the princesses of yore
In the Days of Yore, the gentle voice -- the ability to speak to animals and to understand them in turn -- was understood among humans and mawas to be a manifestation of the divine right of kings. The gods had gifted their chosen few and their descendants the right to rule, and what clearer proof of this could there be than authority over beast as well as man?
And so kings and their heirs were accompanied always by beastly retainers. King Vokrem of Albalon famously kept an albino alligator at the feet of his throne. After a hunting expedition, he returned to court with the predator in tow and explained that he had intended to take a trophy of the beast, but it prostrated itself at his feet and he knew then that it was a gift sent to him by Prosperity.
There are no native alligators in Albalon. It died within the year, and then he mounted its head over his throne.
the princesses of today
“Go get mommy a chai, okay, Bingus?”
Starting Equipment:
-frippery (not armor) (1 slot);
-casual wear (light armor) (1 slot);
-crown (improvised light sharp) OR fan (improvised light blunt) (1 slot);
-a walkman (1 slot);
-1 ration worth of bougie-ass gimmicky trendy food (1 slot);
-3 rations worth of animal feed (don’t eat this) (3 slots)
Frippery: Any outfit of sufficiently pointless ostentation that is impractical for combat scenarios. Functional armor can’t count as Frippery. Some of your class powers depend on you wearing frippery.
Level 1: royal retainer, gentle voice, primp and preen
Level 2: damsel in distress, +another retainer and another gentle voice
Level 3: royal summons, +another retainer and another gentle voice
Level 4: royal treatment, +another retainer and another gentle voice
Royal Retainer: You are accompanied by a relatively docile animal (like a songbird, a doe or a chameleon, for example). It thinks of you as a trusted friend and is eager to follow your suggestions, but it will run away for the rest of the day if it takes too much damage. Whenever you gain a princess level, you may select another relatively docile beast that is sufficiently different from your other royal retainers. A human’s dog becomes a bonus retainer.
Gentle Voice: You can speak to certain beasts and understand them in turn. Beasts do not think like sapient creatures and aren’t likely to care about or be able to tell you about much outside their beastly purview, but they like princesses and typically will at least hear you out. You can always speak to beasts sufficiently similar to your royal retainers, and also learn to speak with an additional category of animal every level.
The table decides what counts as an animal “category”, but some examples include “frogs and toads”, “river fish”, “boneless fish”, “bees, ants, wasps” or “social insects.”
Primp and Preen: If you are wearing Frippery and out of combat or danger, you may spend a short while to become Immaculate. While Immaculate, you look as composed and put-together as possible under the circumstances, and intelligent creatures must Save to target you. You cease to be Immaculate the first time you take damage.
Damsel in Distress: (Loud) If you’re wearing Frippery, you can swoon and call for help to redirect an incoming attack to an adjacent ally who would be a valid target, who then rolls defense against this attack with damage resistance equal to your SMOOTH.
Royal Summons: (Loud) Once per scene, you can issue a royal summons with your gentle voice and attract a more-or-less friendly beast of a type that lives nearby. You do not get to choose what type of animal it is, and it can be a somewhat more dangerous animal than your retainers are allowed to be.
Royal Treatments: At level four, you may select an upgrade to one of your existing abilities.
Royal Retainer becomes King Among Beasts: You may select a significantly more rowdy and dangerous beast as an additional royal retainer, such as a walrus, a moose, or a fucking dinosaur. This animal is absolutely willing to throw down the moment you give the signal. Like a normal retainer, it will return to you the next day if it flees.
Gentle Voice becomes Tongue of the Trees and Tides: You may speak to any beast, and can perfectly imitate the sound of any of your retainers and one animal from each previous gentle voice.
Primp and Preen becomes Demanding Presence: While you are Immaculate, you gain a +2 bonus to the goal for intimidating, browbeating, diplomating, and otherwise telling people what to do. The goal to target you when Immaculate also decreases by 2.
Damsel in Distress becomes Kill for Me: In addition to its normal use, you may once per scene command an ally to make an preemptive counterstrike against an enemy that intends to attack you. If your ally can see and hear the enemy, before the enemy is able to move into position your ally moves and makes a standard attack against the target adding your SMOOTH as a damage bonus. If Kill for Me connects, the enemy’s turn is canceled.
Royal Summons becomes Swarmsong: When you issue a royal summons, you may instead summon an auditorium of animals to wash over your foes, either dealing 5d4 Sharp and Wet damage to all targets you designate, or removing a single character from the scene, and causing other miscellaneous carnage.
The GM may decide that local animals deal different damage types, like Creepy if there are a lot of poison animals.
