You have fourteen points to spend on skills. Each skill costs one point except for Conjunctional Synthesis and Prowess which cost 2XP per rank. You can buy most skills multiple times, but may buy no more than six ranks of any one skill at character creation. Each additional purchase still costs the same, but might do different things.
For an example of how buying uses of the skills 'Prowess' and 'Conjunctional Synthesis' work out in play please see this section. Most skills are limited in the number of times you can use them by either the number of ranks you buy (as detailed in each skill) and sometimes by the use of Spiritual Health, Physical Health or other resources as detailed in the skill.
All characters enter play with certain abilities, as follows:
Note that certain Skills may be used a number of times per hour, which should hopefully be self-explanatory. These can be timed as 'use x times within one hour' and reset on the hour. Other skills may be used a number of times “per day and per night.” What this means in practice is that if you have three uses of such a skill, you may use it three times per day (i.e. between dawn and dusk) and three times per night (i.e. between dusk and dawn) - six times in a 24 hour period.
Anyone can use small weapons (18” or smaller) in one hand at a time, but to use military technology requires more training. Each purchase lets you select one type of weapon that you know how to use:
if you know what you’re doing, and you have a decent weapon (made by a crafter rather than just something you found lying around), you can really do some damage. Each time you purchase Prowess, you choose one of the Manoeuvres below, which you may then use twice per hour. With each subsequent purchase, you may elect either to be able to use that Manoeuvre an extra two times per hour, or nominate a new Manoeuvre you can use twice per hour. The Manoeuvres are as follows:
each character starts with two Physical Health and two Spiritual Health, and has a death count of five minutes. Each purchase allows you to select one of the following abilities:
At events, you can use materials found by Outdoors types (see below) to produce items within your area of expertise. Each purchase gives you one area of expertise, and it takes at least 5 minutes of appropriate roleplaying (which does not need to happen all at once!) to produce something. Each purchase of a particular area of expertise allows you to make one thing per day and per night (given the right ingredients). The areas of expertise available are as follows:
Any weapons or armour you make will until the end of the Downtime after you make it. So if you make it in the downtime after Event X, or during Event X, it will expire at the end of the following downtime (immediately prior to Event Y)
This represents your skill at surviving in the harsh environment of the outside world. Each purchase lets you select one of Foraging, Hunting, Prospecting or Skinning, which you use by finding an appropriate bag hidden on site (you can only notice the type of bag appropriate to your Outdoors skill - if you spot another bag, please ignore it!) and removing a number of Sack lammies from the bag equal to your level in the skill. You may do this once per day and once per night - the bags will be refreshed at the beginning of each day and night, although there will not be enough lammies in the bag for everyone to fully use all of their skill. This is no longer tied to linears and does not require you tell a Guide before hand that you are going out (although feel free to let us know if you want).
Each purchase allows you to select either Forgery or Disguise. Disguise lets you change or hide your tattoos or those of volunteers (meaning you can alter or remove the physreps) for up to an hour per purchase per day and per night: a big part of how Fallen and Tribals recognise one another is by their tattoos (see later), so many people will genuinely believe you’re someone else. Forgery lets you make perfect copies of official documents (regardless of Literacy) – one document per purchase per day and per night, with fifteen minutes of appropriate roleplaying (which need not be continuous). A literate Forger could instead amend a document as they copied it, changing the text as they desired - although without the relevant Lore, a particularly ambitious forgery might be detected. Instead of creating a forged document, a Forger can instead spend the same amount of time inspecting a document appraise whether it is real or falsified.
This skill represents the book-learning you have amassed over the years. Everyone can speak Gaelish (English) and Fanzay (French) to the best of their OOC ability, but by default characters are illiterate. Each purchase will allow you to do one of the following things:
This skill represents your understanding of the human body. Anyone can apply immediate first aid to an injured person (not themselves), pausing their death count for as long as they continue to roleplay doing so to the exclusion of all else (including Medicine skills! Although another person can move the casualty if you continue to staunch). The first purchase of Medicine grants you the ability to perform appropriate roleplaying for one minute to restore one point of Physical or Spiritual Health to someone on zero Health, at which point you must give them the appropriate type of bead draw. You can never use this or any other Medicine ability on yourself. Each subsequent purchase allows you to select one of the following:
Despite having been cast out, some Fallen maintain contacts and allies among their former Tribe - or have developed new relationships since Falling. Each time you purchase this skill, you may nominate a discrete group, such as one of the Seven Tribes, particular groups of Keepers, particular bands of Squats, or even the outcast Joh'an Z'Bri that live in the Skyrealms of Bazaar. You will receive rumours and information from this group before the start of each event, and any NPCs from this group will enter play more favourably disposed to you than they otherwise would be.
When they appeared, the Fatimas brought with them the Goddess’ greatest gift - Synthesis. Under their tutelage, humans learned to tap into the River of Dream (a spirit realm humans access by sleep or rituals) and accomplish great feats. Even the lowliest tribal has natural aptitudes that reflect her Fatima’s nature and participates in great rituals that shape the world around her.
Every single Fallen enjoys the protection of their Eminences, being able to spend a Spiritual Health to resist certain roleplaying effects. You can purchase Dreamer to gain one of the following effects per point spent:
Additionally, anyone can choose not to regain lost Physical and Spiritual Health through a good night’s sleep, and instead plumb the River’s depths for visions relevant to their current situation. This requires the consumption of a dose of Hazers and for you to inform a Guide that you're doing so before 1am. If you know how to engage in Active Dreaming, you may attempt to steer this vision by specifying a particular topic to a Guide before going to sleep.
Synthesis is shamanistic, animistic, spirit magic. It is not spells cast with casual ease. Synthesis is contact with another world, and should be approached with respect, caution, and a goodly portion of awe. A Dreamer is not a mage whose will is so strong she can break reality, or a wizard who has studied tomes of ancient lore and knows the secret workings of the world. A Dreamer is someone who is in contact with or can contact the world of dream and unlimited possibility, and can bring some of that possibility to the “real world,” the Physical Orb. The Dreamer is then a conduit, and while this role gives her some impact on the effects of Synthesis, she is not the origin of the power, and therefore never in complete control. Synthesis is also, to a great degree, not fully understood. Dreamers may know how to do things, but even they argue about why what they do works. When the stakes - your very soul - are so high, and you don't really know what you're doing, you might do well to be a little careful.
The Fallen have a natural affinity for Synthesis, maintain some of the power of their old tribe and gaining new abilities based on their own outlook. Some say that this is proof positive that the Goddess is with the Fallen. Some others claim it’s a sign that Joshua watches over them. Either way, they are the Fallen and they will be free.
Any Fallen that has learnt to Apply their Eminences may become an Awakened Dreamer, able to use Conjunctional Synthesis. This power is held by the Tribal Sisterhoods, but is actually more common among the Fallen than the Tribes – contrary to Tribal belief.
Intuitive Synthesis and Aspects draw on a shared resource called Trances. It costs one Trance to use Intuitive Synthesis or an Aspect. The number of Trances you can use per day and per night is determined by the number of times you have purchased the skills below. Please note that Freeform Synthesis does not use Trances, and the number of times per day and per night you can use this is limited separately.
Each purchase of Conjunctional Synthesis costs two points, and allows you to choose one of the following abilities:
Note that using Trances is made significantly easier by using drugs
Dreamers often deride rituals as poor people's Synthesis, because of their inherent limitations. They take longer, usually achieve less, and are restricted to the sphere of influence of a particular totem. However, they can include additional people and fetishes, and they open the door to the widest range of abilities, since they can in principle copy the effects of Conjunctional Synthesis, Aspects and even Sundering. Additionally, while there are a limited number of Eminences, Spirits can have domain over a wide range of influences.
The first time you purchase this skill, you must select one specific totem (Spirit, Fatima, Z'bri lord, etc.) to whom you can call in ritual. You may perform a ritual just once per day and per night. Further purchases allow you to select one of the following options:
Remember that calling on Z'bri in this way will definitely cause the ritualist to become Tainted and this will likely make them a target for Fallen and Tribals alike.
Some of the spirits that could be called upon include:
If you would like information or advice about what each spirit's area of influence is, or what they represent, please get in touch!