Decide on your Skills

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:

• 2 Physical Health
• 2 Spiritual Health
• 5 minute death count
• Use small weapons (18” or smaller) in one hand at a time
• Speak Gaelish (English) and Fanzay (French) to the best of your OOC ability (but not read/write it)
• Apply immediate first aid to an injured person (but not themselves), pausing their death count for as long as they continue to roleplay staunching wounds to the exclusion of all else - this means that they can't move, run, fight, use Skills or anything else. However, a third person could carry the patient (this means that they can't run, fight, use Skills or anything else), allowing them, you and the patient to move at a slow walking pace.
• Use a night's sleep to regain all lost Physical and Spiritual Health
• Use a night's sleep and consume a dose of Hazers to plumb the depths of the River of Dream for visions relevant to their current situations
• Spend a Spiritual Health to gain the protection of one of their Eminences against a roleplaying effect.

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:

• one-handed (up to 42”)
• two-handed (up to 72” if not stab-safe, or 84” if stab-safe)
• bows (up to 32lbs)
• thrown weapons (must be coreless and less than 18”, or stab-safe javelins up to 32”)
• ambidexterity (use a short weapon – or one-handed if you know how – in each hand)
• shields (up to 40” in any dimension)

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:

• Dodge (when not wearing crafted heavy armour, e.g. plate/chain/tyre/flak jacket)
• Impale (with a bow)
• Sever (with a 1-handed or thrown weapon)
• Shatter (with a 2-handed weapon)
• Strikedown (with a 2-handed weapon)
• Turn Aside (with a one-handed weapon, two-handed weapon or shield)

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:

• Gain one Physical Health
• Gain one Spiritual Health

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:

• Weapons
• Armour
• Drugs.

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).

• Foraging allows you to go looking for sacks of wood;
• Prospecting allows you to go looking for sacks of metal;
• Hunting allows you to looking for sacks of food– everyone needs food to survive the downtime before the next event;
• Skinning allows you to go looking for sacks of skins.

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:

• Read/write Gaelish, which is the Tribal common tongue, and Fanzay to the best of your OOC ability
• Read/write one additional secret Tribal tongue (there is one per Tribe)
• Read/write Keepspeak (the language of the Keepers)
  • The “secret languages” and Keepspeak will be represented by paper covered in meaningless symbols, with an OC envelope attached containing the translation for those with the appropriate Education)
• Learn the Lore of one Tribe or other group (e.g. Keeper sects, Squat bands, or even Z’Bri Houses if you dare), allowing you to rack your brains (ask a Guide) for the answer to one question per hour per purchase about that group’s culture, norms and people.

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:

• Perform appropriate roleplaying for two minutes to restore all lost Physical Health to one person, expending one dose of Healers (they must have at least 1 Physical Health currently in order for you to do this);
• Perform appropriate roleplaying for two minutes to restore all lost Spiritual Health to one person, expending one dose of Libs (they must have at least 1 Spiritual Health currently in order for you to do this);
• Perform appropriate roleplaying for two minutes to restore all lost Physical Health to one person per hour per purchase (they must have at least 1 Physical Health currently in order for you to do this);
• Perform appropriate roleplaying for two minutes to restore all lost Spiritual Health to one person per hour per purchase (they must have at least 1 Spiritual Health currently in order for you to do this);
• Perform appropriate roleplaying for five minutes to treat one Deep Wound per hour per purchase (requires a dose of Healers and that the patient be indoors on a flat surface like a table);
• Perform appropriate roleplaying for five minutes to treat one instance of Sympathy, Distortion or Separation per hour per purchase (requires a dose of Libs and that the patient be indoors on a flat surface like a table);
• Perform appropriate roleplaying for five minutes to restore the use of one Severed limb per hour per purchase (requires a dose of Healers and that the patient be indoors on a flat surface like a table).

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:

• Apply either of your Eminences once per day and per night
• Engage in Active Dreaming at appropriate moments, requiring the consumption of a dose each of Hazers and Libs (note that this use of Hazers doesn't double the effect of your expenditure of Spiritual Health). This will cast your anima, or soul, into the River of Dream, where it will be free to act and move. Your return to your body is automatic unless some other force prevents you. This requires you to be able to apply your Eminences.

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:

• Use Intuitive Synthesis (requires you to be able to Apply your Eminences); you have two Trances per day and per night when you purchase this skill for the first time. Subsequent purchases will grant you an extra two Trances per day and per night.
• Learn a single Aspect (at character creation, this must be from your former Tribe or new Outlook). You must be able to use Intuitive Synthesis in order to learn an Aspect. You also gain one additional Trance per day and per night. Subsequent purchases of this skill will allow you to learn an additional Aspect and grant you an additional Trance per day and per night.
• Engage in Freeform Synthesis (requires you to be able to use Intuitive Synthesis) once per day and per night. Additional purchases of this skill allow you to use Freeform Synthesis one more time per day and per night.

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:

• Perform one additional Ritual per day and per night
• Select another totem (Spirit, Fatima, Z'bri lord, etc.) to whom you may perform a Ritual

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:

• Any of the Fatimas
• Any of the Tribal Totems, like Den Mother, Great Owl, Great Raven, Hare, Hearth Minder, Phoenix, Teddy Bear, White Viper or Winter Wolf
• Spirits of nature, like Great River, Play, or Trailrunner.
• Z'bri lords like the Baron or Prince Thak'ikch'at.

If you would like information or advice about what each spirit's area of influence is, or what they represent, please get in touch!