Chapter 0 - Session 2
The Full Party Assembles
The video can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLil_BKplZ0
Events and Actions
This session continued the character creation process, this time with a fuller group present. The GM also took the opportunity to share an overview of the Known World via a map, and to expand on several points of world lore.
Mani (Manuel de Barret), played by Scala, was introduced as a Common Human of the Mariner culture. He comes from a family of means — not noble, but wealthy through the fabric trade and, when times are hard, through smuggling. His father's connections run along the coasts and rivers of the North, with fine cloth and other goods flowing through port towns toward the Capitol. Mani was given a formal education, including tutored lessons in music, history, philosophy, and swordsmanship — but he was never allowed to forget that he lacked the blood of a nobleman. This injustice has become the central fire of his character: he intends to prove that skill, not birth, makes a man great. As a Fighter, he expects to develop breadth across many weapon types, beginning with the blade. He took Prodigy (Blade) as a talent, granting him a natural facility with bladed weapons from the outset, alongside Golden Throat (for charm and persuasion) and Pressing Advantage (a bonus to his follow-up attack after landing a solid blow). Rather than simply killing his opponents, he means to make a habit of disarming them and keeping the hilts of their broken weapons as trophies — a swordsman's reputation is worthless if no one lives to spread it. His Boon was also settled this session: an old coin or medallion, not yet in his possession, that will one day make him strongly resistant to magic — an odd gift for a young man with no facility for or interest in the arcane.
Riu (Infurious Montesigna), played by Alain, was introduced in this session. He comes from a minor noble family on the Plains, known for horses. A younger son with no obligation to carry on the family's core work, he has been free to follow his own obsessive curiosity — books, lore, the mechanisms of things, and the faint scent of magic at the edges of understanding. He is working toward the Dabbler profession, a semi-spell user of Essence, though at this stage he is simply a bookish young man who has come to the Capitol to access libraries and pursue his interests. His most notable talent is an eidetic memory — once he has read something, he does not forget it. True to his magpie approach to knowledge, he spread his language study thin rather than deep, picking up a smattering of several written languages — including fragments of a language claimed to belong to the elves said to live beyond the mountains, and even snippets of a written magical language — rather than mastering one or two. He and the GM spent a long stretch of the session trying to define his Boon: Riu wanted something like a knack for improvising working devices out of mundane, scavenged materials, tying into his fascination with machinery and his theoretical dabbling in magic. The GM worried aloud that such an ability could unbalance the game and floated alternatives — an improvising chemist's knack for gunpowder, or an intrinsic understanding of unfamiliar peoples and customs — but no final form was settled by the end of the session. In the course of the discussion, the GM let slip that some of the world's oldest structures, including the Capitol's own castle, have no known builders or surviving records of their construction — a mystery that struck a chord with Riu's scholarly and mechanical bent.
Werner De Rendal (Allen), Knick Nab (Ross), and Noddy (Donovan) continued refining their characters from the previous session. For Knick Nab, it was confirmed that his 1/8 Elf racial heritage grants him Night Vision and Efficient Sleeper for free. He spent his 18 racial development points on Fast Attack and took the Light-Boned flaw (a genuine fragility, consistent with a childhood of malnourishment), which returned 15 points, giving him 23 remaining to spend on further talents. His Boon was also confirmed this session: through simple conversation he can draw out a person's deepest wants and desires, whether or not they intend to reveal them — a gift he already sees as the foundation of the leadership he hopes to earn one day. The GM also noted, without elaborating, that Werner's family has some as-yet-unexplained connection to the great climate shift of a generation ago — a thread Werner himself does not yet understand.
Pat (Cosimo Cellini Scivio) was not present for this session.
NPCs & Creatures
None encountered.
Locations
None visited.
Conflicts
None.
Learnings and Discussions
The Known World (Map Overview): The GM presented a map of the Known World as the characters currently understand it. The North and the South are divided by a mountain range with a small number of strategic passes. The Capitol is the largest city in the North and the seat of both Royal and Divinity of Two power. Islands lie off the coast; beyond them, the open ocean has only recently become navigable due to the Great Change. Further afield, rumour holds that a reclusive people with elven blood live beyond the mountains to the east, among ruins resembling pyramids, though no Northerner has ever seen one. Far to the south, past the Sands, lies the domain of the Cult of Fire — a different people again, dismissed by those in the North as charlatans who fake miracles with gunpowder and stage tricks.
The Great Change: Described again for the newer players — this was not a gradual shift but a sudden, cataclysmic change in ocean weather patterns roughly a generation ago. No prophecy warned of it. The result is that deep ocean travel to the West is now possible, and both North and South are racing to exploit what lies beyond.
Slavery in the North: The North relies heavily on enslaved labour. People from the Channel Islands and beyond who are brought north are, in most cases, enslaved. Islanders (referred to as "high humans" in game terms) are a distinct race; in the North, a person of Islander descent is presumed to be a slave unless proven otherwise. This is a defining feature of Northern society that separates it from the more egalitarian South.
The Divinity of Two's Grip on Reproduction: The Divinity of Two holds enormous social power because reproduction in the North requires the Church's blessing. Unions not blessed by the Divinity of Two either fail to produce children or produce children described as "misshapen" — who are killed at birth, along with consequences for the parents. This gives the Church leverage over every family in the North, regardless of rank, and explains their unchallenged religious authority. Knick Nab's misshapen ears are a dangerous secret in this context: by Northern law, he should not have survived infancy.
Magic in the World: Beyond the power of the Divinity of Two — granted, it is said, directly by the Father and Mother above — there is no real magic in Northern society: no wandering wizards, no spells sold in the street. What the Cult of Fire calls a miracle is dismissed in the North as cheap trickery with gunpowder and smoke, and the "witchcraft" attributed to Islanders is written off the same way. Whatever the truth of those claims, the power wielded by the Divinity of Two's own paladins and clergy is real and unmistakably magical — which is part of why their authority goes unquestioned.
North vs. South: The North's great military strength on land is its cavalry — horses are a major resource and a symbol of status. The South lacks this advantage but has become competitive at sea. With the war now largely a naval conflict, the North's cavalry advantage counts for less than it once did.
Trade and Smuggling: Mountain passes are the primary land routes between North and South. In peacetime, control of these passes generates enormous wealth for those who own them. In wartime — as now — the passes become fortified military positions and trade ceases. The alternative is smuggling, whether through mountain routes or by ship. Mani's family has historically been positioned to exploit both channels.
Languages: There is one common language shared across the North and South. Additionally, Islanders have their own language. A further, more exotic language exists beyond the Sands to the far south, unknown to most Northerners. Mani's background in maritime trade gave him some exposure to this desert tongue, and he took one rank in it.
Weapons and Combat: The group discussed the weapon skill categories in the new rules: melee (blade, chain, halberd, and greater versions; pole arm), ranged (bow, crossbow, sling, thrown, exotic), shield, and unarmed. Black powder weapons — pistols, muskets, and cannons — fall under ranged as separate skills within that category. The GM noted that the physical environment should shape weapon choices, particularly on ships: large weapons are impractical below decks, short blades and pistols dominate in confined spaces. Firearm technology in the world is flintlock — expensive and uncommon among ordinary people, though standard issue for soldiers and an absolute requirement for pirates, who are expected to keep guns and blades ready at all times. Ships remain entirely wood and sail, with no steam power of any kind; the pressures of the Great Change and the ongoing war are pushing shipwrights toward larger vessels capable of longer blue-water voyages, which in turn has made timber one of the most valuable goods moving through the mountain passes. Sloops remain fast, common, and a pirate favourite for short raiding runs, but a poor choice for crossing open ocean.
Talent: Direction Sense: A talent was identified that grants a significant bonus to navigation by detecting the planet's magnetic field. With the campaign's emphasis on sea travel, the group noted this would be highly valuable for at least one party member to possess.
Items Gained
None.
Items Lost
None.