Z’Bri are the most common manifestation of the Seed’s destructive and corruptive presence in the world. At the core, each Z’Bri is a spirit being, originally sent by the Goddess to help guide humanity back into harmony with the Spirit World. They were corrupted by their imprisonment and their own envious desires for the sensual world that humans inhabited.
Z’Bri come in an astounding number of varieties. First comes Rank – the Common (Iv’Chet) and the Lord. The difference, other than in scale of power, is the Lord’s partial freedom from the Curse of the Nomads. Lords can maintain multiple bodies – possessing a number of hosts simultaneously – and they can move from body to body without effort. Common Z’Bri, the Iv’Chet (meaning “Knight”), cannot leave their current form without the help of a Lord, although they can, like all non-Chained Z’Bri, alter their current form at will.
After rank comes House. After the Fold and the Nomads’ Curse, the Z’Bri formed Houses to guide and organise their new society. Each House contains around one-quarter of the full population of Z’Bri worldwide. A Z’Bri’s House deterimises the nature of their Atmosphere (the aura of corruption that surrounds every Z’Bri) and generally shapes their personality and behaviour.
The Koleris Z’Bri are those filled with anger and hate. They are the most warlike of the Z’Bri, and form the majority of their armies. The Flemis abhor individuality. They join their minds together into hives and seek to draw the rest of the world into this unity. Their bodies are usually masses of fat. The Sanguis embody corruption. They are typically very beautiful, in a hideous and alien way, and seek to defile all that is virtuous and good. Finally, the Melanis are obsessed with acquiring knowledge that is hidden or forbidden. They seek the secrets of the universe, and the power these secrets bring.
In Vimary and the H’l Kar, each House is ruled by its Prince. These Princes report to the Baron, a Sangis Lord who maintains the status quo and the cold war with the Seven Tribes against the raised voices of various other Z’Bri.
Certain Z’Bri share additional traits in common. Some Z’Bri are Chained to beasts (called Gek’roh), and they are feral monsters driven by the predatory instinct of their host body. The Exiles (Jo’han) hide from their kin and form their own kingdoms to rule in Vimary’s Skyrealms. And the Hunters turn on their own kind, driven by guilt and ennui.
Base stats
Standard Iv’chet have 5 Physical Health, 5 Spiritual Health, a 5 minute Death Count, and 15 points of skills, which can include Touched by the Seed (replaces Dreamer).
Lords begin with 10 Physical Health, 10 Spiritual Health, a 10 minute Death Count and 30 points of skills, which certainly includes a lot of Touched by the Seed. By spending one Spiritual Health outside of combat, they may immediately switch bodies, allowing them to instantly travel elsewhere and respend all of their skill points aside from Touched by the Seed.
Each Z’Bri has its House’s Atmosphere and any Sundering powers gained from Touched by the Seed.
Hunters have their own specific Atmosphere, but are otherwise considered to be Dreamers instead of being Touched by the Seed.
Gek’roh are more likely to have combative powers based around their bestial form. They do not have an Atmosphere or the ability to use any Touched by the Seed skills.
This skill is the Z’Bri version of Dreamer. Where Synthesis brings the Flesh and Spirit together, Sundering rips them violently apart. All Z’Bri (except Gek’roh) produce an Atmosphere appropriate to their House without making any effort. Certain Z’Bri learn to Amplify this Atmosphere, making it even more powerful. Those with that ability are also able to learn Aspects - Iv’chet may only purchase Aspects provided by their House, whereas Lords are more likely to have branched out.
Jo’han, and only Jo’han, may learn to Suppress their Atmosphere, at a cost of one Spiritual Health per hour suppressed. Any person with Touched by the Seed is immune to all Atmospheres, even Amplified ones, as are Serfs (although they often obey their master’s predilections anyway).
| Flemis (green) | The Flemis represent ultimate order, to the point where each member is a small and insignificant part of the whole. Independent thoughts, wants and needs, even a separate identity, are foreign concepts to the Flemis. This Hive mentality exudes from the Flemis, and those around them begin to desire unity and forsake personal needs. They want to fit in and be accepted by the group. Atmosphere: You begin to lose your personality and your ability to make decisions for yourself. Amplify (1 SH): You lose willpower and the ability to act against any organised group unless you spend 1 Spiritual Health to resist (2 if you are a Lightbringer) Amplify (2 SH): You lose free will and must follow the wishes of the Flemis unless you pend 2 Spiritual Health to resist (4 if you are a Lightbringer) |
| Hunter | While Hunters do not actively use Sundering, they are still Z’Bri. This means they cannot avoid the Atmosphere that their nature unconsciously creates. Atmosphere: You are overwhelmed by feelings of guilt and sorrow. |
| Koleris | These Z’bri are the physical embodiment of violence, hate and rage. Even at rest, a Koleris warrior exudes anger to a point at which it becomes infectious. Atmosphere: You become more argumentative, combative, and likely to fly into a fury. Amplify (1 SH): You feel a pain you can only relieve by violence, unless you spend 1 Spiritual Health to resist (2 Spiritual Health if you are a Jacker). Amplify (2SH): You launch into a berserker rage and will attack anyone nearby, unless you spend 2 Spiritual Health to resist (4 Spiritual Health if you are a Jacker). |
| Melanis | Melanis seek hidden knowledge at any price. They are the ones who delve into the forbidden secrets of the Old Arts and dredge up dark memories ofthe past. Their Atmosphere is like a black hole, sucking up knowledge and memory Atmosphere: You become forgetful, losing your concentration and short-term memory until you leave this area. Amplify (1SH): You begin to lose your knowledge and your memories, unless you spend 1 Spiritual Health to resist (2 Spiritual Health if you are a Doomsayer). Amplify (2SH): You become an amnesiac and lose all knowledge of your past, unless you spend 2 Spiritual Health to resist (4 Spiritual Health if you are a Doomsayer). |
| Sanguis | While they are often equated with sexual deviance, the Sangis actually embrace a much wider range of taboos. Their Atmosphere causes those around to feel an unnatural desire to do things they would not normally consider ever doing. Atmosphere: You want to do something you consider wrong (against your codes of ethics and morals). Amplify (1SH): You are compelled to act on desires you consider to be morally/ethically wrong, unless you spend 1 Spiritual Health to resist (2 Spiritual Health if you are a Herite). Amplify (2SH): Desires which you consider to be ethically/morally wrong are now part of your personality, unless you spend 2 Spiritual Health to resist (4 Spiritual Health if you are a Herite). |
Assimilation (Flemis): Over the course of the next hour, the touched biological material (approximately 100kg per Spiritual Health spent) is absorbed into the Flemis’ body. This can either add the target’s Physical Health to the Flemis’, or add the target’s Prowess skill to the Flemis’. Alternatively, the Sunderer may touch a target and call Sunder (x), where (x) equals the number of Spiritual Health spent as they absorb some of their body.
Animation (Melanis): One application of this Aspect allows the Sunderer to create automated tools from animal or human material. The final result does not have to resemble the original form, but will tend to be horrific and of clearly biological origin. Alternatively, the Sunderer may nominate a touched target and spend one Spiritual Health per Physical Health that person has. The Sunderer then controls the target like a puppet for the next fifteen minutes.
Appeasement (Sanguis): One application of this Aspect allows the Sunderer to fleshcraft themselves and their Serfs into their perfect ideal of form. Alternatively, the Sunderer may spend one Spiritual Health to escape any bonds or to use the Disguise skill for one hour. Alternatively, the Sunderer may touch a target and call (x), where (x) equals the number of Spiritual Health spent, as they violently mutate the target’s body.
Body Severing (Flemis): By spending one Spiritual Health per member of a group of willing people, the Sunderer separates the targets’ souls from their bodies and coalesces them into a single hive mind. Each member can control any of the bodies and experience the senses of the group, using the skills of any other member of the group or their own. This costs each target one Spiritual Health per hour this situation continues, and the target may spend six Spiritual Health to immediately remove their soul from the collective and return to their own body. The Sunderer must pay double Spiritual Health to use Body Severing on an unwilling group.
Bottle of the Jinn (Melanis): This Aspect lets the Sunderer take a portion of a spirit or soul and imprison it in an object, as a Binding –reducing the victim’s Spiritual Health by one for as long as this Binding continues. The portion contained is the seat of free will, which allows the person who controls the object to control the person or spirit linked to it as long as they are in contact with the object. Only by destroying the object can the victim regain her freedom, and even then she is instantly reduced to zero Spiritual Health.
Burning (Koleris): For each point of Spiritual Health you spend, you may use two additional Manoeuvres in a combat that happens within the next ten minutes. You may reduce yourself to zero Spiritual Health in this way, but will not suffer the ill-effects until the end of the combat (or until five minutes has passed, whichever comes first). At the end of the combat, you suffer one Physical Critical Wound per Spiritual Health you spent.
Calling (Sanguis): The Sunderer must make intimate contact with the target, typically by kissing them, and invest one point of Spiritual Health at the same time. Each party in this arrangement may detect the other’s extremely strong emotions or death. Whenever the Sunderer wishes, they may spend a Spiritual Health and force the victim to travel to them while compelled to cross any obstacle in her way. This Calling can be identified with Recognition or Life, and removed with Purity.
Chaining (Melanis): By spending one Spiritual Health per Physical Health the touched target Z’Bri has, the Sunderer fuses them to an object, often a wild animal. It can also be used to add inanimate objects (usually weapons, armour or tools) to the Sunderer’s body.
Curse of Freedom (Flemis): When used on a Flemis, this forcibly severs them from a Hive, giving it a single body in which to survive. When used on a non-Flemis, it removes any form of mind control and grants the target resistance to further mind control for the next day.
Exsanguination (Koleris): This Aspect allows the Sunderer to make an attack on one target within line of sight, calling Sunder (x), where (x) equals the number of Spiritual Health spent. This attack results in the forceful and painful expulsion of the target’s bodily fluids.
Holding (Koleris): The Sunderer may spend one Spiritual Health to completely paralyse a target for one minute (call Holding). All that is required is eye contact for this to work.
Inferno (Koleris): The target spontaneously combusts, losing one Physical Health per Spiritual Health the Koleris spends (call as Inferno (x), where (x) equals the number of Spiritual Health spent). If the target is reduced to zero Physical Health, they suffer an automatic Critical Wound.
Inspiration (Melanis): For each point of Spiritual Health you spend, you may ask a Guide one piece of advice about a particular problem.
One Thought (Flemis): This is the ability to communicate telepathically. In its benign use, the Sunderer can engage in psychic dialogue with the target (using radios?) until either the target spends a Spiritual Health to terminate the connection, or the Sunderer uses another Aspect. Once the connection has been made, the Sunderer may spend a Spiritual Health to wrack the target with pain or sever the target’s connection to the River of Dream for the next hour. If a target’s connection has been severed, they cannot use any Dreamer powers and do not even enjoy the protection of their Eminences.
Perspective (Sanguis): If the Sunderer spends more Spiritual Health than the target does, the target perceives things completely opposite to how they did before until the end of the event. They consider beautiful things to be ugly, pleasant sensations to be painful, and terrible feelings become happiness. If the target reduces herself to zero Spiritual Health while resisting but is still affected, this instead lasts until the end of the next event.
Shattering (Koleris): By touching an object and spending a Spiritual Health, the Sunderer may Shatter that object. Used against a living target, the Sunderer may call Sunder (2 times x), where (x) equals the number of Spiritual Health spent.
Soul Stealing (Sanguis): The Sunderer may nominate a target with whom they make eye contact and spend any number of Spiritual Health. The Sunderer then controls the target like a puppet for that many minutes. If the Sunderer performs an hour-long ritual, then the target is instead controlled for hours. The victim of this Aspect is fully aware of what is happening, but is powerless to do anything except what the Sunderer wishes.
Transmigration (Flemis): The Sunderer swaps the souls of two living beings for a number of weeks equal to the number of Spiritual Health they spend.
Taint is vague and poorly-defined, but for our purposes can be split into five “levels”
| Level | Type of thing |
|---|---|
| 1 | Standard taint |
| 2 | Bindings, standard Atmospheres |
| 3 | Callings, Amplified (lv1) Atmospheres |
| 4 | Chainings, Amplified (lv2) Atmospheres |
| 5 | Anything “Touched By The Seed” |
Level 1 things can be purified using Intuitive Purity Synthesis. Levels 2-4 can be fixed using the Blessing Aspect. Level 5 is basically irredeemable and nothing short of Freeform Purity Synthesis has any hope of getting rid of it.