are overflowing in fate
points, or it’s a crucial moment in the
story when someone’s life is on the
line, or the fate of many is at stake, or
they’re finally going against foes that
they’ve been building up to for a sce-
nario or two, feel free to raise difficul-
ties across the board. You should also
raise difficulties to indicate when
a particular opponent is extreme-
ly prepared for the PCs, or to reflect
situations that aren’t ideal. If the PC’s
are not prepared, or don’t have the
right tools for the job, or are in a time
crunch, etc.
Setting the difficulty right at the
PC’s skill level is, as you might imag-
ine, sort of a middle ground between
these two extremes. Do this when you
want some tension without turning
things up to 11, or when the odds are
slightly in the PC’s favor but you want
a tangible element of risk.
JUSTIFYING YOUR CHOICES
Your only other constraint in set-
ting difficulties goes back to the Sil-
ver Rule above-you need to make sure
that your choices make sense in the
context of the narrative you’re creat-
ing. While we don’t want you to get
crazy with trying to model the world
too much and thus box yourself into
a useless set of constraints (“Locks in
the village of Ro Shan are generally of
good quality due to their proximity to
a rich ilo-iron mine.”), don’t look at
this purely as a numbers game either.
if the only reason for setting a diffi-
culty at Superb (+5) is because it’s two
higher than the pc’s skill level and you
want to bleed his fate points off, you
strain credibility.
In that sense, you can look at
setting difficulties as being a lot like
invoking aspects-there needs to be a
good reason that backs up your choice
in the story. it’s totally okay if that jus-
tification is something you’re about to
make up, rather than something you
know beforehand. Situation aspects
are a great tool for this-if the play-
ers already know that the cave they’re
in is Pitch Black and Cramped as Hell,
it’s easy to justify why it’s so hard to
stay quiet as they Stealth through the
tunnels. No one will bat an eye at you
looking at the relevant situation as-
pects and giving a +2 to the opposi-
tion for each one, because it mirrors
the invoke bonus they get.
Either way, don’t skip the justifi-
cation part-either let the players know
what it is immediately when you tell
them the difficulty, or shrug mysteri-
ously and then let them find out soon
thereafter (as in, the time it takes to
think it up). You might also try using
“out of place” difficulties to indicate
the presence of unanswered questions
during the game - for some odd rea-
son, the shack you’re trying to break
into has an epic (+7) lock on the door.
241
What could be so important in there
that you don’t know about?
Or maybe you’re trying to finish
the famed initiation test of theSnake
Clan, and the test is only a Fair (+2)
Lore roll- what’s the deal? Are they
going easy on you? is your appoint-
ment a political necessity? Who pulled
the strings on that? or is it just that the
reputation of the order’s scholars is a
fabrication?
EXTRAORDINARY SUCCESS
Sometimes, a PC is going to roll
far in excess of the difficulty, getting
a lot of shifts on the roll. Some of the
basic actions already have a built-in
effect for rolling really well, like hit-
ting harder on a good attack roll.
For others, it’s not so clear.
What’s happens when you get a lot of
shifts on a Crafts roll or an Investigate
roll? You want to make sure those re-
sults have some kind of meaning and
reflect how competent the PC’s are.
Here are a few options.
•Go Gonzo with the Narration: It
might seem superfluous, but it’s im-
portant to celebrate a great roll with a
suitable narration of over the top suc-
cess. This is a great time to take the
suggestions above for Making Failure
Awesome and applying them here. Let
the success affect something else, in
addition to what the PC was going for,
and bring the player into the process of
selling it by prompting them to make
up cool details. “Three extra shifts on
that Larceny roll. Tell me, is anyone
ever going to be able to lock that crypt
again?” “So you got five shifts on that
Contacts roll. Tell me, where does Jin
usually go when he’s running out on
his wife, and what do you say when
you find him there?”
•Add an Aspect: You can ex-
press additional effects of a good roll
by placing an aspect on the PC or on
the scene, essentially letting them
create an advantage for free. “So your
Resources roll to bribe the guard suc-
ceeded with four shifts. She’ll let you
through the gate all right, and she’ll
also act as Available Backup if you
should need some help later.”
•Reducing Time: If it’s important
to get something done fast, then you
can use extra shifts to decrease the
time that it takes to do an action.
DEALING WITH TIME
There are two modes of time
in Fate. Game Time and Story Time.
There is also a third type of time we
will talk about later called Loom Time
which elates to how time flows or Vi-
ziers when they manipulate destiny.
GAME TIME
Game time is how we organize
play in terms of the real players sitting
at the table. Each unit of game time
corresponds to a certain amount of
real time. They are:
•Exchange: The amount of time
it takes all participants in a conflict
to take a turn, which includes doing
an action and responding to any ac-
tion taken against them. This usually
doesn’t take longer than a few min-
utes.
•Scene: The amount of time it
takes to resolve a conflict, deal with
a single prominent situation, or ac-
complish a goal. Scenes vary in length,
from a minute or two if it’s just a quick
description and some dialogue, to
a half hour or more in the case of a
major set piece battle against a main
NPC.
•Session: The sum total of all
the scenes you run through in a single
sitting. A session ends when you and
your friends pack it up for the night
and go home. For most people, a ses-
sion is about 2 to 4 hours, but there
is no theoretical limit-if you have few
obligations, then you’re only really
limited by the need for food and sleep.
A minor milestone usually occurs after
a session.
•Scenario: One or more sessions
of play, but usually no more than four.
Most of the time, the sessions that
make up a scenario will definitively
resolve some kind of problem or di-
lemma presented by the GM, or wrap
up a storyline (see Scenes, Sessions,
and Scenarios for more on scenarios).
A significant milestone usually occurs
at the end of a scenario. You can look
at this like an episode of a television
show-the number of sessions it takes
to tell one story.
•Arc: Several scenarios, usually
between two and four. An arc typical-
ly culminates in an event that brings
great change to the game world,
building up from the resolution of the
scenarios. You can look at an arc like a
season of a television show, where in-
dividual episodes lead to a tumultuous
climax. You’re not always guaranteed
to have a recognizable arc, just like
not all TV shows have a plotline that
carries through the whole season-it’s
possible to bounce from situation to
situation without having a defined plot
243
structure. Major milestones usually
happen at the end of an arc.
•Campaign: The sum of all the
time you’ve sat at a table playing this
particular game of Fate-every session,
every scenario, every arc. Technical-
ly, there’s no upper limit to how long
a campaign can be. Some groups go
for years; others get to the end of an
arc and then stop. We presume that a
typical group will go for a few arcs (or
about ten scenarios) before having a
grand finale and moving on to another
game (hopefully another Fate game!).
You might set up your campaign as a
kind of “super-arc,” where there’s one
massive conflict that everything else is
a smaller part of, or it might simply
consist of the smaller individual sto-
ries that you tell in your scenarios.
STORY TIME
Story time is what we call the time
as the characters perceive it, from the
perspective of being “in the story”-the
amount of time it takes for them to ac-
complish any of the stuff you and the
players say that they do during play.
Most of the time, you’ll do this as an
afterthought, mentioning it in passing
(“Okay, so it takes you an hour to get
to the airport by cab”) or mentioning
245
it as part of a skill roll (“Cool, so after
20 minutes of sweeping the room, you
find the following…”).
Under most circumstances, sto-
ry time has no actual relation to real
time. For example, a combat exchange
might take a few minutes to play out
in real time, but it only covers what
happens in the first few seconds of a
conflict. Likewise, you can cover long
swaths of time simply by saying that
it happens (“The contact takes two
weeks to get back to you. Are you do-
ing anything while you wait, or can we
just skip to the meeting?”). When used
this way, it’s really just a convenience,
a narrative device in order to add veri-
similitude and some consistency to
your story.
Sometimes, though, you can use
story time in creative ways to create
tension and surprise during the game.
Here’s how.
DEADLINES
Nothing creates tension like a
good deadline. The heroes only have a
certain number of minutes to disable
the death trap, or a certain amount
of time to get across the city before
something blows up, or a certain
amount of time to deliver the ransom
before loved ones get aced by the bad
guys, and so on.
Some of the game’s default ac-
tions are made to take advantage of
deadline pressure, such as challenges
or contests-they each limit the num-
ber of rolls that a player can make be-
fore something happens, for better or
for worse.
You don’t have to limit yourself
to using just those two, though. If you
set a hard deadline for something bad
in one of your scenarios, you can start
keeping track of the amount of time
everything takes, and use it as a way
to keep the pressure on. (“Oh, so you
want to browse all the town’s histori-
cal LinkScape archives? Well, you have
three days until the ceremony. I can
give you a Knowledge roll, but the at-
tempt is probably going to eat up one
of those days.”) Remember, nearly ev-
erything takes time. Even a basic at-
tempt to create an advantage using
Empathy requires you to sit with the
target for a little while, and if every
action the PCs are taking is chipping
away at a clock, it may be time they
don’t have.
Of course, it’d be no fun if there
was nothing they could do to improve
a deadline situation, and it’d be no fun
if the crawl toward the deadline was
predictable.
USING TIME
When you’re using story time to
create deadline pressure, feel free to
incorporate unpredictable jumps in
time when the PCs do really well or re-
ally badly on a roll.
Taking extra time is a great way
to make failure awesome as per the
guidelines above, especially using the
“Success at a Cost” option. Give the
players exactly what they want, but
at the cost of taking more time than
they were trying to spend, thus risking
that their efforts will come too late.
Or it could be the thing that pushes a
deadline over the edge. Maybe things
aren’t completely hopeless, but now
there are extra problems to deal with.
Likewise, reward extreme suc-
cess by reducing the amount of time
it takes to do something while the PCs
are under deadline. That historical re-
search (Knowledge) that was going to
take a day gets wrapped up in a few
hours. While looking for a good mer-
chant (Contacts) to get your supplies,
you manage to find another one who
can fulfill your order that same day
rather than in a week.
247
If time is a factor, you should
also be able to use invocations and
compels to manipulate time, to make
things easier or more complicated re-
spectively. “Hey, I’m a Garage Bunny,
so fixing this car shouldn’t take me
that long, right?” “Oh, you know what?
Your sheet says I Can’t Get Enough of
the Fun and Games, so doesn’t it make
sense that if you’re looking for a guy
in a casino, it’d be easy to get caught
up in distractions? All those machines
and stuff, right?”
SHIFTS AND TIME
Just like with any other roll,
the number of shifts you get (or the
amount you fail by) should serve as
a barometer for just how severe the
time jump is. So, how do you decide
just how much to award or penalize?
It really depends on how much
time you decide the initial action is go-
ing to take. We usually express time in
two parts: a specific or abstract mea-
sure of quantity, then a unit of time,
such as “a few days,” “twenty seconds,”
“three weeks,” and so on.
We recommend you measure in
the abstract and express all the game
actions as half, one, a few, or several
of a given unit of time. So if you
imagine something taking six hours,
think of it as “several hours.” if you
imagine something taking twenty
minutes, you can either call that “sev-
eral minutes” or round up to “half an
hour”, whichever feels closest.
This gives you a starting point
for moving up and down. Each shift is
worth one jump from wherever your
starting point is. So if your starting
point is “several hours” and it bene-
fits the pcs to speed things up, then
it works like this: one shift jumps the
time down to “a few hours,” two shifts
down to “one hour,” and three shifts
down to “a half hour.”
Going past either end of the spec-
trum moves you down to several in-
crements of the next unit of time or up
to half the next unit of time, depend-
ing on which direction you’re going.
So four shifts on the aforementioned
roll might jump you from “several
hours” to “several minutes.” Failing by
one, conversely, might jump you from
“several hours” to “half a day.”
This allows you to quickly deal
with time jumps no matter where
you’re starting from, whether the ac-
tions you have in mind are going to
take moments or generations.
SCOPE AND TIME
It’s easy to think of most ac-
tions that a PC takes being limited to
anything that the character can di-
rectly affect, and working on a “per-
son-to-person” scope. And most of
the time, that’s going to be precisely
the case-after all, Fate is a game about
individual competence shining in the
face of dramatic adversity.
However, consider for a moment
what a PC might do with that compe-
tence and all the time in the world to
accomplish a particular action. Imag-
ine a month-long Rapport roll for a
negotiation, where the PC gets to talk
with every delegate in detail, rather
than just focusing on a single con-
ference. Imagine a weeks-long Inves-
tigate, charting out every detail of a
target’s personal routine.
By allowing each roll to represent
a long period of time, you can “zoom
out” to handle events that reach far
beyond the individual player character
making the roll, and affect the setting
in a big way. That month-long Rap-
port roll might result in charting a new
political course for the country the PC
is negotiating for. That Investigate roll
might be the start of bringing in one
of the most notorious criminals in the
249
setting, one that’s been hounding the
PCs for a whole campaign.
This is a great way to make long
breaks in story time more interactive,
rather than bogging the game down
with long narration or trying to retro-
actively come up with what happened
during that time. If the PCs have long-
term goals they want to accomplish,
see if you can find a way to turn that
into a contest, challenge, or conflict
that covers the whole break, or just
have them make a single skill roll to
see if something unexpected happens.
If they happen to fail the roll, whatever
you invent as a consequence will make
good material for the game going for-
ward.
Remember that if you do this with
a conflict or a contest, that you scale
each exchange appropriately-if a con-
flict is taking place over the course of
a year, then each exchange might be
a month or two, and everyone should
describe their actions and the results
of their actions in that context.
CONSISTENTLY INCONSISTENT
There’s no rule that says you’re
required to keep your rolls consistent
in terms of story time. One cool trick
you can do is use the result of one roll
to segue into another roll that takes
place over a much smaller period in
time, or vice versa. This is a great
way to open a new scene, contest, or
conflict, or just introduce a change of
pace.
ON SKILLS AND STUNTS
By now, you pretty much have all
the advice you need to deal with skill
and stunt use - the individual descrip-
tions in Skills and Stunts, the action
descriptions and examples in Chal-
lenges, Contests, and Conflicts, and
the advice immediately above about
setting difficulties and how to handle
success and failure.
The only other major problem
you’ll have to worry about is when you
run into an “edge case” with a skill-.
A player wants to use it for an action
that seems like a bit of a stretch, or
a situation comes up in your game
where it makes sense to use a skill for
something that’s not normally a part
of its description.
When you run into this, talk it
over with the group and see what ev-
eryone thinks. It’s going to end up one
of three ways:
 •It’s too much of a stretch. Con-
sider creating a new skill.
•It’s not a stretch, and anyone
can use the skill that way from now on
under the same conditions.
•It wouldn’t be a stretch if the
character had a stunt that allowed it.
A lot of the criteria you’re going
to rely on for these conversations will
come from the work you and the play-
ers did with the skill list at game cre-
ation. See Skills and Stunts for advice
on figuring out what the limits are for
a skill and what the dividing line be-
tween a skill and a stunt is.
If you decide that a certain use of
a skill needs a stunt, allow the play-
er in question the chance to spend a
fate point to temporarily “borrow” that
stunt for the current roll if he or she
wants. Then, if they want to keep the
bonus, they have to spend a point of
refresh to buy it (presuming they have
any available), or wait for a major mile-
stone to pick it up.
STUNTS AND STORY DETAILS
From the player’s point of view,
there’s almost no way to know what
you’ve made up beforehand and what
you’re inventing in the moment, espe-
cially if you’re the kind of GM who
251
doesn’t display or consult any notes at
the table. Thus, when a player tries to
discover something you haven’t made
up yet, you can treat it as if they were
making a new aspect or story detail.
If they succeed, they find what they’re
looking for. If they fail, you can use
what they were looking for as inspira-
tion to help you come up with the real
information.
If you’re really comfortable with
improvisation, this means that you
can come to the table with very lit-
tle prepared beforehand, and let the
players’ reactions and questions build
everything for you. You may need to
ask some prompting questions first,
to narrow down the scope of what in-
formation the player’s looking for, but
after that, the sky’s the limit.
CONFLICTS AND WEIRDNESS
The most complicated situations
you’re going to encounter as a GM
will be conflicts, hands down. Con-
flicts use the most rules in the game
and pack them into a small amount of
time compared to everything else in
the system. They require you to keep
track of a lot of things at once. Every-
one’s relative position, who’s acting
against whom, how much stress and
what consequences your NPCs have
taken, and so on.
They’re also where your mov-
ie-watching brain will come to the
fore, especially if your game features
a lot of high-octane physical conflict.
Action sequences you see in media
don’t always conform to the struc-
tured order of turns that Fate has, so
it can be hard to see how they corre-
spond when you’re trying to visualize
what happens. Sometimes, people will
also want to do crazy actions that you
hadn’t thought of when you were con-
ceiving the conflict, leaving you at a
loss for how to handle them.
Here are some tools to help you
handle things with grace and speed.
MULTIPLE TARGETS
Invariably, if you play Warsong
long enough, someone’s going to
try to affect multiple people at once
in a conflict. Explosions are a staple
of physical conflict and Mortals using
Power Armor and Explosive are a sta-
ple in Lemuria, as are sorcerous incan-
tations, toxic rain clouds and so on.
You can extend this to mental conflict
also. For example, you might use Pro-
voke to establish dominance in a room
with your presence, or Rapport to
make an inspirational speech that af-
fects everyone listening.
The easiest way to do this is to
create an advantage on the scene,
rather than on a specific target. A
Gas-Filled Room has the potential to
affect everyone in it, and it’s not too
much of a stretch to suggest that the
Inspirational Mood in a room could be
contagious. In this context, the aspect
presents an excuse to call for a skill
roll (using the overcome action) from
anyone in the scene who attempts to
get past it. Generally speaking, it won’t
cause damage, but it will make things
more difficult for those affected.
Things get more complicated
when you want to filter specific tar-
gets, rather than just affect a whole
zone or scene. When that happens,
divide your resulting total up against
every target, who all get to defend as
per normal. Anyone who fails to de-
fend either takes stress or gains an
aspect, depending on what you were
trying to do.
Note: If you create an advantage
to put an aspect on multiple targets,
you do get a free invocation for each
one.
Attacking a whole zone or every-
one in a scene is something you’re
going to have to judge by circum-
stance, like any other stretch use of a
skill or weaponry. Depending on the
circumstances, this might be a total-
ly normal thing to do (for example,
because everyone uses grenades and
explosives), it might be impossible,
or it might require a stunt. As long
as you can justify it, you don’t need
to apply any special rules-you roll for
the attack, and everyone in the zone
defends as normal. Depending on the
circumstances, you may even have
to defend against your own roll, if
you’re in the same zone as the attack!
MULTI-TARGETS COMPELS
Players who want to compel their
way out of a conflict don’t get a free
lunch on affecting multiple targets,
whether it’s one aspect or several
that justify the compel. a player must
spend one fate point for each target
they wish to compel. one fate point
compels one individual, period.
ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS
Not every participant in a conflict
is another PC or NPC. Plenty of things
without self-awareness can potentially
threaten PCs or keep them from their
253
goals, whether it’s a natural disaster, a
cunning mechanical trap, or high-tech
automated security. So, what do you
do when the PCs go up against some-
thing that isn’t a character?
Simple. You treat it like a charac-
ter.
•Is the hazard something that
can harm a PC? Give it a skill and let it
make attacks just like an opponent.
•Is it more of a distraction or
harassment than a direct threat? Let it
create aspects.
•Does it have sensors it can use
to discover a PC’s aspects? Give it Per-
ception.
And in return, let the PCs use
their skills against the threat just like
they would an opponent. An auto-
mated security system might be vul-
nerable to “attacks” from a PC’s Bur-
glary skill, or they might escape a trap
by winning an Athletics contest. If it
makes sense for the hazard in ques-
tion to take a good deal of effort to
surpass, give it a stress track and let
it take a mild consequence or two. In
other words, cleave to whatever makes
narrative sense-if a fire is too big for a
PC to put out, the scene should focus
on avoidance or escape, and work like
a challenge.
CREATE UPGRADE AND REPAIR
One use of the Crafts skill is to
create items of equipment. This works
similarly to buying them with Re-
sources but it can be done in isolation,
away from a supply of that equipment
so long as you have access to neces-
sary tools and raw materials. Some
items, such as weapons, technology
and power armor need special facili-
ties to create. A successful Crafts roll
will create an Aspect relating to the
item in question.
The roll usually faces passive op-
position equal to the equipment index
rating of the item to be created.
It usually takes one scene to
create an item for every point of the
item’s tech-index, but this can extend
out much further depending on the
complexity of the item being created.
If you fail the roll to create the item,
you may succeed at a cost by increas-
ing the time it takes to create the item
by one shift per shift of failure.
The Aspect for a constructed
item lasts as long as is appropriate,
but usually no longer than a single
session. If you want to acquire a craft-
ed item permanently, you will need to
spend a milestone advancement even
if you were in the middle of nowhere,
this use of the Crafts skill justifies ac-
quisition of the item.
UPGRADES
You can add Extras to an item
that you’ve created or that you already
own, using your extras or advance-
ment budget at an appropriate mile-
stone. If you have the gear, tools, lab
and any other materials or equipment
you need to do so, you make a crafts
roll with a passive opposition equal to
the Index Rating of the item you’re up-
grading. On a success, you or anoth-
er character may spend an advance-
ment to acquire the extra ability. On
a failure, the milestone advancement
does not occur. You do not lose the
advancement, but you must wait until
the end of the session before you can
spend it.
REPAIRING EQUIPMENT
Equipment can become damages
in a number of ways. The most com-
mon way a piece of equipment can be
damaged is when equipment is stat-
ted out as an Extra with stress or con-
sequences and takes damage as nor-
mal. This usually happens with Exo or
Power Armor or even various forms
of shielding. Situation Aspects can
also represent damage to gear. Lastly,
when you succeed at a cost, that cost
may be a consequence or an aspect
255
being placed on the equipment that
indicates that it is damaged.
Consequences to equipment
normally does not clear up on its own,
they’ll need to be repaired. Equipment
is repaired as a normal recovery ac-
tion, as if your character was recover-
ing from a consequence. The passive
opposition to the repair roll is based
on the severity of the consequence
being repaired. This roll may also have
other modifiers.
Once you’ve succeeded at the
recovery roll to repair your equipment,
the consequence might be changed to
something like “under repair”, and will
be removed after the required time
period has elapsed. The GM might al-
low the time to be decreased if you
succeed with style on the roll.
MAINTENANCE
Maintenance is usually assumed
to occur. Periods of rest for a soldier
often include sharpening or cleaning
blades, cleaning guns and taking care
that armor doesn’t become tangled
or rusted. Sometimes, however, rou-
tine maintenance is not always possi-
ble. Hostile environments and lack of
materials or technology might prevent
equipment from being cared for and
maintained. Such equipment may de-
grade into a Maintenance Hazard.
A Maintenance Hazard is usual-
ly a simple hazard with passive oppo-
sition based on the environment and
the item’s complexity, or Equipment
Index. The character must make a
Crafts roll, applying all relevant mod-
ifiers. On a failure, the equipment in-
curs a consequence equal to the shifts
of failure with a minimum of mild.
DEALING WITH ASPECTS
As the GM, you have a very im-
portant job in managing the flow of fate
points to and from the players, giving
them opportunities to spend freely in
order to succeed and look awesome,
and bringing in potential complica-
tions to help keep them stocked up on
points. Sometimes you’ll also want to
manipulate the flow so that they have
to make tough decisions about when
to use them.
INVOKES
We recommend that you don’t
apply extremely exacting standards
when the PC wants to invoke an as-
pect. You want them to spend in order
to keep the flow going, and if you’re
too stringent on your requirements,
it’s going to discourage them from
that free spending.
On the other hand, feel free to
ask for more clarification if you don’t
get what a player is implying, in terms
of how the aspect relates to what’s
happening in play. Sometimes, what
seems obvious to one person isn’t to
another, and you shouldn’t let the de-
sire to toss fate points lead to over-
looking the narration. If a player is
having a hard time justifying the invo-
cation, ask them to elaborate on their
action more or unpack their thoughts.
You might also have the prob-
lem of players who get lost in the
open-ended nature of aspects they
don’t invoke because they aren’t sure
if it’s too much of a stretch to apply
an aspect in a certain way. The more
work you do beforehand making sure
that everyone’s clear on what an as-
pect means, the less you’ll run into
this. To get the player talking about
invoking aspects, always ask them
whether or not they’re satisfied with a
skill roll result (“So, that’s a Great. You
want to leave it at that? Or do you want
to be even more awesome?”). Make it
clear that invoking an aspect is almost
always an option on any roll, in order
to try and get them talking about the
possibilities. Eventually, once you get
a consistent dialogue going, things
should smooth out.
COMPELS
During the game, you should
look for opportunities to compel the
PCs’ aspects at the following times:
•Whenever simply succeeding at
a skill roll would be bland.
•Whenever any player has one or
no fate points.
•Whenever someone tries to do
something, and you immediately think
of some aspect-related way it could
go wrong.
Remember that there are es-
sentially two types of compels in the
game: decision-based, where some-
thing complicated occurs as a result
of something a character does; and
event-based, where something com-
plicated occurs simply as a result of
the character being in the wrong situ-
ation at the wrong time.
Of the two, you’re going to get
the most mileage out of event-based
compels-it’s already your job to decide
how the world responds to the PCs, so
you have a lot of leeway to bring un-
fortunate coincidence into their lives.
257
Most of the time, players are just go-
ing to accept you doing this without
any problems or minimal negotiation.
Decision-based compels are a
little trickier. Try to refrain from sug-
gesting decisions to the players, and
focus on responding to their decisions
with potential complications. It’s im-
portant that the players retain their
sense of autonomy over what their
PCs say and do, so you don’t want to
dictate that to them. If the players are
roleplaying their characters according
to their aspects, it shouldn’t be hard
to connect the complications you pro-
pose to one of them.
During play, you’ll also need to
make clear when a particular compel is
“set”, meaning that there’s no backing
out without paying a fate point. When
players propose their own compels,
this won’t come up, because they’re
fishing for the point to begin with.
When you propose them, you need
to give the players room to negotiate
with you over what the complication
is, before you make a final decision.
Be transparent about this-let them
know when the negotiation phase has
ended.
DON’T BE LAME
Otherwise know as Rule #3. In
order for the compel mechanic to be
effective, you have to take care that
you’re proposing complications of
sufficient dramatic weight. Stay away
from superficial consequences that
don’t really affect the character except
to provide color for the scene. If you
can’t think of an immediate, tangi-
ble way that the complication chang-
es what’s going on in the game, you
probably need to turn up the heat. If
someone doesn’t go “oh crap” or give a
similar visceral reaction, you probably
need to turn up the heat. It’s not good
enough for someone to be angry at the
PC-they get angry and they’re willing
to do something about it in front of
everyone. It’s not good enough for a
business partner to cut them off-he
cuts them off and tells the rest of his
associates to blacklist them.
Also, keep in mind that some
players may tend to offer weak com-
pels when they’re fishing for fate
points, because they don’t really want
to hose their character that badly. Feel
free to push for something harder if
their initial proposal doesn’t actual-
ly make the situation that much more
dramatic.
ENCOURAGING COMPELS
With five aspects per PC, it’s pro-
hibitively difficult for you to take the
sole responsibility for compels at the
table, because that’s a lot of stuff to
remember and keep track of. You need
the players to be invested in look-
ing for moments to compel their own
characters.
Open-ended prompting can go a
long way to create this habit in your
players. If you see an opportunity for
a potential compel, instead of propos-
ing it directly, ask a leading question
instead. “So, you’re at the lord’s ball
and you have The Manners of a Goat.
Kinshi, do you think this is going to
go smoothly for your character?” Let
the player do the work of coming up
with the complication and then pass
the fate point along.
Also remind the players that they
can compel your NPCs, if they happen
to know one of that NPC’s aspects. Do
the same open-ended prompting when
you’re about to have an NPC make a
decision, and ask the players to fill in
the blanks. “So, you know that Duke
Orsin is Woefully Overconfident....
You think he’s going to get out of the
jousting tournament unscathed? How
might that go wrong? You willing
to pay a fate point to say it does?”
Your main goal should be to en-
list the players as partners in bringing
the drama, rather than being the sole
provider.
CREATING THE OTHERS
One of your most important jobs
as a GM is creating the NPCs who will
oppose the PCs and try to keep them
from their goals during your scenar-
ios. The real story comes from what
the PCs do when worthy adversaries
stand between them and their objec-
tives. How far they’re willing to go,
what price they’re willing to pay, and
how they change as a result of the ex-
perience.
As a GM, you want to shoot for a
balancing act with the opposing NPCs.
You want the players to experience
tension and uncertainty, but you don’t
want their defeat to be a foregone
conclusion.
You want them to work for it,
but you don’t want them to lose hope.
Here’s how:
MINIMALISM
First of all, keep in mind that
you’re never obligated to give any NPC
a full sheet like the ones the PCs have.
259
Most of the time, you’re not going to
need to know that much information,
because the NPCs aren’t going to be
the center of attention like the PCs are.
It’s better to focus on writing down
exactly what you need for that NPC’s
encounter with the PCs, and then fill in
the blanks on the fly (just like PCs can)
if that NPC ends up becoming more
important in the campaign.
TYPES OF NPCS
NPCs come in three different
flavors: nameless NPCs, supporting
NPCs, and main NPCs.
NAMELESS
The majority of the NPCs in your
campaign world are nameless-people
who are so insignificant to the story
that the PCs interactions with them
don’t even require them to learn a
name. The random shopkeeper they
pass on the street, the archivist at
the library, the third patron from the
left at the bar, the guards at the gate.
Their role in the story is temporary
and fleeting-the PCs will probably en-
counter them once and never see them
again. In fact, most of the time, you’ll
create them simply out of reflex when
you describe an environment.
 “The celestial plaza is beautiful at mid-
day, and full of shoppers milling about
s the cherry blossoms fall. There’s a
eretic priest with an extremely shrill,
high pitched voice barking about the
coming of the next cycle.”
On their own, nameless NPCs
usually aren’t meant to provide much
of a challenge to the PCs. You use them
like you use a low-difficulty skill roll,
mainly as an opportunity to showcase
the PCs’ competence. In conflicts, they
serve as a distraction or a delay, forc-
ing the PCs to work a little harder to
get what they want. Action-adventure
stories often feature master villains
with an army of mooks. These are the
mooks.
For a nameless NPC, all you real-
ly need is two or three skills based on
their role in the scene. Your average
security guard might have Fight and
Shoot, while your average clerk might
only have Lore. They never get more
than one or two aspects, because they
just aren’t important enough. They
only have one or two stress boxes,
if any, to absorb both physical and
mental hits. In other words, they’re no
match for a typical PC. Nameless NPCs
come in three varieties: Average, Fair,
and Good.
GROUPS
Whenever possible, identical
nameless NPCs like to form groups, or
mobs. Not only does this better ensure
their survival, it reduces the workload
on the GM. For all intents and pur-
poses, you can treat a mob as a single
unit- instead of rolling dice individu-
ally for each of three thugs, just roll
once for the whole mob.
HITS AND OVERFLOW
When a mob takes a hit, shifts in
excess of what’s needed to take out
one NPC are applied to the next NPCs
in the mob, one at a time. In this way,
it’s entirely possible for a PC to take out
a mob of four or five nameless NPCs
(or more!) in a single exchange. When
a mob takes enough stress to reduce
it to a single NPC, try to have that or-
phaned NPC join up with another mob
in the scene, if it makes sense. If it
doesn’t, just have them flee. Nameless
NPCs are good at that.
NAMELESS OBSTACLES
An even easier way to handle
nameless NPCs is simply to treat them
as obstacles: Give a difficulty for the
PC to overcome whatever threat the
Average
•Competence: The Rank-and-file order-takers, local conscripts, and the
like. When in doubt, a nameless NPC is Average.
•Purpose: Mostly there to make the PCs
look more awesome.
•Aspects: One or two.
•Skills: One or two Average (+1).
•Stress: No stress boxes-a one
shift hit is enough to take them
out.

Fair
•Competence: Trained professionals,
like soldiers and elite guards, or others
whose role in the scene speaks to their
experience, such as a sharp-tongued
courtier or talented thief.
•Purpose: Drain a few of the players’
resources (one or two fate points,
stress boxes, possibly a mild
consequence).
•Aspects: One or two.
•Skills: One Fair (+2), and one
or two Average (+1).
•Stress: One stress box-a two shift hit is
enough to take them out.

Good
•Competence: Tough opposition, espe-
cially in numbers.
•Purpose: Drain the players’ resourc-
es-as Fair, but more so. Provide a decent
stumbling block (in numbers) on the way
to a more significant encounter.
•Aspects: One or two.
•Skills: One Good (+3), one Fair (+2),
and one or two Average (+1).
•Stress: Two stress boxes-a three
261shift hit is enough to take them out.
NPC presents, and just do it in one roll.
You don’t even have to write anything
down, just set a difficulty according to
the guidelines in this chapter and Ac-
tions and Outcomes, and assume that
the PC gets past on a successful roll.
If the situation is more compli-
cated than that, make it a challenge
instead. This trick is useful when you
want a group of nameless NPCs more
as a feature of the scene than as indi-
viduals.
NPC FIRST, NAME LATER
Nameless NPCs don’t have to re-
main nameless. If the players decide
to get to know that otel manager or
town runk or police chief or whoev-
er it might be, go ahead and make a
real person out of them! That doesn’t
mean that you need to make them any
more mechanically complex. If you
want to, of course, go ahead and pro-
mote them to a supporting NPC. But
otherwise, simply giving that diplomat
a name and a motivation doesn’t mean
he won’t go down in one punch.
SUPPORTING NPCS
Supporting NPCs have proper
names and are a little more detailed
than nameless NPCs, playing a sup-
porting role in your scenarios (hence
the name). They often display some
kind of strong distinguishing trait
that sets them apart from the crowd,
because of their relationship to a PC
or NPC, a particular competence or
unique ability, or simply the fact that
they tend to appear in the game a great
deal. Many action-adventure stories
feature a “lieutenant” character who
is the right-hand man of the lead vil-
lain; that’s a supporting NPC in game
terms. The faces that you assign to the
locations you make during game cre-
ation are supporting NPCs, as are any
characters who are named in one of
the PCs’ aspects.
Supporting NPCs are a great
source of interpersonal drama be-
cause they’re usually the people that
the PCs have a relationship with, such
as friends, sidekicks, family, contacts,
and noteworthy opponents. While they
may never be central to resolving the
main dilemma of a scenario, they’re a
significant part of the journey, either
because they provide aid, present a
problem, or figure into a subplot.
Supporting NPCs are made much
like nameless NPCs, except they get to
have a few more of the standard
character elements. These include a
high concept, a trouble, one or more
additional aspects, one stunt, and
the standard two stress tracks with
two boxes each. They should have a
handful of skills (say four or five). If
they have a skill that entitles them to
bonus stress boxes, award those as
well. They have one mild consequence
and, if you want them to be especially
tough, one moderate consequence.
Skills for a supporting NPC should
follow a column distribution. Because
you’re only going to define four or
five skills, just treat it as one column.
If your NPC has a skill at Great, fill in
one skill at each positive step below it:
One Good, one Fair and one Average
skill.
•Skill Levels: A supporting NPC’s
top skill can exceed your best PC’s by
one or two levels, but this should be
done only if their role in the game is to
provide serious opposition. support-
ing NPCs who are allied with the PCs
should be their rough peers in skill
level. Another action-adventure trope
is to make the “lieutenant” character
better than the main villain at com-
bat, contrasting brawn to the villain’s
brain.
•Concessions: Given the option
263
a supporting NPC should not fight
to the bitter end. Instead, have them
concede conflicts often, especially
early in a story, and especially if the
concession is something like “They
get away.” Conceding like this serves a
few purposes. For one, it foreshadows
a future, more significant encoun-
ter with the NPC. Because conceding
comes with a reward of one or more
fate points, it also makes them more
of a threat the next time they show up.
What’s more, it’s virtually guaranteed
to pay off for the players in a satisfy-
ing way the next time the NPC makes
an appearance. “So, Oren, we meet
again! But this time it shall not go so
easily for you. Your kung fu is strong..
but mine is stronger!”
Finally, it implicitly demonstrates
to the players that, when things are
desperate, conceding a conflict is a vi-
able course of action. A PC concession
here and there can raise the stakes and
introduce new complications organi-
cally, both of which make for a more
dramatic, engaging story.
MAIN NPCS
Main NPCs are the closest you’re
ever going to get to playing a PC your-
self. They have full character sheets
 just like a PC does, with five aspects, a
full distribution of skills, and a selec-
tion of stunts. They are the most sig-
nificant characters in your PCs’ lives,
because they represent pivotal forces
of opposition or allies of crucial im-
portance.
Because they have a full spread
of aspects, they also offer the most
nuanced options for interaction, and
they have the most options to invoke
and be compelled. Your primary “bad
guys” in a scenario or arc should al-
ways be main NPCs, as should any
NPCs who are the most vital pieces
of your stories. Because they have all
the same things on their sheet as PCs
do, main NPCs will require a lot more
of your time and attention than oth-
er characters. How you create one re-
ally depends on how much time you
have-if you want, you can go through
the whole character creation process
and work out their whole backsto-
ry through phases, leaving only those
slots for “guest starring” open.
You could also do things more
on the fly if you need to, creating a
partial sheet of the aspects you know
for sure, those skills you definitely
need them to have, and any stunts you
want. Then fill in the rest as you go.
This is almost like making a support-
ing NPC, except you can add to the
sheet during play. Main NPCs will fight
to the bitter end if need be, making
the PCs work for every step.
Regarding skill levels, your main
NPCs will come in one of two flavors-
exact peers of the PCs who grow with
them as the campaign progresses,
or superiors to the PCs who remain
static while the PCs grow to suffi-
cient strength to oppose them. If it’s
the former, just give them the exact
same skill distribution the PCs cur-
rently have. If it’s the latter, give them
enough skills to go at least two higher
than whatever the current skill cap is
for the game.
So, if the PCs are currently capped
at Great (+4), your main NPC badass
should be able to afford a couple of
Fantastic (+6) columns or a pyramid
that peaks at Fantastic.
Likewise, a particularly signifi-
cant NPC might have more than five
aspects to highlight their importance
to the story.
OPPOSITION
The following are some friendly
tips for using NPCs in play.
RIGHT-SIZING
Remember, you want a balanc-
ing act between obliterating the PCs
and letting them walk all over your
opposition (unless it’s a mook horde,
in which case that’s pretty much what
they’re there for). It’s important to
keep in mind not just the skill levels
of the NPCs in your scenes, but their
number and importance.
Right-sizing the opposition is
more of an art than a science, but here
are some strategies to help.
•Don’t outnumber the PCs un-
less your NPCs have comparatively
lower skills.
•If they’re going to team up
against one big opponent, make sure
that opponent has a peak skill two
levels higher than whatever the best
PC can bring in that conflict.
•Limit yourself to one main NPC
per scene, unless it’s a big climactic
conflict at the end of an arc. Remem-
ber, supporting NPCs can have skills
as high as you want.
•Most of the opposition the
PCs encounter in a session should be
nameless NPCs, with one or two sup-
porting NPCs and main NPCs along the
way.
•Nameless and supporting NPCs
265
means shorter conflicts because they
give up or lose sooner; main NPCs
mean longer conflicts.
ADVANTAGES FOR YOUR NPCS
It’s easy to fall into the default
mode of using the opposition as a
direct means to get in the PCs’ way,
drawing them into a series of conflict
scenes until someone is defeated.
However, keep in mind that the
NPCs can create advantages just like
the PCs can. Feel free to use opposi-
tion characters to create scenes that
aren’t necessarily about stopping the
PCs from achieving a goal, but scout-
ing out information about them and
stacking up free invocations. Let your
bad guys and the PCs have tea together
and then bring out the Empathy rolls.
Or instead of having that fight scene
take place in the dark alley, let your
NPCs show up, gauge the PCs’ abili-
ties, and then flee.
Likewise, keep in mind that your
NPCs have a home turf advantage in
conflicts if the PCs go to them in order
to resolve something. So, when you’re
setting up situation aspects, you can
preload the NPC with some free invo-
cations if it’s reasonable that they’ve
had time to place those aspects. Use
this trick in good faith, though—two or
three such aspects is probably push-
ing the limit.

CHANGE THE VENUE

Your opposition will be way more
interesting if they try to get at the PCs
in multiple venues of conflict, rath-
er than just going for the most direct
route. Remember that there are a lot
of ways to get at someone, and that
mental conflict is just as valid as phys-
ical conflict as a means of doing so. If
the opposition has a vastly different
skill set than one or more of your PCs,
leverage their strengths and choose a
conflict strategy that gives them the
best advantage. For example, some-
one going after Oren probably doesn’t
want to confront him physically be-
cause Unarmed Combat and Athletics
are his highest skills. He’s not as well
equipped to see through a clever de-
ception, however, or handle a magi-
cal assault on his mind. Kogen Ro, on
the other hand, is best threatened by
the biggest, nastiest bruiser possible,
someone who can strike at him before
he has a chance to bring his magic to
bear.
267
Chapter Six

The Link

269
A CONNECTED WORLD
The collapse of KojoCorp after
the Source gained self-awareness and
turned on its parent company was a
devastating event for the communi-
cations networks of the Celestial City
and its kingdoms. Within moments,
all military units, government agen-
cies and individual operatives - not
to mention civilian services were cut
off from each other. The Protectorate
had gone silent while a war was being
waged that would erupt into a war that
spanned many years. Still, the war had
a number of benefits for the Celestial
City. One such benefit was a global
communications system that came to
be called Link.
Link was derived from the same
software, code and hardware that was
used to design The Source, and works
in much the same way that The Source
was initially designed to operate. Link
is a global communications system
that allows anyone with a Link De-
vice, whether external or implanted,
to communicate over long distances
to anyone with whom their personal
LinkID is known. The key difference is
that Link was never given any intelli-
gent code and it is, by design, wholly
dependant on the software engineers’
constant maintenance to function, as
well as to perform upgrades, patch-
es and anything else that the system
might require over the course of its
use.
Today, Link is used every day to
read email messages, pay bills and
taxes and talk to friends and loved
ones. It is capable of allowing individ-
uals to increase their productivity by
monitoring cash flow, remotely han-
dling utilities and managing ground
and air traffic. Millions of Lemurians
use it constantly, and even the most
remote farming village or roadside
settlement has at least one Link Device
capable of tapping in and connecting
to The Link.
Even with its high measures of
security and oversight, some indi-
viduals are capable of using Link as a
critical method of performing illegal
activities. Any electronics with a Link
device can be hacked by these indi-
viduals. Link can be used to unlock
connected doors, kill alarm systems,
divulge entire information reposito-
ries such as those held by the High
Towers. Link can even be used to re-
motely monitor locations with a Link
device. In a pinch, weapons and even
advanced armor can be hacked in
order to turn the tides of battle.
ARTIFICIAL VISTAS
Link exists in many forms, de-
pending on how you plug in and how
your own perception works. The ma-
jority of the population connects to
Link by “external” means, through the
use of a hand-held screen that allows
you to connect via Link Device that acts
like a modem that can be hardwired
or connect wirelessly to the central
hub in order to relay communication.
While this is the safest and most com-
mon method of plugging in to Link, it
is also the slowest and least efficient
in regard to doing anything other than
sending an email or talking to a friend
the next city over. It allows only a cur-
sory view of the Linkscape, and usage
is restricted by the operating system’s
limitations, which are usually quite
extensive as most CommLink devices
are created by companies who frown
upon using their equipment and tech-
nology for anything other than its me-
nial intended usage.
For meatbags - basically anyone
with a flesh and blood body, there are
other means of plugging in to the Link
System. The most common of these
271
are datajacks. A datajack is a small
device that is surgically implanted into
the skull of the user, usually near the
back of the head, near the base. The
datajack connects directly to the brain
stem and nervous system, and is capa-
ble of allowing the user’s conscious-
ness to “jack in” to Link. When the user
is jacked in, the device overrides the
brain stem and parietal lobe, paralyz-
ing the physical body of the user, in-
uring them to external pain and other
stimuli as though the user is asleep.
The parietal lobe as well as other sen-
sory areas of the brain are overridden
by the sensory input of the LinkScape
and the user completely leaves their
body and enters the digital world.
The LinkScape is a digitally cre-
ated world that is both a product of
programming language as well as a
communal hallucination. Using the
bleeding edge of modern, innova-
tive Celestial City programming, the
LinkScape is designed with incredi-
ble detail. To those immersed in the
LinkScape, the environment projected
directly into the brain can, at times,
seem more real than the material
world. Still, because the LinkScape is
designed by human hands and a com-
munal paradigm of projected thought,
the digital aspects of this world still
shine through to those who look
closely enough.
The laws of physics that people
find common in the physical world are
not always applicable in the LinkScape.
Each Host - a host is a system that act
as the environment upon which Link-
Scape worlds are built, can be designed
with environments that possess dif-
ferent rules and properties that gov-
ern it. Common hosts allows for basic
bending of the laws of physics, while
in others they can be completely bro-
ken. Still others impose physical laws
that can bend the mind and confuse
even the most creative individuals.
It’s all a matter of design.
When you’re within the Link-
Scape, just about everything import-
ant has a three-dimensional icon that
represents the material world device
that is being used to connect. If you’ve
connected wirelessly, as many do, you
can even gauge the relative distance
from these devices in real-time by how
close they are in the LinkScape. The
further away each light is from you,
the more unreal it seems to become,
as it flickers and gutters with the lag
time between its relay and your own.
Blips and streams of data flow from
one icon to the next, leaving glittering
trails of data in their wake.
The sky above is filled with mas-
sive tubes with dots of intensely bright
light the emanate from inside. Each
tube connects at incredible collections
of data and information, worlds in and
of themselves called the Hosts. Each
host is different. Some are the size of
continents when viewed from the out-
side, while others are no larger than a
modestly-sized home. Crawling along
these massive wires and scuttling
about the external protective firewall
shells of the Hosts are the protective
Spiders, catching erroneous data and
illegal users alike in their webs.
THROUGH DIGITAL EYES
The differences between visu-
al perceptions of artificial life when
compared to the eyes of meat bodies
is vast, and in no other circumstance
is this more obvious than within the
LinkScape. Organic eyes view the world
through the filters of their own cere-
brum. They perceive the LinkScape
as though they were viewing the real
world with their own eyes. While the
seams of the digital world still show
the artificiality of the LinkScape to hu-
mans, it seems to mortal eyes just like
the real world would. Artificial Life,
while possessing processors that in-
terpret visual stimuli in similar ways
to a human cerebrum, are capable of
seeing the LinkScape in ways that, to
some, might seem more truthful than
the illusion projected into the minds
of mortals.
Artificial Sentience that jacks into
the LinkScape view it in two distinct
ways. The first part of what they see is
nearly identical to what meat eyes
273
see when they plug their minds into
the LinkScape. Grand vistas, hosts and
servers overhead, guardian spiders
spinning their webs and preying on
malicious code and hackers and con-
nected icons. They even see the ad-
vertisements from the storefronts and
glowing data streams that connect one
CommLink to another. Superimposed
onto this artificial reality is the frame-
work upon which all of this is built.
Artificial Life, having been built of the
same stuff as this world, are capable
of looking beyond the illusion of the
 LINKSCAPE JARGON
•CommLink: An electronic device
used to connect to the LinkScape.
•Consensus: The structure of the
LinkScape foundation built upon the
mutually agreed upon memories of
the users.
•Custodians: Programs that serve
specific functions as directed by the
Link.
•DataJack (or: Jack): A device that al-
lows users to directly connect to the
Link through ports surgically insert-
ed into their skull.
•Host: See Server.
•Icon: The digital appearance of a
user’s connected device.
•Meatbag: A linkscape user in pos-
session of a real-world body.
•MnemoPort: A special DataJack that
plugs directly into the user’s memo-
ries, allowing her to more easily ac-
cess and work within the LinkScape.
•Morgue: Areas that look very simi-
lar to graveyards, where ThanoCores
are common.
•SenseView: Another name for the
visual stimuli projected into the us-
er’s mind while she is connected to
the LinkScape.
•Server: Massive collections of data
and programming; Some can be rep-
resented as a single room, while oth-
ers can be worlds unto themselves.
•Spider: Protective, troubleshoot-
er programs designed to safeguard
servers.
•ThanoCore: Digital structures with-
in the LinkScape that house entire
personalities of the deceased.
• User: A real-world user that is con-
nected to the LinkScape via a Com-
mLink.
eyes and seeing the truth. They can see
the packets of code that compose the
transferring data, the protective walls
that composed the outer edges of the
servers, the inner workings of the pat-
tern spiders. Even the constructs of
the LinkScape, the ground, buildings
and decorations are apparent for what
they really are.
THROUGH DIGITAL EYES
Artificial Life can see the code
under the workings of the LinkScape
by a simple shift of perception. They
can choose which “version” of the
LinkScape they see. Once per scene
when they choose to View The Code,
they can make a Perception roll in or-
der to create an advantage with a free
invocation to represent their ability
to witness the inner workings of the
‘Scape.
THE CONSENSUS
The LinkScape is a nearly per-
fect clone of The Source, with one
exception. Whereas The Source was
designed to build itself based upon
advanced algorithms and data, the
LinkScape did not have the luxury of
self-programming due to fears that
the LinkScape would awaken as well
and create another hostile, all-know-
ing and all-powerful artificial sen-
tience. Instead, the programmers had
to come up with a method of designing
not just the framework that would al-
low servers to build their own worlds,
but also the universal code from which
those worlds could be designed. This
is where The Consensus comes into
play. The LinkScape was designed in
such a way that the code would not
need to self-regulate. Instead, the col-
lective memories would create a con-
sensus reality that, when translated
into code, would make up the phys-
ical laws, structure, environment and
framework from which everything else
in the LinkScape could be designed.
The Consensus is the subcon-
sciously agreed upon strata about how
the world should look and behave.
The Link System continuously collects
background information and data
from the minds of all connected us-
ers which it stores in the MnemoCores
and MemTowers in order to perform
constant updates to the LinkScape.
Updates and changes to the LinkScape
are almost always minor, and more
often than not they go unnoticed by
even active users. Programmers that
275
work on The Link System (TLS for
short) have voiced concerns about
what might happen to the LinkScape
if human consciousness underwent a
big change. The owners of the compa-
ny that created it have by-and-large
ignored these concerns and assured
that such changes in the perceptions
of the users will remain minor and will
not have any major adverse effects on
the LinkScape.
THANOCORES
While technological advance-
ments have extended the average lifes-
pan of your average Lemurian, none
have ever gone so far as to achieve
immortality or anything resembling
an infinite lifespan. Through the Link-
Scape, however, scientists have devel-
oped something close.
Within the LinkScape are massive,
protected servers called MnemoCores
that continuously gather data from the
minds of connected users. Dotting the
LinkScape are other types of cores as
well. These are the ThanoCores, and
they are designed to carry the entirety
of a person’s personality after death.
They allow their thoughts, memories
and personalities to continue on long
after their meat body has passed on.
While MnemoCores appear like tow-
ering, shining buildings, the Thano-
Cores are somber affairs surrounded
by silent, sullen skies and markings
of respect such as grave markers and
flowers. They are occupied by billions
of snapshots of personalities taken at
their last moments of life.
Uploading your personality to
a ThanoCore is not something to be
undertaken lightly. It is incredibly ex-
pensive and it effectively absorbs the
entire mind of the donor, leaving just
a working body behind. This upload
causes a massive amount of feed-
back to the body as well, so it should
only be undertaken by those who are
on death’s door already. Though this
process is typically undergone volun-
tarily, assassins have been recorded
using a ThanoCore upload as a means
of dispatching particularly unwanted
politicians and other dangerous indi-
viduals. It is rumored that they have
also been used to interrogate particu-
larly difficult subjects.
The ThanoCore upload is treated
as a Superb (+5) conflict that lasts a
total of 5 rounds. The subject’s body
does not need to survive the conflict in
order for her mind to be transferred.
THE POPULATE
The LinkScape is a strange and
wondrous place full of distinct and
unusual occupants. When it boils
down, almost everything you encoun-
ter within the LinkScape will be either
an Stream, Icon, Device, File, Host or
Key.
ICONS
An Icon is a visual representa-
tion of a person within the LinkScape.
What an Icon looks like depends on
the device being used to connect to
the LinkScape, the personality, pro-
gramming skill and specifications of
the user. The most common visualiza-
tion of an Icon is an optimized version
of what the user looks like in the real
world. Skill programmers can change
the look of their Icon to allow them to
appear however they want, and hack-
ers can make a bit of extra cash creat-
ing designer icons for others.
A device usually comes with a
number of pre-set icons for the user to
choose from, but almost anything in-
cluding animals, robots, undead, de-
mons, spirits and monsters are open
to being interpreted into an icon. The
Consensus Construct will ensure that
your icon is an appropriate size which
is usually between one and four me-
ters tall. The Construct will also pre-
vent users from using an icon that is
out of the bounds of reality, so a user
won’t be able to create an Icon of a
pile of hay or a snowflake. When such
users are found, which usually occurs
pretty quickly by the Construct Spi-
ders, the guardians will immobilize
the user and force the into a default
icon setting.
STREAMS
A streamlink looks much like an
opaque, intangible wire that connects
icons, devices and hosts who are pub-
licly exchanging data. Each packet of
data in a stream appears like a mul-
ticolored rainbow of light that flickers
and “rides” along these links. Typical-
ly, these streams are filtered out of a
users normal SenseView, but this fil-
tering option can be turned off. Us-
ing their Digital Eyes power, artificial
intelligences can view even hidden
streams.
FILES
A file is a catch-all term for a collec-
tion of data. This data can be anything,
from photographs, spreadsheets and
can even be used to describe artificial
277
life forms that are composed purely
of programming code. The visual rep-
resentation of a file is usually an icon
that is far smaller than a user’s icon.
File icons can usually be held in one
hand, no matter how large of a file it
is, or how much data is in it. The de-
fault visual representation of a file is
a slightly luminescent sphere, but the
representations of these icons can be
changed even by inexperienced users.
A file is always recognisable for what
it is, unless its appearance has been
changed or hidden in some way.
DEVICES
A device is an icon that represents
real world devices that are connected
to the LinkScape. They can be anything
from hand-held CommLink devices to
entire connected airships and entire
digital storefronts where a digital user
can order exotic fish and spices from a
distant shoreline. Much like icons and
files, a device’s icon usually looks like
the device it represents, but creativity
is often utilized by software engineers.
The Celestial City Zepplin, for exam-
ple, is famous for its appearance as a
giant blazing star that streaks across
the digital skies like the chariot of a
long-forgotten god.
HOSTS
If the LinkScape is the universe,
then a host is a planet. Each host is a
virtual location within the LinkScape,
constructed from the very stuff that
makes up the LinkScape itself. When
viewing a host from the outside, such
as the commonality of the LinkScape,
they appear much like featureless,
metallic orbs with various hard-link
streams connecting the host to every-
thing outside of itself.
A host’s interior is almost always
bigger on the inside than it is on the
outside and the design and appear-
ance inside of a host is regulated by
the admins of that particular host. Due
to the self-regulating nature of the
interior of a host can have any set of
physical rules the admin chooses, and
it can appear in any way that it is pro-
grammed to. The regulations of user
icons is also self-regulated, and may
not conform to the normal laws of the
LinkScape. The interior of a host can
be anything the administrator choos-
es. Anything can exist inside of a host,
from a strange planet of weird weath-
er patterns and diamond rain, a small
diner that smells like tobacco smoke
and perfume and always has a digi-
tally rendered pianist playing northern
jazz. While many hosts refrain from
deviating too far from Lemurian phys-
ics and appearances, some truly cre-
ative hosts can and do exist if one is
clever enough to find them.
KEYS
The LinkScape and it’s Guard-
ians keep track of every user that is
connected at all times. Admins and
Guardians can detect illegal activities,
unauthorized connections and irreg-
ular icon usage among many other
things. It does so through the LinkID,
a unique set of letters and numbers
personally assigned to a particular
user and the device they are using to
connect. A LinkID is normally not vis-
ible to others, but when they are seen
they are represented by some kind of
physical marking such as a tattoo, a
bit of discolored fur or other visually
appropriate feature. While unobtru-
sive, they are prominent enough to be
visible by anyone with the means to
view it.
LinkIDs are assigned, exchanged
and used in return for legal goods and
services within the LinkScape during
every moment of every day. They are
used to make communications to a
remote user such as text messages
and even voice and video recordings.
LinkIDs are also purchased and sold
just as often are for for more clandes-
tine purposes.
279
CUSTODIANS
Located within the LinkScape are
several constructs designed either by
the engineers who maintain the Link
or by the Link Construct itself. Each
one has a specific custodial function.
Some maintain the Link by eradicating
erroneous or redundant code while
others forcibly disconnect illegal Link-
IDs. While they may share similarities
with the artificial life found in Lemuria,
these are not self-aware beings. They
are simply extensions of the Link.
These Custodian Programs are like or-
gans and limbs of the Link, and they
act only as it desires - if the Link could
be said to have desires at all.
Due to the custodian’s intimate
link with the MnemoCores, the more
users that interact with the LinkScape,
especially those who interact with cus-
todians, the more varied, integrated
and detailed the custodians become.
There are three main types of cus-
todians, with several variations and
subsets between them. They are the
Guardians, Cleaners and Engineers.
If the Link were a living organ-
ism, the Guardians would be the white
blood cells. Guardians are the war-
riors, sentinels and soldiers of the
LinkScape. They are the first to stream
into a location when trouble arises. up trash or mopping up stains. While
They kill erroneous snippets of code, they do not fight like the Guardians
disconnect illegal users and deal with do, they are known to be the most
direct threats to the system. They act dangerous custodians in the Link-
with extreme prejudice and are capa- Scape because they are able to access
ble of hitting users with a lethal dose parts of the Link that others cannot
of biofeedback when they deem it reach. They are also capable of reach-
necessary. ing deep into the MnemoCores in or-
Engineers work alongside the der to perform their duties, which is
real world programmers in order to an ability that extends into the realm
maintain and upgrade the codework of directly connected users. Illegal us-
from inside the Link. They stream ers and careless hackers directly con-
where they are needed most, but the nected via a MnemoPort have had their
majority of them tend to congregate in minds completely wiped by a cleaner
or around the MnemoCores. The en- who was simply doing their job in rec-
gineers also have a very odd habit of ognising and deleting erroneous pro-
congregating around new ThanoCores gramming and connections.
when they pop up in the Morgues.
Seasoned users of the LinkScape have
come to call this a Procession. For this
reason, a group of engineers has come
to be called a Wake.
Users leave behind a lot of digital
trash in their wake. Cleaners, as their
name suggests, clean up the various
waste and detriment that users leave
behind. Erroneous, wasteful and re-
dundant code take up most of the
clear’s time. Visually, many look much
like a janitor might and, as they delete
and organize the code of the Link, they
appear as if they’re literally sweeping
281
Chapter Seven

Destiny

283
 Destiny is many things to many
people, but it is the Vizier that truly
knows it. Like a long lost lover, a Vi-
zier’s view of destiny is an intimate
knowledge that grows with time and,
as their power grows, their interac-
tions with it increase. Still, even to a
Vizier, parts of destiny remain a mys-
tery. Philosophical questions remain,
even though creatures exist that seem
to live alongside fate itself.
MYTH VS. REALITY
Many of the stories about the or-
igin of Lemuria, as well as where and
how the weavers originated have been
passed down verbally for thousands of
years, and was written down in only the
last hundred years or so. This lends
quite a bit of hearsay and doubt as to
the truth and accuracy of the stories
that are told in the monastic cloisters
and superstitious Lemurians, as well
as what the Viziers themselves are
taught should they be lucky enough
to encounter a mentor. Regardless of
what the truth actually is, folklore re-
mains the practice of the old and new
generations always question the ways
of their elders.
The reality is that no one is quite
sure how the viziers came upon their
power, or how destiny actually works.
Scientists among the vizier are mak-
ing constant breakthroughs regarding
their perceptions of the world around
them, but these are mere chips flaked
from the iceberg. Many viziers fear
that they may never fully understand
themselves, their power or the inter-
connected series of actions and reac-
tions that they call destiny. Still, none
would think to stop researching or
trying to discover the secrets of fate
and the origins of their power.
In a time immemorial the uni-
verse was nothing but chaos. This
chaos was birthed from an infinite ex-
panse of nothing that scientists today
reaffirm was the precursor of black
matter, a volatile material that has no
real mass, volume or energy readings
except when it comes into contact with
matter itself. The chaos that came from
the Nothing contained the fundament
of all matter as it exists today. From
that chaos came the universe as we
know it today. From the basic laws of
physical science that the Celestial City
studies and teaches, matter gravitat-
ed to matter which eventually became
Lemuria itself over billions of years.
The oldest Viziers tell a story that
is far more metaphysical in nature, but
remains in some parts very congruent
with scientific findings. When chaos
came from Nothing, it began the very
first action in a sequence of cause and
effect that eventually became destiny
as we know it today; simply a caus-
al link between action and reaction.
The great Powers at play tug on the
strings, with the weavers acting as the
zero-sum variable inside an infinite
equation of cause and effect.
What is known for certain is that
the weavers, as the New Order has
begun to call them, were like gods
among mortals. Their whim was made
writ and no power could oppose them.
The story of the Phoenix Egg, for ex-
ample, describes a different number
of moons at different times during the
birth of the Jade Emperor’s sibling’s
births, than at various stages of the
Emperor’s life and ascension to the
Chrysanthemum Throne. It is thought
that this was the work of the Weavers
and somehow, the story of the Phoe-
nix Egg has remained untarnished and
unblemished by the hands of the vi-
ziers who could change the course of
history as they pleased.
As time went on, stories of the
Weavers faded away into the annals of
time. There was a period when no
285
Vizier sightings were reported in any
recorded text. Several generations of
mortals came and went before any
other Viziers were observed work-
ing in Lemuria, and just as with their
disappearance, it is only a matter of
speculation as to why they’ve seen a
resurgence in recent years.
WHAT THE PEOPLE KNOW
There are some big truths out
there for the people of Lemuria. Su-
pernatural creatures like shifters and
vampires roam the cities and villages.
Gods and spirits maintain oversight
on even the most trivial functions of
the world. Machines are learning what
it is like to be alive. There are even
creatures that can change history and
destiny itself. What does it all mean
for your average Lemurian? Essentially
nothing.
While there are individuals that
chase down greatness and study things
that are beyond them, the population
essentially wants little else but to live
a life of peace, fill their belly and have
a roof over their head when they sleep.
Most people don’t want to know what
the world really is. Most are content
not knowing their place within it.
DESTINY IN YOUR GAME
Destiny is everywhere but, unlike
magic, there are no scientific tools or
methods that can be used to detect it.
Theoretical mathematical equations
can vaguely predict how cause might
extrapolate into effect but in the end,
the Vizier’s work is subject only to
herself and the other Viziers that can
sense and witness it. This leaves des-
tiny as an ubiquitous, if vague idea to
deal with in your game. This chapter
exists to help define and use it within
your own game.
The concept of destiny will take
two shapes in your game. The first will
be the Major Fati (Major Fate) which
will govern the direction of larger,
world-spanning events and then there
are several Minor Fati (Minor Fate),
which govern smaller much more spe-
cific events that make up the Major
Fata. This information is represented
on the Fati Sheet.
In Warsong, destiny takes on a
life of its own. This means that, like
the characters in your story, destiny
itself will have a character sheet called
the Fati Sheet. While not considered a
direct adversary or ally, the Fati Sheet
can represent circumstances that the
characters do not want to occur or
want to see come to pass.
THE FATI SHEET
The character sheet for the
plot’s destiny acts much like a char-
acter sheet in many respects, but the
GM should keep its contents a secret.
Typically, only a Vizier will be able
to discover Major and Minor Fati as-
pects, or the overall health of destiny.
That does not exclude other character
types from participating in the destiny
as it unfolds, it simply makes it more
of a mystery to them. They may never
quite know what destiny has in store
for them until it occurs.
Major Fati represents a world-al-
tering event that is destined to occur.
Essentially, the sheet’s Major Fati is
fate’s high concept for the story, and
everything that the characters do will
either work toward that end or against
it.
Minor Fati represent smaller
events that have and will occur in or-
der to bring about the event described
in the Major Fati. They act quite a bit
like aspects for the Fati Sheet in how
they are created. When writing the
Minor Fati, use a phase system much
like the character creation phases. The
first Minor Fati aspect is the Past. To
create the Past Aspect, think about
an event that recently occured, or oc-
curred long ago, that began the chain
of events that will eventually lead to
realization of the Major Fati. The sec-
ond phase is Present. For this phase,
think about what is currently happen-
ing that is contributing to the Major
Fati coming to pass. Finally, consider
an event that will put the final capstone
in the Major Fati coming to pass. The
Minor Fati act as stepping stones for
the GM to know how the Major Fati will
come to pass. Eliminating or chang-
ing these can cause destiny to be lost,
damaged or changed.
Event Extras represent people,
places and things that are integral to
the Major Fati, or exist as linchpins
to the Minor Fati. While these objects
contribute heavily to the coming of
the Major Fati, they are not required.
Still, they are important pieces of the
puzzle, and must be safeguarded if
the Major Fati should come to pass.
Event Extras could be a spear that is to
be hurled across the battlefield to fell
a general of the winning side, a dog
that leads an exile back home or even
a seemingly unimportant soldier who
will eventually rise to become a great
sage, warlord or sacrifice. If an
287
Event Extra is destroyed, the Fati Sheet
suffers a Consequence that cannot be
healed.
STRESS AND CONSEQUENCES
Destiny, like any other charac-
ter, can sustain stress damage, con-
sequences and can even be taken out.
Having destiny taken out doesn’t out-
right kill it, because the Wheel of Time
is infinite. Destiny, instead, comes
back with another Major Fati and mi-
nor fati to accompany it. The destiny
sheet is continually resurrected. Even
completing the major fati of the des-
tiny simply evolves that destiny into
something new.
ATTACKING DESTINY
There are many ways for desti-
ny to take stress and damage, but the
easiest and perhaps most straightfor-
ward way is for a Vizier to directly at-
tack it. To do so, the Vizier must fulfill
two requirements. The first is that the
Vizier must know what the Major Fati
is. The second is that she must have
access to one of the Event Extras or
some other viable, sympathetic link to
the destiny. Without a link to the Ma-
jor or Minor Fati, a Vizier simply can’t
forge the connection required to make
289
a direct attack on the threads linking
destiny to everything else. When those
two requirements have been met, she
must undergo a ritualistic pantomime
of the destruction of the Major or Mi-
nor Fati that is being attacked. During
this day-long ritual, the Vizier must
not be distracted or disrupted in any
way or the ritual will fail. At the end of
the day, the Vizier gets to make a sin-
gle attack roll with Crafts against the
destiny sheet. The destiny sheet gets
a defense roll with a base of Fair (+2).
Stress is inflicted as normal.
A Vizier using an Event Extra
connection to attack destiny directly
does not destroy the Event Extra un-
less there is a tie or failure. A tie on the
Crafts roll will inflict a Consequence
on the Extra, but a failure will destroy
it without doing any additional dam-
age to the destiny sheet.
Destiny can also be indirect-
ly attacked by attacking, destroying
or altering people or situations nec-
essary for that destiny to occur, or by
destroying or otherwise preventing
one of the destiny’s Event Extras from
fulfilling its purpose. Destroying an
Event Extra inflicts an automatic four
shifts of stress against destiny. There
are other creative methods of doing so
that do not involve destroying the Event
Extra, and a sufficient use of creativity
in changing the course of those event
extras forward the Minor or Major Fati
on the destiny sheet also inflicts a four
stress hit against the sheet. The GM
is the final arbiter of whether or not a
situation will do damage to the course
of destiny or not.
RECOVERY
Destiny cannot recover stress
and consequences normally. It takes
a Vizier to do that. Instead, Destiny
relies on Event Extras, Viziers, min-
ions and occurances to recover stress
and consequences. It is important to
note that even something as seeming-
ly trivial as stress does not necessarily
recover normally. Instead, stress will
not recover until the beginning of the
next session.
A Vizier may perform a ritual
similar to attacking in order to help
destiny recover stress and conse-
quences. If unopposed, the number of
shifts required to assist destiny’s re-
covery is equal to the level of stress
or consequence that the Vizier is try-
ing to recover. Success indicates that
the stress or consequence will heal as
normal. Succeeding with a serious
consequence may mean that the Vi- martial arts attacks, explosions, mag-
zier will have to perform a seemingly ic or other capabilities of the Vizier in
questionable act in order to set desti- question.
ny back on track. While in Loom Conflict, the ritu-
al seemingly continues as normal, but
OPPOSED VIZIERS stress and consequences will begin to
Two Viziers may be working to form on their bodies as if they were in
both attack destiny as well as defend battle normally. If a Vizier is taken out
it. The Viziers do not need to be in the of such a conflict, that character can-
same scene or in proximity to each not take part in attacks or defenses of
other in order for this battle to take the Loom until those Consequences
place, but they do need to be enacting are recovered.
the ritual on the same day. This battle
does not occur in any particular physi-
cal space. Instead, it takes place on the
metaphysical field of The Loom, where
destiny is knotted and hopelessly tan-
gled, and extends out to touch every
living thing on Lemuria.
The attacking Vizier makes an
attack as normal, and the defending
Vizier will make a defense roll with
their Crafts dice. Aspects, boosts and
other modifiers can be used to this roll
as normal, so long as it makes sense
that they apply. While this battle does
not take place in any physical context,
it is still able to apply stress and con-
sequences to the opposing character’s
sheet. Attacks and defense rolls is
made using Crafts rolls, but may take
many aesthetic appearances such as

291
Chapter Eight

Magic

293
 Those who can reach across the
gauntlet, into the world of spirits and
use their spiritual circuits to create
spells in Lemuria are called mages.
Mages founded the Five Towers, based
on philosophical precepts linking their
thoughts on magic to the spirit world
that overlaps all of Lemuria. Philoso-
phers argue that the Five Towers are
intended to mock reality, inverting and
corrupting the elements of the world
with the spirit world.
Other types of spell casters exist
as well. Hedge Magicians, for exam-
ple, are able to cast a modified version
spells, but are considered weaker than
mages and are unable to use the chi
or mana energy through circuits as the
mages do. Instead, they use the forc-
es of Lemuria, the elements and the
energies found on our plane in order
to bring about their spells. Only the
most powerful Hedge Mages are ca-
pable of producing elemental energy
from nothing.
WHAT IS MAGIC?
The average mortal has a very
skewed view of what magic is, and how
it works. If you ask five citizens to tell
you about magic, you would probably
get six different answers.
The common consensus is that magic
is the ability to make things happen
that normally wouldn’t. In that sense,
they’re not completely off, but the
truth is far more complex than that.
Becoming a mage opens you
up to the energies that exist beyond
known Lemuria. When a mage casts
a spell, their circuits act as a conduit
between Lemuria and the primordial,
creative energies called chi or mana.
They then shape that energy to fit their
desires. This is the fundamental pow-
er of the mage. Mana is the source of
their power, and also a source of great
danger.
When a mage pulls mana through
her circuit, they act as a lightning rod
to attract the energy and allowing it
to flow through them with sheer force
of will. When they do so, they have to
pull that energy across their circuit in
order to forge it into spells. This is not
without danger.
The gauntlet is a tumultuous
sea of strange, vaporous energies
designed to prevent energy from the
spirit world from reaching Lemu-
ria, and vice-versa. Mages go against
this natural order. When they use, the
mage must endure the painful defens-
es and the mutating energies of the
gauntlet. The gauntlet is quite capa-
ble of defending itself, and a care-
less mage may find broken bones and
lacerated flesh on the other side of a
spell. Furthermore, the spirit world
can shatter the minds and bodies of
the mage and hollow her out, turning
her into a shell to be inhabited by any
of the strange, alien creatures of the
spirit world.
ANATOMY OF A MAGE
When a mage opens her eyes to
magic for the first time, and learns to
cast spells, her body and soul under-
goes a fundamental change, her cir-
cuits open up within her soul and she
becomes something that is no longer
mortal.
If you were to cut open a mage
and take a look at what’s inside them,
you would be hard-pressed to find
anything different from any other
mortal. While there are exceptions,
the fact remains that by and large, a
mage appears to be more or less hu-
man. Still, one of the first things that
an outsider will notice about a mage is
their unusually long life spans. Unless
killed by external means (a scenario
that isn’t entirely uncommon), a mage
will outlive everyone they know
295
and love several times over.
Mages and physicians that have
studied this effect have a hard time
firmly grasping the reasons for this
occurrence. What they have come to
understand is that the connection be-
tween the mage and the spirit world
dilutes the effects of time on the mage.
Combined with the strength of will
and life force necessary to endure the
gauntlet and control mana, it starts to
become clear why the mages do not
die easily.
HOW IT WORKS
Naturally, a mage has a lifespan
of at least several hundred years. Un-
fortunately, many of them do not live
to see a ripe old age due to the very
nature of what they do. If their circuits
don’t kill them, another power-hun-
gry mage probably will. Still, killing a
mage is no easy task. Included in their
unnaturally long life-span is an ability
to recover from even grievous wounds.
When recovering from a conse-
quence, a mage does not need an ex-
ternal justification to heal any but the
most grievous injuries. A recovery roll
is not needed for a mage to heal a Mild
or Moderate Consequence caused by
hits from a physical source. For Severe
Consequences, a normal recovery roll
can be made or the mage can make
a Will roll to recover if external assis-
tance is not available.
SECOND SIGHT
Mortals view the world with five
senses. Everything they perceive, ex-
perience or know about comes from
using those senses. Beyond those five
senses lies an entire world that most
mortals will never know. While some
mortals might gain an idea of what
lies beneath the surface through an
acetic life of meditation, practice of
the dark arts or perhaps simply being
born with enhanced senses, it is the
mage’s “third eye” that allows them to
see what mortals cannot. A world just
beyond the grasp of mortal Lemuri-
ans, but no less real.
A mage can open their third eye
at will, but they can never be sure what
they’ll see or how deep their vision will
go. One minor distraction or faltering
in their focus if for just a moment and
the mage might peer too deeply into
the world of mana or the spirit world.
The sights they see can shatter a mind
even as strong as their own.
297
If they can successfully open
their third eye and resist the tempta-
tion to peer too deeply into what they
find there, the information learned can
be very valuable. Assuming, of course,
that the mage can make sense of what
they see. When viewing the world
through your third eye, all of the hid-
den meanings, metaphor and subtlety
in their environment becomes obvious.
Nothing is hidden. Strong feelings and
events linger in the environment like a
stain. Glimpses of the past and future
mingle with the present. A mother who
has lost her son many years prior may
not show any outward sign of the loss,
but with the third eye, a mage may see
salty tear-stains from years of sorrow,
and a heart that bleeds from a gap-
ing wound in her chest, leaving bloody
footprints in her wake. An area where
several beheadings occured might
have everything covered in a thick
sheen of blood, staining everyone and
everything that comes through the
area.
Unfortunately for the mage,
things are never straight-forward or
clear through the third eye. When the
third eye opens, it is inundated with
information. The third eye causes the
world to become brilliantly real.
Colors dance, and lights shine bright-
ly. Darkness is like ink. Magic flies ev-
erywhere in whirls of motion. And just
beyond all of this is the gauntlet, rife
with tumultuous writhing barbs. Sec-
ond Sight allows the mage a full vista
of a world not previously known to her.
It is dangerously beautiful, and look-
ing too long can become addicting.
Unfortunately, the longer you look at
the world through your third eye, the
more damaging it can be to the mind.
To the mage, the third eye is beauti-
ful, terrifying and utterly confusing. It
is also addicting.
HOW IT WORKS
In order to open her third eye,
a mage must give her undivided at-
tention and take an action to do so.
This is a challenge action undergone
completely by the mage attempting
to view the world around her with her
third eye. When she shifts her percep-
tions into the world of mana, she no
longer uses her mundane sight and is
essentially blind to the material world.
There is danger in using the Sec-
ond Sight. First, a loss of concentration
or even mere temptation can cause the
mage to peer too deeply. Peering too
deeply can cause you to see things
that cause mental hits. The temptation
to continue looking must be broken to
close your third eye as well.
Refer to the table on the next
page to see how second sight chal-
lenges work.
SECOND SIGHT: ASSESSMENT
Second Sight views the world through
a different lens. Using your third eye
does not make it any easier to obtain
information, or discern what is being
seen. Second Sight, instead, makes
it possible to gain information where
mundane means might normally fail.
Figuring out that a woman is sad be-
cause she lost her son might not be
within the scope of your character’s
investigative or empathic abilities, but
through Second Sight, the hole in her
heart becomes obvious.
Since the Second Sight is no dif-
ferent from any other sense, the mage
must still assess what she experiences
and be able to obtain the information.
Second Sight merely allows justifica-
tion to exist where there may not have
been justification before. While her
third eye is open, the mage must still
make an overcome action using the
 SECOND SIGHT CHALLENGE

1. Take an action and declare

opening your third eye. Opening the
third eye requires a Will roll of at
least Average (+1) to succeed.
2. The mage must make an
appropriate skill roll to try to as- appropriate skill for the job.
sess what they’re looking for from
what they actually see. Investiga- SECOND SIGHT: WILL MODIFIERS
tion would be used to try to look for The following are examples of
clues or evidence, while Empathy modifiers the GM can apply to the Will
would be used when attempting to roll to look away, or the shifts added
figure out why someone is express- when the third eye is closed:
ing a strange emotion.
3. Make a Will roll in order to •Each failure to Look Away: +1.
close your third eye. This action is •Being wounded (taking physical
called Looking Away. Distractions stress or consequences): +1 per shift.
increase the difficulty. Failing this •Area is particularly close to the
roll causes you to become enthralled gauntlet or spirit realms: +1 to +4.
in Second Sight and unable to close
your third eye. DETERMINE DAMAGE
4. Defend against mental hits The Other Realms are like an on-
from the Second Sight. This is an ion, and the longer you use Second
defend action using Will against an Sight, the more layers of the onion
attack of Average (+1). The more are peeled away and the more cha-
the mage fails to pry her third eye otic, beautiful, and mentally damag-
from Second Sight and Look Away, ing the visions become. At first, Sec-
the more harmful the visions be- ond Sight reveals the first layer which
come. Every failure increases the is the magical overlay of the Mage’s
shifts of the mental attack by +1. surroundings. Metaphors, magic and
This damage is rolled as a single hit, supernatural occurrences are revealed
modified by how many attempts the in brilliant, vivid color. Auras can be
mage made to close her third eye. visible at this level. The longer one
5. Once the mage has closed uses Second Sight, the more the Other
her third eye and regained mundane Worlds are revealed to the mage. At
sight, she must make sense of the first, deeper mysteries are revealed
swirling metaphors she has seen. to the mage. Then, the Real is peeled
Make a Knowledge overcome action away to reveal the roiling seas
to try to make sense of what you’ve
seen, and gain genuine, useful in-
formation from the visions. The dif-
ficulty is usually Fair (+2), but can
increase if more complex informa- 299
tion is sought out.
of gauntlet beyond. Continuing to use
Second Sight will eventually unveil the
mind-shattering spirit world.
As the mage closes her Third Eye
and Looks Away, the visions she has
seen take their toll on the mind of the
mage. Confusion, metaphor and rev-
elation combine in the Mage’s mind,
creating a clash of thoughts that re-
sults in painful hallucinations and
backlash that causes real damage to
the Mage’s Psyche.
The mage must roll Will as a de-
fend action against a modified attack
rating using the base damage plus all
applicable modifiers. If the passive
attack succeeds, then the remaining
shifts are applied as mental damage
to the mage.
NAMING SIGHT CONSEQUENCES
The Second Sight can bend the
mind and warp perception of reality.
When a mage, or anyone using Second
Sight, takes enough shifts to acquire
a consequence as a direct result of
Second Sight, the names of the conse-
quences should reflect the shattered
mind of the victim. Second Sight can
inflict hallucinations and insanity, but
can also cause the victim to become
hopelessly addicted to Second Sight,
withdraw from reality or become care-
less about the sanctity of life.
Mild Second Sight consequenc-
es bring the character a little closer to
madness, but will not completely de-
void her of sanity or compassion, or
bring her hopelessly into the clutches
of insanity.
Moderate Second Sight conse-
quences represent fairly serious reper-
cussions involving Second Sight, and
the madness it inflicts. These conse-
quences will require effort to recover
from because they are deep, psychic
wounds in the mind.
Serious Second Sight conse-
quences are crippling, and completely
mind-altering forms of psychic injury.
They may turn you into a person that
you don’t recognise or completely al-
ter your perceptions or inflict terrible,
constant hallucinations.
PURPOSEFULLY PEERING
Regardless of the psychologi-
cal stress and danger of using Second
Sight, there are Mages who sometimes
use it to purposefully peer into the
Other Worlds. Why anyone would be
that crazy is up for conjecture, but the
fact is that it is sometimes done and
the mage is never quite the same
afterward. The Other Worlds exist as
places outside our known and famil-
iar reality. While it’s not outside our
universe altogether, these places are
mild-alteringly chaotic. To peer at
them willingly is the errand of the tru-
ly brave, or the entirely foolish.
Still, using your Second Sight to
view the Other Worlds comes with its
benefits. The spirit world can bestow
great insight and wisdom, at the cost
of sanity. Gazing into the Other Worlds
can also allow the mage to cast spells
far more powerful than she may have
otherwise been able to cast.
HOW IT WORKS
The mage can gain a massive
amount of information through view-
ing the Other Worlds, especially the
mirror-image spirit world. For every
turn that the mage spends peering
into the spirit world and doing nothing
else but absorbing what it shows her, a
mage will gain a Situation Aspect with
two free invokes. These Situation As-
pects can be “saved” for a later time,
and represent the nonlinear nature
of time in the Other Worlds, showing
the mage something that may come
to pass later or offering some kind of
knowledge that the mage may not
301
understand until the time comes for
her to understand it and put that in-
formation to use.
OTHER USES
For a wise mage, peering into the
other worlds is a foolish act to be re-
served for times when the act is only
truly needed. The Second Sight does
have other more minor effects that
can be used with relatively little dan-
ger, especially compared to its main
use. First, a mage with an active cir-
cuit can feel the auras of others, judge
their relative power levels and under-
stand her surroundings more accu-
rately than humans. When attempting
to judge whether or not an individual
has been affected by the supernatural
or possesses an open circuit or deter-
mine a spell that has been cast, the
mage may use her Will instead of Per-
ception.
CIRCUITS
Magic is carved into the mage’s soul
from the moment that she opens her
eyes to the mana all around her. The
markings on her soul define what cat-
egories of magic that the mage can tap
into in order to create effects, allowing
her to tap into her own life force
to use as a conduit between the world
of mana and the physical world. These
markings are called circuits. They act
as a kind of spiritual nervous system,
connecting the mage’s brain to the
mana in the world around her. While
it is a common mistake to think that
circuits are a part of the mage’s body,
since they require biological energy (a
living creature) to function, this is not
exactly true. Still, if the area on the
mage’s body where a circuit is located
becomes too damaged, or removed,
then the circuit is irrevocably cut off
from the mage and may never be used
again. Minor injuries such as battle
wounds, punctures, burns and even
the piercing shrapnel of a blast shot
is not enough to damage a circuit and
cut off its power. Permanent damage
to a circuit is only caused when the
limb is removed, or the mage sustains
damage to the entire nervous system
that renders the location of the circuit
useless in some way. No force in Le-
muria can repair a damaged circuit.
Each circuit is as unique as the
individual to whom it belongs, but
they always tap into known categories
of spellcasting magic. While circuits
are normally invisible to the naked
eye, when the mage casts a spell her
markings become immediately visi-
ble as the circuits flow with mana. The
more mana devoted into a spell, the
brighter and more noticable the circuit
becomes. Some mages might be able
to recognise the individual’s circuits
and their capabilities if the mage is fa-
miliar with the particular style, tradi-
tion or category of magic being used.
Mages are almost always born
with their circuits, just like any other
vital organ. They develop over time,
like the brain or muscle tissue. Still,
some mages gain their circuits through
artificial methods or even through in-
fernal pacts or dark magic. A circuit
can also be created in a human when
a sufficiently powerful mage forms a
spiritual bond with a human, called a
Soul Link, and transfers a part of her
circuit to the new mage. The donat-
ing mage loses that part of her circuit
forever, but the new mage may learn
to use and grow their new circuit as
any other mage. This process is not
easy and, just as with any other or-
gan transplant, carries risks inherent-
ly associated with the transfer. Many
careless mages have been destroyed
during this act. Rarer still, some hu-
mans seem to spontaneously develop
circuits. These can come as gifts from
303
powerful spirits, latent ability or even
spontaneous genetic mutation.
Just as with the third eye, a mage’s
circuit is not necessarily a natural oc-
currence within the body or soul of the
mage. New circuits can cause extreme
pain, numbness or other maladies for
the mage who develops them. Even
old, seasoned circuits can be over-
loaded and cause injury to the caster
if she is not careful with her body and
pushes it too far with her magic.
Circuits are often “closed” in a
mage’s soul until they are ripped open
with an influx of chi or mana. This is
an exceedingly painful experience
with long-term effects on the mage.
Fortunately, these lingering effects
are usually shed with time and rest. It
seems that the older a person is when
her circuits are first opened, the more
painful and traumatic an experience it
will be. Once opened, however, a cir-
cuit is henceforth under the command
of the mage and can immediately be
used to cast spells and harness mana.
CIRCUIT TYPE AND RANK
It is a known fact that mages
agree on very little. Further, outsider
mages that are not a member of the
Five Towers hold a distinct enmity
toward the order, considering them
directly under the heel of the emper-
or. Outsiders see them as using mag-
ic not for its true purpose, but in or-
der to further the ideals and power of
the Jade Emperor. Through all of that,
the Five Towers have made significant
contributions to mages both of the
order and outside of it.
One such contribution is the tax-
onomy of magic, and the circuits used
to cast spells. Over lifetimes of study,
the scientific minds of the Five Towers
were able to divide all known circuits
into five distinct categories called No-
ble Parameters and further divides
them by power levels into ranks. Rank
can be viewed on a circuit by the
amount of detail and intricacy in the
circuit when it is visible, such as when
a mage harnesses mana through their
circuit to cast a spell.
Circuits are categorized into five
circuit types. Each circuit type has its
own governance and each is defined
by the types of spells that can be cast
through them. A circuit’s relative pow-
er level is ranked A through E, with A
being the strongest and F being the
weakest. While the nature of magic
tends to push any boundary presented
to it, this taxonomy has become the
common means of determining which
circuits can be used to create which af-
fects. Even so, rumors of Omega class
ranking, as well as a sixth circuit type
still abound, though the Five Towers’
official position is that they no longer
exist, but a sixth type may have been
a remnant of a previous world that no
longer exists.
NOBLE PARAMETERS
Every known circuit can be di-
vided into one of five Noble Parame-
ters. The original names of these cir-
cuits has been lost with the language
that was used to create them, but their
definitions remain the same. Each type
has a governing body of magic. While
the effects of these circuits are as var-
ied as the mages that can cast them,
their effects can be placed in broad
categories called Noble Parameters.
The First Circuit governs the
ability to shape and draw mana. It’s
name, roughly translated from a dead
tongue, means “Something from noth-
ing”, but another translation might
mean “materialize nothing”, ascrib-
ing to the strange ability of the First
Circuits to expand on the concept of
nothingness, and the rejection of the
Void.
305
The Second Circuit governs light,
color and sound. Its name translates
to “kaleidoscope”, and for good rea-
son. It manipulates colors and light,
and can alter the effects of sounds as
well as sight. Perhaps coincidentally,
it is this circuit that also allows move-
ment between Other Worlds.
The Third Circuit’s name means
“Future Sight”, but this is not neces-
sarily an accurate representation of
the circuit’s use. Instead, modern magi
have altered the word slightly so as to
mean “Manifesting Soul.” The Third
Circuit governs magic that relates to
the mind and the soul. It can be used
to heal and soothe, as well as to shat-
ter, manipulate and destroy. Strong
uses of this circuit allow the mage to
extend her soul into other places, and
even materialize it.
The Fourth Circuit derives its
name from the name of the last man-
ifestation of the world. True to its
moniker, the Fourth Circuit governs
manipulation of matter. Strangely, this
magic also has other uses that confuse
and confound the Five Towers and do
not seem to fit its name or its main
uses.
The Fifth Circuit’s name derives
from concepts of time and foresight
but, strangely, seem to be closely as-
sociated with decay and consumption.
While it has uses in manipulating time
itself, it is also a deadly circuit, as its
uses can expand on and inflict death
and decay.
CASTING SPELLS
A mage can only summon and
use an amount of mana per ex-
change equal to her Will plus her Phy-
sique score, per exchange. This is the
mage’s Mana Pool. This means that a
mage can cast more than one type of
spell at once, so long as she has the
mana dice to do so.
When a mage casts a spell, it
is called evocation. The mage chan-
nels her own mana, life energy, or chi
through her circuits. The mage then
shapes the mana into real magical ef-
fects, or empower their own abilities
with the power. Once this circuit is
charged with energy, usually with the
help of a few words, gestures or other
magical trappings, the mage uses their
force of will to create effects through
the filter of those circuits. These abil-
ities can range anywhere from blast-
ing a beast with a massive fireball, or
wrenching control of someone’s body
from their mind and using it like a
puppet.
Drawing energy through a cir-
cuit is always a dangerous proposi-
tion. Messing up a spell too badly can
create effects that were unintended.
Overpowering your spells can burn
out those circuits as well as your ner-
vous system, wrack your mind, destroy
your body or even hollow you out from
the inside. The power of mana is never
to be taken lightly. Even a successful-
ly cast spell can inflict damage to the
mage’s psyche, as the mage’s mind is
still housed inside the brain-meats,
and the Lemurian brain and body is
not equipped to handle the vicissi-
tudes of spell-casting.
If a mage expends more mana
than her circuit can handle, she must
make a Will or Physique roll with a pas-
sive difficulty equal to the amount of
mana she channelled over her circuit’s
limit. If she fails the roll, she takes an
automatic consequence.
OVERCLOCKING THE CIRCUIT
Second sight allows a mage to
cast far more powerful spells and pick
apart the energies the want to grasp
in order to create intricate mandalas
of power to enhance her own circuits.
While peering into the Other Worlds, a
 HOW TO OVER-CLOCK
1. Determine which spell
you want to cast. This must be a
known spell.
2. Determine the number of
mana dice you must devote to
the spell. If a spell has a cost,
those dice are subtracted from
your total mana pool before any
mana dice are devoted to roll-
ing against the difficulty of the
spell. Remember that a mage
can only safely empower a spell
with a number of total mana dice
equal to or less than her circuit
limit. This includes cost as well
as the number of mana dice she
will roll against the difficulty of
the spell.
3. Roll the number of de-
voted mana dice against the
difficulty. If the shifts equal or
exceed the difficulty, then the
spell is cast. If the number of
shifts is less than the difficulty
of the spell, then the spell either
fails or may succeed at a serious
cost.
307
mage can “overclock” a spell by suc-
ceeding a Will roll with a +0 passive
resistance. If the roll succeeds then
the mage can add four extra mana to
her pool, plus a number of shifts she
acquired in the roll. These power shifts
can exceed the normal maximum of
power shifts that the mage can nor-
mally use by her circuit rank.
Overclocking a circuit is not
without extreme risk. Conjuring more
mana than your circuit can handle can
burn the circuit out completely and
even destroy the mage. Any time a
mage summons forth more mana than
her body can handle, she takes on an
automatic consequence.
CIRCUIT SCORES
A circuit’s rank determines how
many mana that can safely be chan-
nelled through it per spell.
Circuit Class Mana Limit
Class E 3
Class D 5
Class C 10
Class B 18
Class A 25
SPELLS
In order to cast a spell, a mage
must know it first. In order to learn
a spell, the mage must spend time
learning its principles of the spell
from a teacher or a written version of
the spell. In addition, the mage’s cir-
cuit must have an equal or higher rank
than the spell the mage intends to
learn.
Cost refers to the amount of
mana a mage must invest in order to
cast the spell. These dice are lost when
the spell is cast and may not be used
to improve the spell, or rolled in any
other way. In this way, the mage must
use the remainder of her mana pool in
order to roll the dice required to meet
its difficulty.
Accelerate Thought
Cost: 1
Difficulty: +1
Noble Perimeter: Third
Rank: E
Description: The mage is capable
of increasing the speed of her own
thoughts.
Effect: This spell effectively divides
the time it takes to solve a problem
by three. During extended challenge
rolls, the mage is capable of making
three rolls in a single round.
Aero Slash
Requirement: Invisible Air
Cost: 1
Difficulty: +1
Noble Perimeter: First
Rank: D
Description: The compressed air
around an object becomes a danger-
ous gust.
Effect: By releasing the compressed
air created by the Invisible Air spell,
the mage is capable of unleashing a
devastating ranged attack. This spell
automatically dismantles the Invisi-
ble Air spell that has been cast. The
mage may make a melee combat at-
tack with a bonus to hit as well as to
weapon damage equal to the number
of shifts on the activation roll beyond
the spell’s difficulty. This attack has a
range of one. If the activation roll suc-
ceeded with style, the range of Aero
Slash becomes two.
Alteration
Cost: 1
Difficulty: +1
Noble Perimeter: Fourth
Rank: E
Description: This spell creates minor
changes in a target material.
Effect: Once successfully cast, this
spell allows a mage to place an aspect
onto an object or change an aspect of
an object to something else. This spell
is also able to increase a weapon or
piece of armor’s capabilities. Through
the use of this spell, you can add one
weapon damage or one point of armor
to a piece of equipment. This effect
lasts for one session or until disman-
tled.
Bolt
Cost: 1
Difficulty: +0
Noble Perimeter: First
Rank: E
Description: You are able to fire a bolt
of energy at your target.
Effect: You can make a ranged at-
tack using a bolt of pure mana. This
is considered a magical attack with a
damage rating equal to the number of
mana dice devoted to the spell.
Boundary Layer
Cost: 3
Difficulty: +3
Noble Perimeter: First
309
Rank: C
Description: The mage is able to cre-
ate a new dimensional layer that is
magically protected from the outside
world.
Effect: This spell creates a Block around
up to one zone per shift on the activa-
tion roll that prevents anyone except
the mage from moving into or out of
the layer. In order to pierce through
the layer, a character must reach the
layer’s edge and perform an overcome
action at a difficulty posed by the layer
itself. The difficulty rating is equal to 5
plus the number of shifts beyond the
difficulty that the mage accrued when
casting the spell. The layer is always a
sphere that extends outward from the
mage and solidifies once it reaches its
maximum radius. The radius can be as
small as the mage prefers, or reach its
maximum radius of one zone per shift
on the activation roll.
Burning Blood
Cost: 6
Difficulty: +5
Noble Perimeter: Third
Rank: B
Description: You are able to transmute
blood into a highly flammable sub-
stance.
Effect: With a successful casting of
this spell, the target’s blood becomes
highly flammable. This does not cause
any undue harm for the victim out-
right. Her blood is still able to trans-
port air and nutrients to her body as
normal. The problem comes when she
bleeds. Exposure to air will cause her
blood to erupt in flames, and combust
until there is no more fuel. When the
victim takes at least one physical slot
of stress from a weapon that would
cause bleeding, or a consequence from
a weapon that normally would not, she
begins to bleed. When this occurs, she
takes on a “Fiery Wound” aspect. This
aspect makes an attack against the
victim every turn with a bonus equal to
the amount of stress and consequenc-
es she has sustained. In addition, there
is a chance that the flames might ig-
nite inside her blood vessels as well.
Each turn the victim sustains the Fiery
Wound aspect, she must make a Phy-
sique roll. If she scores Terrible (-2) or
worse, then the fire ignites the blood
inside her, and she suffers an imme-
diate +6 passive attack that she can
only defend against with her Physique.
Being taken out in this way automat-
ically kills the character. This spell is
the embodiment of the mage’s hatred
for the target and can only be cast on
an individual that the mage truly hates.
Additionally, this spell takes a toll on
the mage who casts it as her hatred
consumes her. She takes an automat-
ic Consequence at the lowest available
level as her hatred becomes tangible
through her circuits and eats her alive
from the inside.
Command
Cost: 2
Difficulty: +2
Noble Perimeter: Third
Rank: C
Description: A mage is able to use this
spell to issue a command that must be
obeyed.
Effect: A mage issues a command of
a single word or a short phrase bol-
stered by the mana used in this spell.
This spell makes the command im-
possible to ignore. So long as the acti-
vation roll exceeds the Will of the tar-
get, the command cannot be ignored
and must be obeyed to the best of the
target’s ability. This spell cannot im-
pose a command that would be direct-
ly physically harmful or lethal to the
target, such as jumping off a building
or cutting their own throat. The spell
cannot cause the victim to obey a
command that is physically impos-
sible, either. This spell lasts a num-
ber of rounds equal to the number of
shifts rolled during activation. When
the spell ends, the target becomes im-
mediately aware that her behavior was
controlled by supernatural means but
may not be able to identify the source
of the compulsion.
Consciousness Transfer
Requirement: Shared Perception
Cost: 5
Difficulty: +4
Noble Perimeter: Third
Rank: C
Description: You are able to project
your consciousness into inanimate
objects, and even into other minds.
Effect: When this spell is successful-
ly cast against a willing participant,
the spell’s activation roll is all that is
required to cast the spell. If the vic-
tim is unwilling, the target is allowed
a Will defense roll in order to prevent
the consciousness from entering into
hers. If the activation roll is greater
than the target’s Will roll, she trans-
fers her consciousness into the victim.
If the target has self-awareness or a
soul, then control of her body remains
with the original occupant but the
311
mage is able to delve into the mind of
the victim and acquire even the deep-
est secrets withheld by the victim.
When this spell is used on an inani-
mate object or a familiar, the mage is
able to control them as if they were
his own body. The object must have
the ability to control its own move-
ment in order for the mage to suc-
cessfully move. During the time in
which her consciousness is projected,
being disturbed in any way will jolt
her consciousness back to her body.
If the mage’s body dies while her con-
sciousness is projected, her mind will
remain projected for a little while, but
will slowly fade away and die as well.
Consciousness Transfer
Cost: 1
Difficulty: +1
Noble Perimeter: First
Rank: D
Description: Through your use of
mana, you are able to negate another
mage’s spell.
Effect: With this spell, you are able
to nullify the spell effects of another
mage’s spells, or active effects. During
a countermagic spell, you make a di-
rect attack against the other mage’s
mana, attempting to disrupt her
circuit as the spell is cast. This an all-
or-nothing event. The counterspell-
ing mage rolls her activation and must
achieve a number of shifts above ac-
tivation roll of the target spell. If the
spell’s activation shifts are exceeded,
then the spell fails and has no effect.
The lost spell loses all mana devot-
ed to it as well. When countermagic
is used against a sustained effect, the
counterspell’s difficulty increases to
three and the activation cost increases
to two. A mage who wants to counter
a spell must have a circuit with a rank
equal to or greater than the rank of
the spell she wants to counter.
Dimensional Refraction
Cost: 7
Difficulty: +3
Noble Perimeter: Second
Rank: C
Description: By tearing open a hole in
the wavelengths of the material world,
the mage can view and interact with
Other Worlds.
Effect: This spell opens a vista of an-
other dimension of existence, or Other
World. The mage can see and interact
with creatures, objects and events in
those worlds but is not considered to
have travelled through to those
313
worlds.
Flash Displacement
Cost: 1
Difficulty: +1
Noble Perimeter: Fourth
Rank: C
Description: This spell causes one ob-
ject to “switch out” for another.
Effect: This spell allows the mage to
switch out one material for another
similar material. The mage may switch
out one cubic foot of material per two
additional mana dice devoted into the
spell. This spell must replace objects
of similar or lesser complexity. For
example, an automobile engine can
be replaced with a large burster fire-
arm, but a block of wood cannot be
replaced with a firearm. If the mage
possesses the Third Circuit, she can
replace one thought for another, ef-
fectively manipulating the victim into
thinking something different than she
had previously. Thought displacement
is a Class B spell, and requires four
additional mana dice devoted into it,
and raises the difficulty to Good (+3).
Forge Ether Grain
Cost: 10
Difficulty: +5
Noble Perimeter: First
Rank: A
Description: You are capable of forg-
ing an Ether Grain, a mote of pure
mana no larger than a small pebble.
Effect: This spell takes a full scene to
cast. It solidifies the mana exerted into
a small stone made of pure mana that
the mage can use as a store for pow-
erful spells, and even draw upon the
invested mana when casting spells. An
Ether Grain can store as much mana
during creation as the mage is willing
to place inside it. All of the mana, in-
cluding what is devoted as cost as well
as what is rolled, is stored within the
stone when it is successfully created.
With an Ether Grain in hand, a mage
can draw from the store of mana held
in the Ether Grain in order to bolster
spells, using the mana from the Grain
to devote to the cost or even mana
dice to roll without overclocking her
circuit.
Invisible Air
Cost: 0
Difficulty: +2
Noble Perimeter: Second
Rank: E
Description: Through a series of su-
per-compressed layers of air, you can
render a small object invisible.
Effect: This spell renders one cubic
foot of material completely invisible,
but still tangible and tactile to the
touch. The nature of the compressed
air gives a weapon or armor bolstered
by this spell a +1 armor or damage
rating.
Memory Alteration
Requirement: Command
Cost: 5
Difficulty: +7
Noble Perimeter: Third
Rank: C
Description: Through the use of this
spell, a mage can modify, erase or add
memories that the victim thinks are
his own.
Effect: This spell is cast upon a victim
that the mage must touch. While this
spell is being cast, which takes a full
scene, the victim is completely paci-
fied for the entire time so long as the
activation roll succeeds. During the
scene, the mage delves into the mind
of the victim and is able to shape, steal
or implant memories at her whim. This
spell does not allow telepathic contact,
so memories must be shaped verbally
or through another form of commu-
nication that the target understands.
The mage can see the target’s affected
memories in her own mind when she
shapes them. During the scene, the
mage rolls her Rapport and the num-
ber of acquired shifts determines the
amount of detail and accuracy that the
mage is able to implant in the sub-
ject. After the alteration, the subject’s
mind will always attempt to reject the
false memories. The more incoherent
the false memory, the more the mind
will attempt to shatter it. Losing a few
hours will not cause immediate alarm,
but larger gaps in memory will leave
a subject to dwell on them until she
either assimilates them, or shatters
them. During the assimilation pro-
cess, the subject rolls Will each time
she wakes. She must accumulate twice
the number of shifts as the Rapport
roll in order to shatter the false mem-
ories. Doing so successfully will not
allow her to know why the memories
were placed there or how. Succeed-
ing the Will roll with style allows her to
gain vague recollection of the casting
of the spell upon her.
315
Minor Alteration
Cost: 1
Difficulty: +0
Noble Perimeter: First
Rank: E
Description: Through the powers of
your mana, you are able to seal mi-
nor wounds or calm an addled mind.
Effect: For every shift gained in the
spellcasting roll, the mage is able to
heal one level of stress in herself or
another living being immediately. This
spell does not recover Consequences.
Regenerative Boundary Layer
Requirement: Boundary Layer Cost: 3
Difficulty: +4
Noble Perimeter: Fifth
Rank: B
Description: The mage is able to bless
the boundary layer as she creates it,
giving herself a number of additional
benefits.
Effect: This spell augments the Bound-
ary Layer spell, bestowing upon it a va-
riety of beneficial effects for the mage.
Within the Boundary Layer, the mage
is capable of teleporting by stepping
into shadows and stepping out of an-
other within a number of meters equal
to three times her Will score. Within
the Boundary Layer, the mage also
recovers all of her stress at the begin-
ning of each of her turns. The Block
that the Boundary Layer spell creates
also becomes immune to mundane,
kinetic attacks like bolts and unarmed
attacks.
Shared Perception
Requirement: Accelerate Thought
Cost: 3
Difficulty: +0
Noble Perimeter: Third
Rank: D
Description: Largely used in scouting
operations, this spell allows a mage to
share the sensory inputs of a willing
participant.
Effect: Once the spell is successfully
cast, the mage essentially feels, sees,
hears, smells and tastes everything
that the target does. This additional
input makes the mage’s own percep-
tions far more difficult to manage. All
perception rolls are made at a +4 dif-
ficulty.
Spatial Crush
Cost: 3
Difficulty: +3
Noble Perimeter: Fourth
Rank: D
Description: With a clenched fist, the
mage causes the space around a target
to collapse inward, effectively crush-
ing that space and everything inside it.
Effect: This spell creates a solid barri-
er of mana around the spell’s affected
area, and forces it to crumple in on it-
self. This can destroy most inanimate
objects, and living creatures caught
within the crushing weight of this spell
will suffer a large amount of damage.
For each shift above the activation
difficulty of this spell, all living crea-
tures caught within the barrier suffer
two physical stress per turn. The spell
lasts one round for every two shifts
on the activation roll. While within the
spell, those inside cannot be damaged
by outside sources.
Thought Partition
Requirement: Accelerate Thought
Cost: 2
Difficulty: +0
Noble Perimeter: Third
Rank: D
Description: The mage is capable of
partitioning his thought process into
separate, independent compartments.
Effect: Normally, people only have
enough room in their mind to focus
on one thought process at a time. With
this spell, a mage can take on two dif-
ferent thought processes at once. For
each partition beyond the first, add
+2 difficulty and +2 cost. Essential-
ly, the mage can perform two tasks at
once without penalty, whether that be
writing two different letters at once,
work out multiple math problems at
the same time or even hold two con-
versations without difficulty.
Shared Perception
Requirement: None
Cost: 1
Difficulty: +2
Noble Perimeter: Fourth
Rank: D
Description: The mage is able to
change the chemical structure of a
given material.
Effect: The mage can change one ma-
terial into something chemically sim-
ilar with this spell. Essentially, the
mage can turn one kind of metal into
another, such as turning lead or steel
to gold. Mechanically, this spell can be
used to harden to soften a material.
For each shift above the difficulty can
add to or subtract the armor or weap-
on rating of an object.
317
Wind King’s Speed
Requirement: Invisible Air
Cost: 3
Difficulty: +1
Noble Perimeter: First
Rank: D
Description: By discharging invisible
air, the mage is able to vastly acceler-
ate her movement.
Effect: A mage’s speed is vastly and
suddenly increased by this spell. She
can move up to two zones in a single
turn instead of just one. In addition,
she can propel herself upward up to
ten times her jumping height.
THAUMATURGY
Considered a lesser form of mag-
ic, thaumaturgy is the act of creating
things that might be possible through
scientific means through supernatural
methods instead. While the process of
thaumaturgy is considered magical,
the end results usually are not. schools
of Thaumaturgy include Alchemy, Ar-
tifice, Astrology, Enchantment, Qaba-
lah and Transformation. Each school
consists of a set of systems that, once
performed, enforce a change in natu-
ral laws.
Thaumaturgy is not as powerful
or as diverse as true magic. Each
school follows a set of predefined sys-
tems that allow the thaumaturgist to
perform very specific tasks. Without
sufficient study and development of a
new process, the thaumaturgist may
not deviate from these systems.
Alchemy is a school that teach-
es thaumaturgists how to create use-
ful, mundane items that contain single
use effects such as exploding marbles,
mending potions or demon-holding
bags. Enchantment allows the thau-
maturgist to invest and bind mana to
mundane items, making them stron-
ger, deadlier or giving them mi-
nor function changes. Qabalah is the
school of thaumaturgy used to create
artificial familiars such as golems. It is
also used to create artificial housings
for spirits and ghosts. Transformation
thaumaturgy allows the user to make
magical alterations to herself or oth-
ers, allowing them to temporarily sur-
pass their own limitations.
ALCHEMY
In order to create an alchemical
preparation, the alchemist must know
the alchemical simulacrum of the spell
she is replicating. These preparations
are typically less powerful than their
spell counterparts. The object
used in the preparation must be small
enough for the alchemist to lift, han-
dle and manipulate without tools or
help. These preparations carry an aura
with the mana signature of its creator
which is visible in astral space or to
second sight. These preparations are
also considered to be dual-natured
until used. The object cannot already
have an aura, or any other magical ef-
fects on it when it is being prepared
alchemically.
To create an alchemical prepara-
tion, the alchemist must first choose
one of her known simulacrums. These
simalcrums have the same effects and
stat block as the spell that they copy.
These simalcrums must be learned
separately from the spell itself. Know-
ing one does not allow you to use the
other.
The alchemist must also decide
the trigger for the simulacrum. This is
an event, circumstance or action that
causes the simulacrum to activate.
This can be physical or astral contact,
a command word or even a certain pe-
riod of time.
Once the simulacrum is ready,
the object is prepared and the trigger
is decided, the alchemist must spend
one scene (perhaps more, depending
on the rank of the spell’s simulacrum)
crafting the alchemical preparation.
This time is spent drawing out al-
chemical formulae, symbols and hi-
eroglyphs, mixing materials or per-
forming whatever instructions must be
carried out according to the school’s
teaching.
Once the required time has been
spent creating the alchemical prepa-
ration, the alchemist will roll an over-
come action with her Crafts (Alchemy).
The difficulty of the roll depends on
the rank of the simulacrum being im-
parted into the object.
QABALAH
The art of creating golem and
homunculi through mystical means
is called Qabalah by the mages of the
High Towers. It is a set of procedures
that turn material ingredients into liv-
ing creatures, if but for a short period
of time.
There are generally two types of
creatures that can be created using the
art of Qabalah, the golem and the ho-
munculi. While exceptions exist, these
are the two types of creatures that
Qabalah alchemy creates. Golems are
made as servants and soldiers. They
do not possess any human amount
319
of sentience, and are poor deci-
sion-makers. They are created using
crude materials, basic tools and meth-
ods. Homunculi are more human-like
in both their creation and faculty, re-
quiring intricate, meticulate meth-
odologies. Their advanced existence
calls for a commensurate level of care
in their creation, quality materials that
include living biological material as
well as expensive tools.
A golem is created from mostly
inert materials given shape by the cre-
ator and given life purely by the system
of magic that creates them. Golems
do little to no thinking for themselves,
and obey the commands given to them
as literally as they are able. They are
simply animated materials, given life
by magic in order to serve.
A homunculus is created from a
mix of inert materials, biological ma-
terials and magic. They are far more
sophisticated than golems, and many
are capable of human thought, rea-
soning and even emotion. Depending
on how they are designed, some even
go through periods of gestation and
growth that are similar to humans.
The Created, as mages have
come to call creatures that are made
using the process of Qabalah alchemy,
are similar in many ways. They are
both given life by mana derived direct-
ly from nature itself. The soul of the
world, the Spirit World, flows through
these creatures freely, giving them the
ability to use magic far beyond the
realm of human magi. Failing to open
their circuits, or having their circuits
burned away, the power of the Created
has been a reason that more than one
alchemist has created such beings.
While it is said that a mage is a human
that uses a circuit to become a mage,
the Created are more accurately de-
scribed as circuits given human form.
Homunculi, by their very nature, are
far more capable of using magic than
their dim-witted golem cousins, but it
would seem that golems are far more
capable of handling large amounts of
mana through their circuits than ho-
munculi.
Both homunculi and golems
take on human forms. Homunculi are
far more capable of passing for hu-
man than golems however, and this
is due to the fact that homunculi take
on growth patterns similar to humans
because that is where their spark is
derived. A golem, on the other hand,
is shaped by the alchemist’s hands,
and is therefore limited by the scope
of the mage’s skill to craft their forms.
By their very nature, then, a golem can
almost never pass for human as even
the most skilled craftspersons cannot
hope to completely mimic the detail
and precision of the human form.
CREATING THE CREATED
Before a golem or homunculi can
be created using alchemy, the alche-
mist must first acquire the schematics
of their construction. The schematics
are the instructions for how to de-
sign a created, and bring it to life. The
schematics act as both an instruc-
tion book as well as a magical focus
by which the alchemist creates artifi-
cial life. Without these schematics, the
creation process is doomed to fail.
In addition to the schematics,
the alchemist must acquire the tools
and material required to construct
the creature. The types of tools and
the materials required vary based on
the type of created that the alchemist
intends to construct. The more ad-
vanced, lifelike or powerful a golem
or homunculi is, the more expensive
the tools and materials that will be re-
quired for its creation. As the saying
goes, “nothing can be gained without
equal payment”, and this is no less
true in the construction of the creat-
ed. Each schematic will include the re-
quirements for design of the created.
Each schematic will also include the
time it takes for the creation process.
Once the process is complete,
the alchemist must roll to see if she
has successfully created the creature.
This is a skill challenge that requires
success in more than one roll. To cre-
ate golems, these rolls are Knowledge
(Occult), Linguistics and Crafts. For ho-
munculi, the rolls are Knowledge (Oc-
cult), Linguistics, Medicine and Crafts.
The difficulty of these rolls are based
on the schematic that the alchemist is
employing to create the creature.
TRANSFORMATION
Augments, Thaumaturgists
skilled in the school of transforma-
tion, are a special breed of mage that,
instead of casting spells externally
through their circuits, are able to turn
their mana inward to augment and
increase their natural abilities. While
there are very few mages in Lemuria,
there are even fewer Augments. As
an Augment, you are capable of us-
ing Transformation Thaumaturgy and
Augment powers.
321
AUGMENT POWERS
Some powers must be activated
in order to operate while others are
always active. Augment powers that
need to be activated will have the re-
quirements and rolls necessary for ac-
tivation, if any. When an augment does
not have any activation requirements,
it is considered to be always active.
Instead of using mana to cast
spells, an Augment devotes her mana
pool permanently to her own transfor-
mations. Mana Pool (Will + Physique)
gives the augment a number of points
in which to spend on the following
powers.
•Adrenaline (Cost: 0.5m per lev-
el): You are able to use your adren-
aline with purpose. This power does
not require an activation roll, but you
must declare it as active in order to
use its power. You gain an automatic
+1 bonus per purchased level to your
initiative score. You can purchase a
number of levels equal to your phy-
sique score. When combat is over, you
take a mild consequence representing
the extreme fatigue as an outcome of
pumping your body full of adrenaline
for so long.
•Analyze (Cost: .5m): Your mind
is constantly sussing out logical
patterns in everything you see and
your deductive reasoning is constantly
heightened. You gain +1 bonus to all
dice rolls involving pattern recogni-
tion, analysis, puzzle solving or logic
problems.
•Animal Empathy (Cost: .5m):
Through your augmented aura, you
have gained a preternatural affin-
ity with animals. For each level pur-
chased, you gain a +1 bonus to Animal
Handling checks. You may purchase a
number of levels up to your Rapport +
Animal Handling scores.
•Astral Sight (Cost: 1m): You
must take an action and make a per-
ception roll in order to activate this
power. When this power is active, your
character is able to see incorporeal
spirits in the astral plane.
•Chi Armor (1m per level): Mana
flows around your body, protecting it
from harm. For each level of Chi Armor
an Augment has, she gains 1 point of
magical armor.
•Chi Strike (1m): Your mana flows
through your limbs and enhances
strikes with your feet and hands. Be-
cause of the mana that flows through
your strikes, your unarmed attacks
gain an additional +1 weapon dam-
age, and unarmed attacks are
considered magical attacks.
•Defensive Instincts (1m per lev-
el): Your character is blessed with the
ability to sense the ebb and flow of
battle and gains an instinctive knowl-
edge of nearby threats. For each level
purchased, the Augment gains a +1
bonus to all defense tests per level
purchased. Augments with this power
are always allowed a Perception con-
test in order to notice even magical-
ly concealed threats, so long as that
threat intends to harm the augment.
•Featherlight (2m): Your body
possesses weight as any other per-
son’s might, but your chi allows you
to move across surfaces that would
normally give under the pressure of
your steps. You can walk across a sin-
gle thread, a single sheet of paper
and even jump across drops of rain.
This does not allow you to pass over
surfaces that cannot hold any weight,
such as water. In addition, you gain a
+2 bonus to movement and jumping
rolls.
•Purge Yin Chi (.5m per level):
Mana flows through your vital organs,
assisting their natural processes. For
each level of Purge Cycle you possess,
you gain a +1 to rolls to resist toxins,
venoms and poisons.
323
 •Regenerative Chi (2m): Your
mana does not want to allow you to
perish or remain wounded. Allies at-
tempting to help you recover wounds
or heal injuries you’ve sustained gain a
+2. In addition, you only require time
in order to recover stress and conse-
quences.
•Resistant Chi (1m per level):
Your mana forcefully resists delete-
rious magical effects from outside
mana sources. For each level of Resis-
tant Chi the Augment possesses, she
gains a +1 to any roll to resist harmful
magical effects.
•Sensory Acuity (Cost .5m per
level): Your sense have become magi-
cally sharpened and you gain a +1 bo-
nus to your Perception rolls per level of
this augment. The following examples
are not exhaustive, and players are
encouraged to talk with the GM about
other possible sensory additions.
•Sensory Enhancement (Cost:
1m each) Through the power of mana,
the Augment gains sensory abilities
not normally available to humans or
even mages.
1. Wayfinder: You gain a +2 to all
rolls involving navigation. In addition,
given a turn of action, you can auto-
matically know which direction
you are facing without needing to roll,
regardless of where you are.
2. Tactile Enhancements: Your
skin is incredibly sensitive to infor-
mation received via touch. You can in-
tuitively sense imperfections such as
subtle indentations of a surface that
has had something written on a piece
of paper over top of it. Sensing these
imperfections is automatic, but a roll
to detect more information, such as
what the writing may have said, would
require a Perception challenge.
3. Thermal Vision: Your sight is
enhanced to the point where you can
see variations in heat and tempera-
ture. • Skill Enhancements (Cost: 1m
per level) Mana can contain memories
and assist the Augment’s skillset. Each
level increases a skill by one. With Skill
Enhancement, the Augment’s natural
skill maximum can be exceeded.
•Traceless Step (1m): The mana
you produce erases all evidence of your
passing. You do not leave any physi-
cal trace that you have been through
a place. Footsteps are not left in the
snow, leaves are not disturbed as you
pass and you make no noise even on
the creakiest of floors. Attempts to
notice your passing suffer a +2 diffi-
culty. Attempts to track you suffer a
+4 difficulty.
SPIRITS
The Five Towers have catego-
rized the power of a given spirit by
ranks called Classes, much like they’ve
done with the relative power of mage
circuits. Spirit class move from A to E,
with E Class being minor spirits that
barely sustain any mana at all and may
not have any sentience of their own.
A Class spirits are intensely power-
ful beings in their own right. D and E
class spirits typically cannot exist on
their own without an external source
of mana to survive, by A and B class
have been known to be capable of
surviving without an external source
or even creating mana on their own to
sustain themselves.
Spirits are normally incorporeal,
and possess that aspect for free. Some
free spirits are capable of moving from
the spirit world into the astral plane
of their own volition, but summoned
spirits are always considered to reside
in the astral plane when they are in an
incorporeal state. On rare occasions,
some free spirits exist primarily on the
astral plane.
If a spirit wants to affect anything
in the material plane, they must
325
manifest in order to do so. When mani-
fested, a spirit looks exactly like a sol-
id version of her astral or spirit world
form. While manifested, a spirit pos-
sesses the Dual Nature aspect, which
means that it exists in both the mate-
rial plan as well as the astral and spir-
it worlds simultaneously. While Dual
Natured, a spirit can perceive both of
these planes of existence at the same
time.
The appearance and other sen-
sory cues about a spirit strongly re-
flects the type of spirit it is, the mana
it uses to sustain itself and the con-
cept or object it embodies. When
summoned, spirits tend to take on
characteristics of the summoner that
they are bound to. A spirit’s size usu-
ally reflects its class. Stronger spirits,
therefor, are nominally larger than
weaker ones, but this is not always the
case. Regardless of the form a spir-
it takes, there is no mistaking a spirit
for a natural Lemurian creature, and a
mage will easily be able to identify its
nature as a spirit.
A spirit’s skills and aspects are
determined by its type, class and the
amount of power that the summoner
devoted to the spirit when it was sum-
moned. When manifested, a spirit
follows the normal rules for combat.
Spirits only have three Skills. Corpus
acts like Physique, and represents
the amount of strength and resilience
found in the “flesh” of the spirit. Force
determines the spirits overall strength
and Will represents the character’s vo-
lition. Spirits also have a mana reserve
that can be used to power the spirit’s
phantasms - supernatural powers and
abilities that the spirit can use.
SUMMONING
There are individuals in Lemu-
ria that are capable of bringing spirits
into Lemuria from the Spirit World as
familiars. This process requires a rit-
ual that takes place over the course of
a full scene, and requires several re-
quirements in order to succeed.
Summoning a spirit requires that
the summoner possess the Conjura-
tion power. Second, the summoner
must possess the true name of the
spirit to be summoned, as well as a
sacrifice equivalent to the power of
the spirit to be summoned.
Summoning a spirit is an ardu-
ous task that requires several hours
of dedicated meditation, chanting and
calling out to the spirit. Even if the
summoner is capable of this rigorous
task, there is still the task of over-
powering the spirit if it does not want
to be bound to the summoner. This
requires a clash of wills between the
summoned spirit and the summoner.
HOW SUMMONING WORKS
A summoner must prepare a ritual
space where she will not be disturbed
for the entire scene. Any disturbance
will cause a normal summoning ritual
to automatically fail. A sigil contain-
ing the true name of the spirit must
be drawn in this space. The sacrifice
given is chosen by the GM, but it must
be commensurate to the power of the
spirit, usually by their rank. The sac-
rifice must also resonate with the type
of spirit being summoned. For exam-
ple, a spirit of pain might demand a
sacrifice of blood from a living being
while a spirit of knowledge might de-
mand a rare tome.
Mechanically, summoning a spirit
is a challenge test requiring the sum-
moner to roll Summoning and Binding
in order to bring the spirit up from the
spirit world or astral world, and then
to chain the spirit to servitude through
the summoner’s will.
Once preparations are complete,
the summoner must roll her
327
Summoning skill in order to conjure
up the spirit that the summoner in-
tends to call. The passive resistance
difficulty required to successful-
ly summon the spirit is based on the
class of the spirit. After the spirit is
summoned, it is bound within the sig-
il containing its name, but only for a
short time. During this time, the sum-
moner must attempt to bind the spirit
to her will using her Binding skill. The
Binding roll is actively opposed by the
spirit’s own Will. If the summoner wins
the contest, then the spirit is bound to
the summoner’s will and will obey the
summoner. In addition, any shifts that
the summoner attains above the spir-
it’s Will roll subtracts the number of
mana required to bind it. This essen-
tially acts like extra mana to devote to
the binding. As such, if the number of
Binding shifts exceeds the mana re-
quired to summon it, then those extra
mana may be “spent” in order to give
the spirit additional powers such as
Skills, phantasms or command seals.
If the spirit wins the binding
contest, then it has the chance to es-
cape the sigil and do whatever it wants
while manifested. The spirit may roll
its Force skill with a passive difficulty
of the summoner’s Knowledge skill
rating. If the spirit surpasses the sum-
moner’s Knowledge skill then the pris-
on sigil is broken, and it may remain
manifested for the remainder of the
scene and act as it wishes. This could
spell certain doom for a summoner
that has brought an angry or particu-
larly powerful spirit into the world.
So long as the spirit remains in
the scene, the summoner may attempt
to bind the spirit even if it has broken
the sigil and escaped. As an alterna-
tive, the summoner may attempt to
send the spirit back to its home plane.
This is a passive contest involving the
summoner’s Banishing skill against a
passive difficulty equal to the lowest of
the spirit’s Corpus, Force or Will skills.
If the summoner succeeds, then the
spirit is banished to her home plane
and may not be summoned again until
the next sunrise or sunset.
Once a spirit is bound, the sum-
moner must devote a number of mana
dice or stress based on the spirit’s
rank. The number of dice or stress
devoted to the spirit in order to bind
it must equal their mana rating. This
binding is not supernatural compul-
sion, and does not alter the motiva-
tions or disposition of the summoned
spirit. While a bound spirit will not
actively attack the summoner, this
reservation is mainly due to sim-
ple self-preservation. A spirit whose
summoner has been injured or killed
will discorporate immediately and be
sent back to its home plane.
Some summoners do not possess
mana stores that they can actively tap
into. Instead, these summoners can
still summon spirits, but may do so at
the cost of their own health or sanity.
Instead of mana, a summoner may use
her own stress track in place of mana
when summoning a spirit. The spirit
uses the life forces of the summon-
er to sustain herself in the material
world. Stress and consequences that
are acquired when summoning a spir-
it do not recover until after the spirit
has been banished, and the binding is
dissolved. Then, that damage can be
recovered normally.
A summoner may also devote ad-
ditional mana or stress into the bind-
ing of a spirit in order to give it addi-
tional strength and power. Additional
mana dice or stress may be devoted to
the spirit in the following ways:
•Allot an additional two skill
points of the summoner’s choice.
•Two additional dice or stress
may allot the spirit an additional
329
phantasm.
•Two additional mana may cre-
ate a command seal.
COMMAND SEAL
When binding a spirit, a command
seal may be created that can ensure
that a spirit will do as the summoner
commands. The command seal cre-
ates a visible mark on the summoner’s
body, usually the hands or wrists. Each
mark differs in appearance based on
the individual spirit that it commands.
The summoner may create as
many command seals as she is capa-
ble of creating with her mana stores.
Each command seal allows the sum-
moner to make a single command that
the spirit absolutely must obey. When
the command seal is used, the mark
disappears from the summoner’s
body and may never be used again.
There are no rules regarding the kind
of command that can be made of a
spirit. All things, including self-harm,
mutilation or suicide are not outside
the realm of possibility. Still, the spir-
it may interpret the command in dif-
ferent ways, so clear wording of intent
should be exercised.
PHANTASMS
Accident
Skill: Force
Mana: 2
Duration: Instant
Effects: The creature with this power is
capable of causing accidents to occur
that appear to be natural occurrences.
The exact nature of the accident that
occurs is up to the GM, but it should
be based on the aspects of the scene
as well as what the target is doing
when this power takes hold. It should
be noted that this power isn’t inher-
ently dangerous and should not cause
damage to the target in and of itself.
When enacting this power, the
creature using it will roll its force in a
contest against the target’s Athletics.
If the creature wins the contest, then
the accident occurs as normal. If the
creature succeeds with style, then the
accident will not just be a small em-
barrassing incident, but something a
bit more dangerous. A spirit can use
this phantasm on a number of targets
up to their Will score.
Animal Control
Skill: Will
Mana: 2
Duration: Sustained
Effects: This phantasm allows the user
to control the behavior of an animal,
or a group of animals. The behavior
demanded by the user must be some-
thing that the animal is capable of. A
dog will be unable to open a door and
an owl would be unable to fire a bolt
gun, for example. The animal being
controlled must be within the user’s
line of sight. If the animal leaves the
user’s line of sight, control of the an-
imal is severed and it can no longer
be commanded. The spirit may con-
trol a number of small animals, such
as cats, rabbits or rats equal to three
times their Will score, and may con-
trol a number of larger animals such
as bears or wolves equal to their Will
score. Animals that have self-aware-
ness cannot be controlled in this way.
Armor
Skill: Corpus
Mana: 3
Duration: Sustained
Effects: A spirit with this phantasm
has extra armor. The form in which
this armor takes is determined by the
type of spirit and its aspects. The spir-
it gains a number of armor equal to
the number of shifts rolled to activate
this phantasm.
Binding
Skill: Corpus
Mana: 3
Duration: Instant
Effects: Whether due to sticky saliva,
webbing or some other method, the
spirit using this power can cause a
target to stick to whatever surface she
is currently touching. The target may
attempt to break free on her turn by
using an action and rolling her Phy-
sique against the spirit’s Corpus. If
the target succeeds, she frees herself.
If the target fails the contest, then she
remains immobilized until she can at-
tempt to break free again. The range
of this power depends on the method
used to bind the target, but is typical-
ly based on uninterrupted line of sight
or touch.
Compulsion
Skill: Force
Mana: 3
Duration: Instant
Effects: The spirit using this power is
able to compel a target into taking a
specific action, even if the target may
not otherwise take that action. The
spirit makes a Force contest against
331
the target’s Will. If the spirit wins, then
the target must immediately carry out
the action. The victim immediately re-
alizes that she was compelled after
the action is completed. This power
cannot be used to implant future sug-
gestions.
Concealment
Skill: Force
Mana: 2
Duration: Sustained
Effects: Spirits with this power are able
to hide themselves, others, objects
and even places from sight. Conceal-
ment adds a number of required shifts
to the passive resistance against any
Perception rolls made to find the con-
cealed target equal to the spirit’s ac-
tivation roll. The spirit may conceal a
number of human-sized targets equal
to the spirit’s Force, or an object equal
to five times the spirit’s force in square
feet.
Confuse
Skill: Force
Mana: 2
Duration: Sustained
Effects: This phantasm allows a spirit
rto render the target unable to form
coherent thoughts. The target of this
phantasm becomes forgetful, indeci-
sive and utterly confused. The spir-
it makes a Force contest against the
target’s Knowledge. A successful roll
places a negatively worded aspect on
the target indicating her confusion
that lasts for the scene.
Corrosion
Skill: Force
Mana: 2
Duration: Instant
Effects: The spirit is capable of cre-
ating an extremely caustic substance
that can be used as a weapon. Attacks
using this substance are treated as
ranged attacks using the spirit’s Force
with a range in meters equal to the
spirit’s Corpus. The substance causes
a +3 acid damage hit. The substance
can also be used to corrode materials.
Damaging Aura
Skill: Will
Mana: 4
Duration: Sustained
Effects: Upon activation of this phan-
tasm, the spirit becomes surround-
ed by a field of energy appropriate to
that type of spirit. The phantasm takes
the form of an energy type that makes
sense for the spirit. With this
phantasm active, the spirit adds its
own Corpus to the damage of all un-
armed attacks. In addition, successful
unarmed or melee attacks against the
spirit with this phantasm active must
defend against a passive attack with a
number of shifts equal to the spirit’s
Corpus.
Elemental Strike
Skill: Force
Mana: 1
Duration: Instant
Effects: A spirit with this phantasm
projects its associated element in a
blast of damaging energies. Each has a
specific type based on the spirit’s type,
so a fire spirit might launch a gout of
flame while a water spirit might slam
an opponent with a torrent of water.
The range of this attack is the spir-
it’s force in meters. It is a Force attack
versus the target’s Athletics as a de-
fense. The strike acts as a +2 weapon.
For every two additional mana spent,
the strike gains a +1 weapon bonus.
Enhanced Senses
Skill: Corpus
Mana: 0
Duration: Always Active
Effects: Once a spirit possesses this
333
phantasm, it is always active. The
spirit’s senses become augmented,
and heighten beyond that of normal
human ranges. When this phantasm is
taken, the spirit must choose the type
of sense that is augmented, such as
thermographic vision, sonar, ultravio-
let vision, etc. Once chosen, the spirit
gains a free aspect that identifies the
special sense.
Fear
Skill: Force
Mana: 3
Duration: Instant
Effects: The spirit is capable of over-
whelming the senses of the target in
order to inspire mind-bending fear in
the victim. The spirit makes a Force
contest against the victim’s Will. If the
victim fails, then she will flee from the
location of the spirit as far and as fast
as she can, whether she can sense the
spirit or not. This fear lasts for one
round per shift that the spirit gained
over the victim’s in the contest. Once
the fear fades, the memory of the fear
remains in the victim’s subconscious.
In order to return to the presence of
the spirit, the victim must make a suc-
cessful Will roll against the number of
shifts above the opponent’s that the
spirit gained from the first activation
roll.
Innate Spell
Skill: Force
Mana: As Spell Cost
Duration: Varies
Effects: The spirit with this phan-
tasm is instinctively capable of cast-
ing a single spell. The spirit possesses
through this phantasm a single spell
available to spellcasters. This spell can
be countered just like any other mage
spell, and is treated in all respects like
a mage spell as well. The only differ-
ence is that the spirit uses its Force
skill to cast the spell, and does not
need a circuit to do so.
Materialize
Skill: Corpus
Mana: 1
Duration: Sustained
Effects: Spirits from the astral or spirit
world are normally unable to affect the
material world. With this phantasm,
the spirit is capable of becoming solid
for a short period of time and may act
on the material world as if it were sol-
id. Materialized spirits have immunity
to mundane weaponry as they nor-
mally would while incorporeal.
Mimic
Skill: Will
Mana: 1
Duration: Sustained
Effects: This phantasm allows a spir-
it to imitate sounds exactly. This in-
cludes human speech, animal and
mechanical sounds. The spirit has to
have recently been exposed to the
sound in order to mimic it. In order for
someone hearing the mimic to notice
that the sound is falsified, a contest
of the spirit’s Will against the target’s
Perception must be rolled.
Mystical Armor
Skill: Corpus
Mana: 1
Duration: Sustained
Effects: This phantasm acts exactly as
the armor spell, but protects against
magical attacks as well as attacks from
the spirit world or astral plane.
Natural Weaponry
Skill: Corpus
Mana: X
Duration: Always Active
Effects: The spirit is able to take on
some form of natural weapon such as
claws, teeth, barbs and the like. This
weapon has a damage value equal
335
to the spirit’s Corpus activation roll.
When this phantasm is activated, the
type of weapon must be chosen and
it can be considered ranged or un-
armed. These weapons are considered
normal, mundane weapons for terms
of armor and immunity, but they can
be used to attack creatures on both
the material plane as well as the astral
or spirit planes since the spirit is du-
al-natured.
Paralyze
Skill: Will
Mana: 3
Duration: Instant
Effects: The spirit must touch the
target in order for this phantasm to be
effective. If the target is surprised or
unaware of the spirit, then there is no
defense against this touch. Otherwise,
defense may be rolled but the victim
must exceed the attack roll in order to
avoid being touched. Once touched,
the victim can roll Will against the
spirit’s Will. If the victim fails, then
she acquires a Paralyzed aspect, and
is completely immobilized. The victim
may reroll their Will on their round on
each exchange against the spirit’s ini-
tial roll in order to remove the aspect
and free herself.
Petrify
Skill: Force
Mana: 7
Duration: Sustained
Effects: This phantasm literally pet-
rifies the victim, turning her flesh to
stone over time. During activation, the
spirit will roll Force, contested against
the victim’s Physique. If the victim
wins, she will suffer no ill effects. If
the victim fails, however, she is afflict-
ed by a petrification curse and takes
on the Petrification Curse aspect. From
that point forward, at the beginning
of each round of exchange, the vic-
tim suffers a -1 to her Physique score.
The effect lasts as long as the spir-
it invests mana into the power, which
requires 1 mana per exchange. If the
victim drops to Terrible (-2) or below,
she is completely turned to stone. She
will remain a statue until the spirit re-
leases the invested mana or ends the
phantasm. Once the power is dropped,
she regains her Physique at a rate of
one point per exchange (six seconds).
While she is a statue, the victim is
completely unaware of her surround-
ings, and has an armor rating equal to
the spirit’s Force.
Scan
Skill: Will
Mana: 1
Duration: Instant
Effects: This phantasm allows a spir-
it to find anything it is looking for. In
order to find what it is looking for,
the spirit must make a Will roll with a
difficulty that is based on its distance
from the object as well as any other
mitigating factors such as concealing
magic. Still, even concealing magic
will not prevent a spirit with this phan-
tasm from finding the object for long.
An extended Will roll is made once per
minute until the object is found.
Weather Control
Skill: Force
Mana: 5
Duration: Sustained
Effects: This phantasm allows a spirit
to manipulate the local weather con-
ditions. The weather that the spirit
wants to create must be feasible with-
in the environment. The effect builds
over time until it reaches the difficulty
set forth by the GM over an extended
Force roll. The spirit does not create
or control weather or its effects with
this phantasm, so much as nudges it
toward a desired outcome.
337
Chapter Nine

Equipment

339
ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY
Lemurian technology is exceed-
ingly advanced, allowing for instanta-
neous long-distance communications,
advanced weapons and armor, machin-
ery, electronics and flight. Unfortu-
nately, technology is not ubiquitous to
all of Lemuria, and centers around the
Celestial City who holds the vast ma-
jority of designs, blueprints and sche-
matics as well as a multitude of engi-
neers contracted to serve the Emperor
alone. This monopoly of technology
means that the further one gets from
the Celestial City, the more primitive
technology and rural and minimalis-
tic life becomes. While settlements on
the fringes of the technology belt still
have access to basic technology, they
are usually limited to what the settle-
ment can afford and what is the most
utilitarian. So a farming village out-
side the tech-belt will probably have
access to a single old, rusty truck that
the farmers use to transport goods to
and from town while an urban farm-
ing settlement near the Celestial City
might exhibit characteristics likened
more toward a science lab than an ac-
tual farm, having access to automat-
ed watering systems, air transport and
genetic engineering.
INTERFACE
Scientists have long sought out a
link between organic life and technol-
ogy, seeking to bridge the gap between
living beings and inorganic robotics.
Neurotech, until a handful of decades
ago, was primitive fringe technology.
Most scientists in the field could not
acquire the funding required to make
true advancements in the field until
very recently, when neurotechnicians
discovered a method of transferring
raw nerve impulse wirelessly from
one person to another. The discovery
reached the Bureau Of Science quickly,
and millions of sen were invested into
advancement of that technology.
Today, neurotech has success-
fully bridged the gap. Mortal minds
can be fully transferred into Neural
Processor Chips - completely inor-
ganic technology capable of housing
the entirety of human consciousness
on a space no larger than a thumbnail.
Neuro-Tech developed into sev-
eral main branches, bringing robotics
into consciousness via advanced, pro-
cedurally generated code that brought
about the emergence of artificial,
sentient life forms. These programs,
if they could be called that anymore,
were designed to gain self-awareness
and offer the capability of automating
dangerous activities like explorations
of blight zones, rescues from hostile
territory and even urban defense. It
wasn’t until the first synthetics, or-
ganic consciousness inside of robot-
ic shells, were created that anyone
bothered to question the morality of
whether enslavement of artificial sen-
tience. While servitude of artificial life
is still legal almost everywhere, it has
become a frowned upon occurrence
limited to elite government agencies
and back-water townships.
NEURO-ARCANA
The Five Towers, sanctioned di-
visions and academies of powerful
flux mages, were quick to take notice
of the emerging neurotechnology, and
planted their own agents within the
ranks of the Bureau of Science in or-
der to get a first-hand account of what
was going on in those sterile labora-
tory rooms. Their agents managed
one better. The Five Towers was soon
in possession of one of the Bureau’s
advanced neural processor chips. With
that, history was in the making.
Mages, haughty and proud of
their own capabilities often to a fault,
are not ignorant or lacking intellect by
341
any stretch of the imagination. Still,
even the tower’s engineers were hard
pressed to understand, let alone at-
tempt to replicate or reverse engineer
the technology that they had fallen
into their laps. Years were spent at-
tempting to unlock the secrets of the
technology they had acquired, and
eventually it was simply locked away
in one of their vaults.
Until Lady Haga Sasuke, an elite
arcane engineer with decades of expe-
rience in the field of air element mag-
ic, obtained permission to take up the
project using her own time, resourc-
es and team. Within months, Lady Sa-
suke was able to unlock more about
the processor chip than the entirety
of the research teams were able to do
in years. While unable to pry open the
secrets regarding how consciousness
itself was transferred from the mind
to the chip - and having lost sever-
al mages under her in so doing, and
driving many more irrevocably insane,
she discovered that the consciousness
code within the chip itself would al-
low her to understand how machinery
and electronics acted as a receptacle
for the mind, and how it translated the
entirety of a person into code.
Using the information she gained
 from the chip, she began her own ex-
perimentations. Little did anyone know
that Sasuke had long since gone mad
from exposure to the radiation emitted
by the processor chip for so long and,
having been affected by her alternat-
ing psychoses, her experimentation
went from methodical and scientific
to dangerously insane. Sasuke began
experimenting on how magic mingled
with the consciousness programming
within the chip itself, forming her own
manipulations of machinery to see if
the technology could be manipulated
magically.
After just over a year of research,
Sasuke made incredible advances us-
ing the neural processor chip acquired
by the Five Towers. While her dis-
coveries did not align with the orig-
inal intentions of the Five Towers, in
attempting to reverse engineer their
own neural technology, what she did
wind up working through was a com-
pletely new way of processing neural
technology using magic as a conduit
and power source beyond anything
that science had come up with. In what
Sasuke called “The Final Experiment”,
she planned to use the magically en-
hanced technology she designed to
create a technologically advanced
Super-Mage capable of binding the
ability to manipulate circuits with steel
and silicone technology. Her goal was
to enhance her own spellcasting capa-
bilities by placing her consciousness
in a neural processor chip of her own
design, powered by magic whereas
neural processors of the Bureau used
more mundane energy sources.
She did not succeed.
Instead of copying her conscious-
ness into the magically enhanced inor-
ganic neuro-drive, she instead wound
up transporting her entire soul into
the drive. During the process, the en-
tirety of her consciousness was ripped
away so that what rested on the drive
was completely void of any previous
experience. In addition, it was unlike
the artificial sentient life forms already
created and did not match the bio-im-
prints of synthetics that had begun
to become manufactured around the
same time. These beings, that would
come to be known as Awakened Ma-
chines, were something altogether
and entirely new. A never before seen
life-form that was a mix of technology
and magic. A machine that had awak-
ened using Sasuke’s fusion of magic
and technology. Though the irrevo-
cably insane mage erased her con-
sciousness in the process, she was
single-handedly responsible for cre-
ating an entire life form.
With three absolutely new and
unique life-forms coming out of the
Celestial City in a relatively short pe-
riod of time, philosophers and moral
lobbyists began to question the Coun-
cil of Lords as to whether or not the
enslavement of inorganic life was eth-
ical. And only within the last few years
has slavery of synthetics become ille-
gal. Servitude of Awakened Machines
343
and Artificial Sentience is still legal,
though highly frowned upon. Still,
free-tech exists in the form of inor-
ganic life forms that have gained their
freedom and are not enslaved to any-
one. These beings are far more rare
than their enslaved brethren and,
while enslavement of living machines
is highly frowned upon, a free-walk-
ing living machine is going to garner
far more odd a glance from passers
by.
ADVANCED WARFARE
In Lemuria, there exists enough
deadly flora and fauna to kill one hun-
dred celestial cities in one evening
if they all decided to band together
against the sentient races. Fortunate-
ly, that isn’t something that seems
plausible. Most of them are busy kill-
ing and eating each other to bother
climbing the walls and braving their
defense systems. Even so, the dangers
of living outside the protection of the
Celestial City are myriad. Sometimes,
however, the danger does not lie in
deadly wildlife, but rather, each other.
Until this point in recent his-
tory, wars have been fought in se-
cret. Behind closed doors, duels have
been fought. In secret alcoves, bat-
tles raged. Still, the art of war is one
that has seen quite the investment
of sen, the currency of the Celestial
City. The Confederation still poses a
threat, and dangers come from within
and without. Due to potential warfare
constantly on the horizon, the Emper-
or had kept the military highly fund-
ed, and they’ve produced some of the
most wonderous instruments of death
and destruction that Lemuria has ever
known.
The advent of living machinery
has lowered the mortal death toll by a
fair margin, but most weapons still
require the human component to op-
erate. Mortal Lemurians working for
the Celestial City, and even some
agents of the Confederacy have access
to technological and biomechanical
implants that can give them an advan-
tage on the field. These implants do
not cause the mortal to become su-
pernatural, but allows them to com-
pete with supernatural entities on the
battlefield and deal with limitations
and weaknesses that might otherwise
take them out of the fight.
BIO-MODS
While anyone with the correct
physiology can feasibly take bio-mods,
they are generally acquired through
service to the military, or through
black market slashers who might or
might not be as skilled, or operate un-
der license. Each bio-mod acts like a
talent or power and has a cost asso-
ciated with it that is associated with
your character’s refresh rate.
WEAPONS
Old meets new in this world of
weaponry in Lemuria. Even the most
technologically advanced samurai and
soldiers can be found using bleeding
edge technology such as particle
rifles as well as seemingly archaic
weaponry such as lances and katana.
Some of the best weapons available
mix the tried-and-true weapons of
the past with technology of today.
It is important to note that any
time a kinetic weapon is mentioned,
it means a eapon that inflicts damage
through mechanical means such as
solid bullets or blades.
WEAPON ASPECTS
Some weapons have aspects.
When you purchase a weapon with
your extras budget, the weapon pur-
chased automatically has these as-
pects included at no additional cost.
WEAPON OUTLINES
The following outlines provide
stats, aspects and other features of
weaponry available for use by charac-
ters. Each outline contains various de-
tails such as:
Weapon: The weapon’s name.
Type: This indicates whether a
weapon is melee, ranged or unarmed.
Damage: On a successful hit, the
weapons damage rating applies more
shifts of damage to your opponent.
Range: This is the weapon’s
range in zones. A zero (0) represents
345
that you must be in melee combat
with your opponent to strike with that
weapon. A one (1) a ranged strike that
can hit anyone within that zone. A two
(2) or higher means that you can strike
an opponent so long as they are within
two zones of your character, including
the zone your character is currently
in. For example, if you want to hit an
opponent in a zone that borders your
own, you need a weapon with a range
of two (2). If you want to hit an op-
ponent in a zone that is three zones
away, you’ll need a weapon with a
range of four (4).
Tech Index: The level of sophis-
tication and availability of a weapon
is determined by its tech index. This
statistic also helps determine how dif-
ficult equipment is to repair or modify.
Aspects: Any aspects the weapon
has attached to it.
Notes: Any additional informa-
tion for the weapon.
MELEE COMBAT WEAPONS Club
Bokken Type: Melee
Type: Melee Damage: 0
Damage: 0 Range: 0
Range: 0 Tech Index: 0
Tech Index: 1 Description: A wooden or hard-poly-
Aspects: Durable mer bludgeoning weapon.
Description: A wooden sword most
often used in swordsmanship prac- Hook Sword
tice. Type: Melee*
Damage: 1
Chain Saber Range: 0
Type: Melee Tech Index: 1
Damage: 3 Aspects: Snare
Range: 0 Description: A primarily defensive
Tech Index: 2 blade with a downward curve at its
Aspects: Saw Tooth tip.
Description: A brutal, dao-like sword Notes: Can be used with unarmed
with motorized, serrated teeth that combat if the appropriate martial
runs over the sword’s edge. art extra is possessed, or if the
character has an aspect involving
Chokuto training with hooked swords in
Type: Melee their unarmed combat training
Damage: 2 methods.
Range: 0
Tech Index: 1 Katana
Aspects: Ceremonial, Razor Type: Melee
Description: A beautifully designed Damage: 2
straight-sword. Range: 0
Tech Index: 1
Aspects: Ceremonial, Razor
Description: A honed, curved blade.
Kusarigama Plasma Lance
Type: Melee* Type: Melee/Ranged
Damage: 2 Damage: 4
Range: 1 Range: 0/1
Tech Index: 1 Tech Index: 4
Aspects: Snare, Wargear Aspects: Dual-Purpose, Plasma
Description: A sharp sickle-like blade Description: A large, plasma-energy
at the end of a very long chain. weapon that, when energized, appears
much like a lance composed entirely
of compressed energy.
Naginata
Type: Melee War Club
Damage: 3 Type: Melee
Range: 1 Damage: 3
Tech Index: 2 Range: 0
Aspects: Cumbersome, Razor, Tech Index: 2
Two-Handed, Wargear Aspects: Combersome, Two-Handed,
Description: A traditional pole-arm Wargear
that consists of a long pole with a Description: A long pole-like weapon
curved blade at the end. with studded weights.

Otsuchi
Type: Melee
Damage: 3
Range: 0
Tech Index: 1
Aspects: Combersome, Durable,
Wargear
Description: An unnecessarily large
mallet.

347
UNARMED COMBAT WEAPONS Aspects: Rending (2)
Inferno Caestus Description: An oversized gauntlet
Type: Unarmed that produces an energy field capable
Damage: 0(+2)/2 of violently disrupting any matter it
Range: 0/1 touches.
Tech Index: 3 Notes: The field emitted by the gaunt-
Aspects: Dual Purpose, Elemental (Fire) let surrounds it by only about one
Description: Protective hand wraps millimeter around the casing of the
that ignite when activated, burning gauntlet. The field is so disruptive that
anything they touch. They are capable the strength of the user barely mat-
of firing bursts of fire. ters. Regardless of the number of de-
Notes: The damage amount in paren- fense shifts rolled, the minimum dam-
theses is additional fire damage in- age inflicted by these gloves can never
flicted on a successful strike when the e less than one (1) without armor.
caestus is activated.
RANGED COMBAT WEAPONS
Knucks There are a myriad of different
Type: Unarmed types of firearms and ranged weap-
Damage: +1 ons. Some fire bolts, which are physi-
Range: 0 cal projectiles that can be made of any
Tech Index: 0 hardened kinetic material such as steel,
Aspects: Dual Purpose, Elemental (Fire) reinforced plastics and more. They are
Description: Hardened hand cover- considered archaic, but are no less ca-
ings that add power to punches and pable of inflicting great harm. Plasma
hand attacks. weapons are cutting edge weaponry,
and uses compressed energy in near-
Power Gauntlet ly solid-state form. Ignis weapons are
Type: Unarmed capable of producing gouts of fire, or
Damage: +5 even compressed heat to inflict dam-
Range: 0 age.
Tech Index: 6
Burster Ammunition: 7
Type: Ranged Range: 1
Damage: +3 Tech Index: 3
Ammunition: 4 Aspects: Dual Modes (Thrower), Ele-
Range: 0 mental (Fire)
Tech Index: 2 Description: This is a longer, heavier
Aspects: Short Range version of the ignis pistol, capable of
Description: A type of kinetic long- producing great bursts of flame.
arm with a double-barrel that uses
shells to deliver payloads of slug or Ignis Pistol
shot. Type: Ranged
Damage: +3
Ignis Burster Ammunition: 12
Type: Ranged Range: 1
Damage: +4 Tech Index: 2

349
Aspects: Dual Modes (Thrower), Ele-
mental (Fire)
Description: A relatively small pistol
capable of firing bursts of pure flame.
Plasma Pistol
Type: Ranged
Damage: +3
Ammunition: 21
Range: 1
Tech Index: 4
Aspects: Dual Modes (Burst), Plasma
Description: A small pistol that fires
small shorts of plasma.
WEAPON ASPECTS
•Alternate Hands: This aspect allows
the weapon to be used with one or two
hands.
•Durable: If this weapon would take a
consequence, it loses durable, instead.
•Ceremonial: This weapon is indica-
tive of rank or social standing. Once
per session, this weapon aspect can
be invoked on a bureaucracy, rapport
or provoke roll against anyone who
might be aware of the social standing
of the character.
•Cumbersome: Heavy and unwieldy,
this weapon may complicate athletics
rolls and cannot be concealed.
•Dual Mode (Burst): This weapon has
two modes: Normal and Burst. Nor-
mal mode uses the statistics provided.
Burst mode fires five shots of ammo
at once, and reduces the range to zero
(0), but improves the damage by two
(+2) and adds the rending aspect.
•Dual Mode (Thrower): This weapon
has two modes, Normal and Throw-
er. Normal mode uses the statistics
provided. Thrower changes the style
of fire emitted into a torrent or liquid
fire. The Thrower mode subtracts one
(1) from the range, but adds two (2) to
damage and applies the Storm aspect
which can be used by using at least 3
additional ammo. Notes: This weapon
has two modes, Normal and Throw-
er. Normal mode uses the statistics
provided. Thrower changes the style
of fire emitted into a torrent or liquid
fire. The Thrower mode subtracts one
(1) from the range, but adds two (2) to
damage and applies the Storm aspect
which can be used by using at least 3
additional ammo.
•Dual Purpose: This weapon can be
used as a melee weapon, or a ranged
combat weapon. These kinds of weap-
ons will have brackets in some of their
statistics. On the left are melee statis-
tics, and on the right are ranged.
 •Elemental: Weapons with this aspect
produce damage that is elemental in
nature.
•Razor: Particularly honed and sharp-
ened, this weapon must be carefully
wielded. If the damage of this weap-
on is reduced to zero (0) by armor or
shielding, the weapon takes the “dam-
aged” consequence, and the damage
rating is reduced by one (1).
•Rending: This type of weapon is de-
signed to shred through armor. It ig-
nores a number of armor points equal
to the number attached to this aspect.
•Saw-Tooth: This type of weapon has
a blade composed of moving, serrat-
ed saw blades that rip through skin.
A weapon with this aspect gains +4
shifts of damage on a successful hit,
but is loud when active and incredibly
difficult to conceal.
•Short Range: This firearm can be
used at a range of one (1) but loses
accuracy and damage, subtracting two
(2) from each. This subtracts two from
the shifts rolled to hit, as well as two
shifts from damage applied.
•Snare: This weapon can be used to
manipulate or control the opponent’s
weapon. Certain techniques require a
snare weapon.
•Sonic: These types of weapons rely
351
on sound in order to be effective, but
typically does not require the ability
to hear. Such weapons are rendered
ineffective in vacuum, and in odd at-
mospheric conditions, such as under
water, suffer a -2 to their damage.
•Storm: This weapon is capable of
producing an effect that covers an area
with its damaging effect, effectively
doubling the number of shifts inflict-
ed (before weapon damage is applied)
by spending an additional number of
ammo.
•Plasma: This weapon inflicts damage
based on being extremely hot. Dam-
age inflicted with this
weapon is considered “energy” or
“plasma” damage.
•Two-Handed: This weapon requires
two hands to use.
•Wargear: These weapons are used
exclusively in war and battle, and can
be compelled to complicate social sit-
uations when carried.
ARMOR
Physical armor is worn over the
body, and helps absorb damage while
fields surround or otherwise protect
the subject with energy. Each type of
armor has a specific cost, applied to
refresh. Armor stat blocks contain
an armor rating, which represents
a number of damage that the armor
subtracts from the calculated shifts of
an incoming attack after all modifiers
have been applied. Armor also has a
tech index, representing the level of
sophistication of the armor and its dif-
ficulty to acquire. Penalty represents
an addition to ladder difficulty of any
roll pertaining to fatigue, dexterity or
precise movement or digital manipu-
lation. Lastly, each stat block will in-
clude any additional aspects or notes
pertaining to that armor.
Combat Suit
Type: Physical
Armor: 3
Penalty: 2
Tech Index: 6
Aspects: Slot (2)
Description: Composed of a mixture
of fiber mesh and thick shell cover-
ings provide heavy duty protection.
This type of armor is standard issue to
the Celestial Legion.
Grav-Shield
Type: Force
Armor: 0
Penalty: 0
Tech Index: 4
Aspects: Deflect (4)
Description: This bracer fits over the
forearm and, when activated, emits
a shield of compressed gravitational
force that deflects incoming attacks.
Mesh Armor
Type: Physical
Armor: 1
Penalty: 0
Tech Index: 2
Aspects: Slot (1)
Description: A fitted sheath of a fiber
mesh that provide good maneuver-
ability.
ARMOR ASPECTS
•Deflect: This type of armor or shield-
ing is actively used to prevent attacks.
Instead of armor, it provides a bonus
to deflecting incoming attacks based
on the number following this aspect in
parenthesis.
•Slot: The number of slots a piece
of armor has represents the number
of ready-made modifications or en-
hancements that can be added to the
armor without serious alteration. Slots
are designed to be “plug and play”, al-
lowing them to be added or switched
out quickly and without training.
POWER ARMOR Mantis Combat Suit
Power Armor is a special, heavy Tech Index: 9
kind of armor that acts like a vehicle. Stress: 2
Some types of armor can only be con- Consequences: Moderate, Severe
trolled by someone wearing a Second Aspects: Dexterous (+2), Armblades,
Skin, which is a special type of cloth Slot (2)
that fits over the body of the wearer Description: Sleek, deadly armor de-
and inserts monofilaments through signed for balance and outmaneuver-
the skin to connect directly to the ing opponents.
wearer’s nervous system, allowing the
user to steer the armor more accu- Shell Combat Suit
rately. Refer to the Powers chapter for Tech Index: 10
more information on how the Second Stress: 4
Skin works. Consequences: Mild, Moderate, Se-
Power armor acts like a character vere, Severe
of its very own with regard to armor, Aspects: Armor (2), Ballistics, Bulky
stress and consequences. Certain (3), Slot (1)
power armor can also augment the Description: A heavily armored com-
character’s skill ratings and modes of bat suit designed to withstand heavy
attack as well. fire and breach enemy defenses.

Apollo Scout Suit POWER ARMOR ASPECTS

Tech Index: 8 •Armblade: These are retractable
Stress: 2 blades that can lock in forward or back-
Consequences: Severe ward facing positions. These weapons
Aspects: Enduring, Slot (1), Stealth, have a damage rating of two (2).
Swift •Armor: Power Suits with this aspect
Description: Light armor given to fore- enjoy an armor rating equal to the
runners that is designed to be tacti- number provided in parenthesis.
cally defensive. Capable of moving at •Ballistics: This type of suit contains
great speeds. specialized compartments that hold

353
projectile ballistics launchers. The de-
fault type of ballistics contained are
frag grenades, but other types of ex-
plosives can be used in these types of
launchers.
•Bulky: This kind of armor is incred-
ibly heavy and unwieldy. Movement
and overall speed is heavily hindered,
and related rolls suffer a shift difficul-
ty equal to the number provided after
this aspect in parenthesis.
•Dexterous: Power armor with this
enhancement is designed with gy-
ro-stabilization technology that adds
a number of shifts to any athletics roll
involving balance, movement or agil-
ity.
•Enduring: Built to run for great dis-
tances, the wearer’s rolls to resist fa-
tigue while running are made at a +4.
•Slot: The number of slots a suit of
power armor has represents the num-
ber of ready-made modifications or
enhancements that can be added to the
armor without serious alteration. Slots
are designed to be “plug and play”, al-
lowing them to be added or switched
out quickly and without training.
•Stealth: Slim and nearly noiseless,
the wearer gains a +2 to stealth rolls
while wearing Apollo Scout Armor.
•Swift: Designed to move quickly, and
gain a +4 to any running or movement
related rolls.
ENHANCEMENTS
Each power armor enhancement
costs one slot, and gives some kind of
additional benefit based on which en-
hancement is purchased.
•Cerasteel Shell: Cerasteel is a hard-
ened ceramic substance that is as
strong as steel offering heat and shock
resistance. Add an additional two dice
to defense rolls against heat, fire and
kinetic weapons such as swords and
bolts.
•Diagnostic Feedback: Through the
use of the sensory input and feed-
back, the diagnostic enhancement is
designed to provide a medic with de-
tailed information on a studied tar-
get’s vitals, providing three additional
dice to Medicine rolls.
•Fiber Enhancement: Motor-Fibers
assist the power suit’s movements by
mimicking those of the user. This en-
hancement adds tensile strength to
those fibers, and adds a +2 bonus to
any strength-related rolls such as lift-
ing and carrying, as well as to rolls to
inflict damage with melee combat or
unarmed combat.
•Haze Field: This intangible field
causes the wearer to become hazy
and indistinct, and can even match the
background colors in the environment
by bending light and manipulating the
electromagnetic spectrum. This en-
hancement can be invoked like an as-
pect to assist stealth rolls.
•Heads-Up Display: All power suits
feed information to the wearer, but
this heads-up display offers improved
information and sense-relay technol-
ogy. The wearer gains the ability to see
even in perfect darkness, and adds +2
to all normal Perception rolls.
•Osmotic Gill: So long as the power
suit is not damaged and powered up,
it is sealed so that the wearer always
has access to breathable air.
A NOTE ON FIELDS
It is only possible, unless oth-
erwise specified in a piece of equip-
ment’s stat block, to use a single field
at any given time on one person or
vehicle. Additional fields disrupt each
other and can cause all sorts of issues
for the user. If the user is lucky, they
will simply short each other out but
there is at least one story in every pla-
toon about someone who blew up he
and his squad by using more than one
field at once.
355
WARJACKS
One of the first spearheads of
the war-tech front were the Warjacks
- large humanoid machines capable of
wreaking havoc on the battlefield with
minimal user interface or loss of hu-
man life. These machines are designed
to be heavily armored and fitted with
heavy melee and ranged weaponry.
A Warjack stands, on average, two to
four meters tall and weighs in excess
of ne thousand kilograms.
At first, the Warjacks were slow,
coal-powered machines that lum-
bered across the battlefield like slow-
er, less efficient tanks that moved on
two rudimentary legs. As time pro-
gressed and technology became more
abundant, the Warjack technology im-
proved as well. These advancements
made the Warjacks far more feasible
for military use, and made their us-
age far more deadly in combat. They
became faster, stronger and more ef-
ficient. With the advent of neural-pro-
cessor technology, cortex-links made
generals capable of commanding War-
jacks from afar using telekinetic links.
While these links can be overridden by
the enemy, this technology was a dis-
tinct advantage, and even gave leaders
in the field full control over the move
ments and operations of the warjacks
that were fighting alongside them.
The current technology for war-
jacks is extremely advanced within the
ranks of the Divine Legion, the army
and royal guard of the Celestial City.
Even without artificial life, the ad-
vanced neural processor units that al-
low them to act and react on the bat-
tlefield allows them to take on certain
semblances of life akin to that of ASL
or Awakened Machines, though some
speculate that this “emergent person-
alities” come from the telepathic links
they form creating an imprint on their
processor units. They never gain much
intellect of their own, either way.
Warjack technology was one of
the first and only technologies that the
clans were able to pry from the grip
of the Emperor and the Bureau of Sci-
ence and, as such, each clan has their
own styles of Warjack, and each is de-
signed for a different purpose.
OTHER EQUIPMENT
This section gives your character
access to a range of useful items and
other utilitarian equipment. The cost
of such equipment differs from other
equipment in that purchase one re-
fresh point’s worth of this equipment
357
allows you to purchase three different
items that your character can have ac-
cess to at any point in time. At the GM’s
discretion, your character can also be-
gin play with a number of items with a
combined Tech-Index of no more than
your character’s resource skill.
Magna-Cuffs
Tech-Index: 2
Description: Advanced handcuffs that
fit to almost any wrist or ankle. They
are not designed with chains or plas-
teel chains between them, while those
do exist. They, instead, use extreme-
ly powerful electro-magnets that hold
to each other while allowing minimal
movement.
Synth-Reader
Tech-Index: 3
Description: The Synth-Reader device
can access the neural processor of a
machine in order to give a vital read-
out of the overall health of the pro-
cessor, as well as its name and other
identifying information. Readers have
an option to attempt to force hack
the root code of artificial life forms as
well, but such actions almost always
require opposed rolls.
INDEX Confederation 43 I
A Contacts 141 Investigate 147
Advancement 115 Contest 98, 106 Invoke 254
Advantage 93, 111 Corruption 50
Akuma 54 Cover 119 K
Alchemy 316 Crab 20 Knowledge 148
Animal Handling 138 Crane 23 Kojo 60
Architects 53
Artificial Life 173 D L
Aspects 101, 125 Deceit 142 Larceny 149
Athletics 139 Defend 95 Lemuria 12
Attack 94 Difficulty 90 Lords Of Midnight 49
Augment 173 Dragon 24 Lycanthrope 167
Awakened Machine 174 Dragon, Thousand 39
Drive 143 M
B Machinae 86
Beastblood 166 E Machine War 58, 192
Blight Zone 51 Empathy 146 Mages 81
Boost 128 Equipment 129 Malfeans 53
Bureaucracy 140 Exchange 104 Martial Arts 198
Extras 128 Medicine 150
C Melee 151
Celestial City 41 F Milestones 116
Challenges 96 Fate Points 126 Monkey 26
Circuit, Mage 197, 299 Fati Sheet 284
Chosen 38 O
Clash of Will 100 G Outwalker 61
Crafts 142 Grappling 124 Overclocking 304
Command Seal 327 Overcome 92
Compel 255 H
Conceding 109 High Concept 67 P
Consequences 75, 127 Host, the 61 Perception 152
Performance 153 Strategy 161 Z
Perks 75, 130, 165 Stress 75, 105 Zombie 170
Phantasm 328 Stunts 75, 135 Zones 102
Physique 154 Summoning 324
Pilot 155 Survival 162
Provoke 156 Synthetic 175
Psychic Vampire 184
T
Q Template 69
Qabalah 317 ThanoCore 273
Thaumaturgy 197, 315
R Tiger 32
Ranged 157 Transformation 319
Rapport 158 Trouble 69
Recovery 107 True Blooded 169
Refresh 75
Resources 159 U
Unarmed 163
S Undercity 46
Scorpion 28
Second Sight 295 V
Sengoku Punk 6 Vampire 47, 170
Shadowlands 45 Vizier 84, 175, 194
Shifters 79
Sin 51, 54 W
Skills 74, 134 Warjack 353
Snake 30 Will 164
Source, the 57
Spells 304 Y
Spirit World 43 Yama Prince 53
Spirits 323
Stealth 160

359