Rules

Contents

Heritage social

Heritages are non-human backgrounds that you may start play with. Somewhere in your character’s lineage one of your ancestors was one of these and it has been passed down to you. In terms of the Elementals you will not be a ‘full’ elemental comprised solely of that element, you will be part human and part Elemental. Many of these Heritages can represent other ‘related’ races (for example an Air Elemental Heritage could be used for a Djinn, an Earth Elemental Heritage could be used for a Troll).
When you choose to have a Heritage you will gain 3 Talents that must be assigned to one of your first two Vocation Triplets. All these Talents go into the same Triplet and cannot be swapped out for any other Talent. These represent the natural talents of that race. In addition you will gain a Heritage Talent that is separate to the Triplets, these Heritage Talents have both positive and negative effects, which increase the more karma you put into them.
Please check with the Ref Team if you want to play something with a Heritage.

For all of the following Heritages, you require some phys-rep indication of the Heritage, whether that be prosthetics or make up. This is not an extensive list, we do have a few other playable Heritages, but they are only available via agreement with a Ref. (Click the names of each heritage to expand or contract the details).

Fae

An ancient race of creatures originating from the land of Faerie, ranging from the Sidhe (elves) through the numerous types of fairies and fairy like creatures from Fairy Stories you may have read (note that you need to choose a race that is one you can actually Phys-rep playing – unless you are only 6 inches tall you will not be able to play a Tinkerbell style fairy! – most characters will be Sidhe).

Naturekin

These are humans who have melded with the spirits of plants or have links with the flora around them. Creatures like Dryads, or shamanic types who become one with the nature around them fit into this Heritage.

Beastkin

These are humans who have melded with the spirits of animals, have a link to the fauna around them, or were created in some horrific experiments. They can be of any kind of animal, their nature being linked with that of the animal.

  • Beastkin do not get a specific Heritage Talent as do the other Heritages, instead they get to choose the third Talent to go into the Vocation Triplet (based on the nature of the animal part of themselves).
  • Vocation Triplet Talents: Animal Empathy, Pathfinder and then for the third choose one from Combative, Fortitude, Potency, Regeneration, Tenacity or Vigour, that suits the animal nature of the character.

Beastkin also gain the following:

  • Heightened Senses (as appropriate to the animal part of themselves – sight, hearing, smell etc.) – This will allow them to potentially notice things that a normal person cannot (sight will allow you to see something small or further away more easily, smell will allow you to track or detect something more easily etc). However, the downside is that they are more vulnerable to attack via these senses (flashes of light vs sight, loud noises vs hearing, strong scents vs smell etc) normally any such attack would last twice as long for those with Heightened Senses (So if a flash of light blinds for 10 seconds, it will be 20 seconds for a sight based beastkin), also they will sometimes be affected by things when other people are not, high pitch noises for example.
  • Optionally (and it has to fit with the animal type chosen – check with the Ref Team when designing your character) a beastkin can choose one of the following:
    • Body Weaponry – The character gains the ability to do non-Temporary damage in unarmed combat. However this body weaponry can be broken and shattered as per normal weapons, likewise attacking certain things (a stone golem for example) can also damage claws, requiring them to be healed before they can be used again.
    • Body Armour – The character gains an extra hit point to all locations, however they are also now more difficult to treat medically. Any medic working on them counts as 1 level lower than they actually are (this counts for surgery only, magical healing will work as normal)
Elementals

The Elementals and their kin have been in existence for a very long time, and over that time some have bred with humans, creating more elemental kin.

Earth Elemental
Air Elemental
Fire Elemental
Water Elemental
Darklings, or Void Elementals

These beings are sometimes referred to as Void Elementals due to their affinity with that element. Darklings lived in a place known as the Netherworld and have strong ties to Portals.

The Bloodlines

There are ancient races ‘awakening’ in the world, people who have the blood of these races in their ancestry can manifest and change from being a normal human to one of these races. Access to these special Heritages is restricted and only by Ref consent (normally as part of a personal plot). Due to the nature of these races, should you gain one, the Refs will inform you at a relevant time of the Talents, as well as any positive or negative side effects. Note that if you already have a Heritage you cannot develop into one of these Bloodlines at a later date.

Social Background

By default characters start at Lower Middle Class.
For each level of Social Background you gain points in Internal and External Influence.
Internal Influence = influence level within a group/society you are a member of.
External influence = influence level within a group you are not part of
Any influence is subject to Ref approval.
Any Skills granted by Social Status at Character Creation CANNOT be stacked and must be separate skills. If you have Craft/Business 1, Craft/Academic 1, you cannot pick the same craft skill twice to get Craft Skill 2.

Click on the different levels below to read more details about each social class.

No social status

Players may choose to drop their default Social Background to this status at character creation, they gain 60 Starting Karma for doing so.
These characters are accepted only by a very small group of their peers, and are feared, sneered at, or spat on by almost everyone else, if their right to exist is acknowledged at all. It is difficult for them to gain employment or recognition in society even to start with.
They may be forcibly conscripted into the military, enslaved, rounded up or shot on sight. They have no income or equipment bar what they can salvage and scavenge.

Examples: The Achipelagan street vagrant, the suspicious mad old Salemite woman, an escaped Dust slave, or a Formorii Frontline Trooper.

Lower Lower Class

Players may choose to drop their default Social Background to this status at character creation, they gain 40 Starting Karma for doing so.
The character is one of the unwashed masses, life is hard, but they can earn just enough to feed themselves and their family, and keep a roof over their heads most of the time, working in poorly paid, unskilled or semi-skilled jobs, or making a living from subsistence agriculture. They are the lowest level of acceptable society.

Examples: A Five Thunders peasant, a Frontier settler, an Archipelagan Pirate, and a foot soldier in the Salem Military.

Upper Lower Class

Players may choose to drop their default Social Background to this status at character creation, they gain 20 Starting Karma for doing so.
They can feed themselves and their family well most of the time, and occasionally even stretch to meat. They may have received the fragments of a formal education, or at least acquired the rudiments of reading and writing, and many hold aspirations of a better life, if not for themselves, then for their children.

Examples: A Dust Storekeeper, a Salemite Craftsman, an Army Sergeant, or a Frontier Tribal warrior.

Lower Middle Class

This is the default Social Background for characters.
The character comes from a band of society that provides well-trained professionals and are usually educated or trained to a fairly high standard. They are able to make a good living from their profession and have a level of respect and recognition for their jobs from the community at large, and are paid well for their skills and abilities.

Examples: A Salemite Parish Priest, an Archipelago Junior Guildsman, am Army Lieutenant, Tribal Elders and Chieftains will also count at this level for the purposes of comparison with other cultures.

Upper Middle Class

Players may choose to increase their default Social Background to this status at character creation, it will cost them 20 Starting Karma to do so.
The character comes from a band of society which has made its living through trade, politics or managing land and factories. They are usually well off and have plenty of time for social pursuits as well as their business interests.

Examples: A Dust Merchant, An Archipelago Confederacy Army Captain, a Salemite Most-Fine Companion, a Whitewater senior Guildsman, a Tribal Shaman and a Five Thunders Local Governor

Lower Upper Class

Players may choose to increase their default Social Background to this status at character creation, it will cost them 40 Starting Karma to do so.
Born into, or occasionally marrying into well-bred families, Minor Nobility, the Lords and Ladies of society. Lesser Barons and Baronesses, Baronets, Senior Army Officers, and Church leaders such as Bishops and Cardinals. They usually have old money, titles, lands and influence.

For example: An Archipelagan Island Governor, a Salemite Bishop, an Army Colonel and a Dust Sheikh.

Upper Upper Class

Players may choose to increase their default Social Background to this status at character creation, it will cost them 60 Starting Karma to do so.
Major Nobility, Viscounts, Marquis and Marchionesses, and very, very senior Army Officers and very senior church leaders.

Examples of this are a Dust Caliph, a Salemite Church Knight Commander or Archbishop, or Thunders Daimyo.