carpenters

 In two hours, Ersa McMalin retires from her house party to pen a letter to the lord-supplyman of Freeport, La Royce.
 
In two months, a sinkhole opens on a busy street in East Eldon, killing four.

In two years, the Sagacius sails into port on fire. In two years and twenty minutes, an explosion levels the city of Fyrstrond.
 
The Carpenters have known this for centuries. An oracular splinter-sect, they broke from their vows of inaction to rudder Fate with violence.

If you are reading this, you are a member of The Carpenters.

Yours is a Society of assassin-seers.

You are expected to follow orders, and to keep your fucking mouth shut.

If the mission calls for it, you are expected to self-terminate.

Amor fati.
- Γ -

SKILLS - CANTRIPS
Ballistics - You deal +1d6 damage with guns. If you hear a gunshot, you know the shooter’s exact position, intended target, and to-Hit.
Toxicology - You deal +1d6 damage with poisons. You can use a poison as its antidote, and vice versa.
Mechanisms - You deal +1d6 damage with contraptions. When you successfully sabotage a mechanism, you choose when and how it will fail.
Driving - You deal +1d6 damage with your car. No one can mess with your car if you aren’t in it, and you can park it anywhere without consequences.
Blacksmithing - You deal +1d6 damage with giant saw blades. With a dedicated workshop, you may combine two weapons into a single transforming trick weapon.
Tattoo Artistry - You deal +1d6 damage with needles. Once, you may reveal one of your tattoos to be a (somewhat esoteric) map of the dungeon you are currently in.
Meteorology - You deal +1d6 damage with lightning. When you host a council, you may change the weather at will.
Eschatology - You always know when the next disaster will strike the location you are standing. You have a vague sense of its magnitude, but not its nature.

At B template, you know the rite of billhooks, by which an assassin prunes their target's Fate until only doom remains. You receive a list of three tasks; once completed, the next attack you make against your target is a critical strike. 

At C template, you know exactly how you will die. You cannot die any other way. The exception is poison, which somehow trumps Fate.

league

 On his death bed, the notorious pirate Roger D. Longadder said this:
   "I leave it all to you three- my treasure, my gold, the winds and the tides. All this world has to offer awaits you on the seventh sea."
 
Immediately, sailing coalitions waged bloody war for Longadder's treasure, turning the sea chum-red. History remembers Longadder as the liar who stoked the decade-long pirate wars.
 
But Longadder's treasure is real - realer than you or I. A stray thingamabob, separated from his hoard and washed up on a distant shore, tugs at the world like cheap cloth. In rare cases, it rips right thru.

If you are reading this, you are a member of The Independent League of Voyager-Patriots.

Yours is a Society of swashbucklers.

You will be judged by the tallness of your tales and the cut of your jib. You are not expected to get along with anyone.

Not all pirates are members of the League; you are expected to put them in their place.

Sic semper nautae.

- ⟴ -

SKILLS - CANTRIPS
Sailing - You can change the wind’s direction with a song and a successful reaction roll. On a failure, the wind turns against you instead.
Drinking - You are loved by the North wind. You can accurately identify special properties of beverages by taste.
Stunting - You are loved by the South wind. When you swing (or fall) screaming into combat, your foes check morale.
Singing - You are loved by the West wind. When you burst into song, NPCs take it in stride. If it seems appropriate, they may join in.
Ropes - You are loved by the East wind. You can untie knots with a whistle.,
Cartography - You can zoom in on maps. If you point at any part of any map, the GM must assign it an accurate (and hopefully cool) epithet.
Ventriloquism - When you throw your voice into an object, it moves appropriately.,
Camaraderie - Choose or invent a minor NPC to be your first mate. They trust you absolutely. They would die for you.

At B template, you know the rite of going anywhere, by which one safeguards a vessel. As part of the rite, a blood sigil is painted on the ship. So long as the sigil remains unbroken, the ship can sail any sea. This is how Longadder navigated the molten sea of Hell.

If you paint the sigil on your body, you can swim in any sea unharmed. This is how Longadder survived his first excursion to the underworld.

At C template, you can ride the wind. This launches you 500ft into the air per the current wind direction. If the wind likes you, you’ll land safely on your feet.

order

To become another is to magnify a secret part of oneself. The Order studies the hundred secret selves - roles, stock characters, destinies - and invokes them in ritualized theatre.
 
Each of the secret selves can be aroused with costumes, accents, turns-of-phrases. For the Lady-beyond-death, the costume is a long red wig and massive false breasts.

If you are reading this, you are a member of The Comprehensive Order of Welcome Characters.

Yours is a Society of actors and playwrights.

You are expected to support the arts, and to be cordial with your fellows. You may be asked to secure funding for auspicious productions, or the skull of a relative. You may be asked to donate blood (yours or another's).

When you die, you are expected to give away your body to the Order. It will then be secretly entombed, such that you may join Her in the Palace-beyond-death.

In theatro ludus.

- ᙡ -

SKILLS - CANTRIPS

• History - You may ask one question of a skull or dead body.
  • If you are related to them, you may ask another.
  • If you know their true name, they cannot lie to you.
  You must test CHA to do this again before the next full moon.
• Seduction - You may ask Her questions about sex. You can keep someone engaged in conversation with you for an hour to the exclusion of all else.
• Swordplay - You may ask Her questions about war. When a fight breaks out, you can draw a sword from anywhere in the room as if it had been on your hip the whole time.
• Disguise - You may ask Her questions about drama. In a crowded scene, if your exact position hasn't been established yet, you can declare that any generic NPC was actually you in disguise.
• Couture - You may ask Her questions about art. Fancy clothes give you a +2 AC bonus, plus an additional +2 AC for every 100g spent on the outfit, up to twice your level.
• Statecraft - You may ask Her questions about politics. When you speak, all listeners must Save or be silent for the duration of your speech. If they are fighting, they must do so quietly.
• Parapsychology - You may ask Her questions about magic. So long as you are not disliked by the local ghosts, you may request the assistance of a spectral hand. It can move light objects slowly and is not strong enough to deal damage.
• Genealogy - You may ask Her questions about family. You are related to whoever you need to be related to, however distantly. All family heirlooms technically belong to you, and you could show up at any family reunion or reading of the will.

At B template, you also learn the rite of worldly possession, by which one summons a daemon. You or another can serve as the host, and there is a 5-in-6 chance (rolled secretly) that the daemon overpowers the host, reduced by 1-in-6 for each of the following:

    The host wears an appropriate costume.
    The host has the daemon's preferred blood type.
    The host imbibes a bowl of the daemon's preferred blood type.
    The host is particularly inbred (+3 or more). 

At C template, you can invite Her into your body. She has a voice like thunder, +8 to-Hit, and cannot be silenced, spoken over, interrupted, drowned out, suffocated, or harmed by swords.

committee

When the wind blows, the City speaks. Thru coiling stone streets, from the mouths of gargoyles, it whispers; the Committee listens, and then they build. 
 
Only the Committee may permit new developments; unauthorized constructions are torn down, or fall in on themselves, struck down by the City itself. Seen from above, the City streets spell a message no one can read.
 
Under their rule, the City prospers. Two wars, a falling star, and Fate herself could not yoke its thundering economy.

If you are reading this, you are a member of The Eldon Planning Committee.

Yours is a Society of urban planners.

You are expected to support the arts, and to be cordial with your fellows. You are expected to protect the City from harm; you have no such obligations to its people.

Exspiravit interra.

- Θ -

SKILLS - CANTRIPS

• Architecture - You can always find the stairs. You know exactly which walls/beams to collapse in order to bring down the ceiling.
• Driving - You can always find your car. No one can mess with your car if you aren’t in it, and you can park it anywhere without consequences.
• Dowsing - You can always find water. You can use your hand as a metal detector.
• Logistics - You can always find high ground. You muster twice the men you paid for.
• Gravedigging - You can always find a grave. You can dig a coffin-sized hole in 10 minutes, regardless of weather or soil condition.
• Parapsychology - You can always find a ghost. So long as you are not disliked by the local ghosts, you may request the assistance of a spectral hand. It can move light objects slowly and is not strong enough to deal damage.
• Anatomy - You can always find a vein. Given an unaware subject with a comprehensible anatomy, you can stun them with a pinch, chop, or jab to the pressure points.
• Mathematics - You can always find 𝑥. You can estimate distance, weight, and time with unsettling accuracy.

At B template, you know the rite of open doors, by which one fills a house with ghosts. After three months of rearranging, the house can be considered haunted: doors will lock when unattended, chimneys will howl, and cold spots will appear throughout the demense. 

At C template, you always know exactly how many secret rooms, doors, and passageways are on the current floor.

club

Fashionable ladies are never seen without their purebred pets: their maned dachshundober mixes, their superior piebald pigeons, their southern royal half-clown crocodiles.
The Club is the hidden epicenter of all kennel clubs. They monitor and maintain the integrity of all purebred lines.
They also run the pigeon post, as their purebred postal pigeons are the most reliable by far.

If you are reading this, you are a member of The Dovecote Transom Club.

Yours is a Society of dog breeders (and pigeon breeders, and crocodile breeders, etc, etc).

You are expected to support the sciences, and to be cordial with your fellows. You may be asked to make introductions between members of high society. You may be asked to collect blood samples.

The Society will select your spouse. If you are already married, the Society will select one or more extramarital partners.

Ubi stirpis ibi patria.

- ꗚ -

SKILLS - CANTRIPS

• Wrestling - Your purebreds get +2 Size. You can challenge an animal to a physical contest on its terms, and it will graciously accept.
• Sleight of Hand - Your purebreds get +2 Grace. You can pass objects from one hand to the other, ignoring plausibility.
• Cuisine - Your purebreds get +2 Guts. If you lose a tooth, it grows back within the hour.
• Political Theory - Your purebreds get +2 Brains. You can cause significant unrest among the lower classes with an hour and a soapbox. Make a reaction roll to direct their ire.
• Law - Your purebreds get +2 Nerves. No jury would convict you.
• Gambling - Your purebreds get +2 Fate. When you succeed a d20 roll, you can go double or nothing. Roll again; success is a critical success, failure is a fumble.
• Heraldry - Your purebreds get +2 Character. Your personal heraldry incites fear in any fighting force you’ve previously defeated.
• Theft - Your purebreds get +2 Sneak. You have +3 Inventory Slots. Items in those slots cannot be found unless you want them to be found.

At B template, you know the rite of the outer cross, by which one creates a chimera. By feeding one lesser beast (henceforth "the recipient") the blood of another (henceforth "the donor"), the recipient manifests one or more physical traits of the donor at random. With your guidance, a dog may sprout ram's horns, and a lamb may grow saber teeth.

This rite takes a month. 

At C template, you can become a chimera, per the rite of the outer cross. Whatever you become, it will be better than being human. 

lodge

It is not in the lion's nature to explain herself.

If you are reading this, you are a member of The Bosky Lodge.

Yours is a Society of woodsmen.

You will be judged by your self-sufficiency and by your hunting record.

At Society meetings, you must wear a mask and bear a sacrificial name: Hound, Crocodile, and so on. No other names may be spoken.

You are not permitted a burial: when you die, your body will be spirited away.

- Ꙙ -

• SKILLS - CANTRIPS
• Theft - You are invisible to birds. You have +3 Inventory Slots. Items in those slots cannot be found unless you want them to be found.
• Hunting - You are invisible to livestock. Predators recognize you as one of them: wolves answer when you howl, lions avoid where you sleep, and vampires can’t bite your subordinates without your consent.
• Trapmaking - You are invisible to spiders. When one of your traps goes off, you know.
• Swimming - You are invisible to crocodiles. You can fight in water as well as on land.
• Climbing - You are invisible to monkeys. You can use both hands freely while climbing if you spend a round bracing yourself.
• Cryptography - You are invisible to snakes. Your secret codes are incomprehensible to anyone you haven't personally taught them to.
• Escape Artistry - You are invisible to octopodes. When you shake someone’s hand, any handcuffs, ropes, or other restraints that were on you are now on them instead.
• Wilderness Survival - You are invisible to horses. You can go a week without food, water, or rest.

[In this context, invisibility means you won't be noticed until someone or something draws attention to you.]

At B template, you know the rite of wolfing, by which one assumes a bestial guise. It takes three days to make a costume from an appropriately large pelt. The illusion is broken only by fire-light.

At C template, you can trade names with another willing person. Titles and epithets count as names. Everyone else retroactively accepts the new names.

school

The astrologer-hermit Etymon once mapped the movements of stars so accurately she was named the third great oracle. She used no tools or lenses; according to her, she politely asked the stars where they were going, and they told her the truth.
 
The language of stars has since been lost. The School works to preserve all language, particularly those voiceless and formless tongues.

If you are reading this, you are a member of Trudy Nock’s School of Fingers, Tongues, and Answers.

Yours is a Society of translators and, rarely, astrologers.

You are expected to support the arts, and to be cordial with your fellows. You may be asked to donate especially rare texts to the Society's grand library. You may be asked to eavesdrop, or to steal little things - things no one will miss.

Sciencia ad astra.

    - ∇ -

SKILLS - CANTRIPS.

• Translation - You can attempt to translate any human language you don't speak. The GM rolls a d6 secretly for the number of errors you make in the translation.
• Eavesdropping - When you listen in on a conversation, the participants are guaranteed to speak about something of interest to you.
• Locksmithing - You learn the language of Locks. You can pick locks with a whisper, once you figure out what they want.
• Animal Training - You learn the language of Rats. With a spare minute and an instrument, you can summon all the rats in the nearby vicinity, up to 100. Roll for reaction as normal.
• Knife Throwing - You learn the language of Daggers. If you whisper your target’s true name to your daggers, they automatically hit it when thrown.
• Arson - You learn the language of Fire. When you hold a flame in your hands, it won’t burn you, and it won’t go out.
• Numismatics - You learn the language of Coins. You have excellent credit and are immune to loan interest.
• Astronomy - You can see by starlight as if it were daylight, and by no light as if it were starlight.

At B template, you know the rite of the skeleton key, by which one opens all doors. The rite takes only a minute, and produces a key from the finger bone of one who bars the way. For the shed door, this is the gardener. For the secret vault, this is the marquis. For the marquis, this is his wife.

At C template, you learn the language of one of the following: whales; earthquakes; gold; urchins; crocodiles; guns.

circle

 Red Death. Tomb Pox. Extinction. The history of men is punctuated by plagues, a cursed cycle of suffering. Only flame can chase away plague; indeed, it was around a bonny flame, in the black graveyard of Sliab-Loisg, that the Circle was founded.
 
The Circle hunts plague, chasing it from major cities and rooting it out in smaller towns. They are feared for their methods, and so must work in hiding, waging a silent war against an invisible foe.
 
Plagues do not die; they slumber underground, returning to the open air when their prey has multiplied once more. Only the rosy flame - a flame to burn away all disease - will free mankind from the tyranny of plague. 

If you are reading this, you are a member of The Broken Circle of Ash Coats.

Yours is a Society of doctors.

You are expected to remain ever-vigilant for signs of plague, and to be cordial with your fellows. You may be called upon in times of plague: to heal, to study, to comfort, and to bury. You may be called upon in other times as an inquisitor.

In times of plague, you must wear your uniform: heavy grey robes; thick gloves and boots; and a trunked mask, stuffed with spice or perfume.

Omnimorbus vinces.

- ꩜ -

SKILLS - CANTRIPS

• Arson - You get a second save versus fire. When you hold a flame in your hands, it won’t burn you, and it won’t go out.
• Cuisine - You get a second save versus poison. If you lose a tooth, it grows back within the hour.
• Medicine - You get a second save versus disease. You can catch sickness, but never spread it.
• Intimidation - You get a second save versus fear. If you would successfully break down a door, you may instead frighten it into opening of its own accord.
• Romance - You get a second save versus true love. Your letters charm acutely lonely people.
• Surgery - You get a second save versus death rays. With three hours, a saw, a sewing kit, and a sedative, you may swap one of your patient’s limbs for another with minimum ill effect.
• Hunting - You get a second save versus dogs. Predators recognize you as one of them: wolves answer when you howl, lions avoid where you sleep, and vampires can’t bite your subordinates without your consent.
• Games - You get a second save versus dragons. While fully engaged in a rousing game of chess, backgammon, or kel murdo, neither you nor your opponent can be attacked.

At B template, you know the rite of flame purification, by which any disease can be chased away, if only for a moment. Over the course of an hour, you deal up to 6 damage to the patient: the disease is removed for that many days. Afterwards, there is a 3-in-6 chance (rolled secretly) that the disease returns.

At C template, you can breathe fire in a wide cone for 3d6 damage.