TEXT: Tabletop Roleplaying In  
  Tabletop Roleplaying In  
  a World Without Metal
  a World Without Metal
  
  Written By: Brian Engard      Additional Game Design By: Brian Engard, Adam Lawson
  Editing By: Cameron Hopkin     Art Direction By: Adam Lawson    
   Layout & Graphic Design By: Hal Mangold and Anna urbanek
  Cover Art By: Veronika Sidorina     Cartographer: Andrew Law     Additional Layout By: Daniel Heinrich
  Playtesting Group Lead: Brian Engard     Playtest Group: Colin Chapman, Mark Craddock, Mike Kiesling, 
  Selganor Yoster,Texugo, Tyler J. Halpin, William Buxton
  Produced By: Ari Weiner
  Artwork By: Anna Lasikova (Wooden Legionnaire Shock Troops), Dong Ming (Demon King, Mushroom and Stone 
  Village , Spore Village, The Twin Cities, The Twin Cities, The Wellspring), Grant Griffin (Naga), John Nugroho (Great 
  Beast, Stormcrow), Lucas Torquato (Battling a Chaos Beast), Magnozz (Blight Walkers, Demon Bound, Iskaria Dust, 
  Vithek, Water Devil), Marco Gorlei (New Gaia Outpost), Mikhail Palamarchuk (Bone Army, Desperate Run, Encounters, Red 
  Alliance, The Great Game, Tira Manor, Vanguard), Oscar Fayemendie (A Wyvern Attacks, Body in the street, Carnitaur, 
  Chaos Crypts, Death by Plant, Devourer, Eaten by Vines, Hungry Fleet, Jungle of Sorrow, King Fisher Society, Kingswatch, 
  Laboratories, Pure Light, Rezzik, Sea Serpent, Skimmer – Rebel Leader, Sky Captain, Svit, The Great Tree, The Heart, The Isle of 
  Ascendance, The Keeper, The Necropolis, The Skyseed), Pedro Garcia (Chaos Site), Raymund Bermudez (Alliance vs Wooden 
  Legion), Rostyslav Zagornov (Black Island, Megalyth, New Gaia Hero Village, Pacari, Sky City), Shahab Alizadeh (Ancient 
  Ruins), Stefan Koidl (The Servitor), Tatiana Vetrova (The Crimson Mask), Veronika Sidorina (Chaos Shard, Naga Attack)
  Asunder Logo Artwork By: James Paick for Scribble Pad Studios
  Asunder: The Keeper’s Tome is Copyright © 2021, The Failed Superheroes Club, LLC.  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be  
  reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise (except for brief quotations for 
  journalistic review purposes), without the express written permission of The Failed Superheroes Club, LLC.  For permission requests,  
  write to ari@failedsuperheroes.com. All names, characters, events, and locales in this publication are entirely fictional.   
  Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), events, or places, without satiric intent, is coincidental.  Failed Superheroes Club,  
  Failed Superheroes Club logo, Asunder and the Asunder logo are trademarks of The Failed Superheroes Club, LLC.  
  System Mechanics, Game Play Rules, and the explanation for the Asunder table top roleplaying game adapted from the table top  
  roleplaying game Shadow of the Demon Lord. “Game System” under license from Schwalb Entertainment LLC.
   Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-954720-03-9.    Digital ISBN: 978-1-954720-07-7
  A Game by THE  
  Failed SuperHEroes  
  Club
  THe World of Asunder 
  Created By Adam Lawson 
  & Landon Tom
  
  Table of Contents
  Foreword ...........................................4
  Welcome, Keeper! ..........................5
  Chapter One: The Keeper ........7
  The Keeper’s Responsibilities .............................7
  The Keeper’s Agenda ..................................................7
  Deciding What Happens .........................................8
  Using Common Sense ................................8
  Attributes and Characteristics..................9
  Boons and Banes ..........................................9
  Automatic Success .......................................9
  Affecting Another Creature ......................9
  Professions .....................................................9
  Setbacks and Opportunities ................... 10
  Describing Outcomes ............................... 10
  Damage and Healing ................................................11
  Time & Pacing .................................................................11
  Switching to Rounds ..................................11
  Elements of Asunder ..............................................12
  Asunder is Weird ........................................12
  Asunder is Untamed ..................................12
  Asunder is Brutal ........................................12
  Asunder is Fantastical ...............................13
  Asunder is Godless .....................................13
  Asunder Has No Metal ..............................13
  Asunder is Horrific .....................................13
  Exploration and Travel ......................................13
  Using Perception .........................................13
  Travel ..............................................................13
  Weather .........................................................14
  Getting Lost ..................................................14
  Random Encounters ..................................14
  Combat ............................................................................... 15
  Combat Difficulty .......................................15
  Battlefields ....................................................16
  Using Miniatures and Maps ....................17
  Rounds, Turns, and Actions .....................18
  Improvised Activities .................................18
  Ending the Combat ....................................19
  Player Characters ...................................................19
  Starting Levels .............................................19
  A Cohesive Group .......................................19
  Character Exits ...........................................20
  Character Death .........................................20
  Introducing New Seekers .........................21
  Secondary Characters ........................................21
  Major Characters ........................................21
  Minor Characters .......................................22
  Background Characters ............................22
  Roleplaying Secondary Characters ......22
  Player-Driven Adventure .................................22
  Keep Fights Flexible ................................. 23
  Keep a List of NPCs ................................... 23
  Conserve NPCs ........................................... 23
  Re-skin .......................................................... 23
  Ask Questions ............................................. 23
  Call for Breaks ............................................ 23
  The Keeper’s Toolbox ............................................24
  Handling Escalations ................................24
  Seeker points ...............................................24
  Strain .............................................................24
  Chaos and Discord .................................... 25
  Environmental Hazards ...........................26
  Traps .............................................................. 27
  Rewards ............................................................................29
  Level Increase..............................................29
  Treasure ........................................................30
  Connections ................................................30
  Artifacts .........................................................31
  Chapter Two:  
  The World of Asunder ...... 32
  The Black Isle .............................................................. 33
  Arriving in The Black Isle ........................34
  The Way of Soruva ....................................34
  The Living World ....................................... 35
  Places of Interest ........................................36
  People of Import ......................................... 37
  Points of Conflict ........................................ 37
  Pacari .................................................................................39
  Arriving in Pacari .......................................40
  The Way of Harut ......................................40
  The Living World ........................................41
  Places of Interest .........................................41
  People of Import .........................................43
  Points of Conflict ........................................43
  Sky City ............................................................................44
  Arriving in Sky City ...................................46
  The Way of Cassit ......................................46
  The Living World .......................................48
  Places of Interest ........................................48
  People of Import .........................................50
  Points of Conflict .........................................51
  New Gaia .......................................................................... 52
  Arriving in New Gaia ................................54
  The Way of Vetta ........................................ 55
  The Living World ....................................... 55
  Places of Interest ........................................ 57
  People of Import .........................................58
  Points of Conflict ........................................58
  The Seafarers ...............................................................60
  Arriving on the Seas ..................................62
  The Way of Jezir .........................................63
  The Living World .......................................63
  Places of Interest ........................................64
  People of Import .........................................66
  Points of Conflict ........................................66
  The Mainland ..............................................................68
  Arriving on the Mainland.........................71
  The Way of Krescien ................................. 72
  The Living World ....................................... 73
  Places of Interest ........................................ 73
  People of Import ......................................... 75
  Points of Conflict ........................................ 75
  Chaos ..................................................................................77
  The Way of Cati ..........................................78
  Places of Interest ........................................78
  People of Import .........................................78
  Points of Conflict ........................................79
  Chapter Three: Factions .....80
  The Wooden Legion ................................................ 85
  The Legion and Other Groups ...............85
  Seekers and The Wooden Legion .........86
  The Bone Army ............................................................ 87
  The Bone Army and Other Groups ......88
  Seekers and the Bone Army ....................89
  The Kingfisher Society ........................................89
  The Society and Other Groups ...............91
  Seekers and the Kingfisher Society .......91
  The Red Alliance.......................................................92
  The Red Alliance and Other Groups ...93
  Seekers and the Red Alliance .................93
  Chapter Four:  
  Other Peoples  
  of the World ............................ 95
  Demons .............................................................................95
  Encountering a Demon ............................96
  The Way of That  
  Which Waits and Whispers .................96
  The World ....................................................96
  Places of Interest ........................................96
  People of Import .........................................97
  Points of Conflict ........................................97
  The Naga ..........................................................................98
  Encountering a Naga ..............................100
  The Way of Kesha ....................................100
  The World ..................................................100
  Places of Interest .......................................101
  People of Import ........................................101
  Points of Conflict .......................................101
  The Rare and the Reclusive ...........................102
  Silgiri ...........................................................102
  Zylvare.........................................................102
  Vithek ..........................................................102
  Chapter Five:  
  Forbidden Lore ..................... 105
  Secrets of Gaia......................................................... 105
  Creation & Breaking ................................ 105
  The Gods’ War .......................................... 105
  Gaia’s Escape Plan ....................................106
  An Eruption of Chaos .............................106
  The Demonic Incursion .........................106
  Blight Walkers ........................................... 107
  The Green Army ...................................... 107
  Chaos and Pure Light ......................................... 107
  Pure Light ................................................... 107
  Chaos Shards ............................................108
  Chaos Sites ..................................................110
  Chapter Six: Bestiary ............. 113
  A Statistics Box ......................................................... 113
  Basic Information ..................................... 113
  Characteristics and Attributes...............114
  Attack Options ........................................... 115
  Special Attacks ........................................... 115
  Special Actions .......................................... 115
  Essence ......................................................... 115
  End of the Round ...................................... 115
  Creature Descriptions .......................................116
  Ancients .......................................................116
  Animals ........................................................116
  Animate Plant ............................................ 117
  Aspect of Gaia ............................................119
  2
  
  Table of Contents
  Table of Contents
  Blight Champion ......................................120
  Blight Stalker .............................................120
  Blight Walker ............................................120
  Carnitaur ....................................................120
  Chaos Beast ................................................122
  Construct .................................................... 124
  Crystal-Wasp Swarm ................................125
  Daishya ........................................................125
  Demon .........................................................126
  Devourer ......................................................127
  Feral Ship ....................................................128
  Kalea Snake ................................................128
  Haunt ............................................................129
  Horok ............................................................129
  Howlbeast .................................................. 130
  Hunting Mass ............................................ 130
  Insect ........................................................... 130
  Living Door .................................................132
  Living Mist ..................................................132
  Lorchus ........................................................132
  Mind Trap ...................................................133
  Monster ........................................................133
  Naga ..............................................................134
  Parasitic Seed .............................................135
  Reega ............................................................136
  Rezzik ...........................................................136
  Sea Serpents ...............................................136
  Servitor ........................................................137
  Silgir .............................................................139
  Svit .................................................................139
  Swarm-Hound ...........................................139
  Vithek ..........................................................140
  Vvakir ..........................................................140
  Wyvern ........................................................140
  Zylvare..........................................................141
  Characters ................................................................. 142
  Bandits ........................................................ 142
  Bodyguards ................................................ 142
  Chaos Wielders ........................................ 142
  Commoners & Professionals .................143
  Demon Hunters .........................................143
  Demon-Bound ...........................................143
  Duelists ........................................................145
  Hired Killers ...............................................145
  Hired Muscle ............................................. 146
  House Agents ............................................ 146
  Hunters ........................................................147
  Mercenaries ................................................147
  Prize Fighters ..............................................147
  Pure Light Cultists ................................... 148
  Servants of Gaia ........................................ 148
  Soldiers ....................................................... 148
  Thieves ........................................................ 149
  Sailors .......................................................... 149
  Weavers ....................................................... 149
  Customizing Creatures .................................... 150
  Size ............................................................... 150
  Frightening ................................................ 150
  Characteristics and Attributes.............. 150
  Equipment .................................................. 151
  Attack Options ........................................... 151
  Essence .........................................................152
  Role ...............................................................152
  Character Templates .......................................... 154
  Bonded .........................................................154
  Vanguard .....................................................155
  Survivor........................................................155
  Marauder .....................................................155
  Creating Characters .................................155
  Chapter Seven:  
  The Journey Begins .............157
  Creating Adventures...........................................157
  Objective ......................................................157
  Starting Point .............................................157
  Scenes ...........................................................157
  Conclusion ..................................................159
  Plot Structure ........................................................ 159
  Adventures by Level ............................................160
  Starting Adventures (Level 0) ...............160
  Novice Adventures (Levels 1–2) ............160
  Expert Adventures (Levels 3–6) .............161
  Master Adventures (Levels 7–10) ...........161
  Between Adventures ................................161
  Campaigns .................................................................... 162
  Campaign Objective .................................162
  Three-Act Structure .................................162
  Adventure Tools .....................................................163
  Branch Points .............................................163
  The Countdown Die ................................163
  Chases ..........................................................163
  Secrets ..........................................................163
  Theater of the Mind ............................................ 165
  Reference Tables ......................166
  World maps .................................. 168
  Index ...................................................174
  The Naga swamps hold the oldest and darkest secrets of Asunder.
  The Naga swamps hold the oldest and darkest secrets of Asunder.
  3
  
  Foreword
  “R
  elax,” they said. “It’s just a game…” they said. They didn’t bother to mention that I would be submerged by my 
  greatest enemy: my own mind.
  I sighed. I took a deep breath, made peace with my maker, and began to describe the situation in which my players had found 
  themselves. “You have discovered that the tunnel you are in is actually a giant worm, and the ‘stalls’ are giant cysts and pustules 
  on the worm’s interior wall. You are reminded of that one night when you writhe up against a crustacean-covered living 
  pirate ship, both you and the ship reaching climax at the same time. But you have no more time to fantasize because you see a 
  humanoid formed of wriggling worms with a gaping, oozing mouth approaching you. It’s the leader of the bloody death cult 
  that you stole out from under him. You can’t be too sure, but something tells you he wants it back.”
  Asunder is not my first RPG; nor will it be my last. But it will go down in history as the first RPG to give me permission. 
  Permission to go stranger, deeper, and darker than I’ve ever gone before as a Game Master (or, in Asunder lingo, as a Keeper). 
  Permission to basically let my freak flag fly.
  As a Keeper, my first priority (on paper, and that I will repeat to anyone who asks) is to advance and elevate the players’ 
  experience; but I have another, more selfish directive when I design a session of RPG gameplay. I want to have fun, too. That’s 
  why (pre-Asunder), I tended towards silly comedic antics. Like a grand alchemist, I transmuted gritty, rough, sacrificial, horrific, 
  and sexual storylines into lighthearted shenanigans, galvanized with fart jokes and one-liners. And yet, here I am, willing to 
  admit I was wrong. I love Asunder exactly because it encourages and celebrates the stuff of stories I once avoided.
  I owe my enjoyment of the game solely to the craftspeople of Asunder. They are all game-lovers, game-builders, and even 
  creators of television shows about games. They are storytellers at their core, and therefore front-row witnesses to the answer of 
  the fateful question, “What makes games fun?” They’ve put their knowledge together and written not only a game, but an entire 
  world that sparks the big kind of creative magic... the kind where infinite “What if’s…?”s play around in your subconscious.
  What is fun? I can almost hear Asunder herself, humbly answering, “Me.”
  Without gods or metal, Asunder catapults your mind into mutating the world you know into horrible, terrifying, and strangely 
  beautiful amalgamations. It begs you to take inanimate objects and change their composition to organic material: something 
  that is alive, something that was alive, or--my favorite option--parts of things that are or were alive. It truly is a playground built 
  to intrigue and terrify.
  The world of Asunder is so rich that the game rules are secondary to the story of 
  the Seekers, the protagonists of the game. Its mechanics are eloquently simple, 
  and every single one of them has a narrative in-game purpose. Whether you’re 
  an RPG savant or a first-time player, the sourcebooks have everything you need.  
  And no matter your level of expertise, Asunder urges you to use the mechanics as 
  you wish, at times merely as a suggestion or a stepping stone that will lead you 
  to more adventure.
  In your games, you can look forward to beginning play in the middle of 
  a threatening situation; a dire need to keep up with an unrelenting pace, 
  infinite sources of suspense, unforgiving battles that will have Seekers 
  running away to try to escape certain death;, harsh ideals of groups to match 
  the harsh environments, and one of my favorite
  Asunder-isms: moral ambiguity, specifically around what humans will  do to 
  survive. You’ll never want to stop playing. For those of you entering this world, 
  I wish you steadfast heart, a weird spirit, and superb intestinal fortitude.
   
   
   
   
   
  Fantastically yours,
   
   
   
   
   
  Amy Vorpahl
  Foreword
  Foreword
  “R
  elax,” they said. “It’s just a game…” they said. They didn’t bother to mention that I would be submerged by my 
  greatest enemy: my own mind.
  I sighed. I took a deep breath, made peace with my maker, and began to describe the situation in which my players had found 
  themselves. “You have discovered that the tunnel you are in is actually a giant worm, and the ‘stalls’ are giant cysts and pustules 
  on the worm’s interior wall. You are reminded of that one night when you writhe up against a crustacean-covered living 
  pirate ship, both you and the ship reaching climax at the same time. But you have no more time to fantasize because you see a 
  humanoid formed of wriggling worms with a gaping, oozing mouth approaching you. It’s the leader of the bloody death cult 
  that you stole out from under him. You can’t be too sure, but something tells you he wants it back.”
  Asunder is not my first RPG; nor will it be my last. But it will go down in history as the first RPG to give me permission. 
  Permission to go stranger, deeper, and darker than I’ve ever gone before as a Game Master (or, in Asunder lingo, as a Keeper). 
  Permission to basically let my freak flag fly.
  As a Keeper, my first priority (on paper, and that I will repeat to anyone who asks) is to advance and elevate the players’ 
  experience; but I have another, more selfish directive when I design a session of RPG gameplay. I want to have fun, too. That’s 
  why (pre-Asunder), I tended towards silly comedic antics. Like a grand alchemist, I transmuted gritty, rough, sacrificial, horrific, 
  and sexual storylines into lighthearted shenanigans, galvanized with fart jokes and one-liners. And yet, here I am, willing to 
  admit I was wrong. I love Asunder exactly because it encourages and celebrates the stuff of stories I once avoided.
  I owe my enjoyment of the game solely to the craftspeople of Asunder. They are all game-lovers, game-builders, and even 
  creators of television shows about games. They are storytellers at their core, and therefore front-row witnesses to the answer of 
  the fateful question, “What makes games fun?” They’ve put their knowledge together and written not only a game, but an entire 
  world that sparks the big kind of creative magic... the kind where infinite “What if’s…?”s play around in your subconscious.
  What is fun? I can almost hear Asunder herself, humbly answering, “Me.”
  Without gods or metal, Asunder catapults your mind into mutating the world you know into horrible, terrifying, and strangely 
  beautiful amalgamations. It begs you to take inanimate objects and change their composition to organic material: something 
  that is alive, something that was alive, or--my favorite option--parts of things that are or were alive. It truly is a playground built 
  to intrigue and terrify.
  The world of Asunder is so rich that the game rules are secondary to the story of 
  the Seekers, the protagonists of the game. Its mechanics are eloquently simple, 
  and every single one of them has a narrative in-game purpose. Whether you’re 
  an RPG savant or a first-time player, the sourcebooks have everything you need.  
  And no matter your level of expertise, Asunder urges you to use the mechanics as 
  you wish, at times merely as a suggestion or a stepping stone that will lead you 
  to more adventure.
  In your games, you can look forward to beginning play in the middle of 
  a threatening situation; a dire need to keep up with an unrelenting pace, 
  infinite sources of suspense, unforgiving battles that will have Seekers 
  running away to try to escape certain death;, harsh ideals of groups to match 
  the harsh environments, and one of my favorite
  Asunder-isms: moral ambiguity, specifically around what humans will  do to 
  survive. You’ll never want to stop playing. For those of you entering this world, 
  I wish you steadfast heart, a weird spirit, and superb intestinal fortitude.
   
   
   
   
   
  Fantastically yours,
   
   
   
   
   
  Amy Vorpahl
  “R
  elax,” they said. “It’s just a game…” they said. They didn’t bother to mention that I would be submerged by my 
  greatest enemy: my own mind.
  I sighed. I took a deep breath, made peace with my maker, and began to describe the situation in which my players had found 
  themselves. “You have discovered that the tunnel you are in is actually a giant worm, and the ‘stalls’ are giant cysts and pustules 
  on the worm’s interior wall. You are reminded of that one night when you writhe up against a crustacean-covered living 
  pirate ship, both you and the ship reaching climax at the same time. But you have no more time to fantasize because you see a 
  humanoid formed of wriggling worms with a gaping, oozing mouth approaching you. It’s the leader of the bloody death cult 
  that you stole out from under him. You can’t be too sure, but something tells you he wants it back.”
  Asunder is not my first RPG; nor will it be my last. But it will go down in history as the first RPG to give me permission. 
  Permission to go stranger, deeper, and darker than I’ve ever gone before as a Game Master (or, in Asunder lingo, as a Keeper). 
  Permission to basically let my freak flag fly.
  As a Keeper, my first priority (on paper, and that I will repeat to anyone who asks) is to advance and elevate the players’ 
  experience; but I have another, more selfish directive when I design a session of RPG gameplay. I want to have fun, too. That’s 
  why (pre-Asunder), I tended towards silly comedic antics. Like a grand alchemist, I transmuted gritty, rough, sacrificial, horrific, 
  and sexual storylines into lighthearted shenanigans, galvanized with fart jokes and one-liners. And yet, here I am, willing to 
  admit I was wrong. I love Asunder exactly because it encourages and celebrates the stuff of stories I once avoided.
  I owe my enjoyment of the game solely to the craftspeople of Asunder. They are all game-lovers, game-builders, and even 
  creators of television shows about games. They are storytellers at their core, and therefore front-row witnesses to the answer of 
  the fateful question, “What makes games fun?” They’ve put their knowledge together and written not only a game, but an entire 
  world that sparks the big kind of creative magic... the kind where infinite “What if’s…?”s play around in your subconscious.
  What is fun? I can almost hear Asunder herself, humbly answering, “Me.”
  Without gods or metal, Asunder catapults your mind into mutating the world you know into horrible, terrifying, and strangely 
  beautiful amalgamations. It begs you to take inanimate objects and change their composition to organic material: something 
  that is alive, something that was alive, or--my favorite option--parts of things that are or were alive. It truly is a playground built 
  to intrigue and terrify.
  The world of Asunder is so rich that the game rules are secondary to the story of 
  the Seekers, the protagonists of the game. Its mechanics are eloquently simple, 
  and every single one of them has a narrative in-game purpose. Whether you’re 
  an RPG savant or a first-time player, the sourcebooks have everything you need.  
  And no matter your level of expertise, Asunder urges you to use the mechanics as 
  you wish, at times merely as a suggestion or a stepping stone that will lead you 
  to more adventure.
  In your games, you can look forward to beginning play in the middle of 
  a threatening situation; a dire need to keep up with an unrelenting pace, 
  infinite sources of suspense, unforgiving battles that will have Seekers 
  running away to try to escape certain death;, harsh ideals of groups to match 
  the harsh environments, and one of my favorite
  Asunder-isms: moral ambiguity, specifically around what humans will  do to 
  survive. You’ll never want to stop playing. For those of you entering this world, 
  I wish you steadfast heart, a weird spirit, and superb intestinal fortitude.
   
   
   
   
   
  Fantastically yours,
   
   
   
   
   
  Amy Vorpahl
  “R
  elax,” they said. “It’s just a game…” they said. They didn’t bother to mention that I would be submerged by my 
  greatest enemy: my own mind.
  I sighed. I took a deep breath, made peace with my maker, and began to describe the situation in which my players had found 
  themselves. “You have discovered that the tunnel you are in is actually a giant worm, and the ‘stalls’ are giant cysts and pustules 
  on the worm’s interior wall. You are reminded of that one night when you writhe up against a crustacean-covered living 
  pirate ship, both you and the ship reaching climax at the same time. But you have no more time to fantasize because you see a 
  humanoid formed of wriggling worms with a gaping, oozing mouth approaching you. It’s the leader of the bloody death cult 
  that you stole out from under him. You can’t be too sure, but something tells you he wants it back.”
  Asunder is not my first RPG; nor will it be my last. But it will go down in history as the first RPG to give me permission. 
  Permission to go stranger, deeper, and darker than I’ve ever gone before as a Game Master (or, in Asunder lingo, as a Keeper). 
  Permission to basically let my freak flag fly.
  As a Keeper, my first priority (on paper, and that I will repeat to anyone who asks) is to advance and elevate the players’ 
  experience; but I have another, more selfish directive when I design a session of RPG gameplay. I want to have fun, too. That’s 
  why (pre-Asunder), I tended towards silly comedic antics. Like a grand alchemist, I transmuted gritty, rough, sacrificial, horrific, 
  and sexual storylines into lighthearted shenanigans, galvanized with fart jokes and one-liners. And yet, here I am, willing to 
  admit I was wrong. I love Asunder exactly because it encourages and celebrates the stuff of stories I once avoided.
  I owe my enjoyment of the game solely to the craftspeople of Asunder. They are all game-lovers, game-builders, and even 
  creators of television shows about games. They are storytellers at their core, and therefore front-row witnesses to the answer of 
  the fateful question, “What makes games fun?” They’ve put their knowledge together and written not only a game, but an entire 
  world that sparks the big kind of creative magic... the kind where infinite “What if’s…?”s play around in your subconscious.
  What is fun? I can almost hear Asunder herself, humbly answering, “Me.”
  Without gods or metal, Asunder catapults your mind into mutating the world you know into horrible, terrifying, and strangely 
  beautiful amalgamations. It begs you to take inanimate objects and change their composition to organic material: something 
  that is alive, something that was alive, or--my favorite option--parts of things that are or were alive. It truly is a playground built 
  to intrigue and terrify.
  The world of Asunder is so rich that the game rules are secondary to the story of 
  the Seekers, the protagonists of the game. Its mechanics are eloquently simple, 
  and every single one of them has a narrative in-game purpose. Whether you’re 
  an RPG savant or a first-time player, the sourcebooks have everything you need.  
  And no matter your level of expertise, Asunder urges you to use the mechanics as 
  you wish, at times merely as a suggestion or a stepping stone that will lead you 
  to more adventure.
  In your games, you can look forward to beginning play in the middle of 
  a threatening situation; a dire need to keep up with an unrelenting pace, 
  infinite sources of suspense, unforgiving battles that will have Seekers 
  running away to try to escape certain death;, harsh ideals of groups to match 
  the harsh environments, and one of my favorite
  Asunder-isms: moral ambiguity, specifically around what humans will  do to 
  survive. You’ll never want to stop playing. For those of you entering this world, 
  I wish you steadfast heart, a weird spirit, and superb intestinal fortitude.
   
   
   
   
   
  Fantastically yours,
   
   
   
   
   
  Amy Vorpahl
  4
  
  Welcome, Keeper!
  Chapter 3: Factions
  Humans aren’t the only sentient beings who live in the 
  world of Asunder. This chapter details other kinds of people 
  your Seekers might encounter, such as the serpentine Naga 
  and powerful demons.
  Chapter 4: Chaos and Pure Light
  Chaos is the primal force of creation and destruction, and 
  Pure Light is a massive shaft of burning light that travels 
  around the Mainland continent. This chapter will tell you 
  how they work.
  Chapter 5: Forbidden Lore
  There’s a difference between what your Seekers know and 
  what’s actually true. While chapters up to this point include 
  a significant amount of knowledge the Seekers might have 
  at their disposal, this chapter contains the secrets of the 
  world, things no Seeker yet knows.
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  From monsters to brigands to Chaos-wielders, you’ll find 
  statistics for the various threats the Seekers will come 
  across in this chapter.
  Chapter 7: The Journey Begins
  This chapter contains information on how to build your 
  own adventures in Asunder, and techniques for running 
  different kinds of conflicts.
  I
  f you’re reading this book, you’ve probably already 
  read the Seeker’s Guide; if not, go read that book first, 
  as it contains rules you need to understand in order 
  to run a game of Asunder. In particular, familiarize yourself 
  with Seeker Creation, Playing the Game, Combat, and 
  Novice Paths; you can read other rules as the need arises. 
  Some of the advice in this book may be familiar if you’ve 
  read Rob Schwalb’s Shadow of the Demon Lord, because 
  some of the advice and rules here are adapted from his 
  excellent game. Asunder and Shadow of the Demon Lord are 
  similar games, so many of the same rules apply to both. 
  Asunder has some unique characteristics, though, so you’ll 
  find plenty that will be of interest here.
  This book is for you, the Keeper. It’s designed as an aid 
  and guide to help you understand the world of Asunder 
  more fully, and to use the rules to best effect in play. In its 
  pages, you’ll find the following chapters.
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  This chapter contains advice and rules to help make your 
  role as the Keeper easier and more rewarding. It explains 
  the purpose of the Keeper in the game, what your core 
  responsibilities are, and how to run the best game of 
  Asunder you can.
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  In this chapter, you’ll learn about the world and its peoples, 
  the history of the various lands of Asunder, and what it’s like 
  to live in this world.
  A spore city in the jungles of New Gaia. There are so many, they’re considered common instead of the great works of engineering they are.
  A spore city in the jungles of New Gaia. There are so many, they’re considered common instead of the great works of engineering they are.
  5
  
  Father Ash is the keeper of the secrets of New Gaia and beyond. He’s no one’s friend, but everyone’s colleague. 
  Father Ash is the keeper of the secrets of New Gaia and beyond. He’s no one’s friend, but everyone’s colleague. 
  6
  
  A
  s the Keeper, your role in a game of Asunder is 
  unique. While the other players at the table each  
    portray a Seeker, making decisions and taking 
  actions on that character’s behalf, your job is to portray the 
  rest of the world. That probably sounds difficult. If you’re 
  new to RPGs, it may even sound impossible. Don’t worry, 
  it’s not as hard as it seems, and it’s actually incredibly 
  rewarding. We’ll show you how to do it.
  The Keeper’s 
  Responsibilities
  As the Keeper, you have many roles within the game. You 
  portray all of the non-player characters (NPCs) in the game 
  as well as all of its monsters. You get to say when the sun 
  rises and sets, how fast time passes, and you have power 
  over life and death. The Keeper is tremendously powerful 
  but, as with all power, it comes with responsibility. 
  Narrator
  While you’re not the only one at the table who gets to 
  narrate things, a lot of the narration does rest on your 
  shoulders. You control the NPCs; you decide what they say 
  and do. You set the scene, give the Seekers a reason to care 
  about what’s happening in the world, and provide the call 
  to action. It’s your job to get them involved.
  Referee
  In any group, there are disagreements. That’s okay; when 
  disagreements happen, it’s your job to try to adjudicate 
  those disputes in a way that’s fair and satisfying. You’ll need 
  to know the rules well, because you’ll need to apply them in 
  a way that feels consistent. 
  Occasionally, you’ll have serious disagreements at the 
  table—conflicts between players rather than between 
  Seekers. When this happens, the best course of action 
  is usually to halt the game and have a few one-on-one 
  conversations to try to smooth things out and come to a 
  resolution. Remember that one of the core responsibilities 
  of every person at the table is to make sure that the game is 
  fun. Sometimes you’ll need to remind the other players of 
  that. When all else fails, it’s okay to take a break from the 
  game and come back to it when tempers have cooled.
  Advocate
  You control the opposition the Seekers face, but that doesn’t 
  make you their enemy. You’re not trying to kill them, you’re 
  trying to give them a challenge they can either overcome 
  or run from. Sometimes their victories will cost them. 
  Sometimes their losses will teach them. Through all of it, 
  it’s your job to to be your Seekers’ biggest fan, to urge them 
  on and give them reasons to keep fighting. Push them to 
  the limit, make them work for their victories, but smile 
  and laugh with them when they overcome seemingly 
  impossible odds, and make sure their victories feel 
  rewarding.
  Teacher
  As the Keeper, you probably know the game better than 
  anyone else at the table, and you almost certainly know 
  the secrets of the world better. As such, it’s your job to 
  teach your Seekers how to play the game, what the world 
  is like, and how your version of Asunder is different from 
  anyone else’s. Be patient and, again, be your Seekers’ 
  fan. Don’t tell them what to do; teach them how to do it 
  themselves.
  World Builder
  There’s a lot of setting information in the next few 
  chapters, but remember that this is your version of the 
  world of Asunder. The setting information provided in this 
  book is designed to give you ideas, to help you run a great 
  game, but it is not intended to be a limitation. You don’t 
  need to memorize all the histories and place names, you 
  don’t have to worry about whether or not some decision 
  you make at the table is “canonical.” What you have to 
  do is portray the place and the peoples in a consistent 
  and believable way. Give the NPCs depth, describe 
  locations vividly, take notes about the decisions you make 
  and ensure they circle back into play later. The more 
  consistent your world feels, the more your Seekers will 
  enjoy playing around in it.
  The Keeper’s 
  Agenda
  Now that you know your responsibilities, it’s time for you 
  to learn how to put them into practice. Your agenda is 
  just that: a set of guidelines you can use to portray a vivid, 
  consistent world that challenges your players and teaches 
  them what Asunder is like. Whenever you’re at a loss for 
  what to do in a given situation, fall back on one of the items 
  of your agenda and use it as a springboard toward the next 
  cool story beat.
  Put them through the wringer
  Asunder is a harsh world, often brutal. Death can be quick 
  and messy or slow and agonizing, but it comes to everyone 
  Chapter
  One The Keeper
  7
  
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  sooner or later. Show your Seekers how brutal the world 
  is. Kill without warning, destroy without mercy. This does 
  not mean kill and destroy your Seekers without warning 
  or mercy. You can certainly send dangerous threats against 
  them and make their victories hard-fought, or even 
  force them to flee, but arbitrary player death isn’t fun for 
  anyone. Rather, inflict these terrible fates upon your NPCs, 
  especially NPCs the Seekers have grown fond of.
  Make the world weird
   Asunder is not like Earth. There are huge mushroom 
  forests, shafts of burning Pure Light that move about the 
  land with inscrutable purpose, sentient insects, mutated 
  pirates, symbiotic thorn-spitting plants, and people who 
  can jump hundreds of yards. The world is weird—show 
  it to your players! When you describe a new NPC, think 
  about what odd little detail you could give them to 
  make them an Asunder NPC. When you describe a place, 
  imagine how that place differs from a similar place in our 
  world. Add tentacles, spores, chitin, extra arms, strange 
  colors, odd smells, weird behaviors, and whatever else 
  springs to mind.
  Kill your darlings
  This is related to the first agenda item. Remember that your 
  NPCs exist to facilitate the stories of the Seekers; they’re not 
  the main characters themselves. As much as you may love 
  an NPC, resist the temptation to put them in the spotlight 
  for too long. Seekers may kill your beloved NPCs, and that’s 
  fine. Good even. Let it happen. Kill your NPCs yourself if 
  you have to, if it enhances the drama and drives home the 
  brutality of the world. NPCs are easy come, easy go. You can 
  always make more.
  Foreshadow  
  threats on the horizon
  Your Seekers need goals. They need things to work toward 
  or against. Foreshadowing some big threat can be a good 
  way to give them something to strive for. It can also be a 
  good way to hammer home the consequences of doing 
  nothing or to push them into action.
  Make it epic
  Asunder is a world of big, epic forces and powerful 
  individuals. Shafts of light a mile wide. Enormous, 
  centuries-old storms. Cities in the sky. Armies of the dead. 
  Sometimes it can be good to take an idea you have and just 
  make it…bigger. More fantastical, weirder, more awesome. 
  Don’t overuse this technique, but every once in a while, 
  maybe the bodyguard your Seekers have to get past really is 
  20 feet tall. 
  Push towards escalation
  First, provide opportunities for your Seekers to escalate 
  situations based on their Fatal Flaws. Remind them about 
  their Fatal Flaws, and the Seeker points they can earn by 
  falling victim to them. You can also escalate situations 
  yourself. Maybe the black-market dealer they’re talking 
  to takes offense at something they say and sends her 
  bodyguards after them. Maybe they all get arrested and 
  thrown into the arena to work off their crimes. Escalate 
  toward conflict, and use conflict to create new, fun stories 
  to tell.
  Provide moments of respite
  It can’t be all escalations and brutality all the time. 
  Asunder, for all its harshness, is also a place of astounding 
  beauty. Show that to your Seekers. Give them brief 
  periods of time to enjoy it. Whether you’re describing 
  the chaotic glory of the far-off God’s Eye storm, or your 
  Seekers are walking through a cave lit by tiny, airborne, 
  bioluminescent spores, give them moments to enjoy just 
  how amazing the world can be.
  Steal liberally
  When preparing a game—and while running it—don’t 
  be afraid to steal anything and everything you can. Think 
  about cool places you’ve visited or seen in magazines or 
  websites and fill your world with such locales. Draw on 
  stories and adventures from other games, characters from 
  books and films, science fiction or fantasy, comics, even a 
  TV commercial—whatever makes you excited. Steal ideas 
  that are amazingly cool or nightmarishly awful. All these 
  things can be the seeds of great stories. Plant them in your 
  game and watch them grow into wonderful, terrifying, 
  strange, and memorable experiences.
  Deciding  
  What Happens
  When a player describes an activity, it’s up to you to decide 
  on one of three possible outcomes:
   
  ༄ Success: it happens.
   
  ༄ Failure: it doesn’t happen.
   
  ༄ Maybe: a roll determines success or failure.
  Most tasks the characters might attempt are already 
  covered by the game rules. Just follow the instructions 
  to determine the outcome of the activity. If there isn’t an 
  obvious rule for resolving the activity, use the following 
  guidelines to help you make a decision.
  Using Common Sense
  Let common sense be your guide above all. If the activity 
  is something that an ordinary person could perform in a 
  reasonable time, then the outcome should be a success. 
  Similarly, if the described activity is simply impossible—
  attempting to punch through a 10-foot-thick wall of solid 
  stone, swim up a waterfall, or eat a boulder—then the 
  outcome should be automatic failure.
  8
  
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  If you’re not sure whether the activity should succeed, 
  consider the circumstances of the attempt. If all of 
  the following are true, the activity should succeed 
  automatically.
   
  ༄ The character attempting the activity is under no time 
  constraint.
   
  ༄ The activity is something a competent person could 
  reasonably perform.
   
  ༄ There are no significant consequences if the activity 
  fails.
   
  ༄ The activity does not affect another creature against its 
  will.
  If one or more of these circumstances do not apply, 
  you might call for a roll. For example, scaling a wall in 
  Sky City while wyvern riders are closing in has both a 
  time constraint and a potentially lethal consequence for 
  failure.
  Attributes and 
  Characteristics
  Think about what attribute or characteristic best applies 
  to the intended activity. Then decide if a challenge roll is 
  required or if the activity automatically succeeds or fails.
  Strength
  Use this attribute for feats of physical power or resisting 
  harmful effects that attack the body. Examples include 
  breaking down a door; climbing a wall; running a long 
  distance; swimming; and resisting disease, poison, or 
  intoxication.
  Agility
  This attribute is best for feats of physical dexterity, tasks 
  requiring fine control, and dodging out of harm’s way. 
  Examples include balancing on a ledge, escaping restraints, 
  picking someone’s pocket, hiding, sneaking, jumping, and 
  avoiding a falling boulder.
  Intellect
  Use this attribute for anything that involves learning and 
  memory, as well as resisting manipulation of (and attacks 
  against) the mind. Examples include passing off a lie as 
  the truth, recalling an important detail, solving a puzzle, 
  detecting a falsehood, resisting a mind-influencing effect, 
  and recognizing a hallucination.
  Will
  This attribute covers sheer willpower or force of 
  personality, as well as resisting attacks on the emotions or 
  attempts at mind control. Examples include maintaining 
  concentration in the face of a distraction, persuading a 
  person to do something or to back down, making a friend, 
  seduction, and resisting effects that cause fear.
  Perception
  This characteristic is used for anything that involves using 
  the senses: finding a hidden creature or object, listening at a 
  door, or spotting a clue in a room.
  Boons and Banes
  Boons make tasks easier to perform and banes make them 
  harder. In many cases, the rules instruct you whether 
  to apply a boon or a bane. Otherwise, consider the 
  circumstances under which the task is attempted. As a 
  general rule, you should grant 1 boon for each circumstance 
  that would help the character complete the described 
  action and impose 1 bane for each circumstance that would 
  make it harder.
  For example, a character attempting to climb a wall made 
  of living vines that writhe and pulsate makes the Strength 
  roll to climb with 1 bane. A character attempting to track a 
  creature through the desert might make the roll with 1 or 2 
  banes, depending on the time of day, the weather, and how 
  old the tracks are.
  Automatic Success
  When a Seeker attempts an activity that does not involve 
  another creature, you can use the relevant attribute score as 
  a guide. Unless circumstances impose banes, you can just 
  rule that having a score of 13 or higher automatically grants 
  a success on most tasks related to the attribute. Otherwise, 
  a challenge roll is appropriate.
  Boons and Banes
  For each boon that applies to the situation, add 3 to the 
  relevant attribute score needed for automatic success. For 
  each bane, subtract 3 instead. For example, a character with 
  Strength 14 attempting to climb up a wall should succeed 
  most of the time. If the character has an affliction that 
  imposes 1 or more banes, treat his or her Strength score as 
  effectively 10 or even lower. In that situation, you should 
  call for a Strength challenge roll unless the task is trivial 
  and there is no pressure.
  Affecting  
  another Creature
  When the activity would affect another creature and that 
  creature is unwilling, you should resolve the outcome 
  with an attack roll using an appropriate attribute. 
  Consult Attributes and Characteristics for guidance about 
  choosing the attribute both for the attack and the target 
  of the attack.
  Professions
  Generally, a Seeker who has a profession related to the 
  activity should have a good chance of succeeding. You 
  9
  
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  might rule that it automatically happens, or you might 
  require a roll, possibly with 1 or more boons. These 
  examples can help guide your decision.
  Example 1
  A Seeker attempts to forage for food and water. The 
  landscape is pretty desolate, so normally the character 
  wouldn’t find anything. However, let’s say that the Seeker 
  doing the foraging has a wilderness profession, such 
  as gatherer or hunter. In this case you might call for a 
  Perception challenge roll or simply rule that the activity is a 
  success.
  Example 2
  A Seeker attempts to communicate with a Naga who 
  speaks only Nagese. A character who speaks Nagese can talk 
  to the Naga for as long as she’s willing to listen. If the Seeker 
  attempts to speak to the Naga in any other language, the 
  task simply fails. But if the Seeker attempts to communicate 
  through pantomime and the Naga is inclined to pay 
  attention, you might allow an Intellect challenge roll to get 
  the gist of the message across.
  Example 3
  A Seeker sits down at a table with local rubes for a game 
  of chance. Normally, this would require an Intellect attack 
  roll against the other characters’ Intellect, or possibly 
  against Perception if the Seeker is trying to cheat. However, 
  if the Seeker has the gambler profession, you might grant 1 
  boon on the attack roll or just decide that he or she relieves 
  the locals of a few slivers.
  Example 4
  A Seeker encounters a Chaos site. Most people would 
  have no idea what it is, but this Seeker has an academic 
  background with a specialty in Chaos. In this case, you 
  might allow the character to make an Intellect challenge roll 
  for a clue about the Chaos site or to just learn a bit about its 
  power without a roll.
  Setbacks and  
  Opportunities
  Making most outcomes a simple success or failure ensures 
  the game moves quickly, but sometimes these choices 
  aren’t enough to describe what’s actually going on in the 
  story. One way to address the complexities that arise in 
  normal game play is to attach a setback to a success or an 
  opportunity to a failure.
  A setback means that the activity succeeds, but with a 
  downside. For example, a marauder wants to rip through 
  the bars of a living cage. The marauder has a high 
  Strength score, but a simple success doesn’t feel right in 
  this situation, so you introduce a setback. You rule that 
  she rips the bars down, but doing so causes the cage to 
  shriek in pain; it might stun the Seekers for a round or 
  two, or it might summon the guards who were holding 
  them.
  Similarly, an opportunity is a possible workaround 
  gained from failing at an attempt. It can be much more 
  interesting than a simple failure. Say a vanguard tries to 
  sneak up on an opponent in the middle of a big fight, but 
  the roll results in a failure. The vanguard gets spotted… but 
  happens to notice that this particular enemy is wearing the 
  regalia of an officer and a noble. Taking him down might 
  break the morale of the rest of the enemy party.
  Option: Player-Driven Setbacks 
  and Opportunities
  A fun variation on this idea is to let the player decide on an 
  appropriate setback or opportunity, rather than making the 
  call yourself. This option can make success and failure more 
  interesting and opens up other avenues for the game to take.
  Whenever a Seeker would make a roll with at least 1 
  boon, the player can forgo 1 boon to gain an opportunity 
  if the result of the roll is a failure. Likewise, whenever 
  a Seeker would roll with at least 1 bane, the player can 
  forgo 1 bane to take a setback if the roll succeeds. No more 
  than 1 boon or bane can be forgone this way. You and 
  the player should work together to decide the setback or 
  opportunity.
  Example 1
  Anna’s Seeker makes an attack with a chitin axe against a 
  rampaging horok. The attack roll would normally be made 
  with 1 bane because her Seeker is frightened. She decides to 
  forgo the bane for a better chance of succeeding, but with 
  a setback. She rolls and gets a success. The Keeper decides 
  that she manages to jam her axe into the horok’s hide, but it 
  twists and rips the weapon from her grip.
  Describing Outcomes
  You can just say that an attempted activity resulted in a 
  success or a failure, but adding detail enriches the play 
  experience. This game is about telling stories, after all. 
  Once you decide the outcome, take a moment to describe 
  what happens, using the following examples as a guide.
  Example 1
  Natalie’s Seeker makes an attack roll with his blowgun 
  against an insect weaver fanatic but gets a failure. “You 
  fire the dart at the weaver, but she raises her arm and, in 
  response, swarms of tiny insects knock it out of the way.”
  Example 2
  Amrita’s character is caught in an explosion created by 
  a volatile spore pod. She makes an Agility challenge roll to 
  resist the effect and gets a success. “The pod detonates. You 
  duck and cover, holding your breath to avoid inhaling any 
  noxious fumes, and succeed in getting covered in a little bit 
  of glowing slime and not much else.”
  10
  10
  10
  10
  
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Example 3
  Tyrese’s character makes a Perception challenge roll to 
  find a trap and gets a success. “Your eyes catch on what 
  looks like a tiny eyeball embedded in the wall near the floor. 
  Something tells you you don’t want it to see you.”
  Damage  
  and Healing
  Sometimes an attempted activity should 
  result in damage being dealt or possibly 
  healed. Most such game effects are already 
  defined: power descriptions, weapon entries, 
  talent descriptions, and creatures’ statistics 
  all instruct you what dice to roll for damage 
  and under what circumstances. Sometimes, 
  though, it’s not clear how much damage is 
  appropriate for an outcome.
  The Baseline Damage table sets out expected 
  damage for effects based on the group’s level, 
  both for damage dealt and for damage healed. 
  Refer to the Unlimited column for an ongoing 
  effect, such as catching fire or immersion in 
  a pool of acid. Use the Limited column for a 
  one-time effect, such as in a cave-in, explosion, 
  or applying a healing poultice.
  Baseline Damage
  Starting
  1d6
  1d6 + 2
  Novice
  1d6 + 1
  2d6 + 1
  Expert
  2d6
  4d6
  Master
  4d6
  8d6
  Time & Pacing
  Time within the game moves at whatever rate 
  makes dramatic sense. In tense and interesting 
  scenes, the game might progress at the same 
  pace as real time or even slower. When 
  nothing much is happening, you might briefly 
  narrate the events of a few weeks to move the 
  story forward to when things get interesting.
  Unless it’s somehow important to the overall 
  story, you don’t have to worry about precise 
  timekeeping. If a character spends a few 
  months growing and tending a nascent piece 
  of living gear or researching in a library in Sky 
  City, the only reason to track time for these 
  activities is if something important happens 
  during this period. Even then, you should 
  speed time up again after the important event 
  until the players need to make decisions about 
  what to do next.
  Switching to Rounds
  Rounds usually matter only in combat, but you can also 
  drop into rounds to cover other tense scenes, such as when 
  the characters spring a death trap or when they pursue 
  an enemy through a crowded marketplace. Rounds also 
  help you manage complex situations, such as exploring 
  a dangerous cavern or sneaking up on any enemy 
  encampment. Make sure everyone gets a turn each round 
  until the scene is over.
  A demon wrestler tears the horn from his latest kill.  
  He must be careful that he does not become addicted to the blood.
  A demon wrestler tears the horn from his latest kill.  
  He must be careful that he does not become addicted to the blood.
  11
  11
  
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Elements  
  of Asunder
  Asunder incorporates elements of swords-and-sorcery 
  fiction, high fantasy, dark fantasy, horror, and science 
  fiction. Which of these elements you choose to emphasize 
  and which you choose to downplay will affect how 
  your game of Asunder feels at the table. Here are a few 
  touchstones you can use to inject a distinct Asunder flavor 
  into your scenes.
  Asunder is Weird
  People develop symbiotic bonds to living organisms on 
  a regular basis, feeding these organisms their own blood 
  in exchange for power or utility. Seafarer pirates sail on 
  massive living ships, and they grow extra eyes, limbs, or 
  gills, or scales all over their bodies. The Pacari can talk to 
  animals. Stories say that some weavers are able to keep 
  insects living inside their bodies and vomit them up at will. 
  Asunder is a strange place, and its people and environs 
  have a distinctly alien feel. Hammer this home by giving 
  NPCs strange descriptions, by describing gear with words 
  like “pulsating” or “chitinous,” and by reminding the 
  Seekers that they’re just as weird as everyone else. As alien 
  as Asunder can seem to us, it’s important to remember that, 
  for the people who live there, weird is normal.
  Asunder is Untamed
  There’s a city in the sky, a civilization in the deep jungles of 
  New Gaia, and a collection of city-states on the mainland… 
  but that’s kind of it. While there are smaller settlements 
  here and there throughout the world and nomadic 
  bands are not uncommon, much of the world is wild and 
  untamed, and pockets of civilization disappear without 
  warning with worrying frequency. Sometimes a village is 
  doing fine, and then a pack of giant carnivorous beasts, or 
  a shaft of Pure Light, or a demon, decide to wipe it off the 
  map. The wildernesses of the world aren’t just dangerous, 
  they’re teeming with life, and most of that life feeds on 
  other forms of life. 
  Asunder is Brutal
  Just as Asunder is untamed, so too is it red in tooth and claw. 
  The environment is at times harsh, the beasts of Asunder are 
  dangerous and violent, and its people have adapted to life in 
  a brutal world. Most people know how to defend themselves 
  by the time they’re old enough to be considered adults. 
  Even in the larger pockets of civilization, like the city-states 
  or Sky City, brutality exists. There is a form of law in each 
  of these places, but law is often more about maintaining 
  order than protecting the public good. Breaking the law can 
  elicit a harsh punishment, but just as often those in charge 
  of enforcing the law will let crimes pass if they don’t pose 
  a significant disruption to the daily routine. And there are 
  Mature Topics
  Asunder is a dark game, and can explore troubling topics. Remember always the core responsibility of every player 
  at the table: to ensure that everyone else has fun. It can be fun to make your Seekers a little uncomfortable and get 
  them to squirm a bit, but it’s important to recognize the thin line between fun uncomfortable and not-having-fun-
  anymore uncomfortable.
  When you start a game of Asunder, it can be useful to establish lines and veils. A veil is a topic that players are 
  okay with having in the setting, as long as it happens off-camera. Maybe it’s okay for a village to be full of cannibals, 
  as long as nobody describes another human being butchered and eaten. A line is much firmer in nature: it is an 
  indication that a particular topic is off-limits in the game. Sexual violence or violence against children are common 
  lines, and lines must always be respected at the table.
  It can also be useful to play with an x-card. An x-card is simply an index card or a piece of paper with a big, 
  bold “X” drawn on it, and it sits in the middle of the table. If, during the course of the game, somebody is made 
  uncomfortable by the discussion or play at the table, that person can tap the x-card to indicate that it’s time to move 
  on, and possibly even to rewind a bit and edit the problematic material out of the story. An x-card is a way to ensure 
  that everyone has a good time and nobody’s boundaries are pushed farther than they can tolerate. It is not a way to 
  avoid the consequences of a roll or a way to troll the other players at the table.
  Finally, remember that an RPG is a conversation. It’s a group of friends talking to each other about things 
  happening in a made-up world. If there’s a problem with that conversation, it’s okay to talk about it with your 
  players. It’s okay to take a player or two aside and work out any issues that may be causing problems in play. And, if 
  a particular player is being a consistent problem, or is not respecting the rest of the group, it’s okay to part ways with 
  that player.
  For more information on lines and veils (as coined by Ron Edwards) visit: https://bit.ly/2OQOASg
  For more information on the x-card (coined by John Stavropoulos) visit: https://bit.ly/2P1wRHZ
  Mature Topics
  Asunder is a dark game, and can explore troubling topics. Remember always the core responsibility of every player 
  at the table: to ensure that everyone else has fun. It can be fun to make your Seekers a little uncomfortable and get 
  them to squirm a bit, but it’s important to recognize the thin line between fun uncomfortable and not-having-fun-
  anymore uncomfortable.
  When you start a game of Asunder, it can be useful to establish lines and veils. A veil is a topic that players are 
  okay with having in the setting, as long as it happens off-camera. Maybe it’s okay for a village to be full of cannibals, 
  as long as nobody describes another human being butchered and eaten. A line is much firmer in nature: it is an 
  indication that a particular topic is off-limits in the game. Sexual violence or violence against children are common 
  lines, and lines must always be respected at the table.
  It can also be useful to play with an x-card. An x-card is simply an index card or a piece of paper with a big, 
  bold “X” drawn on it, and it sits in the middle of the table. If, during the course of the game, somebody is made 
  uncomfortable by the discussion or play at the table, that person can tap the x-card to indicate that it’s time to move 
  on, and possibly even to rewind a bit and edit the problematic material out of the story. An x-card is a way to ensure 
  that everyone has a good time and nobody’s boundaries are pushed farther than they can tolerate. It is not a way to 
  avoid the consequences of a roll or a way to troll the other players at the table.
  Finally, remember that an RPG is a conversation. It’s a group of friends talking to each other about things 
  happening in a made-up world. If there’s a problem with that conversation, it’s okay to talk about it with your 
  players. It’s okay to take a player or two aside and work out any issues that may be causing problems in play. And, if 
  a particular player is being a consistent problem, or is not respecting the rest of the group, it’s okay to part ways with 
  that player.
  For more information on lines and veils (as coined by Ron Edwards) visit: https://bit.ly/2OQOASg
  For more information on the x-card (coined by John Stavropoulos) visit: https://bit.ly/2P1wRHZ
  12
  12
  
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  always people who’ve learned to skirt the law and get away 
  with murder. Sometimes they even run the place.
  Asunder is Fantastical
  An entire city floats in the sky, with flying ships darting 
  here and there throughout it. Pirates ply the high seas 
  in search of plunder. Fully half the population of the 
  world has strange powers tied to their Essence, powers 
  that make them capable of truly amazing things by Earth 
  standards. Things that would be considered miraculous in 
  our world are commonplace in Asunder but, for all that, 
  things still regularly occur that amaze and terrify even the 
  citizens of that world.
  Asunder is Godless
  It’s commonly accepted theological fact that the gods left 
  the world long enough ago that nobody alive remembers 
  when they were real. There are no gods in Asunder, but that 
  doesn’t mean there’s no religion or faith. People worship Pure 
  Light, Chaos, demons, the Naga, sea serpents, the God’s Eye, 
  the Noble Houses, and any number of other powers. Some 
  follow philosophies that are very like religion, which focus on 
  behavior in this world without any notion of an afterlife. And, 
  just as everyone knows the gods left, everyone also knows that 
  Gaia is the animating force of the world, and many worship 
  her as a deity. Some even follow prophesies that foretell the 
  return of the gods and seek to hasten their return.
  Asunder Has No Metal
  It’s easy to forget. When the gods left, they took the metal 
  with them. This is another thing that everyone knows, 
  though nobody really remembers what “metal” actually is. 
  People have adapted. Tools and weapons are made of bone, 
  stone, chitin, hardened leaves, wood, the teeth of massive 
  animals, and other exotic materials. They’ve created 
  living beings that serve as tools and weapons, beings they 
  can bond with and feed blood and Essence in exchange 
  for their gifts. When you describe people and places, 
  remember that there is no metal. There is no magnetism. 
  People navigate using the sun and stars because compasses 
  don’t exist. They use precious gems as currency because 
  there are no precious metals. 
  Asunder is Horrific
  There’s an army of the dead on the march, legions and 
  legions of corpses, and nobody knows where they came 
  from or what they want. Insects the size of horses feed on 
  the unwary in the jungles of New Gaia, and the plants are 
  just as dangerous. Demons bathe in the blood of the slain 
  and tempt the weak with promises of power, wealth, and 
  revenge. Asunder has plenty of room for horror storytelling, 
  and the brutality of the world dovetails nicely with the 
  themes of horror fiction. 
  Exploration  
  and Travel
  The story dictates how much attention you should pay to 
  travel. If the plot focuses on a specific location, you can 
  summarize what happens en route to that location with a few 
  words of description. However, if the story is about exploration 
  and discovery, you might spend more time describing in detail 
  what the characters find, based on where they go.
  Using Perception
  Characters rely on Perception to hear noises, find clues, or 
  detect hidden foes.
   
  ༄ Listen: When a character tries to listen for sounds, you 
  can just tell the player if there’s anything to hear or you 
  might call for a Perception challenge roll. Trying to hear 
  a faint noise or eavesdrop on a conversation through a 
  closed door might impose 1 or more banes on the roll.
   
  ༄ Notice: A character might find a detail while exploring an 
  area. For example, he or she might track footprints on the 
  floor, search a section of wall for a hidden button to open 
  a secret panel, hear a noise through a closed door, or spot 
  a trap. A Perception challenge roll is appropriate if a detail 
  is difficult to notice. You might impose 1 or more banes 
  on the roll, depending on the size of the area searched or 
  whether something is well hidden or in a poorly lit spot.
  If a character examines a specific area, such as the contents 
  of a wardrobe, the darkness under a bed, or a closet, tell the 
  player if there’s something noteworthy there. However, if the 
  area contains something that’s deliberately hidden, such as a 
  trap, you might still call for a Perception challenge roll.
  Travel
  A group of characters can walk 3 miles in about 1 hour. The 
  characters can reduce the travel time by riding beasts or 
  picking up their pace, though they risk taking damage and 
  becoming fatigued if they sustain a fast pace for long (see 
  Speed in Chapter 3 of the Seeker’s Guide).
  Difficult terrain increases travel time, as shown on the 
  Terrain and Movement table. Just multiply the time it would 
  normally take for a group to move 3 miles by the listed 
  multiplier for that terrain. For areas that have several 
  Terrain and Movement
  Desert
  × 1.5
  Forest
  × 1.5
  Hills
  × 1.5
  Mountains
  × 3
  Plains, Roads
  × 1
  Swamp
  × 2
  13
  13
  
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  terrain types, add the multipliers together. For example, 
  a group moving at a normal pace would need to travel 3 
  hours to cover 3 miles of forested hills (1.5 + 1.5 = 3).
  Weather
  Traveling groups might also have to contend with bad weather. 
  At the start of each day of travel, choose an appropriate 
  weather condition or roll 3d6 and consult the Weather table to 
  determine the prevailing condition for that day.
  Multipliers imposed by weather conditions are cumulative 
  with any imposed by terrain. Therefore, a group traveling 
  through mountains in the middle of heavy snowfall would 
  require 4½ hours to travel 3 miles (3 + 1.5 = 4.5).
  Weather
  3
  Powerful storm
  x 4 (see text)
  4–5
  Heavy precipitation
  x 1.5
  6–8
  Unseasonably cold
  x 1
  9–12
  Normal conditions
  x 1
  13–15
  Unseasonably warm
  x 1
  16–17
  Precipitation
  x 1.5
  18
  Storm
  x 2
  Normal Conditions
  Normal conditions are any that are appropriate for the season.
  Unseasonably Cold or Warm
  This result indicates that temperatures are higher or 
  lower than normal for the time of year, usually by about 
  3d6 degrees Fahrenheit. You can make the weather more 
  extreme, possibly imposing the effects of exposure.
  Precipitation
  Based on the climate and season, rain, sleet, ice, or snow 
  falls for much of the day. Precipitation partially obscures 
  terrain in which it falls.
  Heavy Precipitation
  Based on the climate and season, heavy rain, sleet, ice, or 
  snow falls for much of the day. It heavily obscures terrain in 
  which it falls.
  Storm
  A storm passes through the area, usually preceded and 
  followed by bands of normal precipitation. Stormy 
  conditions might be brief or occur at various times through 
  the day. A storm heavily obscures terrain where it occurs.
  Powerful Storm
  A powerful storm might be a hurricane, blizzard, tornado, 
  or an unnatural phenomenon. The storm heavily obscures 
  terrain where it occurs and devastates the landscape, 
  knocking down trees, flattening buildings, or burying 
  everything under feet of snow. Travel isn’t usually possible; 
  if the attempt is made, multiply travel time by 4.
  Getting Lost
  Unless the characters follow a road, use a map, or hire a 
  guide, they have a chance of becoming lost while traveling. 
  At the start of each day, secretly roll a d20. On a 10 or 
  higher, the characters move in the direction they intended. 
  Otherwise, they get turned around and move in a direction 
  you choose, becoming lost in the process.
  Boons or banes might apply to the roll based on 
  prevailing conditions, as shown on the Travel Conditions 
  table. These are cumulative; for example, traveling through 
  forested hills during rain would impose a total of 4 banes.
  “Navigator” refers to any character with some ability to 
  find the correct path, such as those that have the navigation 
  or guide profession.
  Travel Conditions
  Navigator
  3 boons
  Plains
  1 boon
  Desert
  1 bane
  Forest
  2 banes
  Hills
  1 bane
  Mountains
  2 banes
  Swamp
  2 banes
  Precipitation
  1 bane
  Storm
  2 banes
  Powerful Storm
  3 banes
  Random Encounters
  Travel can be dangerous beyond the reach of civilization. 
  While traveling or resting in the wilderness, the group 
  might run across a potential hazard. The Encounter 
  Frequency table shows how often you should check for such 
  random encounters based on the threat level of the group’s 
  current location.
   
  ༄ Extreme: A haunted ruin or underground complex 
  infested by foes.
   
  ༄ Major: Within 1 mile of a place of extreme danger.
   
  ༄ Moderate: A wilderness capable of sustaining living 
  things.
   
  ༄ Minor: A barren wilderness.
  A group traveling in a city, town, or other civilized place 
  under normal circumstances should not risk random 
  encounters.
  14
  14
  
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Encounter Frequency
  Extreme
  Hourly
  Major
  Once per 4 hours
  Moderate
  Once per 8 hours
  Minor
  Once per day and once per night
  At each time interval, consult the Encounters table to see 
  what happens. Find the appropriate column under Threat 
  Level, then roll a d20 and read across for the result.
  Encounters
  Helpful
  20
  20
  —
  —
  Harmless
  18–19
  18–19
  20
  —
  Environment
  14–17
  14–17
  18–19
  19–20
  Nothing
  6–13
  8–13
  14–17
  17–18
  Easy combat
  2–5
  4–7
  8–13
  13–16
  Average combat
  1
  2–3
  4–7
  7–12
  Challenging 
  combat
  —
  1
  2–3
  3–6
  Hard combat
  —
  —
  1
  1–2
  Helpful
  A person or group offers assistance, such as information, 
  healing, food and water, or shelter. Examples include 
  pilgrims, a wandering weaver, a caravan, a band of 
  merchants, or a nomadic Pacari clan.
  Harmless
  The characters notice a creature or creatures at some 
  distance from them. The creatures might be dangerous or 
  not, but they are too far away to pose a threat to the group. 
  Alternatively, the characters come upon an interesting but 
  harmless site: a ruined building, the wreckage from an old 
  battlefield, a toppled statue, or a forgotten monument.
  Environment
  Something changes in the characters’ immediate environs. 
  The event is not dangerous but can heighten tension or 
  build atmosphere. Examples include a cold wind through 
  the trees, thunder, a rising fog, a shrill scream in the 
  distance, weird knocking noises, rain or snow, or anything 
  else suitable to the setting.
  Combat Encounters
  A combat encounter features hostile creatures that are 
  likely to attack the group. Most combat encounters are 
  planned, but if a random encounter is combat, you can 
  quickly create an appropriate threat by consulting the 
  Encounter Difficulty table for the group’s level.
  Combat
  Many situations in the game place characters in battles 
  with dangerous creatures. Combat might be the result of a 
  random encounter or a planned event, or the Seekers might 
  decide on their own to take the fight to an enemy.
  Combat Difficulty
  A combat encounter has four danger categories: easy, 
  average, challenging, and hard. An easy combat should not 
  tax the group overmuch, while a hard one could very well 
  end with one or more characters dying. 
  The danger category determines the total Difficulty of the 
  hostile creatures present for the encounter, as shown on the 
  following tables. You populate the encounter by choosing 
  appropriate creatures and summing their Difficulty, up to the 
  maximum recommended for the encounter’s danger. The 
  table also indicates the maximum Difficulty for any individual 
  creature present in the encounter. You can exceed this number, 
  but be careful—using higher Difficulty creatures can be lethal.
  Encounter Difficulty
  Starting
  3 or less
  4–15
  16–30
  31+
  25
  Novice
  10 or less
  11–30
  31–50
  51+
  100
  Expert
  30 or less
  31–50
  51–125
  126+
  250
  Master
  50 or less
  51–125
  126–200
  201+
  None
  Adjusting Encounter Difficulty
  These tables assume a group size of three to five Seekers. 
  If your group is smaller than three, halve the Difficulty 
  numbers. For groups larger than five, increase them by half 
  again or double them for really large groups.
  Fudging the Numbers
  The Difficulty totals in these tables are only guidelines. You 
  might need to adjust the numbers up or down, depending 
  on your group’s composition and any special resources 
  available to them (such as chaos relics or powerful living 
  gear).
  Outnumbering the Group
  If the number of hostile creatures is double the number 
  of characters in the group (rounding down), the danger 
  increases by one step. For example, an otherwise easy 
  encounter featuring ten creatures against a group of four 
  characters would become an average encounter. Each 
  15
  15
  
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  time the opposition doubles, increase the danger of the 
  encounter by one step. For groups of twenty or more, 
  consider creating mobs as described in Chapter 6.
  Difficulty Per Day
  Combat is exciting, but there are limits to how much 
  fighting a group can handle in a single day. Creatures have 
  a Difficulty rating that represents the challenge they pose 
  in a fight. The Difficulty Per Day table shows what a group 
  can typically handle in one day of the story. You can use this 
  number as a “budget” for populating your combat obstacles.
  Simply add up the Difficulty of all the creatures you expect 
  the characters to face. If the total is equal to or less than the 
  recommended Difficulty for the day, the characters should 
  be fine. More than this is likely to be lethal if they don’t have 
  ways to heal damage and recover resources during the day. 
  If the total is less than half the recommended Difficulty, you 
  will need to challenge the characters in other ways or stiffen 
  the opposition. See Combat later in this chapter for more 
  about setting up these sorts of obstacles.
  Difficulty Per Day
  Starting
  25
  Novice
  100
  Expert
  200
  Master
  500
  Example
  An easy encounter for novice characters can have a 
  total Difficulty of up to 40. You could use any combination 
  of creatures whose total Difficulty is 40, though if the 
  number of creatures is more than that of the number of 
  characters in the group, the danger increases by one-
  step. So, a group of four Difficulty 10 creatures would 
  be an easy encounter, while a group of eight Difficulty 5 
  creatures would be an average encounter, even though the 
  total Difficulty is 40 or less.
  If you wanted to create a combat encounter of challenging 
  difficulty for novice characters, the total Difficulty would 
  fall somewhere between 76 and 150, with no individual 
  creature having a Difficulty of more than 50. So, you could 
  build an encounter of three creatures of Difficulty 25 or an 
  encounter featuring one creature of Difficulty 50 and one 
  creature of Difficulty 25.
  Battlefields
  The battlefield is wherever combat takes place. It can be 
  inside a long-forgotten temple to the gods, on the deck of a 
  hostile living ship, on narrow bridges of Sky City, across the 
  fields of obsidian in the Black Isle, or anywhere else a fight 
  happens to break out. A battlefield can have few notable 
  features or be a complex environment as dangerous as the 
  creatures the characters fight.
  A Pacari beast master in half-form fights for her life. Like most days.
  A Pacari beast master in half-form fights for her life. Like most days.
  16
  16
  
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Battlefield Elements
  Complex battlefields make combats more challenging, but 
  they also make them more exciting. Introducing battlefield 
  elements gives the player characters new tactical options 
  and lets them engage with the game in different ways. 
  Be careful about adding too many battlefield elements, 
  though, since they can slow down game play. Simple fights 
  shouldn’t include more than one element. For big, set-piece 
  battles, three or four is a good limit.
  Obscured Terrain
  Reduced visibility from precipitation, shadows, darkness, 
  foliage, and other factors can make a combat more 
  challenging, imposing banes on attack rolls against obscured 
  targets. Obscured terrain also creates opportunities for 
  characters and their enemies to become hidden.
  Obstacles
  Large objects such as doors, pillars, massive plants, and 
  piles of pulsating matter can block sightlines and grant 
  varying degrees of cover to one or both sides.
  Difficult Terrain
  Rubble, undergrowth, staircases, slippery surfaces, and 
  narrow surfaces hinder movement on the battlefield, 
  channeling combatants into cleared areas where they can 
  maneuver more easily.
  Challenging Terrain
  Some kinds of terrain require a success on a challenge 
  roll to traverse safely; they can also make combat more 
  exciting. For instance, a battle might start while the group is 
  climbing up the side of a cliff; the increased danger means a 
  character might fall at any time.
  Hazards and Traps
  You can turn an ordinary battle into a memorable one 
  by adding dangerous elements such as explosive spores, 
  hidden traps, fields of carnivorous plants, pockets of Chaos, 
  and anything else you can think of. See Traps later in this 
  chapter for some ideas.
  Interactive Elements
  You can create opportunities for the player characters to 
  improvise in combat by adding ways to interact with the 
  battlefield environment. Examples include a vine to swing 
  from or climb, banisters to slide down, furniture to knock 
  over or smash, and staircases for thrilling dagger-fights.
  Incapacitated and Prone Creatures
  When a creature on the battlefield becomes incapacitated 
  or is knocked prone, it remains where it falls. Other 
  creatures can move through its space, which is difficult 
  terrain until the creature gets up or its body is removed.
  In general, creatures should ignore incapacitated 
  characters during the combat unless the creature’s 
  description says otherwise. A Chaos beast, for example, 
  may take a round to mutate an incapacitated creature into 
  a new Chaos beast, if it can.
  Starting Positions
  After describing the battlefield, you determine the starting 
  positions for all the combatants based on what they were 
  doing when the combat began. Players determine the 
  positions for their own characters, while you set up the 
  enemy creatures.
  The starting distance between the group and their 
  opponents depends on where the fight takes place. Indoors, 
  the combatants might not become aware of each other 
  until they come within medium or even short range. In fog, 
  forests, or other areas where sight is limited, the characters 
  might start within medium range of their opponents. In 
  open environments, long or even extreme range might be 
  appropriate.
  Before the first round of combat begins, determine 
  if either side is surprised. The combatants are usually 
  aware of each other, but circumstances can increase the 
  possibility of surprise, such as the distance between the two 
  sides, whether any creatures or characters are hidden, or 
  battlefield elements that limit sightlines or hinder senses.
  Using Miniatures and Maps
  It’s possible to play out combat in Asunder entirely in the 
  imagination, without using maps or ways to represent the 
  combatants. Many groups, though, find that visual references 
  help them keep track of where everyone is in relation to their 
  opponents. Accessories such as battle maps, miniatures, 
  and tokens clear up confusion, but the price for using such 
  props is that game play slows down. For this reason, use these 
  accessories only as needed. An enormous battle featuring 
  scores of combatants would benefit greatly from visual aids, 
  but a minor fight between a few creatures probably doesn’t 
  require more than a sketched map for reference.
  If you’re sketching a rough battlefield on scratch paper, 
  precision isn’t that important; the map is just to give a 
  general idea of the area. You can draw it to whatever scale 
  you like, or even ignore scale. When using miniatures or 
  tokens, though, it’s best to use a scale that corresponds to 
  the combatants’ space and Speed. A typical battlefield map 
  uses 1 inch to represent 1 yard; if it’s drawn on a square or 
  hexagonal grid, 1 square or hex corresponds to 1 yard. A 
  typical character occupies 1 square inch on the map and 
  moves 1 inch for each yard traveled.
  Optional Rule: Surrounding
  You might allow creatures working together to surround a 
  foe; each surrounding creature makes attack rolls against 
  that target with 1 boon. This rule works best if you’re using 
  miniatures. A target is considered to be surrounded if it 
  is within the reach of a number of hostile creatures equal 
  17
  17
  17
  17
  
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  to its Size + 1. For example, a Size 1 creature is surrounded 
  while within the reach of two enemies.
  Area Effects
  Area effects originate from points on the battlefield. 
  Determining the origin point of an effect depends on how 
  the battle is laid out.
  No Grid
  If you’re fighting out the combat on a tabletop or rough 
  map without a grid, you can choose any point within range 
  as the origin. Measure or estimate the effect’s area from that 
  point. Treat any miniature or token as affected if it’s at least 
  halfway inside the area. As Keeper, you make the final call 
  when the situation is unclear, but it’s best to err in favor of 
  the players.
  Square Grid
  The origin point is always the intersection of two gridlines 
  within range. When determining the radius of a sphere, 
  circle, or cylinder, you have two options. If you want a more 
  realistic representation, treat diagonal paths from the origin 
  point as 1½ yards per 1-inch square. Otherwise, just count 
  diagonals as 1 yard each to create a “square circle” that is 
  slightly larger but simpler to use.
  Hexagonal Grid
  Choose any intersection of three gridlines within range 
  as the origin point and count out hexes from that point 
  equal to the number of yards. In the case of cubes, the area 
  should be roughly square in shape, centered on that spot; 
  cut across hexes as needed rather than following their 
  borders.
  Rounds, Turns, and Actions
  Whenever a fight breaks out between the Seekers and 
  their enemies, the game switches from freeform narrative 
  mode to rounds, during which time each combatant has a 
  chance to act. This structure ensures that each Seeker and 
  each opponent has a chance to contribute to the scene’s 
  outcome.
  As described in the Seeker’s Guide, a combat round has 
  three parts: fast turns, slow turns, and the end of the 
  round. Unless the rules instruct you otherwise, creatures 
  under your control always take their turns after the player 
  characters during each fast and slow turn. Each creature 
  you control must complete its turn before another can take 
  a turn. A few creatures can take multiple turns in a round, 
  as noted in their statistics boxes.
  The creatures under your control can take fast turns 
  or slow turns as appropriate for the combat situation. 
  Creatures with simple thought processes, such as animals, 
  constructs, and mindless dead of the Green Army, usually 
  take fast turns in an effort to bring down opponents quickly. 
  They take slow turns only if they need to move into combat 
  range. More intelligent opponents might use slow turns 
  more often to set up advantageous attacks.
  Improvised Activities
  The freeform nature of the game encourages player 
  creativity, so the Seekers might attempt activities during 
  combat that aren’t covered by the rules. Don’t panic. In all 
  likelihood, such an activity is similar to something else that 
  the rules do handle.
  First, consider what’s being attempted. Can you imagine 
  the character performing the activity multiple times in a 
  round? If so, it’s a minor activity. If not, it requires an action. 
  It should also require an action if it would harm a creature 
  in some way.
  If the activity is something that can be reasonably 
  accomplished within 10 seconds, then it can probably 
  happen during a single turn, using an action. If the activity 
  is complicated or involves multiple steps, you can either 
  break it up into separate actions or allow the character to 
  resolve it as a single action by making an attack roll or a 
  challenge roll with 1 or more banes.
  Improvised Attacks
  Your Seekers might describe unusual or improvised attacks. 
  Most of the time, these descriptions simply add narrative 
  color; combat is abstract, and the rules can handle most of the 
  fancy things a character might attempt without you having to 
  do anything special. You only need to make a call if the player 
  wants the attack to do something more than deal damage. 
  Here are some guidelines for adjudicating these situations.
  Extra Damage
  Generally, a talent is required to increase the damage 
  from an attack. If a player describes an attack that might 
  deal extra damage, and the character doesn’t have an 
  appropriate talent to cover the situation, you might allow 
  the attack roll with 1 bane. On a success, the character treats 
  a 1 on the damage roll as if it was a 2.
  Attack Multiple Targets
  As with extra damage, multiple attacks normally require 
  talents to pull off. In some situations, though, allowing 
  the attempt might be appropriate: a weaver wielding a 
  staff attempts to push two bandits away; a demon hunter 
  launches a wild roundhouse kick; a Pacari beastmaster 
  kicks a table at a group of guards. When a Seeker describes 
  an attack that can affect multiple targets and you rule it’s 
  possible, have the player make the attack roll with 2 banes 
  for each target beyond the first.
  You also need to decide what attribute or characteristic 
  is being attacked. For example, the weaver in the above 
  example might make the attack roll against each bandit’s 
  Strength score; the demon hunter’s kick would attack the 
  enemies’ Defense; and the beastmaster’s kick would target 
  the guards’ Agility.
  18
  18
  
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Impose Affliction
  A Seeker might describe an attack that hinders the target 
  in some way. You might rule that it’s possible, imposing an 
  affliction on a success. Such afflictions should not be so 
  serious that they prevent the creature from using actions. 
  For example, the slowed or frightened afflictions impose 
  disadvantages but allow a creature to act normally, so they 
  are reasonable outcomes; the stunned condition prevents 
  it from doing anything and is too severe for a typical 
  attack.
  If you rule that the proposed attack is reasonable and 
  possible, you can allow it to impose a suitable affliction. 
  If the proposed effect replaces dealing damage, the 
  Seeker makes the attack roll with 1 bane. If the effect is in 
  addition to dealing damage, the attack roll is made with 2 
  banes.
  For example, Cassie states that her Skimmer wants to 
  pin an enemy House agent’s cloak to a nearby wall with a 
  thrown crystal shard. The Keeper rules this is possible, and 
  Cassie makes the Agility attack roll with 1 bane since this 
  effect replaces damage. Cassie gets a success on the attack 
  roll. The Keeper interprets the outcome by causing the 
  agent to become slowed until the end of the round because 
  of the pinned cloak.
  Ending the Combat
  The combat ends when one side defeats the other. Defeat 
  occurs when one side flees, surrenders, or is completely 
  eliminated.
  Only mindless creatures sacrifice themselves without 
  reason. When faced with overwhelming odds or clear 
  defeat, most enemies will choose to give up or run away.
  Fleeing
  Creatures risk their lives when the cause is worthy, the 
  fear of failure outweighs the fear of death, or they have no 
  alternative. Otherwise, they flee if the battle turns against 
  them and there is a clear avenue of retreat.
  If you’re not sure whether enemies would retreat, you 
  can make Will challenge rolls for them. Each creature that 
  gets a failure on the roll becomes frightened for 1 round. If 
  it is already frightened, it must take the next turn it can to 
  use an action to rush away by the safest available route. If 
  prevented from fleeing, the creature surrenders.
  Surrender
  Creatures surrender when they have no chance of victory, 
  flight is not an option, and they stand a chance of surviving 
  if captured. A creature that surrenders drops its weapons 
  and does not move or take actions until it is secured 
  or given a chance to flee. It obeys the commands of its 
  captors unless doing so would put itself, its property, or its 
  loved ones in danger. Should it receive such a command, 
  the creature is free to act in whatever manner you deem 
  appropriate.
  Player Characters
  The Seekers are at the center of your Asunder campaign. These 
  stories are their stories, and they are the main characters. 
  Their efforts, their triumphs, and their defeats advance the 
  story through play and shape the overarching plot.
  Starting Levels
  The game assumes that Seekers start at level 0. Doing so 
  gives players the chance to become acquainted with the rules 
  and the world and lets them make decisions about their 
  characters’ future development based on what happened in 
  the starting adventure. This approach works well for new 
  players and casual players, but it can be unsatisfying for 
  more experienced groups who want to dive in right away.
  If you decide to start the game at a level higher than 0, 
  it’s best to choose a point where players would normally 
  pick a path: level 1, 3, or 7. Doing so gives the players time to 
  experience the full range of levels for a given path and helps 
  guide future character development in a satisfying way.
  In a higher-level game, you and the Seekers should 
  spend some time working out the details about how the 
  group formed and what the characters have done so far. 
  Try to come up with at least one important event for each 
  member of the group to give each player a hook for story 
  development. You don’t need a full accounting of what 
  happened at each level—just enough for everyone to have a 
  place in the group and a reason to stay together.
  A Cohesive Group
  How do your Seekers know each other? Why do they trust 
  each other enough to travel together and get into dangerous 
  situations together? Most people wouldn’t trust a complete 
  stranger to watch their back in a bar fight, let alone a battle 
  to the death in the wastes of the Black Isle, so why do your 
  Seekers do so? Creating a cohesive group, one that makes 
  sense together, and is more than just a collection of random 
  weirdos adventuring together for the plot’s sake can be 
  challenging. Here are some tips for making it work.
  Devote a Session  
  to Character Creation
  When you and your group sit down to play Asunder, plan 
  not to actually play the game during the first session. 
  Instead, set that time aside to create characters and figure 
  out why they’ve formed a group. The various Origin 
  tables and other parts of character generation will give the 
  Seekers plenty of good ideas for their own backstories, and 
  they might suggest some ideas for how they’re connected to 
  other members of the group.
  Connect Everyone to the Group
  Not every Seeker in the group must be connected to every 
  other Seeker, but every Seeker should be connected to at 
  19
  19
  
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  least one other Seeker. Here’s an easy way to make this 
  work. First, gather up as many index cards or scraps of 
  paper as you have Seekers, plus one for you. Hand one 
  to each, and have each of them write down a different 
  relationship on the card; do the same yourself. Keep it 
  broad for now, like “childhood friends,” “rivalry,” or “war 
  buddies.” Then, each player passes their card to the left. 
  With their new cards, each player further defines the 
  relationship on that card. Maybe the childhood friends 
  were inseparable once, but are now estranged. Maybe the 
  rivalry comes from both Seekers being in love with the 
  same man. Maybe the war buddies saw things they’d rather 
  forget, and only they understand the horrors they’ve been 
  through. Now, gather all the cards up and put them in the 
  middle of the table. Each Seeker, in turn, gets to take one 
  card from the middle of the table and place it in between 
  themselves and either the Seeker to their left and the one to 
  their right, defining their relationship with those Seekers. 
  There’ll be one left over; keep that one for an NPC you can 
  introduce later.
  Create Mutual Acquaintances
  Choose a Seeker and have them define a relationship they 
  have with an NPC. Then, point to another Seeker and say, 
  “How do you know that NPC?” Do this a few times, until 
  you have several mutual acquaintance NPCs you can call 
  upon later. A particularly good trick is to create one NPC 
  that everyone has in common. The first session starts with 
  that NPC’s death or funeral. 
  Create Common Enemies
  Much like the last tip, common enemies can help unite 
  a group and keep them on the same page. It can be 
  particularly effective when a common enemy is the reason 
  for the uniting NPC’s death. Nothing unites a group quite 
  like shared revenge.
  Character Exits
  Seekers leave the story from time to time, for a variety of 
  reasons. Someone could have objectives that are at odds 
  with the rest of the group. Another might be burdened with 
  a crippling Essence break or a lingering plague that makes 
  it impossible to go on. Sometimes a player just wants to try 
  something different.
  A Seeker’s exit can be good for the game, especially 
  if it makes the story more interesting. He or she doesn’t 
  have to leave the game, but instead becomes a secondary 
  character under your control. In this role, the former 
  Seeker can continue to interact with the group, perhaps as 
  an occasional ally, a source of information, someone to visit 
  when the characters return to the area, or a bitter rival who 
  vies against the group.
  Character Death
  Seekers can and should die in Asunder. Death is the risk 
  they take when they explore the world. A string of bad 
  die rolls, incautious exploration, or impulsive action can 
  all bring a Seeker to a swift and sudden end. It’s possible 
  (if very rare) for dead Seekers to return to life, but doing 
  so is beyond the capabilities of all but those who reach 
  the highest levels in this book, with very few exceptions. 
  For this reason, death usually means the end of a Seeker’s 
  story—but it also marks the beginning of a new Seeker’s 
  journey.
  In Sky City there are many rebel factions 
   that seek to shift the balance of power.
  In Sky City there are many rebel factions 
   that seek to shift the balance of power.
  20
  20
  
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Since you are the players’ advocate, it’s in your interest 
  to limit the frequency of Seeker death in the game. 
  Eradicating an entire group can and will happen once in a 
  while, but if it happens all the time the players will come 
  to see you as an adversary. If your Seekers keep dying 
  horribly, you might want to scale back the challenge of the 
  encounters they face.
  Sometimes a Seeker simply has a poor run of luck. 
  It’s okay to fudge the numbers in such cases, perhaps 
  disabling the Seeker instead of accepting a lethal outcome. 
  Alternatively, a dead Seeker could return to life through the 
  intercession of a powerful being—though such an event 
  never occurs without cost or expectation of service. But you 
  can always choose to just let the Seeker die. Violent death is 
  certainly in keeping with the game’s grim tone.
  Introducing New Seekers
  Whether a new player joins an existing group, or a player 
  wants to bring in a new Seeker to replace one who died 
  or left the story, you should introduce that character into 
  the game as quickly as possible. Don’t make the player 
  wait. Sitting on the sidelines and waiting for the chance to 
  contribute isn’t fun for anyone. If you have to bend the story 
  to accommodate the new Seeker’s entrance, do so. Here are 
  some suggestions.
  Secondary Character Apotheosis
  The easiest way to introduce a new Seeker is to have the 
  player take over an existing secondary character. They 
  could be a hireling or companion, someone the Seekers 
  met in town, or a person they rescued from danger.
  Seeking the Seekers
  The new Seeker has been searching for the group and 
  finally catches up to them. They might have heard of the 
  group’s exploits and want to share in the glory. Perhaps 
  the new Seeker has dire news or a warning to deliver. 
  New Seekers can also be old friends from the past or the 
  siblings, parents, or the offspring of existing Seekers.
  Chance Encounter
  The new Seeker happens upon the group. They might have 
  recently escaped a dangerous situation and need the group’s 
  help. Perhaps the new Seeker is after the same thing as the 
  group, and wishes to join forces to accomplish a common goal.
  Secondary 
  Characters
  As Keeper, you control and portray all the people and 
  creatures the player Seekers meet, interact with, and fight. 
  Keeping such a large cast of secondary characters straight 
  can be a challenge. The easiest way to manage this situation 
  is divide characters into three groups: major, minor, and 
  background.
  Major Characters
  Major characters play a significant part in a story. They might 
  be villains and their subordinates, temporary companions, 
  patrons and employers, contacts the characters rely on, and 
  anyone else you deem significant. Since major characters are 
  important to the story, they need the most detail.
  Name
  These characters deserve appropriate names. Sample names 
  for various Origins can be found in the Seeker’s Guide.
  Background
  Major characters’ histories and personalities are important 
  to how they interact with the player characters. For each 
  such character, come up with at least one significant event 
  from his or her past. Also choose one or two professions 
  that make sense for the character’s role in the story.
  Physical Trait
  Everyone has a distinctive physical trait, even if that trait 
  is the lack of notable traits. Physical traits help make a 
  character memorable to the players and should be one 
  of the first things their Seekers notice. You can add other 
  traits, but the first thing mentioned is what stands out 
  most. You can use the Physical Traits table to generate traits 
  quickly or as inspiration to come up with your own.
  Motivation
  Everyone wants something. What drives this character: 
  wealth, glory, fame, security, or something else? Noting the 
  motivation ahead of time means a realistic portrayal when 
  the character has an opportunity to gain the thing he or she 
  wants, or is at risk of losing that thing.
  Personality Trait
  Next, give the character a personality trait that you can use 
  when portraying him or her. You can play this up or not 
  as you decide, but a distinct personality helps bring the 
  character to life.
  Other Details
  The more details you add to your characters, the more 
  alive they become. However, you should always weigh the 
  effort you put in against the importance of the character 
  to your game. A patron who stays offstage much of the 
  time probably doesn’t need much detail. A villain who 
  will vex the characters for an entire campaign needs a 
  complete history, a well-established personality, and 
  specific objectives and plans, at the very least. To make 
  a character stand out in the players’ minds, you can give 
  that character one interesting thing to distinguish them. 
  This could be a mannerism, a word they use a lot, a 
  physical characteristic, an odd name, a sense that follows 
  them, or anything else you can think of; the point is that 
  21
  21
  21
  21
  
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  also take statistics from Chapter 6 that accomplish most of 
  what you want, make slight modifications to them, and call 
  it a day. Unique statistics are actually far less important to 
  making the character feel real than the details above are.
  Minor Characters
  Minor characters play bit parts in the story. You portray 
  them for a scene or two and then move on. Examples 
  include sources of information, lesser opponents, major 
  characters from previous stories, a Seeker’s relatives, and 
  individuals hired to perform a specific task.
  Minor characters don’t require the same kind of attention 
  to detail as major characters. Usually all you have to note 
  is the character’s name, profession, why they’re important, 
  and one thing that’s notable about the character.
  You usually don’t need full game statistics for minor 
  characters. You might create one quickly by assigning a role 
  (see Customizing Creatures in Chapter 6).
  Background Characters
  Everyone else is a background character. These people are 
  little more than scenery. You might describe what they’re 
  doing as a group—a crowd gathered in the town square, 
  ship-feeders on the docks, a gang of raiders springing out 
  of an ambush—but they don’t have names, backgrounds, 
  or histories. They exist solely to add texture to scenes or to 
  present obstacles.
  Background characters don’t need more than a simple 
  description, and any statistics you need are likely easily 
  found in Chapter 6.
  Roleplaying  
  Secondary Characters
  You should portray secondary characters just as you would 
  a Seeker you created. Play up an element that makes that 
  person distinct. If they have a facial tic, you might adopt 
  one while you play the character. If the character speaks in 
  whispers, do the same. An arrogant character should boast, 
  sneer at the player characters, and give them backhanded 
  compliments. A cowardly one might cringe, be overly 
  suspicious, and be reluctant to take risks.
  Above all, be consistent. People can change, but rarely so 
  much that their personalities are no longer recognizable.
  Player-Driven 
  Adventure
  Seekers in Asunder are proactive. They’re each actively 
  looking for something, and that means they decide the 
  course of their own journeys, at least to an extent. While 
  it’s good to do some prep work beforehand so you have a 
  general idea of what’s going to happen in a given session, 
  Physical Traits
  1
  Odd odor
  11
  Ugly
  2
  Grubby-looking
  12
  Nice clothing
  3
  Wrinkled
  13
  Bare feet
  4
  Oddly shaped mouth
  14
  Covered in plant growth
  5
  Strange skin texture
  15
  Diseased
  6
  Lots of hair
  16
  Extra body part
  7
  Little hair
  17
  Strange Chaos mutations
  8
  Noticeable limp
  18
  Freckles
  9
  Nasty scar
  19
  Tattoo
  10
  Attractive
  20
  Missing body part
  Motivation
  1
  Adventure
  11
  Love
  2
  Atonement
  12
  Magic
  3
  Chaos
  13
  Order
  4
  Glory
  14
  Peace
  5
  Good
  15
  Power
  6
  Immortality
  16
  Salvation
  7
  Improvement
  17
  Security
  8
  Justice
  18
  Validation
  9
  Knowledge
  19
  Vengeance
  10
  Liberty
  20
  Wealth
  Personality Traits
  1
  Overprotective
  11
  Calm
  2
  Wicked
  12
  Reasonable
  3
  Cruel
  13
  Generous
  4
  Loud
  14
  Honest
  5
  Vulgar
  15
  Noble
  6
  Ignoble
  16
  Genteel
  7
  Scheming
  17
  Quiet
  8
  Greedy
  18
  Benevolent
  9
  Erratic
  19
  Virtuous
  10
  Nervous
  20
  Focused
  this interesting thing is a touchstone for this character, 
  to help you embody them and to help your Seekers 
  remember them. Perhaps the vicious bandit is a doting 
  father, or maybe the infamous Sea King is much shorter 
  than the Seekers expected.
  If you intend a final confrontation between the group 
  and this character, or if this character will accompany them 
  on their adventures, you need to produce detailed game 
  statistics. You can build the character from scratch using the 
  rules in the Seeker’s Guide, picking paths as necessary, or use a 
  template (see Customizing Creatures in Chapter 6). You can 
  22
  22
  
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  it’s just as important to remain flexible and, if needs be, to 
  ignore or throw away the preparation you’ve done in favor 
  of the plots and stories that your Seekers are interested in. 
  There are some techniques you can use to make this easier.
  Keep Fights Flexible
  Is there a particular villain or rival they’re likely to 
  encounter? Stat that character up, as well as any allies or 
  minions they might have along. But remember that your 
  Seekers might encounter that villain in any number of 
  locations and situations. You might see the fight happening 
  at the edge of a cliff, but what if it winds up on the deck of a 
  living ship? What if it’s not even a fight at all? It can be useful 
  to come up with some touchstones as far as how your villain 
  acts in a social situation, what’s important to them, what they 
  might do if approached in a way that isn’t outright violence. 
  Also, for fights, come up with several interesting locations 
  in which they could take place, figure out how the terrain 
  works, but don’t necessarily tie them to specific enemies. 
  Keep them in your back pocket and mash a group of enemies 
  up with a terrain type at the table when you need to.
  Keep a List of NPCs
  Your Seekers will also wind up meeting a lot of strange 
  people in the course of their travels, and coming up with 
  new characters on the spot can be tough. Keep a list of 
  NPC names, and add to it periodically. Whenever you hear 
  a name you like—whether it’s from a TV show, a movie, a 
  book, a newspaper article, a blog post on the internet, or a 
  conversation you overhear—jot it down and add it to the 
  list. Make names up periodically, too. When your Seekers 
  meet a new NPC, grab a name from the list, cross it out so 
  you don’t double-use it, and go. For an added bit of magic, 
  do the same thing for interesting character traits. Does 
  your NPC chew on something incessantly? Curse a lot? Are 
  they pregnant? Combine a name with a character trait and 
  you’ve got enough detail to start roleplaying them right 
  away. Jot the name and the trait down on an index card. You 
  can always add more detail later.
  Conserve NPCs
  The NPC name list trick is great, but sometimes a new 
  NPC is the last thing you want. If the Seekers already 
  know a shady merchant and you need an NPC who 
  has connections to the slave trade, maybe that shady 
  merchant is the contact they’re looking for. Reuse NPCs 
  you’ve already established whenever you can do so 
  without straining credibility. This has two big benefits. 
  First, it reduces your cognitive load. If you have fewer 
  NPCs to worry about, you’re less likely to forget one or 
  get them confused. Second, every time you bring an 
  NPC back into the Seekers’ field of view, you have the 
  opportunity to add more dimension to that character and 
  get the Seekers more invested in them. If they keep relying 
  on the shady merchant to help them take down the ring 
  of slavers, and he keeps being useful and even engaging 
  to deal with, it’s all the more effective when he does 
  something terrible to the Seekers, or something terrible 
  happens to him.
  Re-skin
  Did you spend a bunch of time statting up a group of 
  pirates you expected the Seekers to encounter, but they 
  went to the desert instead? That’s frustrating. But could 
  those pirates just be desert bandits instead? Could you 
  add a simple ability to all of them, pair them with some 
  medium animals, and call them a Pacari warband? You’ll 
  know the difference, but it’s pretty unlikely your Seekers 
  will. As long as you describe your erstwhile pirates in a new, 
  flavorful way and make them behave consistently with their 
  new role, all your Seekers will remember is that they had 
  a cool run-in with a Pacari warband in the desert. To that 
  end, don’t make up new stats for a creature or NPC unless 
  you absolutely have to. There are dozens of fully-statted 
  NPCs and monsters in Chapter 6; if you can re-skin existing 
  stats, or make only a few modifications to an existing stat 
  block, and achieve the same effect, do that. It’s much easier, 
  and you can even do it on the fly.
  Ask Questions
  One of the most powerful questions in the Keeper’s arsenal 
  is “What do you do?” Start by describing a situation: “A pack 
  of stampeding horoks are heading directly for the village. 
  They’ll be there in minutes. They’re sure to destroy every 
  building and kill everyone the see. What do you do?” Asking 
  that question tells the Seekers that they must do something, 
  but it also leaves the actual action up to them. It’s both 
  leading and empowering. It implies not just that they must 
  do something, but that they have the power to change events. 
  Other questions can be useful, too. Questions that call upon 
  the senses (What does that sound like? What does that smell 
  like?) can be useful for getting a little more description out 
  of players who are speaking mostly in mechanical terms. 
  Leading questions (Who did you piss off the last time you 
  were in town? What was your favorite bar when you were 
  here?) can help give Seekers the ability to shape the world 
  around them, and thus get more invested in it.
  Call for Breaks
  Sometimes your Seekers will throw you for a loop. They’ll 
  stump you. It happens to all of us. When that happens, it’s 
  okay to call for a quick time out so you can figure out what 
  comes next. Sometimes it’s enough to just say, “Hold on, let 
  me think a sec,” and get back to things in thirty seconds or so. 
  Sometimes you may need to break for five or ten minutes so 
  you can throw together some stats for the monstrosity they 
  just unearthed. If you have to call for a break, don’t sweat it. 
  It’ll make your game better in the long run.
  23
  23
  
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  The Keeper’s 
  Toolbox
  You have access to a wide arsenal of challenges, obstacles, 
  and mood-enhancing opportunities while running the game.
  Handling Escalations
  One of the most powerful tools that the Seekers have to shape 
  their narrative is the escalation. When a Seeker leans on their 
  Fatal Flaw to escalate a situation, they’re telling you what they 
  want out of the scene. A Seeker who turns an argument into a 
  fistfight wants some combat. A Seeker who grabs the priceless 
  vase and runs while the noble, stunned, calls for his guards, 
  wants to run a chase and get away with something. Learn to 
  identify what your Seekers want when they escalate, and then 
  give it to them. Here are three things to keep in mind about 
  escalations when they happen at your table.
  Escalations Beget Escalations
  When a Seeker is arguing with a guy in a bar, and he just 
  hauls off and hits him for the insult he just heard, the 
  NPC isn’t going to continue the argument like nothing 
  happened; she’ll escalate right back. Not only that but, 
  whenever a Seeker escalates a scene, the other Seekers get 
  the opportunity to buy into that escalation and be rewarded 
  for doing so. This means that it’s easy for the Seekers to 
  start off haggling with a merchant and wind up running 
  from the guards by the end of the scene. It’s fine for this 
  sort of glorious chaos to happen in your game. It can lead 
  to some great stories and, most importantly, gets them 
  invested. When your Seekers escalate the scene, lean into it. 
  Escalate right back. 
  Escalations Have a Cost
  No escalation is ever free. If the Seekers start a bar fight 
  that injures several people, they may not be able to set 
  foot in a bar in the wharf district of Hyden for a good 
  long time. If they steal a priceless artifact from a Hand 
  of Gaia, they may find themselves on the wrong side of 
  a tribunal. Whenever your Seekers escalate, show them 
  that their actions have consequences. Note that you’re 
  not punishing your Seekers. Rather, you’re showing them 
  that the world reacts to them in a believable way when 
  they do terrible things. Most importantly, you’re creating 
  new fun, complicated situations for them to deal with and 
  find their way out of. Whenever you show the Seekers 
  the consequences of their escalations, ensure that those 
  consequences drive the story forward rather than grinding 
  it to a halt.
  Escalations  
  Give the Seekers Power
  When a Seeker escalates, or buys into another Seeker’s 
  escalation, they’re rewarded with Seeker points. Seeker 
  points are powerful: they allow the Seekers to get boons or 
  extra uses of their abilities. The power the Seekers derive 
  from their Seeker points allows them to take bigger risks, 
  be more proactive in the story, take on bigger challenges, 
  and achieve greater things. If your Seekers are escalating a 
  lot, you’ll have to challenge them that much more.
  Seeker points
  Seeker points give Seekers more power and more control 
  over the direction of the narrative. Seekers with more 
  Seeker points will be able to exert more influence over 
  events but, just as crucially, Seekers gain Seeker points 
  by drawing attention to their own Fatal Flaws. In effect, 
  those with more Seeker points have more mechanical 
  power to exert on the world around them, while those 
  with fewer Seeker points are incentivized to seek more 
  spotlight time.
  Seeker points have a number of specific effects, from 
  granting boons to boosting Essence powers, but this list 
  isn’t meant to be restrictive. When a Seeker wants to do 
  something that the rules don’t allow, but that makes sense 
  for the story and their Seeker, consider allowing it and 
  charging a Seeker point. For example, if a Seeker with 
  Insect Control powers wants to be able to know how many 
  venomous insects are within thirty yards of them, there isn’t 
  a specific power or profession or talent that allows them 
  that information, but you could just charge them an Seeker 
  point and give them the information. 
  Similarly, it’s okay to grant Seeker points as rewards when 
  Seekers do particularly daring, dangerous, fun things. 
  Technically, Seekers only get Seeker points for escalating 
  situations based on their Fatal Flaws, but sometimes a 
  Seeker does something that just makes everyone at the 
  table go “Yeah!” and smile ear to ear. When this happens, 
  it’s okay to reward that Seeker with an Seeker point. There 
  is one caveat, though: Seekers only gain Seeker points 
  for doing things that put themselves at risk. Your Essence 
  doesn’t grow stronger when you play it safe.
  Strain
  Strain represents the Seekers taxing their Essence beyond 
  its capabilities. Typically Seekers gain Strain by pushing 
  Essence powers beyond their normal limitations or by using 
  certain talents; if an effect causes Strain, it will specify how. 
  Strain grants the Seekers the ability to achieve short-term 
  power at a cost. Each time a Seeker takes Strain, it causes a 
  short-term penalty in the form of an affliction, but if they 
  take too much Strain, they can suffer an Essence break and 
  even die. 
  Encourage the Seekers to take Strain; they can take a 
  decent amount before suffering any serious effects, and 
  many of the Essence break effects are survivable, if nasty. 
  As their Strain totals become higher, play up the fact that 
  they feel stretched thin, slightly out of focus, or are buzzing 
  with anxiety. When a Seeker suffers an Essence break, it’s a 
  24
  24
  
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  traumatic event; play that up, describe how painful it is, and 
  emphasize how they’ll never be the same again.
  Chaos and Discord
  Like Strain, Discord is a way for Chaos-wielders to gain 
  power at a cost. Chaos is capable of incredible, destructive, 
  and wondrous feats, and Chaos-wielders have a huge 
  amount of power at their fingertips…if they’re willing to 
  risk using it. Chaos is also highly addictive, and even those 
  who aren’t Chaos-wielders who suffer Discord will start 
  to crave Chaos’s touch. Chaos-wielders are often either 
  languidly content or violently manic, and their moods 
  can turn quickly. As a person accumulates more Discord, 
  they become less human, more unsettling, and they draw 
  closer to their inevitable destruction. To Seekers without 
  Discord, emphasize how wrong those with Discord feel 
  to them. To those with Discord, play up the fact that the 
  surge of power running through them feels good, and that 
  they want more.
  Cutting off the head of a blight walker while suspended from a vine whip. Not safe, but easier to do with a Seeker point.
  Cutting off the head of a blight walker while suspended from a vine whip. Not safe, but easier to do with a Seeker point.
  25
  25
  
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Environmental Hazards
  Some environmental hazards are generic and are things 
  that can be encountered virtually anywhere, like fire or 
  disease. Others, like the potent chlorine gas that wafts 
  from the seas, is found in more specific areas. Note that 
  some hazards—specifically Chaos and Pure Light—are 
  described in detail in Chapter 4. Here’s how various 
  environmental hazards work.
  Disease
  Living creatures risk contracting disease when they explore 
  filthy and crowded conditions. They also might become 
  infected by a creature’s bite. Disease takes many different 
  forms, from parasitic infections to flesh-eating bacteria to 
  terrible fungi that assume control of the victim. You can 
  describe these effects in any way you like, but most diseases 
  work the same way in the game. The rules included here in 
  the Keeper’s Tome for any creature, power, or other effect that 
  can spread disease spell out how the illness is transmitted.
  Lethal Disease
  A creature affected by a lethal disease is diseased. As well, 
  each time the creature completes a rest, it must make a 
  Strength challenge roll. On a failure, it takes a −1d6 penalty 
  to Health. If this penalty reduces its Health to 0, the 
  creature dies. After three successes, the creature removes 
  the diseased affliction; the next time it completes a rest, the 
  reduction to Health ends.
  Designing a Disease
  If you are creating a disease, consider the following factors.
   
  ༄ Transmission: How does the disease spread? Most 
  diseases require contact with or injury from something 
  infected. Others might be transmitted through 
  contaminated fluids or even spread through the air.
   
  ༄ Virulence: How nasty is the disease? Diseases can 
  be normal, in which case it just applies the diseased 
  affliction, or lethal, using the lethal disease mechanics 
  above and with other possible consequences such as 
  disfigurement, Strain, or worse.
   
  ༄ Infection: When a creature is exposed to a disease, it must 
  make a Strength challenge roll. It makes the roll with 1 
  bane against a major disease or 2 banes against a lethal 
  disease. On a failure, the creature becomes diseased.
  Exposure
  Each hour a living creature is subject to extreme cold 
  (temperatures of −50 degrees Fahrenheit or lower) or 
  extreme heat (temperatures of 150 degrees Fahrenheit 
  or higher), it must make a Strength challenge roll. On 
  a failure, the creature becomes fatigued. If it is already 
  fatigued, it instead takes a cumulative −1d6 penalty to 
  Health. This penalty remains until the creature is no longer 
  fatigued and is no longer subject to exposure. A creature 
  fatigued from exposure removes this affliction when it 
  completes a rest in a comfortable environment.
  Fire
  Fire ignites combustible materials it touches. Objects that 
  catch fire take 1d6 damage at the end of each round until 
  they are destroyed or the fire is extinguished.
  Creatures can also catch fire, usually taking 1d6 damage 
  each round as above; some effects might deal more damage. 
  A creature can use an action to extinguish the flames on 
  itself or another creature within its reach by smothering 
  them or by dousing them with water or some other 
  nonflammable liquid or substance.
  Suffocation
  A living creature generally needs to breathe air (or water, 
  if it is aquatic). It can go without breathing for a number 
  of minutes equal to one-quarter its Strength score. If the 
  creature uses an action during this time, it reduces the 
  minutes it has remaining by 1 unless it gets a success on a 
  Strength challenge roll.
  When the creature runs out of time, it must make 
  a Strength challenge roll. On a failure, it takes a −2d6 
  penalty to Health. At the end of each additional round it 
  goes without breathing, the creature repeats the roll, but 
  with 1 bane for each additional round it has gone without 
  breathing. If the creature uses an action during a round 
  when it cannot breathe, it makes this roll with 1 additional 
  bane. Each failure imposes another cumulative 1d6 penalty 
  to Health. If the accumulated penalty reduces the creature’s 
  Health to 0, it dies. The penalty to Health ends after the 
  creature spends a few minutes breathing clean air or water.
  Traveling the Sea
  The seas of Asunder generate a constant vapor of 
  chlorine gas. While on a ship, creatures are usually high 
  enough above the sea that they can smell the gas, but be 
  unaffected by it. Closer to the sea (usually within about 
  3-6 yards of the surface), and characters not immune 
  to poison must hold their breath or suffer the effects 
  of suffocation. As soon as a character suffers a Health 
  penalty in this way, they become poisoned, and they 
  remain poisoned for as long as they have a Health penalty. 
  Unlike suffocation, however, the effects of chlorine 
  poisoning linger; a creature reduces their total Health 
  penalty by 5 every time they complete a rest. Once the 
  Health penalty is gone, so is the poisoned affliction.
  If a creature that is not immune to poison drinks sea 
  water, they immediately become poisoned and take a -3d6 
  penalty to Health. This is cumulative with multiple drinks, 
  and creatures recover in the same way that they do from 
  poisoning from chlorine gas. 
  Note that only the sea generates chlorine gas like this; 
  other bodies of water in Asunder do not, nor does rain. At 
  your option, being caught in a particularly violent storm on 
  the sea might force even creatures on ships to have to deal 
  with chlorine gas.
  26
  26
  
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Traps
  Fusillades of poisoned darts, pits covered by false floors, 
  or alarms that emit a deafening noise when sprung—all 
  traps protect sensitive areas from intruders. You can use 
  traps to create tension when the Seekers explore dangerous 
  areas. Try not to overuse them, though; too many traps can 
  make the players so cautious that they spend all their time 
  scouring their surroundings.
  Some natural (and unnatural) hazards work much like 
  traps. They might be native to a location or placed there by 
  canny occupants. They can be detected and avoided, but it 
  isn’t usually possible to disarm a hazard.
  Seeker-Created Traps
  Some Seeker talents grant the ability to create traps; 
  guidelines for doing so exist in Chapter 8 of the Seeker’s 
  Guide. These guidelines can also be of use when you create 
  traps for the Seekers to deal with. Be aware that as Keeper, 
  you have a bit more flexibility in the creation of traps than 
  the Traps section referenced above allows for. However, 
  should you so desire, you can adhere strictly to the rules in 
  the Seeker’s Guide when creating traps.
  Interacting with Traps
  Traps work well in any scene. A simple trap throws a 
  complication into an otherwise routine encounter, while 
  a complex, dangerous organism that functions as a trap 
  might be the primary obstacle in an area or the final 
  challenge to achieving an objective.
  To remove the threat posed by a trap, a character must 
  first find the trap, then either disarm it or activate it 
  harmlessly.
  Finding a Trap
  Nearly all traps are hidden. A creature examining an area 
  that contains a trap can make a Perception challenge roll 
  to locate it. You privately decide how many banes apply 
  to the roll, based on how well hidden the trap is and 
  any other relevant circumstances such as time pressure. 
  Unlike other challenge rolls, you roll that many d6 instead 
  of the player and adjust the player’s roll accordingly. If the 
  total of the player’s roll is 0 or less, the character makes 
  challenge rolls to find the trap or avoid its effects with 1 
  bane.
  Disarming a Trap
  A character can use a tool kit to disarm a trap by succeeding 
  on an Intellect challenge roll. Complex or living traps might 
  impose 1 or more banes on the roll. Failure to disarm a trap 
  might spring it, at your discretion.
  A character might attempt an unorthodox action or 
  improvise tools to neutralize a trap. You decide whether 
  to allow the attempt, imposing banes if necessary. Refer to 
  the guidelines for improvisation earlier in this chapter.
  Designing Traps
  Each trap has a specific method of activation, which you 
  decide when you create it. A character might activate a trap 
  by stepping on a living segment of the floor or snagging a 
  tripwire. Other traps spring when a character opens the lid 
  to a chest or pushes open a door. Even a loud noise might 
  spring a trap. Decide the trap’s method of activation when 
  you create it.
  Most traps fall into one of four categories: alarm, 
  obstacle, snare, or lethal.
  Alarm
  An alarm alerts nearby creatures to the presence of 
  intruders. Silent alarms give no obvious sign that they were 
  activated but might send a psychic signal or trigger a noise 
  some distance away.
  Obstacle
  An obstacle creates a barrier to intruders’ progress. Such a 
  trap could bar doors, close off a passage by constricting it 
  with massive vines, or spray a curtain of flame from the walls.
  Snare
  Snares confine and contain intruders. Pit traps, living cages, 
  self-sealing rooms, and similar mechanisms fulfill this 
  function.
  Lethal
  A lethal trap is intended to maim or kill intruders. Refer to 
  the Baseline Damage table earlier in this chapter to judge 
  appropriate damage. Use the Unlimited column if the 
  trap can deal damage each round or if the trap’s effect also 
  imposes an affliction. Otherwise, use the Limited column.
  Sample Traps and Hazards
  You can drop the following example traps into your 
  adventure or use them as guides for designing your own 
  traps. The Traps by Threat table summarizes them, noting 
  each trap’s type and the level of groups for which it is 
  appropriate. The trap is equivalent to an average combat 
  encounter. A master trap, for example, is suitable for 
  characters of level 7 and higher. 
  You can make traps easier or harder by adjusting damage, 
  imposing or removing banes, and so on at your discretion.
  Collapsing Ceiling
  The ceiling above an area is rigged to collapse when a 
  creature steps on a hidden pressure plate below. When 
  a creature that is unaware of the pressure plate enters its 
  space, roll a d6. On an even number, the creature steps on 
  the plate and springs the trap.
  When the trap is sprung, the ceiling falls and everything 
  in the area under it takes 6d6 damage. Creatures in the area 
  take half the damage with a success on an Agility challenge 
  roll. The floor in the area becomes difficult terrain thereafter.
  27
  27
  
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  This trap is difficult to notice. Perception challenge rolls 
  to find the pressure plate and the Intellect challenge roll to 
  disarm it are both made with 1 bane.
  Concealed Pit
  A 2-yard-square section of false floor in a room or corridor 
  covers a pit 5 yards deep. The false floor collapses when a 
  Size 1/2 or larger creature steps on it or when a Size 1/2 or 
  larger object is placed on it. A creature that gets a success on 
  an Agility challenge roll does not fall into the pit. Anything 
  that falls takes 2d6 damage on landing at the bottom.
  The false floor cannot be disarmed but can be safely 
  triggered.
  Concealed Spiked Pit
  This trap functions as a concealed pit, but spikes, thorns, or 
  barbs line the floor and/or walls. Anything that falls to the 
  bottom of the pit takes 4d6 damage.
  Some concealed spiked pit traps are actually living 
  organisms designed to chew those who fall in. Such traps 
  deal 2d6 damage initially, and 2d6 damage each round 
  unless a creature inside makes a Strength challenge roll to 
  halve the damage.
  Thorn Trap
  A nearly undetectable ocular organ monitors an area, 
  such as a doorway or archway, at ankle level. When a 
  creature that is unaware of the organ moves through the 
  entrance, roll a d6. On an even number, the organ spots 
  them and springs the trap.
  A dozen thorns fly toward the entrance from the 
  surrounding walls. The creature that sprung the trap must 
  make an Agility challenge roll with 1 bane, taking 1d6 + 2 
  damage on a failure. On a success, the thorns fly past the 
  creature. If there’s a creature behind the one that sprung 
  the trap, that creature must also make an Agility challenge 
  roll with 1 bane to avoid this damage.
  Falling Cage
  This trap uses bait, such as a treasure chest, a closed door, or 
  a bottle of spirits, to lure intruders into a room or the end of a 
  corridor. A creature springs the trap by touching the bait.
  Springing the trap causes a cage to fall from a 
  compartment in the ceiling, filling the entrance into 
  the area and closing off the sole avenue of escape. Each 
  creature in the area must make an Agility challenge roll. 
  On a failure, it is pinned by the cage. It takes 2d6 
  damage, falls prone, and becomes immobilized. 
  On a success, the creature must roll a d6. On an odd 
  number, it springs into the area beyond the cage, where it 
  is imprisoned. On an even number, the creature tumbles 
  backward and remains free.
  Raising the cage or breaking through it requires a success 
  on a Strength challenge roll, which is made with 3 banes.
  Flame Jet
  A hidden pressure plate is on the floor 2 yards from a 
  concealed nozzle in the wall. When a creature that is 
  unaware of the pressure plate enters its space, the trap 
  springs. Flame spews from the nozzle into a 6-yard-long 
  cone that includes the space containing the pressure plate. 
  Everything in the area takes 6d6 damage; creatures take 
  half the damage with a success on an Agility challenge roll.
  This trap is well hidden and hard to deactivate. 
  Perception challenge rolls to find the pressure plate and the 
  Intellect challenge roll to disarm it are made with 1 bane.
  Flesh-Eating Slime
  Found in warm, damp places underground, this semi-mobile 
  fungus dissolves flesh, turning it into more slime. The slime 
  clings to ceilings and drops onto creatures passing under it. It 
  blends in with its surroundings, so Perception challenge rolls 
  to spot the slime are made with 2 banes.
  When the slime drops, each creature under it must 
  make an Agility challenge roll with 1 bane. On a failure, 
  it doesn’t avoid the slime. A creature made of flesh and 
  bone takes 2d6 damage from acid when the slime drops 
  on it, and another 2d6 damage at the end of each round. 
  A creature that becomes incapacitated while covered in 
  slime dies instantly and becomes a new pool of flesh-
  eating slime in the space it occupied.
  Up to the end of the first round after exposure, a creature 
  can use an action to scrape the slime off itself or another 
  creature it can reach. After this time, the slime can be 
  removed only by dealing any amount of damage to it with 
  cold or fire or by cutting off the body part that it coats.
  Pendulum Blade
  A pressure plate is hidden in the floor in front of a door, 
  archway, or other entrance. When a creature that is 
  unaware of the pressure plate moves into its space, roll a 
  d6. On an even number, the creature steps on the plate 
  and springs the trap.
  Traps by Threat
  Thorn trap
  Lethal
  Starting
  Poisoned needle
  Lethal
  Starting
  Webs
  Obstacle
  Starting
  Concealed pit
  Snare
  Novice
  Spear trap
  Lethal
  Novice
  Concealed spiked pit
  Snare, Lethal
  Expert
  Falling cage
  Obstacle
  Expert
  Flesh-eating slime
  Lethal
  Expert
  Pendulum blade
  Lethal
  Expert
  Collapsing ceiling
  Lethal, Obstacle
  Master
  Flame jet
  Lethal
  Master
  Poison gas
  Lethal
  Master
  28
  28
  
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  A hatch opens overhead to release a heavy pendulum 
  blade, usually made of bone or chitin, into that space. 
  The creature that sprang the trap must make an Agility 
  challenge roll with 1 bane. On a failure, the creature takes 
  4d6 damage. On a success, the blade swings 1 yard past 
  the creature into the space behind. If another creature 
  is there, it also takes the above damage unless it gets a 
  success on an Agility challenge roll with 1 bane.
  The pressure plate and the hatch are very well hidden. 
  Perception challenge rolls to find the pressure plate are 
  made with 2 banes and the Intellect challenge roll to 
  disarm the trap is made with 1 bane.
  Poison Gas
  This trap is held within a chest, box, or other similar 
  container. Opening the container causes thick green gas to 
  spread out in a 10-yard radius around the container. The 
  gas totally obscures its area and remains for 1 minute or 
  until dispersed by wind. Each living creature in the area 
  must make a Strength challenge roll when the gas appears 
  and at the end of each round until dispersed. On a failure, 
  the creature takes 2d6 damage and becomes dazed for 1 
  minute. While dazed this way, the creature also becomes 
  poisoned; if it is already poisoned, it instead takes 1d6 
  extra damage.
  Detecting the presence of the gas is extremely difficult 
  without opening the container. Perception challenge rolls 
  to find the trap and the Intellect challenge roll to disarm it 
  are made with 2 banes.
  Poisoned Needle
  This trap is normally found attached to a door or 
  container. Any creature that attempts to open the door 
  or container without using a key or specific technique 
  springs the trap, causing a poisoned needle to shoot out. 
  The triggering creature must make an Agility challenge 
  roll with 1 bane. On a failure, it takes 1 damage and must 
  then make a Strength challenge roll with 1 bane. If the 
  creature gets a failure on the second roll, it also takes 1d6 
  damage and becomes poisoned for 1 hour.
  Perception challenge rolls to find this trap are made 
  with 1 bane.
  Spear Trap
  A pressure plate is hidden on the floor. When a creature 
  that is unaware of the pressure plate moves into its space, 
  roll a d6. On an even number, the creature steps on the 
  plate and springs the trap.
  Spears shoot up from the floor in a 3-yard-radius circle 
  around the pressure plate. The spears deal 2d6 + 1 damage 
  to everything on the floor in the area. A creature that gets a 
  success on an Agility challenge roll takes half the damage. 
  The spears then retract as the trap automatically resets.
  Perception challenge rolls to find the pressure plate and 
  the Intellect challenge roll to disarm the trap are made with 
  1 bane.
  Webs
  Large spiders and similar creatures sometimes spin webs 
  across passages and entrances near their lairs. They are 
  never immobilized by their own webs and can move 
  across them at full speed.
  A creature that enters a space containing the webs 
  becomes immobilized. It can use an action to make a 
  Strength challenge roll with 1 bane. A success removes 
  this affliction as the creature pulls free from the webs.
  Perception challenge rolls to spot the webs are made 
  with 1 bane.
  Rewards
  Rewards encourage the players to undertake dangerous 
  expeditions. Gems, favors, and living gear not only improve 
  the player characters’ capabilities, they also create an 
  appetite for more stories, more adventures, and more 
  excitement.
  Level Increase
  The most valuable and immediate reward you can grant 
  is to increase the group’s level. A level increase can occur 
  whenever you choose, but it’s best to award it when the 
  group completes an adventure objective: thwarting a 
  House agent, bringing down a Pure Light cult, or wresting 
  a potent piece of living gear from a villain’s grip.
  Path selection changes the way the game plays since 
  it gives players the chance to develop their Seekers in 
  significant ways. For this reason, you shouldn’t advance 
  the group level to the point where they choose new paths 
  until they have accomplished a significant campaign 
  objective or have completed a major quest.
  Option: Training
  You can require Seekers to spend time training before they 
  advance a level. Training immerses players in the story by 
  making their Seekers seek out teachers to instruct them 
  in their new talents. Those teachers and, in turn, their 
  contacts, can open up further possibilities for new stories.
  Despite these advantages, training also has drawbacks. 
  It delays the gratification of a level increase and can 
  frustrate players who feel they have already earned 
  the reward for achieving the story objective. If you’re 
  considering this optional rule, talk it over with your 
  players first, and don’t use it if they aren’t enthusiastic.
  Training for Level Advancement
  A Seeker must find a willing trainer who follows the same 
  path or the path the character wants to enter. Advancing 
  to the next level takes 1 week per level the character has 
  already attained. Aside from living expenses, the Seeker 
  must also pay his or her instructor 1 pearl per week.
  29
  29
  
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Training for New Path
  Rather than require training for each level, you can 
  just require training when a character would choose a 
  new path. Such training has the same time requirement 
  as above and the same cost. For example, a character 
  entering an expert path from a novice path would require 
  2 weeks of training (to advance from 1st level to 3rd level).
  Treasure
  Treasure isn’t the main reason for an adventure, and 
  the Seekers aren’t guaranteed to find riches during their 
  expeditions. Still, they need some gems to replace and 
  improve weapons and armor, pay for living expenses, 
  and replenish their supply of potions, kalea venom, and 
  other expendable equipment, so you should ensure they 
  earn some wealth along the way. The Seekers might loot 
  a defeated enemy or discover a lost hoard while exploring 
  an ancient site. Or they could instead earn a reward, 
  perhaps for rescuing a prisoner or helping someone in 
  need.
  You can award as much treasure as you like, but try to 
  avoid giving too much at a time. The Treasure Limits table 
  shows the maximum recommended total treasure the 
  group should find at a particular level.
  Treasure Limits
  Starting
  2
  Novice
  10
  Expert
  100
  Master
  1000
  Awarding Treasure
  Treasure can come in in many forms: chests filled with 
  precious gems, jewelry, paintings, statues, or anything else 
  of value.
  Gems
  At lower levels, distribute treasure with less valuable gems. 
  For example, you shouldn’t hand out more than 2 sapphires 
  at level 0, which doesn’t sound like much at all. However, if 
  you translate that amount into 10 pearls or 100 slivers, you 
  can spread the treasure throughout the story rather than 
  just dump it all at the end.
  Valuable Gems and Jewelry
  Less valuable gems can become cumbersome at higher 
  levels, especially when they number in the thousands. 
  Instead, award some treasure as the equivalent value in 
  more valuable gems, like diamonds or rubies, and pieces of 
  jewelry.
  Other Valuables
  You can mix up treasure awards by swapping out gems 
  for art objects such as paintings, tapestries, statuettes, 
  fine clothing, rare spices, trade goods such as bolts of 
  cloth, livestock, or other valuable goods. Aside from being 
  more interesting than mere gems, such items can become 
  the seeds for future stories. For example, a tapestry the 
  characters find might contain a clue about the location of a 
  fabled tomb or insights on the resting place of a legendary 
  living relic.
  Special Items
  Rather than award monetary treasures, you can provide the 
  equivalent amount of gems as unusual goods or advantages 
  to the player characters. Such treasure might be in the 
  form of performance enhancers, living gear, kalea venom, 
  engineering workshops, black market goods, property, 
  vehicles, or anything else that seems fun to you.
  Treasure Maps
  Treasure maps are a great way to plant the seeds of future 
  stories. A map has value in its own right to interested 
  parties, but it has the potential to lead the group to even 
  greater rewards. However, be careful of using this device 
  too often. If every treasure needs a map to claim, you delay 
  the acquisition of rewards and can create a sense of being 
  railroaded.
  Connections
  Not all rewards have monetary value. Sometimes a reward 
  can be a connection made with a person or an organization 
  whose capabilities or resources could be valuable to the 
  Seekers.
  Companions
  Companions are secondary characters who join the group 
  for one reason or another and, if permitted, accompany 
  the Seekers on their expeditions. Companions might join 
  up because of the group’s reputation, to gain help, to offer 
  assistance in accomplishing a particular goal, or for any 
  other reason that makes sense to you.
  Adding companions to a group increases its survivability 
  simply by increasing the number of characters, so 
  you should be cautious about introducing too many, 
  especially to a large group. Also keep an eye on temporary 
  companions who join from talents or Essence powers.
  Companions have no obligation to stay; if they are 
  poorly treated, they might leave. As well, they remain 
  with the group only as long as doing so makes sense in 
  the story. For example, someone might not want leave his 
  homeland or is unwilling to go to a place where death 
  seems certain. Another companion might decide to settle 
  down somewhere the characters visit to start a new life 
  there.
  30
  30
  
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Chapter 1: The Keeper
  Creating Companions
  A companion is a major character under your control, as 
  described in Secondary Characters earlier in this chapter. 
  He or she advances in level at half the rate of the player 
  characters.
  Contacts
  The Seekers meet many people during their adventures, 
  forming contacts with some of them. A contact’s value 
  lies in the assistance they can provide. Contacts are minor 
  characters (see Secondary Characters). Determine how the 
  contact is useful to the group by choosing one or two of the 
  following options.
  Influence
  The contact can open doors for the characters and make 
  things happen by pulling the right strings. An influence 
  contact could have the ear of a powerful noble (or might be 
  the noble); alternatively, he or she might be a merchant, the 
  captain of the guard, or a ranking member of a criminal guild.
  Information
  The contact knows or can acquire information about a 
  particular topic. Such a person might be a scholar at a 
  university, a bartender with a penchant for eavesdropping, or 
  a member of the criminal underworld with ears everywhere.
  Security
  The contact provides the characters with a haven when 
  they need it. They could be a lover, a family member, or a 
  wealthy patron with plenty of room to spare.
  Artifacts
  There are many strange and unusual objects in the world. 
  Some of these are remnants of civilizations from before the 
  breaking of the world. Others might be fragments of the 
  fabled God-Machine, strange inventions of modern people, 
  or demonic objects designed to tempt humans. Whatever 
  form they take, artifacts have a few things in common.
  Unique
  Every artifact is unique; it’s unlikely that you’ll ever find the 
  same one twice.
  Inscrutable
  The original purpose of the artifact is likely a mystery. 
  While clever Seekers may be able to figure out how to use 
  the artifact in a useful way, it’s unlikely that they’re using 
  the artifact in the way it was initially intended. It should 
  take time for a Seeker to figure out how to use an artifact 
  and, once they do, using it should be unreliable and should 
  seem a little dangerous.
  Priceless…or Not
  Some are priceless because they’re powerful or beautiful 
  and there’s nothing else like them. Some are so mysterious 
  that they’re virtually useless as anything more than a 
  curiosity, and so they might be worthless to buyers. Either 
  way, trading artifacts on the open market doesn’t typically 
  happen; if the seekers want to find a buyer or seller for an 
  artifact, doing so takes time and is likely the seed for an 
  adventure in and of itself.
  Incredibly Rare
  Artifacts don’t pop up all that often. Generally speaking, 
  don’t hand out an artifact in each adventure, and don’t 
  give more than one to a given Seeker at a time without a 
  very good reason. Artifacts are often the subject of entire 
  adventures.
  Sample Artifacts
  There are no hard and fast rules for creating artifacts; 
  they can basically do anything you want them to be able 
  to do. The Seed of Gaia introduced in the Planting Seeds 
  adventure is an artifact, as is the Wellspring introduced in 
  the adventure, The Wellspring. The skystone dagger from 
  the same adventure could wind up being an artifact, too, 
  if you wish. Any number of items on the Interesting Things 
  tables in the Seeker’s Guide could be artifacts, at your 
  discretion. Here are a few more examples; you can use 
  these as-is or as inspiration for your own artifacts. Each 
  of these artifacts has numerous other abilities that can 
  be discovered; the ones listed here are just the ones the 
  Seekers are most likely to discover first.
  The Stone Cat
  This small statuette of a cat is carved of an unidentifiable 
  stone, in a style that’s clearly very old. It’s warm to the 
  touch. If a Seeker places it in a pile of kindling, it will start a 
  fire within five minutes.
  The Map
  A map, etched on a slab of petrified wood, of a land you 
  don’t recognize. There are recognizable landmarks on the 
  map, but they seem to be in the wrong places. If you could 
  figure out how to make sense of the map, it might lead you 
  to something.
  The Sundial
  A simple stone sundial, large enough that it must be carried 
  by two people. Its shadow does not move with the sun, 
  remaining in one spot always. If a Seeker spills blood on the 
  sundial (at least 1 damage) and asks it a question that can be 
  answered with a specific time or a duration (example: “How 
  long will it take for the bounty hunter to catch up to me?”), 
  the sundial will answer the question by moving its shadow 
  to the appropriate mark.
  31
  31
  
  Chapter
  Two The World  
  of Asunder
  A Black Isler collects spores for food while another 
  meditates as she’s splashed with freezing cold water. 
  This is her second day with no break.
  A Black Isler collects spores for food while another 
  meditates as she’s splashed with freezing cold water. 
  This is her second day with no break.
  32
  32
  
  The 
  The Black Isle
  Black Isle
  S
  oruva crouches at the edge of an outcropping, a drop 
  yawning in front of her toes. It’s not far…but it’s far 
  enough, and there are jagged black rocks jutting up 
  from the ground below. She tastes the air, the acrid sting of 
  it, and underneath, buried like a cloying aftertaste, is that 
  too-sweet flavor, the one she’s been looking for. A demon. 
  She can’t see it, but it can’t hide its scent, try as it might. 
  She holds up her left hand, fist clenched, then extends two 
  fingers to the sky.
  Barely a whisper and Foral is next to her, crouched low, 
  watching the canyon. He says nothing…just waits.
  “How many?” Soruva asks.
  Foral’s tongue darts out, then he licks his lips. “One, for 
  sure. Maybe a second.”
  Soruva’s eyebrow raises and she turns her eyes to Foral. 
  “Maybe?” It’s not like Foral to be unsure. He’s her best 
  tracker, his senses refined to a knife’s edge; this close to the 
  thing—or things—he should be sure.
  His eye twitches. “Maybe,” he repeats. “It’s masking 
  somehow. It could be two but…it’s hard to tell. There’s 
  another scent there, interfering.”
  “Fess weed.”
  Foral nods. “Fess weed. We’ve seen them use it before. 
  But why here?”
  Soruva sighs, eyes turning back to the canyon. “It’s 
  expecting us. Or they are. We have to assume there’s more 
  than one.”
  “How many can you take?”
  Soruva thinks for a moment. “Two. Perhaps. Not more 
  than two.”
  “Should I tell the others to stand down?”
  She can feel her jaw clench at the question. “No. We 
  need its blood.”
  Foral studies her for a moment quietly before speaking. 
  “You won’t be able to save Biress if you’re dead.”
  The words sting, but she flashes Foral a fierce grin 
  instead. “Then I’d better not die.”
  A slight smile touches his lips. “As you say.”
  33
  33
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Arriving in The Black Isle
  The seas are not kind around the Black Isle, and there is 
  but a single port as you approach. A bare stone dock leads 
  to a steep staircase cut into the cliff-face of hard black rock 
  with a sparse excuse for a town clustered around it. This is 
  Coward’s Point, so called both because it is how outsiders 
  arrive and also how natives leave. The air here is pungent 
  and acrid, a smoky smell hanging everywhere that mixes 
  with the salt of the sea along the coasts. Perhaps the most 
  striking thing about the Black Isle, though, is the thing it 
  takes its name from.
  Every part of the Black Isle—every plain, every 
  mountain, every house—is made of the same black stone. 
  It’s glossy in some places and matte in others, and it juts 
  up in spires and spikes, all hard edges and sharp points. 
  The people here are just as hard. They have thick muscles 
  and dour expressions, and they wear clothes spun from 
  the black silk of the native worms, one of the few creatures 
  that dwells here. To outsiders, they’re gruff, sometimes 
  overtly hostile. They dislike weakness because in this 
  place, weakness gets you killed. Among each other they 
  can be warmer, but there’s always a distance, a reserve that 
  comes of losing dear friends early and often.
  When you enter the home of one of the Black Islers, 
  the first word that springs to mind is utilitarian. They 
  are not great craftspeople or artists; they build things to 
  be functional and durable, and the only material they 
  have to build with is the rock of the island. Their food 
  is utilitarian for similar reasons: those who cannot hunt 
  demons spend their days harvesting a thick, hardy gray 
  moss from the cliffs and a mustard-yellow, melon-shaped 
  spore from the caves; these two substances comprise most 
  of their food, supplemented occasionally by fish caught 
  from the sea. Most of it is eaten raw or treated with salt. 
  They also use these substances—spore sacks, moss, fish 
  scales and fish bones—to fashion tools, sacks for carrying 
  things, and other useful items.
  Outside the small, clannish settlements are fields and 
  mountain ranges of black rock, dotted with numerous 
  entrances to a vast underground cavern system. From 
  those cave mouths comes a pungent smell, like rotting 
  meat and smoke, that heralds the places where the 
  demons come forth.
  The Way of Soruva
  She is a demon hunter, one of those who are trained 
  specifically to fight the demons in hand-to-hand combat, 
  to wrestle them into submission and break them until 
  they die. She does this for two reasons. The first and 
  most important reason is to prevent the incursion of 
  the demons into Asunder; to halt their depredations 
  on humankind and to foil their plans. The other, more 
  pragmatic reason is that many of the substances that 
  can be harvested from demon corpses are useful and 
  “Signal the others. Tell them to be ready on my mark.”
  Foral nods, creeps away. Soruva watches him go; he’s all 
  sinew and gangly limbs, strong but slight, quick on his feet, 
  built for speed and stealth. Soruva clenches her fists and 
  stands, stretches her thick biceps, and goes through a quick 
  routine to get herself ready. She’s built for something else 
  entirely.
  Okay, Soruva thinks to herself. If this is a trap, let’s go 
  ahead and spring it. And, with that, she leaps down into the 
  canyon, slicing through the air, hitting the bottom with a 
  crunch of rock and an echoing boom. The jagged spikes 
  of black rock lay shattered around her, and she stands up 
  straight and brushes rock dust off of her arms.
  “Well, demon?” she calls out, all defiance and confidence 
  that she mostly feels. “Let’s get this over with, shall we?”
  Soruva’s eyes dart left and right, watching the shadows, 
  the blind corners. They always come at their prey sideways. 
  And then it’s there, nearly nine feet tall and seemingly 
  made of darkness, its eyes piercing white dots of light in the 
  inky black form, and she can hear its voice in her brain, its 
  unwholesome touch on her psyche.
  My, my. You’re a brave one, aren’t you? Are you here alone?
  Soruva grins at the demon. “Are you?”
  A discordant chuckle rakes across Soruva’s brain and she 
  almost flinches. Almost. Look around and find out, little meat.
  Soruva’s eyes dart left and right, she steals a glance 
  behind her, and she sees not one but three more demons. 
  Gods of misfortune, she curses to herself. Raising her voice, 
  she shouts, “Now!”
  Almost immediately, she feels the demon to her left dart 
  forward for a strike, and she dances out of the way. Already 
  she can feel the strength of the hunting party flowing 
  into her, making her skin harden, her reflexes sharpen, 
  turning her fists into weapons that could fell a tree if need 
  be. Another demon charges her, but this time she doesn’t 
  dodge away; instead, she blocks its blow, catching its claw 
  between her hands. With a savage twist she sends it rolling 
  end over end to her right.
  Soruva edges back, putting sheer rock behind her, and 
  watches as her enemies fan out, flank her, and ready 
  themselves for the attack. She wants to escape. To run away 
  to safety. To leave these four things behind her, find some 
  other prey.
  Instead, she drops into a low stance and says, “Which one 
  of you wants to die first?”
  ༅  ༅  ༅  ༅  ༅
  34
  34
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  valuable. Their blood can be brewed into medicinal 
  concoctions, their skin fashioned into armor or weapons. 
  Their eyes can be dried and crushed into a powder that 
  allows people to see in the dark, and the tongue of a 
  demon contains powerful hallucinogens that the demon 
  hunters of the Black Isle use in meditative rituals to 
  induce visions.
  She does not hunt the demons alone, though; nobody 
  does. She ranges with her hunting party, a group of twelve 
  at the least, and sometimes up to twenty, each with a part 
  to play in the hunt. Scouts have the ability to move with 
  utter silence and have senses that allow them to detect 
  demons from a distance, even track them. The rest are 
  warriors, demon hunters like her or those still in training. 
  Only a single demon hunter is chosen to lead each foray, 
  and that warrior will be the lone person to fight the 
  demon that the party hunts. But fighting alone does not 
  mean fighting without support.
  Perhaps the most potent tool a demon-hunting party 
  has at its disposal is the ability to enter into a gestalt form, 
  a kind of group meditation wherein several warriors lend 
  their strength to a single champion. Hunting parties work 
  this way because demon hide is as thick as the bark of the 
  hardest tree, and a single powerful punch that channels 
  the power of a dozen fighters is far more effective than 
  twelve fists falling weakly in different spots. The hunting 
  parties learned this the hard way, after groups of twenty or 
  thirty hunters were wiped out by a single demon, none of 
  their blows dealing any significant damage to the beast.
  Even without the aid of her hunting party, Soruva is a 
  force to be reckoned with. From early adolescence, she 
  learned meditative techniques and martial arts that made 
  her stronger, faster, more powerful than those who grow 
  up outside the Black Isle. Here, there is nothing to bond 
  with—no living thing that a human can link his or her 
  Essence to—and so the natives of this island turn their 
  focus inward, using their Essence to create a biofeedback 
  loop. They learn to bolster their muscles for strength and 
  speed; to enhance their recuperative abilities; to harden 
  their skin and bones; sharpen their senses; to jump 
  higher; run up vertical surfaces or across liquid; or even 
  to breathe underwater. The demon hunters are capable of 
  many feats that others must rely on symbiotic creatures 
  for, and they typically eschew such bonds for that reason.
  Between hunts, Soruva meditates. She trains. She 
  sharpens her fighting skills and she teaches others. The 
  techniques and practices of the demon hunters are an oral 
  tradition, as is virtually every other form of learning on the 
  Black Isle, and in order for knowledge to pass to the next 
  generation, it must be constantly taught, told, memorized, 
  learned, refined. There is no wood here, no paper, no ink; 
  the Black Islers rely instead on memory and tradition, as 
  well as on a bare handful of runes that they carve into stone 
  to serve as warnings, guide-posts, and so forth.
  Because of this oral tradition, and because of the 
  dour, withdrawn nature of the Black Islers, each clan 
  has its own version of history, its own dialect, its own 
  runes, and its own fighting style. There is some cross-
  pollination here, but the Black Islers are a proud people, 
  and each clan believes that its way is the best. The clans’ 
  fighting schools are the purest expression of this national 
  competition; clans are constantly refining their fighting 
  styles, training, developing new techniques, and pitting 
  themselves against representatives from other clans in 
  (mostly) nonlethal combat.
  Within Soruva’s holdfast, everyone belongs to the same 
  clan: the Barath-el. The clan is divided into distinct castes: 
  warriors, gatherers, teachers, builders, elders. Each has a 
  job to do, each a responsibility, and each is reliant upon 
  the others for their expertise. The elders lead the clan 
  collectively as a council that makes decisions for the holdfast 
  and who all defer in turn to the King, who rules all clans.
  There are no festivals here, no days off. Constant 
  vigilance is required not just to halt the demonic incursion, 
  but for simple survival. Every able-bodied person, man or 
  woman, with any fighting skill at all is required to fight in 
  defense of the clan; those who can’t fight raise the children, 
  harvest materials, and pursue other necessary non-martial 
  tasks. The demon hunters of the Black Isle would never 
  leave this place unless it was absolutely necessary. If they 
  did, who else would stop the demons?
  The Living World
  Though all people of Asunder bond with and use elements 
  of the living world to their advantage, this is the least true 
  of the denizens of the Black Isle. The Isle has precious 
  little life on it: few animals, almost no plant life, and only 
  the demons to keep the people of the Black Isle company. 
  In response, rather than bonding with parts of the natural 
  world, denizens of the Black Isle turned their Essence 
  inward, focusing it on themselves, creating a feedback loop 
  that allows them to do seemingly impossible things. They 
  are a potent and self-sufficient people.
  That said, no tribe of humans, no matter how self-
  sufficient, can survive without the support of Gaia. What 
  few gifts Gaia offers the Black Islers, they take readily and 
  do not waste. The Islers fish the waters around the Black 
  Isle, eating the meat of the creatures they catch and using 
  their bones and scales to craft tools. They hunt birds 
  that fly overhead, and their beaks and feathers are used 
  to make long, hooked arrows that the Black Islers throw. 
  The mustard-yellow spore that grows in caves all over the 
  Isle is one of their food staples, and they use its tough 
  exterior to make pouches to carry the things they need. 
  They supplement this diet with a gray moss, and they 
  burn both that substance and the spore husks to create 
  fire when they need it. The clans even have silk farmers, 
  people whose job it is to raise and care for the giant silk 
  worms native to the Isle. They harvest the silk and spin 
  it into cloth for clothing, blankets, and other necessities. 
  This durable, breathable black cloth, sometimes called 
  demonsilk, is highly prized in all parts of Asunder beyond 
  the Black Isle but nearly impossible to come by.
  35
  35
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Places of Interest
  There’s little on the Black Isle of interest to outsiders, but 
  these places seem to draw people just the same.
  The Great Scar
  Near the center of the Black Isle is a large cleft hewn 
  from the bedrock of the mountains with a hot, noxious 
  steam pouring forth from it. This is the one place on 
  the Black Isle where hunting parties do not venture, for 
  demons pour out of the Scar in such high numbers that 
  any hunting party venturing here would be overwhelmed. 
  Some wonder what their purpose is. Perhaps they’re 
  amassing an army. Perhaps they’re waiting for something. 
  Only the demons know for sure.
  Kingswatch
  The only large structure to speak of on the Black Isle, 
  Kingswatch is a fortress of black rock close enough to 
  the Great Scar to keep watch on it. It’s shaped like a giant 
  skull and it houses more demon hunters than any other 
  settlement on the Black Isle. Outsiders are tolerated here, 
  provided they assist with training and other duties, but they 
  are watched carefully by the natives. Kingswatch is the seat 
  of the King, whose duty is to remain vigilant against the 
  Great Scar until his death.
  Coward’s Point
  It is said that only cowards flee the Black Isle, and that the 
  world sends only cowards to the Isle. For this reason, the 
  only port on the Black Isle is called Coward’s Point. There’s 
  hardly even a town here, and no trade to speak of; the Black 
  Isle has no exports and imports little. Instead, there’s a 
  long black dock of stone at the base of a staircase cut into 
  the cliff-face, the same cliff-face that surrounds the entire 
  island. At the top of the cliff-face is the Silent Sentinel, a 
  great stone statue that maintains vigil over the only way on 
  or off of the island.
  The Mines of Korunna
  When outsiders come to the Black Isle, it’s usually for 
  the wealth of the mines. The Islanders care nothing for 
  the gems said to be in the mines, but they do watch the 
  entrance, for demons regularly emerge from the Mines of 
  Korunna. Those who come to the Isle to visit the Mines are 
  allowed to pass; the demon hunters care nothing if some 
  fool outlander wants to kill himself trying to take baubles 
  from the stone. Those who emerge afterward are subjected 
  to rigorous questioning and examination in order to guard 
  against demonic corruption.
  The Skyward Temple
  Carved into the peak of one of the black mountains, the 
  Skyward Temple owes fealty to no cowardly god, but is a 
  temple of the self. Every demon hunter, upon completing 
  her training, must make a pilgrimage to the Temple, a trek 
  that often takes as long as a week. Once at the summit of 
  the mountain, the demon hunter is faced with a wide, flat 
  platform, open to the elements and entirely unprotected, 
  next to the mouth of a cave. The hunter must meditate at 
  the Temple for seven days and seven nights, killing any 
  demons that emerge from the cave. Those who survive are 
  allowed to lead hunts. Those who don’t are forgotten.
  The Green Valley
  More a legend than a place, the Green Valley is said to exist 
  somewhere on the Black Isle. It is a lush place of vegetation, 
  animal life, clean water, and tranquility. So the stories say, 
  at least. Occasionally someone claims to have seen it, but 
  most of these claims are dismissed as the ravings of idiots 
  looking for attention. The legends persist, though, and 
  many wonder why and how such a place would exist on the 
  Black Isle.
  The Face of the Sea
  Just beyond Coward’s Point, jutting out from the sea, is a 
  chunk of black rock that has formed into the visage of a 
  grinning skull. The Black Islers say that nobody carved 
  this skull and that it was there even before humans walked 
  the world. Its mouth, slightly open, is large enough for a 
  human to crawl into, and legends say that there are great 
  treasures and knowledge waiting for those who can brave 
  the perils inside. Black Islers aren’t specific about what 
  Kingswatch overlooking the Great Scar.
  Kingswatch overlooking the Great Scar.
  36
  36
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  those perils might be; nobody who’s ventured in has made 
  it back out to talk about them.
  People of Import
  The Black Islers have few rulers and no nobles to speak of, 
  but there are still important people on the Black Isle.
  The Circle of Six
  Although King Stolgart rules the clans of the Black Isle, he 
  is advised by the Circle of Six. The Circle consists of the 
  wisest and most respected elders of each of the six major 
  clans of the Black Isle; they meet three times per year to 
  discuss clan business, mediate disputes, make decisions, 
  and advise the King. Hroweath of Clan Starrow is the de 
  facto leader of the Circle. Though the Circle officially has 
  no leader, it’s also true that the elder with the greatest force 
  of personality usually winds up running things, shaping the 
  Circle’s decisions, and steering its conversations. Hroweath 
  is nearly seventy, and is one of the few demon hunters to 
  have lived to old age. His wealth of combat experience, vast 
  knowledge of the Black Isle, insights into demon behavior, 
  and unnerving stare cause the other elders of the Circle to 
  defer to him more often than not, and to at least heed his 
  advice when they disagree.
  Outsiders rarely get an opportunity to talk to members 
  of the Circle directly, but Venna of Clan Corit has been 
  pushing for the Black Islers to be less insular. Some of the 
  other elders disagree with her, Hroweath most vehemently, 
  but she’s winning friends within the Circle, and her 
  arguments have sparked the King’s interest and curiosity. 
  Some even whisper that she might be the one to lead the 
  Circle when Hroweath dies.
  Vakan the Purifier
  Vakan once hunted demons for Clan Fleath, but he left the 
  clan several years ago to “wander and learn”. Nobody’s sure 
  quite what he meant by that, but since he left there have 
  been many sightings of Vakan out in the Black Isle, mostly 
  by outsiders to the island. He seems to avoid his own people 
  or, at the very least, to allow them to handle their own 
  affairs. Outsiders encounter him often. He watches from a 
  distance initially, observing how they handle the various 
  trials that the Black Isle have to offer. A few groups have 
  reported that Vakan have approached them, offering to lead 
  them to shelter but, instead, leading them into danger. He 
  then observes how these outsiders fare against the danger 
  into which he has thrust them, almost as if he’s teaching or 
  testing them.
  Thorn-Eyes
  A powerful and dangerous demon, Thorn-Eyes has been 
  haunting the Black Isle for centuries, always one step ahead 
  of the hunters who try to kill it. Thorn-Eyes is cunning 
  and clever, evading traps, leading hunting parties into 
  ambushes, and sometimes simply vanishing without a 
  trace. Thorn-Eyes is so named because, where eyes would 
  be on a human, two barbed, curved spikes jut out of its 
  face. Though dangerous, Thorn-Eyes does occasionally 
  approach humans to talk, usually to offer them bargains. 
  Most Black Islers know well enough to refuse these 
  bargains and to either drive Thorn-Eyes off or try to kill it. 
  Outsiders, on the other hand, have been known to fall prey 
  to Thorn-Eyes’ games, inevitably to their detriment.
  Points of Conflict
  Every land has conflicts; the conflicts on the Black Isle just 
  tend to be a little more direct.
  The Growing Scar
  The Great Scar itself does not grow, but its influence grows 
  every year. Every year the demons push further out from 
  the Scar, taking more and more land around it. Every year, 
  there are more demons congregating around the Scar, 
  waiting, watching…preparing for something. Most fear 
  that the demons are readying themselves for a full-scale 
  invasion, not just of the Black Isle but of the entire world. 
  The Black Islers, unfortunately, are too few to cleanse the 
  Scar on their own; in order to halt the demonic advance, 
  they would need to enlist the aid of the other human 
  nations of the world.
  Old Guard, New Blood
  The people of the Black Isle have always been an 
  insular, even xenophobic lot. Outsiders are seen as 
  weak distractions, unworthy of walking the Black Isle, 
  unable to help defend the world from the demonic 
  incursion. Sentiments, however, are starting to shift. 
  Many younger Black Islers believe that the only way to 
  truly stop the demons is to enlist the aid of the rest of the 
  world. Members of the Council of Six, following Venna, 
  are starting to push for active change, for trade with 
  the outside world. They want to establish positive ties 
  with those beyond the Black Isle so that when the Black 
  Isle must eventually call upon them for help, they will 
  come. Many still oppose this notion, though, and would 
  rather die by the claws of a demonic horde than ask any 
  outlander for aid.
  The Usurper
  King Stolgart has been sitting upon the Obsidian Throne 
  for more than thirty years, and general sentiment is that 
  he’s a good ruler. Not everyone feels that way, though, and a 
  coup is brewing in the Black Isle. Kared, Stolgart’s greatest 
  political enemy, has not yet begun to move against the King, 
  but she’s gathering support. She feeds the flames of dissent 
  by pointing out that the King is entertaining the idea of 
  allowing more outsiders into the Black Isle, and that he sits 
  idly by while the Scar becomes a greater and greater threat. 
  These claims are only partially true, but their veracity is 
  unimportant to those who wish for a stronger ruler. Kared 
  is only too glad to be that ruler, and one day soon she’ll 
  likely lead a rebel army against Stolgart.
  37
  37
  37
  37
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Beasts the size of ten men are a common sight in Pacari. They are only to be feared if one cannot speak to them.
  Beasts the size of ten men are a common sight in Pacari. They are only to be feared if one cannot speak to them.
  38
  38
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  P
  redators approach from the sunset. The great rhino’s 
  voice comes to his mind like it has so many times 
  before, calm and implacable.
  Harut turns to face the direction of the setting sun and 
  waits. Before long, four figures emerge from the trees. A tall 
  woman holding a bone axe paces next to a sleek six-legged 
  garou cat and a stocky man with a club lopes along beside a 
  great gray wolf. 
  “What brings you to Nanok territory, Harut?” comes 
  Betiru’s terse question.
  “Since when is this Nanok territory?” Harut’s hand 
  tightens on the spear.
  “Since Karaji claimed it,” says Betiru, a fierce grin on her 
  face. “Do you dispute her claim?”
  “No,” he says calmly. “But neither do I acknowledge it. A 
  claim with no proof is nothing but wind.”
  “Then maybe we’ll mark our territory with your beast’s 
  blood,” barks Feka, the man standing next to Betiru.
  Harut pats Vati’s massive flank, feeling the strength of the 
  rhino. “You’re welcome to try,” he says, smiling. “Vati doesn’t 
  bleed easy.”
  Without warning, the garou darts forward, eyes 
  glistening, flanking to the left. At the same time, the wolf 
  moves off to the right, circling around to Vati’s side. Harut 
  raises his spear and reaches out with his mind to Vati, 
  drawing on the beast’s strength, hardening his skin and 
  reinforcing his muscles. The hexiped cat darts toward him 
  and he throws one arm up; its teeth latch onto his forearm 
  and sink in, drawing blood. Silently, Harut is thankful that 
  his thickened skin keeps the beast from tearing his arm 
  completely open.
  Harut draws his spear back to thrust it into the cat’s 
  throat, but Betiru is beside him, catching his spear-arm 
  and twisting it savagely. Her own speed and strength is 
  enhanced by her bond with the garou. Harut flicks his 
  eyes over his shoulder and sees Vati behind him, fighting 
  off Feka and his wolf. The big rhino can take quite a lot of 
  punishment, but Feka’s fighting smart, using pack tactics. 
  Pacari
  Pacari
  39
  39
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Arriving in Pacari
  Pacari is vast. It is an island teeming with life, where the law 
  of tooth and claw is just as important as the law of man. 
  The island is a study in contrasts. To the west are the 
  Grazelands, vast plains punctuated with mighty Oken 
  trees and swaying with razorgrass, inhabited by enormous 
  herd animals and stealthy predators. The Grazelands 
  seem like the safest part of Pacari, but that safety is an 
  illusion. The plains, though flat and wide, hide many 
  dangers, from stampeding herds of reptilian behemoths 
  to hidden packs of hunting cats to giant predatory birds 
  that circle overhead. The Grazelands continue for a time 
  before butting up against the dense tree cover of the 
  jungle in the center of the island which, in turn, fades 
  into sand dunes to the east. The sand dunes wrap around 
  the east and north of the island, becoming the Scalegrass 
  Desert, a place of sand and sere scrub where life is both 
  scarce and fierce. Then, to the south, the great marshes 
  of Yemoja fester, home to all manner of deadly and 
  poisonous creatures.
  The people here live simply, bonded to great beasts that 
  roam the wilds. Their way is a nomadic one, claiming 
  territory but never staying in the same location for long. 
  There are villages here and there; they mostly exist to grow 
  crops. Great bests help to till the fields and carry harvests, 
  but occasionally a group of tribemates settles for a time at a 
  sacred place for spiritual renewal. Because of this nomadic 
  lifestyle, visitors to Pacari often feel that there’s nowhere 
  permanent or safe in Pacari, no bastions of civilization or 
  cities with walls to hide from the dangerous animals of the 
  island. This is, for the most part, true. Pacari is a wild and 
  dangerous place, but the people of Pacari have learned to 
  live in equilibrium with the wildlife here, and to become 
  just as dangerous as it is.
  The Way of Harut
  Harut is a warrior of the Oema tribe, one of those tasked 
  with protecting the tribe from its enemies, from predators, 
  and from other threats that might crop up. Like many 
  of the Pacari tribes, the Oema divide themselves up into 
  loose roles with significant overlap and flexibility. A 
  warrior learns the way of battle and protects the tribe, but 
  “protecting the tribe” is deliberately vague. During a time 
  of famine, a warrior protects the tribe from starvation 
  by hunting or gathering food from the jungle. Warriors 
  are trained to heal as well, because they must protect the 
  tribe from sickness and their fellow warriors from wounds 
  and infections. All of the roles of the Oema tribe operate 
  like this. Hunters hunt for food, but also hunt fugitives, 
  track those lost or separated from the tribe, and hunt for 
  new places to settle. Scholars keep history, but they’re 
  expected to use their knowledge in practice by teaching 
  other members of the tribe, tending to the sick, helping 
  the gatherers find the best food, and so on. In this way, 
  Pacari tribes build redundancy into their social structure, 
  ensuring that if anyone is lost, there’s always someone 
  who can take up the slack.
  This redundancy is crucial in Pacari, because members of 
  the tribe are lost frequently. Predators, sickness, exposure, 
  accidents, inter-tribal disputes, and myriad other hazards are 
  common on Pacari, and tribes must be resilient in order to 
  survive. They also must be mobile. Continuous movement 
  allows the Pacari tribesfolk to forage without depleting 
  resources too much, to hunt without interrupting the cycle 
  of life, and to live without coming under the hungry eye of 
  predators too often. Instead of permanent settlements, the 
  Pacari mark off large swaths of territory using glyphs carved 
  into trees, made from sticks and hung, or painted on rocks, 
  and they move freely within this territory, following a path of 
  least resistance and highest chance of survival.
  The wolf harries Vati to keep his attention while Feka darts 
  in for quick cuts with his long knife. Eventually, Vati will 
  tire from exertion and blood loss.
  Selari, now! He sends the thought to the snake coiled 
  around his waist like a belt, and it immediately uncoils and 
  springs at Betiru’s face, its twin heads sinking poisonous 
  fangs into her cheek. She reels back and screams, trying 
  to claw the snake off, but it’s already detached, slithering 
  away into the grass. Harut’s spear lays on the ground, but 
  he brings a massive fist to the side of the garou’s head with 
  all the force of a charging rhino and sends it reeling away, 
  yowling in pain. Harut kneels to take up his spear and looks 
  for an opening, a way to even the odds against Betiru.
  That’s when he hears them.
  Foosteps. Hundreds of them, thousands of them; the 
  sound of an army on the march. Harut turns to look and 
  sees a vast field of men and women marching toward 
  them. No, not men and women—corpses! Thousands of 
  corpses, clothed in ragged armor and armed with a motley 
  assortment of weapons. 
  “The Blight,” he moans. He lets out a shrill whistle and 
  Vati and Salari return to him, both bloodied and exhausted. 
  “I’m going to have to rely on your endurance, old friend,” 
  Harut says to Vati, and the great rhino huffs his agreement. 
  Harut climbs on top of the beast’s back and Vati lumbers 
  into a run, leaving the wounded, confused Nanok in their 
  wake. They deserve what’s coming to them.
  He hunkers into the warmth of his rhino and rides 
  hard to the north, heading for the forest’s edge. It’s time to 
  mobilize the tribes.
  ༅  ༅  ༅  ༅  ༅
  40
  40
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  For the most part, tribes respect each others’ territory, not 
  entering without invitation or without carrying a banner 
  of trade or parley. Sometimes, though, circumstances 
  force tribes into conflict. Scarce resources, large predator 
  populations, or natural disasters can cause a tribe to try to 
  seize territory from another; when this happens, war is the 
  inevitable result. 
  When Pacari tribes go to war, the conflict is usually 
  quick and decisive. The tribes clash in force, warriors and 
  war-beasts battling with spear, knife, tooth, and claw. A 
  single battle is often enough to decide the result of the war; 
  no tribe has so many members that it’s willing to throw 
  them away on a protracted conflict. The victor keeps their 
  territory or seizes new territory, while the loser must find 
  some other way to ensure their survival.
  That said, tribes on Pacari are rarely wiped out entirely. 
  Such a thing has happened only a handful of times in 
  recorded history, and these events are typically spoken of 
  with regret, if not horror. Tribal extinction is rare because 
  the Pacari are incredibly hardy people, and they bond 
  with the beasts of the island. Harut is bonded to Vati, an 
  enormous rhinoceros. Through that bond, Harut gains the 
  rhino’s great strength and resilience, and Vati takes on some 
  aspects of Harut’s personality.
  The Living World
  Long ago, longer than anyone remembers, the first Pacari 
  tribes bonded with beasts, turning their Essence toward 
  the creatures they lived amongst, using it to communicate 
  with those beasts and to form a strong symbiotic link. The 
  bond has several effects. The Pacari who bonds with the 
  beast takes on elements of that beast’s nature: thick hide, 
  night vision, or even claws or the ability to fly. The beast, 
  similarly, takes on aspects of the Pacari’s personality and 
  intellect. The bond also allows beast and beastmaster 
  to communicate telepathically with each other over 
  great distance and, through that connection, each can 
  communicate indirectly with other beasts or humans.
  The beast bond forms the core of Pacari society and 
  guides the ways in which they interact with their world. 
  Pacari know the dangerous areas of the island because 
  their beasts know. Tribes are kept safe from many of the 
  beasts of the island because their tribesfolk are bonded 
  to members of those species, and so they’re able to 
  communicate in meaningful ways with herds and packs 
  around the island. 
  Pacari use tools, but those tools tend to be simple in 
  nature: a club, a hammer, a knife. This is not because the 
  Pacari are savage or unintelligent; rather, it is because the 
  beasts are the most effective tools at the Pacari’s disposal, 
  able to help them complete tasks far beyond what they 
  would otherwise be capable. A snakebonded Pacari can 
  send her snake down a rabbit hole to hunt rabbits for her. 
  A Pacari bonded to a mammoth can use him to move large 
  deadfalls, haul firewood, or sound an alarm with its great 
  bellow.
  Those tools the Pacari do use tend to be made of wood, 
  stone, and bone. Their clothes are made of the hides of 
  animals they hunt, or from wool or other hair shorn from 
  beasts. 
  Pacari, on the whole, have enormous respect for the 
  animals that they share the world with, and for the 
  resources at their disposal. They realize that their survival 
  depends upon living in symbiosis with the world around 
  them. The beasts, after all, bond with Pacari voluntarily, 
  and could choose to forsake their human kin if they wished. 
  For this reason, the Pacari hunt and gather only what they 
  need, killing animals or felling trees only when necessary.
  Places of Interest
  Like the Pacari themselves, some of these “places” move 
  about the island.
  The Great Menhir of Ordru
  Once every six years, animals from all over Pacari march 
  to the Great Menhir, a massive standing stone that towers 
  lonely atop a hill at the center of the island, carvings of 
  beasts etched all over it. They gather around the Great Tree, 
  filling land for miles in every direction, and they wait. This 
  event, which the Pacari call the Gathering, is considered a 
  sacred and indispensable part of life on Pacari. While at the 
  Gathering, the animals don’t attack each other. Predators 
  stand side by side with prey, and they wait. 
  When the Gathering occurs, Pacari from all over the island 
  make a pilgrimage to the Great Tree, bringing children with 
  them. At the Gathering, these children walk amongst the 
  herds and packs, hands outstretched, until they find their 
  bondmates. When a child finds her bondmate, she reaches 
  out her hands and touches the animal, and the two beings 
  link each other, their souls entwining, becoming one being 
  with two bodies. During the Gathering, these children come 
  of age; when they return, they are full members of their 
  tribes. Because the Gathering happens only once every six 
  years, the age at which a Pacari is considered an adult varies 
  considerably; the determining factor is whether or not the 
  Pacari has a bondmate.
  After one day, the animals disperse and go back to their 
  usual haunts and hunting grounds.
  The Jungle of Sorrow
  It is said that the jungle that occupies a vast swath of the 
  middle of Pacari Island is a place that does not see the 
  sun…and that it knows only sorrow as a result. Whether 
  or not the jungle feels anything itself, and whether or not 
  it chooses to visit sorrow upon those who enter in order 
  to ease its own burden, the fact remains that the Jungle 
  of Sorrow is one of the most dangerous places on Pacari. 
  The tree canopy is so thick that the entire jungle exists in 
  a perpetual state of dusk. Few edible plants grow here, and 
  much of what does grow here is poisonous. The animals are 
  similarly venomous, and nearly everything in the jungle is 
  food for something else. 
  41
  41
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  The Black Cloud
  There’s a saying on Pacari: “When the Black Cloud is on 
  the horizon, those who linger will feed the soil.” The saying 
  refers to a massive herd of animals—thousands, of every 
  description—that stampedes around the island, trampling 
  everything in its wake. Nobody knows what drives these 
  beasts to such madness, but it seems that the fevered state 
  can be transmitted to other beasts, which then join the 
  stampede. In fact, some Pacari lose their bondmates to the 
  Black Cloud; some power that binds all the beasts within 
  the stampede calls out to others nearby and seeks to bring 
  more into the herd. A beast bond is for life, and when the 
  bondmate is consumed by the madness of the Black Cloud, 
  some of that madness seeps into the bonded human. The 
  lucky ones simply become husks of their former selves, 
  while those more deeply affected by the madness become 
  dangers to their tribes, sometimes trying to join the Black 
  Cloud themselves. Once a beast is part of the Cloud, there 
  is no way to communicate with it. The name “Black Cloud” 
  comes from the great plume of dust that surrounds these 
  beasts, kicked up by their hooves and claws, blotting out 
  the sun where they go.
  Scalegrass Desert
  The northern portion of the island is a place where 
  few things grow and rain is scarce. What does grow is 
  scalegrass: a rigid, sharp-edged plant that looks like the 
  scales of a fish, iridescent when it catches the light. Though 
  few live in the desert because of its general lack of natural 
  resources, many travel there to gather the scalegrass. 
  Scalegrass is useful in making clothing and light, flexible 
  armor and shields, and is highly sought-after both for its 
  durability and its beauty. It’s said that when scalegrass 
  catches the sunrise, Gaia sings to those who watch.
  The Scalegrass Desert is home to few animals, but those 
  that dwell there are nearly all predatory and dangerous. 
  There are flying lizards that spit poison, huge insects that 
  catch the unwary in sand-traps, and great, wingless dragons 
  that dwell within the heart of the Desert; all these dangers 
  and more are waiting for those who venture too far in.
  The God’s Corpse
  In the northern Grazelands are the skeletal remains of some 
  great beast, impossibly vast, intact, sprawled amongst the 
  grass, its bones turned to stone. The Pacari believe that when 
  A gorian beast howls in the Jungle of Sorrow.
  A gorian beast howls in the Jungle of Sorrow.
  42
  42
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  the gods left Asunder, some of them died; this great corpse 
  is thought to be one such casualty. Some tribesfolk come 
  here to pay homage, but nobody ventures into the grounds 
  that contain the dead god; the Sanholo tribe considers the 
  God’s Corpse sacred ground and punishes anyone who 
  defiles it with their presence. What most outside of the 
  Sanholo tribe don’t realize is that the tribe considers the 
  God’s Corpse to be both sacred and incredibly dangerous. 
  They’ve learned of some power that dwells within the bones, 
  and they believe that if the wrong person spends too much 
  time studying them, that person might learn to wield that 
  power to devastating effect and with little ability to control it. 
  The Sanholo see their mission to keep people away from the 
  God’s Corpse as a way of protecting the world from danger.
  Martu Canyon
  Near the edge of the dunes to the east of the island there’s 
  a great canyon that most of the tribes steer clear of. At the 
  bottom of the canyon are the ruins of an ancient city, built 
  amongst and into the rock itself. The Pacari consider it a 
  cursed place, evidence that those who stay in one place 
  come to an untimely end. Legends tell of a god who went 
  rogue and created a race so abhorrent to the other gods that 
  they cast that god down and destroyed his creations before 
  they departed the world. Those same legends say that the 
  god still dwells within those ruins, stripped of his godhood 
  but still powerful, still creating things that should not be. 
  Visitors to Pacari sometimes come here to plunder the 
  ruins, though doing so is not without its dangers.
  People of Import
  Every tribe has rulers, elders, and ambassadors. Some 
  tribes are more likely to interact with outsiders than others.
  The Nanok Tribe
  Though a small tribe, the Nanok have developed a 
  reputation for ferocity and violence among the Pacari 
  tribesfolk. They’re known for painting their faces with the 
  blood of their enemies, coating their weapons with poisons 
  gathered from the southern swamps and the Jungle of 
  Sorrow, and for attacking anyone who ventures too close 
  to their territory. Insular and xenophobic, the Nanok 
  strike first and speak later, and they pursue outsiders 
  more fervently than they do members of other tribes of 
  Pacari. Rumor has it that they’re bolstering their numbers 
  somehow, and that they seek to expand their territory.
  Atra Star-Eyes
  Speaker for the Oema tribe, Atra makes it a point to greet and 
  speak to outsiders whenever she sees them. The Oema are 
  one of the largest tribes on Pacari, and their territory spans a 
  large swath of the Grazelands. They seek trade both with other 
  tribes and with outsiders to Pacari; as speaker for the tribe, it’s 
  Atra’s job to cultivate relationships, seek opportunities to trade, 
  and ensure that outsiders know enough to survive in Pacari. 
  Lately, Atra has been steering many foreigners toward Martu 
  Canyon. She’s interested in some of the artifacts that have 
  come from the city at the bottom and, though Oema tribesfolk 
  have no interest in venturing down there, Atra knows that 
  outsiders often do, and she’s capitalizing on that fact to get 
  goods she otherwise might not be able to acquire.
  The Wooden Man
  Stories abound in Pacari of a great man, twelve feet tall 
  and made of wood like a tree, who wanders the island. 
  They say he rewards those who show proper respect to the 
  natural order of things and punishes those who are greedy, 
  rapacious, or careless with the island’s resources.
  Points of Conflict
  Tribal conflicts are common on Pacari; these conflicts are 
  likely to affect outsiders.
  The To’ato/Ishnualo Feud
  These two tribes, both of them warlike and violent, have 
  been feuding with each other for generations. Periodically, 
  the conflict erupts into open violence, and a few times this 
  violence has spilled over into other tribes, creating tribal 
  wars on a scale rarely seen on Pacari. The feud has been 
  quiet for several years, but there’s talk of things coming to a 
  head soon. Verato, the Ishnualo war leader, has been making 
  noise about taking To’ato territory and driving them into the 
  sea once and for all, and Ovoka of the To’ato has responded 
  with threats of utter destruction. It’s only a matter of time 
  before the fierce rhetoric turns into bloodshed.
  Religious Zealotry
  The Sanholo tribe holds many places in Pacari as sacred, and 
  lately their spiritual leaders have been preaching about the 
  return of the gods. Some members of the Sanholo believe 
  that they must prepare the world for the gods’ return, and 
  the first step is to cleanse the world of those who don’t 
  believe. This sect, though not openly supported by the 
  Sanholo leadership, is growing both in size and influence.
  Vinich Recruiting
  Sometimes a child attends a Gathering and doesn’t find 
  a bondmate. Somehow, the Vinich tribe always learns 
  of these children, abducts them from their tribes, and 
  indoctrinates them in their ways. The Vinich aren’t a large 
  tribe, but they’re extraordinarily dangerous because every 
  one of them has been subjected to experiments that twist 
  their Essence. These unnatural bondings forcibly merge 
  the child with a chosen animal, blending the two creatures 
  together into a chimeric whole. Something has changed 
  recently: Vinich recruiting is becoming more aggressive, 
  and the tribe is starting to abduct adults, including those 
  who have bondmates, occasionally even outsiders. When 
  an adult with a bondmate is abducted and indoctrinated 
  into the Vinich tribe, the person’s bonded beast invariably 
  goes mad, becoming a dangerous, violent creature.
  43
  43
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  S
  houts. Footfalls in the hallway behind her. The sound 
  of weapons rattling free. Cassit throws a quick glance 
  over her shoulder as she runs down the hallway, 
  the rolled-up painting under her arm, the dark hallway 
  stretching out in front of her. If she’s too slow they’ll round 
  the corner and just open up on her with shard spitters. 
  That’ll be it for her. Svit venom kills quickly, and their 
  weapons are no doubt coated in it. 
  As she runs, she holds her stolen treasure close. She 
  rounds the corner and leans into her sprint. Then she sees 
  the two guards turn toward her from where they wait at the 
  window. Damn. 
  She leaps. They start to bring their shard spitters up, but 
  she lashes her feet out and kicks at them. One of the kicks 
  is solid, right to the bridge of the nose, and Cassit hears a 
  crunch as the guard topples over. The other guard jukes 
  out of the way, blocks Cassit’s kick with one arm, and sends 
  Cassit tumbling end over end out the window.
  Cassit struggles to control her freefall. She concentrates, 
  makes herself lighter, slows her descent. She’s never been 
  strong enough with her gravity control to levitate, but she 
  can slow herself, and she can make herself light enough 
  to fly around with gas pods, if only for a short time. She 
  remembers back to her Great Leap, the thousand-foot-jump 
  she had to make, did make, in order to become a citizen…but 
  in there here and now, her momentum is causing problems. 
  She twists and turns herself so that the gas pods are facing 
  down, tries not to think about the ground rushing up to meet 
  her, and then activates one of her pods. She feels the rush 
  of compressed gas shooting out of it, slowing her descent 
  further. She hopes it’s enough. 
  There is nothing but open sky below her. Double damn, 
  she thinks, starting to sweat. If there were a plaza or a 
  bridge beneath her, she might be able to slow down 
  enough to land roughly, make a landing she can walk away 
  from. But open sky…if she’s not careful, she’ll end up in a 
  drift that takes her all the way down to the sea, and then 
  she’s food for serpents.
  Then she spots it: a little sub-basement balcony off to 
  her right. She twists and fires off all three of her gas pods 
  in a panic. If this doesn’t work, she’s dead anyway. She 
  accelerates, a diagonal downward arc, and Cassit tenses for 
  the impact she desperately hopes is coming.
  That’s when she hears the screech and sees a crystal 
  shard buzz past her face. Cassit looks to her right and spots 
  a trio of guards—wyvern-riders—bearing down on her, 
  enormous lances in their hands. The weapons are too big 
  for a ground-dweller to wield, but not so difficult with the 
  right training and the ability to manipulate gravity. Two 
  riders break off to either side while one comes right at her. 
  Cassit can see that the left-hand wyvern is pulling ahead of 
  her, trying to cut off her path to the balcony.
  Sky City
  Sky City
  44
  44
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  The Rebel Islands are a collection of single spires seeking a way outside the caste system.
  The Rebel Islands are a collection of single spires seeking a way outside the caste system.
  45
  45
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Arriving in Sky City
  There’s nothing quite like your first arrival in Sky City. 
  An outsider arrives by boat, stepping onto a wood and 
  coral platform laced with strange amber crystals. Once 
  all passengers and cargo are loaded onto the platform, it 
  begins to rise, controlled by a pair of attendants, apparently 
  by their will alone. The journey takes about half an hour, 
  but during that time the scent of the air changes from 
  the briny smell of the sea to a clean, crisp smell, then 
  transitions into the strange mixture of spices, roasted meats, 
  perfumes, and ozone that makes up the scent of Sky City.
  Sky City itself is a place of wonders. On the surface 
  of each obelisk-shaped island is a collection of huge, 
  impressive buildings—some ancient, some new—all in 
  a variety of architectural styles. Palaces, gardens, manor 
  houses, museums, and other such ostentatious displays 
  cover the islands’ upper surfaces, the dwelling places of 
  Sky City’s nobility. The common people live on the sides 
  of the islands, in buildings grown out of plant matter and 
  reinforced with ropes and gas spores. The islands are 
  connected by bridges and walkways, some of them spider-
  webbing into hanging squares and plazas above open air. 
  Only the outsiders seem afraid of falling here. Indeed, the 
  natives sometimes leap from place to place, covering vast 
  amounts of distance in a single bound.
  Sky City is often intimidating to outsiders. Though the 
  natives can jump from island to island and even fly under 
  some circumstances, outsiders must use the bridges and 
  walkways that connect the islands to each other. The 
  Skimmers maintain these walkways, creating man-made 
  rocks held aloft by blice crystals to help connect distant 
  islands to each other. They go to all this trouble because 
  commerce is important to Sky City and outsiders therefore 
  must be able to navigate it.
  The air up here is cool and crisp, filled with the sounds 
  of talking, laughter, music, street actors, sea birds, and the 
  buzzing hiss of the occasional flying lizard. People here 
  are polite and welcoming, but experienced outsiders know 
  that underneath this veneer, plotting and scheming are the 
  unwavering rule in Sky City.
  While walking on one of the many wooden walkways, 
  an outsider can look up and see people hanging from the 
  bottom of one of the floating islands, harvesting the strange 
  amber crystals that grow there. Were you to see that, you’d 
  also notice that those crystals are worked into nearly 
  everything here, from the masonry to the bridges to the 
  clothing that some of the Sky-Dwellers wear.
  Sky City is patrolled both on the land and in the sky. 
  Guards walk the streets and walkways, but also ride atop 
  the backs of wyverns—large, flying reptiles with vicious 
  bites and poisonous stingers—keeping the skies safe. These 
  guards work for the various noble houses and keep the 
  peace according to the rules that the noble families agree 
  upon.
  Sky City is a bustling place, full of activity and action, but 
  be careful not to get jostled—it’s a long way down.
  The Way of Cassit
  Cassit is a thief, a common profession in Sky City. While 
  not precisely a city of thieves, Sky City does have more than 
  its share of artists and artisans, and a thief can make an 
  excellent—if dangerous—living stealing their wares and 
  Okay, she thinks. Plan B. Again, Cassit leans into her 
  momentum, diving directly at the wyvern-rider in her 
  path, not even trying to avoid it. With her free hand she 
  unlimbers her little grappling hook attached to a fine linen 
  cord. Under normal circumstances she’d be able to make 
  herself lighter so that she could climb the cord without 
  breaking it. This is going to be…a little trickier than that.
  At the last minute, just before she collides with the now-
  alarmed wyvern rider, she cuts her gas pods off and shifts 
  her momentum into a dive. She twists, hurls the grappling 
  hook and waits for a weightless, breathless moment…until 
  it wraps itself around the wyvern’s neck. Not wasting any 
  time, Cassit shifts her gravity, making herself lighter—but 
  not too light—and feels the rope turn her into a pendulum. 
  She sails outward in a smooth up-turning arc. She’s about 
  to let go and fire her gas pods again, but the line breaks and 
  she starts hurtling akimbo toward a sheer wall. 
  Cassit scrambles for ideas as she braces for impact, 
  and she feels her wrist snap as she slams into the barrier. 
  The pain is dizzying. She wants to pass out, but she grits 
  her teeth, flexes her muscles, and pushes with her legs, 
  rebounding upward off the wall toward a plaza several 
  hundred feet above. If she can get to that plaza, she can lose 
  the guards in the crowd. That’s when she realizes that, with 
  a broken wrist, she’s not going to be able to fire off her gas 
  pods. Not with that hand, at least. 
  Damn, damn, DAMN, she curses, then reaches across her 
  body to fire her gas pods with the hand that’s still holding the 
  painting. She fumbles with the activator, trying desperately to 
  keep hold of the painting…but it slips out of her fingers and 
  flutters down toward the sea. No help for it now, she thinks. She 
  fires her gas pods and shoots upward, deactivating them once 
  she’s almost past the plaza, arcing down and landing lightly on 
  the edge, then darting as quickly as she can into the crowd.
  She’s clear of the guards. She’s alive. But that painting, 
  one of many in House Cerru’s great hall, would have fed 
  her for months. And now her contact in House Atena likely 
  won’t work with her again. And she’s got a broken wrist that 
  needs mending—that’ll keep her out of the action for a 
  while.
  Damn everything, she thinks, shouldering past merchants, 
  peasants, and outlanders. It’s going to be a lean few weeks.
  ༅  ༅  ༅  ༅  ༅
  46
  46
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  selling them to less scrupulous members of the nobility. 
  Though thievery is publicly frowned upon and punished 
  severely, many of the noble houses employ thieves as pawns 
  in their Great Game, a complex web of political maneuvering 
  and illegal activity that happens in the shadows.
  Sky City is different from many other regions of Asunder 
  in that social status is very important here, and society is 
  rigidly stratified. Nobles are born into their class, and they 
  live lives of power and privilege. They also live literally 
  higher than everyone else, occupying the surface areas 
  of the floating islands that comprise Sky City. Because 
  these areas are the ones that get the most exposure to the 
  sun, nobles often have numerous farmers, gardeners, and 
  ranchers living on their property; these people provide food 
  and other goods to all of Sky City, but the nobles take a 
  tithe of each harvest in exchange for the use of their land.
  Each island that comprises part of Sky City is owned 
  by one of the noble houses, and every person who dwells 
  on that island and is not a part of the family is, effectively, 
  a vassal of that family. For peasants, merchants, artisans, 
  artists, and everyone else, the rule is the same: where 
  you live determines who owns you. There are nine major 
  noble houses that effectively rule Sky City, controlling 
  trade, lawkeeping, government, and even crime (though 
  one would never accuse a noble of such a thing without 
  sufficient proof, of course). There are innumerable minor 
  noble houses, ranging from two to three people up to 
  dozens, but their influence is limited and few of these have 
  their own islands like the major houses do. The minor 
  nobles vie with each other constantly, trying to rise in the 
  ranks and become recognized as a major noble house.
  Nearly everyone else lives in homes built into the sides 
  off the islands. These structures are made of vegetable 
  matter grown on the rock and are reinforced with ropes 
  and gas spores to provide buoyancy. These houses often 
  continue into man-made caves in the islands, though 
  there are strict laws about how far one can dig into an 
  island. Ostensibly these laws are to prevent islands from 
  losing their structural integrity. In reality, the laws exist to 
  prevent commoners from smuggling or hoarding goods 
  that the nobles want to tax. Some people dig extensive 
  tunnels into the rock and hide behind false walls or 
  curtains. The penalty for this crime is severe, but the risk 
  of being caught is low, as guards would need to have cause 
  to enter your home and search it in order to find such 
  tunnels.
  A youth attempts their 1000 foot leap towards the Isle of Ascendance.
  A youth attempts their 1000 foot leap towards the Isle of Ascendance.
  47
  47
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  People move about using bridges and walkways or 
  occasionally by flying. The lower castes of society are 
  made up of laborers, gatherers, craftspeople, bankers, and 
  numerous other professions. Although art and quality 
  craftwork are highly sought after by the nobility, the people 
  who create these works are only occasionally invited to 
  come live amongst the nobility; most artists also live on the 
  shaded undersides of Sky City’s islands.
  Though Sky City has guards who keep the peace, there 
  isn’t a military caste to speak of. Because Sky City floats 
  miles above the ocean, it’s nearly impossible to invade, 
  and outsiders are only allowed to enter the city in small 
  numbers that don’t present a threat. The nobility of Sky 
  City has never instigated an invasion of any other country 
  or land; they consider other lands inferior to their own 
  by virtue of the fact that none of them fly. That being 
  said, many people in Sky City know how to fight, even 
  if it’s only in an academic sense. Hand-to-hand combat 
  is considered an art form similar to dance or acting, and 
  many of the citizens of Sky City learn at least a little of the 
  unique form of combat practiced on the floating islands, 
  a style that makes significant use of mobility and Sky-
  Dwellers’ ability to defy gravity at will. Many Skimmers 
  learn how to wield oversized weapons that would be 
  impossible to wield normally; their ability to manipulate 
  gravity allows Skimmers to alter these weapons’ weight 
  until the moment of impact. Archery is also commonly 
  practiced because so much of Sky City’s diet consists of 
  birds shot down by the city’s hunters. Crystal throwing 
  shards are another common weapon. Some people also 
  use shard-spitters: modified gas spore pods that propel 
  crystal shards further than one would be able to throw 
  them.
  Many people aren’t happy with the rigidity of the caste 
  system and the difficulty of moving upward in society. 
  In response, those people become criminals, operating 
  outside of society’s strictures, taking what they want instead 
  of waiting in vain to be rewarded for being an obedient 
  little commoner. Cassit, like many in Sky City, has simply 
  had enough, and has decided to improve her lot in life by 
  any means necessary. It’s a common story in Sky City.
  The Living World
  When the gods left the world and tore the metal from it, 
  parts of the land itself floated up into the sky. A unique 
  crystal—blice—found in those parts of the world had 
  a natural buoyancy that had been counteracted until 
  then by the weight of the world’s metal. When the metal 
  disappeared, the blice tore free of the planet and floated 
  skyward, taking chunks of land with it, until those floating 
  islands found equilibrium where they are today.
  The people of Sky City have a symbiotic relationship 
  with blice crystal. Their Essence bonded with the blice, 
  which had two effects. First, it gave the people of Sky City 
  the ability to defy gravity, becoming just as buoyant as the 
  crystal itself. Second, the people of Sky City learned that 
  blice is alive, that it grows and can be cultivated like a plant. 
  Knowing that without blice crystal the floating islands 
  of Sky City would plummet to the ocean below and that 
  their people would lose their ability to defy gravity, the 
  Skimmers started growing and cultivating the crystal to 
  ensure their own survival and prosperity.
  This relationship with blice crystal takes on a number 
  of forms. There are people whose job it is to grow and 
  cultivate it, but they are also tasked with harvesting the 
  crystal to keep its growth in check. After all, if too much 
  blice grows on Sky City, there’s no telling where the city 
  might drift off to. Once harvested, the Skimmers use blice 
  for a number of purposes. The most common use is the 
  concoctions that the alchemists make by grinding blice 
  crystals up and mixing them with water and various herbs 
  and roots. People drink these potions to enhance their 
  “sky-dancing” abilities; while nearly every Skimmer can 
  defy gravity enough to leap an extraordinary distance or 
  even levitate for a short time, those who drink copious 
  amounts of the potion can do so for longer, with less 
  effort, and can even effect gravity around other people and 
  objects. Warriors use this power to wield weapons much 
  too large to normally hold, altering the gravity around 
  these weapons so they can lift them with ease.
  Blice is also woven into clothing, called “sky-weave,” that 
  the Sky-Dwellers wear for both status and utility, which 
  they even occasionally trade with outsiders. Craftspeople 
  use blice to create “skim-rafts,” wooden skiffs buoyant 
  enough to float from island to island carrying passengers. 
  Even the artists use blice, creating sculptures with floating 
  components or tapestries that hang in mid-air.
  The Skimmers’ ability to sky-dance has one significant 
  limitation: once in the air, it’s difficult for them to control 
  where they go. To mitigate this problem, they long ago 
  started harvesting gas spores: sacs of compressed gas that 
  grow naturally near blice. Sky-Dwellers fashion these 
  spores into backpacks that they use for propulsion while 
  sky-dancing, affording them the ability to truly fly for short 
  periods of time. Smaller gas spores are fashioned into bolt 
  pods: arm-mounted projectile-throwers that can shoot 
  anything from simple wooden spikes to the venom-coated 
  spines of the svit, a flying lizard native to Sky City.
  Places of Interest
  Sky City is a place of wonders that most don’t believe until 
  they see them.
  The Isle of Ascendance
  Sky City is made up of a number of small, floating islands, 
  most of them connected by bridges and walkways and 
  thus staying in close proximity to one another. The one 
  notable exception to this is the Isle of Ascendance, a 
  floating island not tethered to any of the others. It floats 
  nearly a thousand feet away from its closest neighbor. A 
  small contingent of monastic Skimmers lives on the Isle, 
  tending to it and using their powers to ensure that it stays 
  48
  48
  48
  48
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  in the same relative location. Though few occupy the Isle 
  and few visit it on a regular basis, the Isle of Ascendance 
  has great significance to the people of Sky City. When 
  a Skimmer reaches the age of maturity—about sixteen 
  years old—she must undergo the Rite of Ascendance 
  in order to become a full citizen of Sky City. The Rite 
  is a day-long affair involving ceremonial garb, ascetic 
  practices, consumption of blice potions and, finally, the 
  Great Leap. The soon-to-be citizen must leap from one of 
  the islands attached to Sky City to the Isle of Ascendance, 
  a thousand-foot leap that all Skimmers are expected to 
  make. Those who make the leap complete the Rite among 
  the monks and rejoin Sky City as a full citizen. Safety 
  precautions ensure that those who fail to make the leap 
  can try again in one year, though a few unlucky souls 
  have plummeted into the ocean after a failure.
  The Svit Swarm
  Svits are a flying lizard native to Sky City. A svit is about 
  a foot and a half long, winged, with poisonous spines 
  running down its back. Svits are vegetarians and not truly 
  dangerous to the Sky-Dwellers if left alone, but they are 
  considered a nuisance by many. Periodically, thousands 
  of svits will band together into a great swarm that covers 
  entire islands and moves about the city consuming 
  whatever they can. Many people believe that the swarm is 
  part of the svits’ reproductive cycle, and those who catch 
  svits to harvest their venom or their spines take advantage 
  of the swarm to increase their stock a hundredfold.
  Svits aren’t all that dangerous individually, but their 
  poison can kill if they’re provoked. During the swarm it’s 
  best to stay inside. Those who don’t often wind up 
  dead from a svit venom overdose within minutes.
  The Blice Fields
  Blice crystals grow throughout the islands of Sky 
  City, both on the surface and the interior. The 
  easiest place to harvest the crystal is the underside 
  of each island, where there are no buildings to 
  get in the way. The underside 
  of each island is rigged with 
  scaffolds and harnesses, and 
  blice farmers hook themselves 
  to these structures and hang from 
  the bottom of the islands, painstakingly 
  doing the work that supplies the people 
  with blice potions and keeps Sky City 
  floating. Blice is soft and 
  fairly easy to harvest, even 
  for someone who doesn’t 
  really know what they’re 
  doing, and those who 
  want to buy blice directly 
  from the farmers can do 
  so for a good black-market 
  price.
  Bessar Palace
  Sky City is ruled by the noble houses, and the nobility are 
  ruled by the Bessar family. The Bessars have dominated 
  Sky City for generations, and their palace is easily the 
  grandest structure in Sky City. Many years ago the Bessars 
  seized power from the Kafrat family, nearly wiping that 
  family out. They used their pillaged riches to build a 
  great palace for themselves made of opulent red marble 
  imported from the mainland. Then they employed a large 
  number of talented Skimmer engineers to raise their island 
  above all the others, placing themselves literally at the top 
  of Sky City. It’s said that the view of the sunset from the east 
  tower is nothing less than magnificent.
  Bazaar Square
  Sky City has a highly mercantile 
  disposition, and it is one of the 
  few places not located 
  on the mainland 
  A family of Svit rest on a perch on the central floating island.
  A family of Svit rest on a perch on the central floating island.
  49
  49
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  that trades actively with those city-states. As such, Bazaar 
  Square is a place always bustling with activity, where 
  nearly any kind of good or service can be procured for the 
  right price. Imported goods, information, deadly poisons, 
  assassinations, thefts, and nearly everything else can be 
  bought here—and the City Watch turns a blind eye to 
  almost all of it. After all, for the Skimmers, this is just how 
  things are done.
  The Sky Bridge
  Not really a bridge, the Sky Bridge is a series of massive 
  wood and coral platforms laced with blice crystal that hover 
  just above the ocean, along with a number of floating docks 
  for ships to moor themselves to. The Sky Bridge is the only 
  way in and out of the city for someone who can’t actually 
  fly. Boats dock here and unload goods and passengers onto 
  the platforms, and then the platform attendants use their 
  powers to raise the platforms skyward, all the way to Sky 
  City. The journey from the ocean to the city takes half an 
  hour, and those who make it for the first time are nearly 
  always struck dumb by the grandeur of the view as the 
  platform rises.
  The Rebel Islands
  On the outskirts of Sky City are a number of small 
  floating islands peopled by outcasts, criminals, and other 
  disenfranchised people. The nobility would like nothing 
  more than to bring them all to heel, but doing so would 
  require an enormous cooperative effort. So far the major 
  houses haven’t been able to stop their infighting long 
  enough to undertake such a massive task. The people who 
  live on these islands call themselves rebels and eschew 
  the rigid class structure of Sky City. Despite what the 
  nobility says, the Rebel Islands are not lawless; rather, the 
  rebels have a communal society led by a council of elected 
  officials. Everyone is equal on the Rebel Islands, though 
  outsiders visiting them are often surprised at the kinds of 
  things that are legal there. The Rebel Islands use duels, for 
  example, as a way to resolve disputes; to outsiders, this just 
  seems like government-sanctioned murder in the streets.
  The Academy
  When Sky City was first founded, one particular set of 
  islands grouped into an unusual formation: three flat 
  islands, one floating above another in a series of islands 
  that decrease in size as they ascend. The people who 
  founded Sky City—then a people with a strong martial 
  tradition—decided to take this as a sign, and made the 
  three islands the site of their martial training school: The 
  Academy. The largest of the islands, the bottom one of 
  the stack, is where the initiates train. Those who make it 
  through their basic training ascend to the middle island, 
  where they are recognized as true warriors. Many terminate 
  their training here, becoming guards, soldiers, or members 
  of other martial professions. A select few ascend further, to 
  the smallest, top-most island, where they train to achieve 
  the rank of Master or even Grandmaster. 
  Beyond the basic grouping of skill level, there are 
  different paths one can follow in the Academy. Those who 
  learn to fight with hand, foot, and weapon become Wind 
  Riders upon ascending to the second tier of the academy. 
  Wind Riders are often guards and soldiers; those who 
  become masters or grandmasters are personal bodyguards 
  of the nobility, special agents for noble houses, or they 
  ply their skills outside of Sky City. Some initiates learn to 
  become Wyvern Riders, forming a bond with one of the 
  dangerous beasts. Wyvern Riders often serve as shock 
  troops in the army or patrol the skies of Sky City to keep 
  the peace. Finally, some become Sky Sailors. On the middle 
  tier, this means working on a Sky Ship, defending it if needs 
  be, usually as an officer of some sort. Captains are pulled 
  from the ranks of Sky Sailors who make it to the third tier 
  of the Academy.
  People of Import
  In Sky City, knowing the right people can be the difference 
  between life and death.
  The Noble Houses
  Sky City has countless noble houses, some of them consisting 
  of only a handful of members with a small amount of 
  wealth and influence, and a few that are hundreds strong 
  and wealthy beyond measure. These noble houses rule the 
  city, and their machinations shape nearly everything that 
  happens here. Assassinations, thefts, and other underhanded 
  deeds are often performed at their request and, in Sky City, 
  such things are legal as long as nobody can prove anything. 
  The most powerful houses are the Bessars, who rule the city, 
  the Alachese, and the Ferruti. These houses often welcome 
  visitors from out of town, probably because they’re always 
  looking for assets they can disavow.
  Amber William
  It’s said that Amber William got his name because he drank 
  so much blice potion that his skin turned honey-colored. 
  Most think the story is true because his skin really is amber 
  in hue, and because his sky-dancing powers are incredibly 
  potent. But that’s not what makes him an important 
  person in Sky City. Nothing happens in Sky City without 
  Amber William knowing about it. He’s the most influential 
  information broker in the city, and his spy network is so 
  vast that some think that nearly everyone in the city is on 
  his payroll. He’s willing to meet with anyone who wants to 
  procure his services, but he’s not cheap and he’s happy to 
  refuse service to someone who he doesn’t trust. William 
  has also been known to hire people who come to him 
  asking for information, trading his information for services, 
  expanding his network in the process.
  The Swallow
  Nobody knows who the Swallow is, but everyone whispers 
  her name with both reverence and fear. In a city where 
  assassinations are all too common, the Swallow is anything 
  50
  50
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  but a common assassin. Death is her stock-in-trade, and 
  the Swallow is an artist of murder, able to get to anyone, 
  no matter how well-protected, and with a signature killing 
  style all her own. When people die by the Swallow’s hand, 
  they’re found curled up on the ground, their skin white, 
  their blood frozen in their veins.
  Points of Conflict
  Conflict is a way of life in Sky City, though such conflict is 
  usually subtle rather than overt.
  The Great Game
  Intrigue and subterfuge are a part of life in Sky City, and 
  just about everyone takes part in the Great Game in some 
  way or another. The nobility drive it, plotting against each 
  other, acting in the shadows, staging coups, assassinations, 
  thefts, and other underhanded acts on a regular basis, 
  trading power and wealth freely. The citizenry is often 
  caught up in noble schemes by virtue of being employed 
  by the nobles, whether they like it or not, and many have 
  learned to mimic the games of the nobility on a smaller 
  scale. A merchant who wants to improve his business might 
  hire someone to sabotage a competitor, for example, while 
  a blice farmer might poison a rival in order to get access to 
  more lucrative or prestigious fields.
  That said, the Great Game occurs in the shadows. Getting 
  caught doing something underhanded is considered 
  an inexcusable breach of etiquette and protocol, and is 
  punished harshly. Those who succeed at the Great Game 
  are able to play it without hinting at their involvement in it.
  Outsiders are often swept up in the Great Game upon 
  arrival. Everyone’s looking for agents they can disavow if 
  things go wrong, and outsiders (particularly adventurers) 
  are highly sought-after pieces to be used and discarded in 
  the Game. 
  Foreign Incursions
  The city-states in the mainland have long had enclaves within 
  Sky City, the better to support merchants who sell their wares 
  and to protect their interests within the city. Lately, however, 
  there have been rumors of foreign agents operating within the 
  city, acting against the noble houses, possibly softening the city 
  up for an invasion of some sort. Whether there’s truth to these 
  rumors or they’re just wind and words is anyone’s guess. One 
  way or the other, it’s verifiably true that there have been thefts, 
  sabotages, and assassinations that don’t seem to be a part of 
  the Great Game lately.
  The Blice Shortage
  Though not common knowledge (the nobility doesn’t 
  want to start a panic), the Bessar family suspects that the 
  city is consuming more blice than it’s producing. Bessar’s 
  scholars and scientists have noted that Sky City has been 
  slowly sinking over the last few years. While it amounts to 
  only a few meters at most so far, the rate at which the city 
  is dropping is accelerating, which suggests that something 
  has to be done to either curtail blice consumption or kick-
  start its cultivation. The Bessar would be grateful to anyone 
  who could help them with this thorny problem, but their 
  enemies would happily take advantage of the situation if 
  they found out.
  Killing your friend’s agents is part of a healthy relationship in the Great Game of Sky City.
  51
  51
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: Th
  e World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: Th
  e World of Asunder
  New Gaia
  New Gaia
  V
  etta leans in close and whispers to the little plant 
  at the core of her creation, coaxing it into growing 
  just a bit more, feeding her machine just a bit 
  more power. The little plant shudders slightly, sending a 
  ripple throughout the entire creation, and Vetta flinches, 
  hoping the entire thing won’t explode or fall apart. After a 
  breathless moment, she leans back in relief and looks at the 
  entire machine: a central column of supple wood like the 
  trunk of a tree surrounded by twisting vines, giant spore 
  pods, leaves, flowers, and other plants specialized to their 
  tasks.
  “I told you a red thistlethorn is the wrong power source 
  for this thing. It’s too small; it can’t produce enough power.” 
  The voice comes from behind her: Sebira, her assistant, 
  helpful as always. “We should have used a stone oak. The 
  power would be more consistent.”
  Vetta rolls her eyes without looking behind her. “We’ve 
  had this conversation before, Sebira. Oak is reliable, but 
  its sap is too thick. It can’t push life to the entire machine 
  without a bunch of redundant support systems. It’s 
  inefficient.”
  “Inefficient but safe.”
  “The thistlethorn will be fine,” Vetta sighs. “We just need 
  to make sure it’s properly vented and properly fed. Did 
  you check all the venting pods? Are the nutrient tubes in 
  place?”
  “I double-checked everything,” says Sebira. “We’ve 
  only got a few minutes before the Council is ready for our 
  presentation.”
  Vetta stands and turns to Sebira, places both of her hands 
  on the other woman’s shoulders. “We’re going to do this. It’s 
  going to work.”
  Sebira nods, a half-smile on her lips. “I know. I’m just 
  nervous. We’ve double-checked this thing into the ground. I 
  need to stop second-guessing everything and relax.”
  The explosion blows them both off their feet and 
  they end up on the ground in a tangle. Vetta rubs at her 
  forehead, wishing Sebira didn’t have such a sharp chin.
  “What—?” Sebira starts to ask, but Vetta’s already on her 
  feet, leaning over the railing, peering through the smoke now 
  filling the room. The cloud is thick, a vast plume of gray-
  green spores billowing up toward them like a live thing. She 
  A New Gaia city. The living pods serve as the most modern homes in all Asunder.  
  The roots serve as transport and tree stumps as cauldrons for inventors to weave their craft. 
  A New Gaia city. The living pods serve as the most modern homes in all Asunder.  
  The roots serve as transport and tree stumps as cauldrons for inventors to weave their craft. 
  52
  52
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  53
  53
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  pulls her mask off of her belt and straps it to her face. The 
  mask is made up of several different plants: shrike moss for 
  filtering out smoke and toxins, night rose membranes over 
  the eyes for heat-based vision, a mixture of seeds to provide 
  nutrition and power to the whole construction. Vetta looks 
  for heat signatures in the cloud and sees a handful.
  “At least three injured,” she says, her voice muffled by the 
  shrike moss in front of her mouth. “One might be dead. Four 
  alive. Looks like it happened at Atanu’s station. Damn it all, I 
  told him his suppression matrix was faulty. Turn on our baby. 
  I’m going to go help.” Without waiting for a response, Vetta 
  runs toward the cloud, cuts into it. The mask will allow her 
  to breathe for ten, maybe twelve minutes, and she’s got about 
  sixteen before her heat vision fades. “High Mother? Are you all 
  right?” she calls out.
  “I’m…” the weak voice is interrupted by a fit of coughing. 
  “…here.” 
  “Okay,” she says, following the voice and kneeling next 
  to a figure struggling to stand. “I’m going to help you out of 
  here.”
  Another coughing fit. “The others?”
  “We’re about to get this spore cloud out of here, so they’ll 
  be fine with a little luck. You’re the priority right now.” The 
  High Mother is the ranking Hand of Gaia on site, and Vetta 
  whispers a quick prayer of thanks to Gaia that she was able 
  to find her so quickly.
  Vetta takes the old woman’s arm and drapes it over her 
  shoulders, helps her stand, and starts to move back toward 
  her own station beyond the cloud of spores. In the distance, 
  she hears a familiar wet whirring sound, the sound of the 
  machine she and Sabira invented powering up. Good, that’ll 
  help with the cloud. The two women move for a few moments, 
  then Vetta leans the High Mother against a wall, removes her 
  mask, and puts it on the woman’s face. The smoke is already 
  starting to clear, but the shrike moss will help her breathe a 
  little easier in the interim. Vetta watches with no small swell 
  of pride as the machine—her machine—starts to draw the 
  plume of spores into itself, clearing the atmosphere in the 
  room within minutes. Once the cloud is clear, she takes the 
  mask off the matriarch’s face.
  “Are you all right, High Mother?”
  The woman nods. “Where did the spore cloud go?”
  Vetta points to her machine. “We got rid of it.”
  The High Mother’s eyebrows raise. “You built a machine 
  that clears spores?”
  Vetta purses her lips. “Sort of. It’s actually designed to 
  work on swarms of insects. Just in case.”
  The High Mother nods, understanding. “But you thought 
  it might work on a cloud of spores, too. Impressive. The 
  man whose device I was looking at was for air purification. 
  It likely would have helped too…had it not exploded.”
  “Atanu,” Vetta replies, nodding. “He’s good, I suppose. His 
  Essence bond with plants is almost as strong as a woman’s, 
  and he makes up for any shortfall with boldness.”
  “Perhaps too bold,” the High Mother says, shaking 
  her head. “If he’d been a little more careful, perhaps his 
  machine wouldn’t have exploded.”
  Vetta nods in understanding. “Are you all right by 
  yourself, Madam? I’d like to go check on the other injured.”
  The woman nods, making a shooing gesture. “Go.”
  Vetta jogs over to the wreckage of Atanu’s machine. 
  Others are there already, helping the injured, but Vetta 
  draws up short when she sees Atanu’s body, his head lying 
  at a grotesque angle. Her jaw clenches. Damn it, Atanu.
  She walks over to the body and kneels, at a loss for what 
  to do or say. Her eyes stray away from the body to the 
  wreckage of the device, and that’s when she sees it.
  Moments later she approaches the High Mother again. 
  “High Mother, I don’t think that explosion was an accident,” 
  Vetta says, face grim. She holds up the partial, blackened 
  husk of a beetle, four inches long, in one hand. “I think 
  someone sabotaged that machine. I think this was an 
  attempt on your life.”
  Arriving in New Gaia
  “Verdant” doesn’t begin to describe the island known 
  as New Gaia. Upon stepping off the boat, an outsider is 
  greeted with what looks like a vast, prehistoric jungle…
  until they look closer and see that many of the trees have 
  been grown into buildings—houses, meeting halls, schools, 
  shops, and whatever else the weavers need. The people of 
  New Gaia strive to live in harmony with nature as much as 
  possible and, while they still have to hunt and take wood 
  from trees, the way that their Essence has bonded with the 
  plants of New Gaia allows them to do so in ways that don’t 
  disrupt the ecosystem too much.
  The vast majority of New Gaia is covered with thick jungle, 
  plant life everywhere, tangles of vines, and abundant fauna. 
  The air is thick and wet, heavy with moisture and full of 
  the sounds of birds, insects, and other animals. It carries 
  with it the earthy smell of loam along with an odor that can 
  only be described as “green”. Near settlements, the smell of 
  cooking food often fills the air, spicy and intensely aromatic. 
  Settlements in New Gaia are also full of the sounds of people 
  talking, going about their business, and working on the 
  complex plant-machines that keep life going.
  These machines are everywhere, and they vary 
  considerably in size, complexity, and intent. There are 
  plant-machines to make life more comfortable for the 
  weavers, plant-machines that defend settlements, plant-
  machines that tend to other plants, and still others that 
  make food. Invention and industry are intrinsic parts of 
  life in New Gaia. According to the weavers, every plant has 
  ༅  ༅  ༅  ༅  ༅
  54
  54
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  a purpose it was born to and ten more that haven’t been 
  discovered yet.
  Outsiders to New Gaia should find guides first and 
  foremost. The jungles of the island are entirely trackless; 
  the weavers don’t bother with roads or paths because the 
  trees tell them which way to go and the plants part at their 
  crossing. An outsider can easily get lost without a weaver 
  guide, and a lost outsider won’t stay alive for long.
  The Way of Vetta
  Vetta is an inventor—an innovator who makes the complex 
  plant-machines that make New Gaia the most advanced 
  civilization in the world. She’s far from the only one; 
  invention is a way of life for New Gaia, with numerous 
  competing mercantile houses trying to outdo each other, 
  trying to make the machine that everyone needs.
  Long ago, when the first people to live on New Gaia 
  gained Essence from the departure of the gods, that 
  Essence bonded with the plants of New Gaia…but not for 
  everyone. The Essence of a small subset of the population 
  bonded instead with the insects of the island, giving those 
  weavers control over them and the ability to communicate 
  with and even create them. For a time, the two distinct 
  types of weavers lived together in peace. Over time, 
  inevitably, tensions arose. Many in the upper echelons of 
  society began to treat the insect-bonded with disdain, even 
  open hostility. Insect-bonded weavers had a great deal of 
  trouble rising in society and were treated poorly in general. 
  Resentment built and, eventually, the insect-bonded rose 
  up, demanding equality and a place on the Council of 
  Mothers. They wanted to be treated like everyone else.
  Eventually the Council granted this request, allowing a 
  sole insect-bonded weaver onto the council. Though not 
  always the case, the current Councilmember representing 
  the insect weavers is also the only man with a seat on the 
  Council. Granting a seat was meant to appease the insect 
  weavers, but little actually changed. Insect weavers are still 
  a minority and are still treated badly by plant weavers on 
  the whole. Things are getting better, but there’s a long way 
  to go before true equality.
  But now history starts to repeat itself. While the last 
  schism in New Gaia was over differing Essence bonds, this 
  new schism is along ideological lines. On one side: the 
  Council of Mothers, the governing body who has led New 
  Gaia through centuries of peace and prosperity. On the 
  other, an upstart movement calling themselves the Red 
  Alliance. The Alliance believes that New Gaia has grown 
  weak and complacent, that the Council spends too much 
  time chasing after legends of an omnipresent planet-spirit 
  and not enough time dealing with the real-life concerns 
  of the here and now. The Red Alliance preaches trade and 
  building alliances with foreign powers, but it also preaches 
  conquest. They want to eradicate the exiles and spread the 
  borders of New Gaia beyond the island itself. 
  Unlike the insect weavers before them, the Red Alliance 
  is an underground organization; its membership is 
  secret, and they’ve infiltrated various strata of society. 
  In response, the Council of Mothers has created a new 
  organization: the Inquisition. It’s the Inquisition’s job to 
  hunt down dissidents and bring them to justice by any 
  means necessary.
  New Gaia has been a place of relative peace for the last 
  several centuries. Visitors to the island now, however, will 
  find a very different place: a place where people don’t trust 
  their neighbors, and where open conflict is all but certain at 
  some point in the near future.
  The Living World
  When the first people of New Gaia gained Essence, that 
  Essence bonded with the plants of the island. This caused 
  accelerated growth in those plants and also granted a 
  hint of sentience, giving the plants the ability to observe 
  and form opinions about things in their environment. 
  Initially, only women bonded with the plants of the 
  islands, and only the men born to those women shared that 
  Essence bond. For this reason, the society of New Gaia is 
  traditionally matriarchal. Even now, the ways in which the 
  two genders bond with plants is different. Men typically 
  are capable of a broader array of methods for controlling 
  and manipulating plants, but women have much deeper 
  and more powerful bonds and are capable of much greater 
  specialization. This typically leads to a clear division of 
  roles: women create and innovate, and men use these 
  creations to keep things running.
  The new weavers of the island learned to communicate 
  with these plants, to control and cultivate them, and to 
  live in a kind of symbiosis with them. Instead of building 
  dwellings and other buildings from materials in their 
  environment, the weavers gather together in a great joint 
  effort of shaping, willing the trees of the jungle to take the 
  form they need. Instead of cutting down trees for firewood, 
  the weavers simply ask the trees for wood, and the trees 
  give it freely. In exchange, the weavers protect the plants 
  from outsiders, grow them and cultivate them, and even 
  converse with them using a kind of empathic communion. 
  The weavers create great plants for transportation, small 
  plants that they graft to their bodies in order to enhance 
  their abilities, plants that they use as weapons or tools, 
  and myriad other kinds of plants for an infinite number of 
  purposes.
  This ability to simply ask for things from the natural 
  environment and receive it informs nearly every facet of 
  weaver culture. Clothes are made of vines, leaves, and 
  other bits of plant matter. Weapons are made of wood, 
  shaped and hardened into the form required. Weavers 
  grow specialized plants for specific tasks: irrigation, ranged 
  combat, hunting, heating and cooling homes, holding fire 
  for cooking, and nearly everything else. Weavers even make 
  complex plant-machines to handle advanced tasks like 
  filtering smoke from a room, providing light to an entire 
  city, or creating a public transportation system of hollow 
  root networks traveled by people in great seed pods. In 
  55
  55
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  One branch of the many belonging to the Great Tree of New Gaia. 
  One branch of the many belonging to the Great Tree of New Gaia. 
  56
  56
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  many ways, New Gaia is the most advanced civilization on 
  Asunder; their society not only has the most conveniences 
  available, but is the most socially progressive, ensuring that 
  everyone has what they need and is treated well. Except for 
  the insect weavers. They are seen as less than human and 
  thus deserve less.
  The insect weavers can communicate with the insects, 
  control them, and—like the plant-bonded weavers—can 
  grow specialized insects for specialized tasks. Among the 
  insect weavers, one might see insects used for hauling 
  heavy loads, insects for battle, insects for espionage, or 
  insects for harvesting resources from the natural world. 
  It’s this last function that is the major source of contention 
  between the two factions of weavers. 
  The insect weavers control a force with great destructive 
  potential to the ecosystem of New Gaia and, while they’re 
  careful with how they use that force, they don’t have 
  the ability to live in harmony with plant life like their 
  cousins do. So, instead, they use insects to strip trees for 
  wood when they need it to build their dwellings or cook 
  their food. They grow food using traditional agricultural 
  methods, using insects to fertilize the ground and then to 
  harvest and haul the food when they’re done. And they 
  use insects for battle, turning them into a terrifying force 
  capable of stripping an entire village to the bone in mere 
  minutes.
  For this reason, these weavers are often treated with 
  hatred, resentment, and fear. Many live in ghettos within 
  the weavers’ cities, and few are able to aspire to the same 
  social stations as plant weavers.
  Places of Interest
  The jungles of New Gaia may be trackless, but they aren’t 
  featureless.
  The Great Tree
  At the center of the island is an old, gnarled, ancient tree 
  that legends say has been standing since the dawn of time. 
  The weavers of New Gaia believe that it is a direct conduit 
  to Gaia herself: a way to interact with the living spirit of 
  the world. The Great Tree has a unique property that 
  backs up this claim: it is a repository of knowledge. Many 
  weavers of New Gaia have learned to commune with 
  plants such that the seeds of those plants impart specific 
  kinds of knowledge to an individual that consumes the 
  seed. They learned this trick from the Great Tree. Legends 
  say that the Tree contains the accumulated knowledge 
  of every weaver ever to have lived on New Gaia. Weavers 
  often come to the Tree seeking wisdom and guidance. 
  When they do so, they sing a song asking for knowledge, 
  eat one of the Tree’s seeds, and mediate for a day and a 
  night. Those who do this are flooded with knowledge 
  from weavers long-dead, and thus history is passed from 
  generation to generation. In the upper branches of the 
  Great Tree is the Council Chamber, where the Council of 
  Mothers meets and makes decisions for weaver society.
  The Great Tree is, of course, carefully guarded and 
  protected. It is considered the most precious resource on 
  the island as well as its most sacred place. Outsiders are 
  not permitted near the Great Tree except under the most 
  extreme of circumstances.
  Heartwood
  Though there are settlements grown into the jungle all over 
  the island, Heartwood is the largest such settlement, and 
  is the seat of the Council of Mothers. When the weavers 
  first discovered the Great Tree, they settled near it, and 
  over time a city grew up around the Tree. That city become 
  Heartwood. In every respect that matters, Heartwood is 
  a city; it has the conveniences of a city, it has a massive 
  population, it’s well-defended, and you can find people 
  and businesses in Heartwood of every stripe. Heartwood 
  welcomes outsiders, though they’re only allowed in Outer 
  Ring, a district on the perimeter of the city. Outer Ring is 
  primarily a commercial district, made up of businesses, 
  shops, and some dwellings for outsiders or people who 
  prefer to live at their place of business. Next to Outer Ring 
  is Inner Ring, where the vast majority of native weavers 
  live. Inner Ring is mostly residential, though there are a 
  few businesses here that cater exclusively to weavers. In 
  the center of Heartwood is Mother’s Heart. This district 
  contains the Great Tree and provides housing for all those 
  who tend it, but it is also the governmental district of the 
  city. It’s here that the Council of Mothers resides and meets, 
  and it’s here that those who shape policy for all of New Gaia 
  must come to do so.
  Bugtown
  The northern part of Heartwood, roughly one fifth of 
  the city in total, has been turned into a ghetto for insect-
  bonded weavers. Colloquially known as “Bugtown,” it’s a 
  place where the insect weavers can live in relative peace and 
  where the plant weavers don’t have to look at them. For the 
  most part the insect weavers keep to themselves. They’re 
  able to produce most of what they need and they trade with 
  non-weavers when they can for whatever they can’t produce 
  themselves.
  The Poison Lands
  There is one place in New Gaia where neither faction of 
  weavers goes willingly: the Poison Lands. The plants here 
  are unruly, rebellious, even malicious. Many of them have 
  toxic sap and can spray toxic spores, and their sap has 
  leeched into the soil and turned it into a poisonous bog. 
  Few creatures live in the Poison Lands, and the weavers 
  believe that a god, a great corrupter, is imprisoned here 
  and seeks to spread his influence and escape. The Poison 
  Lands spread every year, though the weavers strive to hold 
  the corruption back. Occasionally, people—both natives 
  and outsiders—are drawn to the Poison Lands, looking for 
  forbidden knowledge. Many of them die in the toxic bog 
  and become food for the trees. Those who survive become 
  dangerous individuals indeed.
  57
  57
  57
  57
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  The Starlight Caverns
  A complex web of tunnels criss-crosses the land beneath 
  New Gaia. The weavers call these tunnels the Starlight 
  Caverns for the bioluminescent fungus that grows 
  throughout the tunnels. Some weavers go down into these 
  tunnels to cultivate and harvest this fungus; they spread it 
  throughout the Caverns, bringing light to dark places, and 
  they harvest it for use in street lamps, lanterns, and other 
  such things. Despite this, there are many parts of this vast 
  underground network that are unexplored, dark, or haven’t 
  even been discovered yet, and the tunnels are not without 
  their dangers. Giant crab-like creatures scuttle about the 
  tunnels looking for prey, and occasionally entire parties of 
  weavers are lost to things that creep out of the dark…things 
  best left undescribed.
  Shipwatch
  Trade is important to New Gaia, and so the weavers take 
  pains to ensure that ships can reach their shores safely. 
  Shipwatch is an enormous, hollow tree that reaches above 
  the jungle’s canopy. It stands near the shore and, from its 
  heights, weavers watch for approaching ships and use light 
  generated from bioluminescent fungus harvested from 
  the Starlight Caverns to guide ships safely to the docks of 
  Landfall, the island’s one major port of call.
  The Barrens
  There is one place on New Gaia where plant life does not 
  grow. This blasted land is small, but entirely empty and 
  devoid of life. Stranger still, the Barrens are devoid of 
  sound; those who venture in report that their voices do not 
  carry, their footfalls make no noise. Some who venture in 
  also speak of strange and terrible visions, visions that often 
  have a kernel of truth to them. Periodically, weavers make 
  pilgrimages into the Barrens to experience these visions, 
  though not all of them make it back out again.
  People of Import
  Though New Gaia is not a densely populated island, there 
  are people here who rise above the rest.
  The Council of Mothers
  New Gaia is a matriarchy, a tradition that comes from the fact 
  that women were the only ones to bond with plants initially, 
  Even now, women’s bonds with the plants are stronger than 
  those of men, and so they rise in the ranks faster and achieve 
  higher rank than men can. The highest governing body on 
  New Gaia is the Council of Mothers, a group of nine women, 
  each of whom have contributed to society in some significant 
  way. They are inventors, innovators, and leaders. They lead 
  the Hands of Gaia, the ruling class of the island in all matters 
  political, mercantile, and spiritual. The Council makes 
  laws and proclamations, the Hands carry them out, and the 
  weavers of New Gaia abide by them. So far, the Council has 
  led the weavers to prosperity, peace, and security.
  Of particular note is Pressus, the Councilmember who 
  represents the insect weavers. He’s the only man on the 
  Council of Mothers and is often used as a scapegoat for 
  things that other Councilmembers would rather not admit 
  to. Many don’t trust him, and some even believe that he’s 
  the orchestrator behind the Red Alliance.
  The Crimson Mask
  Nobody knows who the Crimson Mask actually is; in fact, 
  many people believe that the Mask is not one person, but 
  a number of people adopting a persona at different times 
  for different reasons. Regardless, the figure known as 
  the Crimson Mask is the figurehead of the Red Alliance, 
  a group of weavers who want to upset the status quo, 
  overthrow the Council of Mothers, and usher in a new way 
  of doing things. The Crimson Mask appears in public from 
  time to time, denouncing public figures, riling up crowds, 
  and spreading the Alliance’s rhetoric. On rare occasions 
  the Crimson Mask has been seen committing wantonly 
  criminal acts, such as assassination or sabotage. Many 
  upstanding plant weavers believe that the Mask and his 
  Red Alliance are in league with the insect weavers.
  Grandfather Ash
  Though few men develop bonds with the jungle as 
  strong as those of women, it does occasionally happen. 
  Grandfather Ash is one such man, a man whose bond 
  with the plants was so strong that, one day when he 
  walked out into the jungle and sat down to mediate, 
  he simply turned into a tree. This happened almost a 
  hundred years ago, but Grandfather Ash still sits there, 
  a few miles outside of Heartwood, a great ash tree with 
  a human face on it. He sleeps most of the time, but he 
  is occasionally amenable to visitors and has a wealth of 
  knowledge at his disposal. According to Grandfather Ash, 
  he knows everything the jungle knows, and he’s willing 
  to share that information—for a price. Grandfather Ash 
  never gives anything away for free; instead, he asks for 
  a favor in return. These favors often make little sense to 
  those they are asked of, but Grandfather Ash has a plan.
  Points of Conflict
  With so many schisms on the island, conflict is inevitable.
  Oppression
  Although open hostilities between the plant weavers and the 
  insect weavers have been quiet as of late, there’s quite a bit of 
  bad blood between the two groups, and neither has forgotten 
  what the other has cost them. They don’t trust each other 
  and they don’t like each other, and many say it’s only a matter 
  of time before the current peace turns into outright war 
  again. The death toll in the last war was enormous; when 
  one side can summon great swarms of insects and the other 
  can control the jungle itself, people die by the thousands. 
  There are some on the Council who believe a preemptive 
  strike is the only answer, while others believe that they must 
  58
  58
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  broker a more lasting peace or face the extermination of both 
  sides. Councilmember Pressus argues for the latter, though 
  few listen.
  The Red Alliance
  Fueling the tension of this cold war is the Red Alliance. 
  Though decentralized, the Alliance has been effective in 
  turning weavers against one another and stoking the fear of 
  the insect weavers to get more people on their side. At times 
  it seems as though the Red Alliance has no leadership or 
  goal aside from chaos and change, Their one figurehead—
  the Crimson Mask—doesn’t appear to have any motivation 
  beyond hatred of the way things are done now or any goal 
  besides tearing down the current system. Despite this, the 
  Alliance has managed to create quite a lot of conflict and 
  tension by masking their hateful rhetoric behind a veneer 
  of wanting an “ethical society.”
  Old Guard Versus New Blood
  Times are changing. New Gaia is a society based on 
  innovation, but there are many—mostly younger 
  weavers—who believe that technological innovation isn’t 
  enough. These weavers argue for social innovation, as 
  well as for changing the way things are done. For all its 
  advances and conveniences, the society of New Gaia is still 
  very much one of tradition. The government is ruled by a 
  council of nine women (or, as is the case currently, eight 
  women and one man) because that’s the way it’s always 
  been done. Outsiders aren’t allowed beyond the Outer 
  Ring of Heartwood because this has always been the case. 
  Insect weavers are shunted off into ghettos because that’s 
  the way things are. But many of the younger weavers 
  argue that “because that’s the way we’ve always done 
  it” isn’t a good enough reason to do something. These 
  weavers agitate for equality for all weavers regardless 
  of gender or Essence bond, for allowing foreigners free 
  access to all of New Gaia, even for allowing them to hold 
  office. At their best, these upstarts argue for things that 
  could strengthen New Gaia and cure many of the ills 
  plaguing its society. At their worst, they act and speak 
  recklessly without regard to the consequences, causing 
  more strife.
  The Red Alliance is an unforgiving foe, 
   often leaving messages in the form of corpses.
  The Red Alliance is an unforgiving foe, 
   often leaving messages in the form of corpses.
  59
  59
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  The 
  The Seafarers
  Seafarers
  J
  ezir leans on the rail, peering out over the roiling 
  waters. It’s here. She knows it’s here. “Hard to starboard! 
  Put the sun at our backs, Sevik!” 
  She casts her glance backwards, looks at the broad, 
  four-armed man at the helm of the ship. Two great 
  tentacles rise from the raised platform he stands on, and 
  they wrap around his lower two arms, steadying him on 
  his perch, allowing him to commune with the great living 
  ship beneath him, to control it. With his upper-right arm 
  he takes a bristling urchin and attaches it to his eye. His 
  mutation makes him the best helmsman she’s ever worked 
  with, just as her own mutation—a mouth on her right 
  knee—makes her one of the best serpent-killers around. 
  Jezir sees Sevik blink several times as he adjusts, but she 
  knows that he’ll soon be able to see the heat emanating 
  from creatures around him, knows that the great serpent 
  they chase will blaze red against the cold of the sea.
  Jezir looks back out at the sea, grips the long harpoon in 
  her right hand in readiness. That serpent can feed the crew 
  for weeks, and the heartstone at its core will replace the 
  dying stone in the hold of the ship, generate heat for the 
  crew and for the ship itself, to keep everyone from freezing 
  in the coming months of cold. But any serpent could do that. 
  This one is different. This one is the serpent that claimed her 
  brother, her father, half of her crew. This serpent will die by 
  her hand, and hers alone.
  The little ship rocks. Jezir keeps her feet and looks about, 
  sees the telltale wake left behind by the serpent that just 
  passed under them. “Sevik!” she cries. She withdraws 
  something from her belt, a squirming crustacean, and she 
  places it against her face. She feels its legs grip her, feels 
  the tube extend into her mouth and down her throat. She 
  smiles slightly, recalling the horror that landfolk often 
  display when they see her or her crew wearing their masks.
  The helmsman nods at her, already steering the ship 
  toward the beast, the maw at the front of the ship gulping 
  water, the ship spewing it out the back, propelling the 
  entire thing forward with a speed and maneuverability 
  unmatched by the land-goers’ ships of frail wood. Jezir’s 
  eyes scan the waters, and then she sees the fleshy scales 
  of the serpent’s back. The ship is sleek, made of chitin 
  and bone, one great organism bred and grown by her 
  60
  60
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  The great and terrifying sea port in the center of the Mainland, Megalith. High above the city is the blood arena where gladiators fight for glory.
  The great and terrifying sea port in the center of the Mainland, Megalith. High above the city is the blood arena where gladiators fight for glory.
  61
  61
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  people, acting in concert with Sevik. It bristles with spiked 
  protrusions, and the fins and tentacles beneath the waves 
  allow it to maneuver much more effectively than some ship 
  of mere wood. 
  Jezir heaves the bone harpoon, feeling the tug on her arm 
  as the long tendril attaching her to the harpoon unravels 
  itself. She feels the harpoon strike home and she wills it 
  to unfurl. The harpoon’s head spreads, spins, becomes a 
  flower of agony in the serpent’s flesh, and the enormous 
  creature rises up out of the water, bellowing its rage and 
  pain at the ship. It’s even bigger than she expected.
  Jezir detaches the harpoon from herself before she can 
  be pulled overboard, then signals Sevik. Beneath her, Jezir 
  feels the jaws of the ship lunge forward, biting into the 
  serpent, locking in place so that the beast can’t escape. “All 
  hands,” she cries, her voice muffled and garbled by her 
  living mask. “Now!”
  At that cry, dozens of bone harpoons fly over her head, 
  most of them finding purchase within the serpent’s body, 
  spreading and anchoring themselves, creating a ladder she 
  can scramble up. Jezir leaps and grabs the first harpoon, 
  hoists herself up onto it, then leaps to the next, and the next 
  after that. The serpent starts to thrash in pain and anger, 
  trying to violently dislodge itself from the ship and the little 
  spikes of bone and chitin piercing its body. She holds on, 
  drives her knee into the serpent’s side and bites down with 
  the jagged mouth there to keep herself from falling down 
  into the sea. She can taste the thick wetness of the beast 
  through her second mouth.
  Jezir continues to climb. The crew keeps the serpent 
  distracted as it rages. She sees it take one of the crewmen, 
  biting him viciously and tossing him overboard, his torso 
  separating from his legs mid-air. Another crewman rushes 
  forward, brandishing a great sword of bone, and slashes 
  at the serpent’s belly. Foolish. The serpent takes him too, 
  swallowing him whole. Then it grabs the side of the hull 
  with its great jaws and starts to pry a chunk of spiny plating 
  away from the hull. She needs to move more quickly, for the 
  sake of her crew and her ship. 
  She continues to climb, using harpoons as well as the 
  bone knife in her hand and the mouth on her knee to find 
  purchase and continue upward. She pulls herself up one 
  final time and looks into the serpent’s massive eye, watches 
  as its three pupils adjust, focusing on her. Now it sees her as a 
  threat rather than a nuisance. It releases the badly damaged 
  hull and tries to snap at her, to dislodge her, nearly takes 
  her left leg off at the knee, leaving her with a bleeding gash. 
  Jezir grits her teeth; this isn’t her first serpent. She scrambles 
  further to the side of its head, where no amount of snapping 
  at her will allow the serpent’s jaws to reach her. 
  Jezir reaches down to her side and pulls free another 
  harpoon, feels the tendril on its end wrap around her wrist 
  and burrow itself into her flesh. Once it’s in place, she 
  draws back her arm and plunges it forward, into the beast’s 
  eye, pushing until she’s up to her elbow in it, and then 
  she unfurls the harpoon in the serpent’s brain. It thrashes 
  madly, and she holds on as hard as she can, gripping the 
  inside of its skull, trying to find purchase on the newly slick 
  surface of the monster’s head. It lurches, and then it starts 
  to fall over. All at once, Jezir lets go and dives into the sea 
  below, the crustacean covering her mouth allowing her to 
  breathe through the intense chlorine gas above the water 
  and even filter air out of the water itself. 
  She surfaces and watches the serpent thrash madly 
  against the hull of the ship, crushing members of her crew, 
  throwing them overboard, ripping great hunk of meat off of 
  the little ship. She watches as Sevik runs forward, four axes 
  in his hands, and is devoured whole by the dying serpent 
  for his trouble. She watches her ship slowly sink beneath 
  the waves, damaged badly by the serpent’s death throes, 
  and she can feel the wound in her leg bleeding into the sea.
  She’s out here now, in the middle of the ocean, soon to 
  be alone without a ship, bleeding heavily, and the sharks 
  will find her soon. The serpent is dead, sinking beneath the 
  waves with the remains of her ship and crew. She got it. She 
  killed the serpent that took everything from her.
  She’s waited for this day for years, but now all she can do 
  is wonder at the cost.
  Arriving on the Seas
  The first thing that strikes you upon approaching one of 
  the Seafarers’ vessels is how…alive it is. Most land-based 
  cultures on Asunder make their ships out of wood and use 
  sails to harness the wind and ply the seas. But the Seafarers, 
  those who are born on and near the oceans of Asunder, 
  grow their ships. These ships are living organisms, often 
  made up of multiple creatures living in symbiotic harmony, 
  both with each other and with the crew. The hull of the 
  ship is a great bony carapace, spiked protrusions jutting out 
  at odd angles, rugged and dangerous in a dozen ways that a 
  wooden ship is not. At the front of the ship, below the water 
  line, is a great maw that gulps water. As the water enters the 
  ship, it passes through an organic propulsion system and 
  is ejected from the rear of the ship. Seafarers’ ships have 
  no sails; they have no need for them. Beneath the ship are 
  several finned tentacles that the ship uses to steer itself, 
  granting it unmatched maneuverability in the water. Two 
  more tentacles spout from a raised platform at the helm of 
  the ship. A trained helmsman can bond with the creature 
  through these tentacles, allowing him or her to command it 
  mentally.
  The second thing that strikes you is what a varied and 
  strange lot the Seafarers are. Because of their bond with 
  the chaotic and changeable sea, all Seafarers have physical 
  mutations: extra limbs, mouths, or eyes, chitinous skin, a 
  flexible skeleton of cartilage gills, spikes, claws, or other 
  ༅  ༅  ༅  ༅  ༅
  62
  62
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  natural weapons, and myriad other adaptations to their 
  environment and lifestyle. Because most land-dwellers 
  consider these mutations disturbing or grotesque, Seafarers 
  are frequently shunned and even feared on land. Some of 
  them, though, either have no obvious changes or else have 
  mutations that give them an appeal that land-dwellers find 
  exciting and exotic. There are many stories of youths falling 
  in love with mysterious Seafarer captains and being spirited 
  away to live on the waves, and at least some of these tales 
  have a kernel of truth.
  The ships of the Seafarers are the most efficient and 
  rugged vessels on the seas. This is fortunate, because 
  the seas are not kind. Churning maelstroms, rough seas, 
  poisonous chlorine gas, and great sea-beasts all wait to 
  make short work of those who would sail. The Seafarers, 
  however, do not merely sail: they live on the ocean. They 
  brave the maelstroms, hunt the sea-beasts, and use 
  specialized sea creatures—crustaceans, urchins, and so 
  forth—to help them deal with the other dangers of the 
  seas.
  The Seafarers are a tumultuous people, chaotic and 
  unpredictable like the seas on which they thrive. To 
  outsiders, they seem dangerous, rash, wantonly violent. 
  The truth is that they are what the sea makes them. The 
  sea is a chaotic, unforgiving habitat, and so the Seafarers 
  must be equally chaotic and unforgiving. They adapt 
  to whatever situation is laid out in front of them, cull 
  the weak from their ranks, and do not allow things like 
  morality or law to get in the way of survival.
  The Way of Jezir
  Jezir is a ship’s captain, and so her word is law aboard her 
  ship. This is the way Seafarers operate while they’re at 
  sea: each ship is an independent territory, each captain 
  that ship’s ruler, and nobody, not even another captain, 
  can countermand the word of a captain while she’s on 
  her ship. This is the only consistent rule on the seas, and 
  it exists for the simple reason that to question a captain’s 
  word is to invite division and weakness into the crew, and 
  those things spell doom for both crew and ship. Some 
  captains rule with an iron fist, while others inspire their 
  crew by earning their respect, but no captain brooks a 
  question to her authority.
  On the seas, different ships have different functions. 
  Hunting ships like Jezir’s exist to hunt down the great 
  sea serpents and other beasts of the sea for the resources 
  they represent. Most sea beasts provide food for the crew, 
  allowing ships to stay out at sea for longer durations, but 
  some creatures are hunted for the specific resources they 
  provide. Dusk crabs provide huge amounts of chitin for 
  plating ships, while schools of thresh whales can produce 
  enough blubber and oil to keep fires and lanterns lit for 
  weeks. The most sought-after and dangerous beast is the 
  great sea serpent. Serpent bones make excellent weapons, 
  allowing the seafarers to create axes, knives, or harpoons. 
  Their leathery skin makes warm, durable clothing when 
  cured. Their meat is considered a delicacy both among 
  the Seafarers and on the mainland. But their most 
  valuable resource is the heartstone: a huge mass of bone 
  and living tissue that produces enormous amounts of heat 
  for several weeks. When kept in the hold of a living ship, 
  the ship can feed off of the heat of a heartstone, allowing 
  it to move faster and with more agility. During the cold 
  winter months, the heartstone also provides necessary 
  warmth for the crew.
  Hunting ships are not the only ones on the seas. The 
  Seafarers are also traders, piloting freighters that ferry 
  goods from island to island. In this way, the Seafarers 
  have made themselves an integral part of commerce on 
  Asunder. Most land-dwellers’ ships are capable of little 
  more than sailing the shallows or making the occasional 
  cross-ocean journey, but Seafarer ships can travel from 
  island to island at speed and for long periods of time, 
  effectively keeping the trade routes alive. In exchange, 
  captains ask for a tithe of the goods being ferried; this is 
  how the Seafarers get goods they can’t otherwise produce 
  or acquire themselves.
  Seafarers also carry passengers between islands, though 
  this is somewhat rarer. The seafarers’ unpredictable 
  dispositions and disturbing mutations make many land-
  dwellers uncomfortable, and so most land-dwellers rely 
  on their own ships to travel to other parts of Asunder. Still, 
  most know that the Seafarers’ ships are safer, faster, and 
  in many cases cheaper. Where a land-dwelling shipping 
  company would charge handsomely for a trip from 
  Pacari to New Gaia due to the danger of the expedition, a 
  Seafarer ship would take their price in barter, and ask for 
  far less. It’s also an open secret that many seafarer ship 
  crews engage in piracy, and the chances of your ship being 
  attacked and boarded are virtually nil when you ride with 
  the pirates themselves.
  But even the Seafarers can’t spend all their time at 
  sea. For this reason, they have one great city: Megalith. 
  Situated on and over the rivers near the center of the 
  mainland, Megalith is a great, bustling port city, a place 
  of freebooters and sailors, rife with crime and piracy, 
  rough and ready, and a great place for misfits to find their 
  home. Under the shadow of the Father Serpent’s skeleton, 
  Seafarers conduct inter-ship business, meet with family 
  members and friends in other crews, drink, spend their 
  booty, and enjoy the hospitality of the City on the Sea.
  The Living World
  Like many other people of Asunder, the first Seafarers’ 
  Essence bonded with a part of the world when the gods 
  left. In their case, it was the sea itself. The sea is, by 
  nature, chaotic, unpredictable, and ever-changing; so, 
  too, are the seafarers. Every seafarer is born with one 
  or more mutations: extra limbs, claws, mouths or eyes 
  in odd places, chitinous skin, and, in many cases, gills. 
  Each mutation serves a purpose, though, and a seafarer’s 
  mutations often determine his or her role on a ship. 
  63
  63
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  been permanently fused to the structure of Megalith. 
  But perhaps the city’s most striking feature is the Father 
  Serpent, the towering skeletal remains of a great sea 
  serpent—the largest to have ever been killed—that form 
  the walls of the city’s great Arena, looming over the waters 
  where the rivers meet and churn.
  Megalith, like the seafarers themselves, is chaotic and 
  changeable. There are few hard-and-fast rules here, which 
  makes it a safe haven for criminals and miscreants the 
  world over. The people of Megalith organize themselves 
  into boroughs by nationality, and each borough has its 
  own laws that are, at best, loosely enforced. This can make 
  Megalith a dangerous city to visit, so people rarely do 
  unless they’ve hired someone tough to watch their backs. 
  Those who come to Megalith are either traders looking 
  to do business, Seafarers coming back from a long time at 
  sea, criminals looking for a fresh start, or the people who 
  provide services to any of the above.
  There is one striking feature of Megalith that draws 
  people to the city for visits: the Arena. Megalith’s Arena is 
  a building suspended upon great pillars and buttresses of 
  serpent bone above the point where the three rivers meet. 
  Its walls are the curved ribs of Father Serpent’s corpse, and 
  his skull rears proudly overhead. The Arena hosts brutal 
  bloodsports frequently, pitting dangerous beasts against 
  each other or against slaves captured by the Seafarers. 
  Anyone is welcome to fight in the arena, and the reasons to 
  do so are considerable. First of all, the prize is significant: a 
  huge sum of money for the tournament winner and, if the 
  winner is a slave, freedom. Beyond that, though, mercenary 
  companies, bands of Seekers, and the Bone Army itself 
  all watch the arena fights, and those who win often get 
  lucrative contracts from impressed observers.
  The rich and mighty often come to Megalith to watch 
  fights in the arena, wager large sums of money on the 
  combatants, eat, drink, and engage in all manner of 
  pleasures that would be illegal in other mainland cities. 
  Very few things in Megalith are illegal, and so Megalith 
  is known the world over as a place one can indulge in 
  myriad vices without fear of being jailed or otherwise 
  punished by the law. This simple fact keeps people 
  coming back, despite the dangers of such a lawless city.
  The Serpents’ Graveyard
  A thousand miles off the east coast of Pacari is a place 
  of stillness and death. The waters here are calmer, the 
  air blows less harshly, and sound does not carry far. 
  Jutting up from beneath the surface of the sea are bones, 
  thousands of bones, all from sea serpents who have come 
  here and died, their calcified remains inexplicably floating 
  here, remaining here forever. Occasionally, a Seafarer ship 
  will come here seeking to harvest bones or hoping to find 
  a heartstone with some life left in it. The crews of these 
  ships are often disappointed, and not all of them make it 
  back out of the Graveyard. A sickness infects the place, 
  and sometimes living ships come here only to lay down 
  and die.
  For those things that their mutations don’t help them 
  with, the seafarers cultivate living organisms to help them. 
  Specialized crustaceans are grown to serve as masks to 
  help the seafarers breathe the chlorine gas that emanates 
  from many parts of the sea, and these masks can also 
  help seafarers without gills breathe underwater. When 
  poisoned or sick, a seafarer can attach an urchin to his 
  body to help filter toxins and build antibodies, allowing 
  him to recover much more quickly. Their ships, too, are 
  outfitted with different organisms to help them function 
  more efficiently, such as the nets of seaweed that filter fish 
  and other small sea creatures out of the ship’s propulsion 
  system, both clearing the way for water and providing a 
  crew with food to eat. The list goes on and on.
  But the ships themselves are the most obvious, 
  impressive way in which the Seafarers have mastered their 
  environment. Long ago, the Seafarers learned to create a 
  cross-bred, mutated amalgam of crustacean, cephalopod, 
  and shark. Now, the seafarers hatch and raise these 
  creatures from birth, breeding their ships, raising them 
  from young and training them to accept the mental control 
  of their helmsmen. Stories sometimes surface of wild ships 
  that have broken free of the Seafarers’ control, creatures 
  that sail the seas without crew, attacking other ships, 
  devouring people, and causing mayhem. This can happen, 
  but it’s rare, and the Seafarers have specialized ships that 
  they use to hunt down and destroy such rogue ships.
  Places of Interest
  Though geography is fluid on the high seas, there are a 
  few places the seafarers keep track of.
  Megalith
  While every Seafarer considers the sea his home, each 
  one also has a home away from home: Megalith. Situated 
  near the center of the mainland where the three major 
  trade rivers converge, Megalith is a bustling freebooter 
  city full of sailors, pirates, and traders. Seafarers bring the 
  goods they take from the sea, or goods they’ve agreed to 
  carry for land-dwellers, to Megalith. Meanwhile, traders 
  from every city-state on the mainland send caravans to 
  Megalith to trade their own goods for the exotic wares 
  of Megalith, making the city the central trade hub of 
  the world. Though the city is farther from the ocean 
  than most Seafarers might like, the fact that it is easily 
  accessible from every other city-state on the mainland 
  makes it a necessary port of call for pirate and trader alike.
  The city itself is unique among cities of Asunder. 
  Fully two thirds of Megalith is built over the water, on 
  docks, floating platforms, rope bridges, and repurposed 
  boats and ships. Architectural styles from all over the 
  mainland exist in amalgam here right alongside the 
  organically grown dwellings of weavers living here or the 
  graceful spires built by Skimmers. The Seafarers’ own 
  dwellings are usually simply ships at dock or, for those 
  who stay here permanently, ships and boats that have 
  64
  64
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  The Goddess’s Eye
  Seafarer legend holds that, when the gods left Asunder, 
  Kavestra, Goddess of the Sea, left behind her watchful 
  eye to ensure that her favored children remained faithful 
  to her. This eye manifests as an enormous, raging storm 
  that travels the seas of Asunder, never dissipating, never 
  staying in the same place for very long, and never coming 
  near land. One can see the Goddess’s Eye from a long way 
  off, but it moves with a speed and uncanny purpose that 
  makes it impossible to outrun. If the Goddess’s Eye is fixed 
  on your ship, try as you might, eventually it will catch you 
  and you will feel its terrible, destructive gaze.
  The Hungry Fleet
  Every once in a while a seafarer ship goes rogue, throws 
  off its shackles and takes to the sea to hunt and kill. The 
  Seafarers hunt these ships relentlessly, killing them when 
  they find them, but not all are found. What’s more, some 
  crews report running afoul of a great fleet of unmanned 
  ships, many dozens of number, that give chase until the 
  crew is able to escape. These ships, the Hungry Fleet, are 
  little more than a legend…but legends often have a kernel 
  of truth.
  The Thousand Ports
  There’s an archipelago—a continuous ring of tiny 
  islands—that surrounds the entirety of the mainland. 
  Though a great many of these islands are too tiny to 
  support any kind of life or settlement, there are still quite 
  a few that are big enough for settlements, and nearly all 
  of them are inhabited at least part of the time. Known 
  collectively as the Thousand Ports, some of these small 
  islands have permanent settlements that act as places for 
  Seafarers to stop and replenish supplies, while a great 
  many more serve as temporary homes for the nomadic sea 
  people. In both cases, permanent residence is rare. On the 
  occasionally-inhabited islands, crews will make landfall, 
  set up a temporary camp, blow off steam or take shelter 
  during a storm, and move on, ensuring that the dock and 
  any other structures on the island are well-maintained 
  for the next crew. Even on the islands that have a constant 
  population, the residents tend to come and go at a 
  The Hungry Fleet is said to be rumor. That’s what all say until it rips their leg off.
  The Hungry Fleet is said to be rumor. That’s what all say until it rips their leg off.
  65
  65
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  moment’s notice. Seafarers live on these islands, then 
  leave with a crew for a time, then settle on another island 
  or in Megalith without ever considering any one of these 
  places to be their permanent abode. Similarly, Seafarers 
  who need a break from the open seas will take leave of 
  their crews on these islands and live on them for a time, 
  until they take up with their old crew or a different one 
  altogether.
  People of Import
  Every ship captain is a person you should treat as 
  important, but a few Seafarers rise above the rest.
  Captain Vel the Water-Devil
  Captain Vel, known to most as the Water-Devil, is the 
  closest thing the Seafarers have to a leader. Eight feet tall 
  with webbed hands and feet, gills, a finned tail, and great, 
  curled horns on his head, Vel is a sight to behold. He 
  became captain of the Night Gambit by seizing control of 
  the ship from its previous captain, a weak man who kept 
  leading his crew to disaster and misfortune. Though the 
  crew was wary of Vel initially because of his mutinous rise 
  to power, he won their respect quickly by leading them 
  on numerous successful hunts, pillaging vast amounts 
  of treasure from unsuspecting ships, and making them 
  all rich.
  Word of his exploits spread quickly and, soon everyone 
  wanted to be on the crew of the Night Gambit. The ship 
  now operates with a rotating crew, exchanging existing 
  crewmembers for new ones every time it makes port at 
  Megalith, and the more seafarers serve under the Water-
  Devil, the more his legend grows. Though Vel has no 
  true political authority, he’s immediately recognizable 
  and widely respected, so what he says is usually met with 
  enthusiastic agreement.
  The Custodian
  A gaunt man with fish-like skin, the Custodian is known 
  by no other name. Though Megalith has no mayor, the 
  Custodian fulfills many of the functions that a mayor 
  would. He manages the day-to-day operations of the city, 
  brokers trade agreements, sees to it that merchants have 
  safe places to do business, and welcomes people to the city. 
  Nobody appointed him or hired him, but everyone defers to 
  him on subjects concerning Megalith, and he seems to have 
  the city’s best interests at heart. That last bit is important: 
  he has the city’s best interests at heart, and anyone who acts 
  in a manner he considers counter to the best interests of the 
  city usually meets a swift demise.
  Captain Leshik
  It’s not uncommon for Seafarer crews to clash with or even 
  prey upon each other; the occasional raid or sea battle is 
  considered fair play, part of life on the high seas. There is 
  one ship, though, that many Seafarers fear and that nearly 
  all would love to see sink beneath the waves: the Blue Shark. 
  Captain Leshik of the Blue Shark is a notorious pirate, even 
  among his own people, and he has a reputation for raiding 
  any ship he sees. Numerous Seafarer crews have met their 
  end when the Blue Shark found them, plundered them, and 
  scuttled them.
  Points of Conflict
  Conflict is a way of life among the Seafarers, but some 
  fights are bigger than others.
  Black Molly
  Some Seafarers believe there’s a great black sea serpent 
  with a vicious disposition that’s gotten it in its head to hunt 
  down Seafarer vessels and sink them as retribution for 
  the hundreds of serpents that have fallen to the Seafarers. 
  Many dismiss Black Molly as a myth, an excuse for cowards 
  to argue against hunting sea serpents, but more and more 
  reliable reports of the black serpent are starting to surface. 
  This has led to a split in Seafarer culture. While most want 
  to continue as they have, hunting the serpents for food and 
  resources, there are a few who believe that Black Molly is 
  a warning that the Seafarers are killing too many serpents 
  too quickly, and that they should find other things to hunt 
  lest the serpents rise up and destroy them all. The general 
  populace dismisses this vocal minority as a pack of raving 
  fools, but that doesn’t stop their ideas from spreading.
  The Seafarers Versus  
  the Land-Dwellers
  The Seafarers have always lived in an uneasy peace with 
  their land-dwelling kin. The land-dwellers know they need 
  the Seafarers for trade and travel, and so they ignore the 
  occasional raid on their own vessels. But some of the city-
  states of the mainland are starting to complain that they’re 
  being raided too often, that the Seafarers are becoming a 
  threat, and that they must either stop the raids or be put in 
  their place. So far, open conflict hasn’t happened, but many 
  believe it’s not long before open warfare on the high seas 
  breaks out.
  The Allure of Mutiny
  Mutiny is generally frowned upon in Seafarer culture. Your 
  captain is your leader; it’s her responsibility to keep you 
  safe and fed, and so you owe her your fealty and support. 
  Captain Vel’s rise to power, though, has sent the message 
  that mutiny sometimes works out just fine. This has had 
  the unfortunate effect of making mutiny more common 
  aboard Seafarer ships and, while many of these mutinies 
  are soundly put down, a few of them have succeeded, 
  putting new captains behind the helms of ships. This, in 
  turn, creates instability amongst the Seafarers themselves: 
  if a ship’s crew is the basic unit of society, and you can’t trust 
  your own crew to follow you, then you don’t really know 
  who is an ally and who is an enemy.
  66
  66
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Captain Vel The Water-Devil on the bow of his terrifying ship, the Night Gambit.
  Captain Vel The Water-Devil on the bow of his terrifying ship, the Night Gambit.
  67
  67
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: Th
  e World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: Th
  e World of Asunder
  The 
  The Mainland
  Mainland
  K
  rescien remembers the beast’s bellow, its final 
  charge, all horns and teeth and fury bearing down 
  on him, the sense of frail mortality he felt in that 
  moment. This moment is like that one in many ways. The 
  Naga is huge, a mountain of a woman nearly eight feet tall 
  with a snake’s tail twice that length and face full of exultant 
  rage. She surges forward at Krescien, spittle-froth flecking 
  her lips, her cry a ragged hiss not unlike that of the beast so 
  many years ago.
  But there was another part of that moment with the beast: 
  the instant of avoidance, Krescien’s desperate side-step, the 
  final thrust of his make-shift spear, the giddy chaos of riding 
  that beast to the ground, feeling the life bleed out of it, kicking 
  and grunting, defiant even at the end, then silent, still. He 
  spent the rest of that night skinning the thing, removing meat 
  from bones. The meat served as adequate sustenance on his 
  march back to camp, but the bones were the real prize. Horok 
  bones are hard, durable, capable of holding sharp edges and 
  protective forms when shaped into weapons and armor. That 
  process, a task that occupied two full weeks of Krescien’s time, 
  was crucial not just because it left him with weapons and 
  armor of the highest quality, but because such weapons and 
  armor are the signet of the Bone Army, and one must hunt a 
  horok, kill it, and make its bones into weapons and armor as a 
  rite of passage, proof that you belong.
  Krescien steps to the side and brings up the shield he 
  once made to earn his place. The Naga’s club-blow is a 
  meteor strike and he feels it reverberate through his entire 
  body, numbing his shield-arm. It’ll take at least a second 
  or two for the creature to recover from such an attack, 
  and that second or two is everything. The Naga is quick—
  quicker than Krescien would’ve though possible for a 
  creature her size—and she gives Krescien only one second 
  to react, spinning about and taking Terric’s head from 
  his shoulders in that brief interval. Trusty Ardin steps 
  in, shield raised, and jabs at the Naga with his spear. The 
  creature dodges easily, but the distraction gives Krescien 
  the window he needs. He plants his feet, thrusts his 
  68
  68
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  A Pacari paddles to an inn located at the center of a village in West Twin, which plies trade from the very rare night mushrooms.
  A Pacari paddles to an inn located at the center of a village in West Twin, which plies trade from the very rare night mushrooms.
  69
  69
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  spear forward, and feels it dig into flesh, break past bone, 
  emerge from the other side of the Naga’s body. 
  The Naga grunts, her left eye twitching, and the fury-
  spittle on her mouth is replaced by red bubbles, but the 
  snake-woman refuses to fall. She turns, lurching, the 
  motion yanking the spear from Krescien’s hand, and the 
  great woman’s enormous hands close around Krescien’s 
  throat and start to squeeze. Even covered head-to-toe in 
  horok-bone armor, the throat is a vulnerable spot, and the 
  Naga’s hands find deadly purchase. Krescien can feel the 
  air in his throat cut off, can feel the blood squeeze against 
  the inside of his eyes, flails in horror against the Naga’s 
  inhumanly strong arms in vain as she starts to choke the 
  life out of him. Ardin steps in from the side again, thrusts 
  his spear, drawing blood, but the Naga’s tail whips up, 
  wraps around Ardin’s head and twists it too far to the side 
  with a sickening crack. The huge snake-woman grins at 
  him, her teeth red, and Krescien realizes that even though 
  his opponent will die in the next minute or two from blood 
  loss, she’s got all the time she needs to take Krescien with 
  her. Where in the hells is Vartu? he thinks desperately.
  In a panic, Krescien fumbles his bone knife from his 
  belt and starts thrusting, stabbing wildly into the Naga’s 
  midsection, opening wound after wound in her abdomen, but 
  the creature refuses to yield, refuses to fall, refuses to die. This 
  is it, he thinks. I’m going to die at the hands of a Naga I’ve already 
  killed. Krescien thinks about his daughter, Ralla. He’s taught 
  her well, taught her to lead. She can take over for him, lead the 
  unit after he dies. She’s ready. Krescien closes his eyes.
  He falls to his knees, the Naga’s hands no longer at his 
  throat, and he takes a searing, sputtering gulp of air. He 
  coughs, chokes in as much air as he can, falls to his side, 
  rolls over to his back. Alive. It’s all he can think.
  “Getting sloppy, old man,” comes a voice from his side. 
  Krescien opens his eyes and sees Vartu standing there, 
  wiping blood from her sword with a cloth. Vartu smiles at 
  him, sheathes her sword, and offers a hand that Krescien 
  gratefully accepts.
  “Maybe so,” he says, his voice a raw whisper, but he cracks 
  a half-smile. “Lucky you were here to rescue me, I guess.”
  Vartu smiles back. “Again,” she quips. “That’s, what, four 
  you owe me now?”
  Krescien grunts and looks around. The outpost is half-
  burned at this point. Twelve Naga did this, only twelve 
  against a full company of Bone Legion Soldiers. And now, of 
  the six in his unit, only he and Vartu remain. Krescien shakes 
  his head, grips the haft of his spear, and yanks it from the 
  now-dead Naga’s side. He looks at the corpse: both hands 
  severed at the forearm, head neatly removed from the body. 
  “Three, but only if you don’t stack them up against the dozen 
  or so times I’ve pulled you from the fire, or the fact that the 
  training I gave you saves your life every damn day.”
  Vartu tilts her head and gives a mock frown. “Well, who’s 
  counting?”
  Krescien grunts another laugh and kneels down next to the 
  dead Naga. “These wounds are pretty clean.” He looks over at 
  Vartu. She’s fondling the hilt of her sword…a sword he’s never 
  seen before. “Where’d you get a glass blade, Vartu?”
  “You really gonna complain about the legality of the 
  weapon that saved your life, Captain?”
  “Glass swords are illegal for a reason, Vartu.”
  “Maybe so, but not a good one.”
  Krescien purses his lips. “You get a pass on this once. I 
  owe you big for saving me just now, and I do appreciate it. 
  But you need to get rid of that thing. If I see it on you again, 
  I can’t turn a blind eye a second time.”
  “Even if I save your life with it again?” Vartu asks, a smile 
  on her lips.
  “I’m serious.”
  “Yeah, I know,” she sighs, holding up her hands. “You’re 
  right. I’ll sell it off by morning.”
  Krescien grunts, hiding a smile. Vartu’s impetuous, 
  careless even sometimes, but she’s a good kid and a good 
  soldier. Krescien turns his attention back to the dead Naga 
  and starts rifling through her belongings. 
  “Looking for loose gems?” Vartu jokes.
  Krescien shakes his head. “Orders. We’ve been protecting 
  outlying outposts from Naga attacks for nearly three 
  months, and I’m hoping to figure out why they’re so riled 
  up. They’re clearly focused against Storm Point and its 
  holdings, and I want to see who they’re working for. My 
  money’s on Far East or the Twins.”
  “Why’s it important who hired them? Storm Point hired 
  us to take care of the raiders and that’s what we’re doing. 
  Say you go tugging at the thread of who hired them and 
  you end up being right about Far East or the Twins. Then 
  what? They might be our clients next month.”
  Krescien grunts again. “Here we go.” He pulls a crumpled 
  piece of parchment out of a pocket in what little clothing 
  the Naga was wearing and unfolds it. Wait. That’s not right. 
  “Tevarian.”
  “What?”
  “These orders are from Captain Tevarian.”
  Vartu purses her lips but says nothing.
  “This whole damned job is a con.” He stands, crumpling 
  the note in his fist. “Tevarian hires Naga to cause trouble for 
  Storm Point for a pittance, then negotiates a contract to take 
  them out for six times what he paid. This…we need to tell the 
  General.” 
  “I told you to leave it alone, old man,” comes Vartu’s 
  voice, regretful and too close to Krescien’s ear. Krescien 
  starts to spin around and raise his spear but he can already 
  feel the glass sword burrowing through his back. His legs go 
  limp as it cuts through his spine and he falls to his knees, 
  looks down in horror at the blade protruding from his 
  chest. He can feel Vartu’s breath on his cheek. 
  “I’m really sorry, Captain,” whispers his sergeant. “Orders 
  are orders.”
  ༅  ༅  ༅  ༅  ༅
  70
  70
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Arriving on the Mainland
  The mainland is the largest land mass on Asunder, much 
  larger than the islands scattered throughout the rest of 
  the world. People refer to it only as “the mainland”; it has 
  no proper name. Where the islands of Asunder are each 
  predominantly populated by a single culture, the mainland 
  belongs to many and to none. As such, your experience 
  arriving on the mainland will vary considerably depending 
  on where you arrive.
  The mainland is controlled by four sprawling city-states 
  that constantly vie for territory and resources; between 
  them are a myriad of outposts, towns, villages, and other 
  tiny settlements. These settlements usually belong to one 
  city-state or another, but the ones along the territorial 
  borders change hands often, and there’s even a strip of 
  independent settlements, a “no-man’s land” that acts as a 
  buffer for the city-states. Megalith, the city of the Seafarers, 
  is also situated on the mainland; see its section earlier in 
  this chapter for more information.
  Hyden
  The people of Hyden pride themselves on their universities, 
  theaters, and thriving art trade. Hyden is a wealthy city-
  state; the art they export is highly sought-after, and 
  non-residents often travel to Hyden for the theaters and 
  universities, providing a lucrative tourist and student trade. 
  As such, when you arrive in Hyden, your first impression is 
  often one of opulence, wealth, convenience, and modernity. 
  The streets are clean and safe, the people who live there 
  wealthy and attractive, and there’s plenty for a visitor with 
  extra money to do in Hyden. The well-to-do exterior hides 
  a core of excess and indulgence, a decadence that threatens 
  to consume the entire city. Although the central parts of 
  the city, as well as the parts nearest the river, are wealthy 
  and well-maintained, the city-state is ringed by slums and 
  depressed neighborhoods. The outskirts of the city are 
  not nearly as dangerous as places like Megalith, but crime 
  is common and people are desperate. There hasn’t been 
  a revolution yet, but many whisper that it’s coming. Were 
  it to happen, the ensuing conflict would be potentially 
  cataclysmic; Hyden doesn’t have a standing army or militia. 
  Instead, they employ the largest force of Chaos-wielders on 
  the planet. While these Chaos-wielders act as an effective 
  deterrent to invasion, if Hyden had to call upon them to 
  quell an uprising, the rampant use of Chaos by a force of 
  drug-addled hedonists with a poor grasp of consequences 
  could do irreparable harm to the city-state and the 
  surrounding area.
  Far East
  Far East, on the other hand, has already lived through its 
  revolution. Several years ago the Queen was overthrown 
  and assassinated and a new one took her place, and the 
  current Queen has made a number of sweeping changes to 
  policy and life for the people of Far East. After capitalizing 
  on Far East’s easy access to popular luxury goods like 
  textiles and sugar, the new Queen set about establishing 
  fair wages and working hours for the people of the city-
  state, as well as brokering a peace agreement with the 
  nearby Naga. Few know the terms of this peace agreement; 
  the truth of the matter is that the current Queen and her 
  supporters had been in league with the Naga for quite 
  some time and cooperated with them to overthrow and 
  kill the previous Queen. Now, the Queen of Far East has 
  secret Naga allies that she uses to gain advantage over 
  her rival city-states. The resultant mood in Far East is one 
  of peace and prosperity, tinged with expectant wariness. 
  The people of Far East are treated well and the city-state 
  is well-protected both by its standing army and its secret 
  Naga allies. Many, though, are waiting for the other shoe to 
  drop. While almost nobody knows about the alliance with 
  the Naga, the citizenry is suspicious of the sudden peace 
  and aware that the Naga continue to attack other city-states 
  while leaving their home alone. Many wonder why, and 
  what will come of it.
  Storm Point
  Though not founded by weavers, Storm Point nevertheless 
  has the largest weaver population on Asunder outside of 
  New Gaia itself. The fact that the city-state is constantly 
  buffeted by rainstorms probably has something to do with 
  this; the plants the weavers cultivate and manipulate thrive 
  here, and they’re able to both grow many of the same plants 
  that they can on New Gaia as well as create new varieties 
  that they can’t grow back home. The result of the large 
  weaver population is that Storm Point, like New Gaia, is a 
  marvel of technological innovation. While Storm Point isn’t 
  quite as advanced as New Gaia, it’s close, and the people 
  of Storm Point have access to conveniences that citizens of 
  other city-states can only dream of. A side-effect of this is 
  that, while Storm Point doesn’t have the largest standing 
  army of the city-states, it does have the most well-equipped 
  and, if another power attacks Storm Point directly, many 
  parts of the city itself can rise up in its own defense.
  The Twins
  The Twins are one city in name, though they’re sometimes 
  more like two in practice. The city-state is bisected by 
  a wide and vigorous river, and the two halves of it are 
  connected by a few bridges and little else. While it’s 
  common to travel between the two halves of the Twins, 
  East Twin and West Twin have grown into very different 
  places, and their citizens are distinct. West Twin is the 
  agricultural hub of the mainland. The urban portion of 
  West Twin is sparse and primarily consists of homes and 
  markets. What West Twin does have, though, is sprawling, 
  fertile farmland for miles and miles. The people of West 
  Twin use farming techniques passed down through 
  generations; when combined with some of the best soil 
  on Asunder, the result is a yield and quality of produce 
  that is greater and more consistent than anywhere else on 
  the mainland, possibly anywhere else in the world. East 
  Twin, on the other hand, is a center of business, trade, 
  71
  71
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  and banking. A common saying in the Twins is “What 
  the West Makes, the East Takes.” This is true to a point, 
  but it’s not the whole story. East Twin does indeed take a 
  considerable amount of the produce grown by West Twin, 
  but most of that is sold to other city-states or traded for 
  other goods, and that profit benefits West Twin as much as 
  it does East Twin. There’s a fair amount of resentment and 
  rivalry between the two Twins, and some people grumble 
  that the two will split off from each other and become 
  their own separate city-states. The truth, though, is that 
  the Twins exist in symbiosis. East would die without 
  West’s yield, and West would shrivel without East to sell 
  their goods to the wider world.
  The Way of Krescien
  Krescien is a captain in the Bone Army, the largest and most 
  sought-after mercenary company in the world. Recognized 
  easily by the armor and weapons they carry—made of 
  incredibly durable horok bone—the bone army sell their 
  services to the various city-states, villages, and outposts 
  for a variety of reasons and purposes. Many city-states 
  supplement their own standing armies with Bone Army 
  soldiers, keeping them on retainer and using them for 
  patrols or dangerous missions. Outposts and villages will 
  also sometimes hire Bone Army squads to handle disputes 
  with other settlements, take care of bandits, scare off Naga, 
  or deal with wild beasts and other threats. The Bone Army 
  is happy to take everyone’s money. They’ll fight for anyone, 
  even opposite sides of the same conflict, though they have 
  a strict rule that no Bone Army soldier will fight another 
  Bone Army soldier. An employer who violates this rule 
  forfeits all command over their hired soldiers, as well as 
  any pay that has already changed hands.
  The Bone Army is a common sight on the mainland; 
  their soldiers are numerous and omnipresent, such a 
  part of daily life that people hardly notice them. Life on 
  the mainland easily justifies the existence of such a large 
  mercenary force, too. The city-states are constantly rattling 
  their sabers at each other, bandits are a rampant and ever-
  present problem for outlying settlements, and the threat of 
  the Naga always looms.
  The Naga are, indeed, the most ancient and feared foe 
  of the people of the mainland. Larger, more powerful, and 
  far more dangerous than the average human, most people 
  are terrified of meeting a Naga, much less having to fight 
  The Twin Cities. They could not be more different and they could not resent each other more.
  The Twin Cities. They could not be more different and they could not resent each other more.
  72
  72
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  it, though encounters are much rarer than they once were. 
  The Bone Army, as well as the presence of soldiers who 
  actually owe fealty to the individual city-states, makes the 
  citizens feel safer. It makes them able to function during 
  their daily lives without fear of monsters invading and 
  killing everyone they know.
  Interestingly, there’s a much more immediate threat to 
  public safety in every city-state that most ignore or accept 
  as a necessary evil: Chaos-wielders. Chaos is unpredictable 
  and mind-bogglingly dangerous, capable of melting stone, 
  turning your organs into hair, or causing the wind to flay 
  the skin from your bones. To make matters worse, those 
  who wield the primal force of Chaos tend to be entitled, 
  hedonistic, mercurial, and high on any number of drugs. 
  The governors of the city-states hire Chaos-wielders, keep 
  them on retainer, feed them drugs, alcohol, food, and sex to 
  keep them happy, and unleash them on their enemies when 
  the time comes. Governors do everything they can to attract 
  Chaos-wielders to their cities; it’s commonly understood that 
  a city-state that controls more Chaos-wielders than any other 
  has the power, though this control is, ultimately, an illusion. 
  Still, it’s a pretty lie, and it’s one the citizenry is more than 
  willing to swallow in order to feel safe.
  The Living World
  The Essence of those on the mainland, however, bonded 
  with their own souls. Unlike people from other parts of the 
  world, the people of the mainland have no weird powers 
  or mutations. They cannot defy gravity or punch through 
  rock. Instead, they work hard, adapt to their surroundings, 
  and rely on their ingenuity and perseverance to win the day. 
  Mainlanders do make use of many of the pieces of living 
  gear that come from other parts of Asunder and may even 
  make some of their own, but their soul-bound Essence 
  means that, individually, they’re far more vulnerable than 
  those from the islands or the sea. They are much more 
  numerous, and mainlanders tend to be educated and have 
  varied backgrounds and skills.
  The fact that the mainlanders’ Essence bound to their 
  souls does give them a few perks not shared by other people 
  of Asunder, though. The most dramatic is their ability to 
  wield Chaos. While the number of Chaos-wielders on the 
  mainland is small, only a person from the mainland has the 
  ability to actually bond to a shard of Chaos and learn to wield 
  it; a Skimmer or weaver attempting the same thing would 
  be destroyed utterly, consumed and warped by the Chaos 
  shard. Because of this, some of the most powerful beings on 
  Asunder are from the mainland. Chaos is capable of far more 
  than a bond with plants or blice crystal, for example, but that 
  bond is also far more dangerous to the wielder.
  The other thing that mainlanders are capable of is being 
  transformed by Pure Light. While a barbarian monk or 
  beastmaster struck by pure light would be vaporized, there 
  is a small chance that a mainlander would instead by 
  transformed and given power by such an encounter. Because 
  of this, Pure Light cults are common on the mainland.
  Places of Interest
  The mainland is riddled with interesting and dangerous 
  places to go and explore. Here are a few of them.
  University of Chaos
  Though Hyden is famed for its universities, the University 
  of Chaos is not actually one of them. “The University of 
  Chaos” is a colloquial name that the people of Hyden use 
  to refer to a sprawling, walled campus of dormitories, cafes, 
  restaurants, taverns, and drug dens that the governor of 
  Hyden uses to house his force of Chaos-wielders and keep 
  them happy. The University’s high, thick walls keep the 
  cityfolk mostly safe from the random explosions and bursts 
  of destructive energy that are a regular occurrence on the 
  campus, but accidents still sometimes spill out into the city 
  proper, and most Hydenites have learned to avoid the areas 
  around the University of Chaos.
  No Man’s Land
  Situated at the point where the territories of Hyden, Far 
  East, Storm Point, and the Twins meet is a belt of neutral 
  territory. This territory, called No Man’s Land by most, is 
  73
  73
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  not neutral by design, but rather by sheer stubbornness. 
  The villages and outposts inside of No Man’s Land are 
  collectively small and would be easy for any single city-state 
  to swallow up…if the other city-states would let them. To 
  exacerbate the issue is the fact that these territories are far 
  from the seats of power of each of the city-states, they’ve 
  banded together into an adamantly neutral alliance, and 
  they’ve pooled their resources to buy protection from the 
  Bone Army. All these factors combine to create a small 
  chunk of territory that no city-state can seem to take or hold 
  onto for any length of time.
  Moot Point
  Within No Man’s Land is an outpost known as Moot Point. 
  It’s belonged to every city-state over the years, and currently 
  belongs to none. It earned its name by being considered a 
  place where representatives of different city-states could 
  meet with an expectation of safety during times of war. 
  Once each year, each city-state sends a representative (two 
  from the Twins) to meet and discuss the coming year. This 
  is mostly a formality, a show of good faith, but sometimes 
  important decisions are made at Moot Point.
  The Thundering Plains
  There are no settlements on the Thundering Plains, 
  despite the abundant natural resources present there. This 
  is because the Plains are home to thousands of horoks, 
  great territorial herd-beasts that have been known to level 
  entire villages over the course of a day. The evidence of 
  such doomed settlements is scattered throughout the 
  Thundering Plains, still littered with the treasures of those 
  who once tried to live there. Mainlanders have stopped 
  trying to cull the herds or start settlements 
  there; now, the only ones who venture into the 
  Thundering Plains are foolhardy scavengers 
  looking to rob the husks of dead villages or 
  aspirants to the Bone Army undergoing their 
  rite of passage.
  The Naga Swamps
  Beyond the territory of Far East lies a 
  vast and trackless swamp that is said to 
  be impassible. People say this for two 
  reasons. First, because anybody who’s 
  ever tried to chart a way through has never 
  come back. Second, because the swamp 
  is inhabited by numerous clans of Naga. 
  Naga are enormous, powerful, gifted with 
  strange powers and great hardiness, and 
  they tend to prey upon humans when 
  the two groups encounter each other. Few 
  venture into the Naga swamps, and those 
  who do are mostly people seeking the 
  power of Chaos.
  The Beyond
  There is a swath of land beyond the Naga 
  swamps that is virtually unreachable by 
  land, and the oceans around it are so 
  buffeted by violent storms and riddled 
  with jutting rocks and coral that no one 
  save the occasional Seafarer vessel dares to 
  brave the seas to make landfall. Those who 
  speak of this place believe that a god lives 
  there, one that was cast down and never 
  left with the others. They believe this god 
  hides in his land, hoarding great treasures 
  and protecting them jealously from those 
  who would usurp them. Some have gone 
  and come back, though, and tell stories 
  of a great well of Chaos there that offers 
  unlimited power to those strong enough or 
  insane enough to take it.
  A Black Isler and and an Insect Weaver battle a clutch of Nagas. 
  This may be the worst decision they’ve ever made.
  A Black Isler and and an Insect Weaver battle a clutch of Nagas. 
  This may be the worst decision they’ve ever made.
  74
  74
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  People of Import
  The mainland is home to numerous politicians, rulers, 
  diplomats, merchant-princes, and other important (or 
  self-important) people. Only a few are truly important, 
  though.
  General Harrik
  The General of the Bone Army is one of the most 
  powerful individuals on the mainland. Though each 
  city-state commands its own standing army and force of 
  Chaos-wielders, nobody commands more able-bodied 
  soldiers—each with a high degree of training, discipline, 
  and loyalty—than General Logen Harrik. With soldiers 
  posted in every city-state and nearly every outpost and 
  settlement on the mainland, the General has the power 
  to take any of the city-states by force if he so desired. 
  General Harrik is a man of honor and integrity, though, 
  and he never goes back on a contract once signed unless 
  the other party breaches it first. Not all of his officers 
  and soldiers are as noble as he is, but those who aren’t 
  are at least wise enough to act the part. Duty and honor 
  are important facets of the Bone Army’s code, and those 
  who break the rules too frequently don’t last long.
  Stormcrow
  Nobody remembers his name. He lives in a tower out 
  near No Man’s Land, and while that tower is within 
  Hyden territory, nobody in Hyden would have the 
  courage to lay claim to it or try to collect taxes from 
  the Stormcrow. Stories of his origin are varied and 
  numerous, most of them lies or exaggerations, but they 
  all agree upon one thing: ten years ago, Stormcrow was a 
  Chaos-wielder in the employ of Hyden, and he decided 
  to leave. The governor sent men to dissuade him, and 
  Stormcrow turned them all to straw. Now, Stormcrow is 
  quite likely the oldest living Chaos-wielder in the world 
  and (many say) the most powerful. For the moment, 
  he seems content to stay in his tower alone. Everyone 
  wonders what will happen when he decides to leave 
  home again.
  Betty Blue-Eyes
  Each city-state is home to numerous cartels, thieves’ 
  guilds, bands of assassins, and other criminal enterprises, 
  but none is quite so famous as Betty Blue-Eyes. Betty 
  earned fame some time ago via a string of high-profile, 
  high-risk assassinations in Storm Point. While those who 
  hired her were eventually outed, tried, and executed, 
  Betty Blue-Eyes remained at large. A few years later 
  she surfaced in Far East, killing a minor noble who 
  was proving to be a political obstacle to a number of 
  prominent courtiers in the city. Again, nobody was able to 
  find Betty or bring her to justice. Since then, she surfaces 
  periodically, each time killing in the same fashion: a 
  glass dagger through the eye, left at the scene. Nobody 
  knows what she looks like or where she gets so many 
  glass daggers, but she’s both feared by the aristocracy 
  and admired by both the criminal underworld and the 
  commonfolk. The people have a saying: “When you see 
  Betty’s blue eyes, buy yourself a burial plot.”
  Points of Conflict
  In a place with so many different political powers, conflict 
  is inevitable.
  The City-State Saber-Dance
  The city-states are always at odds with each other. They 
  need each other—each produces resources or services 
  the others don’t—but they exist in a state of intense and 
  constant rivalry, and the governors of each city-state 
  would like nothing more than to muster their forces and 
  swallow up one of their neighbors. Open warfare is rare, 
  though, as no single city-state has a significant advantage 
  over the others, and any city-state weakened by war, 
  whether the winner or loser, would be quickly swallowed 
  up by its rivals. Instead, the city-states exist in a perpetual 
  state of cold war. Trade and travel between city-states are 
  common, and most citizens aren’t particularly invested in 
  the political machinations of those who rule them, but the 
  nobility, the politicians, and the military all want a bigger 
  piece of the pie, and some say it’s only a matter of time 
  before something sparks a conflict.
  The Naga
  The Naga are an ever-present threat for those who live 
  near their swamps, as the snake-people frequently send 
  raiding parties out to smaller villages and outposts to 
  steal goods and resources from those who live there. 
  Though not much of a threat to those who live inside 
  the city-states proper, Naga raiding parties have been 
  venturing further and further into city-state territory, 
  attacking settlements further away from their home. 
  Some think the Naga have been laying low, building their 
  numbers and stockpiling weapons for a major incursion. 
  Others have noticed that most of these raids are against 
  the holdings of city-states other than Far East.
  The Threat of Chaos
  Chaos-wielders are a constant presence on the mainland, 
  at least in the city-states. Every governor keeps Chaos-
  wielders on retainer for the day open warfare breaks 
  out. The fact that each and every Chaos-wielder is a 
  catastrophe waiting to happen is conveniently ignored by 
  most. In the city-states, this means periodic events of mass 
  destruction with death tolls in the hundreds. Out in the 
  outlying settlements, it often means an unretained Chaos-
  wielder wandering into town and effectively taking it over 
  until he or she is either scooped up by a governor, killed 
  by a clever or lucky townsperson or Seeker, or pushed to 
  the point of a massacre.
  75
  75
  75
  75
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Cati has killed more friends than she has a right to have with her misuse of Chaos. Another regret to add to her ever-growing pile.
  76
  76
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: Th
  e World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: Th
  e World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  B
  lood thrums in her ears, a steady, deafening pulse 
  that pushes on the backs of her eyes and tints her 
  vision red. She lifts a hand and wipes blood from 
  her lip, smiles, and spits out a tooth. She can feel her ribs, 
  broken from the fall, and she’s favoring her left leg, but 
  all the pain is strangely muted in the face of the whirling 
  strangeness all around her. Her climbing gear was faulty—
  she’ll have a talk with the merchant who sold it to her when 
  she returns to the Twins—but she’s here now, and nothing 
  else really matters.
  Cati looks around. Nothing makes sense here; the water 
  that she’s standing in drips up toward a pulsating ball of 
  water hovering in the air. The trees twist and writhe, and 
  some of them look like they’re part stone, part flesh, or part 
  fire. The air itself crackles with mercurial energy, an energy 
  that pulls her forward, beckons to her. That energy—that 
  Chaos—wants to consume her, to make her part of itself. It 
  has a will of its own and a need to become more, to eat the 
  world around it and pervert the laws of reality. But it won’t. 
  Cati won’t let it. She’ll turn the tables, consume it, make it 
  bend to her will. She laughs at the thought, not even noticing 
  how ragged the sound is.
  She walks forward, dragging her injured leg, holding her ribs, 
  her grin manic on her face. She can feel it—the Chaos is getting 
  more excited the closer she gets, and so is she. She lifts her 
  eyes up and looks at the orb of water hanging in the air. There’s 
  something at its center: fractured, multicolored light, painful to 
  her eyes, sickening in its changeability, hypnotic in its lack of 
  pattern. The Chaos shard. Her need surges up into her throat 
  and she nearly vomits. Instead, she dives upward, plunges into 
  the hovering ball and feels both a shock of cold and blistering 
  heat at the same time, an unwholesome mixture that nearly 
  triggers her gag reflex a second time.
  Cati can feel blisters forming on her skin, but she swims 
  up toward the shard, struggling to keep her eyes open in the 
  hot-cold water. Now the Chaos seems to realize her purpose 
  and she can feel resistance, a current in the water pushing 
  her away, but she won’t be deterred. She swims on, against 
  the current, eyes nearly blinded by the cacophony of light 
  in front of her. Finally, her hand closes around the shard. It 
  does its best to tear her apart.
  The first thing Cati feels is the shard’s will struggling 
  against her. Its consciousness is unknowable, alien, but it’s 
  clear that it intends to destroy her utterly if she persists. The 
  weird hot-cold of the water around her intensifies, burns her 
  eyes, her skin, tries to force its way into her nostrils and her 
  lungs. Cati struggles not to choke, not to breathe in a lungful 
  of the water. She holds her breath, clamps her jaws and eyes 
  tight, and tightens her grip on the shard. Even behind closed 
  eyelids Cati can feel the water burning her eyes away, leaving 
  her blind. She feels the skin of her hand, the hand gripping 
  the shard, melting away, exposing the muscle beneath; that, 
  in turn, starts to bubble. She grits her teeth.
  No, she thinks. You are mine. I will take you into me and 
  possess your power. You are mine.
  The shard surges against her, pulses with wild fury, but she 
  does not relent. She will not relent. Cati pulls herself toward 
  the shard. She wraps her other hand around it, then levers 
  her body forward to wrap herself around the shard entirely, a 
  fetal position with the shard at her stomach. It’s appropriate 
  in a way; she’s being reborn today. This orb of water is her 
  womb, the Chaos energy in the shard is her mother and 
  father, and when she is born the world will tremble. She 
  holds onto that thought and slowly, slowly, she starts to bend 
  the shard to her will.
  The orb of water bubbles and twists. It surges inward, 
  then explodes outward, showering the swamp around it 
  with blistering hot-cold water. Cati’s limp form falls to the 
  ground. Much of her skin has sloughed off on her hands, 
  her legs, her stomach. Where her eyes were there are only 
  burned-out holes, and the hair has been eaten away from 
  her scalp. But she grins. She sputters and coughs and starts 
  to laugh. Her right hand opens and there, in the palm, is 
  a dull gray shard of stone. Cati discards it and struggles 
  to stand. Slowly, her skin begins to knit. Tissue reforms, 
  closing wounds and covering muscle. Where her eyes were, 
  pinpricks of electric blue light kindle, and Cati sees the 
  world anew. She sees the components of reality around 
  her, its building blocks, and she knows instinctively how to 
  reshape them to her desire.
  The world shudders in horror.
  ༅  ༅  ༅  ༅  ༅
  “Can I help you?” the merchant asks. The customer looks 
  like a young woman, face hidden by a deep hood; maybe he 
  can sell her some perfume or silk.
  “You sell climbing gear,” she says. It’s not a question.
  “I do,” he replies, unsure.
  The woman tosses a ruined length of rope and a broken 
  grappling hook on the counter of his stall. “You sold me this. 
  It broke and nearly killed me.”
  The merchant puts up his hands, placating. “I’m very sorry, 
  miss, for your misfortune. All sales are final though, and —” 
  His words cut off suddenly, and in a fit of panic he realizes 
  his mouth is gone, a patch of smooth flesh in its place. The 
  young woman raises her head and pulls back her hood. Her 
  eyes are crackling points of blue light, her hair a mane of fire, 
  but the most terrifying thing about her is her grin, manic and 
  fierce, full of wild fury. He tries to say something, to plead for 
  his life, but no sound comes, and when he raises his hands 
  he sees them turn to sand and fall away. He can’t even scream 
  as his body crumbles.
  ༅  ༅  ༅  ༅  ༅
  Chaos
  Chaos
  77
  77
  77
  77
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  The Way of Cati
  One of the rare few who wield the primal forces of Chaos, 
  Cati is a terrible force of turmoil and destruction when 
  she wants to be. Like Cati, all Chaos-wielders must track 
  down and discover a source of Chaos. Most such sources 
  are shards that exist in remote or dangerous parts of the 
  world. The Naga Swamp has quite a few shards, and there 
  are many out on the open seas, either above or below it. 
  Only those from the mainland, those whose Essence is 
  bonded with their souls, are capable of bonding with and 
  wielding Chaos energy—and only a fraction of those who 
  attempt this bonding survive the process. Chaos is an 
  inherently dangerous and destructive force, and it seeks to 
  consume any who try to control it. The rare few who learn 
  to master it do so through sheer force of will, and the 
  reward they reap is nothing short of the ability to reshape 
  reality as they see fit.
  There are, of course, limits. Chaos-wielders are not 
  omnipotent, and Chaos is dangerous and destructive to the 
  wielder when used incautiously. A relatively small use of 
  Chaos, such as imbuing a weapon with light or throwing 
  a ball of fire at someone, is reasonably safe for the wielder 
  and taxes her only slightly. A much more powerful use 
  of Chaos, such as turning an entire platoon of soldiers to 
  stone, is possible, but the chances of the Chaos-wielder 
  losing control and destroying herself are high in such 
  a scenario. Only the strongest-willed, most disciplined 
  Chaos-wielders are capable of such feats, and those people 
  are perishingly rare. 
  One of the reasons this is so is because Chaos is like a 
  drug to those who wield it. The more you call upon Chaos 
  energy, the more it impels you to do so. It floods your 
  senses with pleasure, creating an addictive high unlike any 
  drug in existence. Many who learn to harness Chaos die 
  within the first few years of doing so because they draw 
  upon it too much. The more you use Chaos, the more of a 
  tolerance you develop to its high. This drives you to draw 
  upon it more, for more spectacular feats, in order to get the 
  high you long for. Eventually, you draw upon Chaos too 
  powerful to control, and your physical form is annihilated 
  in a spectacular kind of drug overdose.
  For most, the risks of Chaos are simply too great to 
  consider trying to wield it. Those who do seek it out 
  become powerful, dangerous individuals, but also 
  become highly sought-after by the governors of the city-
  states. The city-states long ago realized that controlling 
  Chaos-wielders was the key to controlling territory, and 
  so the governors aggressively recruit Chaos-wielders. 
  They hire them for large sums of money, give them drugs, 
  food, sex, and other hedonistic pleasures, and keep them 
  happy and sedated most of the time. The reason for this 
  is twofold. First, the constant supply of earthly pleasures 
  keep Chaos-wielders from drawing on their power too 
  often and thus destroying the cities they’re hired to 
  protect. Second, the fact that everyone knows that this 
  is how Chaos-wielders are treated encourages people 
  to become Chaos-wielders, filling the ranks even more. 
  After all, if you can learn to harness Chaos, odds are good 
  that you’ll have your every whim attended to for the rest 
  of your (admittedly short) life.
  Places of Interest
  There are a few different places on Asunder where people 
  seek out Chaos energy. 
  The Naga Swamp
  On the mainland, the place most aspiring Chaos-wielders 
  seek out their power is within the Naga Swamp. Nobody’s 
  sure why, but the swamp is home to a large number of 
  Chaos shards. Though the Naga can’t harness Chaos in 
  the same way that humans of the mainland can, they 
  guard these shards jealously because they know people 
  will come to seek them, and those people make for easy 
  plunder.
  The Chaos Well
  Few even believe that this place exists, but enough stories 
  are told by people who have supposedly been there and 
  come back that the legends persist. People say that, if you 
  cross through the Naga Swamp to the Beyond, you’ll find 
  the Chaos Well there, a churning maelstrom of unnatural 
  energy. The legends also say that, if you learn to attune 
  yourself to and harness the Chaos Well, you will become a 
  god. So far, a noticeable lack of new gods leaves the theory 
  unproven.
  The Goddess’ Eye
  Chaos-wielders believe that the Goddess’ Eye, the great 
  storm that travels the seas, never diminishing or stopping, 
  is actually created by a powerful shard of Chaos at the 
  storm’s heart. Many Chaos-wielders have tried to enter the 
  Eye in order to claim this shard, but their vessels never 
  return.
  People of Import
  There are very few notable Chaos-wielders because their 
  life expectancy tends to be so short. That said, there is one 
  who has managed to live to old age.
  Stormcrow
  Among Chaos-wielders, Stormcrow is a bit of a legend. 
  Chaos-wielders don’t study to become better at wielding 
  Chaos, so none ever seek him out to learn his secrets or 
  study with him; instead, young upstart wielders seek 
  Stormcrow out to challenge him, hoping to gain fame, 
  fortune, and respect by defeating him. To this day, nobody 
  has succeeded; the battles that ensue are short and brutal, 
  and they have left the landscape around Stormcrow’s 
  tower a blasted ruin. For more information on Stormcrow, 
  see his entry in the Mainland section of this chapter.
  78
  78
  78
  78
  
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Chapter 2: The World of Asunder
  Points of Conflict
  Chaos is conflict, in its purest, most elemental form. 
  Chaos-wielders tend not to have strong allegiances to any 
  earthly power, and the only belief that tends to be strong 
  among Chaos-wielders is their belief in themselves. As 
  such, they get involved in external conflicts only when they 
  must (because of a contract with a city-state, for example). 
  That said, conflicts between Chaos-wielders are common. 
  These individuals tend to be arrogant, self-important, 
  entitled, and drunk on both power and alcohol. When two 
  or more of them get in one place, conflicts are inevitable. 
  The governors minimize this by keeping them in a drug-
  induced stupor most of the time, but little in the world can 
  cause more devastation than two lucid Chaos-wielders in 
  the same place at the same time.
  Chaos wielders attempt to destroy Stormcrow only to be turned to ash.
  Chaos wielders attempt to destroy Stormcrow only to be turned to ash.
  79
  79
  
  Chapter 3: Factions
  Chapter 3: Factions
  Chapter 3: Factions
  Chapter 3: FactionsChapter
  Three Factions
  The Wooden Legion believes their holy war will save Asunder from ruin. So do the other factions. The only problem: their wars are the thing destroying the planet.
  The Wooden Legion believes their holy war will save Asunder from ruin. So do the other factions. The only problem: their wars are the thing destroying the planet.
  80
  80
  
  Chapter 3: Factions
  Chapter 3: Factions
  T
  hree of Dadara’s nails are chewed to the quick by 
  the time the runner brings word to the General and 
  her staff: east wing, seven hostiles sighted, active Shard 
  in play. Her stomach does a flip and she starts in on the 
  fourth nail. She’s seen plenty of combat, but Chaos Shards 
  are another story. 
  “Are we certain this is worth the risks?” Dadara hears 
  herself say. “It might be a low-level Shard. Someone setting 
  us up for a trap.”
  The General looks up from her whispered conference 
  with a squadron leader, her face twisted in disgust. “What’s 
  your name, lieutenant?”
  Damn my loose lips. “Dadara Exal, sir. Your newest aide?”
  The General bares her teeth in something that might be a 
  smile. “First rule, aide girl. Don’t say stupid shit where I can 
  hear it.”
  “Yes, sir.” Dadara wishes she could disappear, but with 
  the entire command structure of the Bone Army hiding 
  inside a hedge, all she can do is shuffle to one side a few 
  inches. Her captain, Fisker Amman, gives her a pitying 
  grin and pats her on the shoulder. He was the one who’d 
  recommended her as an aide, widely known as one of the 
  worst positions in the mercenary group, and now he was 
  enjoying watching her squirm. She plays with the carved 
  crystal embedded in the bone ring she wears on her left 
  hand and ignores him. Eat dirt, Fisker. I’m right where I want 
  to be.
  The General finishes her whispered orders, and the 
  squadron leaders crawl out of the hedge, each heading for 
  their respective positions. “As soon as we hear the doors, 
  give, we go,” she says to her cluster of assistants and aides, 
  rubbing her bone-backed gauntleted hands together in 
  81
  81
  
  Chapter 3: Factions
  Chapter 3: Factions
  anticipation. “Expect resistance as soon as we hit the east 
  wing. Kill whoever you can, but so help me, if you get in my 
  way, by Gaia’s tits and teeth I’ll cave your head in myself.” 
  She strokes the massive war maul she always carries with 
  something akin to sexual pleasure, lost in the thought of 
  murder and mayhem. The weapon’s haft is the thigh-bone 
  of a good-sized horok, and its head has jawbones affixed 
  in a hexagonal pattern with jagged teeth jutting out on all 
  sides. The General is whispering to it.
  Dadara jams her bone helmet on her head and steadies 
  her breathing. Being an aide is important. I’m helping one of the 
  women who makes the world turn. Just don’t get in front of her. 
  Shit, don’t most generals stay in the rear? There’s a Chaos Shard 
  in there!
  The doors cave in with a sound like thunder, and 
  the General bursts out of the hedge whooping like a 
  madwoman. Dadara yanks her bone axe free from its loop 
  and follows with a curse.
  The mansion being invaded by the Bone Army is an 
  opulent place nestled in the quiet foothills of Hyden, 
  surrounded by grounds and gardens that make a perfect 
  staging ground for covert actions without alerting the 
  Governor and his army. The mansion is made of the most 
  beautiful pink quarried stone, and broad steps lead up 
  to the thick rockwood doors currently hanging askew on 
  broken hinges. Two footmen lie motionless in their own 
  blood just inside. The entirety of Blue Squadron is clanking 
  their way double-time toward the west wing, and Black 
  Squadron should be circling outside the windows of the 
  east wing ballroom even now.
  There’s still plenty for Dadara and her mates to do, 
  though. The General wouldn’t have it any other way. Four 
  guardsmen come thundering down the hallway with pikes 
  extended as the command squad breaches the east wing. 
  The General laughs, thumps her maul against her hand, 
  and rushes out to meet them.
  The clash of weapons sounds like a mountain falling in 
  the stone confines of the torch-lit corridor. The General 
  sweeps her massive weapon at just the right moment, 
  breaking the shafts of three of the spears. A fourth lodges 
  in her thigh and she bellows mightily. It almost sounds as if 
  she enjoys the wound. 
  Dadara steps around her deftly and jabs the blunt tip of 
  her axe into the throat of the guardsman currently digging 
  his pike into her boss’s leg. The man gasps and clutches at 
  his neck, his windpipe collapsed. He’ll be dead in seconds. 
  She’s seen it plenty of times, and there’s no need to watch 
  again. Together with her comrades she makes short work of 
  the men and moves to secure the intersection of hallways. 
  Understaffed, and they can’t have had more than a couple of 
  months practicing with those spears. Whoever runs this place 
  wasn’t expecting the Bone Army to show up.
  The General roars and kicks aside the man who’s trying 
  to tend to her leg. “Keep up!” she barks as she lumbers past 
  Dadara. From there it’s a short, sweaty, blood-soaked run 
  to the east wing ballroom, and the boss uses her shoulder 
  as a battering ram to get them through the doors. Dadara’s 
  heart is pounding, and it’s not from the fighting. A dancing 
  hall of stunning grace and opulent wealth waits beyond, lit 
  by a chandelier of vidrin and rainbow glass. Dadara tries 
  to imagine how much the owner of this hall spent on the 
  frivolous, useless, illegal rainbow glass twinkling so prettily 
  over their heads, and guesses that it’s as much money as 
  she’d make in three or four lifetimes as a lieutenant.
  A ring of scared-looking guardsmen in leather armor 
  surround…something. Dadara is having a hard time 
  looking at the distortion in the center of the room. It’s like 
  all the light is bending toward a focal point behind the 
  soldiers, and something dark rides at the center of that 
  disturbance. A figure. A man.
  She grits her teeth and forces herself to look. Oh Gaia 
  oh gods oh forgotten ones save me, her mind shrieks as she 
  smoothly, calmly takes the General’s flank and rushes 
  forward with the others. It’s Chaos, it’s the end of everything, 
  I’m going to die! She wishes she’d had the chance to shit in 
  the General’s pillowcase like she’d always promised herself 
  she would one day.
  The guardsmen break like dry twigs before their assault, 
  and the sound of mocking laughter rides under and around 
  the men’s screams. One of the guards aims a thorn spitter at 
  her and Dadara kicks him in the chest. He falls backwards 
  into the darkness, and it’s as if a bubble pops – instead of 
  the twisting glamor of Chaos, she sees a spindly young 
  fellow holding a yellow-shining piece of glass. The guard 
  has bumped into him and disrupted his concentration.
  He’s barely more than a kid. His clothes might have been 
  nice once, but they’re ripped and stained with all sorts of 
  foulness and hang from his skinny frame in tatters. He 
  looks scared. He looks angry. He looks insane.
  “Don’t touch me!” he shrieks, backhanding the luckless 
  guard. “How many times have I told you?!”
  And then the guard is gone, and a pulsing black mass the 
  size of a large melon wobbles on the floor where he stood. 
  I’m next. He’ll see me and I’ll be next. I never should have taken 
  this assignment.
  Sure enough, the mad young man’s gaze shifts and lands 
  on Dadara. Her guts freeze and so does the rest of her. 
  She’s never frozen in combat before. She has faced down 
  a charging horok ten times her mass and made her armor 
  out of what was left over. But this kid has her pegged. This is 
  the part where I die. The filthy lad sneers, stretches his hand 
  toward her, and the light of Chaos flares in his eyes.
  Then he screeches in pain, a thumb-sized thorn jutting 
  from the meat of his cheek. One of the other Bone Army 
  adjutants kept his head, apparently. The mad Shard-
  wielder clutches at the barb, swearing, and the spell is 
  broken. Dadara sweeps in and shatters the boy’s forearm 
  with her bone axe, and the pretty, deadly Chaos Shard 
  tinkles to the floor, inert but intact.
  “Hnnnggg, feels good!” the General growls with feral 
  pleasure as she swoops in and kicks the poor downed fellow 
  in the head. “Clean it up, grubs! I think we’re done here.”
  Dadara is inclined to agree with the statement until 
  someone tears off the north wall of the ballroom.
  Chapter 3: Factions
  Chapter 3: Factions
  82
  82
  
  Chapter 3: Factions
  Chapter 3: Factions
  She’d wondered why the Black Squadron never came 
  in through the windows like the plan had called for, and 
  it turns out that it’s because they’re all dead. Through 
  the gaping hole in the finery she sees bone-clad corpses 
  littering the manicured lawn. The bodies are hard to 
  focus on, though, because there’s six monstrously large 
  figures standing in the gap looking like someone shaped a 
  nightmare out of a copse of trees and brought it to life. The 
  wooden, leafy monsters stand a good nine feet tall, and the 
  floor shakes as they step forward.
  “STEP AWAY FROM THE SHARD,” an amplified voice 
  booms from the lead figure.
  The General squints at the tree monsters and spits on the 
  floor. “Vesta, is that you?”
  The lead figure sweeps into a parody of a bow, its leafy 
  arms spreading wide and its head dipping. “HELLO, 
  GENERAL.”
  “You horrid bitch!” the General laughs. “I think you made 
  my new aide piss in her armor. What’s the Commander of 
  the Wooden Legion doing in Hyden? I heard you were at 
  the Twins.”
  “BUSINESS TAKES ME WHERE IT WILL.”
  “Don’t I know it,” the General says, lounging on her war 
  maul. “Take that shit off and come have lunch with me. 
  Looks like you killed some of my men, so you’re paying this 
  time.”
  “I HAVE TO TAKE THE SHARD, GENERAL.” The 
  massive wooden figures advance, forming a loose, 
  threatening semicircle around the remaining Bone Army 
  soldiers. Dadara tenses again, feeling exhausted and 
  strung-out. Getting a reprieve from a certain, horrible 
  death only to be faced with another was more than she had 
  prepared for today.
  “Well…” drawls the General, hefting her massive maul, 
  “you’re welcome to come and try if you want.”
  The room bursts into motion, and Dadara is in the thick 
  of it once more. An armored wooden hand smashes into 
  the floor where she had stood one second before, and she 
  hammers at it with her club. Bark and wood chips fly, but 
  the person riding in the wooden skin only laughs and 
  draws back for another blow.
  Out of the corner of her eye she can see the General 
  locked in combat with the Commander of the Wooden 
  Legion. The fallen Chaos Shard is on the floor between 
  their feet, and they trade blows that would fell other 
  women without flinching. The General takes a fist the size 
  of her head in the ribs and laughs as she spits blood onto 
  the translucent face mask of her opponent. She’ll probably 
  take the woman out for drinks afterward, no matter who wins.
  Dadara’s opponent crashes forward, trying to crush her in 
  its grasp, but she dances out of the way. In passing she sees 
  a man’s face through the facemask of the wooden skin. He’s 
  not bad-looking, though that mustache is disgusting.
  Then hard wooden arms wrap around her from behind, 
  lifting her off the floor. One of the others had gotten behind 
  her as she was focused on the fight in front of her! A man’s 
  voice booms in her ear.
  “I’ve got this one. Mop up the others.”
  The mustached fellow waves in agreement and clomps 
  off in another direction.
  Dadara struggles with all her might, but it’s useless. The 
  wooden skin these warriors wear is several times stronger 
  than her. All this man has to do is squeeze and she’ll die.
  “Take the note,” the Wooden Legionnaire whispers in her 
  ear. 
  The wooden giant opens its hand while still holding her 
  to its chest, and a crumpled piece of paper lies within. On 
  top of the note is a bone ring. With a carved bit of crystal 
  embedded in it shaped like a bird. Exactly like the one she 
  wears.
  She’s been expecting contact from her handlers in the 
  Kingfisher Society, but not at a moment like this. We really 
  do have agents everywhere that matters.
  She reaches for the note, and the arms around her loosen 
  just enough for her to slip free. She looks at her erstwhile 
  captor – inside his armor he’s an old fellow, bald, with 
  crushed ears.
  “Time frame?” she asks.
  “Immediate.”
  “Assistance?”
  “Me.”
  She tears open the paper; it’s embossed with the 
  Kingfisher bird. The message is simple. Secure the Shard. 
  Do not allow the Bone Army or the Wooden Legion to take 
  possession. Do not disrupt either command structure.
  She sighs. “You couldn’t have gotten this to me an hour 
  ago?”
  The battered old man in the wooden skin gives her a flat, 
  unfriendly look, and she shrugs. Pandemonium still rages 
  on all sides.
  “Well, let’s get to it, then. I need a distraction.”
  Her handler nods once and lumbers off into the knot 
  of fighters, laying about himself with massive wooden 
  fists that connect with a fury and abandon that is truly 
  impressive. As many punches land in the faces of the 
  Wooden Legion as on the Bone Army. He rampages from 
  one conflict to the next, sideswiping combatants on both 
  sides, leaving a wake of stunned fighters staring after him.
  “HARREN’S CRACKED,” the Commander of the 
  Wooden Legion calls. “BRING HIM DOWN. BE GENTLE.”
  “The hell I will,” laughs the General. “Clean up your own 
  mess.” She’s standing over the fallen madman, and there’s 
  a bundle of cloth in her hand through which a faint glow is 
  shimmering. She’s wrapped up the Shard so it doesn’t touch her 
  skin. The woman might be an avalanche walking, but she’s no 
  dummy.
  The instructions had said she couldn’t kill the General or 
  the Commander, but she assumes the others are fair game. 
  If the unknown leaders of the Kingfisher Society wants to 
  quibble with her on the matter, next time they could damn 
  well get the orders into her hands before she’s standing in 
  the middle of a mercenary skirmish.
  Dadara dips her hand into the secret pocket in her 
  sleeve and pulls out two plain black seeds. They look like 
  Chapter 3: Factions
  Chapter 3: Factions
  83
  83
  
  Chapter 3: Factions
  Chapter 3: Factions
  something a girl would spit out as she raids a melon patch, 
  but each one cost her a month’s salary and the promise of 
  the Weavers’ wrath if she was ever caught using them. Time 
  to roll the dice.
  “General!” she shouts as she races toward her supposed 
  leader. “New intelligence!”
  The burly woman jerks her head in Dadara’s direction, 
  her face still locked in a battle grimace, blood staining her 
  teeth. She looks as if she might rip off her aide’s head just 
  on the principle of the matter, but after a moment she nods 
  and motions her to come close.
  Dadara sidles up close and motions the woman closer as 
  if she has a secret to tell. Two other Bone Army lieutenants 
  stand close by, but they take several steps back and avert 
  their eyes, well-versed in the need for privacy when new 
  information comes in. Besides, there’s so much commotion 
  still going on as Harren the Wooden Legionnaire rampages 
  through the ballroom that their eyes keep drifting toward 
  the melee. The impassive old man is holding three of his 
  own comrades at bay and no less than six of the Bone Army 
  at the same time. Better diversion than I could have hoped for.
  “Out with it,” urges the General, her face inches away.
  “It’s like this,” Dadara tells her, and she presses one of the 
  black seeds to the woman’s throat right where it meets the jaw.
  The General’s eyes bulge and her hand flies to her neck. 
  The seed adheres to her skin as tiny green creepers burst 
  from within and worm their way beneath her skin. Before 
  the General can even draw breath, Dadara is spinning away, 
  pulling her black glass dagger from the sheath hidden 
  inside her left bracer. The blade flashes in and out of the 
  back of one of the nearby lieutenants as easy as cutting 
  butter, puncturing the man’s lung and sending him to his 
  knees with a gurgle. The other one is only halfway turned 
  with surprise on his face when the glass dagger tears out his 
  throat. Blood spurts past his grasping fingers and cascades 
  down his bleached-bone breastplate. No more than five 
  seconds have passed.
  The General is on her knees, eyes glassy. “Treason,” she 
  mumbles, movements weak and sluggish. “It’s the stupid 
  one.”
  “It’s always the stupid one,” Dadara tells her, pushing the 
  big woman onto her back. “You should have known. Now 
  shut up and fall asleep, you awful cunt.” Taking a deep 
  breath, she grabs the cloth-wrapped Chaos Shard and tucks 
  it inside her breastplate. She feels a worming tingle in her 
  breast where it sits and hopes she can offload the piece to 
  her handlers before too much time passes. Chaos kills. I hate 
  this shit.
  It’s a textbook bit of espionage, but as Dadara looks 
  up from her handiwork, she sees the Commander of the 
  Wooden Legion looking right at her from across the room. 
  A giant wooden hand points accusingly. “TREACHERY! 
  THE GENERAL IS DOWN!”
  Every head turns toward her.
  Well, dammit. Dadara shuffles her feet. So much for keeping 
  my cover.
  There are windows on all sides, and she’ll be through 
  the closest one before anyone can stop her. The mission 
  will be completed, and she’ll move on and embed herself 
  somewhere new as the Society directs her. This isn’t the 
  first time she’s had to make a hasty exit.
  Except that then the ceiling caves in, and everyone’s on 
  their back, Dadara included. She blinks the dust out of her 
  eyes and looks about. Dirty, dusty figures are struggling to 
  find their feet on all sides, and the groans of the injured 
  fill the air. The entire ceiling is gone, and the noonday sun 
  paints the wreckage yellow and white. A truly disturbing 
  number of crawling insects are swarming out of the ruined 
  chunks of wood.
  In the midst of it all stands a single upright figure, 
  ominous in its dark robes and gleaming red beetle-carapace 
  mask. The dust doesn’t touch those dead black robes as it 
  picks its way carefully to Dadara’s side.
  “It’s so pleasant to watch little children play their games, 
  don’t you think?” the mask asks her. Dadara can’t tell if it’s 
  a man or a woman – the voice has a multi-toned buzz that 
  sounds like a wasps’ nest speaking. “Look at me, mother, 
  I’m a soldier, I’m a spy, I hold the Chaos!” She hears a 
  chuckle made of plaguefly wings. “Such silly stories you tell 
  yourselves.”
  The red-masked intruder kneels at her side, and Dadara is 
  ready, glass blade flashing, seeking the jugular…but her arm 
  is limp, and the dagger is falling to the ground. Blood should 
  be gushing from this imposter’s throat, but instead Dadara 
  feels a curious lethargy. A coldness in her fingers. What?
  Then she sees the red-masked figure’s hand buried in 
  the meat of her chest. He – it must be a man – has punched 
  through her breastplate and driven his knuckles right into 
  her heart. Impossible. All she can see is his wrist emerging 
  from the ruined hole with blood burbling up on all sides. 
  “Oh,” she says stupidly.
  “The Red Alliance thanks you for your assistance,” 
  the red mask says with his alien, insectile chorus-voice, 
  withdrawing his gory hand from Dadara’s crushed chest. 
  “Our business is concluded.” He plucks the Chaos Shard 
  out from behind her ruined chestplate. The glimmering 
  Shard drips with her blood, and the red mask holds it 
  uncovered in his bare hand. Madness. Death. I knew it. I 
  never should have come.
  Her vision is dimming, and all the maneuvering she’s 
  lived for the last five years seems utterly pointless. A 
  centipede skitters across her cheek, but she can hardly feel 
  it. All she can focus on is the sparkle and shine of the Shard 
  in the man’s fist. Nothing else. It’s so beautiful. Kingfisher, 
  Bone Army – who cares? This is the only thing that has any 
  meaning. The only thing that shines. Chaos. Why was I so 
  scared of it? Why didn’t I understand? Her muscles unknit, 
  and the cold invades everything. Only the shine remains.
  ༅  ༅  ༅  ༅  ༅
  Chapter 3: Factions
  Chapter 3: Factions
  84
  84
  
  Chapter 3: Factions
  Chapter 3: Factions
  The Wooden Legion
  Formed more than a century ago by a New Gaian Weaver 
  named Sybilan Croe, the Wooden Legion is one of 
  Asunder’s biggest open secrets. While the Legion officially 
  doesn’t exist, rumors abound, and most monarchs and 
  governmental leaders have a contact or two in the Legion. 
  Though based primarily in New Gaia, the Wooden Legion 
  hold themselves apart from any world government or 
  political body.
  This does not make them neutral. Rather, the Wooden 
  Legion have strong convictions and motivations, and 
  they fight for their purpose with fervor and tenacity. The 
  purpose of the Wooden Legion is simple: to combat the 
  Blight in all its forms. They see the Blight and its Green 
  Army as the greatest existential threat to humanity in the 
  history of Asunder. 
  While this occasionally means that the Legion works 
  in tandem with local armies or mercenary forces, it does 
  occasionally put them at odds with the powers that be. 
  The Legion consider themselves to be bound by no 
  national law; while they do their best to respect local law 
  where they can, they see breaking laws to be a righteous 
  act, provided it’s in pursuit of their purpose. This is why, 
  most of the time, they work alone, in small groups of three 
  to five.
  Each Legionnaire owns a living suit of wooden armor 
  called a wooden skin. These wooden skins are highly 
  individualized and varied, because each prospective 
  Legionnaire is required to grow their own wooden skin as 
  part of initiation. While the Legion comprises primarily 
  Weavers, they are not an exclusive organization, accepting 
  people from all nations and walks of life.  
  This does not mean that the organization is easy to 
  join. For one thing, finding the Legion is a challenge in 
  and of itself; in fact, new recruits are typically invited. 
  The organization is decentralized, operating as cells 
  throughout the world, each of them communicating 
  through various secret and esoteric means with Command 
  back in New Gaia. Once a prospective Legionnaire 
  finds the Wooden Legion, they must prove themselves 
  worthy. This involves a number of trials, from combat 
  to investigations to infiltrations, and culminates in the 
  creation of the new Legionnaire’s wooden skin. If, at any 
  point, the applicant falters, they are rejected, and unlikely 
  to be able to find the Legion a second time.
  Though formidable, the Wooden Legion is not large. 
  Their ranks number some 300 warriors, give or take, as 
  well as another hundred or so support personnel. What 
  this means is that, while the Legion tries to answer the 
  call when the Blight become a threat, they can only be in 
  so many places at once. The Legion is spread thin, and so 
  calls often go unanswered.
  In practice, this means that Legionnaires are often sent 
  on assignment in small groups of three to five. In the 
  majority of cases, a small group can take care of a problem 
  on their own. However, each strike team is empowered 
  to hire mercenary help when necessary, and to work 
  with local governments and military forces to bolster 
  their fighting power when necessary. They do this only 
  very rarely, when at great need. The Legion believes that 
  secrecy is their most potent weapon, and so they involve 
  outsiders as infrequently as they can and, when they do, 
  they use proxies to obtain the help.
  Complicating the Legion’s ability to effectively be where 
  they need to be is a schism within leadership. The current 
  Commander of the Legion is a woman named Vesta Gale, 
  though most simple know her as “the Commander.” 
  Beneath her in the hierarchy are the Council of Generals, 
  comprising seven individuals, and this is where the 
  schism exists. Two factions exist within the Council and, 
  while both believe that the Legion’s purpose – to fight 
  the enemies of humanity – is of utmost importance, they 
  differ on who exactly comprises an “enemy of humanity.” 
  One faction, led by General Alric Heldon, cleaves 
  close to the Legion’s original mandate: to fight the Green 
  Army, demons, devourers, monsters of various kinds, and 
  (when necessary) the Naga. Heldon’s faction believes that 
  maintaining distance from national politics is crucial to 
  this endeavor, so as to avoid being swayed by the agendas 
  of kings, emperors, and noble houses. 
  The other faction, led by the much younger General 
  Myrkala Kadras, argues that humanity is often an enemy 
  to itself. Kadras believes that the Legion should take 
  a more active hand in shaping and guiding national 
  politics, and her argument that humanity’s propensity 
  for petty wars and unnecessary atrocities proves their 
  self-destructive nature is gathering support within the 
  Legion. While the Commander publicly backs General 
  Heldon’s faction, even she must admit that General 
  Kadras makes some good points, and that broadening 
  the scope of the Legion’s mandate may eventually 
  become necessary.
  For now, the old guard remains in control of the 
  Council and, by extension, the Legion itself. But General 
  Kadras’s arguments are taking root within the Wooden 
  Legion, and more and more Legionnaires – particularly 
  newer, younger Legionnaires – are flocking to her cause. 
  Kadras has yet to openly defy Legion policy, but rumors 
  persist of “Shadow Missions,” unsanctioned operations 
  by Legionnaires designed to prevent wars or foment 
  rebellions, depending on the nation in question.
  The Legion  
  and Other Groups
  Because the Legion doesn’t align itself with any particular 
  power or nation, many groups and organizations within 
  Asunder fall into both the ally and enemy category, 
  depending on the situation. Some of these organizations 
  hold grudges, while others take a more pragmatic 
  approach. The Wooden Legion is far from the only 
  powerful group with a vision for how to save (or rule) 
  Asunder, and many of these visions are incompatible.
  85
  85
  
  Chapter 3: Factions
  Chapter 3: Factions
  Chapter 3: Factions
  Chapter 3: Factions
  The Bone Army
  The best example of this latter approach is the Bone Army. 
  The Legion and the Army have clashed dozens of times, but 
  they’ve worked together even more often. When fighting 
  the Green Army, Naga, or other threats on the Mainland, 
  the Legion commonly bolsters their own combat strength 
  with both local militias and Bone Army mercenaries. 
  However, it’s not uncommon for the Legion to act against 
  the interests of one city-state or another while pursuing 
  their mandate and, when this happens, they often must 
  fight mercenaries of the Bone Army. Sometimes both of 
  these situations occur simultaneously.
  The Bone Army is famously pragmatic in their approach 
  to combat and loyalty. As mercenaries, a contingent of Bone 
  Army soldiers owe their loyalty to whomever is paying 
  them in that moment. This means that they’re used to 
  fighting people they’ve worked alongside pretty regularly, 
  and this includes the Legion. While individual members of 
  the Army might hold grudges against the Legion, the Bone 
  Army as a whole tends to approach each skirmish as the 
  situation dictates.
  The city-state that most often causes conflicts between 
  the Bone Army and the Wooden Legion is Far East. Because 
  that city-state often works with the Naga and pursues their 
  ends, they frequently come into conflict with the Wooden 
  Legion. When they do, they often employ the Bone Army 
  for protection.
  The Red Alliance
  Back home in New Gaia, the Legion has clashed several 
  times with the Red Alliance, though this is typically 
  a circumstantial event that happens when the two 
  organizations are working at cross-purposes. Officially, the 
  Legion doesn’t work for the government of New Gaia and 
  does not consider the Red Alliance an enemy or a threat to 
  humanity. However, the Red Alliance has, in the past, used 
  the Green Army to their own ends, which has put them into 
  conflict with the Legion.
  Within the Legion, there are those who do consider the 
  Alliance to be a threat to humanity. While General Kadras 
  hasn’t taken that stance herself, people within the Legion 
  are trying to convince her to run Shadow Missions against 
  the Alliance, including at least one member on the Council 
  of Generals.
  The Circle of Six
  The Legion has, on occasion, gone to the Black Isle to help 
  the Islers fight demons, but this doesn’t happen as often 
  as one might assume. While demons are undoubtedly an 
  enemy of humanity – every member of the Legion agrees 
  on this point – the Legion has found that the Islers don’t 
  need their help that often. This could very easily change 
  soon; the Great Scar is quickly becoming a threat that the 
  Islers are ill-equipped to handle, and when a horde of 
  demons spills out of the Scar (as it’s undoubtedly going to, 
  and soon), the Legion will have to step in. 
  The Circle of Six has, in the past, been resentful of 
  Wooden Legion involvement in Black Isle affairs. While the 
  Legion and the Circle have cooperated on occasion, King 
  Stolgart’s stance is that the Black Isle needs no help from 
  soft outlanders. The Legion does have an ally within the 
  Circle, however, in Venna of Clan Corit.
  The Sky City Houses
  The Noble Houses of Sky City are troublesome for the 
  Legion. Their constant politicking and backstabbing, their 
  incessant shadow wars, are one of the primary reasons 
  General Kadras argues for the Legion to get more politically 
  involved. Agents of the Houses are always meddling with 
  forces best left alone, trying to gain advantage against their 
  rivals, often with disastrous results. Because of this, nearly 
  eighty percent of Kadras’s Shadow Missions target one or 
  more of the Houses, trying to stop them from unleashing 
  some destructive force on Asunder. Several of the Houses, 
  most notably House Alachese, count the Wooden Legion 
  as bitter enemies, and undermine their efforts whenever 
  possible.
  Seekers and  
  The Wooden Legion
  Because of its diverse makeup, mission-based approach to 
  conflicts around the world, and mandate to fight dangerous 
  creatures, the Wooden Legion makes a good organization 
  for Seekers to belong to, and a Keeper could easily build 
  an entire campaign around Wooden Legion activities. In 
  addition, because the Wooden Legion is a secret society, 
  a Seeker group comprised of Legionnaires can look like 
  any other group of Seekers. They can take on whatever 
  missions they like, hiding in plain sight, until the Legion 
  gives them an assignment.
  While this does mean that most or all of the Seekers 
  in the group will take the Wooden Legionnaire expert 
  path, this path is a particularly versatile one, and has no 
  requirements for entry. Because of the versatility of the 
  path, and the fact that Seekers can easily differentiate 
  themselves with novice and master paths, Origins, living 
  gear, and so forth, it’s still possible to have a very diverse 
  group of Seekers with a wide variety of abilities to call 
  upon, but with a unified purpose.
  If a player or two don’t want to take the Wooden 
  Legionnaire path, but do want to be a part of the Legion, 
  remember that the Legion employs a number of support 
  personnel who, while they aren’t Legionnaires, are still 
  valuable members of a strike team. For example, a player 
  who doesn’t want to take the Wooden Legionnaire expert 
  path could instead be an Inventor who provides all manner 
  of useful devices to the strike team, of a Shadow who acts 
  as an infiltration expert, for example. These individuals are 
  part of the Legion and privy to their secrets and agendas, 
  but aren’t technically Legionnaires. 
  86
  86
  86
  86
  
  Chapter 3: Factions
  Chapter 3: Factions
  Chapter 3: Factions
  Chapter 3: Factions
  The Bone Army
  There are many mercenary armies in Asunder, spread 
  across many different parts of the world. None, however, 
  is as well-known or renowned as the Bone Army. Based 
  on the Mainland, the Bone Army started almost three 
  centuries ago, when the city-state of Keldon fell. Keldon 
  was engaged in a protracted war, and the bulk of the city-
  state’s army was off fighting a battle against Hyden’s army 
  when an army of Naga decided to take advantage of the 
  army’s absence. 
  The Naga swept over Keldon like a wave, slaughtering 
  the skeleton crew of soldiers left behind, as well as most of 
  the civilian population. The survivors --- those who didn’t 
  escape the slaughter – were either sold to slavers or taken 
  by the Naga to serve the clutch. When Keldon’s army 
  returned home, weakened, bloodied, and substantially 
  smaller than when it left, they found the city-state in 
  ashes.
  Many generals would have gathered strength and 
  marched on those who murdered their kin, exacting 
  vengeance. Vedras Khel was not like many generals. The 
  way he saw it, with Keldon now just a ruin and a memory, 
  the army’s first duty was to each other, to their brothers- 
  and sisters-in-arms. The Keldonite army was now an 
  army without a home or a people; in order to survive, they 
  became soldiers for hire.
  Over the next few decades, the Keldonite army 
  trained and strengthened itself. Only the fittest in the 
  mainland survive, so the Keldonites set out to become 
  apex predators. It became the army’s custom to hunt 
  horoks, one of the most dangerous beasts in the land, 
  both for meat and for the incredibly hard bone in their 
  bodies, bone that could withstand the blow of a maul 
  and hold a razor’s edge indefinitely. This practice became 
  an initiation rite for those who wished to join the army 
  and, eventually, the practice evolved into new recruits 
  being tasked with hunting a horok alone, killing it, and 
  fashioning armor and weapons from its bones.
  Soon, word began to spread of the “Bone Army,” an elite 
  band of mercenaries who clothed themselves in bone and 
  fought with bone weapons. Ever a pragmatist, General 
  Khel insisted the Bone Army take a stance of absolute 
  neutrality in all conflicts, except when being paid for their 
  loyalty. 
  Captain Krescien and his squad battle the Naga outside of Hyden. Sixth fight his week. They can’t keep this up.
  Captain Krescien and his squad battle the Naga outside of Hyden. Sixth fight his week. They can’t keep this up.
  87
  87
  
  Chapter 3: Factions
  Chapter 3: Factions
  The Bone Army  
  and Other Groups
  The Bone Army has few consistent enemies or allies. 
  Because their loyalty can be bought, they are often seen as 
  a resource rather than a rival by those in power. There are 
  a few exceptions to the rule, though.
  The Naga
  The Bone Army and the Naga clash frequently, even when 
  the Bone Army isn’t under a contract that requires such 
  battles. Long ago they accepted contracts from the Naga, 
  but doing so proved to be bad for their reputation, so 
  they abolished the practice. Because of this, they are at 
  odds with various Naga clutches more often than not and, 
  while this doesn’t cause any particular animosity on the 
  part of the famously pragmatic Bone Army, the Naga see 
  the matter differently.
  Most Naga clutches see the Bone Army as a frequent 
  obstacle at best and an existential threat at worst. Entire 
  clutches have been exterminated by the Bone Army, and 
  that is an affront the Naga will not forgive or forget.
  The Wooden Legion
  The General of the Bone Army is one of the few people in 
  the world who knows for a fact that the Wooden Legion 
  exists, and even knows how to contact them. The two 
  groups often work together against the Blight and, even 
  though they do end up on opposite sides from time to 
  time, there exists a general sense of professional decorum 
  and camaraderie between the two groups.
  For the Bone Army’s part, the Wooden Legion is often 
  a source of work, whether directly or indirectly, and 
  they more than pull their weight on the battlefield. The 
  Wooden Legion see the Bone Army as a convenient asset 
  that they can use from a position of anonymity when they 
  need to. This arrangement suits both groups just fine.
  The Green Army
  The Blight grows stronger on the Mainland with each 
  passing year, and attacks by the Green Army grow more 
  and more frequent. City-states and outlying settlements 
  often hire the Bone Army for protection against Blight 
  Walkers, but the two forces often clash even in the 
  absence of a contract. The Green Army has no allies and 
  takes no prisoners, and they attack humans on sight. 
  Because of this, they’re one of the few forces against 
  whom the Bone Army must remain constantly vigilant.
  The Sky City Houses
  The Bone Army doesn’t have any particular loyalty or 
  animosity toward any particular House of Sky City, but 
  they see the Houses as a whole as being both a good 
  source of income and a general irritant. The Houses are 
  constantly scheming against each other, and many of the 
  Houses have holdings and interests on the Mainland. This 
  This proscription proved to be wise in the long term; 
  within just a few years of Khel’s death, the Bone Army was 
  already known across the land as a formidable, reliable, 
  and highly competent fighting force. Khel’s teachings 
  became the Code of Bone, which persists to this day:
  To be a soldier in the Bone Army is to embody the Duties 
  of Bone.
  Duty of Loyalty: Be always loyal to your comrades in 
  arms – the Bone Army is your family. To betray the Army is 
  to forfeit your life.
  Duty of the Contract: Your employer is your liege lord, 
  and is to be obeyed in all things. Follow your employer’s 
  commands for the duration of the contract, except where 
  they force you to break the Duty of Loyalty.
  Duty of Excellence: Do not accept mediocrity in yourself 
  or others. A soldier of the Bone Army strives for excellence in 
  all things and demands it of allies and enemies alike.
  Duty of the Mission: When you are given a mission by 
  a superior, you complete it or you die trying. There are no 
  exceptions.
  Duty of Honesty: War sometimes calls for subtlety and 
  subterfuge, but a soldier of the Bone Army is honest in all 
  dealings with allies and enemies alike. Always speak the 
  truth and treat others with respect, unless your mission 
  demands you do otherwise.
  Duty of Control: The Bone Army trades in violence, but 
  we do not engage in it unnecessarily. Do not raise blade or 
  fist against another creature unless your life is threatened, 
  or the mission demands it. Wanton, purposeless slaughter 
  serves no one.
  Duty of Mercy: While an enemy is a threat, fight 
  them with all your might. Enemies who are no longer 
  threats are to be spared, taken as prisoners, and treated 
  with respect. An enemy you fight today might be an ally 
  tomorrow.
  The Bone Army today is known throughout the world. 
  Their reputation is beyond reproach, and everyone knows 
  that when you buy the loyalty of the Bone Army, the only 
  thing that will break it is dealing with them in bad faith.
  While the Bone Army rarely travels outside the 
  Mainland, foreign powers do sometimes procure their 
  services to see to their interests within the Mainland. 
  The Army’s reluctance to travel is a matter of practicality 
  more than loyalty or patriotism; sea travel is dangerous, 
  expensive, and requires them to put their lives in the 
  hands of unproven strangers. The Bone Army has no 
  particular problem working for one of the city-states one 
  day, and then accepting a contract from Sky City the next. 
  Their contracts do usually allow for a period of safety for 
  a former client; attacking someone you just worked for is 
  seen as being bad for business, though after the period of 
  safety is over, all bets are off.
  88
  88
  
  Chapter 3: Factions
  Chapter 3: Factions
  means there’s rarely a shortage of work for the Bone Army 
  where the Houses are concerned, but it also means that 
  the Army is constantly being pulled into foreign politics 
  that they frankly couldn’t care less about.
  Worse, the Houses of Sky city have a very different view 
  of loyalty and contractual obligation than the Bone Army 
  does. The Bone Army has had to sever contracts with Houses 
  on more than one occasion because of bad faith dealings, 
  and Houses often complain about the Army’s period of 
  safety for former contract-holders. All this combines to 
  make the Houses both a reliable source of clients and a risky 
  proposition to deal with at the best of times.
  The Kingfisher Society
  For the most part, soldiers of the Bone Army aren’t even 
  aware of the Kingfisher Society or, if they are, they dismiss 
  it as a social club for the idle rich. However, the Kingfishers 
  are deeply invested in infiltrating the Bone Army, and they 
  have agents placed in almost every level of command. The 
  general is aware that the Army has been infiltrated, and 
  seeks to expose Kingfisher spies, but she doesn’t know who 
  to trust, so she works against the Kingfishers alone. 
  Seekers and the Bone Army
  Seekers with a mercenary bent can find a good home 
  within the Bone Army. A Bone Army campaign is likely 
  to have an overtly military feel to it, as the Bone Army 
  is, after all, an army. However, they’re also a mercenary 
  crew and, as such, are open to approaches beyond simple 
  warfare. The Bone Army employs a variety of infiltrators, 
  assassins, specialists, beast trainers, and so forth, so a 
  player who wants to be part of the Bone Army but doesn’t 
  want to take an associated expert or master path does still 
  have options. 
  Seekers in a Bone Army campaign may start as support 
  personnel, or may have to prove themselves to the Bone 
  Army before they can join. In either case, those who want 
  to take on the Bone Recruit expert path will have to hunt 
  and kill a horok, a Difficulty 50 opponent. This is likely 
  to be a challenging fight even for a well-prepared Seeker, 
  so emphasize the need for clever tactics, traps, and other 
  ways to weaken the horok before closing in for the kill. 
  If a Seeker doesn’t wish to play through the actual hunt, 
  that’s fine; work with them to describe it and explain how 
  it all worked out, and let them take the expert path as 
  normal.
  One of the advantages of a Bone Army campaign is that 
  the Seekers can work for a variety of clients on a wide 
  array of missions and assignments. Someone who’s an 
  ally today might be an enemy later, which can make for 
  some interesting social dynamics and dramatic moments 
  in a campaign. A Bone Army campaign is likely to spend 
  most of its time on the Mainland, but a globe-hopping 
  campaign isn’t out of the question; it’s not the norm for 
  the Bone Army to operate outside the Mainland, but that 
  doesn’t mean that such a thing never happens.
  The Kingfisher 
  Society
  In Sky City, most people have heard of the Kingfisher 
  Society, though few know any real details about it. It’s a 
  social club for the rich elite, with membership from all of 
  the major Houses. They meet all over the city, sometimes 
  in public places like upscale bars or market plazas, other 
  times in the estates of the wealthy, holding private galas 
  where they can enjoy their immense privilege. Membership 
  is invitation-only, and party-crashers are strongly 
  discouraged (stories abound of such churlish people being 
  tied up, burdened with weights, and thrown off the island). 
  For the most part, people are aware of the Kingfisher 
  Society, but few give them any real thought.
  This is exactly how the Society wants things. Outwardly, 
  yes, the Kingfisher Society is an invitation-only social club 
  for the rich. Members wear distinctive rings, bands of white 
  bone mounted with a piece of blice crystal carved in the 
  shape of a kingfisher, so that they can easily recognize each 
  other while in public. Kingfishers often get preferential 
  treatment at restaurants or in stores that are friendly 
  to the Society, and the law often looks away from their 
  indiscretions.
  While these things are all true of the Kingfisher Society, 
  it’s mostly a front. The true purpose of the Kingfisher 
  Society is control: control of Sky City, of global politics and 
  commerce, of the world. Those who are invited into the 
  Kingfisher Society are the most powerful, influential, and 
  ruthless members of the Houses of Sky City, though the 
  Society does not limit its membership to House nobles. 
  Powerful individuals from around the globe are offered 
  membership, and the Kingfisher Society boasts mercenary 
  generals, admirals of Seafarer fleets, Pacari tribal chiefs, 
  more than one member of the Council of Mothers, rulers 
  of city-states, merchant princes, and even a member of the 
  Circle of Six.
  From the shadows, the Kingfisher Society manipulates 
  the world. A member ensures that a vote on the Council of 
  Mothers goes a certain way, and laws in New Gaia suddenly 
  become friendlier to Kingfisher activities. A theft here 
  and an assassination there, and war is sparked between 
  two city-states. The goals of the Kingfishers’ actions vary 
  based on the needs of the Society. Sometimes their goal 
  is the acquisition of a large amount of capital, while at 
  other times it might be the weakening of a particular 
  organization, tribe, or city-state. Perhaps someone 
  important is being a bit too inquisitive, and must be 
  removed. Or perhaps the Society simply needs to ensure 
  that a particular world leader is given the correct guidance.
  The goal that each Kingfisher solemnly intones during 
  meetings is to guide the world toward stability, prosperity, 
  and security. While this goal might be noble, in practice 
  individual Kingfishers tend to be vicious, grasping, and 
  amoral, and so Kingfisher operations usually pursue the 
  goal of acquiring more wealth and power for those within 
  89
  89
  
  Chapter 3: Factions
  Chapter 3: Factions
  the Society. The Kingfishers don’t see these two ends as 
  contradictory; rather, they argue that, as they are the only 
  ones truly capable of guiding the world toward stability, 
  prosperity, and security, it follows that they must have 
  enough power and wealth to be able to do so. And after all, 
  don’t they deserve it for taking on this selfless burden?
  The Kingfisher Society itself is divided into hierarchical 
  groups called “wings.” Many of these wings are roughly 
  equivalent in power, and in theory, all are equal; however, 
  in practice, some are more equal than others. There are 
  five wings: White Wing, Diamond Wing, Obsidian Wing, 
  Smoke Wing, and Blood Wing. Each wing has its own area 
  of influence, and its membership tends to support that. 
  White Wing controls politics, and is largely comprised of 
  powerful nobles, leaders, and politicians from around the 
  world. They’re often at the top of the hierarchy, though they 
  have an ongoing rivalry with Diamond Wing, who control 
  commerce. The two wings tend to trade places frequently 
  but, regardless of which wing is currently in ascendance, 
  both wield tremendous power throughout the world.
  Obsidian Wing is comprised of generals, admirals, and 
  other military leaders, and their job is to control warfare. 
  Leaders of the Kingfisher Society place their golden birds on the Mainland where missions are underway.
  Leaders of the Kingfisher Society place their golden birds on the Mainland where missions are underway.
  90
  90
  
  Chapter 3: Factions
  Chapter 3: Factions
  If the Society needs a particular side to win a war, it’s often 
  Obsidian Wing’s job to ensure that result comes to pass. 
  Obsidian Wing members hold several powerful positions 
  within the Bone Army, and this gives them an enormous 
  amount of control over who the Army takes on as a client.
  Smoke Wing’s job is espionage and infiltration. They’re 
  spies and information brokers, and their membership is 
  considerably smaller than that of White, Diamond, and 
  Obsidian. When the Society needs information gathered 
  (or planted), Smoke Wing takes care of it. While the 
  membership of the wing itself is small, each member 
  controls a larger network of spies throughout different 
  parts of the world. These spies rarely know they’re 
  working for the Kingfisher society and are almost never 
  members.
  The smallest of the wings is Blood Wing, but they are 
  perhaps the most feared. This is because the membership 
  of Blood Wing consists entirely of the most dangerous 
  assassins in the world. When someone must die, either 
  quietly or publicly, Blood Wing sends an operative to 
  ensure that death. Blood Wing and Smoke Wing also 
  work together as a sort of secret police within the Society 
  itself. Smoke Wing is constantly looking for traitors and 
  informers within the ranks of the Kingfisher Society and, 
  when such a traitor is found, Blood Wing deals with them 
  quickly and decisively.
  The Society  
  and Other Groups
  Few organizations know when they’re dealing with the 
  Kingfisher Society, and almost nobody outside of Sky 
  City has even heard of them. However, there are a few 
  organizations of particular note.
  The Red Alliance
  The Kingfisher Society has long known that the Red 
  Alliance is far more than a ragtag group of disorganized 
  rebels, though they’re not aware of the full extent of the 
  Alliance’s influence, or its goals. Most in the Society believe 
  that the Alliance is a rival organization, trying to control 
  the world in the same manner they are. For the last decade, 
  Smoke Wing has been working tirelessly to try to plant 
  spies within the Alliance, but so far none have survived 
  more than a week or two.
  The Bone Army
  While the Bone Army knows nothing about the Kingfisher 
  Society, the Society has several members planted in 
  key positions within the Army. While Obsidian Wing 
  doesn’t yet control those at the very top, they do have 
  several members in advisory positions, and they wield 
  considerable influence over the Bone Army. When the 
  Army must choose between two sides of a war, Obsidian 
  Wing is often able to tip the scales in the direction that 
  benefits the Kingfisher Society most.
  The Blue Shark
  The Blue Shark is one of the most feared Seafarer vessels 
  on the open sea, and its captain, Leshik, has a reputation 
  for plundering every ship he comes across. While this is 
  true, Leshik’s first mate is a Kingfisher, and is often able 
  to ensure the Blue Shark “happens upon” the vessels of 
  troublesome captains. Leshik doesn’t much care, as long as 
  he can sate his thirst for blood.
  The Circle of Six
  The Kingfisher Society is perhaps the only secret society 
  to have gained a foothold in the notoriously insular Black 
  Isle. Venna, Clan Chief of Clan Corit, is a member of the 
  Kingfisher Society and the Circle of Six, and has been 
  pushing for more trade and interaction with the outside 
  world for the past few years, at the Society’s direction. 
  The Kingfisher Society wants this so they can gather more 
  influence within the Black Isle, but Venna is a Black Isler 
  first and a Kingfisher second. While she serves the will of 
  the Society, she also believes that outside aid is the only 
  way to combat the growing demonic threat. Currently, 
  her goals and the goals of the Society are in alignment; 
  however, the day may soon come when Venna is forced to 
  choose her allegiance.
  Seekers and  
  the Kingfisher Society
  The Kingfisher Society is in the habit of hiring Seeker 
  groups to do their dirty work, so it’s entirely possible that 
  the Seekers could spend a decent chunk of the early part 
  of their career working for the Society without realizing 
  it. Eventually, however, they should start figuring out who 
  they’re working for. When this happens, they’ll likely 
  be faced with a choice: accept the Society’s invitation or 
  become their enemies. 
  A more mercenary or amoral group of Seekers might opt 
  to join, in which case the campaign can revolve around the 
  group doing missions for the Kingfisher Society, rising in the 
  ranks, and perhaps eventually staging a coup to take over the 
  Society. A campaign like this is likely to span the globe and 
  put the Seekers in opposition to a wide variety of foes.
  Seekers who don’t buy into the Society’s rhetoric might 
  choose to decline the invitation, in which case they’ll 
  be targeted for elimination by Blood Wing. This style of 
  campaign is likely to be very different, and it will involve 
  the Seekers dodging and going up against a series of 
  increasingly dangerous assassins, all while trying to learn 
  more about the Kingfisher Society so they can take them 
  down and stop the assassination attempts from coming.
  A clever Seeker group might split the difference: join the 
  Kingfisher Society with the intent of taking it down from 
  within. This will be an espionage-heavy game, with a lot of 
  political maneuvering, deception, and trying to maintain 
  cover in the face of an ever-vigilant Smoke Wing.
  91
  91
  
  Chapter 3: Factions
  Chapter 3: Factions
  The Crimson Mask has been worn by many—or  
  are there many masks? The world will never know.
  The Red Alliance
  Nobody really knows just how deep the infiltration goes. 
  Nearly everyone in New Gaia has heard of the Red Alliance, 
  a loose collection of malcontents and dissidents often 
  branded as terrorists by the Council 
  of Mothers and New Gaia society 
  at large. Everybody knows that 
  the Alliance are dangerous, 
  but disorganized, 
  lacking any kind of strong central leadership or goal 
  beyond destroying New Gaian society and replacing it with 
  something else that they don’t even seem to be clear about. 
  Dangerous, but nothing to worry about in the long term.
  They could not be more wrong. The Red Alliance, 
  though usually only operating openly in New Gaia, is an 
  organization that spans the globe, with tendrils in various 
  aspects of society in many different countries, tribes, and 
  cities. They keep this secret closely guarded, allowing their 
  violent and destructive terrorist activities in New Gaia to 
  distract everyone from their subtler actions.
  The Red Alliance has cells everywhere. There are arms 
  dealers in Sky City, firebrand politicians in the city-states of 
  the mainland, Seafarer pirate captains, and rabble-rousers in 
  tribes throughout Pacari. Most of these people don’t advertise 
  any kind of connection to the Red Alliance; they simply 
  instigate chaos, change, and instability where they can. An 
  arms dealer might sell powerful weapons to the losing side of 
  the war, thus prolonging the conflict. A politician in Hyden 
  might stoke the people’s nationalistic, xenophobic tendencies. 
  A pirate captain might sink a ship full of vital aid supplies. 
  The tribe chief’s advisor might push the chief toward conflict 
  with a neighboring tribe. Each of these individual actions 
  seems isolated, but they work toward a larger goal.
  The Red Alliance seeks to create chaos, but not without 
  purpose; they want to keep the nations of the world off-
  balance, focused on conflict with each other or within, 
  unprepared for what’s to come. Of course, most members of 
  the Red Alliance know very little about the Alliance’s true 
  ends. They’re fed rhetoric about creating a better world, 
  prosperity through change, casting off the shackles of 
  modern imperialist regimes, pulling the elites out of 
  their towers of wealth. It’s all carefully-crafted nonsense, 
  delivered with the intent to keep the rank-and-file of 
  the Alliance doing what they’re doing. Only the 
  Crimson Mask knows the Alliance’s true purpose.
  Many in New Gaia suspect that the Crimson 
  Mask is not a specific person, but mantle 
  assumed by a variety of people. They’re 
  correct, but their understanding of the 
  Mask is incomplete. The Crimson Mask 
  refers to three different things within the 
  Red Alliance. First, the Mask is the inner 
  circle, a group of thirteen individuals who understand 
  the Alliance’s true purpose and direct the disparate cells 
  throughout the world toward that purpose. Second, the 
  Crimson Mask does in fact refer to individuals who appear 
  in public to enact the Alliance’s will, wearing a Crimson 
  Mask. The same person rarely wears the Mask more than 
  once, because the Mask itself is a powerful artifact.
  The Crimson Mask is a demonic artifact, given to the 
  original founders of the Red Alliance to seal a pact made 
  decades ago. Those who wear it bond to it, similarly to a 
  piece of living gear, and the Mask feeds on the Essence 
  of the wearer. While an individual is wearing the Mask, 
  they have enormous physical strength and endurance, 
  are able to move with considerable speed and agility, 
  92
  92
  
  Chapter 3: Factions
  Chapter 3: Factions
  and seem to be possessed of a preternatural charisma 
  and force of personality. This all comes at a terrible price: 
  putting the Mask on forces you to relinquish your free 
  will. It is no longer you in control of your words and 
  actions, it is the Mask. It may sound like your voice, but it 
  is the Mask speaking through you. 
  There’s an even worse cost than surrendering your free 
  will: the Mask usually kills you when it’s done with you. Its 
  Essence requirements are so steep that it can usually only 
  inhabit a person for about six hours. Some strong souls last 
  longer, and a few even survive the process of being “ridden” 
  by the Mask, but they are forever changed.
  The members of the Crimson Mask do not wear the 
  mask themselves, except at times of great need. Rather, 
  they control the Alliance from the shadows. When the 
  time comes for a public display of power, they choose a 
  champion to wear the Mask and do their bidding. The 
  membership of the Crimson Mask is shrouded in utter 
  secrecy, even from most Alliance members, and these 
  powerful individuals guard an even more terrible secret: 
  the true purpose of the Red Alliance.
  The Red Alliance’s purpose is simple, but horrifying: they 
  sow chaos throughout the world, to keep the nations of 
  humanity off-balance and at each others’ throats. They do 
  this so that when the demonic horde chooses to launch their 
  invasion, no nation will be strong enough to oppose them.
  The Red Alliance  
  and Other Groups
  The Red Alliance has few direct dealings or conflicts with 
  other groups in Asunder. Those who do interact with 
  or oppose the Alliance rarely know who they’re really 
  dealing with.
  The Council of Mothers
  The Council of Mothers sees the Red Alliance as a threat, 
  but a manageable one. The Mothers pay close attention 
  when the Red Alliance rears its head, but they also believe 
  the Alliance to be a loose movement of disorganized rebels 
  and rabble-rousers. For the most part, the pockets of the 
  Alliance that they deal with on a regular basis are just that. 
  The cell-based structure of the Alliance means that most 
  of the Red Alliance terrorists and rebels who act as a thorn 
  in the side of the Council of Mothers are exactly what they 
  appear to be. These people believe the Red Alliance to be 
  a political movement; when they’re captured, they spew 
  whatever rhetoric they were fed. When they give up their 
  leaders, they give up other members of the Red Alliance 
  who know only a little bit more than they do. 
  There are a few within the Council of Mothers who believe 
  there’s more to the Red Alliance, and that they bear closer 
  scrutiny, but somehow their arguments are always drowned 
  out by the noise of the next protest or bombing or riot, and 
  the intelligence gained from the perpetrators always seems to 
  discredit those who want to investigate further.
  The Wooden Legion
  The Wooden Legion’s global perspective has allowed 
  them to put pieces together that few others have had the 
  opportunity to even see, let alone assemble. The Legion 
  believes that the Alliance is more than a loose collection 
  of malcontents, and they’ve seen patterns in global politics 
  that point toward a much farther-reaching conspiracy. They 
  know few specifics, however.
  Further, the Legion is often too busy to do anything 
  about the Alliance. Their mandate is to oppose the 
  Blight, and they see that as a far greater and more urgent 
  threat than some political conspiracy, no matter how far-
  reaching. For now, they’re keeping an eye on the Alliance 
  and, when they happen to capture someone who has 
  information about the Alliance, they pay close attention. 
  However, the Legion has yet to act against the Red 
  Alliance in any substantial way.
  The Kingfisher Society
  The Red Alliance knows little about the Kingfisher 
  Society except that they’re rivals. Both secret societies 
  operate in similar ways, and they’re often at cross-
  purposes. The Alliance tends to kill Society agents when 
  they come across them, while the Kingfisher Society is 
  constantly trying to infiltrate the Red Alliance in order to 
  learn more about them.
  Seekers and  
  the Red Alliance
  The Red Alliance make great villains for a campaign. 
  By starting local, in a New Gaian settlement directly 
  affected by the Red Alliance, you can give the Seekers an 
  opportunity to fight the terrorists or try to learn more about 
  them. They may even find some sympathetic members, 
  people who honestly believe they’re fighting for the 
  betterment of New Gaia, and might be convinced to fight 
  alongside the Alliance for a time.
  As the Seekers grow in power and knowledge, however, 
  they’ll start to see that there’s more to the Alliance. Maybe 
  a document points them to a border skirmish on the 
  Mainland, or a corrupt customs agent in Sky City. This can 
  lead to a series of globe-hopping adventures, as the Seekers 
  move from locale to locale hunting down clues about the 
  shadowy conspiracy they’re starting to uncover. During 
  Expert or early Master tier, a run-in with someone wearing 
  the Crimson Mask could result in a resounding defeat to 
  motivate them further, or even in the Seekers acquiring the 
  Mask themselves!
  In either case, late in their career they should be heading 
  for a confrontation with the Red Alliance’s inner circle, 
  perhaps taking them down one by one, maybe even 
  culminating with a fight against the ancient, powerful 
  demon who gave the Alliance the Crimson Mask in the first 
  place.
  93
  93
  
  The king of demons keeps a half-breed as his right hand. A fact the other demons hate.
  The king of demons keeps a half-breed as his right hand. A fact the other demons hate.
  94
  94
  
  A
  sunder plays home to more intelligent people than just humans. Humans in general know very little about these 
  other intelligent races. Often misunderstood and frequently underestimated, these people share the world with 
  humans.
  Chapter
  Four Other Peoples 
  of the World
  Demons
  The boy’s hands shake, his eyes dart side to side. The small, 
  guttering torch he holds threatens to die, and the darkness 
  presses against its meager light like a living thing. That Which 
  Waits and Whispers can taste the boy’s fear in the air, and 
  they savor that taste, roll it off their tongue and hold it in their 
  mouth like a fine liquor. Yes, they think. He’s almost ready.
  “…Hello?” His voice is small, quivering. He knows he’s 
  not alone; he came to seek the voice in the cave, and he 
  knows he’s being watched. There’s fear there, but also 
  determination. He wants something. 
  So brave to come here alone, little mouse. That Which Waits 
  and Whispers has a voice with which to speak in human 
  tongues, but they choose to press their thoughts into the 
  boy’s mind, to caress his fear and stoke his desire with subtle 
  invasiveness.
  His eyes dart left to right and he spins, brandishing the 
  torch at the darkness. “I… I’ve come to bargain,” he shouts. 
  Then, more quietly: “Please don’t eat me.”
  That Which Waits and Whispers chuckles, the laugh 
  rubbing against the boy’s mind and making him shudder. 
  Shall I not? Perhaps. What do you come to give me, and what 
  would you have in return? They crouch in the darkness, bare 
  feet outside the light’s aura, watching him, watching.
  “My… my sister is sick. She fell ill eight days ago and she’s 
  getting worse. Can you… can you heal her?” So hopeful, those 
  eyes.
  I can. Is that what you wish?
  “Y— yes.”
  So you say, but I can smell your doubt. I can read upon the 
  skein of your mind the pain you’ve endured, and I can taste the 
  lie upon your lips.
  He’s quiet for a moment, eyes searching the ground as if 
  answers are written there. Then: “She’s not sick.”
  No.
  “She’s hurt. Badly hurt. She can’t wake up.”
  She lies beaten and bruised, a broken thing at the edge of a 
  precipice. Who put her there, little mouse?
  The boy’s jaw clenches and unclenches, working silently 
  for a time. “My father. Drunk on skashka. And my mother, 
  who gave it to him, did nothing.”
  I can make her wake. Is that what you wish?
  He closes his eyes. “No.”
  What, then?
  “I want to kill them.”
  You want power. The power to strike them down.
  The word is barely more than a whisper, but That Which 
  Waits and Whispers hears it loud and clear: “Yes.”
  Now is the time. That Which Waits and Whispers stands to 
  their full height and steps forward into the torch’s light slowly. 
  The boy takes a step back but holds there, his eyes taking in 
  the full sight of the demon: gray-black skin, rough like bark 
  and barbed with spikes; too-long fingers on too-long arms, 
  tipped in wicked claws; an eyeless head with a toothy grin 
  that threatens to split it in half. Now, That Which Waits and 
  Whispers speaks the human boy’s own tongue: “Speak your 
  desire, little mouse.”
  He draws himself up, pretending at bravery, hatred 
  buoying him. “I want the power to kill my parents.”
  The demon’s grin widens, and they crouch down onto 
  their haunches, bringing their face level with the boy’s. One 
  taloned finger reaches up and caresses the boy’s face; he 
  flinches but does not move away. “And you shall have it.”
  “What… what will it cost me?”
  Wordlessly, That Which Waits and Whispers brings their 
  talon to their own wrist and draws a furrow there, slicing 
  it open and allowing the black blood to well up. They hold 
  their bleeding wrist out to the boy. “Drink of this, little 
  mouse, and you shall have the power you seek. In three 
  days’ time, I shall come to you and ask you for a service: 
  payment in kind. You seek the end of two lives, so I shall 
  ask you for the same.”
  The boy hesitates a moment, his eyes fixed on the 
  dripping blood pooled in the demon’s wound. He seems 
  about to change his mind, but then he’s gripped by sudden 
  resolve and he grabs the demon’s arm and brings it to his 
  lips. He drinks.
  That Which Waits and Whispers sighs, caressing the 
  boy’s hair with their other hand. The boy moves to stop 
  drinking, but the demon holds his head fast, forcing him 
  to drink more. The boy struggles at first, but soon he gives 
  in. Soon enough he grasps the demon’s arm and drinks 
  greedily, his taste for demon blood growing. 
  That Which Waits and Whispers can feel the boy’s 
  power—and his hatred—growing within him. Good. He’ll 
  need it for the work ahead.
  ༅  ༅  ༅  ༅  ༅
  95
  95
  95
  95
  
  Chapter 4: Other Peoples of the World
  Chapter 4: Other Peoples of the World
  Encountering a Demon
  Demons never pick fair fights and have many advantages 
  over humans. Their skin is thick, knotted, spiked. They’re 
  dangerous to grapple with or fight in close quarters, and 
  even the heaviest weapon has trouble breaking a demon’s 
  thick skin. They’re much taller than the average human, 
  standing between seven and nine feet tall, or even taller 
  for older, more powerful demons. Though their shape is 
  generally humanoid, a demon’s arms are too long, and 
  each hand’s fingers are spindly, tipped with claws, and has 
  too many knuckles. A demon’s head is wide, bulbous, and 
  horned. Its great, gaping maw is full of jagged, sharp teeth.
  There are typically two ways to encounter a demon: 
  combat or bargaining. Demons by far prefer the latter, 
  though they also revel in the bloodshed of the former. 
  When approached for a bargain, a demon toys with its 
  prey. They can communicate telepathically, and they often 
  use this ability to stoke fear and glean surface thoughts, 
  allowing them to gain the advantage in a bargain. Demons 
  are powerful enough that they can offer many tempting 
  things to mortals, but such blessings never come free. A 
  demon’s price is typically some form of service or favor 
  and, while these favors may seem harmless at first, they 
  always enable the demon to pursue its driving need to kill 
  and consume the Essence of humans.
  In combat, a demon is a terrible thing to behold. They 
  leap into the fray a blur of fangs and claws, ripping and 
  shredding anything in their path, and they almost always 
  seek to attack with the advantage of numbers. Against 
  those they’ve subdued, they use their most terrifying 
  power: the ability to devour the Essence of a helpless 
  human, utterly destroying the human’s spark of life and 
  incorporating the human’s consciousness into its own. 
  Demons can call upon the memories and personalities of 
  those they’ve consumed for a period of time after feeding, 
  and many believe that these stored consciousnesses are 
  still, in a way, alive and aware as they’re being slowly 
  absorbed.
  The Way of That Which 
  Waits and Whispers
  Like all demons, That Which Waits and Whispers has a 
  single purpose: to consume the Essence of humans. They 
  use bargains, trickery, murder, and destruction to achieve 
  this goal, but the consumption of Essence is always the 
  purpose for their actions. 
  Demons are the first-born, the first creatures made in the 
  image of the gods. A flawed and terrible creation, demons 
  quickly rose up against the gods, waging war against them 
  and even killing and consuming a few of them. Eventually, 
  the gods imprisoned the demons deep within the world, 
  encased in a shell of metal from which they could not 
  escape. Eventually, when the gods left Asunder and took 
  the world’s metal with them, the demons did start to 
  escape, boiling up from the deep places of the world. They 
  discovered the Naga and the humans, and they sensed the 
  divine spark of Essence within humanity. Further, they 
  knew that their fellow prisoner within the world, Gaia, 
  wanted that Essence so that she could escape Asunder, 
  shattering it forever. The demons will not allow this to 
  happen; Asunder is their world, their birthright as the 
  firstborn of creation, and so their purpose is to prevent Gaia 
  from gathering the Essence of fallen humans. 
  They are happy to annihilate every human being on the 
  planet in the pursuit of this goal.
  The World
  Demons live in the deep places of the world, the caves 
  and canyons and caverns, clustering into hives. The vast 
  majority of them come to the surface on the Black Isle, 
  from the Great Scar or other, smaller fissures in the earth, 
  but demons may also surface in other parts of Asunder, 
  and some even manage to get to Sky City, hiding there and 
  sowing discord in the shadows. 
  Wherever there are humans, there are demons. Because 
  humans are the demons’ chosen prey, they congregate 
  where humans do, picking off parts of the herd until a 
  community is weak enough that it can be overrun. Because 
  they live in the caverns and tunnels under the world, they 
  often come into conflict with Naga, as well. While Naga 
  have no Essence and so are not sought by the demons as 
  prey, they do compete for territory, and Naga make it a 
  point to hunt demons whenever they can. 
  Demons also occasionally run afoul of Vithek 
  communities, though not often. The Vithek are reclusive 
  and don’t have any Essence for demons to devour, but 
  sometimes Vithek launch attacks against nearby demon 
  hives, seeing them as threats to their own safety.
  Places of Interest
  The demons hold a few places of importance in Asunder.
  The Great Scar
  The demons know that their biggest threat is the people of 
  the Black Isle, those who have learned to turn their Essence 
  into a weapon against the demons. On the Black Isle, they 
  gather at the Great Scar, amassing a terrible army, biding 
  their time, and researching a way to catalyze the next step 
  in their evolution. The minerals and gems of the Scar are 
  resonant with stored Essence infused by the demons and, 
  left unchecked, one day they will achieve their goal. When 
  they do, they will descend upon the Black Islers like a 
  plague, snuffing every life out.
  The Heart
  The closest thing the demons have to a city, the Heart is a 
  massive hive under the ocean to the south of the Black Isle. 
  Thousands of demons live there, with new demons being 
  birthed from cocoons on a regular basis. The Heart doesn’t 
  have a single leader or even a consistent population; rather, 
  96
  96
  
  Chapter 4: Other Peoples of the World
  Chapter 4: Other Peoples of the World
  demons come and go, residing at 
  the Heart for a time to spawn new 
  demons or to make plans with their 
  peers, then moving on to fulfill 
  those plans in the wide world.
  The Night Bird
  Legends say that, out on the seas 
  of Asunder, a corrupted living ship 
  crewed by demons sails, waylaying 
  the unwary, killing off crews to a 
  man, and sinking their ships beneath 
  the waves. Nobody knows if there’s 
  anything to these stories, as the Night 
  Bird is said to leave no survivors, so 
  first-hand accounts are exceedingly 
  rare. The legends persist anyway.
  People  
  of Import
  There are a few demons who are 
  old, powerful, and destructive 
  enough that they’ve become legends 
  in their own right.
  The Unmaker
  Said to live in New Gaia, the Unmaker 
  is known for his unquenchable 
  appetite. Entire settlements in New 
  Gaia have fallen to the Unmaker’s 
  hunger, and those who encounter 
  the Unmaker and survive tell tales 
  of a demon twenty feet tall, missing 
  an arm, and able to call upon a 
  seemingly endless number of Essence 
  powers at will.
  Old Sawtooth
  Uncharacteristically social for a demon, Old Sawtooth 
  lives in a cave on the mainland near the Naga Swamps. 
  She doesn’t leave her cave, even to attack unwary travelers 
  who pass by, instead patiently waiting for people to 
  come to her. Old Sawtooth is known for being able to 
  give people great power for a price, and people from 
  nearby villages often visit her in the hopes of curing 
  plagues, ending famines or droughts, or just hexing their 
  next-door-neighbors. Her services are never free—and 
  sometimes she simply eats a visitor rather than bargaining 
  with them—but her prices are known for being 
  exceedingly fair, if not necessarily pleasant.
  Old Man Oak
  An exceptionally tall, wizened demon, Old Man Oak 
  got his name from the Nanok tribe of Pacari; the Nanok 
  elder thought the demon was a tree when she first saw 
  Grandfather Oak. Once she realized that the tree was, in 
  fact, a demon, she approached him rather than running, 
  and struck a bargain on behalf of her tribe, which was on 
  the brink of extinction: if the demon would become the 
  tribe’s patron and protector, they would serve him and 
  do his bidding. Today, the Nanok tribe is known for their 
  exceptional bloodlust. Old Man Oak has fed the tribe’s 
  warriors a steady diet of demon blood, heightening their 
  aggression and physical prowess, and he has taught them 
  the trick of trapping a fallen foe’s Essence, so that it can be 
  brought to the demon for consumption.
  Points of Conflict
  Demons are nothing but conflict. Here are a few ways you 
  can use them in your campaign.
  Engines of Destruction
  A single demon is a difficult fight for most parties of 
  Seekers. A group of demons can be a climactic battle, 
  Demon birthing cocoons in the The Heart.
  Demon birthing cocoons in the The Heart.
  97
  97
  
  Chapter 4: Other Peoples of the World
  Chapter 4: Other Peoples of the World
  Chapter 4: Other Peoples of the World
  Chapter 4: Other Peoples of the World
  Chapter 4: Other Peoples of the World
  Chapter 4: Other Peoples of the World
  Kesha crouches low, hiding her massive form in the 
  brush, her sinuous body collapsing in on itself, allowing 
  her to fold into an improbably small shape. Ahead, she 
  sees them. A whole platoon of human soldiers. She can 
  see the reds and oranges of their heat emanating from 
  them, sense their warmth through the jungle foliage. She 
  flicks out her tongue, tastes the air, her eyes darting from 
  form to form. Thirty. Maybe forty of them. Wearing that 
  bone armor, from the looks of it, so at least these invaders 
  will be a challenge. Kesha smiles. She flicks her tail once, 
  a brief staccato rattle, a signal to be ready. Through her 
  heat vision, she can see her sisters signal their readiness.
  This place is sacred: the domain of a piece of the 
  God-Machine. For months they’ve been trying to get it to 
  work, fending off invaders who venture further into the 
  jungles, their jungles, looking for riches and resources and 
  conquest. Asha remembers the argument from last week.
  “We’ve already tried that, Kesha,” sighed Cora, the 
  brood-priestess, impatiently. “It didn’t work.”
  “We’ve tried with our blood.”
  Cora stiffened, her eyes narrowing. “You want to bring 
  humans to this sacred place?”
  Kesha crossed her arms. “Dead humans. But yes.”
  “That’s… a defilement. I won’t allow it.”
  “A defilement it may be,” Kesha said, voice rising in volume 
  as she drew herself up to her full height. “But we’ve tried 
  everything else. The God-Machine piece needs fuel of some 
  sort, that much is clear. And the gods, in their folly, chose to 
  invest their Essence in the usurpers. It stands to reason that 
  that very Essence will power the God-Machine piece.”
  Cora’s jaw clenched, muscles working. “Don’t speak of 
  the gods so. You’re coming very close to blasphemy, child.”
  Kesha took a deep breath and settled back on her coils. 
  “I know. I’m sorry, brood-priestess. But perhaps it’s best to 
  think of this as a harvest rather than a defilement. And to 
  think of the humans’ Essence as a trial rather than a folly.”
  Cora tilted her head. “Explain.”
  “Perhaps the gods didn’t invest humans with Essence 
  out of misguided affection. Perhaps they stored that 
  Essence within them precisely so we can take it and use it 
  to fuel their machine and bring them back.”
  It had taken several hours of theological discussion 
  and meditation, but eventually Kesha had convinced the 
  brood-priestess to allow her plan.
  And now, the time has almost arrived. Kesha watches as 
  the platoon marches past her hiding spot, drawn by rumors 
  of treasure and powerful artifacts. They are rumors she and 
  her brood-sisters planted days ago by way of a weak-willed 
  human proxy. She lashes her tail, a sharp, loud rattle, and 
  then she lunges out of the underbrush and drives her twin 
  bone knives into the flank of one of the human soldiers, 
  lifting him into the air as she rises up on her coils, tossing 
  his body aside as he screams and gurgles. The soldiers start 
  to shout and draw weapons, but it’s far too late for them. 
  Kesha watches in satisfaction as her brood-sisters leap 
  from trees or rise out of bushes and from behind logs to 
  vent their fury on the usurpers. 
  Eight of her sisters, champions all, against thirty or 
  forty humans. Hardly a fair fight. She lashes out, knives 
  spreading ribbons of crimson on the leaves around her. 
  The blade on her tail catches a soldier in the throat, and 
  then she leaps, bringing her full bulk down upon another, 
  crushing him in her coils. She feels a sting in her side and 
  sees the horok-bone spear digging into her. Snarling, she 
  grabs the spear and draws the human holding it up into the 
  air, and then she bites him on the face, her venom coursing 
  into the man’s bloodstream. She makes a mental note not 
  to use that one’s blood; no sense in using poisoned Essence.
  Six minutes pass. Three of her sisters are injured, but 
  none so badly that they won’t recover. Eighteen dead lay 
  around them; the rest of the platoon having fled when 
  they felt the tide turning against them.
  “Everyone carries two corpses. Leave any that you’ve 
  poisoned behind.”
  Later, above the God-Machine’s chamber, Kesha 
  watches, her heart beating in exultation as she listens to 
  Cora’s sermon. The brood-priestess speaks words of faith, 
  of devotion, of the chosen people bringing the gods back 
  to Asunder, and she cuts the humans throats one by one, 
  spilling their blood on the piece of the God-Machine.
  It begins to hum, and Kesha smiles. Now they know 
  how to power it.
  ༅  ༅  ༅  ༅  ༅
  The Naga
  a town ravaged by a demonic horde can kick off an 
  adventure, and stopping a rampaging demon can make a 
  name for a group of Seekers quickly.
  Subtle Manipulators
  Demons love to strike bargains. Far from being unthinking 
  brutes, demons can be the masterminds of complex plots 
  with numerous servitors doing their bidding, unbeknownst 
  to the people around them. Not only that, but offering a 
  Seeker power at a cost can be a great way to drive play and 
  create all kinds of conflict.
  The Apocalypse Made Manifest
  Demons want to kill every human in the world and, in the 
  Great Scar, they’re learning how to become more effective 
  at it. If your group is particularly interested in demons, an 
  entire campaign can be built around stopping the demons 
  from realizing their ambitions.
  98
  98
  98
  98
  
  Chapter 4: Other Peoples of the World
  Chapter 4: Other Peoples of the World
  Chapter 4: Other Peoples of the World
  Chapter 4: Other Peoples of the World
  Kesha desires only what is owed to her and her sisters: the love of the Gods. They are the better creation. There is no mistaking that.
  Kesha desires only what is owed to her and her sisters: the love of the Gods. They are the better creation. There is no mistaking that.
  99
  99
  
  Chapter 4: Other Peoples of the World
  Chapter 4: Other Peoples of the World
  gifted with intelligence, compassion, and a reverence for 
  the world around them. Finally came the humans, and 
  for these rapacious creatures who consume all around 
  them, her people were cast out of their rightful place as the 
  favorites of the gods. 
  The Naga know they are the true chosen people of the 
  gods. They collect the pieces of the God-Machine as an act 
  of worship and reverence, and as a way to prepare Asunder 
  for their return. And when they do return, the Naga will sit 
  at their right hand.
  The World
  The Naga once had a great empire that spanned the 
  continents, but that all changed when the gods broke the 
  world and left. The land ruptured, entire civilizations 
  were burned or buried, continents were swallowed by 
  the sea, and the ocean itself became poison. To make 
  matters worse, before the Naga were able to recover, the 
  humans rose up and tried to take from the Naga what 
  was rightfully theirs. Humans spread across the land like 
  a plague, and they pushed the other people of the world 
  into the wild, untamed places, the deadly and desolate 
  places, the places the humans themselves did not want. 
  All but the Naga. The Naga retained the jungles, the 
  sacred swamps, and the fertile fields of their ancestry. To 
  this day, they clash with the humans over borders and 
  lands; the humans want more land, better land, but the 
  Naga know their place in the world and refuse to give the 
  usurpers an inch.
  Naga lack Essence, the divine spark given to humans 
  by the gods, and so they did not bond with the world as 
  humans did. However, even though they cannot effectively 
  use living gear as humans do, Naga have potent tools at 
  their disposal that the humans do not: the fragments of 
  the God-Machine. These ancient artifacts are all different 
  and unique, and the Naga are always unearthing more 
  and learning how to use them. Because of their constant 
  exposure to the energies of these machines, each Naga 
  is blessed by the God-Machine with strange powers, 
  and many Naga clutches are able to defend themselves 
  from human interlopers through a combination of their 
  superior physicality and their mastery of God-Machine 
  fragments.
  The Naga have also found the Corridors Below, a network 
  of tunnels and caves that stretch all over the world, just 
  below the surface. They use the Corridors to get from 
  place to place unseen, to move between land masses, and 
  sometimes even as places to live unnoticed for periods 
  of time. They also plumb the Corridors Below, as well as 
  the forgotten places of the surface world, for fragments of 
  the God-Machine. While many of these artifacts have no 
  known use or purpose, the Naga believe that, when they 
  accumulate enough of them, they will understand how 
  to reassemble the God-Machine and call the gods back to 
  Asunder.
  Encountering a Naga
  The first thing you notice is the Naga’s size. The upper 
  half of her body is that of a woman, but it’s half again as 
  large as that of a human woman, and thick with muscle. 
  The bottom half is even larger, that of a snake with a tail 
  easily five yards long. In her current, resting posture, she 
  looks down at you. Drawn up to full height, she would 
  dwarf you entirely.
  The serpentine portion of the Naga’s body is scaled, 
  thick and strong, coiled and ready to strike. The humanoid 
  portion has pale skin with patches of scales here and there, 
  glinting in the moonlight. Her face is that of a human 
  woman, if somewhat elongated, but her eyes are golden 
  with slitted pupils, and her nose is blunt, with small, 
  angular nostrils. When she opens her mouth, you can see 
  her venomous fangs.
  The Naga seems always poised for action or violence, 
  every muscle tense and ready. She wears some armor 
  and clothing, but it’s utilitarian. She’s armed, because 
  they all are. 
  She can speak your tongue, and speak it well, but she 
  has her own language too, a tongue of sibilant consonants 
  and flowing vowels, one well-suited to her forked tongue. 
  She doesn’t seem to like you much or, at the very least, she 
  doesn’t trust you. Maybe that will change someday, with 
  enough effort. But for now, experience has proven to her 
  that your kind are not to be relied upon.
  The Way of Kesha
  Kesha is of the warrior caste, as are all of her brood-
  sisters. They have trained since shortly after hatching 
  to fight, to kill, to defend their home at all costs. There 
  are other castes: hunters, makers, explorers, and the 
  all-male breeder caste. Each caste serves the Queen, 
  the matriarch of their clutch. The vast majority of every 
  clutch is female; males are getting rarer and rarer, and 
  this is a point of concern for the Naga, for without their 
  males they cannot reproduce. Because of this, males 
  are jealously guarded and rarely let outside the clutch 
  without a guard.
  As a warrior, much of Kesha’s time is taken up with 
  training, drills, or actual combat with enemies of the clutch. 
  Each day also has time dedicated to serving the clutch’s 
  spiritual and educational needs: learning about the God-
  Machine, the other people of the world, the history of the 
  Naga and the retelling of their destiny. The destiny of the 
  Naga is this: to strike down the human usurpers, to claim 
  their birthright as the greatest of the gods’ creations, and to 
  be welcomed with open arms into the Halls of Glory when 
  the gods return to Asunder. 
  When her race was born, so the histories say, they were 
  the second people to enter the world. First came the 
  demons, destroyers and corruptors all. Then, the Naga 
  were born, a race closer in kind to the gods themselves, 
  100
  100
  
  Chapter 4: Other Peoples of the World
  Chapter 4: Other Peoples of the World
  Places of Interest
  There are many sites sacred to the Naga in the world. Here 
  are a few of them.
  The Godswamp
  Known throughout the world by humans as the Naga 
  Swamps, the Godswamp is a part of the mainland known 
  for having an unusually large number of Chaos shards and 
  Chaos sites. The Naga believe that these shards appear 
  in the swamp because it rests above an unusually large 
  fragment of the God-Machine, which poisons the land 
  above with its broken harmonics. They guard these Chaos 
  sites, searching them and looking for ways to get to the 
  God-Machine fragment below, so they can wrest it from the 
  earth and take it somewhere safe.
  The Blooded Sands
  In the deserts of Desolation Valley on the eastern part of the 
  mainland, there are many clutches of Naga who live in close 
  proximity. When they have disputes between themselves, 
  each aggrieved party selects a champion and sends her to 
  the Blooded Sands, a patch of desert surrounded by standing 
  stones, where the sand has a distinctly reddish hue. There, 
  they engage in ritual combat, with the winning champion 
  deciding the resolution to the dispute. These battles aren’t 
  always to the death, but Naga often die on the Blooded Sands 
  even when that’s not the intent.
  The First Clutch
  Naga legend tells of the First Clutch, a place where the first 
  Naga were born and their race came into existence. Naga 
  frequently engage in pilgrimages to the First Clutch, to pay 
  their respects and give thanks to the gods for the gift of 
  life. Unfortunately, the city-state of Hyden has expanded to 
  the point where the First Clutch lies within its walls. This 
  hasn’t stopped the pilgrimages from happening, but it has 
  made them significantly more dangerous to undertake.
  People of Import
  The Naga are few, but there are some notable ones that 
  intrepid Seekers might run into.
  Vishra the Swift
  Vishra got her name for the speed of her flashing axe, but 
  she’s better known now as a diplomat than a warrior. Vishra 
  is Queen of the Red Grasses clutch, a clutch that has forged 
  an alliance with the people of Far East. Though not exactly 
  fond of humans, she recognizes that it’s improbabe for the 
  Naga to win a war against humanity, given their shrinking 
  numbers and fractious co-existence. As such, Vishra has 
  decided that the best course of action is to create a lasting 
  peace between the Naga and the humans so that her people 
  can reassemble the God-Machine undisturbed. After all, 
  once it’s assembled the humans won’t be a problem anymore.
  Halay Ghet
  More an urban legend than a person, stories persist of 
  a male Naga who travels the world with his pack vvakir, 
  peddling his wares to anyone he encounters. Ghet is said 
  to be small for a Naga, with an eyepatch over one eye and 
  an ostentatious feathered hat. He travels the world far and 
  wide, buying and selling all manner of bizarre items, the 
  likes of which people have never seen before. Then he 
  vanishes, reappearing in another part of the world later.
  The Mother of Demons
  It is said that her entire clutch was murdered by humans from 
  a nearby village, retaliation for some real or imagined crime. 
  She alone survived, and she swore vengeance. She attacked 
  the first merchant caravan she came across in her rage, killing 
  half of them, but she was mortally wounded by one of the 
  caravan guards and left for dead by the side of the road. That’s 
  when the demon came to her and offered her a bargain. Now, 
  she has a new clutch made up of demons who do her bidding, 
  laying waste to isolated settlements throughout the world, 
  gathering strength for ever more brazen attacks.
  Points of Conflict
  The history of the relationship between humans and Naga 
  is littered with conflict. Here are a few ideas.
  Jealousy of the Usurpers
  Naga history and holy writ teaches that the humans 
  usurped the Naga’s rightful place as the favored people 
  of the gods, and that the humans’ imperfection is what 
  ultimately caused the gods to break the world and depart. 
  Because of this, many Naga hate humans and will kill them 
  on sight, without the slightest provocation. Humans, for 
  their part, have no idea where this animosity comes from; 
  they instead believe that the Naga are violent monsters that 
  must be put down for the greater good.
  Territory Disputes
  Over the years, human lands have tried to take the Nagas’ 
  sacred places, and the Naga have pushed back. While the 
  Naga don’t often attack human cities, it isn’t uncommon 
  for smaller settlements to be wiped out by Naga warbands. 
  Sometimes this is because the Naga believe there’s a 
  fragment of the God-Machine in or under the settlement, 
  while sometimes the conquest is for purely practical 
  reasons: land and natural resources. 
  Gathering the God-Machine
  The core tenet of the Naga belief system is that they must 
  reassemble the God-Machine in order to call the gods 
  back to Asunder and take their rightful place in the Halls 
  of Glory. Whether or not this is true, Naga are often on the 
  lookout for strange and unusual artifacts, and they’re not 
  above taking them from Seekers who may possess such 
  things in the meantime.
  101
  101
  
  Chapter 4: Other Peoples of the World
  Chapter 4: Other Peoples of the World
  The Rare  
  and the Reclusive
  Of the sapient species of Asunder, the Naga and the 
  demons are the most numerous, and the most likely 
  to instigate conflict with humans. There are, however, 
  several other intelligent people in the world, though these 
  civilizations are either very small, very reclusive, or both. 
  These civilizations do occasionally have contact with 
  humans (or other civilizations in the world), but such 
  contact is uncommon, so less is known about them.
  Silgiri
  The silgiri are an aquatic people, though very little is 
  known about them. Sometimes the Seafarers run afoul of 
  silgiri pods, though just as often the two groups encounter 
  each other without violence. A silgir is tall and thin, and 
  their height can range anywhere from six to fifteen feet. 
  Their bodies are humanoid but spindly, with reptilian faces 
  and tails. They have fins on their arms and legs and large, 
  webbed hands and feet. Silgiri come in a dizzying array of 
  colors, from reds and browns to bright blues and purples, 
  and some even come in rainbow hues. They’re a nocturnal 
  people, and while they can exist on dry land, they must 
  spend time in water each day to maintain their health, and 
  they move clumsily on land.
  Society
  For the silgiri, the family unit (called a pod) is the most 
  important thing in life. Silgiri are fiercely loyal to other 
  individuals within their pods, and they’ll do virtually 
  anything to protect their podmates. Silgiri pods also forge 
  special bonds with sea serpents, creating a type of symbiotic 
  relationship: the silgiri feed and care for the sea serpent, and 
  the serpent provides them protection in return. This bond 
  is so deep that silgiri consider a bonded sea serpent to be a 
  member of the pod and will protect it with the same fervor 
  that they would a sibling, parent, or lover. 
  Silgiri are highly adept at working with the coral found 
  in the seas, and have learned to fashion it into weapons, 
  armor, buildings, and tools. Like many things in the sea, coral 
  is highly toxic, and so silgiri weapons are poisonous, even 
  though they do not take any extra effort to make them so.
  Zylvare
  A Zylvare looks like a carved wooden statue, ten to fifteen 
  feet tall, all sharp angles and geometric shapes coming 
  together in the approximation of a humanoid form. All 
  Zylvare share a deep bond with the plants around them 
  and are able to communicate with plants; they can even 
  cause certain plants to animate. Their skin is tough and 
  wooden, but supple enough to allow them to move with 
  surprising grace. The “carvings” on their bodies are not 
  actually carved, but are naturally-occurring markings that 
  are unique to the individual. While most Zylvare look the 
  same to humans, paying attention to the carvings on their 
  bodies can reveal age, gender, name, and even their role 
  within the community.
  Society
  Zylvare see themselves as guardians of the wild places of 
  the world. A tribe of Zylvare is often tied to a particular 
  glade, grove, or wooded lagoon, and they will protect 
  their territory from invaders with deadly force. They’re a 
  reclusive people, typically not approaching humans unless 
  those humans are seen as a threat. The Zylvare are an 
  intelligent people, and they can be reasoned with—even 
  convinced to become allies. They are fickle and capricious, 
  however, and their morality is not human. 
  For Zylvare, death is not the end. When a Zylvare dies, as 
  long as its body is recovered and buried within the soil of its 
  home, it is reborn as a new Zylvare with all the memories 
  of its previous lives. For this reason, it’s difficult for Zylvare 
  to understand concepts like murder, or why humans get so 
  upset when one of their own dies. 
  Zylvare have a language of their own that is only partially 
  verbal; they also communicate by releasing spores, and 
  by making clicking or scraping noises with different parts 
  of their bodies. Zylvare language also relies heavily on 
  context, so a single word can have numerous meanings 
  depending on the situation in which it’s spoken and the 
  accompanying noises and spores. Some Zylvare do speak 
  human languages, though they tend to speak with strange 
  intonations, grammar, and syntax, and they only learn the 
  languages of their closest neighbors.
  Vithek
  Huge and hulking, the Vithek are humanoid creatures 
  that live underground in the tunnels beneath the surface. 
  A typical Vithek stands four to six feet tall and looks like 
  a massive, bulky human with gray-green, blue-black, or 
  pearly white skin. Parts of a Vithek’s body—the chest, 
  shoulders, thighs, forearms, and neck, mostly—are covered 
  in a thick, shiny chitin of the same color, and their three-
  fingered hands and two-toed feet are tipped with claws. 
  A Vithek’s head has no nose, and sports two thick curved 
  horns. Sharp incisor teeth fill its mouth.
  Society
  Vithek operate in a hive structure, with all individuals 
  sharing a psychic connection. While not a true hive 
  mind, Vithek are able to communicate with each other 
  telepathically, and this allows them to operate in concert 
  with extraordinary ease. It also means that there isn’t a 
  Vithek ruler per se; all members of a Vithek hive work 
  for the communal good, and when something needs to be 
  done for the community, these needs and ideas have a way 
  of propagating themselves throughout the hive.
  Because Vithek are so closely bonded to each other, 
  they tend to be deeply uneasy around people with 
  102
  102
  
  Chapter 4: Other Peoples of the World
  Chapter 4: Other Peoples of the World
  whom they do not share a hive bond. This means that 
  outsiders—even Vithek from other hives—are typically 
  viewed with suspicion, and everyone in a hive knows 
  who (and where) every outsider is as long as one member 
  of the hive does. Vithek can sometimes come across 
  as paranoid or xenophobic when they encounter non-
  Vithek. To some extent, they are. This behavior comes 
  from the fact that being around someone with whom 
  they cannot share thoughts is unsettling to Vithek; the 
  concept of secrets is alien to them, as is the concept of 
  privacy.
  In battle, Vithek are more far dangerous in large groups 
  than when alone. A single Vithek is a formidable physical 
  opponent and is capable of creating a psychic “chittering” 
  that can distract and disorient non-Vithek but, in groups 
  of two or more, Vithek operate with a synergy that few 
  humans can match. Fighting a group of five Vithek is 
  almost like fighting a single individual with five bodies.
  A full grown Vithek warrior.
  A full grown Vithek warrior.
  103
  103
  
  A Pure Light cultist, changed by the Light, offers worship to the source of her powers.
  A Pure Light cultist, changed by the Light, offers worship to the source of her powers.
  104
  104
  
  T
  he World of Asunder holds many secrets. Some 
  beneath the surface and some above. Gaia, the 
  world’s protector and life force (or some might say 
  its saboteur), has shown her true face and begun to devour 
  the land (and most importantly the people in it and their 
  essence).  The demons, who keep the secrets of the Gods 
  in tunnels beneath the land, would like to stop her, but to 
  do so must reign desolation upon humankind. Something 
  the Naga would enjoy as well, if only they didn’t hate the 
  demons more. It is indeed a struggle that holds the world in 
  conflict and seeks to erode it.
  This chapter also provides rules for when your Seekers 
  encounter the primal forces of Gaia: Pure Light, Chaos 
  shards, or Chaos sites. For information on how to wield 
  Chaos, refer to Chapter 10 in the Seeker’s Guide. For 
  information on how Discord works, refer to Chapter 3 of 
  the Seeker’s Guide.
  Secrets of Gaia
  The Seekers are each looking for something. For some 
  it’s fame and glory. For others it’s redemption. Some seek 
  to answer questions they haven’t yet figured out how to 
  ask. But all Seekers know one thing: the world is winding 
  down…coming to an end. Most people of Asunder know 
  it but don’t give voice to that simple fact and, among those 
  who do dare to talk about it, a number of theories abound. 
  The most prevalent of these is that when the gods left 
  the world and took the metal with them, they left it in a 
  weakened state. Fractured as she was, Gaia, the World-
  Spirit, the All-Mother, started to die. Her death is a slow 
  one, drawn-out and agonizing, a death that has lasted 
  thousands of years and may yet last hundreds more, but 
  all agree: the Great Death is coming. One day, Gaia will die 
  and, with her, all life on Asunder will cease.
  Keeper, only you know that the Seekers are wrong.
  Creation & Breaking
  The story people tell about the impending Great Death is 
  a misconception, if only partially so. The world is dying; 
  that much is true. Further, the departure of the gods and 
  the removal of the world’s metal is partially to blame for the 
  slow death that the world is experiencing. But beyond that, 
  humans have the story wrong.
  There are beings more powerful than the gods, beings 
  of thought and energy, metaphor and concept, beings of 
  immeasurable potency and utterly alien mindset. Known 
  as the Primals, these beings drift through the cosmos 
  enacting their wills upon it, and a single god cannot hope 
  to stand in the way of such power. Gaia is one such Primal. 
  Once, she worked with the gods of Asunder to create 
  worlds and people and to do the inscrutable things that 
  gods and Primals do. She was their ally, helping them 
  against other rival gods, protecting them from dangerous 
  Primals, and acting as their leader, their guide, and their 
  great benefactor.
  Over time, though, Gaia grew dissatisfied. She saw 
  things in the universe that she perceived as great wrongs, 
  and she made it her mission to correct them. In many 
  cases, that led her into direct contact with other gods and 
  Primals, and conflicts erupted across the cosmos. The 
  gods of Asunder grew worried that their alliance with 
  Gaia would spell their doom, and they banded together 
  to stop her. They knew they couldn’t kill her, and they 
  knew they wouldn’t be able to defeat her unless they 
  all cooperated. Together, they came up with a plan to 
  imprison her.
  One of the gods convinced Gaia that, in creating a 
  new world, she would be able to plant the seeds of the 
  revolution she dreamed of, to create creatures that could 
  serve her and further her purpose. These creations 
  would empower the gods with belief and devotion and 
  make them stronger allies in her battle. She agreed and, 
  together, they created Asunder. But Asunder was a trap, 
  and the gods betrayed Gaia and imprisoned her within 
  the planet, wrapping her in bonds of earth and iron.
  To cover their crime, the gods treated Asunder like 
  any other planet: they created people and creatures to 
  inhabit it, and they gave some of those creatures the 
  divine spark of Essence that would ensure their survival 
  and ascendancy. But eventually the gods were drawn back 
  into the war that Gaia had started, and they were forced 
  to leave Asunder. They took with them all the metal on 
  the planet for use in weapons, armor, and other tools of 
  war. The gods believed that, even without iron to bind 
  her, Gaia would still be bound forever within the planet, 
  unable to escape.
  They were right…but only for a time.
  The Gods’ War
  What could be so important as to force the gods to break 
  and abandon their creation, the world they used to 
  imprison the being that was, at that time, their greatest 
  threat? They perceived a greater threat to their agendas. 
  Things had quieted down after Gaia’s imprisonment 
  and the gods thought they’d secured a place within the 
  Chapter
  Five Forbidden 
  Lore
  105
  105
  105
  105
  
  Chapter 5: Forbidden Lore
  Chapter 5: Forbidden Lore
  cosmos. But, before long, they heard rumors of another 
  Primal, a being that corrupted and consumed worlds one 
  by one, casting down and devouring the gods of each 
  world, and growing more powerful with each passing 
  conquest. This Primal, known as the Demon Lord, posed a 
  significant threat to the gods’ plans, especially if he turned 
  his eye toward Asunder and inadvertently freed Gaia. 
  Seeing the Demon Lord as a threat they must deal with 
  immediately, the gods fled Asunder, taking the planet’s 
  metal with them, and began an eons-long war with the 
  Primal, a war that continues today.
  Gaia’s Escape Plan
  Earth and stone and water make an effective prison for 
  Gaia. Without metal, though, she is able to reach out and 
  touch parts of the world. She does so through plant life; 
  wherever it grows, she has influence, subtle but powerful 
  on the aggregate. But influence is not enough for Gaia; she 
  wants freedom. And she knows how to get it.
  Every human on Asunder has a small spark of Essence, 
  implanted in them by the gods at the moment of 
  humanity’s creation. Some of this Essence is recycled over 
  time as humans die and are reborn again and again, in 
  new bodies with new faces and minds. But Essence begets 
  Essence, and the pool of Essence that fuels humanity 
  has grown over time to correspond with the burgeoning 
  population of the planet. Gaia has used this to her 
  advantage: whenever a human dies, she takes a portion of 
  that human’s Essence, consumes it, and makes herself a 
  bit more powerful. A single human’s death is a negligible 
  increase in power, but over centuries and aeons her power 
  has grown. Even so, annihilating all life on Asunder 
  wouldn’t give Gaia the strength she needs to escape, and 
  it would rob her of her ability to harvest more Essence. 
  So she bides her time, harvesting a bit at a time, growing 
  steadily more powerful.
  Gaia cannot simply harvest Essence from every human 
  that dies, however; she needs contact with the corpse. If 
  plant life is present at the time of death, Gaia can use that to 
  harvest a small amount of Essence. But her servants, both 
  living and dead, are a more effective harvesting tool; they’re 
  able to harvest the entirety of a dead human’s Essence. 
  Gaia knows she can’t overuse this trick; harvest too much 
  Essence too quickly, and the human population dwindles, 
  putting her plan in jeopardy.
  But Gaia’s plan is starting to bear fruit. She’s starting to get 
  strong enough to break free. Soon—by a Primal’s standards, 
  at least—she’ll shatter the world and escape her prison.
  An Eruption of Chaos
  The more powerful Gaia becomes, the more Chaos 
  manifests at the center of the world. As it manifests 
  there, it is slowly pushed out to the world’s surface, like 
  a splinter being forced out of a finger. Shards erupt from 
  the ground and cause natural law to pervert itself in their 
  vicinity. These shards of Chaos around the world weaken 
  the structure of natural law, as well as the integrity of the 
  world and reality. These Chaos shards are Gaia testing 
  her bonds, weakening her prison, and readying herself to 
  emerge.
  Curiously, Chaos-wielders make this worse. When a 
  human absorbs a shard of Chaos, that shard doesn’t go 
  away. Instead, it rests inside the Chaos-wielder, travels 
  with him, and weakens reality wherever he goes. Gaia even 
  encourages humans in subtle ways to seek out shards of 
  Chaos, because she knows that regardless of whether the 
  human is destroyed or absorbs the shard, she gets that 
  much closer to escape.
  Chaos is also the key to slowing the end of the world. 
  Though only a few humans have discovered how to do 
  it, there is a way to destroy a shard of Chaos and restore 
  balance to the area in which it manifested. Humans would 
  have to mobilize in force to destroy enough Chaos shards to 
  halt Gaia’s escape entirely, however.
  For now, the one thing most humans can agree upon 
  with regards to Chaos is that it’s becoming more common, 
  and that’s a bad thing. Doom cults use Chaos’s increased 
  presence in the world as proof of the end times, and they’re 
  not wrong. The more “pragmatic” among the human 
  population seek to find ways to exploit Chaos and use it to 
  their advantage and, while these people can accumulate 
  immense power very quickly by doing so, they’re hastening 
  the apocalypse in the process.
  The Demonic Incursion
  The demons know all of this. They understand what Gaia 
  is and what her intentions are, and they seek to stop it. This 
  doesn’t make them altruistic, however, or even a potential 
  ally for humanity; they want to save the world in order to 
  rule it. According to the demons, the best way to halt Gaia’s 
  escape and ensure the survival of the world is to eradicate 
  every human on the planet. Because there isn’t enough 
  Essence in the world at any given time to give Gaia the 
  power she needs to escape, the demons reason that if they 
  can break free to the surface of the world en masse and 
  slaughter humans by the thousands and tens of thousands, 
  eventually they can wipe the planet clean, denying Gaia 
  any further Essence she can use to grow stronger. As a 
  side benefit, this would leave the world empty for them 
  to inhabit. Demons have also developed the ability to 
  consume the Essence of humans they kill, denying that 
  Essence to Gaia and making themselves stronger in the 
  process.
  For now, they gather their strength and muster at 
  the Great Scar on the Black Isle. They know they’ve 
  amassed too many forces there for the Black Islers to 
  easily deal with, and they also know that as long as 
  they don’t mount an offensive too soon, the Black Islers 
  will focus their attentions elsewhere. Humanity has a 
  surprising capacity to ignore existential threats when a 
  more immediate danger is present, so they attack in small 
  106
  106
  
  Chapter 5: Forbidden Lore
  Chapter 5: Forbidden Lore
  bands everywhere else on the Black Isle, keeping the 
  Islers busy with skirmishes. They rarely venture beyond 
  the Black Isle, because the Isle is almost entirely devoid 
  of vegetation. As such, it is a place where Gaia has no 
  influence or awareness, allowing them to muster their 
  forces in secret.
  Blight Walkers
  The sites of great battles are littered with corpses, 
  and they often become breeding grounds for a kind of 
  fungus that takes root in those corpses and animates 
  them. These animate dead walk the world with but 
  one purpose: to slay the living. Most believe that blight 
  walkers are a curse levied upon the world by a god who 
  was horrified at the violent nature of humankind. The 
  truth, however, is that blight walkers serve Gaia. When 
  hundreds or thousands of humans die in one place, Gaia 
  often manifests as a spirit. There have been numerous 
  accounts of this, and most also describe a heavy green 
  mist in the air. This mist is actually a cloud of spores 
  that, when they settle upon the recently slain dead, grow 
  into fungi that can control the corpses they inhabit. In 
  this way, Gaia can both gather Essence from the battle 
  and propagate even more violence, gaining even more 
  Essence.
  The Green Army
  Gaia also has servants, humans who worship and obey 
  her, and who do her bidding in the world. Imbued with 
  great power, servants of Gaia act as leaders of her Green 
  Army. Most often these individuals are weavers, and 
  over time they have effectively infiltrated the ranks of 
  the Hands of Gaia, the ruling class of New Gaia. These 
  individuals often have the ability to raise blight walkers, 
  and their schemes usually involve strengthening the 
  Green Army, fostering worship of Gaia, or causing death 
  on a grand scale.
  Few people in Asunder know what the purpose of the 
  Green Army is or what it wants. All people know is that 
  sometimes the dead rise, and when they do they kill the 
  living, sweeping through an area before disappearing 
  into the wilderness, not to be seen again for months or 
  even years. There are vague rumors that the Green Army 
  is under Gaia’s control, but people often argue about 
  what her purpose is. Some believe that she destroys 
  communities that have displeased her, and that the 
  appearance of the Green Army is an indicator that people 
  must repent and seek to appease Gaia. Others believe 
  that, according to natural law, Gaia must cull the herd 
  from time to time, winnowing away those who are not 
  strong enough to subsist. Still others believe that the 
  Green Army is a perversion of Gaia’s will, that the living 
  beings seen among the Green Army from time to time 
  seek to subvert her power and use it to their own ends. 
  Almost nobody knows the truth.
  Chaos and  
  Pure Light
  Chaos is the primal force of creation and destruction that 
  leaches out of the god-machine that was used to forge the 
  world long ago. Pure Light may also be a manifestation 
  of Chaos, though it has very different effects from Chaos 
  shards or Chaos sites.
  Pure Light
  Nobody knows precisely why Pure Light exists or what its 
  purpose is. Many theorize that it’s a manifestation of Chaos—
  some remnant of the god-machine run amok—and for that 
  they worship it. These people believe that Pure Light is semi-
  divine and has a consciousness, and they seek to join it and 
  become part of it when they die. Regardless of the truth, what 
  Pure Light is from an observable perspective is an immense 
  shaft of white-hot light that descends from the sky. It moves 
  from place to place, roving around the mainland, occasionally 
  disappearing entirely only to reappear elsewhere. There’s 
  only ever one shaft of Pure Light, and it’s nearly impossible to 
  predict where it will be, though many try.
  Some few people worship Pure Light as a divine entity, 
  and a large part of this is because it seems to touch certain 
  people, imbuing them with power and knowledge, 
  warping and changing their Essence to grant them power 
  unattainable in any other way. Pure Light worshipers 
  revere these Light-Touched and treat them as holy figures, 
  prophets, and spiritual leaders (often whether or not the 
  Light-Touched themselves desire that mantle).
  Effects of Pure Light
  Pure Light  can’t be destroyed or harnessed in any way, and 
  it’s far too dangerous and powerful for nearly any human to 
  survive. As such, you can use it in the following ways.
  As a World Detail
  A shaft of Pure Light nearly a hundred feet across, moving 
  through the countryside, burning up any animals or 
  people that it comes across, is a dramatic image. You 
  might use it as a way to bring a Pure Light cult into an 
  adventure as allies, antagonists, or a neutral party. Maybe 
  the cultists have a prophecy they’re watching for. Maybe 
  the shaft of Pure Light just burned or mutated everyone 
  in a village, leaving only a single Light-Touched survivor 
  and numerous grisly corpse-filled or heat-scoured houses. 
  There are a few things to keep in mind about Pure Light 
  when you’re using it this way:
  First, Pure Light sometimes burns up any living creature 
  it touches, but at other times, it instead randomly mutates 
  every living creature within its diameter. These mutations 
  are invariably fatal. Use your imagination to describe the 
  fate that NPCs, animals, monsters, and other creatures that 
  come into contact with the Pure Light.
  107
  107
  
  Chapter 5: Forbidden Lore
  Chapter 5: Forbidden Lore
  Second, Pure Light leaves everything else untouched. 
  Buildings, grass, trees, rocks, water, and everything else it 
  comes into contact with is seemingly unaffected by Pure 
  Light, not even rising in temperature. A shaft of Pure Light 
  can burn away every creature in a village and leave all of 
  the objects in the village intact. The sole exception to this 
  rule is sand; any sand touched by Pure Light fuses into 
  massively valuable glass, something that the black-market 
  glass-hawkers of the city-states will kill to keep from 
  becoming common knowledge.
  Third, Pure Light does what it will. It moves as it wills, or 
  not at all. It disappears if it decides to. What this means is 
  that it can effectively do whatever you want it to do in the 
  story. It can show up unexpectedly, cause some problems, 
  then leave just as unexpectedly, or it can be a constant 
  presence that follows the Seekers around. Its motivations, if 
  it indeed has any, are utterly alien and unpredictable.
  As a Hazard
  A battle near a shaft of Pure Light can be exciting and 
  dramatic because the chances of imminent and instant 
  death are high. Don’t overuse this trick; doing this once 
  in an adventure is plenty, and you probably don’t want 
  two adventures back-to-back with such an encounter in 
  it. Pure Light usually manifests as a large shaft anywhere 
  from 100 feet to one mile in diameter…but it doesn’t have 
  to. It can shrink if it wishes. In game terms, it’s a cylinder 
  with a radius of whatever you want it to be. It moves as 
  you need it to move. Depending on what level your group 
  is when you use Pure Light as a hazard, the damage can be 
  different.
  A creature pushed into Pure Light can make an Agility 
  challenge roll to try to avoid the worst of its effects. A creature 
  who fails takes full damage, while a creature who succeeds 
  takes half. This doesn’t represent being entirely enveloped by 
  Pure Light; if that happens, a creature is utterly destroyed or 
  instantly killed by freakish mutations. Rather, this represents 
  being partially consumed by it, such that it burns away some 
  of your flesh or works minor to moderate mutations on you, 
  but you’re able to escape before it kills you (maybe).
  You can also have Pure Light attack creatures on the 
  battlefield, moving to them to try to consume them. Refer 
  to the Pure Light Attack and Damage table for Pure Light’s 
  attack bonus and its damage on a success.
  A creature incapacitated by Pure Light’s damage is either 
  burned away to nothing or becomes a misshapen bag of 
  bones and torn flesh. Which outcome you use is at your 
  discretion as Keeper, but the damage guidelines remain 
  the same.
  As an Advancement Trigger
  Sometimes, very, very rarely, Pure Light doesn’t kill 
  someone it envelops. Sometimes it instead touches 
  them, changing them and giving them power. This only 
  happens to people from the mainland, never to anyone 
  else. Talk to your players. If one of them wants to take 
  on the Light-Touched expert path or the Light-Chosen 
  master path, you can justify either path by having them 
  be enveloped by Pure Light at a climactic moment in an 
  adventure and surviving untouched. Shortly afterward 
  (when the group levels up), they start to gain both visible 
  mutations and power.
  Chaos Shards
  Very rarely, shards of pure Chaos energy manifest in the 
  world. These objects are fragments of the god-machine 
  bleeding out into human reality. Some say that Chaos 
  exists in a reality parallel to our own, and these shards 
  are pieces of that reality blending with ours where 
  the barrier between planes is thin. Others say that the 
  god-machine is underground, within the planet itself, 
  and that fragments of Chaos dislodge from it and get 
  pushed out of the world’s skin as Gaia attempts to reject 
  a foreign invader. Whatever the truth, the fact remains 
  that Chaos shards are tremendously dangerous, but can 
  be harnessed by those with the will, knowledge, and 
  ability to do so.
  Shard Rank
  All Chaos shards have a rank from 1 to 5. Rank 1 shards are 
  rare, numbering only in the hundreds across the entire 
  world. Rank 5 shards are theoretical; it’s possible that one or 
  two exists, but nobody’s found one and lived to tell the tale. A 
  shard’s rank determines its general power. Whenever a shard 
  makes an attack or challenge roll, it does so with a bonus 
  equal to its rank, and with an equivalent number of boons. 
  Whenever a shard forces a challenge roll, that challenge roll 
  suffers a number of banes equal to the shard’s rank.
  Shard Effects
  Chaos shards have a form of sentience and awareness—or, 
  at least, they seem to. Whenever Seekers come into contact 
  with a Chaos shard, refer to the Shard Effects by Rank table 
  below to determine what the Shard does in their presence. 
  You may wish to run an encounter with a Chaos shard as a 
  conflict.
  Pure Light Attack and Damage
  Starting
  4d6
  +1
  Novice
  6d6
  +2
  Expert
  10d6
  +3
  Master
  14d6
  +4
  Shard Effects by Rank
  1
  Chaos site
  2
  Chaos site
  3
  Chaos site, Chaos beasts
  4
  Chaos site, Chaos beasts, attack
  5
  Chaos site, Chaos beasts, attack
  108
  108
  
  Chapter 5: Forbidden Lore
  Chapter 5: Forbidden Lore
  Chaos site
  A Chaos shard always exists in the center of a Chaos site 
  with a rank equal to its own.
  Chaos beasts
  The Chaos shard is accompanied by creatures comprised 
  of pure Chaos. A rank 3 shard is accompanied by 2 
  medium Chaos beasts, a rank 4 shard by 2 medium 
  Chaos beasts and 1 large Chaos beast, and a rank 5 shard 
  by 2 large Chaos beasts and 1 huge Chaos beast. These 
  Chaos beasts can be killed, but every minute that goes by 
  after a Chaos beast’s death there’s a cumulative 5% chance 
  of a new Chaos beast of the same size spontaneously 
  forming.
  Attack
  The Chaos shard can take actions and attack. Its attack is 
  a ranged attack that can affect anything within its Chaos 
  site, and the attack deals 2d6 damage per rank of the 
  shard, plus 1d6 Discord. A creature that takes damage 
  from this attack is also warped and mutated; this mutation 
  is permanent but has no specific game effect, though the 
  creature is impaired for 1 minute due to the disorientation 
  of the sudden mutation. A creature incapacitated by 
  this damage is transformed into a monster equal to its 
  previous Size.
  Harnessing a Shard
  A Seeker from the mainland can harness a Chaos shard’s 
  energy in order to learn to wield Chaos. If a Seeker wishes to 
  discover the Chaos Essence tree, allow them to visit a Chaos 
  shard of appropriate rank (see the Shard Rank by Level 
  table) and play out an encounter with the shard. Typically, 
  harnessing a shard’s power requires a Will challenge roll with 
  a number of banes equal to the shard’s rank.
  Someone who is already a Chaos wielder can use clear 
  glass to contain a mote of Chaos from a Chaos shard, 
  provided they have the Chaos Trapper talent. See Glass in 
  Chapter 9 of the Seeker’s Guide for information on this.
  Finally, a Chaos wielder can draw power from a Chaos 
  shard within short range as a triggered action when they 
  use a Chaos power. Make a Will challenge roll with a 
  number of banes equal to the shard’s rank. If they succeed, 
  the Seeker takes 1 Discord and can either use the power 
  without expending a use of it (as long as the power’s rank 
  is not greater than the shard’s), or you can use the shard’s 
  energy to push the power a number of times equal to twice 
  Stealing a Chaos shard from the Naga is perhaps the most dangerous thing one can do.  
  For Jael, she considers that the only way to feel alive.
  Stealing a Chaos shard from the Naga is perhaps the most dangerous thing one can do.  
  For Jael, she considers that the only way to feel alive.
  109
  109
  
  Chapter 5: Forbidden Lore
  Chapter 5: Forbidden Lore
  Chapter 5: Forbidden Lore
  Chapter 5: Forbidden Lore
  the shard’s rank for free. If you fail the challenge roll, you 
  take 1d6 Discord and gain no benefit.
  Destroying a Chaos Shard
  You can’t simply hit a Chaos shard with a weapon and 
  expect to harm it; destroying one of these relics requires a 
  lengthy cleansing ritual in which all who participate bend 
  their Essence toward containing and dissipating the Chaos 
  energy of the shard. In order to engage in the ritual, you and 
  at least three others must use an action and spend 1 minute 
  in concentration within short range of the Chaos shard. After 
  the minute elapses, if your concentration hasn’t been broken, 
  take 1 Strain and reduce the Chaos shard’s rank by 1 to 3. 
  If you reduce it to 0, the shard dissipates and is destroyed. 
  Having more than four people participate reduces the 
  amount of strain. For every three additional people the strain 
  is reduced by 1, with a minimum of 1 strain per minute.
  Chaos Sites
  A Chaos site is a location that’s been saturated by Chaos so 
  thoroughly that there’s a lingering effect. All Chaos shards 
  are surrounded by Chaos sites, but Chaos sites often arise in 
  places where Chaos energy is used in significant amounts, 
  and some Chaos wielders know how to shunt their own 
  Discord off into the surrounding environment, corrupting it.
  Making a Chaos Site
  There are a few ways Chaos sites come into being besides 
  being tied to a Chaos shard. 
  The first is with the Shunt Discord talent from the Chaos 
  Essence tree (see Chapter 10 of the Seeker’s Guide).
  The second way that Chaos sites can arise is when too 
  much Chaos energy is used in a short period of time at 
  the same spot. In game terms, if a Chaos wielder uses 5 or 
  more Chaos powers within two minutes (i.e., twelve combat 
  rounds) in the same general location (only count individual 
  uses of Chaos powers, not sustaining Chaos powers), a 
  Chaos site with a rank 1 lower than the highest-ranked 
  Chaos power used is born.
  Finally, if a Chaos wielder dies, her Discord bleeds off into 
  the surrounding area. A Chaos site is born with a rank based 
  on the total amount of Discord the Chaos wielder had when 
  she died. See the Discord to Chaos Site Rank table below.
  Effects of a Chaos Site
  Strange things happen at a Chaos site. Mutated animals, 
  trees made of glass, water hovering in the air, items phasing 
  out of existence, and rain falling upward are all possible.
   
  ༄ A rank 1 site only carries minor Chaos effects. Animals 
  in the area develop minor mutations, small objects 
  occasionally move around, change color, or otherwise 
  transform, and what you see can mislead you. Anyone 
  in a rank 1 Chaos site takes 1 bane on all Perception 
  rolls, and every hour you spend in a rank 1 Chaos site 
  causes you to take 1 Discord.
   
  ༄ In a rank 2 site, the effect intensifies. Anyone in a rank 
  2 Chaos site takes 2 banes on Perception rolls, and every 
  half hour you spend in a rank 2 Chaos site causes you to 
  take 1 Discord.
   
  ༄ In a rank 3 site, space begins to distort. In addition 
  to the effects of a rank 2 site, every time a character 
  moves, they roll 1d6. If the result is odd, treat all terrain 
  as difficult terrain for this move. If the result is even, 
  the creature’s Speed is doubled, and the movement is 
  considered to be teleportation.
   
  ༄ At rank 4, reality is no longer reliable. In addition to the 
  effects of a rank 3 site, anyone who takes an action in a 
  rank 4 site is subject to the effects of a Chaos Essence 
  power, chosen by the Keeper. In addition, characters 
  take 1 Discord for every minute they spend here, not 
  every 30 minutes.
   
  ༄ All bets are off in a rank 5 site. As these are largely 
  theoretical you as the Keeper can feel free to 
  incorporate whatever effects seem appropriate in 
  addition to those listed under rank 4. Instead of taking 1 
  Discord per minute, characters take 1 Discord at the end 
  of each round.
  Chaos Site Size
  The stronger a Chaos site is, the larger it tends to be. Refer 
  to the table at left; distances are measured from the center 
  of the Chaos site in every direction.
  Destroying a Chaos Site
  Unlike a Chaos shard, you can’t simply destroy a Chaos site. 
  However, with nothing to sustain it, the Chaos energy in the 
  environment will eventually dissipate on its own. For every 
  year that passes without something to sustain it, a Chaos 
  site’s rank decreases by 1. At 0, it dissipates entirely, though 
  many of its more permanent effects may still persist.
  Discord to Chaos Site Rank
  1-5
  No Chaos site
  6-10
  Rank 1
  11-15
  Rank 2
  16-18
  Rank 3
  19-20
  Rank 4
  21+
  Rank 5
  Chaos Site Size
  1
  10 yards
  2
  30 yards
  3
  100 yards
  4
  1 mile
  5
  5 miles
  110
  110
  110
  110
  
  Chapter 5: Forbidden Lore
  Chapter 5: Forbidden Lore
  Chapter 5: Forbidden Lore
  Chapter 5: Forbidden Lore
  A rank four Chaos shard tears apart two would-be seeker’s of power. Be careful what you wish for.
  A rank four Chaos shard tears apart two would-be seeker’s of power. Be careful what you wish for.
  111
  111
  
  The Great Horned Wyvern is a myth. That is what the Bone Army believed... until it descended upon them.
  The Great Horned Wyvern is a myth. That is what the Bone Army believed... until it descended upon them.
  112
  112
  
  M
  any creatures inhabit the world of Asunder, from 
  bloodthirsty demons to rampaging horoks to 
  harmless creatures like salt-deer or vvakirs. This 
  chapter presents a selection of creatures the Seekers are 
  likely to encounter in the game, from animals to Chaos-
  beasts, and many interesting things in between.
  A creature’s entry includes both game rules and 
  descriptive material, including the creature’s appearance 
  and behavior. It also includes information on how the 
  creature fits into the game world.
  An entry can represent a wide range of creatures. The 
  Animal entry, for example, can describe riding beasts, wild 
  predators, herd animals, scavengers, and so on. You can 
  also use an existing entry to express a creature you create, 
  simply by altering how you describe it. A creature with 
  natural weapons such as claws or teeth could instead attack 
  with horns, hoofs, or tusks. A creature that spits poison 
  could shoot lightning or spray acid instead. If you want to 
  create something unique, see Customizing Creatures later 
  in this chapter for guidelines on modifying creatures by 
  adding traits, talents, attacks, and actions to existing entries.
  If a creature knows any languages, they are noted in its 
  entry. Otherwise, it does not speak or understand spoken 
  language.
  A Statistics Box
  The statistics box is a standard format for presenting a 
  creature’s game information. It contains both descriptive 
  material and numerical entries for how to use the creature 
  in the game.
  Numerical entries are for a typical example of the 
  creature. You can adjust these numbers to make a variant; 
  see Customizing Creatures for more information.
  Basic Information
  The first two lines of the box state basic information about 
  the creature.
  Name: The creature’s common name. A creature might 
  be known by other names in different areas or by other 
  cultures.
  Difficulty: A creature’s Difficulty rating represents its 
  overall power. When creating encounters (see Combat 
  Encounters in Chapter 1), simply add up the Difficulty 
  rating of all the creatures or groups of creatures present 
  to determine the threat for that encounter.
  Size: This line indicates the creature’s normal Size.
  Frightening: Some creatures have a disturbing appearance, 
  an otherworldly nature, or an uncanny effect on the 
  world around them. This entry is absent if the creature 
  lacks these traits. A creature that does not have the 
  frightening or horrifying trait must make a Will 
  challenge roll when it first sees one or more creatures 
  with this trait. It makes the roll with 1 bane if it can see 
  four or more frightening creatures at once.
    On a failure, the creature becomes frightened for 
  1d3 rounds. Once a creature makes this roll, whether 
  it succeeds or fails, it cannot again be affected by this 
  trait of the creature or creatures it saw until after it 
  completes a rest.
    Regardless of the outcome of the challenge roll, 
  creatures that lack the frightening trait make attack rolls 
  against horrifying creatures with 1 bane.
  NAME 
  DIFFICULTY #
  Size # [frightening/horrifying] descriptor (special)
  Perception # (+#); special senses
  Defense # (armor); Health #
  Strength # (+#), Agility # (+#), Intellect # (+#), Will # (+#)
  Speed #; special movement traits
  Immune List of things by which the creature is unaffected
  Defensive Trait Name and description of how it works.
  Vulnerability Description of how it works.
  Other Trait or Passive Talent Name and description of how it works.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Attack (melee; [reach +#]) +# [with # boon(s)] (damage [plus attack 
  talent])
  Attack (range) +# [with # boon(s)] (damage [plus attack talent])
  Attack Talent Description of how it works.
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Name Description of how it works.
  SPECIAL ACTIONS 
  Name Description of how it works.
  ESSENCE 
  Essence (#)
  Tree name (#), name (#), name (#)
  END OF THE ROUND
  Effect Description of what happens.
  Chapter
  Six Bestiary
  Creature Difficulty
  1
  Starting
  5
  Starting
  10
  Novice
  25
  Novice
  50
  Expert
  100
  Expert
  250
  Master
  500
  Master
  113
  113
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Descriptor: This word tells you to what group the creature 
  belongs to and gives you a sense of how it fits into the 
  game. A creature might be an animal, a monster, or 
  something else. Usually, descriptors do not have special 
  rules. Those that do are summarized in the sidebar here. 
  Special descriptors can apply to any creature and appear 
  in parentheses after the main entry.
   
  ༄ Aquatic: An aquatic creature breathes water and has 
  the swimmer trait (see Speed, below). The creature is 
  defenseless when it is on dry land.
   
  ༄ Construct: A construct is not alive. It ignores the effects 
  of deprivation or exposure, as well as any effect that 
  would age it. When it becomes incapacitated, the 
  construct ceases to be a creature and is an object.
   
  ༄ Demon: A demon ignores the effects of deprivation and 
  exposure, as well as any effect that would age it.
   
  ༄ Swarm: A swarm is a group of smaller creatures. It covers 
  all surfaces in its space. If it has the flier trait, it fills its 
  space. When moving, the swarm can move freely through 
  openings large enough to permit the passage of a single 
  member and through the spaces of other creatures. Other 
  creatures can enter the swarm’s space and move through 
  it. The swarm’s space counts as difficult terrain. 
   
  A swarm takes half damage from effects that use an 
  attack roll and double damage from effects that require it 
  to make a challenge roll.
   
  ༄ Undead: Undead are not alive. An undead creature 
  is never affected by deprivation or exposure and 
  ignores any effect that would age it. When it becomes 
  incapacitated, the animating force dissipates, leaving 
  behind dead remains. 
   
  Some undead creatures are nearly mindless and are 
  immune to many afflictions that affect thought and 
  awareness. Intelligent, self-directed undead are more 
  susceptible to such effects.
  Characteristics  
  and Attributes
  The next few lines present numbers representing the 
  creature’s characteristics and attributes.
  Perception: This entry tells you the creature’s Perception 
  score and modifier.
  Special Senses: If a creature has a special sense, it is noted 
  here. Rules for the most common types of senses follow. 
  Special senses beyond these are described in full in the 
  creature’s entry.
   
  ༄ Shadowsight: The creature can see in areas obscured by 
  shadows as if those areas were lit.
   
  ༄ Darksight: The creature can see in areas obscured by 
  shadows and darkness within medium range of it as if 
  those areas were lit. Beyond this distance, the creature 
  treats darkness as shadows and shadows as lit.
   
  ༄ Sightless: The creature relies on senses other than 
  sight to perceive its surroundings and can pinpoint the 
  location of each creature and object within long range 
  of it. Creatures within the area cannot hide from the 
  creature, and it ignores banes imposed by obscurement 
  on rolls to perceive things. A sightless creature is never 
  subject to the blinded affliction.
   
  ༄ Truesight: The creature can see in areas obscured by 
  shadows and darkness as if those areas were lit. The 
  creature can also see invisible creatures and objects, 
  and it automatically recognizes any illusions it sees for 
  what they truly are.
  Defense: This entry tells you the creature’s Defense score. A 
  creature’s Defense score might be higher than its Agility, 
  due to natural armor or intrinsic abilities. Creatures that 
  wear armor or use shields note them parenthetically after 
  the score.
  Health: The creature’s Health score. When a creature that 
  is not a player character becomes incapacitated, it dies 
  instantly unless you decide otherwise.
  Attributes: The scores and modifiers for the creature’s four 
  attributes are listed here. If an attribute entry has a “—” 
  instead of a number, the creature does not have that 
  attribute and is immune to anything that would target 
  that attribute or require a roll using it.
  Speed: The creature’s Speed, measured in yards. If the 
  creature has any special movement traits, they are noted 
  here. If a special movement entry includes a number, 
  the creature uses that number in place of its normal 
  Speed when moving in this way. See Special Forms of 
  Movement in Chapter 3 of the Seeker’s Guide for more 
  information.
   
  ༄ Climber: The creature ignores difficult terrain from 
  climbing.
   
  ༄ Flier: The creature can move by flying.
   
  ༄ Swoop: While flying, the creature’s movement never 
  triggers free attacks.
   
  ༄ Swimmer: The creature ignores difficult terrain from 
  swimming.
  Immune: If the creature is unaffected by certain damage 
  sources or afflictions, they are listed here. Otherwise, this 
  line is absent.
  Defensive Trait: If the creature has any special defenses, 
  they are described here. Otherwise, this line is absent.
  Vulnerability: If the creature gains afflictions from 
  or is otherwise harmed by certain environments or 
  situations, they are described here. Otherwise, this line 
  is absent.
  Other Trait or Passive Talent: If the creature has any other 
  special trait or a talent that doesn’t require it to take an 
  action, it is noted here. Otherwise, this line is absent.
  114
  114
  114
  114
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Strain and Discord
  You never have to track Strain or Discord for creatures 
  you control. You might decide to portray a particular 
  NPC or monster as if they have a high Discord, but you 
  do not have to track Discord for creatures you control, 
  and the effects of that creature’s apparent Discord are at 
  your discretion. Creatures that are not human do not have 
  Essence, and so they cannot experience Strain. Human 
  NPCs you control can experience Strain but, again, its 
  effects are at your discretion and you do not have to track 
  exact numbers.
  A creature that is immune to Strain or Discord cannot 
  suffer any effects related to those things. Creatures not 
  immune to Strain or Discord can suffer the effects of 
  Strain and Discord, but you never need to track individual 
  numbers.
  Attack Options
  When the creature uses an action to attack, it may choose 
  from any of the listed options. Unless otherwise noted, the 
  creature attacks one target creature or object and makes its 
  attack roll against the target’s Defense.
  Reach +#: Most creatures have a reach of 1 or their Size, 
  whichever is larger. If a creature has a longer reach, 
  that is noted here.
  Range: Ranged attacks note the range (short, medium, 
  long, or extreme).
  Natural Weapon: Natural weapons can be anything 
  a creature uses to hunt or to protect itself, such as 
  teeth, claws, spines, horns, or a tail spike.
  Attack Talents
  This entry describes any additional effects on the 
  target from a success on the attack roll using this talent. 
  Certain attack talents take effect only if the creature 
  gets a success on an attack roll total of 20 or higher 
  and exceeds the target’s Defense by 5 or more. This is 
  written in abbreviated form as “on attack roll 20+” on 
  the attack line.
  Special Attacks
  Some creatures have talents that grant them special 
  attacks, which are described in this entry. Using a 
  special attack counts as an attack action. If the creature 
  has no special attacks, this entry is absent.
  Multiple Attacks
  Many creatures can make two or more attacks using 
  a single attack action. For example, a creature with 
  Double Attack can use one action to make two attack 
  rolls. Unless otherwise noted, these attacks can be 
  against the same target or different ones.
  Special Actions
  Some creatures can use special actions, which are 
  described in this entry. Taking a special action uses an 
  action unless otherwise specified. If the creature has no 
  special actions, this entry is absent.
  Essence
  This category is present only if the creature knows any 
  Essence powers. This is typically only true of humans.
  Essence: The creature’s Essence score.
  Trees and Powers: The powers the creature knows are 
  organized alphabetically by tree. Each tree is set out on 
  a separate line. Each power includes the number of uses 
  available for that power (in parentheses).
  End of the Round
  This entry describes anything that happens at the end of 
  the round if the creature is not incapacitated. When combat 
  starts, you resolve any such effects as though a previous 
  round had ended and then proceed with the first round.
  The Red Alliance and the Wooden have never been friends. Nor will they ever be.
  The Red Alliance and the Wooden have never been friends. Nor will they ever be.
  115
  115
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Creature 
  Descriptions
  This chapter presents creatures in alphabetical order, 
  followed by entries for typical characters who might be 
  encountered. For an index of all the creatures in the game, 
  presented in order of Difficulty, see the end of this chapter.
  Ancients
  The beings known as Ancients are quite possibly the 
  only beings alive old enough to remember when the 
  gods walked Asunder, and also willing to talk to humans 
  and other creatures about it. There are a few problems, 
  though: most Ancients sleep quite a lot, they’re difficult 
  to rouse, and they often make demands of those who 
  wake them in exchange for whatever information they 
  impart. They’re rarely aggressive or violent, but are 
  tremendously powerful when goaded into action. There 
  are only a few Ancients left in the world, so finding one 
  is also difficult.
  An Ancient looks like nothing so much as an enormous 
  turtle, its shell covered with plant life and even trees, its 
  eyes tired but sparkling with intelligence. Ancients speak 
  slowly and deliberately, and can speak and understand all 
  languages. They’re solitary creatures, never encountered 
  together.
  ANCIENT 
  DIFFICULTY 250
  Size 3 or larger monster
  Perception 16 (+6); truesight
  Defense 16; Health 80
  Strength 20 (+10), Agility 6 (–4), Intellect 16 (+6), Will 15 (+5)
  Speed 4
  Immune damage from disease or poison; gaining Strain; blinded, 
  dazed, deafened, diseased, fatigued, frightened, immobilized, 
  poisoned, prone, slowed, stunned
  Resilience An Ancient takes half damage from weapons.
  Empowered by Essence When an Ancient would take damage from 
  an Essence power, it instead adds the damage as a bonus to its 
  Health. The bonus lasts for 1 minute. This talent does not protect 
  the Ancient from Chaos powers or the effects of Chaos shards or 
  Chaos sites.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Psychic Shock (range medium) +6 with 3 boons (6d6 and the target 
  is dazed for 1 round)
  END OF THE ROUND 
  Epic Recovery The Ancient removes one affliction from itself.
  Psychic Resonance Each dazed creature within short range of the 
  Ancient must make a Will challenge roll or be compelled by the 
  Ancient for 1 minute.
  Animals
  Asunder is home to a dizzying variety of animals. Some 
  of these are animals familiar to people from our world: 
  deer, birds, fish, snakes, and so on. Others are more 
  alien. Rather than providing stats for every animal in 
  Asunder, we’ve provided generic stats for different sizes 
  of creature, as well as some examples of how to use each 
  stat block.
  HUGE ANIMAL 
  DIFFICULTY 50
  Size 3 or larger animal
  Perception 12 (+2)
  Defense 11; Health 80
  Strength 16 (+6), Agility 10 (+0), Intellect 6 (–4), Will 12 (+2)
  Speed 8
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Natural Weapon (melee) +6 with 1 boon (3d6)
  Huge animals from our world include whales, elephants, 
  hippopotamuses, and other large creatures. In Asunder, 
  a huge animal could be a difrik, an enormous fish with 
  iridescent scales often hunted for those scales, as well as 
  its flesh; a cala beetle, a large, domesticated insect often 
  used as a beast of burden in New Gaia; or the enormous, 
  carnivorous lizard-bird known as the shrikewing.
  LARGE ANIMAL 
  DIFFICULTY 25
  Size 2 animal
  Perception 12 (+2)
  Defense 12; Health 40
  Strength 15 (+5), Agility 11 (+1), Intellect 6 (–4), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 12
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Natural Weapon (melee) +5 with 1 boon (2d6)
  In our world, a large animal could be a horse, a tiger, or 
  a great ape. In Asunder, large animals include the semi-
  reptilian primate known as the shkael; the genart, a big, 
  docile herd mammal with a bulbous nose and sweet green 
  milk; and the sailfin, a predatory sea mammal known for 
  being both social and dangerous.
  Dire Animals
  Animals in Asunder can grow into truly prodigious 
  or dangerous varieties. The stat blocks provided for 
  animals represent normal animals of Asunder; while 
  they can be dangerous, they’re generally on the low 
  end of the threat scale. If you want to make a more 
  dangerous version of an animal, consider either using 
  the stat block for the next size up, using the monster stat 
  block for the equivalent size (monster stat blocks are 
  later in this chapter), or using a monster stat block and 
  increasing the animal’s size.
  116
  116
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  MEDIUM ANIMAL 
  DIFFICULTY 10
  Size 1 animal
  Perception 12 (+2)
  Defense 14; Health 20
  Strength 13 (+3), Agility 13 (+3), Intellect 6 (–4), Will 10 (+0)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Natural Weapon (melee) +3 with 1 boon (1d6 + 2)
  Medium animals on Earth could include a large dog, a stag 
  or doe, or boar or goat. Asunder’s medium animals include 
  the salt-deer, a spindly, winged creature with both reptilian 
  and insectoid traits that can hover over the ground but not 
  truly fly; the koira, an intelligent, social insect often kept as 
  a pet; and the forlag, a slow-moving herbivore kept for its 
  meat and the silk it weaves in the summertime.
  SMALL ANIMAL 
  DIFFICULTY 1
  Size 1/2 animal
  Perception 12 (+2)
  Defense 13; Health 5
  Strength 8 (–2), Agility 13 (+3), Intellect 6 (–4), Will 8 (–2)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Natural Weapon (melee) +3 (1d6 + 1)
  On Earth, small animals like cats, dogs, birds of prey, 
  monkeys, and so forth are everywhere. In Asunder, a 
  small animal might be a silic, a winged primate well-
  known as an urban pest and thief of small, unattended 
  objects; a dog-spider, which is a spider big enough to eat 
  a small dog; and the amphibious scourge frog, which is 
  known to lay eggs in the throats of sleeping travelers at 
  night.
  TINY ANIMAL 
  DIFFICULTY 1
  Size 1/4 or smaller animal
  Perception 14 (+4)
  Defense 14; Health 1
  Strength 5 (–5), Agility 14 (+4), Intellect 6 (–4), Will 8 (–2)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Natural Weapon (melee) +4 with 2 banes (1)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Distract One target creature within the animal’s reach must make a 
  Will challenge roll. On a failure, the target becomes impaired for 
  1 round or until it is no longer within the animal’s reach.
  Tiny animals in our world include rats and mice, rabbits, 
  squirrels, particularly large insects, frogs, birds, and so 
  forth. In Asunder, a tiny animal might be a brain rat, a 
  rodent known for its intelligence and its proclivity for 
  eating the brains of the dead; a cadrilla, which is a tiny sea 
  mammal that looks like a cross between a pig and a seal; or 
  a sipha, a type of venomous bird. 
  ANIMAL SWARM 
  DIFFICULTY 5
  Size 1 animal (swarm)
  Perception 12 (+2)
  Defense 13; Health 20
  Strength 8 (–2), Agility 13 (+3), Intellect 5 (–5), Will 8 (–2)
  Speed 8
  Immune charmed, dazed, deafened, frightened, grabbed, 
  immobilized, prone, slowed, stunned
  Multitude A swarm takes half damage from effects that use an 
  attack roll and double damage from effects that require it to 
  make a challenge roll.
  Revulsion Creatures that are not swarms are impaired while they 
  remain in the swarm’s space or within 1 yard of it.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Natural Weapon (melee) +3 with 1 boon (1d6, or 1d3 if the swarm is 
  injured)
  END OF THE ROUND 
  Swarming Animals Each creature that isn’t a swarm and that is 
  in the swarm’s space or within 1 yard of it must make an Agility 
  challenge roll. On a failure, the creature takes 1d6 damage and 
  becomes slowed for 1 round.
  Tiny animals like birds, insects, or rodents often 
  congregate into swarms. Though many of these animals 
  are individually relatively harmless, in a swarm they can 
  become a significant threat. 
  Animate Plant
  Asunder’s forests and jungles are teeming with predatory 
  animate plants that will happily attack and devour hapless 
  travelers.
  Ambulatory Plants: The animate plants provided here 
  have Speed 0, and so cannot move. However, ambulatory 
  plants do exist in Asunder; if you wish to make an 
  ambulatory plant, give it a Speed of 6, or 4 for a Size 2 or 
  larger plant.
  HUGE ANIMATE PLANT 
  DIFFICULTY 100
  Size 3 or larger plant
  Perception 14 (+4); sightless
  Defense 15; Health 100
  Strength 16 (+6), Agility 8 (-2), Intellect 6 (–4), Will 12 (+2)
  Speed 0
  Immune gaining Strain or Discord; blinded, charmed, dazed, 
  frightened, grabbed, prone, stunned, and any effect that would 
  change the plant’s shape
  Hardened Bark The plant takes half damage from weapon attacks, 
  but double damage from fire.
  Forest Camouflage A animate plant that does not move is 
  indistinguishable from an ordinary plant of its Size.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Natural Weapon (melee reach 2) +6 with 2 boons (4d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Lashing Attack The plant attacks two different targets with its 
  natural weapon, making each attack roll with 1 bane.
  117
  117
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  A bone recruit faces off against a huge animate plant. It’s unlikely he’ll be alive in thirty seconds.
  A bone recruit faces off against a huge animate plant. It’s unlikely he’ll be alive in thirty seconds.
  118
  118
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  LARGE ANIMATE PLANT 
  DIFFICULTY 50
  Size 2 plant
  Perception 13 (+3); sightless
  Defense 13; Health 60
  Strength 15 (+5), Agility 8 (-2), Intellect 6 (–4), Will 12 (+2)
  Speed 0
  Immune gaining Strain or Discord; blinded, charmed, dazed, 
  frightened, grabbed, prone, stunned, and any effect that would 
  change the plant’s shape
  Hardened Bark The plant takes half damage from weapon attacks, 
  but double damage from fire.
  Forest Camouflage A animate plant that does not move is 
  indistinguishable from an ordinary plant of its Size.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Natural Weapon (melee) +5 with 2 boons (2d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Lashing Attack The plant attacks two different targets with its 
  natural weapon, making each attack roll with 1 bane.
  MEDIUM ANIMATE PLANT 
  DIFFICULTY 10
  Size 1 plant
  Perception 12 (+2); sightless
  Defense 13; Health 20
  Strength 13 (+3), Agility 8 (-2), Intellect 5 (–5), Will 10 (+0)
  Speed 0
  Immune gaining Strain or Discord; blinded, charmed, dazed, 
  frightened, grabbed, prone, stunned, and any effect that would 
  change the plant’s shape
  Forest Camouflage A animate plant that does not move is 
  indistinguishable from an ordinary plant of its Size.
  Fire Vulnerability The plant takes double damage from fire.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Natural Weapon (melee) +3 with 1 boon (1d6 + 2)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Lashing Attack The plant attacks two different targets with its 
  natural weapon, making each attack roll with 1 bane.
  SMALL ANIMATE PLANT 
  DIFFICULTY 5
  Size 1/2 plant
  Perception 11 (+1); sightless
  Defense 13; Health 15
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 10 (+0), Intellect 5 (–5), Will 10 (+0)
  Speed 0
  Immune gaining Strain or Discord; blinded, charmed, dazed, 
  frightened, prone, stunned, and any effect that would change the 
  plant’s shape
  Forest Camouflage A animate plant that does not move is 
  indistinguishable from an ordinary plant of its Size.
  Fire Vulnerability The plant takes double damage from fire.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Natural Weapon (melee) +2 with 1 boon (1d6)
  Spit Thorn (short range) +0 with 1 boon (1d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Lashing Attack The plant attacks two different targets with its 
  natural weapon, making each attack roll with 1 bane.
  TINY ANIMATE PLANT 
  DIFFICULTY 1
  Size 1/4 or smaller plant
  Perception 11 (+1); sightless
  Defense 14; Health 5
  Strength 8 (–2), Agility 12 (+2), Intellect 4 (–4), Will 10 (+0)
  Immune gaining Strain or Discord; blinded, charmed, dazed, 
  frightened, prone, stunned, and any effect that would change the 
  plant’s shape
  Forest Camouflage A animate plant that does not move is 
  indistinguishable from an ordinary plant of its Size.
  Fire Vulnerability The plant takes double damage from fire.
  Speed 0
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Natural Weapon (melee) +4 with 1 boon (1d3)
  Spit Thorn (short range) +2 with 1 boon (1d3)
  Aspect of Gaia
  While Gaia is imprisoned deep within the center of the 
  world, and cannot physically interact with humans, very 
  rarely she manifests as a spirit. These aspects of Gaia 
  appear at the sites of great battles or other scenes of mass 
  carnage. Some believe that her servants can summon her 
  aspect, though nobody has seen it happen. When Seekers 
  encounter an aspect of Gaia, she tends to play the part of 
  mother goddess, hoping to gather more worshipers to do 
  her bidding. If that fails, or if Seekers are hostile toward her, 
  she eradicates them entirely.
  ASPECT OF GAIA 
  DIFFICULTY 500
  Size 2 frightening spirit
  Perception 16 (+6); truesight
  Defense 19; Health 80
  Strength 15 (+5), Agility 11 (+1), Intellect 16 (+6), Will 16 (+6)
  Speed 12; flier
  Immune damage from poison or disease; gaining Strain or Discord; 
  asleep, charmed, dazed, diseased, poisoned, sleep, stunned
  Insubstantial An aspect of Gaia can move through solid objects and other 
  creatures, takes half damage from weapons, and ignores the effects of 
  moving across difficult terrain.
  Eternal When an aspect of Gaia becomes incapacitated, it dissolves 
  into nothingness. Gaia can create another aspect after 24 hours 
  has elapsed; this new aspect has no damage.
  Devourer of Essence A creature that suffers an Essence break 
  while within short range of Gaia must make a Will challenge 
  roll with 2 banes. On a success, the creature suffers their Essence 
  break as usual. On a failure, Gaia rips the Essence from the 
  creature’s body, killing it and healing 2d6 damage.
  Essence User An aspect of Gaia can call upon the Essence Gaia has 
  consumed to use Essence powers. When she uses a Chaos power, 
  she can push that power a number of times equal to her Essence 
  score. When she uses powers from other Essence trees, she 
  simulates taking an amount of Strain up to her Essence score. Gaia 
  never actually takes Strain or Discord as the result of amplifying 
  powers she uses. She cannot, however, simulate prerequisites for 
  powers, such as having a bondmate or being part of a group mind.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Enervate (medium range) +6 with 3 boons (4d6, plus 1 Strain)
  119
  119
  119
  119
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Double Attack The aspect attacks twice with enervate.
  Twist Essence The aspect uses an action to make a Will attack 
  roll against the Strength of one target creature it can see within 
  medium range of it. On a success, the target becomes impaired 
  for 1 minute. If it is already impaired, it takes 1d3 Strain.
  Borrow Essence The aspect uses an action or triggered action on 
  its turn to make a Will attack roll against the Will of one target 
  creature it can see within medium range of it. On a success, the 
  creature loses one use of a power it knows, and the aspect of Gaia 
  gains a use of that power.
  ESSENCE 
  Power 5
  Chaos induce mutation (6), distort time (3), transform creature (2), 
  unmake (1)
  Plant Control reclaimed ground (3), thirsty vines (2), grasping branches 
  (2), hostile ground (2)
  END OF THE ROUND 
  Epic Recovery The aspect of Gaia removes one affliction from 
  itself.
  Epic Adversary Roll 1d3 + 1 to determine how many actions the aspect 
  of Gaia can use during the next round. The aspect can use these 
  actions during any turn and can do so before its enemies act. Each 
  time the aspect uses an action, it can move up to its Speed before or 
  after the action.
  Blight Champion
  While the bulk of the Green Army has a bare hint of 
  sentience and a basic ability to operate independently 
  and pose a threat, blight champions possess skills 
  beyond those of their lesser kin. A blight champion is 
  the animated corpse of a veteran warrior. What’s more, 
  it retains many of its memories and skills, is able to 
  operate independently, complete complex tasks, and 
  even understand language and tactics. Though blight 
  champions cannot speak, they are much more intelligent 
  than they initially look.
  BLIGHT CHAMPION 
  DIFFICULTY 25
  Size 1/2 or 1 frightening undead
  Perception 9 (-1)
  Defense 17 (heavy armor, shield); Health 22
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 10 (+0), Intellect 9 (-1), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 8
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Bone Greatsword (melee) +2 with 1 boon (2d6+2)
  Blight Stalker
  Blight stalkers are twisted things, their bodies warped 
  and modified when they’re created, turning them into 
  monstrous creatures capable of great stealth and cunning. 
  They scuttle about on walls and ceilings, hide in the 
  underbrush, and spring out to eviscerate their prey with 
  their deadly claws.
  BLIGHT STALKER 
  DIFFICULTY 10
  Size 1/2 or 1 frightening undead
  Perception 11 (+1)
  Defense 12; Health 18
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 12 (+2), Intellect 11 (+1), Will 9 (-1)
  Speed 10; climber
  Creeper The blight stalker gets 1 boon on any challenge rolls made 
  to hide or move silently.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Claws (melee) +2 with 1 boon (2d6)
  Blight Walker
  The least powerful and most numerous of the Green Army, 
  blight walkers are animated corpses. They retain some of the 
  training and knowledge they had in life, though not enough 
  to pass for human, hold a conversation, or perform complex 
  tasks. It is sufficient to allow them to be effective in combat, 
  though. Blight walkers are often surrounded by what appears 
  to be a mist; this is actually a cloud of spores that animates 
  corpses in its vicinity, calling them to serve Gaia.
  GREATER BLIGHT WALKER 
  DIFFICULTY 5
  Size 1/2 or 1 frightening undead
  Perception 8 (-2)
  Defense 14 (medium armor), Health 20
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 11 (+1), Intellect 8 (-2), Will 15 (+5)
  Speed 10
  Immune damage from cold, disease, or poison; gaining Strain; 
  asleep, blinded, charmed, dazed, deafened, diseased, fatigued, 
  frightened, poisoned, stunned.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Bone Axe (melee) +2 with 1 boon (1d6+1)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Double Strike The blight walker attacks two different creatures 
  with its bone axes.
  LESSER BLIGHT WALKER 
  DIFFICULTY 1
  Size 1/2 or 1 frightening undead
  Perception 8 (-2)
  Defense 13 (medium armor), Health 10
  Strength 10 (+0), Agility 10 (+0), Intellect 8 (-2), Will 15 (+5)
  Speed 6
  Immune damage from cold, disease, or poison; gaining Strain; 
  asleep, blinded, charmed, dazed, deafened, diseased, fatigued, 
  frightened, poisoned, stunned.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Bone Axe (melee) +0 (1d6+1)
  Carnitaur
  Carnitaurs are fearsome predators that roam the prairies 
  and grasslands of Pacari. These huge, reptilian beasts 
  walk on four thick, clawed legs, and have vaguely 
  humanoid torsos complete with arms sporting opposable 
  120
  120
  120
  120
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  thumbs. Their heads are large, horned, and dominated 
  by massive mouths full of jagged fangs, and their four 
  eyes can see heat as well as they can see light. It’s 
  unknown whether carnitaurs have language or society; 
  they do seem to be able to communicate, and there 
  does appear to be a social pecking order of sorts, but 
  they attack and devour anyone who tries to study or 
  communicate with them. They’ve been known to use 
  tools and weapons, but not to make them; they take what 
  they use from the corpses of their victims.
  CARNITAUR PACK LEADER 
  DIFFICULTY 250
  Size 3 frightening monster
  Perception 15 (+5); darksight
  Defense 18; Health 150
  Strength 16 (+6), Agility 13 (+3), Intellect 7 (–3), Will 12 (+2)
  Speed 14
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Massive Axe (melee) +6 with 2 boons (3d6)
  Jaws (melee) +6 with 2 boons (2d6 + 1)
  Claw (melee) +6 with 2 boons (1d6+2)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Rend The carnitaur attacks twice with its claws and once with its jaws.
  Sweeping Charge The carnitaur moves up to its Speed, attacking 
  every enemy it can reach during the charge with its massive axe, 
  though it can only attack each target once. A target that takes 
  damage from this attack must make a Strength challenge roll or 
  be knocked prone. Once the carnitaur uses this talent, it must 
  wait 1 round before using it again.
  BULL CARNITAUR 
  DIFFICULTY 50
  Size 2 frightening monster
  Perception 13 (+3); darksight
  Defense 15; Health 55
  Strength 13 (+3), Agility 11 (+1), Intellect 7 (–3), 
  Will 10 (+0)
  Speed 12
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Tree-Trunk Club (melee) +3 with 1 boon (2d6)
  Horns (melee) +3 with 1 boon (1d6 + 2)
  Claw (melee) +3 with 1 boon (1d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Rend The carnitaur attacks twice with its claws and 
  once with its horns.
  Gore The carnitaur moves up to its Speed, moving into the 
  space of a single creature at the end of its movement and 
  attacking that creature with its horns. A target that takes 
  damage from this attack must make a Strength challenge 
  with 2 banes or be flung 2d6 yards, taking falling damage as 
  appropriate and falling prone at the end of the movement. 
  If the target’s movement is interrupted by a solid object, it takes 1d6 
  extra damage. If its movement is interrupted by another creature, 
  that creature can make an Agility challenge roll to avoid being 
  struck, allowing the target to continue moving. Failing this challenge 
  roll means that the movement stops, extra damage is dealt as if the 
  target had hit a solid object, and the creature struck takes half the 
  falling damage the target took, plus the extra 1d6 damage. Once the 
  carnitaur uses this talent, it must wait 1 round before using it again.
  CARNITAUR                                    DIFFICULTY 25   
  Size 2 frightening monster
  Perception 13 (+3); darksight
  Defense 14; Health 40
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 10 (+0), Intellect 7 (–3), Will 10 (+0)
  Speed 12
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Jaws (melee) +2 (1d6 + 2)
  Claw (melee) +2 (1d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Rend The carnitaur attacks twice with its claws and once with its 
  jaws.
   
  Carnitaur are said to be evil, but in truth, 
   the gods made them to keep population down. 
   
  Carnitaur are said to be evil, but in truth, 
   the gods made them to keep population down. 
  121
  121
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chaos Beast
  Chaos beasts are manifestations of pure Chaos energy, 
  reality run amok. They can take nearly any shape and size 
  but, thankfully, they’re mostly found at Chaos sites and 
  rarely venture outside of them. 
  Aspect of Chaos: Every Chaos beast has an aspect of 
  Chaos, a randomly generated trait or ability that reflects 
  its connection to the primal force of Chaos. Roll on the 
  Aspects of Chaos table at left.
  HUGE CHAOS BEAST 
  DIFFICULTY 500
  Size 3 or larger frightening monster
  Perception 15 (+5); truesight
  Defense 20; Health 200
  Strength 19 (+9), Agility 15 (+5), Intellect 14 (+4), Will 18 (+8)
  Speed 18
  Immune damage from disease or poison; gaining Strain or Discord; 
  dazed, fatigued, frightened, immobilized, impaired, poisoned, 
  slowed, or stunned
  Warp Reality A Chaos beast imposes 2 banes on anyone who makes 
  an attack against it. If the result of the attack is 0 or less, the 
  attacker must immediately make a second attack against a creature 
  of the Chaos beast’s choosing, whether or not the new target is 
  within range.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Rend (melee or short range) +9 with 3 boons (6d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Chaos Burst The Chaos beast attacks each target within reach with 
  rend, making each attack roll with 2 banes.
  Discordant Womb The Chaos beast consumes one target 
  defenseless creature that is Size 2 or smaller, taking it into its own 
  bulk. The Chaos beast becomes stunned for 1 round. When this 
  affliction ends, it takes an action to vomit up a Chaos beast of the 
  same Size as the creature it consumed.
  END OF THE ROUND
  Warp Space The Chaos beast teleports 2d6 yards in a random direction.
  LARGE CHAOS BEAST 
  DIFFICULTY 250
  Size 2 or 3 frightening monster
  Perception 15 (+5); truesight
  Defense 19; Health 140
  Strength 18 (+8), Agility 14 (+4), Intellect 13 (+3), Will 17 (+7)
  Speed 18
  Immune damage from disease or poison; gaining Strain or Discord; 
  dazed, fatigued, frightened, immobilized, impaired, poisoned, 
  slowed, or stunned
  Warp Reality A Chaos beast imposes 2 banes on anyone who makes an 
  attack against it. If the result of the attack is 0 or less, the attacker must 
  immediately make a second attack against a creature of the Chaos 
  beast’s choosing, whether or not the new target is within range.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Rend (melee or short range) +8 with 3 boons (4d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Chaos Burst The Chaos beast attacks each target within reach with 
  rend, making each attack roll with 2 banes.
  Aspects of Chaos
  1
  Gibbering The Chaos beast constantly gibbers madly; any 
  rolls made to maintain concentration within short range of 
  it suffer 1 bane.
  2
  Conversationalist The Chaos beast speaks in a clear, 
  eloquent voice, engaging the Seekers in conversation even 
  while it attacks them.
  3
  Many-Limbed Covered in tentacles and limbs, the Chaos 
  beast can use its Chaos burst without suffering any banes 
  on its attacks.
  4
  Faces of the Dead Faces of people the Seekers once knew 
  appear in the beast’s mass, calling out to them.
  5
  Out of Phase The Chaos beast is out of phase with reality; 
  all of its movement is considered teleportation.
  6
  Death Siphon Whenever a creature becomes incapacitated 
  within short range of the Chaos beast, it can use a triggered 
  action to kill that creature and gain a +2d6 bonus to Health.
  7
  Discordant Aura Anyone who ends their turn adjacent to 
  the Chaos beast gains 1 Discord.
  8
  Clone At the beginning of the fight, the Chaos beast 
  duplicates itself, creating another Chaos beast of the same 
  size. These two Chaos beasts each get their own turn and 
  actions, but damage dealt to one of them is dealt to both of 
  them.
  9
  Radiant The Chaos beast sheds bright light; any creature 
  that ends its turn adjacent to the Chaos beast is impaired 
  for as long as they remain there; however, all ranged attacks 
  against the Chaos beast get 1 boon.
  10
  Formless The Chaos beast is able to squeeze into spaces 6 
  inches wide, and takes half damage from weapon attacks. 
  However, its own attacks also deal half damage.
  11
  Rancid A foul smell fills the air within short range of the 
  Chaos beast. Anyone within this range is impaired.
  12
  Tempter The Chaos beast does not attack the Seekers unless 
  attacked. Instead, it attempts to lead Seekers to the nearest 
  Chaos shard so that they can use it to become Chaos-wielders. 
  The Chaos beast can speak, but its voice is terrible to hear.
  13
  Volatile The Chaos beast has half the usual Health score. 
  However, it explodes when it is incapacitated; all creatures 
  within 6 yards must succeed on an Agility challenge roll or 
  take 3d6 damage and 1d3 Discord. 
  14
  Contains Wealth When the Chaos beast is incapacitated, 
  it transforms into a pile of gems. The pile contains 10d6 
  slivers, 3d6 pearls, and 1d6 sapphires.
  15
  Contains False Wealth When the Chaos beast is 
  incapacitated, it transforms into a pile of gems. Any creature 
  who touches the gems takes 1d3 Discord and is teleported 
  1 mile east. Such creatures are impaired for 1 minute. The 
  gems dissolve after 1 hour.
  16
  Warps Space Weirdly When the Chaos beast’s Warp Space 
  ability triggers, it affects the last creature the Chaos beast 
  attacked instead of the Chaos beast itself.
  17
  Gives a Warning When the Seekers first encounter the 
  Chaos beast, it utters a warning about an event in the near 
  future. Creatures that take actions based on that warning 
  receive 1 boon on such actions for the next day. Once it has 
  uttered the warning, it attacks.
  18
  Can Fly The Chaos beast has the flier (swoop) trait.
  19
  Bleeds Acid Whenever a creature successfully deals melee 
  damage to the Chaos beast, that creature must succeed on 
  an Agility challenge roll or take 1d6 damage.
  20
  Has Two Traits Roll twice on this table, ignoring further 
  results of 20.
  122
  122
  122
  122
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  A huge, many-limbed Chaos beast guards a Chaos shard. 
  A huge, many-limbed Chaos beast guards a Chaos shard. 
  123
  123
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Discordant Womb The Chaos beast consumes one target 
  defenseless creature that is Size 1 or smaller, taking it into its own 
  bulk. The Chaos beast becomes stunned for 1 round. When this 
  affliction ends, it takes an action to vomit up a Chaos beast of the 
  same Size as the creature it consumed.
  END OF THE ROUND
  Warp Space The Chaos beast teleports 2d6 yards in a random 
  direction.
  MEDIUM CHAOS BEAST 
  DIFFICULTY 100
  Size1 frightening monster
  Perception 14 (+4); truesight
  Defense 18; Health 60
  Strength 17 (+7), Agility 13 (+3), Intellect 12 (+2), Will 16 (+6)
  Speed 18
  Immune damage from disease or poison; gaining Strain or Discord; 
  dazed, fatigued, frightened, immobilized, impaired, poisoned, 
  slowed, or stunned
  Warp Reality A Chaos beast imposes 1 bane on anyone who 
  makes an attack against it. If the result of the attack is 0 or less, 
  the attacker must immediately make a second attack against a 
  creature of the Chaos beast’s choosing, whether or not the new 
  target is within range.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Rend (melee or short range) +7 with 2 boons (3d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Chaos Burst The Chaos beast makes an attack against each target 
  within reach with rend, making each attack roll with 2 banes.
  Discordant Womb The Chaos beast consumes one target 
  defenseless creature that is Size 1/2 or smaller, taking it into its 
  own bulk. The Chaos beast becomes stunned for 1 round. When 
  this affliction ends, it takes an action to vomit up a Chaos beast of 
  the same Size as the creature it consumed.
  END OF THE ROUND
  Warp Space The Chaos beast teleports 1d6 yards in a random 
  direction.
  SMALL CHAOS BEAST 
  DIFFICULTY 25
  Size 1/2 frightening monster
  Perception 13 (+3); truesight
  Defense 17; Health 20
  Strength 16 (+6), Agility 13 (+3), Intellect 11 (+1), Will  15 (+5)
  Speed 18
  Immune damage from disease or poison; gaining Strain or Discord; 
  dazed, fatigued, frightened, immobilized, impaired, poisoned, 
  slowed, or stunned
  Warp Reality A Chaos beast imposes 1 bane on anyone who 
  makes an attack against it. If the result of the attack is 0 or less, 
  the attacker must immediately make a second attack against a 
  creature of the Chaos beast’s choosing, whether or not the new 
  target is within range.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Rend (melee or short range) +6 with 2 boons (2d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Chaos Burst The Chaos beast makes an attack against each target 
  within reach with rend, making each attack roll with 2 banes.
  END OF THE ROUND
  Warp Space The Chaos beast teleports 1d6 yards in a random 
  direction.
  TINY CHAOS BEAST 
  DIFFICULTY 10
  Size 1/2 or smaller frightening monster
  Perception 12 (+2); truesight
  Defense 16; Health 10
  Strength 15 (+5), Agility 13 (+3), Intellect 10 (+0), Will  15 (+5)
  Speed 18
  Immune damage from disease or poison; gaining Strain or Discord; 
  dazed, fatigued, frightened, immobilized, impaired, poisoned, 
  slowed, or stunned
  Warp Reality A Chaos beast imposes 1 bane on anyone who makes 
  an attack against it. If the result of the attack is 0 or less, the 
  attacker must immediately make a second attack against a creature 
  of the Chaos beast’s choosing, whether or not the new target is 
  within range.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Rend (melee or short range) +5 with 1 boon (1d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Chaos Burst The Chaos beast makes an attack against each target 
  within reach with rend, making each attack roll with 2 banes.
  END OF THE ROUND
  Warp Space The Chaos beast teleports 1d6 yards in a random 
  direction.
  Construct
  A construct is any creature that is not alive, that is created 
  and animated by some other force. Some constructs are 
  mechanical in nature, others are powered by Essence, 
  and some are ancient remnants of long-dead cultures that 
  present-day people don’t understand. Most have a purpose, 
  but that purpose isn’t always immediately obvious to those 
  encountering them on their adventures. 
  Appendage: Constructs attack with appendages. Some 
  might be massive slabs of rock or wood, while others 
  might be carved to look like fists, claws, axes, or other 
  things. No matter what a construct’s appendage looks 
  like, it behaves the same way in the game.
  HUGE CONSTRUCT 
  DIFFICULTY 100
  Size 3 or larger construct
  Perception 5 (–5); darksight
  Defense 13; Health 100
  Strength 17 (+7), Agility 7 (–3), Intellect 5 (–5), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 8
  Immune damage from disease or poison; gaining Strain or Discord; 
  asleep, charmed, diseased, fatigued, frightened, poisoned
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Appendage (melee) +7 (3d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Double Attack The construct attacks twice with its appendage.
  124
  124
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  LARGE CONSTRUCT 
  DIFFICULTY 50
  Size 2 construct
  Perception 5 (–5); darksight
  Defense 13; Health 70
  Strength 16 (+6), Agility 8 (–2), Intellect 5 (–5), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 10
  Immune damage from disease or poison; gaining Strain or Discord; 
  asleep, charmed, diseased, fatigued, frightened, poisoned
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Appendage (melee) +6 (2d6 + 1)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Double Attack The construct attacks twice with its appendage.
  MEDIUM CONSTRUCT 
  DIFFICULTY 10
  Size 1 construct
  Perception 5 (–5); darksight
  Defense 13; Health 25
  Strength 13 (+3), Agility 9 (–1), Intellect 5 (–5), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 10
  Immune damage from disease or poison; gaining Strain or 
  Discord; asleep, charmed, diseased, fatigued, frightened, 
  poisoned
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Appendage (melee) +3 (2d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Double Attack The construct attacks twice with its appendage.
  SMALL CONSTRUCT 
  DIFFICULTY 5
  Size 1/2 or smaller construct
  Perception 5 (–5); darksight
  Defense 13; Health 8
  Strength 13 (+3), Agility 11 (+1), Intellect 5 (–5), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 10
  Immune damage from disease or poison; gaining Strain or 
  Discord; asleep, charmed, diseased, fatigued, frightened, 
  poisoned
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Appendage (melee) +3 (1d6)
  Crystal-Wasp Swarm
  Found most commonly in Sky City’s crystal mines, crystal-
  wasps are large, vicious insects covered in small shards of 
  crystal. They harvest crystal within the mines and use them 
  to build hives, and they jealously and violently protect their 
  territory when it is invaded.
  CRYSTAL-WASP SWARM 
  DIFFICULTY 10
  Size 1 insect (swarm)
  Perception 12 (+2)
  Defense 15; Health 25
  Strength 8 (–2), Agility 13 (+3), Intellect 5 (–5), Will 8 (–2)
  Speed 10; climber, flier
  Immune charmed, dazed, deafened, frightened, grabbed, 
  immobilized, prone, slowed, stunned
  Multitude A swarm takes half damage from effects that use an 
  attack roll and double damage from effects that require it to 
  make a challenge roll.
  Revulsion Creatures that are not swarms are impaired while they 
  remain in the swarm’s space or within 1 yard of it.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Stingers (melee) +3 with 1 boon (2d6, or 1d6 if the swarm is injured, 
  plus Poison)
  Poison The target must make a Strength challenge roll. On a failure, 
  it takes 1d6 damage and becomes poisoned for 1 minute. If the 
  target is already poisoned, it instead takes 1d6 extra damage.
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Hum As an action or a triggered action on its turn, a crystal wasp 
  swarm can generate a droning hum that’s amplified by the crystal 
  on the wasps’ bodies. All creatures that are not crystal-wasp 
  swarms within short range must make a Will challenge roll or 
  become impaired for 1 round. A creature that is already impaired is 
  also fatigued. A creature that is already fatigued takes a cumulative 
  -1d6 penalty to Health.
  END OF THE ROUND 
  Swarming Insects Each creature that isn’t a swarm and that is in 
  the swarm’s space or within 1 yard of it must make an Agility 
  challenge roll. On a failure, the creature takes 1d6 damage and 
  becomes slowed for 1 round.
  Daishya
  Daishya are small, winged humanoids common in New 
  Gaia. Their wings resemble those of dragonflies, and 
  a daishya itself looks like a small human child except 
  only a few inches tall. While a daishya looks mostly 
  human at first glance, what initially appears to be skin 
  is actually a firm but pliable chitin, and a daishya’s eyes 
  are multifaceted like an insect’s. Daishya can speak and 
  often learn bits and pieces of human languages, but it’s 
  unknown if they have a society or language of their own. 
  They tend to play pranks on those who wander the woods 
  and jungles.
  DAISHYA 
  DIFFICULTY 5
  Size 1/4 insect
  Perception 15 (+5); shadowsight
  Defense 15; Health 5
  Strength 6 (–4), Agility 15 (+5), Intellect 13 (+3), Will 9 (–1)
  Speed 10; flier
  Dart Weapon attack rolls made against a daishya are made with 1 bane.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Bite (melee) +5 with 1 boon (1 plus Poison)
  Poison The target must make a Strength challenge roll or be 
  poisoned for 1 minute. A creature that is already poisoned takes 
  1d6 damage.
  SPECIAL ACTIONS 
  Prank A daishya can use an action to force a creature within short range 
  to make an Agility challenge roll with 1 bane. A creature that fails this 
  challenge roll suffers an affliction from the following list, chosen by 
  the daishya: blinded for 1 round, frightened for 1 round, impaired for 1 
  round, or prone.
  125
  125
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Demon
  Spewing up from deep within the planet, demons seek to 
  wipe humanity from the face of Asunder. Violent and cruel, 
  demons are also clever, and their immortality makes them 
  able to play the long game to reach their goals. Demons 
  are formidable combatants, but they are also consummate 
  tricksters and tempters, offering power in exchange for 
  service. The folk of the Black Isle know enough about 
  demons to have devoted much of their society to destroying 
  these creatures.
  A typical demon stands a foot or two taller than a human. 
  It is well-muscled and covered in a thick, bark-like chitin, 
  with elongated arms tipped with razor-sharp claws. Their 
  hides are incredibly tough, and also covered with spines 
  and razors that make them difficult to deal with in close 
  quarters. Their faces are horned and dominated by an 
  enormous, toothy maw. When a demon slays a human, it 
  can consume that human’s Essence, rejuvenating itself. 
  Demons are capable of speaking any tongue they wish.
  GREATER DEMON 
  DIFFICULTY 500
  Size 1 or 2 frightening demon
  Perception 15 (+5); truesight
  Defense 20; Health 200
  Strength 19 (+9), Agility 15 (+5), Intellect 14 (+4), Will 18 (+8)
  Speed 18
  Immune damage from disease or poison; gaining Strain or Discord; 
  dazed, fatigued, frightened, immobilized, impaired, poisoned, 
  slowed, stunned
  Jagged Hide A demon’s hide allows it to take half damage from 
  weapon attacks. In addition, any creature grappling with a 
  demon takes 4d6 damage on each turn in which it initiates or 
  maintains the grapple.
  Essence Vulnerability A demon takes full damage from any attack 
  made by someone under the effects of a Battle Meditation power.
  Demonic Shadows Lit areas out to 8 yards around the demon 
  become shadows.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Claws (melee) +9 with 3 boons (6d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Frenzied Attack The demon attacks two different targets with its 
  claws, making each attack roll with 1 bane.
  SPECIAL ACTIONS
  Consume Essence The demon consumes the Essence of one 
  defenseless human it can reach. This instantly kills the target, 
  withering its body. The demon heals 6d6 damage and gains a 
  single use of one Essence power the target possessed, if any.
  LESSER DEMON 
  DIFFICULTY 250
  Size 1 or 2 frightening demon
  Perception 15 (+5); truesight
  Defense 19; Health 140
  Strength 18 (+8), Agility 14 (+4), Intellect 13 (+3), Will 17 (+7)
  Speed 18
  Immune damage from disease or poison; gaining Strain or Discord; 
  dazed, fatigued, frightened, immobilized, impaired, poisoned, 
  slowed, stunned
  Jagged Hide A demon’s hide allows it to take half damage from 
  weapon attacks. In addition, any creature grappling with a 
  demon takes 2d6 damage on each turn in which it initiates or 
  maintains the grapple.
  Essence Vulnerability A demon takes full damage from any attack 
  made by someone under the effects of a Battle Meditation power.
  Demonic Shadows Lit areas out to 5 yards around the demon 
  become shadows.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Claws (melee) +8 with 3 boons (4d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Frenzied Attack The demon attacks two different targets with its 
  claws, making each attack roll with 1 bane.
  SPECIAL ACTIONS
  Consume Essence The demon consumes the Essence of one 
  defenseless human it can reach. This instantly kills the target, 
  withering its body. The demon heals 4d6 damage and gains a 
  single use of one Essence power the target possessed, if any.
  Demonic Blessings
  Demons may be cruel, violent, and sadistic, but they’re 
  also prone to making bargains. A demon has within its 
  power to offer a great many things, from material goods 
  to information to greater strength or increased speed. 
  Generally speaking, a demon can offer:
  ༄ Any piece of gear with a cost in sapphires equal to up 
  to twice its difficulty. This includes living gear.
  ༄ Any information the Seekers might be after, within 
  reason.
  ༄ Aid in a future battle.
  ༄ A permanent +1 bonus to a single attribute.
  ༄ A permanent +3 to a single characteristic.
  ༄ The effects of a rest, granted immediately.
  ༄ Anything else of equivalent power or value.
  However, these blessings are never free or even cheap. 
  The demon will exact a service from the bargainer in 
  payment, and that price will always serve the demon’s ends, 
  usually to the detriment of the bargainer or those she cares 
  about. Murder, sabotage, wholesale destruction, or even 
  starting a war are all within the scope of a demon’s bargain.
  If a Seeker accepts a demon’s bargain, that Seeker gains a 
  demonic mark until their debt is paid off. This is a physical 
  mark somewhere on their body, usually hidden from plain 
  view. While the Seeker has a demonic mark, she has a new 
  Fatal Flaw: “I will pay off my debt to the demon, by any 
  means necessary.” In addition, for the purposes of rules 
  that target creatures under demonic influence, she counts 
  as such. Finally, the demonic mark makes her vulnerable 
  to the attacks of demons; she takes maximum damage from 
  any attack she suffers from a demon.
  Demonic Blessings
  Demons may be cruel, violent, and sadistic, but they’re 
  also prone to making bargains. A demon has within its 
  power to offer a great many things, from material goods 
  to information to greater strength or increased speed. 
  Generally speaking, a demon can offer:
  ༄ Any piece of gear with a cost in sapphires equal to up 
  to twice its difficulty. This includes living gear.
  ༄ Any information the Seekers might be after, within 
  reason.
  ༄ Aid in a future battle.
  ༄ A permanent +1 bonus to a single attribute.
  ༄ A permanent +3 to a single characteristic.
  ༄ The effects of a rest, granted immediately.
  ༄ Anything else of equivalent power or value.
  However, these blessings are never free or even cheap. 
  The demon will exact a service from the bargainer in 
  payment, and that price will always serve the demon’s ends, 
  usually to the detriment of the bargainer or those she cares 
  about. Murder, sabotage, wholesale destruction, or even 
  starting a war are all within the scope of a demon’s bargain.
  If a Seeker accepts a demon’s bargain, that Seeker gains a 
  demonic mark until their debt is paid off. This is a physical 
  mark somewhere on their body, usually hidden from plain 
  view. While the Seeker has a demonic mark, she has a new 
  Fatal Flaw: “I will pay off my debt to the demon, by any 
  means necessary.” In addition, for the purposes of rules 
  that target creatures under demonic influence, she counts 
  as such. Finally, the demonic mark makes her vulnerable 
  to the attacks of demons; she takes maximum damage from 
  any attack she suffers from a demon.
  126
  126
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  MINOR DEMON 
  DIFFICULTY 100
  Size 1 frightening demon
  Perception 14 (+4); sightless
  Defense 18; Health 60
  Strength 17 (+7), Agility 13 (+3), Intellect 12 (+2), Will 16 (+6)
  Speed 18
  Immune damage from disease or poison; gaining Strain or Discord; 
  dazed, fatigued, frightened, immobilized, impaired, poisoned, 
  slowed, stunned
  Jagged Hide A demon’s hide allows it to take half damage from weapon 
  attacks. In addition, any creature grappling with a demon takes 1d6 
  damage on each turn in which it initiates or maintains the grapple.
  Essence Vulnerability A demon takes full damage from any attack 
  made by someone under the effects of a Battle Meditation power.
  Demonic Shadows Lit areas out to 2 yards around the demon 
  become shadows.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Claws (melee) +7 with 2 boons (3d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Frenzied Attack The demon attacks two different targets with its 
  claws, making each attack roll with 1 bane.
  SPECIAL ACTIONS
  Consume Essence The demon consumes the Essence of one 
  defenseless human it can reach. This instantly kills the target, 
  withering its body. The demon heals 2d6 damage and gains a 
  single use of one Essence power the target possessed, if any.
  Devourer
  Few people have even heard the rumors of the devourers’ 
  existence, and most of those believe they’re simply an 
  old legend told to frighten children. Those who have 
  encountered them and survived—a very small number 
  indeed—know the truth: a devourer is one of the most 
  terrifying and dangerous creatures a human being can face. 
  A devourer stands taller than a human, usually around 
  seven or eight feet tall, but looks human…mostly. The traits 
  that make them stand apart are striking: blackened claws 
  on their hands, serrated fangs in their mouths, and great, 
  black, feathered wings springing from their backs.
  Ancient legend tells that the devourers were originally 
  created as a race of servants and messengers for the gods, 
  creatures that would do the gods’ bidding and communicate 
  the gods’ desires to their other creations. When humanity 
  was created and imbued with the divine spark of Essence, 
  one god feared that the humans would overrun the world, 
  consuming its natural resources and leaving it a barren ruin. 
  To keep humanity in check, he twisted the gods’ servants 
  and gave them predatory instincts and a driving need to feed 
  upon humanity. To keep the newly-created devourers from 
  overrunning the world themselves, the rogue god stripped 
  away their ability to reproduce, but made them immortal. 
  There will always be devourers, for when one is killed, it 
  is reborn again later, elsewhere in the world. There are, 
  however, a very small number of these creatures, and that 
  number will never increase.
  Devourers are intelligent, capable of carrying on 
  conversations, reasoning, hatching complex plots, and even 
  blending in with human society when they need to. Within 
  every devourer burns the desire to feast on human flesh 
  and blood, though, and that desire is overpowering in its 
  intensity. While a devourer may be able to pose as a human 
  for a time, eventually the urge to feed becomes too strong 
  and the devourer descends into bloodshed and carnage.
  Devourers speak all the languages of Asunder.
  DEVOURER 
  DIFFICULTY 250
  Size 1 frightening monster
  Perception 13 (+3); truesight
  Defense 18; Health 100
  Strength 16 (+6), Agility 14 (+4), Intellect 15 (+5), Will 10 (+0)
  Speed 12; flier (swoop)
  Immune damage from disease and poison; gaining Strain or 
  Discord; diseased, frightened, poisoned, sleep
  Essence Defense A devourer takes half damage from powers 
  and makes any challenge roll to resist a power with 1 boon. A 
  creature attacking the devourer with a power makes the attack 
  roll with 1 bane.
  Reincarnation When a devourer is incapacitated, its body dissolves 
  into bubbling black slime. It is reborn 24 hours later somewhere 
  else in the world. Nothing can stop this from happening, and the 
  devourer retains memories of all events leading up to its death.
  The devourer’s are a perversion of the gods, made 
  to feast on flesh. Immortal, and something never 
  to be released unto the world. But their cage has 
  just been opened.
  127
  127
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Vicious Claws (melee) +6 with 2 boons (4d6 + 2)
  Bite (melee) +6 with 2 boons (3d6+2 damage plus Poison)
  Poison A creature affected by devourer poison must make a 
  Strength challenge roll or take 2d6 extra damage and become 
  poisoned for 1 minute. A creature that is already poisoned 
  becomes slowed for 1 round. A creature that is already slowed 
  becomes immobilized for 1 round. A creature that is already 
  immobilized takes 2d6 extra damage.
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Savage The devourer attacks a single creature twice with its vicious 
  claws; each attack is made with 1 bane. If the devourer hits with 
  both attacks, it automatically hits the same target with bite, and 
  the target is grabbed.
  Chew If the devourer starts its turn with a creature grabbed, it can 
  use its action to automatically hit with a bite attack.
  SPECIAL ACTIONS 
  Mimic A devourer can alter its physical form, folding its wings 
  in, retracting its claws, and shrinking itself slightly in order to 
  better imitate a human. While in this form, the devourer will be 
  recognized as human, but any attack or challenge rolls made to 
  do so are made with 2 banes.
  Devour If a devourer starts its turn within reach of a defenseless 
  human, it uses its action to devour the target. Doing so kills 
  the target and restores 2d6 hit points to the devourer. It’s also a 
  messy, horrifying sight; any humans who witness the act must 
  make a Will challenge roll or be frightened for 1 minute.
  Feral Ship
  Occasionally, a living ship goes feral. Sometimes this 
  happens when its crew is killed off and it’s left to fend for 
  itself. Other times a ship escapes while it’s being raised 
  and goes feral out in the wild sea. Occasionally, a ship 
  is just bad and kills its crew, living a life of wild carnage 
  ever after. Whatever the reason, feral ships are sometimes 
  encountered out on the seas, and they’re extraordinarily 
  dangerous.
  FERAL SHIP 
  DIFFICULTY 250
  Size 3 or 4 monster (aquatic)
  Perception 14 (+4)
  Defense 12; Health 300
  Strength 20 (+10); Agility 10 (+0); Intellect 9 (-1); Will 12 (+2)
  Speed 16; swimmer
  Immune damage from cold, disease, and poison; gaining Strain; 
  poisoned and prone
  Durable Carapace A feral ship takes half damage from weapons.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Ram (reach 1) +10 with 3 boons (10d6 damage; the feral ship takes 
  half the amount of damage dealt if its target is its size or smaller, 
  or the full amount if the target is larger. The ship must move at 
  least half its Speed before making this attack)
  Bite (reach 1) +10 with 3 boons (5d6 damage; ships take full damage 
  from this attack)
  Tentacle Lash (reach 4) +0 with 3 boons (3d6 damage and the target 
  is grabbed; a feral ship can grab up to 3 creatures smaller than it 
  at once)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Lashing Flurry The feral ship attacks three times with its tentacle 
  lashes and once with its bite.
  Ramming Bite The feral ship attacks with its ram; if it hits, it 
  automatically hits the same target with its bite.
  Chew As a triggered action on its turn, the feral ship automatically 
  hits all creatures in its mouth with its bite.
  END OF THE ROUND
  Devour The feral ship makes a Strength attack against the 
  Strength of one creature it’s grabbing, as long as that creature 
  is no larger than Size 2. On a success, it throws the creature into 
  its mouth. A creature can escape the feral ship’s mouth with a 
  Strength attack against the feral ship’s Strength. The feral ship 
  can hold any number of creatures in its mouth at a time, as long 
  as the sum their Sizes does not equal more than 2. A creature 
  incapacitated while in the feral ship’s mouth is swallowed and 
  instantly killed.
  Kalea Snake
  Known for their connection to Essence, kalea snakes 
  are hunted the world over for their venom which, when 
  distilled, strengthens the Essence of the imbiber. Even 
  undistilled kalea venom has Essence-related properties, as 
  it can strain the Essence of humans injected with it, and 
  kalea snakes have even been known to mimic the Essence 
  powers of their hunters. These snakes are even resistant to 
  Essence powers used on them, making them tricky to hunt 
  and kill.
  A kalea snake is usually between two and five yards 
  long, with leathery wings that it can unfold, allowing it to 
  fly. Its scales can vary in color from jet black to iridescent 
  purple. They don’t typically attack humans, opting to 
  instead avoid them, but they can be dangerous when 
  cornered.
  KALEA SNAKE 
  DIFFICULTY 25
  Size 1 or 2 animal
  Perception 12 (+2)
  Defense 15; Health 35
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 13 (+3), Intellect 6 (–4), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 8 (flier)
  Essence Resistance All attacks against kalea snakes made with 
  Essence powers suffer 1 bane, and they make all challenge rolls to 
  resist Essence powers with 1 boon.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Bite (melee) +3 with 1 boon (2d6 and the creature must make a 
  Strength challenge roll or suffer the effects of kalea venom)
  Kalea Venom A creature injected with kalea venom (or that consumes 
  undistilled kalea venom) takes 2d6 damage and is poisoned for 1 
  hour. A creature that is already poisoned takes 1 Strain.
  SPECIAL ACTIONS
  Mimic A kalea snake that observes a creature using an Essence 
  power with a rank of 2 or lower can make a Will challenge roll 
  as a triggered action. On a success, the snake gets 1 use of that 
  power. Note that, if the power has prerequisites (such as being 
  under the effect of another power or having a bondmate), this 
  talent does not emulate those requirements.
  128
  128
  128
  128
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Haunt
  Haunts are hulking plant creatures that spend most of their 
  time buried in the ground. They bond with the surrounding 
  flora, gaining the ability to animate it and cause it to obey 
  their whims. When threatened, they first use the plant life 
  around them to defend themselves; if enemies draw too near, 
  they erupt from the ground and try to pound the threat into 
  submission with their enormous limbs. 
  Haunts are territorial, malevolent, and capricious. Their 
  name comes from the fact that areas they control are 
  often seen as haunted by evil spirits by the locals. Haunts 
  understand language and can be reasoned and bargained 
  with…but they’re not easy to engage in conversation as they 
  cannot speak themselves, and trying to convince one not to 
  kill you and feed you to the soil is challenging at best.
  HAUNT 
  DIFFICULTY 250
  Size 3 frightening plant
  Perception 15 (+5); shadowsight
  Defense 18; Health 110
  Strength 19 (+9), Agility 8(-2), Intellect 8 (-2), Will 13 (+3)
  Speed 6
  Immune asleep, blinded, dazed, fatigued, frightened, stunned; a 
  living haunt cannot be moved against its will or knocked prone 
  while it stands on the ground.
  Fire Vulnerability A haunt takes double damage from fire.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Limb (melee reach 1) +9 with 3 boons (4d6)
  Nearby Plant (long range) +3 with 2 boons (4d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Double Attack The haunt attacks twice with its limb.
  SPECIAL ACTIONS 
  Return to the Soil The haunt sinks into the ground, becoming 
  indistinguishable from a small hill. While the haunt is in this state, 
  it is sightless and can perceive everything within 1 mile of its location, 
  provided significant plant life is present. If it spends 1 hour in the soil 
  like this, it heals all damage and recovers from all afflictions.
  Haunt the Forest While the haunt is under the effects of Return 
  to the Soil, it can use an action to awaken a target tree or 
  plant within its area of influence (1 mile); the target becomes a 
  compelled monster of its Size until the haunt is incapacitated or 
  exits the soil. The haunt can use this ability as many times as it 
  likes, but it can only have three awakened plants active at once.
  Horok
  Horoks are huge, omnivorous beasts native to the mainland. 
  Covered in bony protrusions and spikes, horoks are 
  frighteningly aggressive and territorial mountains of muscle, 
  and are nearly impossible to train. A horok will eat virtually 
  anything that crosses its path, though it can also subsist on 
  plant matter when meat is unavailable. A horok’s head and 
  neck are covered with frills and spikes, making for a powerful 
  deterrent to other predators, and its large eyes give it both 
  excellent peripheral vision and depth perception. While they 
  are often solitary creatures, horoks do sometimes congregate 
  in herds; a stampeding herd of horoks can raze entire villages 
  to the ground in minutes.
  The Bone Army uses horoks as a way to test new recruits. 
  In order to become a full initiate of the Bone Army, a recruit 
  must hunt and kill a horok, then make weapons and armor 
  out of its bones, alone. Needless to say, this is not an easy 
  task and many don’t survive it.
  HOROK 
  DIFFICULTY 50
  Size 3 animal
  Perception 14 (+4); shadowsight
  Defense 12; Health 65
  Strength 16 (+6), Agility 8 (-2), Intellect 5 (–5), Will 12 (+2)
  Speed 12
  Covered in Spikes Any creature that attacks the horok with a 
  weapon with reach 1 or lower takes 1d6 damage.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Gore (melee) +6 (2d6 + 1, or 2d6 + 13 on attack roll 20+)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Trample The horok moves at least half its Speed and makes a Gore 
  attack. On a success, the target must make an Agility challenge roll 
  with 2 banes or take 4d6 extra damage and be knocked prone. If 
  the attacked creature’s Agility roll is a success, the creature takes 
  only 2d6 extra damage and is not knocked prone.
  Most on the path to joining the Bone Army run at the sight of a 
  horok beast. Only one crazy enough to meet death stays to fight. 
  Imagine an army made of people like that.
  129
  129
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Howlbeast
  Those in isolated villages on the mainland or small 
  communities on Pacari speak in hushed whispers of 
  the howlbeasts. They come on moonless nights, their 
  maddening baying piercing the darkness, echoing weirdly 
  off of the surrounding terrain, seeming to come from every 
  direction at once. They attack in packs, striking small 
  communities and taking those they find, carrying them off to 
  be eaten or (as folklore tells) turned into more howlbeasts. 
  Howlbeasts are slightly shorter than the average 
  human, but incredibly fast and strong for their size. 
  They’re covered in thick brown and gray fur, with wicked 
  talons on their legs and vicious fangs in their mouths. 
  A single howlbeast is a match for most people, but they 
  often attack in packs of ten or more, striking quickly with 
  only their howls as warning.
  HOWLBEAST 
  DIFFICULTY 25
  Size 1 frightening monster
  Perception 13 (+3); darksight
  Defense 13; Health 35
  Strength 14 (+4), Agility 13 (+3), Intellect 10 (+0), Will 13 (+3)
  Speed 12
  Nocturnal A howlbeast is impaired while in an area lit by sunlight.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Claws (melee) +3 with 3 boons (2d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Pack Takedown When an ally attacks a creature the howlbeast 
  can reach, the howlbeast can use a triggered action to attack that 
  creature with its claws.
  Hunting Mass
  Properly disposing of unwanted living gear usually involves 
  incineration, but it’s common for living gear to be disposed 
  of improperly. In smaller settlements, this isn’t usually a 
  problem; the piece of gear starves and dies shortly after 
  being discarded. However, in big cities—like Sky City or the 
  city-states of the mainland—it’s not unusual for a particular 
  midden pile to be used as a dumping ground for unwanted 
  living gear. When this happens, sometimes those various 
  pieces of living gear band together, becoming a single 
  collective organism. These organisms—called “hunting 
  masses”—roam the streets at night, waylaying those 
  wandering alone, attacking them, and draining them of all 
  their blood and Essence.
  HUNTING MASS 
  DIFFICULTY 50
  Size 2 frightening monster
  Perception 10 (+0); darksight
  Defense 10; Health 55
  Strength 14 (+4), Agility 8 (–2), Intellect 5 (–5), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 6
  Immune gaining Strain; asleep, charmed, dazed, fatigued, stunned; 
  any effect that would change the hunting mass’s shape
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Tendril (melee reach 2) +4 with 1 boon (1d6 plus Drag)
  Drag The hunting mass moves the target 1d6 yards toward itself.
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Drain As an action or a triggered action on its turn, the hunting 
  mass can make a Strength attack against the Strength of a 
  creature that it has grabbed and is also adjacent to itself. On 
  a success, the target takes a -1d6 penalty to Health and takes 
  1 Strain. A creature incapacitated by this attack is killed, 
  becoming an empty, dry husk.
  END OF THE ROUND 
  Many Minds The hunting mass rolls 1d3 to determine how many 
  actions it can take on its next turn. Regardless of how many 
  actions it can take, it can only move once, and only if it takes a 
  slow turn. It still gets only one triggered action each round.
  Insect
  Insects are common in Asunder and come in a variety 
  of shapes and sizes. They’ve been known to grow to 
  prodigious size in New Gaia, especially around insect 
  weavers, who encourage this growth. You can also use these 
  stat blocks to represent arachnids.
   
  ༄ Flying Insects: If you want your insect to be able to fly, 
  give it the flier trait and increase its difficulty by one 
  step.
   
  ༄ Poisonous Insects: If you want your insect to be 
  poisonous, then its natural weapon also inflicts Poison, 
  as below. Increase its difficulty by one step.
   
  ༄ Poison: The target must make a Strength challenge roll. 
  On a failure, it takes 1d6 damage and becomes poisoned 
  for 1 minute. If the target is already poisoned, it instead 
  takes 1d6 extra damage.
   
  ༄ Web-Weavers: if you want your insect to be able to 
  spin webs or similar entrapping structures, add the 
  following talent and increase its difficulty by one step.
   
  ༄ Webs: The insect is encountered in an area full of 
  webs that fills an area with a radius equal to 5 times the 
  insect’s size, in yards. This area is difficult terrain for all 
  creatures except insects with this talent.
  HUGE INSECT 
  DIFFICULTY 50
  Size 3 or larger insect
  Perception 12 (+2)
  Defense 11; Health 80
  Strength 16 (+6), Agility 10 (+0), Intellect 6 (–4), Will 12 (+2)
  Speed 8; climber
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Natural Weapon (melee) +6 with 1 boon (3d6)
  SPECIAL ACTIONS
  Scuttle When a creature within the insect’s reach moves, it can use 
  a triggered action to retreat.
  130
  130
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  LARGE INSECT 
  DIFFICULTY 25
  Size 2 insect
  Perception 12 (+2)
  Defense 12; Health 40
  Strength 15 (+5), Agility 11 (+1), Intellect 6 (–4), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 12; climber
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Natural Weapon (melee) +5 with 1 boon (2d6)
  SPECIAL ACTIONS
  Scuttle When a creature within the insect’s reach moves, it can use 
  a triggered action to retreat.
  MEDIUM INSECT 
  DIFFICULTY 10
  Size 1 insect
  Perception 12 (+2)
  Defense 14; Health 20
  Strength 13 (+3), Agility 13 (+3), Intellect 6 (–4), Will 10 (+0)
  Speed 10; climber
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Natural Weapon (melee) +3 with 1 boon (1d6 + 2)
  SPECIAL ACTIONS
  Scuttle When a creature within the insect’s reach moves, it can use 
  a triggered action to retreat.
  SMALL INSECT 
  DIFFICULTY 1
  Size 1/2 insect
  Perception 12 (+2)
  Defense 13; Health 5
  Strength 8 (–2), Agility 13 (+3), Intellect 6 (–4), Will 8 (–2)
  Speed 10; climber
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Natural Weapon (melee) +3 (1d6 + 1)
  SPECIAL ACTIONS
  Scuttle When a creature within the insect’s reach moves, it can use 
  a triggered action to retreat.
  TINY INSECT 
  DIFFICULTY 1
  Size 1/4 or smaller insect
  Perception 14 (+4)
  Defense 14; Health 1
  Strength 5 (–5), Agility 14 (+4), Intellect 6 (–4), Will 8 (–2)
  Speed 10; climber
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Natural Weapon (melee) +4 with 2 banes (1)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Distract One target creature within the animal’s reach must make a 
  Will challenge roll. On a failure, the target becomes impaired for 
  1 round or until it is no longer within the animal’s reach.
  SPECIAL ACTIONS
  Scuttle When a creature within the insect’s reach moves, it can use 
  a triggered action to retreat.
  INSECT SWARM 
  DIFFICULTY 5
  Size 1 insect (swarm)
  Perception 12 (+2)
  Defense 13; Health 20
  Strength 8 (–2), Agility 13 (+3), Intellect 5 (–5), Will 8 (–2)
  Speed 8; climber
  Immune charmed, dazed, deafened, frightened, grabbed, 
  immobilized, prone, slowed, stunned
  Multitude A swarm takes half damage from effects that use an 
  attack roll and double damage from effects that require it to 
  make a challenge roll.
  Revulsion Creatures that are not swarms are impaired while they 
  remain in the swarm’s space or within 1 yard of it.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Natural Weapon (melee) +3 with 1 boon (1d6, or 1d3 if the swarm is 
  injured)
  END OF THE ROUND 
  Swarming Insects Each creature that isn’t a swarm and that is in 
  the swarm’s space or within 1 yard of it must make an Agility 
  challenge roll. On a failure, the creature takes 1d6 damage and 
  becomes slowed for 1 round.
  Carnivore beetles are flesh eating insects,  
  standing eight-feet tall. They are the stuff of nightmares.  
  Carnivore beetles are flesh eating insects,  
  standing eight-feet tall. They are the stuff of nightmares.  
  131
  131
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Living Door
  Living doors are doors, gates, or portcullises constructed 
  from vines, wood, and branches. These doors are still alive 
  and are usually linked to a keystone that allows passage 
  automatically. Anyone without a keystone is not admitted 
  passage, and the living door attacks anyone who tries to 
  force their way through. Living doors are popular among 
  nobles who have enough money for them…and who 
  don’t want to trust the guarding of their treasures to other 
  people.
  LIVING DOOR  
  DIFFICULTY 50
  Size 2 plant
  Perception 13 (+3); sightless
  Defense 5; Health 130
  Strength 16 (+6); Agility 5 (-5); Intellect 6 (-4); Will 15 (+5)
  Speed 0
  Immune damage from cold, disease, and poison; gaining Strain; 
  asleep, blinded, charmed, dazed, diseased, fatigued, frightened, 
  poisoned, prone, stunned, and any effect that would change the 
  living door’s shape.
  Solid Construction A living door takes half damage from weapons.
  Passive Guardian A living door opens automatically for anyone 
  with the right keystone, and will not attack such a creature. 
  It does not attack anyone else unless instructed to do so by 
  someone bearing a keystone, or unless a creature attempts to 
  force it open.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Lashing Vines (reach 3) +6 with 2 boons (2d6 damage)
  Thorns (short range) +2 with 2 boons (2d6 damage)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Lash Out The living door attacks all creatures within a cube, 2 
  yards on each side, extending from a point within its reach. Each 
  creature in the area must make an Agility challenge roll with 
  2 banes, taking 1d6 damage on a failure or half damage on a 
  success.
  Living Mist
  Living mist is a semi-sentient bioweapon engineered by 
  the weavers of New Gaia during one of their wars. Though 
  illegal in most civilized lands now, it’s still used from time to 
  time as a guardian or shock weapon by the unscrupulous. 
  Not actually a mist at all, the living mist is a fungal pod 
  placed in a specific area that generates a cloud of acidic 
  spores with a motive force behind it. The cloud can move of 
  its own accord, even against the wind, and dissolves those 
  creatures unlucky enough to find themselves in contact 
  with the spores.
  LIVING MIST 
  DIFFICULTY 100
  Size 10 plant
  Perception 20 (+10); sightless
  Defense 5; Health 80
  Strength —; Agility 5 (-5); Intellect 6 (-4); Will 6 (-4)
  Speed 6; flier, Focal Point
  Immune damage from cold, disease, and poison; gaining Strain; 
  asleep, blinded, charmed, dazed, diseased, fatigued, frightened, 
  poisoned, prone, stunned, and any effect that would change the 
  living mist’s shape.
  Misty Form A living mist takes half damage from weapons and 
  double damage from fire. It makes challenge rolls to resist 
  fire effects with 1 bane. Other creatures can move through 
  and end their movement in its space. The living mist totally 
  obscures its area. A living mist ignores difficult terrain and 
  can move freely through openings wide enough to permit 
  the passage of air but treats liquid water as a solid object. 
  Once per round, when exposed to wind created by an Essence 
  power or piece of living or Chaos gear, the mist takes 4d6 
  damage and is moved 1d6 yards in the direction the wind is 
  blowing.
  Focal Point The living mist emanates from a small fungal pod 
  placed somewhere in the area, and must stay within short range 
  of that pod. If it is forced to move further away than short range 
  from its focal point, it takes 2d6 damage. A character can try 
  to find the focal point by making a Perception challenge roll; 
  on a success, that character can pinpoint the fungal pod and, 
  thereafter, attack it. The fungal pod has the same Defense and 
  Health as the living mist but takes full damage from weapon 
  attacks. Incapacitating the living mist without destroying its 
  fungal pod does not kill it.
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Dissolve Each creature within the living mist’s space must make a 
  Strength challenge roll with 2 banes. On a failure, the creature 
  takes 3d6+2 damage and becomes impaired for 1 minute. If the 
  creature is already impaired from some other source, it becomes 
  slowed and takes 2d6 extra damage.
  END OF THE ROUND
  Spore Generation If the living mist’s fungal pod is still intact, it 
  heals 2d6 damage.
  Lorchus
  Scuttling about on crab-like legs, a lorchus is an ambulatory 
  fungal creature that feeds on decomposing matter. While not 
  usually aggressive, it’s not uncommon for a lorchus to attack 
  lone travellers, killing them so it can feed. This typically only 
  happens when the creatures are quite hungry. Lorchi are 
  known for their pungent aromas.
  LORCHUS 
  DIFFICULTY 10
  Size 1/2 fungus
  Perception 11 (+1); sightless
  Defense 15; Health 20
  Strength 10 (+0), Agility 14 (+4), Intellect 5 (–5), Will 15 (+5)
  Speed 8
  Immune gaining Strain; asleep, blinded, dazed, deafened, fatigued, 
  frightened, stunned
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Spit Spine (short range) +4 with 1 boon (1d6)
  END OF THE ROUND
  Stench Each living creature within short range of the lorchus 
  must make a Strength challenge roll. On a failure, the creature 
  becomes impaired for 1 round.
  132
  132
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Mind Trap
  Mind traps are semi-sapient colonies of carnivorous 
  fungus. They have a distinct reddish hue, which deepens 
  when they’re feeding. Mind traps are immobile, growing 
  in areas frequented by living creatures, where they lie in 
  wait for victims to enter their territory. When a creature 
  does, the mind trap releases spores that cause the creature 
  to experience vivid hallucinations. These hallucinations 
  take the form of enemies, predators, traumatic memories, 
  monsters, and the like, attacking the victim until they 
  fall unconscious, at which point the mind trap can begin 
  dissolving its victim.
  MIND TRAP 
  DIFFICULTY 100
  Size 3 fungus
  Perception 15 (+5); sightless
  Defense 10; Health 45
  Strength 8 (-2), Agility 8 (–2), Intellect 5 (–5), Will 15 (+5)
  Speed 0
  Immune damage from poison; gaining Strain or Discord; blinded, 
  charmed, dazed, frightened, grabbed, poisoned, prone, stunned, 
  and any effect that would change the mind trap’s shape
  Blend A mind trap looks, to the untrained eye, like a harmless 
  fungus; any attempts to notice it as a threat suffer 2 banes. If a 
  creature is under the effects of the mind trap’s Trap Mind attack, 
  increase this to 4 banes.
  Fungal Colony A mind trap is actually hundreds or thousands 
  of fungal organisms and, unless it is utterly eradicated, it can 
  regrow itself from a single organism. It takes half damage from 
  weapon attacks but double damage from attacks that require it to 
  make a challenge roll.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Spores (short range) +5 (1d3 damage and Trap Mind)
  Trap Mind The target must make a Will challenge roll with 2 
  banes. On a success, the target is impaired for 1 hour, and 
  recognizes that it has been attacked by something, but not 
  what, specifically. On a failure, the target starts to hallucinate. 
  These hallucinations take the form of dead relatives, old 
  enemies, primal fears, and so on. Each time a target is 
  subject to this effect, one hallucination appears; use monster 
  stats appropriate to the group’s level. These hallucinations 
  attack the target, getting their own turns, and they can be 
  attacked and take and deal damage, but only the target can 
  see, affect, and be affected by them; each target gets its own 
  hallucinations. A creature subject to Trap Mind can repeat the 
  Intellect or Will challenge roll on each of its turns as an action 
  or a triggered action; if a creature succeeds, all of that target’s 
  hallucinations disappear and the target is impaired for 1 hour. 
  Once a creature has succeeded on this challenge roll, it is 
  immune to the effects of Trap Mind from this particular mind 
  trap for 24 hours.
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Spore Burst The mind trap uses Spores on each creature within 
  short range. It can do this only once every 24 hours.
  END OF THE ROUND 
  Dissolve The mind trap dissolves one incapacitated creature it can 
  reach. This kills the target creature and causes the mind trap to 
  heal 2d6 damage.
  Monster
  Below are generic statistics for any monsters or particularly 
  vicious or dangerous animals that can be found in the 
  world of Asunder which are not specifically given stats in 
  this chapter. If you have a great idea for a dangerous beast 
  and you don’t have stats for it, use these.
  HUGE MONSTER 
  DIFFICULTY 100
  Size 3 or larger monster
  Perception 14 (+4); darksight
  Defense 13; Health 100
  Strength 16 (+6), Agility 12 (+2), Intellect 9 (–1), Will 15 (+5)
  Speed 12
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Natural Weapon (melee) +6 with 2 boons (4d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Frenzied Attack The monster attacks two different targets with its 
  natural weapon, making each attack roll with 1 bane.
  Massive Attack The monster lashes out at all creatures within a 
  cube, 3 yards on each side, extending from a point in its space. 
  Each creature in the area must make an Agility challenge roll 
  with 2 banes, taking 3d6 damage on a failure or half the damage 
  on a success.
  LARGE MONSTER 
  DIFFICULTY 50
  Size 2 monster
  Perception 13 (+3); darksight
  Defense 13; Health 60
  Strength 15 (+5), Agility 11 (+1), Intellect 8 (–2), Will 14 (+4)
  Speed 12
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Natural Weapon (melee) +5 with 2 boons (2d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Frenzied Attack The monster attacks two different targets with its 
  natural weapon, making each attack roll with 1 bane.
  Massive Attack The monster lashes out at all creatures within a 
  cube, 2 yards on each side, extending from a point in its space. 
  Each creature in the area must make an Agility challenge roll 
  with 2 banes, taking 1d6 damage on a failure or half the damage 
  on a success.
  MEDIUM MONSTER 
  DIFFICULTY 10
  Size 1 monster
  Perception 12 (+2); darksight
  Defense 13; Health 20
  Strength 13 (+3), Agility 9 (–1), Intellect 7 (–3), Will 13 (+3)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Natural Weapon (melee) +3 with 1 boon (1d6 + 2)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Frenzied Attack The monster attacks two different targets with its 
  natural weapon, making each attack roll with 1 bane.
  133
  133
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  SMALL MONSTER 
  DIFFICULTY 5
  Size 1/2 monster
  Perception 11 (+1); darksight
  Defense 13; Health 15
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 8 (–2), Intellect 6 (–4), Will 12 (+2)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Natural Weapon (melee) +2 with 1 boon (1d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Frenzied Attack The monster attacks two different targets with its 
  natural weapon, making each attack roll with 1 bane. For each attack, 
  it makes a Strength attack roll against the target’s Defense. On a 
  success, the target takes 1d6 damage.
  TINY MONSTER 
  DIFFICULTY 1
  Size 1/4 or smaller monster
  Perception 11 (+1); darksight
  Defense 14; Health 5
  Strength 8 (–2), Agility 14 (+4), Intellect 6 (–4), Will 12 (+2)
  Speed 12
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Natural Weapon (melee) +4 with 1 boon (1d3)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Leaping Attack The monster jumps up to 6 yards and attacks with 
  its natural weapon. This movement does not trigger free attacks.
  Naga
  A mostly-female race of creatures that look akin to humans 
  from the torso up and like snakes below the waist, Naga 
  are powerful combatants and deadly enemies. More 
  information on Naga can be found in Chapter 3.
  Blessing of the God-Machine: Naga come in a number 
  of varieties, with varying physical traits, abilities, and 
  appearances. When the Seekers encounter a Naga, roll 
  on the Blessings table on the next page.
  NAGA CLUTCH-SISTER 
  DIFFICULTY 25
  Size 2 Naga (aquatic)
  Perception 14 (+4); darksight
  Defense 16; Health 20
  Strength 13 (+3), Agility 15 (+5), Intellect 12 (+2), Will 13 (+3)
  Speed 12; swimmer
  Immune damage from poison; gaining Strain or Discord
  Stability A Naga makes any challenge rolls to remain standing or 
  avoid being moved with 2 boons.
  Essence Resistance A Naga makes any challenge rolls to resist 
  Essence powers with 2 boons, and all Essence power attacks 
  against Nagas are made with 2 banes.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Stone Dagger (melee) +5 (2d6) 
  Fangs (melee) +5 (1d6 + 1 plus Poison)
  Poison The target must make a Strength challenge roll with 1 bane. 
  On a failure, it takes 1d6 damage and becomes poisoned for 1 
  minute. If it is already poisoned, the target instead takes 1d6 extra 
  damage.
  The clutch-sister can be used to represent most Naga who 
  are not of a specifically martial caste: makers, breeders, 
  explorers, and so forth.
  NAGA WARRIOR 
  DIFFICULTY 50
  Size 2 Naga (aquatic)
  Perception 14 (+4); darksight
  Defense 17; Health 45
  Strength 15 (+5), Agility 17 (+7), Intellect 12 (+2), Will 13 (+3)
  Speed 12; swimmer
  Immune damage from poison; gaining Strain or Discord
  Stability A Naga makes any challenge rolls to remain standing or 
  avoid being moved with 2 boons.
  Essence Resistance A Naga makes any challenge rolls to resist 
  Essence powers with 2 boons, and all Essence power attacks 
  against Nagas are made with 2 banes.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Bone Spear (melee reach 2) +5 with 1 boon (2d6) 
  Fangs (melee) +7 with 1 boon (1d6 + 4 plus Poison)
  Poison The target must make a Strength challenge roll with 1 bane. 
  On a failure, it takes 1d6 damage and becomes poisoned for 1 
  minute. If it is already poisoned, the target instead takes 1d6 extra 
  damage.
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Flurry The Naga warrior makes two attacks with its bone spear, or 
  one with its bone spear and one with its fangs.
  A medium Monster that haunts the Obsidian Hills of Pacari.
  A medium Monster that haunts the Obsidian Hills of Pacari.
  134
  134
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Blessings
  1
  Virulent Venom All damage dealt by the Naga’s poison is 
  increased by 1d6.
  2
  Armor Plates The Naga is covered with thick, plate-like 
  scales, granting it +2 to Defense and +10 to Health.
  3
  Extra Arms The Naga has four arms instead of the usual 
  two. If it does not already have Flurry, it gains that ability. If 
  it does, it can make one additional melee attack when it uses 
  Flurry.
  4
  Huge The Naga is Size 3. Its melee attacks other than its 
  Fangs have +1 reach, it deals 1d6 extra damage with all melee 
  attacks, and it has +10 to Health, but its Defense is reduced 
  by 2, and its Speed is reduced by 3.
  5
  Mesmerizing Gaze The Naga can use a triggered action on 
  its turn to fix its gaze on one target creature within medium 
  range of it. The target must make a Will challenge roll. On 
  a failure, it becomes immobilized until it uses an action to 
  remove the affliction. On a success, it becomes immune to 
  that Naga’s Mesmerizing Gaze until the target completes a 
  rest.
  6
  Poison Spit The Naga can make a short range attack with 
  a bonus equal to its Agility bonus and a number of boons 
  equal to the number of boons it gets on its other attacks. 
  This attack deals 1d6 damage plus Poison.
  7
  The Sight The Naga has truesight. It can also see into the 
  future, though it has little control over this power.
  8
  Wings The Naga has large, feathered wings. It gains the flier 
  trait.
  9
  Swift Increase the Naga’s Speed by +4.
  10
  Rattle The Naga has a rattle on its tail, like a rattlesnake. 
  As an action or a triggered action on its turn, it can make 
  a rattling noise, which lasts until it ends the effect as a free 
  action or is incapacitated. Anyone who attacks the Naga 
  while the rattle is in effect does so with 1 bane.
  11
  Maw The Naga has a maw full of vicious, sharklike fangs. Its 
  bite does 2d6 extra damage, but is not poisonous.
  12
  Chosen of Gaia The Naga’s poison has a life-sapping effect, 
  and can even reanimate the dead as green conscripts. 
  Replace the Naga’s Poison text with: If living, the target must 
  make a Strength challenge roll with 1 bane. On a failure, 
  the target becomes impaired for 1 minute. When a creature 
  impaired this way becomes incapacitated, it dies instantly 
  and rises as a compelled green conscript 1d6 rounds later.
  13
  Camouflage The Naga can alter the pigmentation of its skin 
  and scales. As long as it’s holding still, it makes any rolls to 
  hide with 3 boons.
  14
  Burrow The Naga can use an action to burrow into or 
  emerge from the ground. While underground it moves at 
  half Speed, but has full cover from all attackers.
  15
  Poisonous Cloud The Naga can emit a cloud of poison 
  in a 6-yard radius as an action. All creatures in the area of 
  effect must make an Agility challenge roll with 1 bane or be 
  subject to the Naga’s poison. Once the Naga has used this 
  ability, it must wait 1 round to use it again.
  16
  Climber With its claws and specially-evolved scales, the naga 
  can climb surfaces with ease. It gains the climber trait.
  17
  Petrify Replace the Naga’s Poison text with the following: 
  The target becomes slowed for 1 minute as its body grows 
  heavy. If the target is already slowed this way, it instead takes 
  4d6 extra damage. A target that becomes incapacitated by 
  the Naga’s venom turns into a statue, dying instantly.
  18
  Snake-Speaker The Naga can summon a swarm of snakes 
  as an action. Use stats for a swarm of animals, except that 
  this swarm’s natural weapon inflicts the Naga’s Poison on a 
  success. The Naga can use this ability three times. When it 
  completes a rest, it regains all uses of this ability.
  19
  Slip Sideways The Naga uses an action or a triggered action 
  on its turn to teleport to a space it can see within medium 
  range. Roll a d6. On a roll of 1, the Naga cannot use Slip 
  Sideways again for 1 minute.
  20
  Two Blessings Roll twice on this table, ignoring 
  incompatible results or subsequent results of 20.
  Naga warriors can represent not just those of the warrior 
  caste, but also Naga hunters and even veteran explorers. Any 
  Naga with extensive combat training can be represented by 
  this stat block.
  NAGA CHAMPION 
  DIFFICULTY 100
  Size 2 Naga (aquatic)
  Perception 15 (+5); darksight
  Defense 17; Health 90
  Strength 17 (+7), Agility 17 (+7), Intellect 12 (+2), Will 13 (+3)
  Speed 12; swimmer
  Immune damage from poison; gaining Strain or Discord
  Stability A Naga makes any challenge rolls to remain standing or 
  avoid being moved with 2 boons.
  Essence Resistance A Naga makes any challenge rolls to resist 
  Essence powers with 2 boons, and all Essence power attacks 
  against Nagas are made with 2 banes.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Chitin Axe (melee reach) +7 with 2 boons (3d6) 
  Fangs (melee) +7 with 2 boons (2d6 + 4 plus Poison)
  Poison The target must make a Strength challenge roll with 1 bane. On 
  a failure, it takes 1d6 damage and becomes poisoned for 1 minute. If 
  it is already poisoned, the target instead takes 1d6 extra damage.
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Flurry The Naga champion makes two attacks with its chitin axe, or 
  one with its chitin axe and one with its fangs.
  Naga champions are the elite warriors of Naga society, their 
  most dangerous combatants. These stats can also be used to 
  represent a Naga Queen.
  Parasitic Seed
  Plants corrupted by Chaos sometimes release parasitic seeds. 
  These seeds look like normal ones—except they can move 
  about on spindly insectile legs, and seem able to perceive 
  their environment. A parasitic seed often latches onto a piece 
  of living gear, burrowing into it and waiting until it is bonded 
  to a human. Once this happens, a parasitic seed can use this 
  bond to slowly take over the mind of the gear’s host.
  135
  135
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  disturbing quality is their ability to disjoint their jaws in 
  order to swallow creatures nearly half their size—whole. Of 
  course, once a rezzik swallows a meal, it typically sleeps for 
  several days while it digests.
  REZZIK 
  DIFFICULTY 50
  Size 2 animal
  Perception 16 (+6); darksight
  Defense 16; Health 40
  Strength 13 (+3), Agility 16 (+6), Intellect 8 (–2), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 15
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Fangs (melee) +3 with 2 boons (2d6 + 1 plus Poison)
  Poison The target must make a Strength challenge roll. On a failure, 
  it takes 1d6 damage and becomes poisoned for 1 minute. If the 
  target is already poisoned, it instead takes 1d6 extra damage.
  SPECIAL ACTIONS
  Swallow The rezzik swallows a defenseless creature of Size 1 or smaller.
  Sea Serpents
  Sea serpents are the apex predators of the oceans, 
  terrifying engines of destruction that can sink ships with 
  ease, or even ravage entire fleets when they cluster into 
  small groups. The seafarers hunt sea serpents for their 
  meat, their scales, their bones, and their heartstones. 
  Each sea serpent has an organ called a heartstone in its 
  body, and the heartstone generates an immense amount 
  of heat, even for weeks after having been removed from a 
  sea serpent’s body. The heartstone allows sea serpents to 
  survive the coldest parts of the ocean for extended periods 
  of time, and seafarers seek them so they can survive the 
  cold winter months, and lend their living ships more 
  speed and alacrity.
  Sea serpents are primarily solitary creatures, but 
  occasionally they cluster into pods of three or four 
  during spawning season. They tend not to actively seek 
  out humans or ships, but they are extremely territorial, 
  and entering a sea serpent’s claimed patch of ocean is 
  tantamount to a challenge. Sea serpents are too wild and 
  willful to be trained or tamed, but they are sometimes 
  captured, and some seafarers can use their Essence to 
  commune with and even befriend sea serpents.
  LARGE SEA SERPENT 
  DIFFICULTY 500
  Size 3 or larger frightening monster (aquatic)
  Perception 19 (+9); darksight
  Defense 23; Health 160
  Strength 17 (+7), Agility 13 (+3), Intellect 8 (+-2), Will 14 (+4)
  Speed 16; swimmer
  Immune damage from fire, cold, and poison; charmed, dazed, 
  frightened, poisoned, sleep, stunned
  Massive Sea serpents always deal full damage to ships and 
  structures.
  Aura of Heat The heartstone of a sea serpent generates an 
  immense amount of heat. Any creature that ends its turn within 
  6 yards of the sea serpent must make a Strength challenge roll 
  PARASITIC SEED 
  DIFFICULTY 25
  Size 1/8 plant
  Perception 11 (+1); sightless
  Defense 14; Health 1
  Strength 4 (–6), Agility 14 (+4), Intellect 4 (–4), Will 10 (+0)
  Immune gaining Strain or Discord; blinded, charmed, dazed, 
  frightened, stunned, and any effect that change its shape
  Escape Notice While burrowed into a piece of living gear, a parasitic 
  seed can only be found with 1 hour of careful inspection of the gear.
  Fire Vulnerability The seed takes double damage from fire.
  Parasitic Bond A creature bonded to a piece of living gear infected 
  by a parasitic seed must make a Strength challenge roll every time 
  it completes a rest; failure means that the creature takes 1 Strain. If 
  a creature bonded to such a piece of gear suffers an Essence break 
  while bonded to the gear, it must make a Will challenge roll with 
  2 banes or become compelled by the parasitic seed. The creature 
  can repeat this Will challenge roll once every 24 hours. If the seed is 
  destroyed, the creature is no longer compelled.
  Speed 5
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Burrow (melee) +4 with 1 boon (1)
  Reega
  A reega is a large cat, about the size of a panther, with great, 
  bat-like wings sprouting from its back. Reegas are common 
  predators in New Gaia and Pacari, where they swoop 
  down and snatch prey, bringing it up to their roosts in the 
  branches of great trees or on the edges of cliffs, where they 
  can kill and devour their prey at their leisure.
  REEGA 
  DIFFICULTY 50
  Size 1 animal
  Perception 15 (+5); shadowsight
  Defense 15; Health 35
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 13 (+3), Intellect 7 (–3), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 12; flier (swoop)
  Attack Actions 
  Claws and Teeth (melee) +2 with 1 boon (1d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Aerial Pounce The reega moves up to its Speed and attacks twice 
  with its claws and teeth, and the target is grabbed. On a later 
  turn, the reega can fly off with the grabbed target, though it 
  moves at half Speed when carrying anything its own Size, and 
  cannot carry anything larger than its Size.
  Rezzik
  Common in Pacari and New Gaia, where the climate is 
  warm, rezzik are reptilian pack hunters that are equal parts 
  lupine and ophidian. Long and sinewy, rezzik have six legs 
  on their serpentine body, with a lashing tail on one end and 
  a scaled, wolf-like head on the other. Their acute senses of 
  hearing and smell are augmented by snake-like heat-sensing 
  pits in the snout, making packs of rezzik extraordinarily 
  difficult to hide from, and their lithe, six-legged forms allow 
  them to cover ground incredibly quickly. Their howls haunt 
  the deserts and jungles of the world, but perhaps their most 
  136
  136
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  with 3 banes or be impaired while they remain within the aura of 
  heat. A creature that is already impaired becomes fatigued for 1 
  hour. A creature that is already fatigued takes 2d6 damage.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Coils (melee reach 2) +7 with 3 boons (2d6 plus 1d6 from heat)
  Jaws (melee) +7 with 3 boons (3d6 plus 1d6 from fire)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Roiling Flurry The sea serpent attacks twice with its coils and once 
  with its bite. If a creature is hit by both coil attacks, it is grabbed.
  Burst of Heat The serpent stokes its heartstone, generating intense 
  heat in an area around it, causing the sea to boil in a 10-yard 
  radius from a point it can reach. Everything in the area takes 3d6 
  + 5 damage. Each creature in the water must make a Strength 
  challenge roll with 2 banes. On a failure, the creature takes 4d6 
  + 5 extra damage and becomes impaired for 1 hour. Once the sea 
  serpent uses Burst of Heat, it cannot do so again for 1 round.
  MEDIUM SEA SERPENT 
  DIFFICULTY 250
  Size 2 or 3 frightening monster (aquatic)
  Perception 16 (+6); darksight
  Defense 21; Health 90
  Strength 14 (+4), Agility 15 (+5), Intellect 8 (+-2), Will 14 (+4)
  Speed 17; swimmer
  Immune damage from fire, cold, and poison; charmed, dazed, 
  frightened, poisoned, sleep, stunned
  Massive Sea serpents always deal full damage to ships and 
  structures.
  Aura of Heat The heartstone of a sea serpent generates an 
  immense amount of heat. Any creature that ends its turn within 
  4 yards of the sea serpent must make a Strength challenge roll 
  with 2 banes or be impaired while they remain within the aura of 
  heat. A creature that is already impaired becomes fatigued for 1 
  hour. A creature that is already fatigued takes 2d6 damage.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Coils (melee reach 2) +4 with 2 boons (1d6 plus 1d6 from heat)
  Jaws (melee) +4 with 2 boons (2d6 plus 1d6 from fire)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Roiling Flurry The sea serpent attacks twice with its coils and once 
  with its bite. If a creature is hit by both coil attacks, it is grabbed.
  Burst of Heat The serpent stokes its heartstone, generating intense 
  heat in an area around it, causing the sea to boil in a 8-yard 
  radius from a point it can reach. Everything in the area takes 2d6 
  + 5 damage. Each creature in the water must make a Strength 
  challenge roll with 2 banes. On a failure, the creature takes 3d6 
  + 5 extra damage and becomes impaired for 1 hour. Once the sea 
  serpent uses Burst of Heat, it cannot do so again for 1 round.
  SMALL SEA SERPENT 
  DIFFICULTY 100
  Size 2 frightening monster (aquatic)
  Perception 16 (+6); darksight
  Defense 19; Health 75
  Strength 13 (+3), Agility 17 (+7), Intellect 8 (+-2), Will 14 (+4)
  Speed 18; swimmer
  Immune damage from fire, cold, and poison; charmed, dazed, 
  frightened, poisoned, sleep, stunned
  Massive Sea serpents always deal full damage to ships and 
  structures.
  Aura of Heat The heartstone of a sea serpent generates an 
  immense amount of heat. Any creature that ends its turn within 3 
  yards of the sea serpent must make a Strength challenge roll with 
  1 bane or be impaired while they remain within the aura of heat. 
  A creature that is already impaired becomes fatigued for 1 hour. 
  A creature that is already fatigued takes 1d6 damage.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Coils (melee reach 2) +3 with 1 boon (1d6 plus 1d6 from heat)
  Jaws (melee) +3 with 1 boons (2d6 plus 1d6 from fire)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Roiling Flurry The sea serpent attacks twice with its coils and once 
  with its bite. If a creature is hit by both coil attacks, it is grabbed.
  Burst of Heat The serpent stokes its heartstone, generating 
  intense heat in an area around it, causing the sea to boil in a 
  5-yard radius from a point it can reach. Everything in the area 
  takes 1d6 + 5 damage. Each creature in the water must make a 
  Strength challenge roll with 2 banes. On a failure, the creature 
  takes 2d6 + 5 extra damage and becomes impaired for 1 hour. 
  Once the sea serpent uses Burst of Heat, it cannot do so again 
  for 1 round.
  Servitor
  Nobody knows who created the servitors or what their 
  purpose is. Often found in ancient structures left behind 
  by long-dead empires, servitors are stone constructs 
  animated by an unknown force, driven by an inscrutable 
  intelligence. Servitors vary in size, but they’re all multi-
  legged creatures with an arachnid bottom and a torso 
  that looks mostly human—or would, if it weren’t made 
  of rune-inscribed stone. Though not always aggressive, 
  servitors have been known to attack people who enter 
  ancient ruins; just as often, though, they either ignore 
  those intruders, or defend them against enemies. Their 
  motives remain a mystery.
  GREATER SERVITOR 
  DIFFICULTY 500
  Size 3 construct
  Perception 12 (+2); darksight
  Defense 16; Health 140
  Strength 20 (+10), Agility 9 (-1), Intellect 12 (+2), Will 13 (+3)
  Speed 8
  Immune damage from poison or disease; taking Strain or Discord; 
  asleep, charmed, dazed, diseased, fatigued, poisoned, stunned
  Essence Resistance A servitor takes half damage from powers and 
  makes any challenge roll to resist a power with 1 boon. A creature 
  attacking the servitor with a power makes the attack roll with 1 
  bane.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Stone Claw (melee) +10 with 3 boons (5d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Double Attack The servitor attacks twice with its stone claw.
  END OF THE ROUND 
  Essence Pulse If the servitor has been targeted by any Essence 
  powers during this round, it emits a pulse of negative Essence 
  feedback. The servitor attacks all creatures within a cube, 9 
  yards on each side, extending from a point within its reach. 
  Each creature in the area must make an Will challenge roll with 
  2 banes, taking 2d6 damage and 1d3 Strain on a failure, or half 
  damage on a success.
  137
  137
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  LESSER SERVITOR 
  DIFFICULTY 250
  Size 2 construct
  Perception 10 (+0); darksight
  Defense 16; Health 140
  Strength 18 (+8), Agility 11 (+1), Intellect 10 (+0), Will 12 (+2)
  Speed 10
  Immune damage from poison or disease; taking Strain or Discord; 
  asleep, charmed, dazed, diseased, fatigued, poisoned, stunned
  Essence Resistance A servitor takes half damage from powers and 
  makes any challenge roll to resist a power with 1 boon. A creature 
  attacking the servitor with a power makes the attack roll with 1 
  bane.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Stone Claw (melee) +8 with 2 boons (3d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Double Attack The servitor attacks twice with its stone claw.
  END OF THE ROUND 
  Essence Pulse If the servitor has been targeted by any Essence 
  powers during this round, it emits a pulse of negative Essence 
  feedback. The servitor attacks all creatures within a 
  cube, 5 yards on each side, extending from a point 
  within its reach. Each creature in the area must 
  make an Will challenge roll with 2 banes, taking 
  1d6 damage and 1d3 Strain on a failure, or half 
  damage on a success.
  MINOR SERVITOR 
  MINOR SERVITOR 
  DIFFICULTY 100
  Size 1 construct
  Perception 9 (-1); darksight
  Defense 14; Health 85
  Strength 15 (+5), Agility 12 (+2), Intellect 9 (-1), Will 10 (+0)
  Speed 12
  Immune damage from poison or disease; taking Strain or Discord; 
  asleep, charmed, dazed, diseased, fatigued, poisoned, stunned
  Essence Resistance A servitor takes half damage from powers and 
  makes any challenge roll to resist a power with 1 boon. A creature 
  attacking the servitor with a power makes the attack roll with 1 
  bane.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Stone Claw (melee) +5 with 2 boons (2d6+2)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Double Attack The servitor attacks twice with its stone claw.
  END OF THE ROUND 
  Essence Pulse If the servitor has been targeted by any Essence 
  powers during this round, it emits a pulse of negative Essence 
  feedback. The servitor attacks all creatures within a cube, 3 yards 
  on each side, extending from a point within its 
  reach. Each creature in the area must make an 
  Will challenge roll with 1 bane, taking 1d6 
  damage and 1 Strain on a failure, or half 
  damage on a success.
  The Servitors were created by something other than the gods. 
  Something ancient and unknown. Learning who made them 
   could change the fate of Asunder.
  138
  138
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Silgir
  The silgiri are an aquatic race of beings that very little is 
  known about. They have both reptilian and mammalian 
  qualities, appear to be able to breathe underwater and 
  tolerate any kind of toxin, and communicate through song. 
  Though not overtly hostile to humans, they often clash 
  with Seafarers, especially when the Seafarers hunt the great 
  sea serpents.
  SILGIR 
  DIFFICULTY 50
  Size 1 or 2 humanoid (aquatic)
  Perception 12 (+2); shadowsight
  Defense 15; Health 60
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 15 (+5), Intellect 10 (+0), Will 10 (+0)
  Speed 12; swimmer
  Immune damage from poison; poisoned
  Sunlight Vulnerability A silgir is impaired while in direct sunlight.
  Watery Grace Silgiri are designed to move in water. While on dry 
  land, a silgir’s speed is halved, and it makes any Agility attacks 
  and challenge rolls with 2 banes.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Coral Trident (melee) +5 with 2 boons (3d6 plus Poison)
  Poison The target must make a Strength challenge roll. On a 
  failure, it takes 1d6 damage and becomes poisoned for 1 minute. 
  If the target is already poisoned, it instead takes 1d6 extra 
  damage.
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Disorienting Song The silgir uses an action or a triggered action 
  on its turn to begin singing. It continues to sing until it stops as 
  a free action, and can take only triggered actions during that 
  time. Each creature that is within or that moves into long range 
  of a singing silgir must make a Will challenge roll with 1 bane for 
  each singing silgir within range beyond the first.
   
   On a failure, the creature becomes impaired for the duration 
  of the song, though the creature can repeat the Will challenge 
  roll on its turn each round. While impaired this way, the creature 
  must take the first turn it can each round and use an action to 
  stumble toward the nearest body of water and, if it can, throw 
  itself in. 
   
   
  On a success or after removing the impaired affliction, the 
  creature becomes immune to all silgiri Disorienting Songs until 
  after it completes a rest.
  Svit
  Native to Sky City, svits are tiny opalescent lizards with 
  insectile wings. Though venomous, svits are mostly 
  harmless on their own, and are seen as urban pests at 
  worst, though many traditions in Sky City see them as 
  good luck. Some in Sky City catch svits and domesticate 
  them, and they do make loyal, affectionate pets. Though 
  svit venom is not typically deadly to humans in small 
  doses, many in the criminal underworld still treat darts 
  or blades with refined, concentrated svit venom, which 
  can kill.
  Occasionally, svits congregate into ravenous swarms, 
  impelled by the loss of their home or food supply. When 
  this happens, they can become dangerous to humans. 
  SVIT 
  DIFFICULTY 1
  Size 1/4 animal
  Perception 14 (+4)
  Defense 14; Health 1
  Strength 5 (–5), Agility 14 (+4), Intellect 8 (–2), Will 8 (–2)
  Speed 10 (flier)
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Bite (melee) +4 with 2 banes (1 and the target must succeed on a 
  Strength challenge roll or be poisoned for 1 minute)
  SVIT SWARM 
  DIFFICULTY 10
  Size 1 animal (swarm)
  Perception 14 (+4)
  Defense 13; Health 20
  Strength 8 (–2), Agility 13 (+3), Intellect 8 (–2), Will 8 (–2)
  Speed 10 (flier)
  Immune charmed, dazed, deafened, frightened, grabbed, 
  immobilized, prone, slowed, stunned
  Multitude A swarm takes half damage from effects that use an 
  attack roll and double damage from effects that require it to 
  make a challenge roll.
  Revulsion Creatures that are not swarms are impaired while they 
  remain in the swarm’s space or within 1 yard of it.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Hundreds of Tiny Bites (melee) +3 with 1 boon (1d6, or 1d3 if the 
  swarm is injured, and the target must succeed on a Strength 
  challenge roll with 2 banes or be poisoned for 1 minute)
  END OF THE ROUND 
  Swarming Svits Each creature that isn’t a swarm and that is in 
  the swarm’s space or within 1 yard of it must make an Agility 
  challenge roll. On a failure, the creature takes 1d6 damage and 
  becomes poisoned for 1 minute and slowed for 1 round.
  Swarm-Hound
  Swarm-hounds are scavengers, for the most part, though 
  they’re quite dangerous when riled or cornered. They are 
  canine in shape, but their bodies are pocked with holes 
  that lead deep into their bodies, and in these holes live 
  flesh-beetles. While flesh-beetles are mostly encountered 
  as scavengers as well, eating the decaying corpses of 
  animals or people that die in the forest, these insects have 
  formed a symbiotic bond with the swarm-hounds. The 
  beetles actually live inside the bodies of swarm-hounds, 
  laying their eggs and establishing hive colonies within the 
  hounds. The hounds don’t seem to suffer any ill effects 
  from this and, in fact, can stir their hives into swarming as 
  a defense mechanism, or as a way to take down prey that 
  would normally outmatch them.
  SWARM-HOUND 
  DIFFICULTY 5
  Size 1 animal
  Perception 12 (+2)
  Defense 13; Health 15
  Strength 13 (+3), Agility 12 (+2), Intellect 6 (–4), Will 10 (+0)
  Speed 10
  Immune to damage from poison; poisoned
  139
  139
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  great strength makes them quite helpful for pulling plows or 
  wagons. Though not naturally fast, breeding programs have 
  managed to produce vvakir that are quicker and more lithe, 
  and this variety is often used for riding rather than labor.
  DRAY VVAKIR 
  DIFFICULTY 5
  Size 2 animal
  Perception 12 (+2)
  Defense 10; Health 55
  Strength 18 (+8), Agility 7 (-3), Intellect 4 (–6), Will 8 (-2)
  Speed 4
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Bite (melee) +8 with 1 bane (2d6)
  RIDING VVAKIR 
  DIFFICULTY 1
  Size 2 animal
  Perception 12 (+2)
  Defense 11; Health 15
  Strength 14 (+4), Agility 11 (+1), Intellect 4 (–6), Will 8 (-2)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Bite (melee) +4 with 1 bane (1d6)
  SPECIAL ACTIONS 
  Trot The vvakir moves up to three times its Speed.
  Wyvern
  Highly intelligent and social, wyverns in the wild are terrifying 
  aerial predators that hunt in packs and use complex tactics to 
  take down their prey. The Houses of Sky City have learned to 
  domesticate wyverns from captured eggs. These domesticated 
  wyverns become mounts for the Houses’ Wyvern Knights, 
  elite guardians and soldiers for the city and its nobility. 
  Exceptionally intelligent in the wild, trained wyverns have 
  even been known to understand complex verbal commands, 
  and to be able to communicate with their riders through 
  taps, gestures, and even mimicry. Wyvern Knight mounts are 
  known for their devotion and loyalty to their riders.
  Wyverns are large predators with both reptilian and 
  avian traits. Their bodies are covered with scales, their 
  hind legs are powerful, and they have smaller forelegs 
  that they can use either for walking on all fours or for 
  fine manipulation. Their backs are covered with feathers, 
  and their massive wings are the subject of many paintings 
  and poems. Wyverns are well-known for being both 
  breathtakingly beautiful and incredibly deadly; their potent 
  venom helps back up this last point.
  Wyvern Variations: Wyverns come in a dizzying variety 
  of colors and subspecies. Some of these differences are 
  purely cosmetic, some present interesting roleplaying 
  opportunities, and some affect the wyvern’s game statistics. 
  You can use the base statistics for a wyvern, or you can 
  roll on the Wyvern Variations table, next page. A wyvern 
  bonded to a Seeker through the Wyvern Knight master 
  path always has a variation.
  Swarm Acclimation A swarm-hound is immune to the Revulsion 
  talent of an insect swarm, and never takes damage from its own 
  swarm.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Bite (melee) +3 with 1 boon (1d6 + 2)
  SPECIAL ACTIONS
  Rouse Swarm As an action or a triggered action on its turn, the 
  swarm-hound can rouse the swarm inside it, creating an insect 
  swarm in a space it can reach. The insect swarm and the swarm-
  hound fight to protect each other, but if one is killed the other 
  usually flees. The swarm-hound can use this talent once; it regains 
  the talent after completing a rest.
  Vithek
  The Vithek are a race of enormous, insectoid creatures that 
  live in caverns underground. It’s not common for Vithek 
  to come into contact with humans aboveground, but some 
  Seekers have run afoul of these creatures when venturing 
  into the deep places of the world. 
  Vithek speak their own language, and very occasionally 
  the languages of other people of the world. Of these, they 
  are most likely to speak Nagese, because the Vithek and the 
  Naga do sometimes trade for resources.
  VITHEK 
  DIFFICULTY 50
  Size 2 insect
  Perception 15 (+3)
  Defense 16; Health 45
  Strength 15 (+5), Agility 10 (+0), Intellect 11 (+1), Will 10 (+0)
  Speed 10
  Hive Synergy A Vithek within short range of another Vithek from 
  the same hive makes all attack and challenge rolls with 1 boon. 
  This is cumulative with multiple Vitheks from the same hive; 
  that is, if four Vithek from the same hive are within short range 
  of each other, they each make all attack and challenge rolls with 
  3 boons.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Stone Axe (melee) +5 (2d6 + 2)
  Bow (medium range) +0 (2d6)
  SPECIAL ACTIONS 
  Chitter The Vithek begins chittering. The chittering of a Vithek 
  has a befuddling quality on most creatures, and a non-Vithek 
  creature within short range of a chittering Vithek makes all 
  attack and challenge rolls with 1 bane. Once the Vithek starts 
  chittering, it can continue doing so until it chooses to end the 
  effect as a free action or is incapacitated.
  Vvakir
  One of the most ubiquitous animals in Asunder, vvakir are 
  large, omnivorous reptiles commonly used as mounts or 
  beasts of burden throughout the world. In the wild, vvakir are 
  docile herd creatures that graze on plants or eat carrion; they 
  aren’t particularly aggressive unless cornered, and they don’t 
  often hunt unless exceptionally hungry. Their docile nature 
  makes them quite easy to tame and domesticate, and their 
  140
  140
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  ZYLVARE 
  DIFFICULTY 250
  Size 2 or 3 plant
  Perception 15 (+5); shadowsight
  Defense 19; Health 110
  Strength 16 (+6), Agility 15 (+5), Intellect 13 (+3), Will 14 (+4)
  Speed 12
  Immune asleep, blinded, fatigued; a living Zylvare cannot be 
  moved against its will or knocked prone while it stands on soil or 
  plant matter
  Fire Vulnerability A Zylvare takes double damage from fire.
  Blend A Zylvare that does not move is indistinguishable from 
  a wooden statue, and can blend in with the forest with ease, 
  effectively becoming invisible.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Claw (melee reach 2) +6 with 3 boons (4d6)
  Spit Thorn (long range) +5 with 2 boons (4d6)
  Special Attacks 
  Double Attack The Zylvare attacks twice with its claw or once with 
  its claw and once with spit thorn.
  SPECIAL ACTIONS 
  Protect the Wild The Zylvare chooses one target tree or plant within 
  medium range of it. The target becomes a compelled monster of 
  its Size for 1 hour or until it or that Zylvare becomes incapacitated. 
  The Zylvare can use this action three times. It regains expended 
  uses after it completes a rest.
  Tree Haven The Zylvare steps into a tree or plant of at least its 
  Size, disappearing entirely. It can exit from any tree or plant of 
  at least its Size within long range at a later time as an action; if 
  the Zylvare spends at least 1 hour inside a tree or plant with this 
  ability, it heals all damage and removes all afflictions.
  Wyvern Variations
  1
  Radiant Plumage The wyvern’s plumage glows faintly, giving off 
  dim light in a 1-yard radius. Shadows become lit in this radius, and 
  darkness becomes shadows.
  2
  Poison-Spitting The wyvern does not have a stinger, instead 
  spitting poison at enemies and prey. Change the Sting attack option 
  to: Poison Spit (short range) +3 with 1 boon (1d6 plus Poison).
  3
  Mimic The wyvern can mimic words and sounds with uncanny 
  accuracy. While not true language, it can learn to communicate with 
  simple words, and it can even repeat phrases. Mimic wyverns often 
  use this ability to lure prey to them, which is an Intellect attack with 1 
  boon against the target’s Intellect.
  4
  Rainbow Plumage The wyvern has beautiful, multi-colored feathers.
  5
  Dexterous The wyvern’s forelegs are dexterous enough for incredibly 
  fine manipulation, including tool use. It can use tools as intended, 
  provided it knows what they’re for, though it does so with 1 bane.
  6
  White White wyverns are incredibly rare and are often leaders 
  of wyvern flocks. Their pearlescent scales and feathers are highly 
  sought-after in Sky City.
  7
  Black Even more rare than white wyverns, black wyverns are seen 
  as harbingers of misfortune. This reputation is largely undeserved, 
  except insofar as any wyvern can bring misfortune to an unwary 
  traveler.
  8
  Large The wyvern is enormous. It is Size 3 and gains a +2 bonus to 
  Strength, as well as to its Fangs and Sting attacks, and a +10 bonus 
  to Health. However, it is slower and clumsier than its kin; it suffers 
  a -4 penalty to Speed and loses its swoop trait.
  9
  Eyeless Eyeless wyverns are viewed as sacred creatures, proof that 
  the gods are returning. They lose their darksight trait but gain the 
  sightless trait.
  10
  Matriarch Wyvern matriarchs are prized by the nobles of Sky City 
  for their ability to lay many eggs in a short period of time. In the 
  wild, they are often encountered with their young.
  11
  Swiftwing Swiftwing wyverns are faster than their kin, though 
  slightly weaker. They receive a -2 penalty to Strength, but a +4 
  bonus to Agility and a +2 bonus to Speed. Their Fangs and Sting 
  attack options use Agility instead of Strength.
  12
  Potent Venom Perhaps one wyvern in a hundred is born with 
  exceptionally potent venom. Targets make their Strength 
  challenge roll with 2 banes, and the extra damage taken by targets 
  that are already poisoned is increased by 1d6.
  13
  Vicious Some wyverns are exceptionally vicious, and revel in 
  bloodshed and slaughter. They are often either leaders of flocks 
  or driven out of the flock.
  14
  Climber The wyvern’s claws and forelegs are overdeveloped and 
  strong, granting it the climber trait.
  15
  Swimmer Some wyverns are just as at home underwater as they 
  are in the air. Such wyverns have the swimmer trait and can hold 
  their breath for up to 1 hour.
  16
  Horrific The wyvern is truly monstrous in appearance. It has the 
  frightening trait.
  17
  Songbird Songbird wyverns are uncommon. They are known for 
  their beautiful trills and whistles, which sound like songs.
  18
  Omnivorous While most wyverns are carnivores, some are 
  capable of eating and surviving on vegetable matter indefinitely.
  19
  Playful Wyverns are reported to occasionally approach humans 
  and other creatures to initiate play rather than to hunt and kill 
  them. Though still dangerous, playful wyverns do not necessarily 
  pose an immediate threat when encountered.
  20
  Two Variations Roll twice on this table, ignoring further rolls of 
  20.
  WYVERN 
  DIFFICULTY 100
  Size 1 or 2 monster
  Perception 17 (+7); darksight
  Defense 15; Health 75
  Strength 16 (+6), Agility 13 (+3), Intellect 10 (+0), Will 10 (+0)
  Speed 18; flier (swoop)
  Immune damage from poison; frightened, poisoned
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Fangs (melee) +6 with 1 boon (3d6)
  Sting (melee) +6 with 1 boon (2d6 plus Poison)
  Poison The target must make a Strength challenge roll with 1 bane. 
  On a failure, it takes 1d6 damage and becomes poisoned for 1 
  minute. If the target is already poisoned, it instead takes 1d6 extra 
  damage.
  Zylvare
  The Zylvare are a reclusive people, actually living plants on 
  the inside, who live in the forests of the mainland and Pacari, 
  as well as in the jungles of New Gaia. Zylvare are capable of 
  bonding with and controlling plants in a similar way to plant 
  weavers, though a Zylvare’s bond with the forest around 
  them is on a much deeper and more instinctive level.
  Zylvare speak their own, complex language that is only 
  partially verbal. Some also speak the languages of those 
  who live near them.
  141
  141
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Characters
  In addition to the creatures described here, player characters 
  will often encounter other humans. In fact, in Asunder, other 
  humans are often the biggest threat, and the beings best 
  positioned to do harm to the Seekers. Many characters in this 
  section are written as if they’re from the mainland. If you want 
  to give any of these characters abilities from other Origins, 
  follow the instructions below. Adding an Origin to a character 
  doesn’t impact its difficulty. If a character’s description specifies 
  an Origin, you cannot add an additional Origin to it.
   
  ༄ Pacari: No change to the character, but the character 
  is accompanied by an animal (tiny, small, medium, or 
  large).
   
  ༄ New Gaia (plant): Power 1, Plant Control - speak with 
  plants (2), reclaimed ground (1)
   
  ༄ New Gaia (insect): Power 1, Insect - tiny spies (2), tiny 
  messenger (1)
   
  ༄ Sky City: When the character moves or takes the dash 
  action, some or all of its movement can be a leap. When 
  the character leaps, its Speed is doubled.
   
  ༄ The Sea: The character gains the swimmer trait.
   
  ༄ Black Isle: The character gets +5 Health.
   
  ༄ Mainland: No change.
  Bandits
  All over Asunder, there are those who prey upon their 
  fellows, robbing, killing, and otherwise taking from 
  others what they wish. Bandits are often the product of 
  desperation and, while a single bandit isn’t a tremendous 
  threat, they’re rarely encountered alone.
  BANDIT 
  DIFFICULTY 1
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 10 (+0)
  Defense 14 (medium armor, shield); Health 12
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 10 (+0), Intellect 10 (+0), Will 9 (-1)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Club (melee) +2 (1d6, or 2d6 against a surprised target)
  Bow (long range) +0 (1d6+1, or 2d6+1 against a surprised target)
  BRIGAND 
  DIFFICULTY 10
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 10 (+0)
  Defense 15 (medium armor, shield); Health 15
  Strength 13 (+3), Agility 11 (+1), Intellect 9 (-1), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Bone Sword (melee) +3 with 1 boon (1d6+2)
  Thorn Spitter (long range) +1 with 1 boon (2d6)
  BANDIT CAPTAIN 
  DIFFICULTY 25
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 9 (-1)
  Defense 17 (heavy armor, shield); Health 22
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 10 (+0), Intellect 9 (-1), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Chitin Sword (melee) +2 with 1 boon (2d6+2)
  Thorn-Spitter (long range) +0 with 1 boon (2d6+1)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Command One ally that can see and hear the bandit captain 
  attacks with 1 boon. If the attack hits, it deals 1d6 extra damage.
  Bodyguards
  Bodyguards are hired the world over to protect those who 
  can afford protection.
  BODYGUARD 
  DIFFICULTY 10
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 11 (+1)
  Defense 15 (medium armor); Health 18
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 12 (+2), Intellect 11 (+1), Will0 9 (-1)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Bone Great Sword (melee) +2 with 1 boon (2d6)
  SPECIAL ACTIONS
  Vigilance A bodyguard can use an action to choose someone as 
  their ward. While a bodyguard’s ward is within the bodyguard’s 
  reach, any attacks made against the ward suffer 1 bane. If the 
  ward is hit by an attack, the bodyguard can use a triggered action 
  to make themselves the target of the attack.
  STORM POINT BODYGUARD 
  DIFFICULTY 25
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 11 (+1)
  Defense 17 (medium armor); Health 22
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 14 (+0), Intellect 11 (+1), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Bone Great Sword (melee) +2 with 1 boon (2d6+2)
  Thorn-Spitter (long range) +4 with 1 boon (2d6+1)
  Vigilance A Storm Point bodyguard can use an action to choose 
  someone as their ward. While a bodyguard’s ward is within 
  the bodyguard’s reach, any attacks made against the ward 
  suffer 2 banes. If the ward is hit by an attack, the bodyguard 
  can use a triggered action to make themselves the target of the 
  attack.
  Chaos Wielders
  Those who wield the raw force of Chaos are dangerous, 
  unpredictable, and capable of great acts of destruction. 
  Chaos wielders only come from the mainland.
  142
  142
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  CHAOS WIELDER 
  DIFFICULTY 50
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 10 (+0)
  Defense 12; Health 50
  Strength 9 (-1), Agility 12 (+2), Intellect 10 (+0), Will 14 (+4)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Chaos Spike (melee) +1 (2d6+2)
  ESSENCE
  Power 2
  Chaos maintain the high (3), induce mutation (3), distort time (2), bend 
  space (1)
  CHAOS ADEPT 
  DIFFICULTY 100
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 10 (+0)
  Defense 12; Health 75
  Strength 9 (-1), Agility 12 (+2), Intellect 10 (+0), Will 16 (+6)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Chaos Spike (melee) +1 with 2 boons (3d6+2)
  Chaos Lance (short range) +6 with 2 boons (3d6+1)
  ESSENCE
  Power 3
  Chaos maintain the high (4), induce mutation (4), distort time (2), bend 
  space (2), alter reality (1)
  Commoners & Professionals
  Merchants, beggars, farmers, craftspeople, and other folk 
  just going about their daily lives are numerous in Asunder. 
  Most people the Seekers encounter are commoners or 
  professionals.
  COMMONER OR PROFESSIONAL 
  DIFFICULTY 1
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 9 (-1)
  Defense 10; Health 11
  Strength 11 (+1), Agility 10 (+0), Intellect 9 (-1), Will 9 (-1)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Staff (melee) +1 (1d6+1)
  Stone Dagger (melee or short range) +1 (1d3)
  Demon Hunters
  The Black Isle is full of demon hunters and, while their 
  primary quarry is demons, they’re not opposed to using 
  their considerable talents on disrespectful outsiders.
  Origin: Nearly all demon hunters are from the Black Isle. 
  As such, that Origin has already been applied to these 
  stat blocks.
  DEMON FIGHTER 
  DIFFICULTY 5
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 10 (+0)
  Defense 11 (light armor); Health 25
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 10 (+0), Intellect 10 (+0), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 10
  Group Mind While within short range of another creature with 
  this talent, the demon fighter makes all attack and challenge rolls 
  with 1 boon.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Obsidian-Tipped Spear (melee) +2 (1d6) 
  DEMON HUNTER 
  DIFFICULTY 25
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 10 (+0)
  Defense 13 (medium armor); Health 35
  Strength 14 (+4), Agility 10 (+0), Intellect 10 (+0), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 10
  Group Mind While within short range of another creature with 
  this talent, the demon hunter makes all attack and challenge 
  rolls with 1 boon.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Obsidian Knife (melee) +4 with 1 boon (2d6+2)
  SPECIAL ACTIONS
  Strength of Many As an action or a triggered action on its turn, 
  the demon hunter can draw upon its group mind, as long as 
  it’s receiving a boon from that talent. When the demon hunter 
  uses this talent, choose one benefit. These benefits last until 
  the demon hunter uses this talent again, or until it is no longer 
  receiving a boon from its Group Mind talent.
  • 
  The demon hunter deals 1d6 extra damage.
  • 
  The demon hunter gets a +3 bonus to Speed.
  • 
  The demon hunter gets a +10 bonus to Health.
  Demon-Bound
  Those who have pledged service to a demon are often gifted 
  with increased physical power. Some also know how to take 
  power from demon blood, becoming terrifying forces of 
  destruction on the battlefield.
  DEMON-BOUND COMMONER 
  DIFFICULTY 5
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 12 (+1)
  Defense 12; Health 13
  Strength 13 (+3), Agility 12 (+2), Intellect 9 (-1), Will 9 (-1)
  Speed 12
  Demonic Mark While within short range of a demon, the demon-
  bound makes all attack and challenge rolls with 1 boon.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Fists (melee) +3 (1d6+1)
  143
  143
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Danyxa serves as the Demon King’s left hand. The years of drinking demon blood has transformed her  
  into something both human and demon. It’s wise to be afraid of her. Very wise. 
  144
  144
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  DUELIST 
  DIFFICULTY 25
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 13 (+3)
  Defense 16 (light armor); Health 30
  Strength 11 (+1), Agility 15 (+5), Intellect 13 (+3), Will 9 (-1)
  Speed 11
  Duelist’s Poise As long as the duelist has not used its triggered 
  action in a given round, melee attacks against it are made with 1 
  bane.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Signature Weapon (melee) +5 with 1 boon (2d6+3)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Riposte When the duelist is attacked and that attack misses, the 
  duelist can use a triggered action to attack its attacker with its 
  signature weapon.
  MASTER DUELIST 
  DIFFICULTY 50
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 13 (+3)
  Defense 17 (light armor); Health 45
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 16 (+6), Intellect 15 (+5), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 11
  Duelist’s Poise As long as the duelist has not used its triggered 
  action in a given round, melee attacks against it are made with 1 
  bane.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Signature Weapon (melee) +6 with 2 boons (2d6+3)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Duelist’s Flurry The master duelist can make an attack against 
  every creature it can reach. Each attack after the first suffers 1 
  additional bane.
  Riposte When the duelist is attacked and that attack misses, the 
  duelist can use a triggered action to attack its attacker with its 
  signature weapon.
  Hired Killers
  All over Asunder, one can find people who murder for 
  pay, should one have the inclination. Though not elegant 
  or highly trained, hired killers are often good at what they 
  do and willing to do all manner of dirty deeds for dirt 
  cheap.
  HIRED KILLER 
  DIFFICULTY 10
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 10 (+0)
  Defense 12; Health 18
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 12 (+2), Intellect 10 (+0), Will0 9 (-1)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Glass Dagger (melee) +2 with 1 boon (2d6)
  DEMON-BOUND WARRIOR 
  DIFFICULTY 25
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 12 (+1)
  Defense 17 (medium armor, shield); Health 25
  Strength 15 (+5), Agility 12 (+2), Intellect 9 (-1), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 12
  Demonic Mark While within short range of a demon, the demon-bound 
  makes all attack and challenge rolls with 1 boon.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Bone Axe (melee) +2 with 1 boon (2d6+2)
  Thorn-Spitter (long range) +0 with 1 boon (2d6+1)
  RAVAGER 
  DIFFICULTY 50
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 13 (+3); darksight
  Defense 17 (medium armor); Health 60
  Strength 15 (+5), Agility 11 (+1), Intellect 8 (–2), Will 14 (+4)
  Speed 12
  Immune to damage from poison; fear, poisoned
  Demonic Blood Any creature that deals damage to the ravager with 
  a natural weapon or unarmed attack takes 1d6 points of damage 
  from poison.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Stone-Tipped Spear (melee) +5 with 2 boons (2d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Frenzied Attack The ravager attacks two different targets with its 
  stone-tipped spear, making each attack roll with 1 bane.
  Duelists
  Dueling academies first caught on in Sky City, and from 
  there dueling styles spread to the mainland. Some dueling 
  styles use signature weapons, while others are unarmed 
  or will use virtually any weapon (or object) that comes to 
  hand. Duelists can be found all over Asunder these days, 
  looking for challenges to overcome.
  Signature Weapons: A duelist’s signature weapon can be 
  virtually anything, even bare hands. Describing a duelist’s 
  signature weapon is largely a matter of flavor and style and 
  has no specific game effect. You can increase a duelist’s 
  reach by 1 without altering its difficulty at all, if you wish.
  BRAVO 
  DIFFICULTY 5
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 12 (+2)
  Defense 14 (light armor); Health 15
  Strength 11 (+1), Agility 13 (+3), Intellect 12 (+2), Will 9 (-1)
  Speed 11
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Signature Weapon (melee) +3 (2d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Riposte When the bravo is attacked and that attack misses, the 
  bravo can use a triggered action to attack its attacker with its 
  signature weapon.
  145
  145
  145
  145
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  ASSASSIN 
  DIFFICULTY 25
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 12 (+2)
  Defense 12; Health 22
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 15 (+5), Intellect 10 (+0), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 10
  Backstab If the assassin attacks a creature that is surprised or that 
  the assassin is hidden from, it attacks with 1 boon and deals 2d6 
  extra damage.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Glass Dagger (melee) +5 with 1 boon (3d6+2)
  Thorn-Spitter (long range) +5 with 1 boon (2d6+1)
  SPECIAL ACTIONS
  Vanish If the assassin has any cover or is concealed in any way, it 
  can use an action to hide.
  Hired Muscle
  The mainstay of criminal empires and law enforcement 
  everywhere, hired muscle are people hired to look 
  intimidating and, if necessary, rough people up. While not 
  typically subtle or clever, they get the job done.
  TOUGH 
  DIFFICULTY 5
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 8 (-1)
  Defense 13 (medium armor); Health 20
  Strength 13 (+3), Agility 10 (+0), Intellect 8 (-2), Will 9 (-1)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Cudgel (melee) +3 with 1 boon (2d6)
  BRUISER 
  DIFFICULTY 10
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 8 (-1)
  Defense 13 (medium armor); Health 30
  Strength 14 (+4), Agility 10 (+0), Intellect 8 (-2), Will 9 (-1)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Truncheon (melee) +4 with 1 boon (2d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Flurry The bruiser makes two attacks with its truncheon; it makes 
  each attack with 1 bane.
  BRUTE 
  DIFFICULTY 25
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 8 (-1)
  Defense 13 (medium armor); Health 45
  Strength 15 (+5), Agility 10 (+0), Intellect 8 (-2), Will 9 (-1)
  Speed 10
  Withstand When the brute takes damage from a single source that 
  would cause it to become incapacitated, it can instead choose to 
  not take that damage and instead become impaired for 1 minute. 
  If the brute is already impaired, it cannot use this talent.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Stone Mace (melee) +5 with 1 boon (2d6+3, or 3d6+3 if the brute is impaired)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Mob-Fighting The brute makes two attacks with its truncheon.
  House Agents
  Those employed by the Houses of Sky City make for 
  difficult adversaries and untrustworthy allies. A House 
  Agent’s loyalty is always, first and foremost, to their House, 
  and they will do virtually anything to further their House’s 
  interests. Most House Agents have the Sky City origin.
  HOUSE SPY 
  DIFFICULTY 25
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 14 (+4)
  Defense 15; Health 18
  Strength 10 (+0), Agility 15 (+5), Intellect 14 (+0), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 12
  Cover Story Whenever a Seeker uses a power, talent, or other ability 
  that would reveal any part of this stat block, the Keeper need not 
  tell the truth. Whenever the House Agent must make an attack or 
  challenge roll to maintain its cover, it does so with 1 boon.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Crystal Dagger (melee) +5 with 1 boon (2d6+2)
  Throwing Shards (short range) +5 with 1 boon (2d6+4)
  SPECIAL ACTIONS
  Disappear The spy becomes invisible for 1 round.
  HOUSE SPY-CATCHER 
  DIFFICULTY 100
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 14 (+4)
  Defense 14 (medium armor); Health 70
  Strength 13 (+3), Agility 12 (+2), Intellect 14 (+4), Will 12 (+2)
  Speed 10
  Catcher of Spies If the spy-catcher has a creature marked, it gets 
  1 boon on all attack rolls against that target, its attacks deal 1d6 
  extra damage to that target, and it can always detect that target 
  while it’s within short range.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Crystal Sword (melee) +3 with 3 boons (3d6+1)
  Throwing Shards (long range) +2 with 3 boons (2d6+2)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Subdue The spy-catcher attacks a marked target with its crystal 
  sword. If the target is surprised, or the spy-catcher is hidden 
  from the target, and the target takes any damage from this attack, 
  it must make a Strength challenge roll with 1 bane. If it fails, it 
  takes damage equal to half of its health. A creature incapacitated 
  in this way is rendered unconscious for 1d6 hours, after which it 
  awakes and heals damage equal to its healing rate.
  SPECIAL ACTIONS
  Mark The spy-catcher marks a target it can see. The target remains 
  marked for 24 hours, until it dies, or until the spy-catcher uses 
  this talent again (whichever comes first). The spy-catcher can 
  have only one target marked at a time.
  146
  146
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Hunters
  Hunters track down and kill animals for food, pelts, and 
  other valuable materials. They can be found within rural 
  communities or living off the land by themselves.
  HUNTER 
  DIFFICULTY 1
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 12 (+2)
  Defense 12; Health 12
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 12 (+2), Intellect 10 (+0), Will 9 (-1)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Stone Knife (melee) +2 (1d6)
  Bow (long range) +0 (1d6+1, or 2d6+1 against a surprised target)
  RANGER 
  DIFFICULTY 10
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 10 (+0)
  Defense 16 (medium armor); Health 15
  Strength 13 (+3), Agility 13 (+3), Intellect 10 (+0), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Bone Dagger (melee) +3 with 1 boon (1d6+2)
  Bow (long range) +1 with 1 boon (2d6, or 3d6 against a surprised 
  target)
  Mercenaries
  There are many people in Asunder who sell their martial 
  skills to the highest bidder. Though not as highly trained 
  as those of the Bone Army, standard mercenaries are less 
  expensive.
  MERCENARY 
  DIFFICULTY 10
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 10 (+0)
  Defense 17 (heavy armor, shield); Health 20
  Strength 13 (+3), Agility 10 (+0), Intellect 10 (+0), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Bone Sword (melee) +3 with 1 boon (1d6+2)
  Thorn Spitter (long range) +1 with 1 boon (2d6)
  BONE MERCENARY 
  DIFFICULTY 25
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 9 (-1)
  Defense 19 (horok-bone armor, shield); Health 22
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 10 (+0), Intellect 9 (-1), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Horok-Bone Sword (melee) +2 with 1 boon (2d6+2)
  Thorn-Spitter (long range) +0 with 1 boon (2d6+1)
  BONE DREADNOUGHT 
  DIFFICULTY 50
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 9 (-1)
  Defense 20 (heavy horok-bone armor); Health 55
  Strength 14 (+4), Agility 10 (+0), Intellect 9 (-1), Will 12 (+2)
  Immune fear
  Speed 8
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Horok-Bone Maul (melee) +4 with 2 boons (3d6+4)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Relentless Charge The bone dreadnought moves up to its speed in a 
  straight line and can move through enemy spaces as long as those 
  enemies are its Size or smaller. It attacks every enemy it can reach 
  during the charge, though it can only attack each target once. If the 
  bone dreadnought attacks someone whose space it moved through, 
  that target must make a Strength challenge roll with 1 bane or be 
  pushed 6 yards and knocked prone. Once the bone dreadnought 
  uses this talent, it must wait 1 round before using it again.
  BONE CAPTAIN 
  DIFFICULTY 100
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 14 (+4)
  Defense 19 (horok-bone armor, shield); Health 85
  Strength 13 (+3), Agility 12 (+2), Intellect 14 (+4), Will 12 (+2)
  Speed 10
  Inspire All allies that can see and hear the bone captain make 
  attack and challenge rolls with 1 boon.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Horok-Bone Spear (melee reach 2) +3 with 3 boons (3d6+1)
  Thorn-Spitter (long range) +2 with 3 boons (2d6+2)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Command One ally that can see and hear the officer attacks with 1 
  boon. If the attack hits, it deals 2d6 extra damage.
  Prize Fighters
  The nations of Asunder have a long history of engaging 
  in bloodsports. In Sky City, public duels and boxing 
  matches are common. In Pacari, warriors compete in 
  non-lethal tournaments to gain glory and honor. And on 
  the mainland, there is the Arena of Megalith, as well as 
  numerous underground fighting pits.
  PIT FIGHTER 
  DIFFICULTY 5
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 12 (+1)
  Defense 12; Health 13
  Strength 13 (+3), Agility 12 (+2), Intellect 9 (-1), Will 9 (-1)
  Speed 8
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Fists (melee) +3 (1d6+1)
  SPECIAL ACTIONS
  Second Wind As an action, the pit fighter can heal 1d6 damage. 
  Once the pit fighter uses this talent, it cannot use it again until 
  after it’s taken a rest.
  147
  147
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  ARENA FIGHTER 
  DIFFICULTY 10
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 12 (+1)
  Defense 14 (light armor); Health 20
  Strength 13 (+3), Agility 13 (+3), Intellect 9 (-1), Will 10 (+0)
  Speed 8
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Bone Spear (melee reach 2) +3 (1d6+2)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Net As an action, the arena fighter throws a net at a target in short 
  range, making an Agility attack roll against the target’s Agility. On 
  a success, the target is impaired and immobilized until it takes an 
  action to free itself. Once a target frees itself, the net is destroyed; the 
  arena fighter cannot use this talent again until it acquires a new net.
  Pure Light Cultists
  Cults of the Pure Light can be found all over the mainland, 
  worshiping the destructive and revelatory power of the 
  phenomenon. With a little tweaking, these stats can 
  represent other kinds of cultists, too.
  CULTIST 
  DIFFICULTY 1
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 10 (+0)
  Defense 10;  Health 12
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 10 (+0), Intellect 10 (+0), Will 9 (-1)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Obsidian Dagger (melee) +2 (1d6)
  TEMPLAR 
  DIFFICULTY 10
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 10 (+0)
  Defense 15 (medium armor, shield); Health 15
  Strength 13 (+3), Agility 11 (+1), Intellect 9 (-1), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Bone Sword (melee) +3 with 1 boon (1d6+2)
  Thorn Spitter (long range) +1 with 1 boon (2d6)
  CULT LEADER 
  DIFFICULTY 25
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 12 (+2); sightless
  Defense 14; Health 25
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 14 (+4), Intellect 12 (+2), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 10
  Light’s Revelation Once per round, the cult leader can make a 
  challenge roll or attack roll with 1 boon.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Chitin Sword (melee) +2 with 1 boon (2d6+2)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Command One ally that can see and hear the cult leader attacks with 1 
  boon. If the attack hits, it deals 1d6 extra damage.
  Servants of Gaia
  The servants of Gaia are human beings imbued with the power 
  of the Wellspring, an ancient force that allows Gaia to bond 
  with and enhance a human’s Essence. These servants lead 
  legions of the Green Army, raising the dead and commanding 
  them for purposes nobody truly knows. Servants of Gaia are 
  still human and are often mistaken for weavers.
  SERVANT OF GAIA 
  DIFFICULTY 50
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 14 (+4)
  Defense 14 (light armor); Health 50
  Strength 11 (+1), Agility 13 (+3), Intellect 12 (+2), Will 12 (+2)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Memory Dagger (melee) +3 (1d6+1, and memory drain)
  Memory Drain The servant of Gaia drains some of its target’s memories 
  and Essence. The target must make a Will challenge roll. On a 
  failure, it takes 1 Strain, is impaired for 1 minute, and the servant of 
  Gaia absorbs some of the target’s memories. If the target has Essence 
  powers, it loses 1 use of an Essence power determined by the Keeper, 
  and the servant of Gaia gains a use of that Essence power.
  SPECIAL ACTIONS
  Raise the Dead As an action, the servant of Gaia can cause 1d6 
  corpses within medium range to become compelled blight 
  walkers. Once it uses this talent, it cannot use it again until it 
  completes a rest.
  Soldiers
  Soldiers are the guards, watchmen, and conscripts of 
  Asunder. Though not highly trained, they are numerous 
  and better armed than the common folk. A few survive to 
  become career soldiers, people with significant military 
  experience and training.
  PATROLLER 
  DIFFICULTY 1
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 11 (+1)
  Defense 15 (medium armor, shield); Health 11
  Strength 11 (+1), Agility 11 (+1), Intellect 10 (+0), Will 10 (+0)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Spear (melee) +1 (1d6)
  Torch (melee) +1 with 1 bane (1d6 plus 1 from fire)
  VETERAN 
  DIFFICULTY 25
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 9 (-1)
  Defense 17 (heavy armor, shield); Health 22
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 10 (+0), Intellect 9 (-1), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Bone Axe (melee) +2 with 1 boon (2d6+2)
  Thorn-Spitter (long range) +0 with 1 boon (2d6+1)
  148
  148
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  OFFICER 
  DIFFICULTY 50
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 12 (+2)
  Defense 15 (medium armor, shield); Health 45
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 11 (+1), Intellect 12 (+2), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Chitin Sword (melee) +2 with 2 boons (2d6+4)
  Thorn-Spitter (long range) +1 with 2 boons (2d6+2)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Command One ally that can see and hear the officer attacks with 1 
  boon. If the attack hits, it deals 1d6 extra damage.
  Thieves
  Where there are valuables, there are those who seek to 
  liberate them from their owners. Thieves pilfer, mug, 
  waylay, filch, and burgle, seeking to take what isn’t theirs.
  PICKPOCKET 
  DIFFICULTY 10
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 12 (+2)
  Defense 13 (light armor); Health 16
  Strength 10 (+0), Agility 12 (+2), Intellect 12 (+2), Will 9 (-1)
  Speed 10
  Trickery Once per round, the pickpocket can make a challenge roll 
  or attack roll with 1 boon.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Bone Sword (melee) +2 (1d6, plus 1d6 if the pickpocket had 1 boon 
  from Trickery)
  Sap (melee) +2 (1d3, plus 1d6 if the pickpocket had 1 boon from 
  Trickery)
  SPECIAL ACTIONS
  Threats The pickpocket uses an action or a triggered action on its 
  turn to make an Intellect attack roll against the Will of one target 
  creature within short range of it that can hear and see it. On a 
  success, the target becomes frightened for 1 round. On a failure, the 
  target becomes immune to that pickpocket’s Threats for 24 hours.
  BURGLAR 
  DIFFICULTY 25
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 12 (+2)
  Defense 16 (light armor); Health 16
  Strength 10 (+0), Agility 15 (+5), Intellect 12 (+2), Will 9 (-1)
  Speed 10
  Trickery Once per round, the burglar can make a challenge roll or 
  attack roll with 1 boon.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Glass Dagger (melee) +5 with 1 boon (1d6, plus 1d6 if the burglar 
  had 1 boon from Trickery)
  Sap (melee) +2 with 1 boon (1d3, plus 1d6 if the burglar had 1 boon 
  from Trickery)
  SPECIAL ACTIONS
  Vanish If the burglar has any cover or is concealed in any way, it 
  can use an action to hide.
  Sailors
  Sailors ply the seas, making their living through trade, 
  transport, or piracy. They’re often more effective on their 
  ships than on land.
  SAILOR 
  DIFFICULTY 1
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 11 (+1)
  Defense 11; Health 11
  Strength 11 (+1), Agility 11 (+1), Intellect 10 (+0), Will 10 (+0)
  Speed 10
  Sea Legs The sailor makes attack and challenge rolls with 1 boon 
  while on a ship or dock, but with 1 bane while on dry land.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Dagger (melee) +1 (1d6)
  PIRATE 
  DIFFICULTY 25
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 9 (-1)
  Defense 15 (light armor); Health 22
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 13 (+3), Intellect 9 (-1), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 10
  Sea Legs The sailor makes attack and challenge rolls with 1 boon 
  while on a ship or dock, but with 1 bane while on dry land.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Bone Axe (melee) +2 with 1 boon (2d6+2)
  Harpoon (short range) +2 with 1 boon (2d6+1)
  CAPTAIN 
  DIFFICULTY 50
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 12 (+2)
  Defense 12 (light armor); Health 45
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 11 (+1), Intellect 12 (+2), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 10
  Sea Legs The sailor makes attack and challenge rolls with 1 boon 
  while on a ship or dock, but with 1 bane while on dry land.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Bone Sword (melee) +2 with 2 boons (2d6+4)
  Thorn-Spitter (long range) +1 with 2 boons (2d6+2)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Command One ally that can see and hear the captain attacks with 1 
  boon. If the attack hits, it deals 1d6 extra damage.
  Weavers
  New Gaians who have control over plants are in high 
  demand all around Asunder, as they’re able to create much 
  of the living gear used by people. Those who would steal 
  from  or threaten them beware: they’re more than capable 
  of defending their homes and shops. While most from New 
  Gaia shape and control plants, some are bonded to insects. 
  These people are often ostracized, downtrodden, and 
  feared, some rightfully so.
  149
  149
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
   
  ༄ Increase the creature’s Health by 50 percent.
   
  ༄ Increase the creature’s Strength by 1.
   
  ༄ Increase the creature’s Speed by 2.
   
  ༄ The creature’s attacks deal 1d6 extra damage.
   
  ༄ Increase the creature’s Difficulty by one step (for 
  example, a Difficulty 5 creature becomes Difficulty 10).
  Frightening
  You can add the frightening trait to any creature. Such a 
  change radically alters the creature’s appearance so that it 
  takes a toll on the emotional well-being of characters who 
  witness them. A human-like being, for example, might have 
  hideous mutations and extra limbs; a bear could have teeth 
  instead of fur; a wolf could have a human head; or a bat 
  might be transformed into a giant eyeball with wings.
  You can assign the frightening trait to any creature that 
  does not have it, increasing its Difficulty by one step.
  Characteristics and 
  Attributes
  You can adjust a creature’s fundamental characteristics and 
  attributes by following these guidelines.
  Characteristics
  Perception: You can increase or decrease a creature’s 
  Perception by up to 4 without altering its Difficulty.
  Senses: You can grant a creature a special sense without 
  increasing its Difficulty, though such a change should 
  serve the creature’s place in the world. Nocturnal creatures 
  have shadowsight, and creatures that live underground 
  should either have darksight or be sightless. Truesight is 
  rare, usually found only in powerful, legendary creatures 
  or those touched by Pure Light or Chaos.
  Defense: Many creatures have an innate bonus to Defense, 
  as a result of thick hide or unusual alertness. You can 
  adjust a creature’s Defense by up to 2 in either direction 
  without altering its Difficulty. Avoid increasing or 
  decreasing its Defense beyond that amount. If the 
  creature wears armor, you can adjust its Defense by 
  swapping out its armor, as described under Equipment 
  below, or you can give armor to an unarmored creature.
  Health: If a creature’s Health is less than 20, you can 
  increase its Health by up to 20, increasing its Difficulty 
  by one step. If the creature’s Health is 20 or more, you 
  can increase its Health until it doubles its original score, 
  increasing its Difficulty by one step.
  Speed: You can change a creature’s Speed by up to 4 
  without affecting its Difficulty. As well, granting a 
  creature the aquatic, climber, or swimmer trait does not 
  change its Difficulty. Adding the flier trait increases the 
  creature’s Difficulty by one step.
  PLANT WEAVER 
  DIFFICULTY 5
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 13 (+3)
  Defense 11; Health 13
  Strength 9 (-1), Agility 11 (+1), Intellect 13 (+3), Will 10 (+0)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Living Whip (reach 2) +1 (1d6+1)
  ESSENCE
  Power 1
  Plant Control speak with plants (2), blood thorns (1), enhance shaped 
  plant (1)
  Plant Form plant seeming (2), raking branches (1)
  INSECT WEAVER 
  DIFFICULTY 10
  Size 1/2 or 1 human
  Perception 10 (+0)
  Defense 12; Health 35
  Strength 9 (-1), Agility 12 (+2), Intellect 10 (+0), Will 14 (+4)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Chitin Dagger (melee) +2 (1d3)
  ESSENCE
  Power 2
  Insect Control eyebiters (3), hungry swarm (2), summon huge insect (1)
  Insect Meld poison spit (3), cling (2), chitinous shell (1)
  END OF THE ROUND
  Biting Swarm Each creature within the Insect Weaver’s reach takes 
  1d6 damage.
  Customizing 
  Creatures
  You can modify creatures to suit your needs by changing 
  their Size, adjusting characteristics or attributes, adding 
  traits or talents, or by applying roles.
  Guidelines for such customization follow. However, 
  adjusting creatures is not an exact science, so playtesting 
  your creations is the best way to judge their challenge in 
  a game. Adding traits and talents beyond those discussed 
  here can produce greatly overpowered adversaries.
  Size
  You can shift a Size 1 creature’s down a step, to Size 1/2, without 
  altering its other abilities or its Difficulty. Reducing its Size 
  further is not recommended. Likewise, you can increase a 
  creature’s Size to 1 if it is less than 1 with no other changes.
  You can increase the Size of larger creatures by making 
  the following changes. Repeat these steps for each 1 Size 
  the creature grows; an increase of more than 2 Size is not 
  recommended.
  150
  150
  150
  150
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
    A creature with a special movement trait should reflect 
  that trait in its appearance and its role in the world. For 
  example, a creature with flier has wings, a creature with 
  swimmer has fins and gills, and so on.
  Attributes
  For each 1 point by which you increase an attribute, 
  decrease another attribute by 1 point. You can adjust a 
  creature’s attributes by up to 2 above or below normal, but 
  no attribute should be lower than 5 or no higher than 20.
  Remember, changing an attribute might also change a 
  creature’s characteristics, including Health, Defense, and 
  Perception.
  Equipment
  You can freely change the equipment a creature uses 
  without altering its Difficulty.
  Armor: If the creature is wearing armor, subtract the bonus 
  to Defense from the armor it was wearing and then 
  add the new bonus to Defense from the new armor. Do 
  the same with shields. You can also give armor to an 
  unarmored creature.
  Weapons: You can give weapons to a creature whose 
  anatomy allows their use or swap out weapons it uses 
  for different ones. If you trade out a creature’s weapon, 
  adjust the damage die and other attributes to match the 
  new one (for example, if a melee weapon has the finesse 
  quality, the creature’s attack attribute should be Agility if 
  that is higher than its Strength). If the creature’s relevant 
  attribute score does not meet the weapon’s requirement, 
  simply increase that score so that it does.
  Other Equipment: You can give a creature whatever 
  equipment you feel is appropriate. Keep in mind, though, 
  that useful equipment, such as living gear, glass weapons, 
  or performance enhancers, might fall into your Seekers’ 
  hands before the creature can use them.
  Attack Options
  You can alter a creature’s attack options by adding some 
  common traits and talents to the creature’s attacks.
  Infectious: An infectious creature carries some sort of 
  contagion and spreads it through natural weapon attacks. 
  To create a creature with the infectious trait, halve its 
  Health and add “plus Disease” to the damage line of one 
  of the creature’s natural weapons. The creature gains the 
  Disease attack talent.
  Disease: The target must make a Strength challenge roll. 
  On a failure, it becomes diseased. Each time a diseased 
  creature completes a rest, it must make a Strength 
  challenge roll. On a failure, it takes a 1d6 penalty to 
  Health. If this penalty reduces its Health to 0, the 
  creature dies. After three successes, the creature removes 
  the diseased affliction. The next time it completes a rest, 
  the reduction to Health ends.
  There are rumors of three-headed sea serpents.  
  Seafarers go looking, but none ever come back.
  151
  151
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Pack Fighting: Creatures that fight in groups are more 
  dangerous than when they are on their own. You can 
  assign this attack talent to any creature.
  Pack Fighting When the creature attacks a target within the reach 
  of another creature with Pack Fighting that is friendly to the 
  creature, it makes the attack roll with 1 boon. Otherwise, it makes 
  the attack roll with 1 bane.
  Poisonous: One of the creature’s natural attacks injects 
  venom or is toxic in some way. To create a creature with 
  the poisonous trait, add “plus Poison” to the damage 
  line of one of the creature’s natural weapons and reduce 
  the number of damage dice for the attack by one (to a 
  minimum of 1 damage); 1d6 drops to 1d3, and 1d3 becomes 
  1. The creature gains the Poison attack talent.
  Poison The target must make a Strength challenge roll. On a 
  failure, it takes 1d6 damage and becomes poisoned for 1 minute. 
  If the target is already poisoned, it instead takes 1d6 extra 
  damage.
  Essence
  You can grant the ability to use essence powers to any 
  creature that cannot already do so. The creature gains an 
  Essence rating from 0 to 5 and a number of powers from 
  one Essence tree depending on its difficulty, as shown in the 
  Essence table. Consult the Essence chapter in the Seeker’s 
  Guide to determine the number of uses of each power the 
  creature knows.
  Be aware that, by default, only humans have Essence, and 
  so only humans can use Essence powers. There are some 
  creatures in this book, like demons and kalea snakes, that can 
  mimic Essence powers without actually having a connection 
  to Essence; if you give a non-human creature Essence powers, 
  ensure that doing so makes sense within the story.
  Essence
  5 or less
  0
  1
  —
  —
  —
  —
  —
  10
  1
  1
  1
  —
  —
  —
  —
  25
  2
  2
  2
  1
  —
  —
  —
  50
  3
  2
  2
  2
  1
  —
  —
  100
  4
  2
  2
  2
  2
  1
  —
  250 or more
  5
  2
  2
  2
  2
  2
  1
  Role
  Adding a role defines the way a creature fits into a group or 
  works with others. A creature should not have more than one 
  role. Roles are appropriate for creatures of Difficulty 50 or less.
  Leader
  A leader commands a force of creatures similar to itself. In 
  general, there should be one leader per group of roughly 
  twenty creatures. To make a leader, add the Leadership 
  talent to the creature.
  Leadership Other creatures within medium range of this creature 
  that are friendly to it and that can see it make attack rolls with 1 
  boon.
  Musician
  A group of creatures might include a musician to raise 
  their spirits and focus them on defeating their enemies. 
  Musicians might be pipers, drummers, or something else. 
  In general, there should be one musician per group of up to 
  fifty creatures. A musician has the Battle Music talent.
  Battle Music The creature uses an action or a triggered action on 
  its turn to play music for 1 round; if it takes any other action 
  during this time, this effect ends. Each other creature within 
  medium range of the creature that is friendly to it and that can 
  hear it deals 1 extra damage on attacks with weapons.
  Standard-Bearer
  A standard-bearer carries a group’s colors to serve as a 
  rallying point in battle. In general, there should be one 
  standard-bearer per group of up to fifty creatures. A 
  standard-bearer has the Battle Standard trait.
  Battle Standard Each other creature within medium range of 
  this creature that is friendly to it and that can see it cannot be 
  charmed or frightened. The effect lasts as long as this creature 
  carries the standard or until it becomes charmed, compelled, or 
  frightened.
  Champion
  A champion is a fighter of exceptional skill and ability. 
  No more than one in six creatures should be champions. 
  Adjust the champion creature as follows.
  CHAMPION 
  Defense +1; Health +5
  Strength +1
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Weapon Training When attacking with a weapon, the creature 
  makes the attack roll with 1 boon and deals 1 extra damage on a 
  success.
  Hero
  A hero has superior training, extensive experience, or 
  a special destiny. No more than one in twelve creatures 
  should be heroes. Adjust the hero creature as follows.
  HERO 
  INCREASE DIFFICULTY BY ONE STEP
  Perception +1
  Defense +1; Health +20
  Strength +2, Agility +2, Intellect +2, Will +2
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Weapon Excellence When attacking with a weapon, the creature 
  makes the attack roll with 1 boon and deals 1d6 extra damage on 
  a success.
  152
  152
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Creatures by Difficulty
  Difficulty 1
  Bandit
  Commoner/
  Professional
  Cultist
  Hunter
  Patroller
  Lesser Blight Walker
  Riding Vvakir
  Sailor
  Small Animal
  Small Insect
  Svit
  Tiny Animal
  Tiny Animate Plant
  Tiny Insect
  Tiny Monster
  Difficulty 5
  Animal Swarm
  Bravo
  Daishya
  Demon-Bound 
  Commoner
  Demon Fighter
  Dray Vvakir
  Greater Blight 
  Walker
  Insect Swarm
  Plant Weaver
  Pit Fighter
  Small Animate Plant
  Small Construct
  Small Monster
  Swarm-Hound
  Tough
  Difficulty 10
  Arena Fighter
  Blight Stalker
  Bodyguard
  Brigand
  Bruiser
  Crystal-Wasp Swarm
  Hired Killer
  Insect Weaver
  Lorchus
  Medium Animal
  Medium Animate 
  Plant
  Medium Construct
  Medium Insect
  Medium Monster
  Mercenary
  Pickpocket
  Ranger
  Svit Swarm
  Templar
  Tiny Chaos Beast
  Difficulty 25
  Assassin
  Bandit Captain
  Blight Champion
  Bone Mercenary
  Brute
  Burglar
  Carnitaur
  Cult Leader
  Demon-Bound 
  Warrior
  Demon Hunter
  Duelist
  House Spy
  Howlbeast
  Kalea Snake
  Large Animal
  Large Insect
  Naga Clutch-Sister
  Parasitic Seed
  Pirate
  Small Chaos Beast
  Storm Point 
  Bodyguard
  Veteran
  Difficulty 50
  Bone Dreadnought
  Bull Carnitaur
  Captain
  Chaos Wielder
  Horok
  Huge Animal
  Huge Insect
  Hunting Mass
  Large Animate Plant
  Large Construct
  Large Monster
  Living Door
  Master Duelist
  Naga Warrior
  Officer
  Ravager
  Reega
  Rezzik
  Servant of Gaia
  Silgir
  Vithek
  Difficulty 100
  Bone Captain
  Chaos Adept
  House Spy-Catcher
  Huge Animate Plant
  Huge Construct
  Huge Monster
  Living Mist
  Medium Chaos Beast
  Mind Trap
  Minor Demon
  Minor Servitor
  Naga Champion
  Small Sea Serpent
  Wyvern
  Difficulty 250
  Ancient
  Carnitaur Pack Leader
  Devourer
  Feral Ship
  Haunt
  Large Chaos Beast
  Lesser Demon
  Lesser Servitor
  Medium Sea Serpent
  Zylvare
  Difficulty 500
  Aspect of Gaia
  Greater Demon
  Greater Servitor
  Huge Chaos Beast
  Large Sea Serpent
  Mob
  A mob is a group of around ten creatures, similar to a 
  swarm. This option is suitable for Difficulty 1 creatures of 
  Size 1 or smaller. You can group them into mobs of ten by 
  applying the following changes.
  MOB 
  INCREASE DIFFICULTY BY TWO STEPS
  Size 3
  Health The base creature’s Health x 4
  Mob A mob takes half damage from attacks that target 
  individual creatures and double damage from attacks that 
  affect an area. The mob acts as a single creature, but it 
  counts as ten creatures for the purpose of choosing targets. 
  A mob makes Strength, Intellect, and Will challenge rolls 
  with 1 boon. Creatures can move through a mob’s space, but 
  they treat the area as difficult terrain. The mob can squeeze 
  through openings large enough to permit the passage of an 
  individual member and can move through spaces occupied by 
  other creatures.
  Spawn When the mob becomes incapacitated, it dissipates and 
  1d6 base creatures that made up the mob appear in open spaces 
  within the space it formerly occupied. They can take the next 
  available turn.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Melee The mob has the base creature’s reach. It makes the base 
  creature’s attack rolls with 2 boons. On a success, the attack deals 
  2d6 extra damage if the mob is not injured.
  END OF THE ROUND 
  Overwhelm If the mob is not injured, each creature that isn’t a 
  swarm or a mob that is in the mob’s space or within 1 yard of it 
  must make an Agility challenge roll. On a failure, the creature 
  takes 2d6 damage.
  153
  153
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  NOVICE BONDED 
  DIFFICULTY + ONE STEP
  Health +3
  Intellect +1, Will +1
  Talents The creature gains the Strengthen Essence talent from the 
  bonded path. In addition, choose one Origin for the creature; 
  the creature has access to both Essence trees for that Origin. The 
  creature gains one talent from one of these Essence trees.
  ESSENCE 
  Essence 1
  Powers The creature discovers both Essence trees associated with 
  its Origin and gains the discovery benefit for each. The creature 
  learns four rank 0 or 1 powers.
  EXPERT BONDED 
  DIFFICULTY + TWO STEPS
  Health +9
  Intellect +2, Will +2
  Talents The creature gains the Strengthen Essence talent from the 
  bonded path. In addition, choose one Origin for the creature; 
  the creature has access to both Essence trees for that Origin. The 
  creature gains two talents from either of these Essence trees.
  ESSENCE 
  Essence 3
  Powers The creature discovers both Essence trees associated with its 
  Origin and gains the discovery benefit for each. The creature learns 
  four rank 0 or 1 powers, two rank 2 powers, and one rank 3 power.
  Character 
  Templates
  You can give creatures capabilities similar to those 
  possessed by player characters by adding templates based 
  on character paths. Monsters and NPCs never have Essence 
  points, so they can’t use abilities that require them.
  Step 1: Pick a creature from this chapter.
  Step 2: Choose one of the templates set out below, referring 
  to the appropriate path.
  Step 3: Apply all the changes described in the template.
  Step 4: Equip the creature as you desire.
  Step 5: Name the creature and fill in any important story 
  details.
  Bonded
  Creatures with this path—usually humans—have a strong 
  connection to Essence, and the ability to call upon Essence 
  powers. Consult the Power Uses table in Chapter 10 of the 
  Seeker’s Guide to determine the number of uses of each 
  power that the creature gets. 
  The Hill Tribes of Pacari ride great rams into battle. But what makes them  
  truly frightening is their powerful vanguard leadership and tactics. 
  The Hill Tribes of Pacari ride great rams into battle. But what makes them  
  truly frightening is their powerful vanguard leadership and tactics. 
  154
  154
  
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  Chapter 6: Bestiary
  MASTER BONDED 
  DIFFICULTY + FOUR STEPS
  Health +15
  Agility +1, Intellect +3, Will +3
  Talents The creature gains the Strengthen Essence and Improved 
  Strengthen Essence talents from the bonded path. In addition, 
  choose one Origin for the creature; the creature has access to 
  both Essence trees for that Origin. The creature gains three 
  talents from either of these Essence trees.
  ESSENCE 
  Essence 5
  Powers The creature discovers both Essence trees associated with 
  its Origin and gains the discovery benefit for each. The creature 
  learns four rank 0 or 1 powers, two rank 2 powers, and two rank 3 
  powers, two rank 4 powers, and one rank 5 power.
  Vanguard
  Vanguard creatures are on the forefront of the battle, 
  leading and inspiring their allies. The vanguard template 
  can help turn a regular creature into a leader.
  NOVICE VANGUARD 
  DIFFICULTY +  ONE STEP
  Health +6
  Strength +1, Intellect +1
  Talents The creature gains the On Your Feet and Vital Advice 
  talents from the vanguard path.
  EXPERT VANGUARD 
  DIFFICULTY + TWO STEPS
  Health +14
  Strength +2, Intellect +2
  Talents The creature gains the On Your Feet, Vital Advice, Rally, 
  and Harry talents from the vanguard path.
  MASTER VANGUARD 
  DIFFICULTY + FOUR STEPS
  Health +20
  Strength +3, Intellect +2, Will +1
  Talents The creature gains the Improved On Your Feet, On Your 
  Feet, Vital Advice, Rally, Harry, and Expert Advice talents from 
  the vanguard path.
  Survivor
  Creatures with the survivor template are extraordinarily 
  hard to kill. Use this template sparingly, but doing so can 
  make for a memorable encounter.
  NOVICE SURVIVOR 
  DIFFICULTY + ONE STEP
  Health +10
  Strength +1, Will +1
  Talents The creature gains the Shake it Off, Exhaust Enemy, and 
  Endure talents from the survivor path.
  EXPERT SURVIVOR 
  DIFFICULTY + TWO STEPS
  Health +30
  Strength +2, Will +2
  Talents The creature gains the Shake it Off, Exhaust Enemy, 
  Endure, Demoralize, Never Surrender, and Outlast talents from 
  the survivor path.
  MASTER SURVIVOR 
  DIFFICULTY + FOUR STEPS
  Health +45
  Strength +3, Agility +1, Will +3
  Talents The creature gains the Improved Shake it Off, Shake it Off, 
  Exhaust Enemy, Endure, Demoralize, Never Surrender, Outlast, 
  and Iron Guts talents from the survivor path.
  Marauder
  Marauder creatures are incredibly dangerous, capable of 
  dealing large amounts of damage. Don’t use them often, but 
  you can use this template to make a truly scary opponent.
  NOVICE MARAUDER 
  DIFFICULTY + ONE STEP
  Health +4
  Strength +1, Agility +1, Speed +2
  Talents The creature gains the Turn the Tide, Seize the Advantage, 
  Exploit Weakness, and Dust in the Eyes talents from the 
  marauder path.
  EXPERT MARAUDER 
  DIFFICULTY + TWO STEPS
  Health +12
  Strength +2, Agility +2, Speed +2
  Talents The creature gains the Turn the Tide, Seize the Advantage, 
  Exploit Weakness, Fight Dirty, Dust in the Eyes, and Momentum 
  talents from the marauder path.
  MASTER MARAUDER 
  DIFFICULTY + FOUR STEPS
  Health +24
  Strength +3, Agility +3, Speed +4
  Talents The creature gains the Improved Turn the Tide, Turn 
  the Tide, Seize the Advantage, Exploit Weakness, Fight Dirty, 
  Dust in the Eyes, Momentum, and Fatal Blow talents from the 
  marauder path.
  Creating Characters
  You can also create a character using the rules described in 
  the Seeker’s Guide. Consult the Character Difficulty by Level 
  table.
  Character Difficulty  
  by Level
  0
  1
  1 or 2
  5
  3 or 4
  10
  5 or 6
  25
  7 or 8
  50
  9 or 10
  100
  155
  155
  
  A sky captain rides off with his colleague’s cargo. One must be careful, in Asunder, on whom they call friend.
  A sky captain rides off with his colleague’s cargo. One must be careful, in Asunder, on whom they call friend.
  156
  156
  
  C
  oming up with your own adventures can be as 
  fun and as rewarding as running them. It’s a great 
  opportunity to put your creative skills to good use.
  Creating 
  Adventures
  When designing an adventure, aim for something the 
  players can finish in one to three 4-hour game sessions. 
  Typically, an adventure like this has eight to twelve scenes. 
  You can expand or shrink an adventure as you wish, based 
  on the needs of your players. Completing an adventure 
  should advance the group’s level by 1.
  Here are some tips for creating your own adventures.
  Objective
  An adventure needs an objective: what the Seekers need 
  to accomplish. The objective can be small and simple, or 
  might take the Seekers across the world and beyond.
  Write down the objective as a declarative sentence, like 
  the following examples. “The Seekers…”
   
  ༄ …save Sky City from a plague of ravenous svits.
   
  ༄ …seek out the legendary Wellspring.
   
  ༄ …capture a living ship from pirates and learn how to 
  tame it.
   
  ༄ …venture into the God’s Eye to learn what the storm is 
  guarding.
   
  ༄ …find a Chaos site and harness the energy of its Chaos 
  shard.
   
  ༄ …protect the town of Bulreth from an incursion of Naga 
  warriors.
   
  ༄ …negotiate peace talks between Hyden and the Twins.
   
  ༄ …find out who’s sabotaging peace talks between Hyden 
  and the Twins.
   
  ༄ …learn who killed their mentor and bring the killer to 
  justice.
   
  ༄ …earn fame and fortune in the Arena.
   
  ༄ …learn what’s causing the plague and put a stop to it.
   
  ༄ …find out who’s been poisoning the beer in the Drunk 
  Horok tavern.
   
  ༄ …uncover the source of the demonic influence in Gray 
  Thistles.
   
  ༄ …find and kill the devourer stalking inventors in 
  Heartwood.
   
  ༄ …hunt and slay the great white sea serpent.
   
  ༄ …steal wyvern eggs from House Borantu so they can 
  raise their own wyverns.
   
  ༄ …discover why people never return from Blue 
  Mountain Cave.
   
  ༄ …find the Wooden Man and discover what he wants.
   
  ༄ …find the God-Machine fragment under Far East and 
  learn what it’s for…before the Naga do.
   
  ༄ …use the strange device to capture a mote of Pure Light 
  in a bottle.
  Starting Point
  The starting point launches the adventure, but you don’t 
  necessarily need to prepare it ahead of time. Often the 
  players decide where to start; for example, they might 
  have left some challenges unresolved during a previous 
  adventure. They could choose to settle some old scores, 
  follow up on earlier leads, or investigate rumors that might 
  or might not be associated with previous stories.
  A starting point ought to do all of the following:
   
  ༄ Determine where the Seekers are and what they are 
  doing when the story begins.
   
  ༄ Provide one or more plot hooks to draw the characters 
  into the story.
   
  ༄ Reveal the story’s objective or, at least, give the players a 
  hint about what they’re supposed to do.
  Scenes
  An adventure’s plot is a sequence of scenes through which 
  the players and their Seekers move as they head toward the 
  story’s conclusion. During the adventure, the Seekers might 
  go through some or all of the scenes, depending on the 
  decisions they make. Scenes are usually centered around a 
  location or a situation.
   
  ༄ Situations don’t take place in a fixed part of the world, 
  and are more about what’s happening than where it’s 
  happening. Situations often cascade into one another, 
  with one leading to another, though the exact sequence 
  can change based on what the Seekers do.
   
  ༄ Locations are fixed points within your adventure, 
  places the Seekers can go to accomplish a specific 
  Chapter
  Seven The Journey 
  Begins
  157
  157
  157
  157
  
  Chapter 7: The Journey Begins
  Chapter 7: The Journey Begins
  goal or engage in a specific encounter. These, too, 
  can occur in a variety of sequences, but locations 
  are usually connected by geography rather than 
  circumstance.
  It’s also important to understand what you’re trying 
  to accomplish with a scene. Generally, scenes are either 
  discovery scenes or obstacle scenes.
  Discovery Scenes
  A discovery scene advances the adventure’s story in a 
  meaningful way. It might introduce new information 
  about the plot and antagonist; provide aid to the group 
  in the form of wealth, a piece of living gear, or a key to 
  a locked door; reveal the location of the cultists’ hidden 
  base; or any other guidance about what to do next or 
  assistance in doing it.
  The discovery can occur through roleplaying, such as 
  an exchange between a character you control and one of 
  the Seekers. It also often involves exploring the scene’s 
  environment. Active searching, listening, eavesdropping on 
  conversations, or researching in a library are all possible 
  ways for the group to make the discovery.
  Obstacle Scenes
  Obstacle scenes are connectors that challenge the Seekers 
  in some way as they move toward the next discovery 
  scene. An obstacle scene might be an overland journey, a 
  fight with a monster, avoiding traps protecting a passage, 
  a harrowing climb up a cliff, or sneaking past bandits 
  guarding the entrance to a cave.
  Combat Obstacles
  A combat obstacle is something the Seekers fight or 
  something they can avoid through clever play or by running 
  away.
  Combat is exciting, but there are limits to how much 
  fighting a group can handle in a single day. Creatures have 
  a Difficulty rating that represents the challenge they pose 
  in a fight. The Difficulty per Day table shows what a group 
  can typically handle in one day of the story. You can use 
  this number as a “budget” for populating your combat 
  obstacles.
  Simply add up the Difficulty of all the creatures you 
  expect the characters to face. If the total is equal to or 
  less than the recommended Difficulty for the day, the 
  Seekers should be fine. More than this is likely to be 
  lethal if they don’t have ways to heal damage and recover 
  resources during the day. If the total is less than half 
  the recommended Difficulty, you will need to challenge 
  the characters in other ways or stiffen the opposition. 
  See Chapter 1 for more about setting up these sorts of 
  obstacles.
  These numbers assume a group size of three to five 
  Seekers. If your group is smaller, halve the total daily 
  Difficulty. If you have a larger group, the daily Difficulty 
  can as much as double. Also, since the Seekers might skip 
  obstacle scenes, these numbers are only guidelines.
  Scene Setting
  The setting is where a scene takes place. It can be as small 
  as a single alcove in a crumbling ruin or be spread across 
  an entire city-state. A setting can also host several scenes. 
  Consider the classic dungeon. It might be one giant scene, 
  or the various rooms and corridors could serve as settings 
  for the various scenes in the adventure’s plot.
  Exhaustive details about settings are rarely necessary. 
  You just need enough information to present a scene to the 
  players and fill in other details as needed.
  Scene Structure
  Every scene has a beginning, middle, and end.
  Beginning
  At the beginning, the players should learn any information 
  they need to know. This might include a description of the 
  area, any creatures or characters to interact with, and other 
  pertinent details.
  Middle
  The middle of the scene is where the players make 
  decisions about their Seekers’ actions and behavior, taking 
  as long as needed. They might explore the environment, 
  talk with other characters, or engage in combat.
  End
  A scene ends when the Seekers resolve whatever it was 
  about. An obstacle scene ends when the Seekers overcome 
  it; a discovery scene ends when they make the discovery. 
  Then the Seekers move on to the next scene in the story.
  Leaving Scenes Early
  The Seekers might leave a scene before resolving it. This 
  might happen because they were defeated in battle or 
  they failed to learn what they needed to know. They might 
  return to the scene later—but they might not. Whenever 
  Seekers leave scenes unresolved, note what they have done 
  in that scene already and make any necessary changes in 
  case they return.
  Not completing a scene doesn’t have to bring the story to 
  a halt. In fact, such failures can raise the stakes and create 
  new dramatic opportunities. It’s a good idea to have another 
  scene or two ready, just in case something goes horribly 
  wrong. With a little improvisation, you can use a backup 
  scene to bring the Seekers back to the main plot.
  Difficulty per Day
  Starting
  25
  Novice
  100
  Expert
  200
  Master
  500
  158
  158
  
  Chapter 7: The Journey Begins
  Chapter 7: The Journey Begins
  Transitions
  A transition occurs when the Seekers move from one scene 
  to the next. Based on the players’ decisions about what 
  they plan to do and where they intend to go, you fill in the 
  space between scenes by describing what happens. During 
  this time, the Seekers might take the opportunity to rest, talk, 
  and purchase gear, or just move directly to the next scene.
  Resting Between Scenes
  The players might want to rest their characters before moving 
  on to the next scene so they can heal damage, recover the uses 
  of their powers, and refresh talents. Seekers can attempt to 
  rest anywhere, but they might be interrupted, depending on 
  the safety of the place they choose. See the Random Encounters 
  section in Chapter 1 for more information.
  Conclusion
  The story ends when the Seekers play through the 
  conclusion. The conclusion might be a scene unto itself or 
  a summary of what happens after the final scene.
  When you create your story, come up with at least three 
  possible conclusions, depending on the final outcome: 
  success, failure, and a partial success or failure. For 
  example, the Seekers might be trying to stop a Pure Light 
  cult from summoning the Pure Light to a town (if that’s 
  even possible). If they succeed, the Seekers stop the ritual 
  and drive off the cult. If they fail, the cult completes the 
  ritual and gets away. On a partial success or failure, the 
  cult might complete the ritual but be killed, or the Seekers 
  could stop the ritual but allow the cult to escape.
  Plot Structure
  Unlike a book, in which scenes unfold in a predetermined 
  order, the sequence of scenes in an adventure develops during 
  game play, based on the decisions the players make and the 
  outcomes of those decisions. Reactive plots present situations 
  that force the characters to respond to an immediate threat. 
  Proactive plots allow the characters to set their own agenda, 
  often by picking up on earlier adventure seeds.
  Some plots are straightforward, and resolving one scene 
  leads directly to the next in the chain. Others might be 
  complex and allow many choices. Here are some example 
  plot structures.
  Gauntlet
  This is the easiest plot structure to create. It’s a 
  straightforward sequence of scenes, one following the 
  other. Once the Seekers start the story, they move to scene 
  A, then B, then C, and finally to the conclusion where 
  they complete the objective. Scenes in the gauntlet can be 
  discovery or obstacles, but the characters must complete 
  each in order with few options for backtracking.
  The gauntlet leaves little room for choice, so unless 
  you disguise it well, the players might feel led by the 
  nose. One way to mitigate this sort of linear plot is to 
  create opportunities to skip a scene or two. For example, 
  discovering a secret passage could let the characters bypass 
  a difficult combat obstacle.
  Well
  The well structure is ideal for more complex stories. This 
  sort of plot has three or four “bands,” each containing a 
  number of possible scenes, that move the Seekers closer to 
  the conclusion. The Seekers can move from one scene to 
  another in the same band or the next lower band until they 
  reach the end.
  The advantage of the well structure is that it gives the 
  players a great deal more freedom than a linear plot. The 
  drawback is that it requires preparing many possible 
  scenes, some of which the players might skip over if they 
  discover a clear track to the end.
  Web
  This plot structure is the most complex. Scenes connect to 
  each other flexibly, in a manner similar to that of the well, 
  but they might lead to dead ends or take the characters 
  back to earlier scenes.
  From the start, the Seekers can go to scene A, B, or C. 
  Proceeding to B, for example, leads the Seekers to C and 
  then E. Each of these paths might ultimately lead to F, but 
  that is a dead end; proceeding to G leads to the next part of 
  the adventure. From there the group can move on to H or 
  to J, and ultimately to the conclusion.
  Scene Structure in Practice
  For examples of ways to structure your adventures, 
  you might check out The Seed of Gaia, the first campaign 
  module for Asunder. The three linked adventures 
  it contains do a good job of spanning the different 
  adventure types.   
  The starting adventure, Planting Seeds, focuses on a 
  highly reactive story (There’s been a murder! Find out 
  whodunnit!), and incorporates elements of all three scene 
  structure styles. The beginning of the adventure always 
  starts the same, but then spreads out into a web, allowing 
  the Seekers to pursue a number of different leads. Toward 
  the middle of the story it becomes more like a well, 
  eventually proceeding to a more gauntlet-style conclusion.
  Isle of the Dead is very much a well structure; the Seekers 
  start with a variety of options at their disposal, which 
  gradually narrow until they reach the final confrontation.
  Finally, The Wellspring is a classic web adventure, with 
  numerous scenes that interconnect and can occur in 
  a variety of orders and can unfold in a variety of ways. 
  This adventure even uses a dirty trick: scenes that can be 
  framed in different ways based on the Seekers’ choices. 
  When the Seekers break into a tower in Skyseed, it may 
  be to plant evidence in a lab for one NPC , or it may be to 
  steal an important item for another. Either way, it’s the 
  same scene, but it can serve multiple purposes.
  Scene Structure in Practice
  For examples of ways to structure your adventures, 
  you might check out The Seed of Gaia, the first campaign 
  module for Asunder. The three linked adventures 
  it contains do a good job of spanning the different 
  adventure types.   
  The starting adventure, Planting Seeds, focuses on a 
  highly reactive story (There’s been a murder! Find out 
  whodunnit!), and incorporates elements of all three scene 
  structure styles. The beginning of the adventure always 
  starts the same, but then spreads out into a web, allowing 
  the Seekers to pursue a number of different leads. Toward 
  the middle of the story it becomes more like a well, 
  eventually proceeding to a more gauntlet-style conclusion.
  Isle of the Dead is very much a well structure; the Seekers 
  start with a variety of options at their disposal, which 
  gradually narrow until they reach the final confrontation.
  Finally, The Wellspring is a classic web adventure, with 
  numerous scenes that interconnect and can occur in 
  a variety of orders and can unfold in a variety of ways. 
  This adventure even uses a dirty trick: scenes that can be 
  framed in different ways based on the Seekers’ choices. 
  When the Seekers break into a tower in Skyseed, it may 
  be to plant evidence in a lab for one NPC , or it may be to 
  steal an important item for another. Either way, it’s the 
  same scene, but it can serve multiple purposes.
  159
  159
  
  Chapter 7: The Journey Begins
  Chapter 7: The Journey Begins
  best at fighting or, at least, who fights the most. Include a 
  piece or two of living gear, some kalea venom, or both, so 
  Seekers can have an opportunity to try out Essence powers 
  of various kinds. Other opportunities include investigation, 
  roleplaying, and exploration.
  Story Ideas
  Here are some example ideas for starting adventures.
   
  ༄ The Seekers travel on a merchant ship that comes 
  under attack by pirates. They must defend the ship and 
  decide what to do when the captain is killed.
   
  ༄ An infestation of animate, carnivorous plants threatens 
  their home village. The Seekers must find a way to stop 
  the threat and save the village.
   
  ༄ The Seekers are sent to gather information on a nearby 
  clutch of Naga. Along the way they shelter in a glade 
  that isn’t as safe as it first appears.
  Novice Adventures (Levels 1–2)
  Novice Seekers are tougher and more varied than starting 
  Seekers, able to face more challenging and involved plots. 
  These adventures should strengthen the connections 
  between the Seekers. During the first novice adventure, 
  the players should learn how to use their Seekers’ 
  new capabilities: bonded use Essence powers, 
  vanguards find new tactical options, while 
  survivors and marauders learn new ways to 
  mix it up in combat. By the time the Seekers 
  reach level 2, the players should have a good 
  understanding of how the game plays.
  Adventures  
  by Level
  The kinds of adventures you create depend on the group’s 
  level.
  Starting Adventures (Level 0)
  Starting adventures set the stage for everything to come. 
  Think of them as prologues. They explain how the group 
  forms and why it stays together. The story also creates 
  avenues for the Seekers’ development, directing their 
  choice of paths as they advance in level.
  During a starting adventure, the players learn the basic 
  rules of the game. By the end, they should know how to 
  make the various kinds of rolls, understand how combat 
  works, and have a basic knowledge of what Seekers can do. 
  The adventure should also let the Seekers find and acquire 
  equipment to help them survive novice adventures.
  Reactive Plot
  Their first adventure should start with the Seekers reacting 
  to a threat to their lives, their community, and their loved 
  ones. The plot lets the Seekers explore what steps they 
  must take to deal with the threat and give them a chance to 
  come together as a group.
  Character Development
  The adventure should create 
  opportunities for the players to feel 
  out what their Seekers might be good 
  at. Try to include at least one combat, 
  so they can decide who is 
  One must be careful about bonding to too many pieces  
  of living gear. They may end up controlling you.
  160
  160
  
  Chapter 7: The Journey Begins
  Chapter 7: The Journey Begins
  Reactive or Proactive Plots
  Novice adventures should be simple and straightforward, 
  probably not lasting more than a couple of days of game 
  time. This is a good time to plant seeds for future stories. 
  Let the Seekers hear rumors about foreboding places to 
  explore, dangerous monsters that need to be slain, and 
  fabulous treasures just waiting to be unearthed. You 
  might also introduce a recurring villain to vex the group 
  throughout the campaign. In this way, you encourage 
  the group to undertake adventures on their own without 
  having to be drawn into the plot.
  Character Development
  During their time as novices, the players should be 
  looking ahead to possible expert paths. Let the players 
  become familiar with their Seekers’ path talents and 
  powers at level 1. Then create opportunities at level 2 
  based on how they played to make future path selection 
  easier. The group might encounter a prophet of the Pure 
  Light, a Chaos site, or an old Storm Point bodyguard 
  looking for someone to train as a replacement. If the 
  players already have paths in mind, shape the story to 
  explain the Seekers’ progression.
  Story Ideas
  Here are some example ideas for novice adventures.
   
  ༄ Starvation is rampant in the Seekers’ hometown 
  because necessary supplies are being stolen by bandits 
  or Naga. The Seekers must hunt down the culprits, 
  defeat them, and reclaim the supplies.
   
  ༄ A patron friendly to the Seekers sends them to infiltrate 
  a rival’s household and steal damning information.
   
  ༄ People in the town are under demonic influence. The 
  Seekers must learn the source of the influence and 
  find a way to free those under it, so they can learn the 
  location of the demon.
  Expert Adventures (Levels 3–6)
  By the time the players choose their expert paths, they 
  should have a strong understanding of how the game 
  works and be invested in their Seekers. Now they are 
  ready to leave behind the place where they began and seek 
  adventure in the wider world.
  As with novice adventures, you should be planting the 
  seeds of what is to come. The successes and failures of 
  these expeditions might have repercussions that aren’t 
  realized until much later in the game. When the Seekers 
  eventually undertake those adventures, the players should 
  see that their earlier choices mattered to the world’s 
  development.
  Proactive Plots
  The Seekers are likely undertaking expeditions on 
  their own at this point, based on rumors and seeds you 
  planted in earlier stories. They might mount expeditions 
  to vanquish a terrible evil or to deal with a threat to the 
  lands where they lived. Perhaps they seek out fame, 
  glory, treasure, or aim for something else that’s important 
  to them.
  The Seekers’ expert paths should also advance their 
  personal objectives. Before you start the first adventure 
  at this tier, work with the players to identify any such 
  objectives. Then turn them into story objectives for the 
  adventures you run. Each adventure should allow the 
  Seekers to complete one or more of their story objectives. 
  By the time the Seekers finish the last expert adventure, 
  they should be ready to pick their master paths.
  Character Development
  Expert Seekers adopt specific tactical styles, favor certain 
  Essence trees, or develop along particular themes. You 
  should encourage and reward such focus, since it will 
  guide each player’s decision when it comes time to choose 
  a master path.
  Story Ideas
  Here are some example ideas for expert adventures.
   
  ༄ A fragment of the God-Machine lies slumbering under 
  an ancient, ruined temple. Unfortunately, the Naga 
  know about it, too.
   
  ༄ The saber-rattling between two rival city-states is 
  threatening to boil over into open warfare. Preventing 
  widespread bloodshed (or ensuring victory for one or 
  the other) will require some deft maneuvering.
   
  ༄ A traveler tells a tale of an ancient machine in the 
  heart of the New Gaia jungle. She even provides a 
  map.
  Master Adventures (Levels 7–10)
  When the Seekers choose their master paths, they become 
  some of the most powerful people in the region. They have 
  a bevy of powers, potent fighting techniques, and a range 
  of talents to help them overcome almost any obstacle. With 
  great power comes great responsibility, though: the Seekers 
  will be pitted against dangerous monsters, in deadly 
  locations, to stop threats that could plunge entire nations, if 
  not the world, into darkness.
  The group likely has one or more great quests to 
  accomplish. This quest defines what the Seekers should be 
  doing, and their adventures should bring them closer to 
  completing this ultimate objective.
  Between Adventures
  When they aren’t adventuring, the Seekers resume their 
  normal lives. They work, play, conduct research, grow living 
  gear, fight in the Arena, and do all the other things people 
  do from day to day. You can summarize these activities or 
  let the players describe what they do.
  161
  161
  
  Chapter 7: The Journey Begins
  Chapter 7: The Journey Begins
  Chapter 7: The Journey Begins
  Chapter 7: The Journey Begins
  Campaigns
  Adventures make up a campaign in the same way that 
  scenes make up adventures. Each adventure contributes 
  to the campaign’s plot, with events in one determining the 
  circumstances of the next. Creating campaigns enriches 
  the play experience by letting the players see how their 
  Seekers’ successes and failures affect the overarching story. 
  Adventures that drive the campaign’s plot increase this 
  impact.
  Since completing one adventure advances the group 
  level by 1, a typical campaign includes eleven adventures: 
  one starting, two novice, four expert, and four master. At 
  the end of the campaign, the group should have reached 
  level 10.
  You create a campaign in the same way that you build 
  an individual adventure, just on a larger scale. Beyond the 
  earlier guidelines about plot structure and scene creation, 
  you should keep a few things in mind.
  Campaign Objective
  What should the Seekers accomplish by the end of the 
  campaign? The objective should be something that makes 
  a lasting impact on the game: the Seekers might broker 
  a peace between humans and Naga, defeat the powerful 
  demon gathering strength in the Great Scar, or defeat a 
  powerful being raising armies of the dead to conquer the 
  known world. 
  Three-Act Structure
  Just as a scene has a beginning, middle, and end, your 
  campaign is best divided into three major acts. The first 
  act sets the stage and should be no more than three 
  stories long. The third leads to the climax and conclusion, 
  comprising one to two stories. All the stories in between 
  constitute the second act, raising the stakes through a series 
  of victories and setbacks.
  Once you have a structure in place, decide about what 
  stories fit best into the various acts and make notes. What 
  should happen, what are the obstacles the Seekers face, and 
  how does each story transition to the next? These notes will 
  help you create the framework for the first story. You might 
  also work a bit ahead, sketching in details for adventures 
  to come, but don’t set too much in stone. The Seekers can 
  and usually do head in unexpected directions, which might 
  require you to adjust your plans.
  Stealing rubies from the stone eaters of south Pacari is a reason to run, because you can never hide from them.
  Stealing rubies from the stone eaters of south Pacari is a reason to run, because you can never hide from them.
  162
  162
  
  Chapter 7: The Journey Begins
  Chapter 7: The Journey Begins
  Chapter 7: The Journey Begins
  Chapter 7: The Journey Begins
  Adventure Tools
  The adventures presented in this chapter make use of the 
  following three tools, which you can use for your own 
  adventures to inject a little more excitement and intrigue.
  Branch Points
  When you’re building an adventure, you can choose to 
  include one or two branch points in that adventure. Pick 
  a spot in the adventure where things might go in a few 
  different ways. On index cards or pieces of paper, write 
  down three possibilities for things that can happen as 
  a result of the Seekers’ involvement in the adventure 
  at that point. When the Seekers get to that point in the 
  adventure, lay the three cards face-down on the table 
  and allow them to pick one. Discard the other two and 
  read the one they chose; whatever’s written on that card 
  is now true.
  Each of the adventures provided has included branch 
  points.
  The Countdown Die
  The provided adventures use this mechanic from time 
  to time in order to heighten the tension of a scene. Use a 
  countdown die when the Seekers have a number of things 
  they have to do in a limited amount of time, and when 
  there’s a consequence for taking too long. Decide what that 
  consequence is, then take a d6 and either roll it or place 
  it on a specific face. Allow each Seeker to take an action 
  (or allow all Seekers to take a group action). Once they 
  have, turn the countdown die so that its face-up number 
  decrements by 1. If it’s already at 1, the consequence occurs.
  If you’re using multiple countdown dice at once, you 
  might find it useful to label each die with an index card or 
  scrap of paper, placing the countdown die on the label.
  Chases
  It can be exciting to run a chase sequence when the Seekers 
  are trying to catch (or escape from) someone or something. 
  Here’s how they work:
  Break the chase into rounds, as follows. Seekers are 
  trying to get 5 successes between them before the enemy 
  gets 3. This is true whether the Seekers are the pursuers or 
  the pursued.
   
  ༄ Fast Turns: A player who takes a fast turn can make 
  an Agility challenge roll with 1 boon to try to gain 
  ground. Once a player takes a fast turn, they’re 
  fatigued for 1 minute. If they’re already fatigued, 
  they’re also impaired. If they’re already impaired, they 
  take a cumulative -3 penalty to Health each time they 
  take a fast turn during the chase; this penalty goes 
  away when the fatigued and impaired conditions go 
  away.
   
  ༄ Slow Turns: A player who takes a slow turn can make an 
  Agility challenge roll to try to gain ground. The player 
  can take any number of banes on the roll; banes remove 
  fast turn penalties in this order: Health penalties, -3 per 
  bane taken; then impaired; then fatigued.
   
  ༄ End of Turn: The enemy makes an Agility challenge 
  roll with 1 boon.
  If the Seekers get 5 successes before the enemy gets 3, 
  they catch their quarry or escape, depending on what 
  they were trying to do. If not, their quarry escapes or their 
  pursuers catch them.
  Special Actions During Chases
  Seekers aren’t limited to simply running fast or slow during 
  chases. A Seeker can try to attack pursuers, topple over 
  crates to make an obstacle, shout to bystanders for help, or 
  any number of other interesting actions. For most of these, 
  allow the Seeker to take a slow turn that doesn’t contribute 
  directly to getting successes. Instead of making an Agility 
  roll to gain ground, they take their special action. When 
  Seekers do this, they do still reduce penalties and afflictions 
  incurred by taking fast turns, if they choose to take banes 
  on their special action roll.
  The effects of a special action are wide and varied. 
  Some might cause damage to the enemy, or impose banes 
  on the enemy’s roll, or even remove enemy successes. A 
  particularly clever special action could even end the chase 
  right away. After all, if a Seeker decides to set a bridge on 
  fire as she’s running over it, it’ll be hard for her pursuers to 
  give chase.
  Secrets
  When preparing to run an adventure, come up with a 
  secret for one, two, or all Seekers playing. Customize 
  these secrets to your individual players, keeping in mind 
  what they’ll find fun and what they’re likely to enjoy 
  pursuing. A secret is a hidden agenda for that Seeker, 
  something they can use to inform their roleplay and that 
  they can reveal at a dramatic moment in order to make 
  things more fun for everyone.
  While a Seeker’s secret is hidden, that Seeker needn’t 
  do any more than keep it in mind when making decisions 
  and roleplaying interactions. However, whenever the 
  Seeker feels it’s appropriate, they can reveal their secret to 
  everyone at the table. This causes two things to happen.
   
  ༄ First, the Seeker must escalate the situation as 
  described under Fatal Flaws in Chapter 3.
   
  ༄ Second, the revealing Seeker gets a benefit based on the 
  secret.
   
  ༄ Third, once the escalated situation is resolved, all of the 
  other Seekers each get 1 Seeker point (Chapter 3).
  Each of the adventures provided has example secrets you 
  can use in your own game.
  163
  163
  163
  163
  
  Chapter 7: The Journey Begins
  Chapter 7: The Journey Begins
  Getting Creative With Secrets
  The ‘secrets’ mechanic built into Asunder is an expert 
  way to give players more agency over the Seekers’ story. 
  Usually, the onus of surprises, reveals, and ‘gotcha’ 
  moments falls on a Keeper’s shoulders; letting the 
  players do some of the storytelling work transforms the 
  experience for them and you. While developing secrets 
  takes quite a bit of thought and planning before an 
  adventure, the mechanic makes the Keeper’s job during 
  the game easier for a few reasons. 
  First, you already know what’s coming. We recommend 
  sending the Seekers their secrets before the game. Even if 
  you can’t predict ‘when, why, and how’ a Seeker will reveal 
  their secret during a game, the secret itself isn’t a surprise 
  to you, and you’ve probably played out a few hypotheticals 
  mentally. 
  Second, the secret is a surprise to every other player. 
  No matter how it shakes out, the other Seekers are forced 
  to reckon with whatever is revealed, for better or worse. 
  Suspense, adventure, and character development are 
  always following closely behind a secret-reveal! 
  Third, secrets make you productively plan a game 
  session. While improvisation is a key part of playing 
  Asunder, writing adventures, and coming up with fun ways 
  to engage players, turns in a more fun and dynamic play 
  session for you and them. 
  Fourth, the secrets mechanic forces you to consider your 
  players, and their characters’ backgrounds. The world you 
  play in is essentially “yours”, which means it’s up to you to 
  let your players know what options they have available to 
  them. You could simply tell them, but giving them a secret 
  that is curated specifically for their character is a more 
  subtle way of giving them “permission” to interact with the 
  world in ways they might not have initially thought they 
  could. 
  Finally, there is always a choice for the player not to 
  reveal their secret. Usually, revealing a secret grants an in-
  game reward, like a Seeker Point or game play advantage/
  consequence, so a decision to discard the reward in order to 
  keep a secret can be equally impactful. Just because it isn’t 
  revealed, doesn’t make it less true, but only the Seeker and 
  the Keeper will know what the Seeker sacrificed. Any time 
  a player chooses not to reveal their secret, they make you 
  take a closer look at their character.
  Ways To Use Secrets
  Here are several good ways to use secrets in your Asunder 
  campaigns. 
  Relationships
  The Seeker has a history with a minor character or a group. 
  This is an amazing use of secrets and is probably the easiest 
  and most obvious to implement. Players will usually want 
  to reveal this sort of secret, whether the relationship is 
  positive or negative.
  Knowledge
  The Seeker knows something the others don’t. This is a way 
  to get a player to give in-game exposition without asking 
  them to make an intelligence challenge roll. You’ve created 
  your world, you know what’s going on within it. Send a bit of 
  history or information to a player before the game, and when 
  they encounter the specific circumstance, sit back, relax, and 
  let them talk about the world to their friends. It’s really fun to 
  hear your creations and ideas repeated back to you!
  Flashbacks
  The Seeker encountered someone/something in the past 
  relevant to the current situation. Ok, this is one can be very 
  powerful, because there’s some innate gameplay involved. 
  Send the player a short explanation of the scene that 
  happened in the past. This should include the location, the 
  minor characters involved, the Seeker’s goal (what they want 
  from the minor characters), and, if the Seeker is successful, 
  what they will get as a reward. When the player chooses to 
  ‘reveal the secret,’ aka activate the flashback in-game, buckle 
  up and dive into roleplaying the scene with them. This one 
  is tricky because you don’t want to write the finite, hard-and-
  fast end of the scene—it’s more fun to role play the scene 
  and see where it goes. Ideally, the Seeker gains the reward 
  by activating the flashback. But failure should always be an 
  option, so have something fun planned if the Seeker does not 
  achieve their goal in the flashback scene, too.
  Example
  You begin a game in the middle of a team vs. team arena 
  battle, wanting to be more than a hack-and-slash game, you 
  give out flashback secrets. When they activate them, you role 
  play a scene that happened before the fight. One Seeker’s scene 
  revealed that they were in the same guild as a member of the 
  opposing team. After the scene was played out, the reward 
  was that the opposing team member would fight alongside 
  the Seeker for one round of combat. Another Seeker’s scene 
  revealed that she had intimidated the guardian of the match. 
  After the scene, the reward was an ‘ace in the hole’—a way to 
  force the guardian to call the match in their favor.
  Dreams and Fortune-Telling
  The Seeker has a dream or a premonition into their future. 
  I’ve used both of these when dealing with the higher 
  beings of the world that are too powerful to fight. Besides 
  providing some bonus flavor for the game, this method 
  also requires the player to do a bit of fun character work. 
  Tell the player to come up with a dream or premonition 
  before the game and include a short prompt of what you’re 
  looking for. Be clear if the dream should be positive or 
  negative (or if the tone is up to the player) and if it should 
  be something that already happened, something that could 
  happen, or simply something the Seeker wishes for. Also, 
  tell them to be able to describe it to the other, and if they 
  don’t feel comfortable making it up on the spot, ask them 
  164
  164
  
  Chapter 7: The Journey Begins
  Chapter 7: The Journey Begins
  to write it down. The players will be delighted to learn 
  something more about their fellow Seeker characters, and 
  so will you! This is another moment for you to put your feet 
  up and enjoy watching the show! Also, consider making the 
  rewards high-concept, too. 
  Enjoy and experiment. You can always reward Seeker 
  Points if a character reveals they owe a debt to a minor 
  character, and that creates some intense playable conflict!  
  But we also dare you to use secrets to find new ways for 
  your Seekers to interact with this world.
  OPTIONAL RULE
  Theater of the Mind
  While battlemats and miniatures are best-suited for 
  keeping track of precise Speed characteristics and combat 
  ranges, some players choose to play without them. For 
  these players, the following rules provide an option 
  for “Theatre of the Mind” groups to track Speed and 
  movement in a meaningful and systematic way.
  Movement 
  Characters move one Range Band per Turn.
  Movement and Range Modifiers
   
  ༄ Halving Speed: If something halves Speed, it requires 
  two turns to move a Range Band instead. Also, reduce 
  the Speed by 5 when it comes to Chases and Races (see 
  as follows).
   
  ༄ Rush: If a character rushes, they can move two Range 
  Bands per turn (or one if their Speed has been halved).
   
  ༄ Retreat: This allows a character to move away to Short 
  range and does not trigger free attacks. 
  Size and Reach
  The advantage of greater Size and Reach is being able to 
  strike smaller opponents, and those with shorter weapons, 
  before they can close in. In reality, this is offset by the fact 
  that longer weapons and attacks can be unwieldy against 
  foes in close combat. The easiest option is to simply ignore 
  Size and Reach; however, if you still want Size and Reach to 
  have an element in play, use this option:
   
  ༄ Attacks in the first round against opponents with 
  less Size or Reach gain one Boon. One time during 
  the following round, this becomes a Bane as the 
  opponent closes in and the individual with the Reach 
  advantage has to briefly adjust their stance, grip, etc. to 
  compensate. Thereafter, there are no more modifiers. 
  Range Bands
  The normal Range Bands are kept. Range Weapons are 
  rated Short, Medium, or Long. Range Bands beyond this 
  are typically considered too far to reach in combat. Only 
  certain Essence Powers (i.e. Great Leap) permit characters 
  to cover multiple, or more distant, Range Bands easily. 
  Speed - Chasing and Racing 
  In Theatre of the Mind play, Speed is treated like an 
  Attribute. It has a normal Score, but also has a modifier 
  equal to its Score minus 10. (For example, Speed 13 has a 
  +3 modifier). This allows characters to Chase or Race by 
  making appropriate Speed challenges or opposed rolls, 
  which results in longer races or pursuits over several 
  rounds as characters close in or increase their lead with 
  each success. This makes the use of Speed more cinematic 
  and exciting; after all, no one can always move at their 
  optimum speed, especially in chaotic situations.
       Example of a Quick Pursuit
   Nayta the Skimmer (Speed 14) is pursuing the fleet-
  footed thief who just snatched her gem pouch! She rolls a 
  d20 and gets a 12. She adds her Speed modifier (+4) for a 
  total of 16. This beats the thief’s Speed 12, and she catches 
  them in short order.
  Example of a Longer Race
  Nayta has agreed to a foot race through the local 
  streets, confident she can beat the irritating Pacari fool 
  who challenged her. The Keeper decides it will take four 
  rounds of running to reach the finish line. In the first 
  round, Nayta rolls a d20 and gets a 4! With her +4 Speed 
  modifier, her total of 8 is not enough to match the Pacari’s 
  Speed of 10 and he pulls ahead of her, while she curses 
  her luck at stumbling out of the starting block. In round 
  two, Nayta rolls an 11 (for a total of 15), enabling her to 
  catch up to the Pacari. Neck-and-neck as they enter the 
  third round, she rolls an 8 (for a result of 12), gritting her 
  teeth as she pulls slightly ahead of her opponent. As they 
  enter the final round, a decisive roll of 15 (total of 19) gives 
  her a clear lead and she sails across the finish line. She is 
  victorious, but her stumble at the start remains a valuable 
  lesson in not being overconfident!
  Example of a Speed Challenge
  Nayta is desperately running towards the exit of a 
  buried ruin as a heavy stone begins to roll across the door, 
  threatening to trap her inside forever! She makes a Speed 
  challenge roll, rolling a 7 and adding her Speed modifier of 
  +4. Her total of 11 just manages to beat the standard target 
  number of 10, and her desperate burst of speed gets her 
  through the exit just before the stone rolls into place with a 
  grinding thump!
  Area of Effect
  Areas of effect such as cones, lines, or spheres can affect 
  one opponent per yard of length or radius.
  165
  165
  
  Reference Tables
  Baseline Damage
  Starting
  1d6
  1d6 + 2
  Novice
  1d6 + 1
  2d6 + 1
  Expert
  2d6
  4d6
  Master
  4d6
  8d6
  Weather
  3
  Powerful storm
  x 4 (see text)
  4–5
  Heavy precipitation
  x 1.5
  6–8
  Unseasonably cold
  x 1
  9–12
  Normal conditions
  x 1
  13–15
  Unseasonably warm
  x 1
  16–17
  Precipitation
  x 1.5
  18
  Storm
  x 2
  Travel Conditions
  Navigator
  3 boons
  Plains
  1 boon
  Desert
  1 bane
  Forest
  2 banes
  Hills
  1 bane
  Mountains
  2 banes
  Swamp
  2 banes
  Precipitation
  1 bane
  Storm
  2 banes
  Powerful Storm
  3 banes
  Encounter Frequency
  Extreme
  Hourly
  Major
  Once per 4 hours
  Moderate
  Once per 8 hours
  Minor
  Once per day and once per night
  Difficulty Per Day
  Starting
  25
  Novice
  100
  Expert
  200
  Master
  500
  Encounters
  Helpful
  20
  20
  —
  —
  Harmless
  18–19
  18–19
  20
  —
  Environment
  14–17
  14–17
  18–19
  19–20
  Nothing
  6–13
  8–13
  14–17
  17–18
  Easy combat
  2–5
  4–7
  8–13
  13–16
  Average combat
  1
  2–3
  4–7
  7–12
  Challenging 
  combat
  —
  1
  2–3
  3–6
  Hard combat
  —
  —
  1
  1–2
  Encounter Difficulty
  Starting
  3 or less
  4–15
  16–30
  31+
  25
  Novice
  10 or less
  11–30
  31–50
  51+
  100
  Expert
  30 or less
  31–50
  51–125
  126+
  250
  Master
  50 or less
  51–125
  126–200
  201+
  None
  Traps by Threat
  Thorn trap
  Lethal
  Starting
  Poisoned needle
  Lethal
  Starting
  Webs
  Obstacle
  Starting
  Concealed pit
  Snare
  Novice
  Spear trap
  Lethal
  Novice
  Concealed spiked pit
  Snare, lethal
  Expert
  Falling cage
  Obstacle
  Expert
  Flesh-eating slime
  Lethal
  Expert
  Pendulum blade
  Lethal
  Expert
  Collapsing ceiling
  Lethal, obstacle
  Master
  Flame jet
  Lethal
  Master
  Poison gas
  Lethal
  Master
  166
  166
  
  Reference Tables
  Reference Tables
  Physical Traits
  1
  Odd odor
  11
  Ugly
  2
  Grubby-looking
  12
  Nice clothing
  3
  Wrinkled
  13
  Bare feet
  4
  Oddly-shaped mouth
  14
  Covered in plant growth
  5
  Strange skin texture
  15
  Diseased
  6
  Lots of hair
  16
  Extra body part
  7
  Little hair
  17
  Strange Chaos mutations
  8
  Noticeable limp
  18
  Freckles
  9
  Nasty scar
  19
  Tattoo
  10
  Attractive
  20
  Missing body part
  Motivation
  1
  Adventure
  11
  Love
  2
  Atonement
  12
  Magic
  3
  Chaos
  13
  Order
  4
  Glory
  14
  Peace
  5
  Good
  15
  Power
  6
  Immortality
  16
  Salvation
  7
  Improvement
  17
  Security
  8
  Justice
  18
  Validation
  9
  Knowledge
  19
  Vengeance
  10
  Liberty
  20
  Wealth
  Personality Traits
  1
  Overprotective
  11
  Calm
  2
  Wicked
  12
  Reasonable
  3
  Cruel
  13
  Generous
  4
  Loud
  14
  Honest
  5
  Vulgar
  15
  Noble
  6
  Ignoble
  16
  Genteel
  7
  Scheming
  17
  Quiet
  8
  Greedy
  18
  Benevolent
  9
  Erratic
  19
  Virtuous
  10
  Nervous
  20
  Focused
  Treasure Limits
  Starting
  2
  Novice
  10
  Expert
  100
  Master
  1000
  Pure Light Attack and Damage
  Starting
  4d6
  +1
  Novice
  6d6
  +2
  Expert
  10d6
  +3
  Master
  14d6
  +4
  Chaos Shard Effects by Rank
  1
  Chaos site
  2
  Chaos site
  3
  Chaos site, Chaos beasts
  4
  Chaos site, Chaos beasts, attack
  5
  Chaos site, Chaos beasts, attack
  Discord to Chaos Site Rank
  1-5
  No Chaos site
  6-10
  Rank 1
  11-15
  Rank 2
  16-18
  Rank 3
  19-20
  Rank 4
  21+
  Rank 5
  Chaos Site Size
  1
  10 yards
  2
  30 yards
  3
  100 yards
  4
  1 mile
  5
  5 miles
  Creature Difficulty
  1
  Starting
  5
  Starting
  10
  Novice
  25
  Novice
  50
  Expert
  100
  Expert
  250
  Master
  500
  Master
  167
  167
  
  Reference Tables
  Reference Tables
  168
  168
  
  Reference Tables
  Reference Tables
  169
  169
  
  Reference Tables
  Reference Tables
  170
  170
  
  Reference Tables
  Reference Tables
  171
  171
  
  Reference Tables
  Reference Tables
  172
  172
  
  Reference Tables
  Reference Tables
  173
  173
  
  A
  Academy, the ...................................................50
  Actions ..............................................................18
  Adventures..............................................157–163
  Between...............................................................161
  by Level ..................................................... 160–161
  Expert ..................................................................161
  Master .................................................................161
  Novice .................................................................160
  Tools .................................................................... 163
  Amber William ..............................................50
  Ancients ..........................................................116
  Animals ....................................................116–117
  Huge .....................................................................116
  Large ....................................................................116
  Medium ...............................................................117
  Small ....................................................................117
  Swarm .................................................................117
  Tiny .....................................................................117
  Animate Plant .........................................117–119
  Huge .....................................................................117
  Large ....................................................................119
  Medium ...............................................................119
  Small ....................................................................119
  Tiny .....................................................................119
  Arena Fighter ................................................148
  Artifacts .............................................................31
  Aspect of Gaia ....................................... 119–120
  Aspects of Chaos .......................................... 122
  Assassin ..........................................................146
  Atra Star-Eyes .................................................43
  Attack Multiple Targets................................18
  Attributes ................................................... 9, 114
  Automatic Success ...........................................9
  B
  Bandit ..............................................................142
  Bandit Captain .............................................142
  Banes ...................................................................9
  Barrens, the .....................................................58
  Battlefields ..................................................16–17
  Bazaar Square ..........................................49–50
  Bessar Palace ...................................................49
  Betty Blue-Eyes ..............................................75
  Beyond, the ......................................................74
  Black Cloud, the .............................................42
  Black Isle, the ............................................33–37
  Arriving ................................................................34
  Living World, the ...............................................35
  People of Import ................................................ 37
  Places of Interest ........................................36–37
  Points of Conflict ............................................... 37
  Black Molly .....................................................66
  Blice Fields, the ..............................................49
  Blight Champion .........................................120
  Blight Stalker ................................................120
  Blight Walker ................................................120
  Greater ...............................................................120
  Lesser ..................................................................120
  Blight Walkers ..............................................107
  Blooded Sands, the ..................................... 101
  Blue Shark, the ...............................................91
  Bodyguard .....................................................142
  Bodyguard, Storm Point.............................142
  Bone Army ................................................87–89
  Bone Army, the .........................................86, 91
  and Other Groups ..................................... 88–89
  Seekers and .........................................................89
  Bone Captain ................................................ 147
  Bone Dreadnought ...................................... 147
  Bone Mercenary ........................................... 147
  Boons...................................................................9
  Branch Points ................................................ 163
  Bravo ................................................................ 145
  Brigand ...........................................................142
  Briston.............................................................164
  Bruiser ............................................................146
  Brute ................................................................146
  Bugtown ...........................................................57
  Burglar ............................................................149
  C
  Campaigns ..................................................... 162
  Captain ...........................................................149
  Captain Leshik ...............................................66
  Captain Vel the  
  Water-Devil ................................................66
  Carnitaur .................................................120–121
  Bull .......................................................................121
  Pack Leader .......................................................121
  Champion .......................................................152
  Chaos ....................................................25, 77–79
  People of Import ................................................78
  Places of Interest ...............................................78
  Points of Conflict ...............................................79
  Chaos Adept .................................................. 143
  Chaos Beast ........................................... 122–124
  Huge ....................................................................122
  Large ...................................................................122
  Medium ..............................................................124
  Small ...................................................................124
  Tiny ....................................................................124
  Chaos Well, the ..............................................78
  Chaos Wielder .............................................. 143
  Characteristics ..................................................9
  Characters ...............................142–150, 154–155
  Bonded ................................................................ 154
  Creating ..............................................................155
  Difficulty by Level ..........................................155
  Marauder ...........................................................155
  Survivor ..............................................................155
  Templates ..................................................154–155
  Vanguard ............................................................155
  Chases ............................................................. 163
  Circle of Six, the .................................37, 86, 91
  Collapsing  
  Ceiling (trap) ........................................27–28
  Combat ........................................................15–19
  Difficulty .......................................................15–16
  Ending ...................................................................19
  Commoner .................................................... 143
  Companions ..............................................30–31
  Concealed Pit (trap) ......................................28
  Concealed  
  Spiked Pit (trap) .........................................28
  Connections ..............................................30–31
  Construct ............................................... 124–125
  Huge ....................................................................124
  Large ....................................................................125
  Medium ...............................................................125
  Small ....................................................................125
  Contacts .............................................................31
  Council of Mothers, the .........................58, 93
  Countdown Die, the ................................... 163
  Coward’s Point ................................................36
  Creatures ................... 113–115, 116–141, 150–153
  Attack Options .......................................... 115, 151
  Attributes ............................................................151
  by Difficulty ......................................................153
  Characteristics .........................................114, 150
  Descriptor...........................................................114
  Discord ................................................................115
  End of the Round .............................................115
  Equipment ..........................................................151
  Essence ................................................................115
  Frightening ........................................................113
  Information .......................................................113
  Role .......................................................................152
  Size ......................................................................150
  Special Actions..................................................115
  Special Attacks..................................................115
  Strain ...................................................................115
  Crimson Mask, the ........................................58
  Crystal-Wasp Swarm ...................................125
  Cultist ..............................................................148
  Cult Leader ....................................................148
  Custodian, the ................................................66
  Customizing .......................................... 150–153
  D
  Daishya ............................................................125
  Damage .............................................................11
  Demon .....................................................126–127
  Blessings ............................................................126
  Greater ...............................................................126
  Lesser ..................................................................126
  Minor .................................................................. 127
  Demon-Bound Commoner ...................... 143
  Demon-Bound Warrior ............................. 145
  Demon Fighter ............................................. 143
  Index
  174
  174
  
  Index
  Index
  Demon Hunter ............................................. 143
  Demons .....................................................95–98
  Encountering ......................................................96
  People of Import ................................................97
  Places of Interest ...............................................96
  Points of Conflict ........................................97–98
  Devourer .................................................127–128
  Discord .............................................................25
  Disease ..............................................................26
  Duelist ............................................................ 145
  Duelist, Master ............................................. 145
  E
  Environmental Hazards ...............................26
  Escalations .......................................................24
  Exploration .................................................13–15
  Exposure ..........................................................26
  Extra Damage .................................................18
  F
  Face of the Sea, the ..................................36–37
  Falling Cage (trap) .........................................28
  Far East ..............................................................71
  Fariha ..............................................................184
  Feral Ship .......................................................128
  Fire .....................................................................26
  First Clutch, the ........................................... 101
  Flame Jet (trap) ...............................................28
  Fleeing .............................................................. 19
  Flesh-Eating Slime (trap) ............................28
  Frightening .....................................................113
  G
  Gaia ..........................................................105–107
  General Harrik ...............................................75
  Goddess’s Eye, the ...................................65, 78
  God’s Corpse, the ....................................42–43
  Godswamp, the ............................................. 101
  Grandfather Ash ............................................58
  Great Game, the ..............................................51
  Great Menhir of Ordru, the ........................41
  Great Scar, the ......................................... 36, 96
  Great Tree, the ................................................57
  Green Army ...................................................107
  Green Army, the ............................................ 88
  Green Valley, the ............................................36
  H
  Halay Ghet ..................................................... 101
  Haunt ..............................................................129
  Healing ..............................................................11
  Heart, the .........................................................96
  Heartwood .......................................................57
  Hero ..................................................................152
  Hired Killer .................................................... 145
  Horok ..............................................................129
  House Spy ......................................................146
  House Spy-Catcher .....................................146
  Howlbeast ......................................................130
  Hungry Fleet, the ...........................................65
  Hunter ............................................................. 147
  Hunting Mass ...............................................130
  Hyden .................................................................71
  I
  Impose Affliction ........................................... 19
  Improvised Activities ..............................18–19
  Insect ........................................................130–131
  Huge ....................................................................130
  Large ....................................................................131
  Medium ...............................................................131
  Small ....................................................................131
  Swarm .................................................................131
  Tiny .....................................................................131
  Insect Weaver ................................................150
  Ishnualo ...........................................................43
  Isle of Ascendance, the ............................... 48
  J
  Jungle of Sorrow, the.....................................41
  K
  Kalea Snake ...................................................128
  Kingfisher Society, the ...............89, 89–91, 93
  and Other Groups ............................................. 91
  Seekers and ......................................................... 91
  Kingswatch ......................................................36
  L
  Leader ..............................................................152
  Level Increase ..........................................29–30
  Living Door ................................................... 132
  Living Mist ..................................................... 132
  Lorchus ........................................................... 132
  M
  Mainland ................................................... 68–75
  Living World ......................................................73
  People of Import ................................................ 75
  Points of Conflict ............................................... 75
  Martu Canyon ................................................43
  Megalith ...........................................................64
  Mercenary ...................................................... 147
  Mind Trap .......................................................133
  Mines of Korunna, the .................................36
  Mob ..................................................................153
  Monster ...................................................133–134
  Huge .....................................................................133
  Large ....................................................................133
  Medium ...............................................................133
  Small ....................................................................134
  Tiny .....................................................................134
  Moot Point .......................................................74
  Mother of Demons. the .............................. 101
  Musician ..........................................................152
  N
  Naga ..........................................................134–135
  Blessings .............................................................135
  Champion ..........................................................135
  Clutch-Sister .....................................................134
  Warrior ...............................................................134
  Naga Swamps, the .........................................74
  Naga Swamp, the ...........................................78
  Naga, the ..........................................88, 98–100
  Encountering ....................................................100
  People of Import .............................................. 101
  Places of Interest ............................................. 101
  Points of Conflict ............................................. 101
  Nanok Tribe, the ............................................43
  New Gaia ....................................................52–59
  Arriving ................................................................54
  Living World, the ...............................................55
  People of Import ................................................58
  Places of Interest ........................................57–58
  Points of Conflict ........................................58–59
  Night Bird, the ................................................97
  Noble Houses .....................................50, 86, 88
  No Man’s Land ................................................73
  O
  Objective .........................................................157
  Officer .............................................................149
  Old Man Oak ..................................................97
  Old Sawtooth ..................................................97
  P
  Pacari .......................................................... 39–43
  Arriving ................................................................40
  Living World, the ...............................................41
  People of Import ................................................43
  Places of Interest ........................................41–43
  Points of Conflict ...............................................43
  Pacing .................................................................11
  Parasitic Seed .........................................135–136
  Patroller ..........................................................148
  Pendulum Blade (trap) ..........................28–29
  Pickpocket ......................................................149
  Pirate ...............................................................149
  Pit Fighter ...................................................... 147
  Places of Interest ......................................73–74
  Plant Weaver .................................................150
  Player Characters ..................................... 19–21
  Death ....................................................................20
  Exits ......................................................................20
  Introducing New ...............................................21
  Starting Levels ....................................................19
  Plot Structure ................................................ 159
  Poisoned Needle (trap) .................................29
  Poison Gas (trap) ............................................29
  Poison Lands, the ...........................................57
  Professional ................................................... 143
  Professions .................................................. 9–10
  Pure Light ...............................................107–108
  Attack ..................................................................108
  175
  175
  
  Index
  Index
  Damage .............................................................108
  Effects .................................................................107
  R
  Random Encounters ............................... 14–15
  Ranger ............................................................. 147
  Ravager ........................................................... 145
  Rebel Islands, the ..........................................50
  Red Alliance, the ...................59, 86, 91, 92–93
  and Other Groups .............................................93
  Seekers and .........................................................93
  Reega ............................................................... 136
  Rewards ......................................................29–31
  Rezzik .............................................................. 136
  Rounds ..............................................................18
  S
  Sailor ...............................................................149
  Scalegrass Desert ...........................................42
  Scenes ......................................................157–159
  Discovery ...........................................................158
  Leaving Early ...................................................158
  Obstacle ..............................................................158
  Resting Between ...............................................159
  Setting .................................................................158
  Structure .............................................................158
  Transitions .........................................................159
  Seafarers, the ...........................................60–67
  Arriving ................................................................62
  Living World, the ..............................................63
  People of Import ................................................66
  Places of Interest ....................................... 64–66
  Points of Conflict ...............................................66
  Sea Serpents ...........................................136–137
  Large ....................................................................136
  Medium ...............................................................137
  Small ....................................................................137
  Sea Travel .........................................................26
  Secondary Characters ............................21–22
  Background .........................................................22
  Major .............................................................21–22
  Minor ....................................................................22
  Secrets ............................................................. 163
  Seeker points ..................................................24
  Serpents’ Graveyard, the ..............................64
  Servant of Gaia .............................................148
  Servitor ....................................................137–138
  Greater ................................................................137
  Lesser .................................................................. 138
  Minor .................................................................. 138
  Shipwatch ........................................................58
  Silgir ................................................................ 139
  Silgiri ...............................................................102
  Sky Bridge, the ...............................................50
  Sky City ......................................................44–51
  Arriving ................................................................46
  Living World, the ..............................................48
  People of Import ......................................... 50–51
  Places of Interest ....................................... 48–50
  Points of Conflict ................................................51
  Skyward Temple, the ....................................36
  Spear Trap (trap) ............................................29
  Standard-Bearer ............................................152
  Starlight Caverns, the ...................................58
  Starting Point .................................................157
  Statistics Box ..................................................113
  Stormcrow .................................................75, 78
  Storm Point .......................................................71
  Strain .................................................................24
  Suffocation ......................................................26
  Surrender ......................................................... 19
  Svit ................................................................... 139
  Swarm ................................................................ 139
  Svit Swarm, the ..............................................49
  Swallow, the ...............................................50–51
  Swarm-Hound ......................................139–140
  T
  Templar ..........................................................148
  Terrain ...............................................................13
  Theatre of the Mind .................................... 165
  Thorn-Eyes ......................................................37
  Thorn Trap (trap) ...........................................28
  Thousand Ports, the ...............................65–66
  Thundering Plains, the ................................74
  Time ...................................................................11
  To’ato .................................................................43
  Tough ..............................................................146
  Traps ............................................................27–29
  Designing ............................................................27
  Disarming ...........................................................27
  Finding .................................................................27
  Sample ...........................................................27–29
  Seeker-Created ..................................................27
  Travel ............................................................13–15
  Conditions ............................................................14
  Treasure ............................................................30
  Turns .................................................................18
  Twins, the ................................................... 71–72
  U
  University of Chaos .......................................73
  Unmaker, the ..................................................97
  V
  Vakan the Purifier ..........................................37
  Veteran ............................................................148
  Vinich................................................................43
  Vishra the Swift ............................................ 101
  Vithek............................................. 102–103, 140
  Vvakir ..............................................................140
  Dray ....................................................................140
  Riding .................................................................140
  W
  Way of Cassit, the....................................46–47
  Way of Cati, the ..............................................78
  Way of Harut, the ....................................40–41
  Way of Jezir, the ..............................................63
  Way of Kesha, the ....................................... 100
  Way of Krescien, the ...............................72–73
  Way of Soruva, the.........................................34
  Way of That Which Waits and Whispers, 
  the ..................................................................96
  Way of Vetta, the ............................................55
  Weather ............................................................14
  Webs (trap) ......................................................29
  Wooden Legion .......................................85–86
  Wooden Legion, the ............................... 88, 93
  and Other Groups ......................................85–86
  Seekers and .........................................................86
  Wooden Man, the ..........................................43
  Wyvern ...................................................140–141
  Variations ...........................................................141
  Z
  Zylvare .....................................................102, 141
  176
  176
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Asunder (SotDL)/Asunder_Keepers_Tome.pdf