A character’s Connections determines what items such as weapons, armor, and other expensive and hard-to-acquire
LANGUAGE
Some, but not all, skill packages grant the character the opportunity to pick up a new language. The value listed is the amount of points the player can spend on languages. For 1 point the player can either choose a new language (generally one associated with the package it derives from) starting at Basic Finesse Level, or pick a language they already possess to raise its Finesse Level by one. Noted in parentheses next to Language, is a rating from Common to Very Rare.
Players may choose a language up to the rating listed.
Unlike skills, Languages do not have an Aptitude or Practice associated with them, and no rolls are ever needed to use a known language. Like skills, however, Languages possess a fi nesse level. Only in cases where the language is a variant to one they already speak or they wish to decipher an old manuscript written in a lost dialect is this taken into consideration.
Basic
Able to speak the language fl uently, most natives will speak at this level. If the language is foreign to the adventurer they will speak it with a heavy accent, even if they are able to understand and communicate fluently. Foreign languages that use an alphabet distinctly different from theirs will be indecipherable.
Advanced
At this point the adventurer has managed to hide most of their accent and may even be able to speak a few regional dialects. They can now read and write the language’s script if it is entirely dissimilar from their own, though they will make mistakes from time to time.
Native speakers with this level of their own language will speak with an advanced, “educated” vocabulary.
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anywhere and only those who regularly deal with the land in question generally speak it.
Battlan: Illestan’s battle language, it incorporates hand gestures in addition to the spoken language.
Seldom heard outside of military circles in Vallunei.
Cyrooni: The clipped, lilting tongue of Cyroon, the Cyrooni people consciously keep others from learning it, though many in the Merchant Isles have.
Drakalian: The Dominion’s native language, generally only those in Treaty intelligence or merchants in Thrayce tend to speak it.
Sambi Speech: The Merchant Isles Empyriar patois, but since most Merchant Islanders are fl uent in Empyriar, few ever feel the need to learn it.
Savastri: Klesht’s complex language, only those who frequently deal with them (i.e., unscrupulous merchants) have an inclination to learn it.
Very Rare Languages
Heard only among its native speakers, virtually no one outside of their country understands, or would even recognize the origin of the language if they heard it spoken. Either due to its complexity or the isolation of its country of origin, only the most esoteric of learning institutions would teach these languages.
Dhansu: Spoken only in the Theocracy of Dharsus.
Estuado: Harakyr’s variant of Esquador. Since most Harakyri also speak Empyriar, few outside their land have an opportunity to learn it.
Goucha: The language of the Gogachi of the Fire Reaches, some fi nd it too confusing to learn.
Mikeshi: Never heard outside of its native land of Mikesh, a handful of Edyssian sociologists have learned it.
Riakh: No one outside of Neoll is known to speak this language.
Tasili: Similar to Empyriar, another language never heard outside of the Periphery.
Tilani Ryei: Harking back to the Empire of Casseonae, the Voivodh outlawed this language and so only the Tilandri are known to speak it.
Tondu: Sometimes spoken by a rare few Ballinorian sailors, Thrayce’s native tongue has little if any foreign speakers.
Zha Lee Thaal: Extremely complex, the language of the Zhalanti is only found among those Rune Mages who have taken the years necessary to learn it.
Expert
By now the adventurer can speak and read like a native with no noticeable accent. They understand and can speak all the major regional dialects related to that core language and even a few older versions (though not too old).
Elite
Covering every possible variation, those both recent and of core dialect of the distant past, the adventurer has a better command of the language than most native speakers. Of course they can also mime any possible accent and speak with none of their own.
Common Languages
These languages are spoken by a large number of people outside of their country of origin, usually connoting the power of the land they come from, whose infl uence has spread far across Zir’An. Adventurer’s can expect to fi nd someone who understands them in most places in the civilized world.
Empyriar : The native language of Vallunei.
Commonly found in Ianu Voss, Edyss, and Ballinor.
Erimani: Covering the language of the Eriman continent — Ianu Voss, Arivonne, and Gallios.
LaVas: The language of Edyss. The language of scholars and science.
Uncommon Languages
Either because of the diffi culty of the language or other reasons, foreign speakers will tend to be those who have an interest in the country or who live in a land closely bordering it.
Dorralinath: The native tongue of Ballinor, technicians across Zir’An often learn this language.
Esquador: Talus’s musical language, considered by many to be the language of romance.
Il-Sammadi: Ba-Dur’s language. Its diffi culty sees few but the most studious merchants speaking it.
Pa’Daskret: The ancient language of Bhuket, only in the Inabi States and among foreign slavers is the language found.
Vandasul: Vandalusa’s convoluted language, its diffi culty often keeps all but the most scholarly from learning it.
Rare Languages
Few people outside of the country of origin have little inclination to use its language. Seldom is it taught
equipment they have retained over the years before they became an Adventurer. Every piece of exceptional equipment is rated by its rarity: Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Very Rare. The Finesse Level of the character’s Connections skill determines the type and number the character has when they begin.
Basic: 2 Common or 1 Uncommon
Advanced: 4 Common, 2 Uncommon, or 1 Rare
Expert: 4 Common & 2 Uncommon, 2 Rare, or 1 Very Rare Elite: 8 Common & 4 Uncommon, 2 Rare & 1 Very Rare, or 2 Very Rare
The player can naturally feel free to break down a greater value for a lower one. One very rare essentially becomes 2 rare, 4 uncommon, or 8 common. If a player has an Advanced connection, she can choose 4 common, 2 uncommon, or 1 rare.
The player initially chooses to take two uncommon. She pickes one uncommon piece of equipment, but can’t find another uncommon piece of eqipment that suits her, so she is free to use that uncommon toward picking two common resources. Note:
if the player is at a quandry over what item or resource to pick up, the player may convert any value, common to very rare, into cash. This is listed in Chapter 8: Equipment.
ENCUMBRANCE
All items with significant weight have an Encumbrance Value.
An adventurer suffers if they are overloaded, for instance, trying to weild a sword they are too weak to lift, or wear armor that is too heavy for them to move in easily. Add and note the Encumbrance Value of all the items your character is carrying. If this number is greater than THREE TIMES the character’s Mass Stat, they lose 1 point of Speed and suffer -1 to all rolls per point their Encumbrance exceeds that value.
Use Chapter 8: Equipment to choose your character’s starting money, armor, weapons, vehicles, and gear.
Example: Karin Ami’s player is ready to pick her starting equipment.
Since Karin is an Edyssian Reporter, her connections around Edyss and Zir’An are important enough that she devoted extra skill packages to them, which pays off with high Connections Skills. This also has the added advantage of ensuring that she is well equipped to face whatever tribulations her new Adventuring career may present her with.
Her Connections are: Allies of Edyss: Advanced, Edyssian Institute of Learning: Expert, Zir’Ani Dilettantes: Basic, and Zir’Ani Technologists:
Basic. She decides to get a Baschab Repeater with 2 reloads of scatter ammo plus 10 reloads of normal ammo for 2 Rare, using up her Institute Connection (she has a friend in government defense research and figures she’ll need some protection). Next, she gets formal, high-class clothing as a gift from her aunts and uncles in society, useful for moving among the influential, using her Dilettantes Medium connection to do so. Her player decides she needs a mount, so Karin has been assigned a horse and tackle from the local Allied militia by pulling some strings, plus a watch and a camping kit (Uncommon and 2 Common). Finally, Karin has a collection
of books on the newest advances in science and technology that she keeps for reference and study that her inventor friends have given her as a going away present (1 Uncommon). Karin is ready for anything now.
AGE
An Adventurer’s life can be long and profi table, short and painful, or anywhere in between. As a character ages, his Stats change to show the effects of experience and time; these modifi ers stack with progression. Each race progresses through different age categories, as outlined below. Apply the stat modifi ers for the age at which your character begins after choosing skill packages, then add or subtract as they age during the game.
Age Category Stat Modifi ers
Child +1 Acuity, –1 Intelligence, –1 Mass,
+1 Speed
Youth +1 Physique, –1 Acuity Adult None
Mature +1 Acuity, –1 Physique, +1 Shadow Senior +1 Intelligence, +1 Acuity, –1 Mass,
–1 Physique, –1 Speed, +1 Shadow Elder +1 Intelligence, –1 Mass, –1
Physique, –1 Speed, +2 Shadow,
–1 HtH
Ancient +1 Intelligence, –1 Mass, –1 Physique, –1 Speed, +4 Shadow, –2 HtH
Race Child Youth Adult Mature Senior Elder Ancient Ianer 0–12 13–21 22–38 39–52 53–69 70–100 100–
130+
Dolonorri 0–20 21–50 51–80 81–110 111–140 141–180 181–
220+
Gogach 0–6 7–13 14–28 29–39 40–49 50–59 60–80+
Neolli 0–2 3–10 11–20 21–30 31–40 41–50 51–70+
Zhalanti* — — — — — — —
*Zhalanti are never seen to age, and most assume they are immortal.
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