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Huey Nomure
2013-09-09, 10:09 AM
Sandbox
(temporary name)

Many have tried to craft what they thought was a (almost) perfect RPG. This is my modest attempt to build a system that takes the best of some of them to shape a flavorful, complete system that can be adapted to many settings. In the future I'll try to write a setting specifically with this system in mind, but first things first.
List of the materials that will allow you to easily skip most of the basic rules:
-Vampire: the Masquerade/Dark Ages (almost the whole base system)
-Warhammer 2nd. ed. (Damage processing during combat; you can skip it and use V:tM's, but you'll have to rearrange the damage range of magical powers)
-Homestuck (Aspect and Roles, mostly fluff)

This post will be mostly an introduction to the main aspects of the game; the actual rules will be posted on the following posts.

Magic
Special powers in Sandbox are not inherently eldritch abilities that tap into ancient and cursed vampiric blood; they just are "magic". There are powers that allow people to toss boulders around, others that let read people's mind and obviously ones that unleash lethal explosions. Magic is, simply put, the ability to generate, consume or manipulate distinct parts of reality. Each of these "sections" of the world as we know it are linked to one or more Sources of power (Sources for short); creature able to wield magic, called "magicians", have access to one Source of a single set, depending on the nature of the magician. For example, Mages channel the power of Aspects: a Mage character will choose her Aspect from a list of six, each granting different powers and areas of influence.
Also, Storytellers (or DM, as you prefer) are invited to use the Rule of Cool when a magician acts accordingly to her "fate". For example, the Aspect of Dark has influence over trust and faith; a Dark Mage (despite of her title) can be more likely to appear trustworthy and faithful, whether she is or not: a Storyteller should tip the scales on her favor when the result of her initiative is uncertain, or allow for a roll even when it should be impossible, as long as it doesn't wreck the storyline.

Tl;dr: my answer to the ancient question "magic will always trample mundane" is to give everyone magic. The types of magic also influence what a character is more likely to accomplish.

Huey Nomure
2013-09-09, 10:11 AM
Rules
Golden Rule: the Storyteller can overrule and/or modify any part of the game at her discretion.
Rule Zero: if a special effect (examples: supernatural powers, Merits, Flaws) contradicts any part of these rules, the trait overrides the rules.
Creature: any being with the capability to act.
About rounding: any decimal value will be rounded down unless otherwise stated.

Time
Time is divided in the following units:
Round: rounds are usually used to describe hectic moments as combat. A round has a standard duration of three seconds. During combat and similar moments, every character divides her round in active turn, the part of the round during which she can act freely, and defensive turn, the rest of the round during which she can usually only react to others.
Scene: a scene is a compact period of action and interaction taking place in a single location. The exact length of each scene is defined by the Storyteller.
Story: a complete tale including its introduction and resolution. Stories can have very different durations, both in- and off-game.
Chronicle: a series of Stories connected by the characters and their ongoing narrative.
Downtime: a downtime is a narrative period that isn’t roleplayed, usually due to its roleplaying scarce value opposed to its length. It can be a long wait or a period of research, for example. A downtime can divide two scenes taking place in the same location.

Ratings and Power Level
Most character traits have a numeral rating, named Level. Each level is also called Point. This is the meaning of many traits’ rating:
x: Non-existent
0: Abysmal
1: Poor
2: Average
3: Good
4: Excellent
5: Outstanding
6+ : Supernatural
Power Level: the Power Level of a creature is the maximum level the creature can achieve in her traits; exceptions are Willpower and Morality [WIP]. The majority of non-magical beings have a Power Level of 5. The Power Level isn’t necessarily immutable: some creatures can increase their Power Level. Even the most powerful creatures, as ancient wyverns and lesser gods, can’t have a Power Level greater than 10.

Rolling Dice
To define the result of most actions and some events, this system uses ten-faced dice (d10). They can be used to determine percentage results or other rolls. Usually, the term “roll” doesn’t include percentage rolls. The term “magical roll” refer to a roll made because of one of the character’s powers. Usually the expression “the character rolls” replace “the character’s player rolls” for the sake of brevity.
Dice pool: the number of dice rolled in a single roll.
Most common rolls have a dice pool equal to the sum of the levels of an Attribute, the raw potential of the creature, and an Ability, her acquired skill. The dice pool can be modified by a creature’s special trait, as a supernatural power or a Merit, or external influences; however, a creature can’t have a dice pool higher than the double of her Power level unless otherwise stated. Other common rolls have a dice pool determined by an Attribute alone, since there’s no Ability that could help.
Example: a scholar needs to find a book regarding a peculiar topic about human anatomy in a vast library. Her player will roll Perception+Medicine; she has three points in Perception and four in Medicine; this means the player rolls seven dice to search for any relevant book.
She eventually finds the book, but to reach it she has to move a heavy shelf. There’s no skill that could help this roll; this means the roll will involve Strength alone. She has two points in Strength, so the dice roll will be two.
Difficulty
The difficulty of a roll is a number between 2 and 10 that determine the result of the roll. 6 is an average difficulty, meaning that the action isn’t particularly tricky nor easy; a difficulty of 2 means that the task is trivial and unremarkable, and there’s no need to roll to succeed; a difficulty of 10 means that the task is almost impossible, and the chances of success and spectacular failure are the same. The difficulty of a roll can be modified by a creature’s special trait, as a supernatural power or a Merit, or external influences; rolls with a modified difficulty higher than 10 can be ruled as impossible by the Storyteller, while rolls with a modified difficulty lower than 2 have an effective difficulty of 2.
Each die in your dice pool with a result equal or higher than the difficulty makes you score a success. Usually a creature only needs a single success to carry out most actions; however, a higher amount of successes in the roll means the creature has accomplished the task at hand with greater precision or with less effort and/or time needed. If no success is scored in the roll, the result is a failure.
Example: the scholar rolled her Perception+Medicine dice pool with a difficulty of 6 and the result of the dice is 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 8 and 9: the roll has scored four successes, meaning that the search has been quick and successful.
Suggestion: if the creature is not under stress (in a hurry or during combat, for example) and the difficulty of a roll is lower than both 7 and the dice pool, the creature can have the chance of carry out the action without the need to roll. If she decides so, the action is carried out as she scored a single success.
Abbreviation: when traits or combination of traits are put between brackets, the expression refers to the level of the traits; difficulty will be often shortened as “D.”; modifiers will be shortened as D.+X or D.-X, where X is a number. For example, a “Wits+Alertness D.8 roll” means “roll with dice pool of (Wits+Alertness) (=the sum of Wits and Alertness levels) and a difficulty of 8”.
Rules of 1
Results of 1 on a die have greater impact on the success of the whole roll than a simple failure.
If a 1 is rolled on a die, the result of the dice is a failure and a successful result on another roll is canceled, as the other die scored a simple failure. A result of 1 is called “critical failure”.
Botches
Botches are remarkable strokes of misfortune. A roll results in a botch if no die score a successful result and there are one or more results of critical failure. If at least a die scored a successful result, whether is canceled by a critical failure or not, the roll is not a botch. Botches produce an inconvenience of some sort at Storyteller’s discretion; it can be a simple nuisance or a critical complication.
Example: highwaymen try to rob the scholar. She tries to run back to the city, where the guards will protect her, but the shortest path is through the woods, littered with bushes and trees. She decides to pass through the woods, but her escape is hindered by obstacles, so a Dexterity+Survival is needed to keep moving avoiding them. She has two points of Dexterity and one of Survival, so she has a dice pool of three. The results of the roll are 1, 3 and 4 against D.6, so the scholar botches. She stumble on a root and falls on the ground, while the highwaymen approach…
Stress and Repeated Attempts
Failure can lead to stress and frustration, and stress to other failures. When trying to carry out an action again after a failure, the Storyteller can add a D.+1 cumulative modifier; this modifier can lead to impossible rolls. This modifier is especially appropriated if the action is usually either performed at the first try or not performed at all.
Example: A dancer performs her show in the royal court for the first time; the court has seen its share of dancers, so the audience is jaded. The roll to please the court will be Dexterity+Performance D.7. The dancer fails, but she tries to amend extending her performance, hoping the king won’t stop her because of her misstep. The Storyteller decides that the roll can be repeated, but the difficulty will be raised by 1 due to the court skepticism about her skills.
Extended and Resisted Actions
A lot of actions can be accomplished with the need of a single roll. On the other hand there are many situations, especially critical ones, requiring more.
Example: Robbed of all her money, the scholar has been tasked to retrieve the origin of the name of all the magical creatures that are said to inhabit the near forest and their origin, with the hope to find some useful information about their weak points. She doubts it, but she accepted anyway to earn the money to stay at the inn and take down some notes for a detailed bestiary she could write in the future. She will need all the night to research the shelf of books they gave to her, and maybe some more…
Example: Someone knocks at the door of the solitary haven of a retired adventurer in the forest. When the owner opens she finds some sharp-dressed man who claims to carry orders from the duke. He doesn’t show the adventurer any proof, and something in his smile unsettles her. The adventurer doesn’t buy his story and tries to close the door, but the man stops it with a hand and draws a knife. The liar in fine clothes clearly wants to kill her and raid her house. The mind of the adventurer goes to the sword hidden in the chest beneath her bed, but she won’t be able to reach it before the bandit can hurt her. The adventurer struggle to close the door: if she manages to close it he can lock it, find her sword and show that dimwit bandit he chose the wrong person to annoy. C’mon… she must do it… a little bit more…
To resolve the situation in the first example it will be necessary to make an extended roll. The Storyteller decides a number of successes that define the accomplishment of the task at hand, and the player rolls the appropriate dice pool until she scores a sufficient number of successes to carry out the task. Every roll usually corresponds to a certain time lost; this means that some extended actions could have a “roll limit”, a number of rolls after which the extended action is interrupted. Botches on an extended roll can make the creature need to start over from scratch, or lead to impossibility to continue the extended action. Other creatures can help the first one collecting successes; however, in some situations a botch from a single creature can endanger the success of the whole action.
To resolve the situation on the second example it will be necessary to make a resisted roll. The players of the two creatures will roll the appropriate dice pool, and the one who scored more successes wins. The degree of success, however, is hindered by the roll related to the resisting creature: every success in her roll will cancel a success of the winner. The remaining successes are called net successes.
Some rolls (as the second example) are both extended and resisted: after each roll the net successes are added to the total amount.
Example: The Storyteller will roll in the behalf of the bandit; he sets the difficulty of the roll as 6, and three successes as the amount needed to win. The player of the adventurer and the Storyteller both roll Strength. The adventurer has four points in Strength, while the bandit has three. The player rolls 1, 2, 7, 9: a single success; the Storyteller rolls 3, 8, 8: two successes, one net success on the resisted roll. The bandit has gained ground. During the second roll, the player rolls 4, 6, 9, 10, while the bandit rolls 5, 5 and 9: the player has scored two net successes, erasing the Storyteller’s one and adding her own to the total. The third roll results in 2, 5, 8, 9 for the player and 3, 4, 4 for the Storyteller: the player has collected three successes. The adventurer is able to shut the door close and lock it. She’s safe for now.
Active and Reflexive Rolls
A roll is called "active" if it's related to a deliberate decision of the player. Every attack and magical roll is active. A roll is called "reflexive" if it's related to an automatic reaction of the character. Willpower rolls are always reflexive if they are not magical, as they are Virtues, Humanity rolls and the majority of the rolls to resist a magic power. Roll to dodge, block and parry attacks are active rolls.
Some rolls are active or reflexive depending on the situation; a Perc+Alertness roll is active if the player is looking for something, and is reflexive if it's made to check whether the character has noted an odd detail in a scene.
Resistance to Rolls
There are traits or effects that make creatures more resistant to some interaction, as being attacked or being affected by powers.
“+X resistance”: If the action requires a roll to be successful, that roll has D.+X. If it doesn’t, but the creature can roll to resist it, that roll has D.-X. Otherwise the action has a chance X/5 to be resisted by the creature.

Additional Rules
These are set of rules that can be added to modify various facets of the game.

Dangerous Magic
Magic is something many magicians take for granted, but beginners (and sometimes even experts) must learn that even the simplest spell can backfire. When a magical roll botches, roll a percentile die and add 10x(botches -1) to the result to know how the failed spell affects the magician. The botched spell doesn’t have her usual effect unless stated otherwise. Blood Mages lose BP when they should lose MP; if a creature can’t lose the necessary amount of points, it takes the remaining points as aggravated damage that can’t be soaked and reduced in any way. If a creature takes an amount of damage greater than her Power Level in this way, she loses a WP and must roll Willpower D.8; if she fails, she is stunned until the end of her next round.



Roll Result


01-10 If the activation of the power needed the expense of points, the magician can spend that cost again to reroll.


11-20 The magician loses points as she tried to activate the spell twice, with no effect.


21-30 If the spell has a negative effect, the magician alone suffers from it; if the spell has a positive effect, another target (usually a hostile one) benefits from it. The effects can be modified at the Storyteller’s discretion.


31-40
Minor mana clash: any magical creature within (5xBotches)m loses a MP, a BP and needs to roll Willpower D.8; if some don’t, they suppress any sustained power.


41-45
Major mana clash: any magical creature within (3xBotches)m loses a WP, 1d10 MP, 1d10 BP and suppresses any active sustained powers; any magical creature within (10xBotches)m loses a MP, a BP and needs to roll Willpower D.8; if some don’t, they suppress any sustained power.


46-50
The magician loses 2d10 MP and 2d10 BP.


51-55
The magician can’t make use of that power again until she rests.


56-57
The magician can’t make use of powers from the same Path of the power until she rests.


58-67
The magician is stunned for (1d2+botches) rounds unless she makes a Willpower D.8 roll.


68-77
The magician is stunned for (1d2+botches) rounds.


78-82
The magician is stunned and babbles incoherently for (1d5+botches) minutes.


83-84
The magician is helpless for (1d5+botches) minutes.


85-94
The magician takes 1d5 aggravated damage that can’t be reduced or soaked in any way.


95-96
The magician takes aggravated damage until her total damage amount is equal to her PR.


97-98
The magician takes a derangement as magic wrecks her mind.


99-100
The spell made a mess of the magician’s mana: the magician suppresses all the active sustained powers, can’t activate any magical power and can’t benefit from her own [P] powers, except for Essence effects, for (1+botches) hours.
101+ Reroll a number of times equal to [(result-90)x0.1], rounded up, rerolling again any result of 101+. The effects apply from highest result to the lowest.

Huey Nomure
2013-09-09, 10:13 AM
Please note that I refer to "the Mage" as the active party, not "the player": this may be incorrect by semantics (a Mage doesn't roll dice to cast).
Furthermore, the elemental path of every Aspect can also be used by Wizards.

Darkness
Black Mages
"Doesn't it feel just... wrong?"
Nicknames: Creeper, Owl, Bat
Colours: Black and violet
Flaw: Nightmares (the dice penalty doesn't affects the activation of Darkness powers)
Advantage: Intimidate, Occult
State of Grace: Total Eclypse
Attributes:
Personality, inclinations, role:
Title Values: Faith, trust, rest, serenity, corruption, pain, despair, illusion.
Views:
Sword:
Void:
Blood:
Nature:
Mind:
Powers
[MIT]

Setting
Physical death, True Death and Immortal Soul
Wizards believe to master Death itself, but only a complete Black Mage can truly explore the truth in the ending of life, and its consequences on beings. Sometimes a Blue Mage helps the powerful Nekrosys Mages on their studies, and the few that cared to divulge their results confirm these informations, usually using irrational descriptors and suggestive descriptions that are very unbecoming of their usual behaviour.
Physical “death”
For starters, physical death is theoretically not definitive; there are a few secret rituals that are able to give mortal life to the “soul” of a deceised being, but all the successes showed problems that compromised the continued existance of the specimens. Even when the perfectly preserved body that hosted the “soul” during mortal life is used, crippling incompatibilities cause existance failure in the short period.
Immortal Soul
The Immortal Soul, term cherished by a vast majority of Sightless religions, finds little grip in Mages’ communities; a lot of Mages believe their essence is a shard of their Aspect, returning to its spring at the end of mortal life. Nekrosys Mages are often researchers, and know that while innate knowledge has enormous power, irrational belief is crippling to the research of the truth.
Various secret Darkness texts define the Immortal Soul of a being in slightly different ways, but the main concept is unanimous: it’s an entity with spiritual energy that carries the core of a being’s memories, behaviours, emotions and sensations.
The birth of a soul is a controversial matter, and it’s said that the Creation of a soul is a wonder so great that no creature can grasp it with its limited mind. But since the birth, the soul of a creature is linked so deeply to its body that many texts say that the body could as well be a part of the soul, or that soul and body are merely different facets of a single entity.
WIP

Huey Nomure
2013-09-09, 10:15 AM
Sword
"There's no limit to emprovement."
Nicknames: Fencers
Colours: Sword Mages have no signature color.
Flaw:
Advantage:
State of Grace:
Attributes:
Personality, inclinations, role:
Title Values: Passion, improvement, confidence, will to change and improve.
Views:
Darkness:
Void:
Blood:
Nature:
Mind:
Powers
[MIT]

Huey Nomure
2013-09-09, 10:16 AM
Void
Gray Mages
"You don't need to know that."
Nicknames: Aliens, Lurkers, Chameleons, Venals
Colors: Grey and white
Flaw: -2 dice to any mundane social roll.
Advantage: D.-1 to mundane Stealth and Subterfuge rolls; Arcane as per the 1pt Merit.
State of Grace:
Attributes:
Personality, inclinations, role:
Title Values: Lack of certainties and perception, direction, freedom through avoidance of limitations, annihilation, secrecy
Views:
Darkness:
Sword:
Blood:
Nature:
Mind:
Powers
[MIT, Material In Translation]

Huey Nomure
2013-09-09, 10:17 AM
Blood
Red Mages
"I can feel it."
Nicknames: Half-Mages, Half-Vampires, Brawlers
Colours: Red and yellow
Flaw: No MP, Impatient as per the Flaw.
Advantage: D.-1 on mundane Empathy and Expression rolls.
State of Grace: Unstoppable Rapture
Attributes:
Personality, inclinations, role:
Title Values: clouding of options, life, bonds, emotions, unity
Views:
Darkness:
Sword:
Void:
Nature:
Mind:
Powers
[MIT]

Huey Nomure
2013-09-09, 10:18 AM
Nature
Green Mages
"Trust your instinct."
Nicknames: Savages, Morphers, Clerics
Colors: Green and brown
Flaw:
Advantage:
State of Grace: Perfect Harmony
Attributes:
Personality, inclinations, role:
Title Values: Identity, instinct, adaptation, vital strength, freedom through destruction of limitations.
Views:
Darkness:
Sword:
Void:
Blood:
Mind:
Powers
[MIT]

Huey Nomure
2013-09-09, 10:19 AM
Mind
Blue Mages
"Trust me."
Nicknames:
Colors: Blue and cyan
Flaw:
Advantage:
State of Grace:
Attributes:
Personality, inclinations, role:
Title Values: sacrifice, trickery, perception, free choice, free will, limits, law.
Views:
Darkness:
Sword:
Void:
Blood:
Nature:
Powers
[MIT]

Huey Nomure
2013-09-09, 10:23 AM
Merits and Flaws

Every Sign has an additional price equal to the number of already possessed Signs. Having two Signs costs as a 5pt Merit, three Signs cost as a 9pt Merit and so on.

Physical
Ambidextrous (1pt Merit)
You have a high degree of off-hand dexterity and can perform task with the 'wrong' hand at no penalty. You must still use the rules for taking multiple actions, but will not suffer a difficulty penalty if, say, you use two weapons or are forced to use your off hand.

Sign of the Fighter (2pt Merit)
Your inner self drives you to struggle and act neglecting something trivial like pain when you can feel death's breath on your neck. You suffer blood loss penalty as you had 20 more BP and you ignore penalties related to injuries and pain short of limb incapacitation when in deadly danger.

Kissed by Blood (2pt Merit)
You double the usual BP daily recovery. This Merit cost 5 points to Blood Mages.

Enormous (4pt Merit)
You are 2,15m or higher, and you weight at least 130kg. Your max BP pool is increased by 15, and your PR is increased by 4. This Merit can be taken only by a character with 3+ Str and Cos.

Weak Constitution (2pt Flaw)
You half the daily BP recovery.

Social
Arcane (1 to 5pt Merit)
You are hard to notice and easy to forget: all the rolls made to pinpoint your location in a crowd, gather informations about you and similar actions have a dice penalty equal to the value of this merit. This merit makes you anonymous, not invisible: the penalty is not applied in Stealth or other active attempts to hide. Furthermore, your Status and Influence bonuses have no effect.
Void Mages can take this Merit, and it stacks with their characteristic trait.

Sign of the Beast (2pt Merit)
You are easily noticed: passer-bys never approach you, and even thugs rarely cross you. Somehow your aura is slightly menacing and repels people; WIP.

Sign of the Charlatan (2pt Merit)
You have a voice that lures attention and credulity. You have D.-2 on all speech-related rolls.

Magic Sympathy (2pt Merit)
You have D.-1 to all non-aggressive social rolls towards other Mages.

Savage (1pt Flaw)
You can't stand complicated hierarchies and city etiquette. You have D.+1 to all rolls requiring etiquette or related to bureaucracy.

Unsettling Aura (2pt Flaw)
You emit a strong magical aura that startles non-magical creatures: animals are frightened by you, and even Sightless have a feeling of unease. You have D.+1 to non-aggressive social rolls and D.-1 to Intimidate rolls against these creatures.

Instinctive Hate (2-4pt Flaw)
You can't stand Mages's presence; you have D.+2 to all non-aggressive social rolls towards them. For 2pt, this hatred is provoked only by Mages belonging to a certain Aspect; for 4 points, you are spiteful against all Mages with an Aspect different from yours.

Stigma (2-4pt Flaw)
This flaw has the same system of Instinctive Hate, but the cause is inverted: you are seen as a despicable person by a certain number of Mages.

Apostate (3pt Flaw)
You are surprisingly unable to find common ground with Mages of your same Aspect. This can be caused by an unusual ethic or academic position you hold, but is reflected in your magical aura: even newly-met Mages perceive your position of reject. You have D.+2 on all social rolls towards creatures belonging to your same Aspect. Apostate Mages of the same Aspect can be reciprocally unaffected by this flaw.

Mental
Acute Senses (1pt Merit)
One of your senses is exceptionally sharp, be it sight, hearing, smell, touch or taste. The difficulties for all tasks involving the use of this particular sense are reduced by two. This Merit can be combined with the Path of Vision Omnifold to produce superhuman sensory acuity.
Acute Hearing: You have exceptionally sharp hearing, even for a vampire. The difficulties of all dice roll that relate to hearing (e.g. Perception + Alertness to hear a faint noise, or Perception + Linguistics to overhear a conversation in a foreign language) are decreased by two.
Acute Sense of Smell: You have an exceptionally keen sense of smell. The difficulties of all dice rolls that relate to smell (e.g., Intelligence + Occult to identify a ritual incense) are reduced by two.
Acute Sense of Taste: You have an exceptionally keen sense of taste. The difficulties of all dice rolls that relate to taste (e.g., Perception + Medicine to spot the taint of poison in blood or another substance) are reduced by two. You are able to make precise distinctions in taste.
Acute Vision: You have exceptionally keen eyesight. The difficulties of all dice rolls that relate to vision (e.g., a Perception roll to spot a clue, or Perception + Alertness to see the shadow of an approaching attacker) are reduced by two.
This Merit can be taken up to four times, and each time a difference sense must be chosen.

Time Sense (1pt Merit)
You have an innate sense of time, and can with a good deal of accuracy tell what time it is without a watch. In performing feats where timing may be essential (such as certain combat or athletic maneuvers), difficulties may be lowered or dropped.

Eidetic Memory (2pt Merit)
You remember what you see and hear with perfect detail. Documents, events, and conversations can be committed to memory with only minor concentration. Under stressful conditions involving numerous distractions, you must make a Perception + Alertness roll (difficulty 6) to summon enough concentration to absorb what your senses detect. Note: You, as a player, are responsible for keeping all information and conversations you wish your character to have memorized.

Sign of the Oracle (2pt Merit)
Some Guides and Bards can perceive the Fate of the people surrounding them with a glance. When looking an humanoid creature, you can roll Per+Occult D.7; if you score a success, you can identify her as a member of the Caste of Regalia, another Oracle or a Chosen with a Thief, Bane or Knight role. If the creature isn't a Chosen, you identify her as a Sightless. If you score four or more successes, you can identify the exact role of the observed creature. If you score a failure, you can't detect the creature's Fate for a whole lunar month.
Only a Bard or a Guide can take this Merit.

Allergic (1-3pt Flaw) You suffer from an allergy to some substance; a 1 pt. version inconveniences you and may increase difficulties in certain situations, the 3 pt. version means you have an incapacitating or even a potentially fatal reaction to the substance.

Bad Sight (1pt Flaw) Your sight is defective. The difficulties of any die rolls involving the use of your eyesight are increased by two. As a one-point Flaw, this condition can be corrected with glasses or contacts; as a three-point Flaw, the condition is too severe to be corrected.

Hard of Hearing (1pt Flaw)
Your hearing is defective. The difficulties of any die rolls involving the use of hearing are increased by 2.

One Eye (2pt Flaw)
You have only one eye - which eye is missing is up to you. The difficulties of all Perception rolls involving eyesight are increased by 2, and the difficulties of all die rolls requiring depth perception are increased by 1 (this includes ranged combat).

Psychological
Code of Honor (1pt Merit)
You follow a strict personal code, and you either gain Conscience extra dice to resist mind-affecting effects that would make you break your code, or the would-be persuader has to roll at a D.+Conscience. This merit can be canceled if you act willingly against your code.

Cold Blooded (1pt Merit)
You can be rational and clear headed even when under pressure. You don't suffer penalties from stressful situations and distractions, and powers that affect your emotions have D.+1.
Blood Mages can't take this Merit.

Berserker (2pt Merit)
You can enter a Frenzy state at will as a free action, unleashing your inner wrath and neglecting all penalties caused by pain. Furthermore, you have a bonus die to every physical roll during Frenzy.

Calm Heart (2pt Merit)
You are naturally calm and well-composed, and do not easily fly off the handle. You have D.-2 on all your Self-Control rolls, no matter how the incident is provoked.

Authentic Role (3pt Merit)
Your personality is deeply linked to your Role, consciously or not. You have 3 extra dice to resist any roll that would make you act against your Role. If the roll doesn't allow resistance, the roll has D.+3.

Daredevil (3pt Merit)
You are good at taking risks, and even better at surviving them. When attempting exceptionally risky actions, characters with this Merit add an additional three dice to their rolls, and negate a single botch die that may result from such a roll. Generally, such action must be at least difficulty 8 and have the potential to inflict significant amounts of damage if failed.

Iron Willed (5pt Merit)
You can spend a WP as a reflexive action to cancel an attempt to affect your mind through supernatural means; when you do this, you become immune to all mind-affecting powers for the whole scene. Your Willpower is considered of 2 points higher by mind-affecting powers.

Self Confident (5pt Merit)
When you spend a point of Willpower to gain an automatic success, your self-confidence may allow you to gain the benefit of that expenditure without actually losing the Willpower point. You do not lose the point when you spend it, unless you end the roll with only one success (i.e. you do not gain any additional successes from the dice you roll. This Merit may only be used when you need confidence in your abilities in order to succeed. This means you can use it only when the difficulty of your roll is six or higher. You may spend Willpower at other times; however, if the difficulty is five or less, the Willpower will be spent no matter what you roll.)

Impatient (1pt Flaw)
You have no patience for standing around and waiting. You want to do things NOW and the Devil take the hindmost. Every time you are forced to wait around instead of acting, a Self-Control roll is required to see if you go haring off on your own instead.

Short Fuse (2pt Flaw)
You are easily angered. D.+2 to all Self-Control rolls.
Blood Mages can switch this Flaw with their usual trait, gaining a Flaw point as they had a 1pt Flaw without any effect.

Vengeful (2-4pt Flaw)
You have a score to settle: you are obsessed with taking your revenge on an individual or group, and it is your overriding priority in any situation where you encounter the object of your revenge. You may temporarily resist your need for vengeance by spending a Willpower point. For 4 points, you want retaliate for every major humiliation or damage (being it physical, political or related to any aspect of your life) you suffer.

Detatched (3pt Flaw)
You focus on your projects so much you forget about qualms and ethics. Restoring lost humanity is almost impossible to you: you double the cost of Humanity and Conscience levels.

Rabid (5-7pt Flaw)
You have a hard time controlling yourself when enraged; your inner self is a wrathful entity that wakes with every minor humiliation, and makes you lose any hold on yourself. You have to make a Self-Control roll whenever you are provoked, humiliated, in presence of your nemesys or your rage is similarly teased. If you fail the roll, you enter a Frenzy to retaliate. For 5 points, when in Frenzy you don't activate any magical power; if you cannot take combat actions due to sustained powers, you suppress all the sustained powers when entering Frenzy. For 7 points, when frenzied you enter Magical Frenzy: you use both mundane and magical meanings to destroy the cause of your anger, with no regards to personal danger caused by blood loss penalties and other similar perils.

Supernatural
For obvious reasons, Blood Mages cannot take Merits and Flaws related to MP.

Inoffensive to Animals (1pt Merit)
Animals usually can sense the "unnatural" aura of magical creatures. In your case, however, animals still respond to you as if you were a Sightless. This Merit does not mean that they automatically like you, only that they do not automatically dislike you.

Cerebral Mana (2pt Merit)
You use Int instead of Wits to daily restore MP.

Everchanging Fate (2pt Merit)
Your destiny evolves with you, suggesting different goals and ways at different moments. You can change your Role at the beginning of every story.

Physical Mana (2pt Merit)
You use Con instead of Wits to daily restore MP.

Sign of the Enchanter (2pt Merit)
You are naturally gifted in enchantment, and you're able to work restlessly on it. You don't suffer from blood loss penalties while you're enchanting, and you have D.-1 on enchanting rolls.

Powerful Mana (3pt Merit)
You restore 2 extra MP per day.
You can take this Merit multiple times.

Double Destiny (4pt Merit)
For a rare weirdness of the Book, you have two different roads to follow. You have two Roles, and gain all the usual benefits from them both.

Favorable Karma (4pt Merit)
You restore a WP per day.

Unusual Enchanter (4pt Merit)
You can enchant weapons with Sword enchantments, even if you don't belong to that Aspect. You can enchant weapons as you had an Invocation level of (P/3)-1, where P is the sum of the levels on all your Paths.

Magical Prodigy (7pt Merit)
You have D.-1 to all magical rolls.

Hand of Fate (10pt Merit)
You enter a State of Grace whenever acting according to your Role. For example, a Wizard with the role of Knight will always enter a State of Grace when defending someone.

Frail Magic (3pt Flaw)
You subtract your Con to your maximum amount of MP. You can't take this Flaw together with Physical Mana.

Instinctive Magic (3pt Flaw)
You subtract your Int to your maximum amount of MP. You can't take this Flaw together with Cerebral Mana.
Mind Mages cannot take this Flaw.

Fateless (4pt Flaw)
The Book of Destiny didn't give you any direction; you have no Role, and thus no Title.

Unclean Mana (4pt Flaw)
You double the MP cost of any magical power.

Learning
Young Promise (2pt Merit)
You choose an Ability in which you have at least one level at the term of character creation. You half the Px cost needed to gain new level on that Ability.

Inept (5pt Flaw)
You are not attuned to your natural aptitudes, and therefore have five fewer points to spend on your Talents (so the greatest number of points you can spend on your Talents at the beginning of play would be eight, and the fewest would be zero). Of course, you can still spend freebie points to buy Talents. However, at the beginning of the game, you cannot have more than three dots in any Talent.

Uneducated (5pt Flaw)
As Inept, above, but dealing with Knowledge Abilities.

Unskilled (5pt Flaw)
As Inept, above, but dealing with Skill Abilities.

Other

(yeah, Italian text, you're getting the hang of it)

-Sopportare la Maledizione (Pregio 5pt.)
Per qualche motivo, il semplice contatto con il Ferro Freddo, la dannazione dei Maghi. Ignorate le penalità da semplice contatto con il Ferro Freddo, e aumentate le difficoltà di tutti i tiri (inclusi quelli per le Vie) se viene costretto con tale materiale. Chiodi e lame di Ferro Freddo conficcate nel corpo vi proibiranno comunque di utilizzare qualsiasi abilità correlata alla magia. Inoltre potete assorbire normalmente i danni da Ferro Freddo, che vengono comunque considerati aggravati ai fini della guarigione.
-Segno della Bestia (2 pt.)
Non passate facilmente inosservati, anzi: tutti i passanti che incrociate per strada vi stanno alla larga, e anche i malintenzionati ci pensano due volte prima di avvicinarvi. Qualcosa di indefinito nel fostro aspetto emanate un’alone di muta minaccia che respinge la maggior parte delle persone. Contro gli individui che non si sono ancora dimostrati fisicamente superiori a voi avete -2 ai tiri per intimidire, a cui corrisponde un +2 alla difficoltà a tutti i tiri per cercare di intimidirvi, raggirarvi o ordinarvi di fare qualcosa. Questi vantaggi si dimezzano contro i Maghi, ma vengono aumentati di 1 contro gli animali.

Ferro Freddo
Il Ferro Freddo è un particolare materiale di origine alchimica, che si dice venisse utilizzato per catturare o uccidere le creature Fatate, di cui mitologicamente i Maghi sono i discendenti. Il suo aspetto è del tutto simile a quello del ferro o dell’acciaio, ma con la Visione Magica sembra assorbire la luce circostante e riflettere un’inquietante bagliore nero. I danni inflitti con Ferro Freddo sono aggravati, e anche il solo contatto con questo materiale è sgradevole fino quasi al dolore: il semplice contatto con un oggetto causa una penalità di un dado ad ogni tiro, penalità raddoppiata per i tiri per attivare abilità magiche, più un tiro Volontà D.6 per ogni due turni in cui vengono mantenute attive. Essere ammanettati o comunque costretti in qualche modo con il Ferro Freddo impedisce l’utilizzo di ogni capacità magica e conferisce una penalità di 2 dadi ad ogni altro tiro, così come l’avere un frammento di Ferro Freddo all’interno del proprio corpo (per esempio in una ferita aperta).

Sfida
Tutte le creature dotate di intelletto possono essere intimorite; molti guerrieri (e non solo) cercano di produrre nel loro avversario un senso di inferiorità prima ancora di attaccare in modo da rendere la propria vittoria ancora più facile; i bulli usano la loro apparenza e le loro capacità intimidatorie per avere ciò che vogliono senza l’uso della violenza fisica. Quando un individuo lancia una Sfida ad un altro, siano essi umani, animali o creature magiche, effettuano un tiro contrapposto Car+Int D.7 (D. che può variare a seconda delle Reputazione dei due, o della fiducia riposta in un qualche vantaggio esterno ai due contendenti) Un Mago che sfidi o risponda ad una sfida di un normale essere umano o di un animale ordinario può spendere un PM per ridurre la propria difficoltà di 2. I Maghi della Natura trasformano tutti i dadi in successi automatici utilizzando questo potere contro gli animali.
Il perdente della Sfida avrà D.+2 a tutti i tiri ostili rivolti verso l’altro, penalità che può essere dimezzata spendendo un FdV.
Un individuo può ignorare una Sfida se ha un punteggio di Self-Control pari o superiore ai successi ottenuti dall’avversario; se così non è, può comunque evitare la Sfida tirando Coraggio D.6 contrapposto al tiro dello sfidante, e non avere penalità dalla Sfida anche se comunque sarà costretto a dare attenzione allo sfidante per il resto della scena.

Tecniche e Stili
I personaggi esperti di combattimento entreranno a contatto con particolari tecniche o stili di combattimento, e vorranno padroneggiarne loro stessi per vincere gli scontri che dovranno affrontare. Sia le Tecniche che gli Stili hanno un livello di complessità, e necessitano di un pari livello di Mischia o Rissa per padroneggiarli.
Per imparare una Tecnica è sufficiente una spesa in Px pari a quella del corrispondente livello di Abilità e un numero di giorni triplo a tale valore. E’ possibile apprendere una Tecnica a partire da un libro adatto o alcune dimostrazioni, ma tale apprendimento è difficile e non sicuro; ogni giorno di allenamento lo studioso tira Int D.7; in caso di fallimento, il giorno di allenamento è stato speso invano. E’ anche possibile apprendere una tecnica ammirata in un autentico scontro, ma in tal caso la D. sale a 8, e a 9 se in tale situazione anche il Pg era coinvolto nello scontro: i movimenti durante il combattimento non sono accademici ma “sporcati” dalla tensione.
Per imparare uno Stile di combattimento sono necessari un numero di Px doppi rispetto a quelli corrispondenti a tale livello di Abilità; non è possibile apprendere uno Stile solo dopo averlo visto in azione in combattimento, e la D. per apprenderlo da un testo è pari a 9: per padroneggiare uno Stile solitamente è necessaria la meditazione e alcuni particolari accorgimenti molto difficili da apprendere al meglio senza un insegnante. In ogni caso per apprendere uno Stile sono necessari un numero di settimane pari ai Px necessari per comprarlo, meno i livelli di Abilità superiori a quello necessario per l’apprendimento (per esempio, un Pg con Mischia 5 necessiterà di sole 5 settimane per padroneggiare uno Stile di livello 2: (2+1x2)x2-(5-2) ).
All’inizio di ogni turno il Pg decide se utilizzare uno Stile; se lo fa, non può utilizzare altri Stili o Tecniche a meno che non venga espressamente concesso.

Se non viene espressamente indicato, uno Stile/Tecnica ha effetto solo sui tiri di un’Abilità; è necessario apprenderlo/a due volte per utilizzarlo sia con Mischia che con Rissa.
[M]=Esclusiva per Mischia
[R]=Esclusiva per Rissa
Tecniche
° Colpo del Leone
D.-2, Forx1.5; per il resto del turno il Pg ha penalità -2 come se avesse compiuto 2 azioni extra.
°° Colpo della Roccia [M]
Se una parata ha effetto, l’attaccante subisce una penalità pari ai successi aggiuntivi in tutti i suoi attacchi per quel turno; per il resto del turno il Pg ha penalità -1 come se avesse compiuto 1 azione extra.
°°° Disarmare [R]
Il Pg non attacca nel proprio turno; se il Pg schiva o para con successo un attacco di un’arma da mischia il Pg può contrattaccare immediatamente; se il contrattacco ha successo, l’avversario viene disarmato.
Stili
° Concentrazione Difensiva
Fintanto che il Pg non intraprende azioni complesse e si concentra sulla difesa, ha D.-2 sulle parate. Questo Stile ha effetto solo sui tiri di un’Abilità; è necessario apprenderlo due volte per utilizzarlo sia con Mischia che con Rissa.
°° Tartaruga
D.-2 sulle parate, D.+1 sugli attacchi. Questo Stile ha effetto solo sui tiri di un’Abilità.
°°° Volta Lama/Pugno
Ogni successo aggiuntivo ottenuto in una parata viene aggiunto all’attacco del turno successivo, che può non essere effettuato con questo Stile se il Pg ha 5 nell’Abilità in questione.
°°° Pioggia Battente
Il Pg può effettuare un attacco aggiuntivo senza penalità.
°°°° Catena Travolgente
Il Pg sceglie un avversario; può attaccare solo il bersaglio una volta per turno e ha D.+2 per parare o schivare minaccie provenienti da altre fonti. Ogniqualvolta il Pg mette a segno un colpo, il bersaglio perde un dado nei tiri dell’Abilità in questione nei tiri contrapposti contro il Pg. La massima penalità è pari alla metà dei livelli di Abilità del Pg.
°°°°° Tempesta
Il Pg può effettuare due attacchi aggiuntivi senza penalità. Richiede Pioggia Battente.
°°°°° °° Tifone
Il Pg può effettuare tre attacchi aggiuntivi senza penalità. Richiede Tempesta.
°°°°° °°°° Martirio
Il Pg può effettuare quattro attacchi aggiuntivi senza penalità. Richiede Tifone.


Now you can comment. I'll bump at major updates.

JBPuffin
2013-09-10, 08:46 PM
...I wish I spoke Italian. Post more and I'll be able to actually comment, but so far...huh. Cool.

Huey Nomure
2013-09-27, 11:13 AM
The majority of the core rules are translated, and some details will be added. In a matter of minutes I'll also add the translation of the Elemental Path of Darkness, Nekrosys.
These are three Ancient Paths, reality-bending powers mastered by the legendary Primevals.

Time
° Desynchronization [A]
Target (touch)
The Mage spends 1 MP and rolls Wits D.7. For S rounds the target has her speed halved, can’t take multiple actions in her active turn, has D.+2 to defend herself in combat and other creatures have D.-2 to defend against her attacks.
°° Celerity [A]
Self
At the beginning of each round, the Mage can spend 1 MP. If she does, he can take one extra active action without penalties, has D.-1 to defend herself and her enemies have D.+1 to defend against her attacks. Difficulty modifiers and extra actions double when the Mage reaches Time 4.
°°° Time Lock [A]
Target (touch), Reaction
The Mage can spend 1 BP and roll Wits D.8 when touching the target; for S rounds the target can’t take actions and cannot be damaged or moved in any way. (her possessions can be damaged and manipulated as usual) This power can be used on self as a response to an action with a Wits+Alertness D.8 roll; if it’s used as a response, it counts as an activated power used on the following turn if the Mage already cast an activated power on the previous turn.
°°°° Time Translation [A]
Self, Reaction
Spending 1 PM, the Mage can take the position she had in a certain moment within 30 seconds; the location must be in line of sight. This power can be used on self as a response to an action with a Wits+Alertness D.8 roll; if it’s used as a response, it counts as an activated power used on the following turn if the Mage already cast an activated power on the previous turn.
°°°°° Time Stop [A]
Self, Reaction
Spending 3 MP and 3 BP, the Mage rolls Int+Arcana D.9; immediately after the roll, she has a number of time-free turns equal to the successes: during these turns, the time stands still. The Mage considers any other creature as if it was in Time Lock, and complex and/or large unanimated things don’t interact with the Mage (she cannot trigger traps or tip over large objects, even if in unstable balance, while acting in the Time Stop), while she can manipulate objects he could normally grasp with one or two hands. Objects manipulated by the Mage lose their momentum. This power can be used on self as a response to an action with a Wits+Alertness D.8 roll; if it’s used as a response, it counts as an activated power used on the following time-stopped turn.
M – Fists of Time [P]
Boost
The Mage can activate Desynchronization or Time Lock as a free action after a successful Brawl attack as she just scored a successful touch attack.
M – Past Unfold [A]
Self, Reaction
Spending 1 WP, the Mage can rewind Time to a certain past moment in the current scene, or the previous scene if this power is activated before the end of the first round of the Mage in the new scene. Only the Mage and other Time Mages involved can conserve the memory of the cancelled time; other Time Mages must roll Int D.7 to keep the memories. This power can be used on self as a response to an action with a Wits+Alertness D.8 roll; if it’s used as a response, it counts as an activated power used on the following turn.
M – Flicker [P]
Quality, Reaction
When the Mage is attacked and is given a chance to dodge the attack, she can spend 1 PM to avoid it automatically if she rolls Wits+Alertness D.8. The Mage cannot activate other powers as response to that attack.

Notes:
-I know that Flicker is crazy strong; you can lower its power making it a Wits+Alertness D.6 and affecting it with normal multi-action penalties. However, this isn't really an autowinner, since every Aspect has at least one way to hit a target without leaving him the chance to dodge, or avoiding mundane combat at all.
Names
-"Desynchronization" is ispired by Assassin's Creed.

Space
° Stride Omnifold [S]
Self, Movement
The Mage must spend 1 MP to activate this power. The Mage doubles her land speed if running or sprinting on a free line, and ignores any type of difficult terrain as long as it doesn’t deal damage on passage.
°° Wallwalk [S]
Self, Movement
The Mage must spend 1 MP to activate this power. The Mage can pass through a mundane wall or another unmoving solid obstacle as an action (she can even move through the walls and furniture of a house being dragged by a dragon, but not through a thrown boulder). She can’t free herself from other constrictions using this power, however.
°°° Selfshift [A]
Self, Area (Intx4), Reaction
The Mage can teleport spending a BP, facing a direction of choice. The teleportation doesn’t affect momentum. This power can be used on self as a response to an action with a Wits+Alertness D.8 roll; if it’s used as a response, it counts as an activated power used on the following turn if the Mage already cast an activated power on the previous turn. This power can’t free the Mage from physical constrictions.
°°°° Portals [A]
Conjuration, Area (Intx4)
The Mage can spend 1 MP to create a pair of portals within area of effect; both of them must be on line of effect, or they must link the two sides of an obstacle. These portals can be used by any creature and object, and can be dispelled by the Mage with a free action. The portals must be created on solid surfaces; if the surface bearing one of the portals is significantly destroyed and part of the portal isn’t supported by a solid object, both the portals are dispelled, splitting anything passing through the portals. The portals can’t be otherwise dispelled by the Mage while a creature is passing through. A portal cannot be created in direct contact with a creature. The portals can be oriented in any direction, meaning that a pair of vertical portals can turn upside down any object passing through them, for example.
°°°°° Space Prankster [A]
Targets (Intx4), Reaction
When activating this power, the Mage can perform one or more of the following applications:
1-teleport an object she’s holding in a location in her area of sight and effect, as long it fits in his final location;
2-teleport an object that is not hold by another in her area of sight and effect in her hand. She can’t teleport objects she can’t hold with one or two hands with this power, and the movement of the object is immediately stopped;
3-switch the position and the speed of two objects in her area of sight and effect, as long they both can fit in their final location.
She can use any number of iterations of this power (even using different applications) with a single action, spending an MP for each iteration. She, however, could need some time to define clearly the order and the targets of the applications. As a rule of thumb, she cannot use more iterations than her Int x0.5 (rounded up) as a single power. Furthermore, she cannot teleport or switch objects she can’t hold with one or two hands with this power.
If she spends and extra BP, she can teleport or switch unconscious or willing creatures as they were little objects, regardless of their mass and volume.
If she spends a WP, she can teleport or switch unanimated objects regardless of their mass and volume, requiring only a touch for the second application of this power.
This power can be used on self as a reaction without preparation or on other targets as a readied response to an action; both these uses require a Wits+Alertness D.8 roll, and only an iteration of this power can be used.
M – Group Shift [P]
Boost (Targets(touch))
The Mage can spend 1 extra MP to bring up to Int extra touched creatures with her when using Selfshift; she can also use MP to bring large objects with her (the exact amount is defined by the Storyteller).
M – Gate [A]
Target (familiar location)
The Mage spends 1 WP and focuses on a location, then spends 15-Int rounds in complete concentration (any damage or distraction require a Willpower or Self-Control D.7 roll to maintain the concentration). At the end of this concentration, the Mage creates a permanent portal between her actual location and the chosen location. Both the portals are dispelled if one of them breaks the limitation described on the Portals power. A Space Mage can’t have more than Int x0.5 active Gates in any given moment; the creator of the Gate can dispel it if within sight of one of the two portals, spending one round of concentration and 1 MP if there’s no creature crossing it.
M – Cherished Return [P]
Boost
The Mage can spend 1 WP instead of Selfshift base cost to teleport to any familiar location, facing a random direction.

Notes:
-Portal and Space Prankster can lead to crazy shenanigans; their power is only limited by the player's creativity. Ancient Path are not usually viable for PCs, however.
Names
-Stride Omnifold is a callback to the Homestuck's Vision Two/Seven/Omnifold.
-Wallwalk is a callback to the M:tG ability Landwalk, that allows to pass through certain types of Lands without being blocked.
-Portals is a reference to the famous videogame.
-Space Prankster is a track in the Homestuck's Bandcamp.


Gravity
° Grasp [A]
Target (Int+Science)
Gravity Mages learn early the ways to enhance already present gravity, called Bond: Gravity Mages see gravitational force as a link that “binds” any objects to our World.
The Mage focuses on a target, spends 1 MP and rolls Int+Science D.7; for S rounds the target has D.+2 to any Str and Dex roll except for rolls made to keep something down. Furthermore, the target’s speed, jump height and jump length are halved, and simple actions as standing up from a prone position require a Str with base D.6 roll.
This power can target inanimate objects as well as creatures, simply doubling their weight.
°° Openbound [S]
Self, Movement
The second step in the Path of Gravity involves the skill to weaken the natural Bond.
The Mage must spend a MP to activate this power. The Mage doubles her speed, jump height and jump length, and makes movement-related Atl rolls with D.-2. Her weight is effectively halved.
°°° Heavyweight [A]
Target (Int+Science), Reaction
The Mage can now intensify gravity with greater speed, making weak or distracted targets falling face first on the ground.
The Mage spend a MP and rolls Int D.7. The target must roll Str+Wits D.Int+Science(M) or fall prone, taking 1d10 bludgeoning damage. This power can be used as a response to an action with a Wits+Alertness D.8 roll; if it’s used as a response, it counts as an activated power used on the following turn if the Mage already cast an activated power on the previous turn. If the target is caught midair, for example during a jump, the target cannot prevent falling prone and takes 1 extra damage for every yard of fall.
This power can target inanimate objects as well as creatures, pulling them down as their weight was modified by a multiplier of [2+(Int+Science)/5] for a split second.
°°°° Bondless Constraint [A]
Target (Int+Science), Reaction
The Mage knows that the Bond is needed to move effectively, and learns how to take this privilege from his enemies reversing the power of a Bond. She can also use it to move quickly heavy objects.
The Mage spends a MP and rolls Int+Science D.7. The target, if within the area of effect, is lifted and left levitating at 0.5m, and cannot move without the help of other objects. All her mundane combat rolls are made with D.+3. This power lasts for S rounds. This power can be used on self as a reaction without preparation or on another target as a readied response to an action; both these uses require a Wits+Alertness D.8 roll.
°°°°° Thrust [A]
Target (Int+Science), Reaction
The Mage knows very well that every object, regardless of weight and volume, produces a gravitational field; when she approaches the highest level of this Path, she knows how to manipulate the Bond produced by herself.
The Mage focuses on a target, chooses between attraction and repulsion, spends a MP and rolls Int+Science D.8. The target rolls Wits+Dex D.Int+Science(M) or is sent flying towards or away from the Mage for a number of meter equal to (1+2xS)m. The target treats collisions as she is on a free fall. This power can be used as a readied response to an action with a Wits+Alertness D.8 roll.
This power can target inanimate objects as well as creatures.
M - Dire Gravitation [S]
Area (Int+Science)
Now the Mage can use his magic to affect not a single victim, but a wide area. Any other creature entering the area is oppressed by an intensified Bond.
The Mage must spend 1 PM to activate this power. Any creature entering the area of effect must roll Str+Wits as they were affected by Heavyweight; creatures already in the area during the activation of this power must make the roll as they just entered it. After the roll, every creature within the area are under the effect of Grasp. Reach of thrown or ranged weapons are halved and related hit rolls lose 2 successes.
Grasp has no effect on creatures in the area. Thrust has D.+1 on creatures in the area; the length of the thrust is halved even if the creature starts the movement from outside the area, and takes damage as for Heavyweight with extra damage equal to the virtual length of the thrust. (The Mage herself, however, cannot affect creatures outside the area of effect for obvious reasons) A creature affected by Bondless Constraint within the area of Dire Gravitation halves the duration of Bondless Constraint and suffers from Heavyweight at the end of the duration as she just entered the area.
M – Bondfree [P]
Quality
Masters of Gravity move easily, able to defy part of the Bond that binds them to the ground.
The Mage multiplies for 1.5 her speed, jump height and jump length, and makes Atl rolls with D.-1. These bonuses don’t stack with Openbound, but when using that power the Mage can spend an action to change the direction of her perceived gravity, allowing her to walk on walls and ceilings.
M – Flare [P]
Boost (Area)
The Mage can produce blasts of gravitational force that affect a wide area.
The Mage can spend one additional MP when activating Thrust, Bondless Constraint and Heavyweight. If using Heavyweight, the power has an area of effect centered on the first target (this use of Flare allow the Mage to affect creature outside her area of effect); if using Thrust or Bondless Constraint, the power has an area of effect centered on the Mage.

Notes:
-High level Gravity Mages can look like Jedis, using Force and all; this is alright, since these three Ancient Paths somehow describe the fundamental hinges of reality: Space, Time and Force. Anyone with the power to manipulate those aspects would bend the very "rules of the game", and look like some reality-chewing all-powerful monstrosity. Accidentially, this is exactly what Primevals should look like.
Names:
-Openbound is a Homestuck serie of minigames involving the exploration of a meteor inhabited by lots of characters.
-Song: Heavyweight (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4YvkZeLrjs)
-Dire Gravitation is a pun, based on the expressions "dire situation" and "Gyre Gravitation", the latter being a technique mastered by a character of the manga/anime Needless.

Electromagnetism would be a fitting Path in this set, and I welcome any ideas in that direction.

Huey Nomure
2013-10-04, 02:59 PM
Bump!
Sword and Darkness powers are translated completely (2/6).
Titles system posted, Homestuck readers (and anyone else) can suggest Title Values for both Roles and Aspects and brand new roles (and aspects).
Suggestion for additional Darkness and Sword Paths based on aspects' title values are welcome.

Processing:
Minor systems (Merits/Flaws, combat styles and techniques, other)

Huey Nomure
2013-11-30, 07:35 AM
A little worldbuilding. I'm also posting some translated Paths.

The Titles of each Hero have the same initials of her name or her Trollian handle. I need help finding the Titles of the four primevals with the initials of the Pre-Scratch Kids.

One upon a time, when Mages were kings and queens, and the Sightless heeded the guidance of their betters, a most precious gift of the Muse was held back by the malevolent Primevals. Two times the Mages began a quest to retrieve the Graal from Its cursed keepers, and two times the echo of their struggle came back to us to be kept alive in our memory.
The Graal is a magnificent relic that is told to revive the fallen, and heal the wounded in body and spirit. However, the Primevals cannot benefit from Its wonders; nevertheless, they kept It jealously, as they were to protect It from sacrilegious hands.

Each questant earned a title that describes her role in the story; most titles are agreed unanimously, but three of them have two different versions, due to an ancient discord about The Betrayal.

First Quest: At the price of Oblivion/Even in Death
In a great Kingdom of the Mages, a fabled empire that encompassed all the known world, a queen ruled after her husband’s death. She was both just and gentle, and under her rule dragons, fairies and many people of the Fey lived together in armony, with honest respect to the crown. It is said that during her rule even beasts refused to assault the citizen of her kingdom, and for this reason she is called the Feral Peacekeeper. She was, with little surprise, a Mage of Nature.
She had no sons nor daughters, and thus she kept the closest of her heirs in her court, so they could learn the ways of a just ruler.
Her first heir was a Mage of Void, son of her sister; she was loyal and strong, determined with his lesser and deferent with his betters. She was very talented in archery, and he used bows for adult men since he was a child, for his strength was great.
Her second heir was a Mage of Blood, son of the cousin of the deceased king, a most foul person executed after he started an heretic sect that praised the “Lordling of all angels”, the “Cherub of Scarlet Wrath”. He, unlike his father, didn’t show signs of madness. The future Hero of Blood was meek and cheerful, but his eyes hosted a flame that burned fiercely when he had to protect his beloved family.
They were both young, but the disciplined Hero of Void was younger, and thus treated the son of the heresiarch as an older brother.

The Hero of Void carried a prophecy in his dreams; even he was awake, the Whisperings reminded him of his Fate. He preached about the Graal since he was an apprentice, and because of this he’s remembered as the Early Zealot. The strength of his beliefs in time convinced the queen, glad to have the chance to improve the life of her subjects. She decided to join the quest herself, since he was one of the most powerful Mages of that wondrous time.
The advisors of the queen were divided in two factions: one tried (and hopelessly at that, since the will of the queen was unstoppable) to keep her on her throne, the other happily offered men and supplies for the quest. But one of them saw in some of his peers only fear and greed; they didn’t sincerely cared for the queen’s safety, already plotting to seize the crown.
He was unable, as anyone else, to stop her queen. He cared for her, and he cared for her kingdom too.
He told the Peacekeeper to wait and delay her quest to allow him to take care of things and leave with her. The queen agreed, since the two of them secretly became lovers since her husband’s death and she cared much for him.
The advisor, a great Mage of Mind, then proceeded to unravel all the plots of the treacherous courtdwellers and exposed their treason to the kingdom. The uproar of the people was great, and the Hero of Mind needed little effort to execute them, heirs of most noble houses, with little or no retaliation. This event granted him the title of Secrets Culler. The queen then appointed one of the remaining loyal advisors as regent.
The general of the Army of the White Wand volunteered to join the quest. He was a powerful Darkness Mage, famed for his devilish strategies to deprive his opponents of rest and lower their morale to make every battle a nightmare for them. His will was fierce, and hard to keep in check. The queen was relieved, because without her presence his lieutenant was hardly able to keep him from lashing out at every minor offense, but also annoyed, because that meant she had to look after him for the entire quest.
As a little relief for the Feral Peacekeeper, said lieutenant also volunteered for the quest. She was a very skilled swordswoman of humble origins, as her father was a tailor and her mother a midwife. There are different stories about her youth: someone says that the general himself had their village pillaged to provoke the rebellious army of the heresiarch to confront him openly, and she was able to defend herself even if she was a child; other minstrels sing that the queen herself noticed her during one of her strolls in the capital. She was able to keep the army united and focused even in dire situations, keeping the morale high with thoughtful and heartfelt speeches whereas the general’s speech were full of wrath and spite. She was a Mage of Sword, as it was clear from her confident posture, her thoughtful and flawless diction and her bright gaze, soft as silk and sharp as a razor. She also honed her tailoring skills when she could, as many Sword Mages exercise an activity other than martial training.
The son of the heresiarch also joined the group, much to Zealot’s happiness. He never shown great magical power, but the queen thought that his mellow cheer could bring a more relaxed mood to the group.

The group left the capital with no servants nor pages, almost in secret. The Feral Peacekeeper refused any aid, even from powerful dragons of Nature. She sensed that the quest was theirs, and theirs alone.
After many miles of travel, the group of heroes reached the Endless Sea, in the middle of which is said to live the accursed race of the Primevals.
The Endless Sea is inhabited by merfolk, a fey race half human and half seasnake. They can breathe air and water alike, but they never leave their sea. Nowadays they almost unheard of, but in that ancient time the shores of the Endless Sea were untouched by human hand, for the wrath of merfolks is great and terrible to behold.
The Feral Peacekeeper demanded a meeting with the king of the merfolks as the queen of the Kingdom of the Mages, and used her great powers to allow the group to enter the kingdom of the merfolk, deep down in the Endless Sea; they all were brought to the capital of the merfolk’s kingdom. The request was heeded, but the king of the fey was hostile and cold. He was a veteran of many civil wars, and had a threatening aura coming from him. After four days of almost continuous parley, the king still refused to let the group pass through his domain.
When the queen returned to the accommodation they were granted, she had to calm her general, who was about to assault the royal palace alone. She was weary, and sought the embrace of her lover, but her advisor was nowhere to be found. The lieutenant said that the Culler asked for the permission to study the laws of the merfolk, and the chamberlain allowed it. When the Culler returned, at night, he held a document in his hand and a plan in his mind. The queen listened to her advisor’s words with heavy heart, since she didn’t like his plan, but she also was frustrated by the merman king’s adamant stubbornness.

The following dawn, the queen and other two Mages were waiting outside the royal palace. The king let them enter the main hall, where he was about to begin his duties of ruler of the most vast kingdom of history aided by his most valuable advisor. As they entered, the Culler challenged the king to a sacred duel for the crown. The Hero of Mind found ancient rules that forced the king to accept the duel, and shown them from the document he wrote. The king was both impressed and outraged, but he laughed at the Culler, since a sacred duel forbid the use of magic, and the body of the Hero of Mind was not strong nor nimble. Then the Culler called for the right to have the third member of the group as a champion.
The king’s grin vanished while he scrutinized for the first time the champion of his challenger. The merman noticed that his body was well-built and scarred by many battles, and the flame in his eyes burned fiercely. He was the general, glaring the king as he was going to slaughter him in that hall. He king stared back at him with nothing but conceit; no human, magical or not, could properly fight against a merfolk in water.
The merman chose the coliseum of the city as the location of the duel, then proceeded to announce that the duelists would have entered the arena with a single melee weapon, with no shield nor armor. The general nodded without moving his glare away from the king.
When the three Mages left the hall, the king ordered that the general was to be followed at every step, trying to learn everything his spies could discover. But he didn’t ordered his mermen to kill him, for he was a proud individual, eager to win the duel and then rightfully execute the whole group of impudent Mages.
But no information could be gathered about the general, for he remained hidden in his accomodations for the three days needed to prepare for the duel with the queen.

When his opponent entered the arena, the king was stunned by its sight.
The general’s face was unchanged, his eyes still burning with the same wrath of their first meeting, but his body was changed in the form of a merman; his skin was squamous, his tail long and muscular with sharp fins. The king looked at the queen in the first line of spectators, and understood the meaning of her exhausted and contrite face. She spent night and day modeling the body of his general, allowing him to battle as a merman.
When the duel began, the king was still sure of his victory, since the general couldn’t be able to fight easily with a warped body. His confidence was shattered at the first clash of weapons. His trident, heirloom of his royal dynasty, clattered as it was shivering at the touch with the general’s sword. The king felt insecure and frail; the general was hindered by his morphed body, but his experience and instinct made up for his clumsiness, whereas the king had joined no battle in centuries, and the general’s sword exhaled a foul aura. With horror the king understood that the sword was magical, and very powerful at that. It had been fed with the blood of thousands, both children and kings, dragons and maidens, and its bloodlust was almost tangible.
The king retreated while parrying the fierce attack of the frenzied general with his trident, his heart shivering along with his weapon.
He realized he was going to die.
His gaze found the Culler’s eyes. The Hero of Mind was watching his imminent demise with contempt, as he was an annoying vermin about to get smashed with a shoe.
Then the general lunged, tearing horribly the eyes of the king. The duel could be stopped, since one of the combatants was not able to keep on fighting, but before anyone could intervene, the general cut the king’s body in half.

The Secrets Culler entered the arena as quickly as he could, and took the trident from the dead hands of the former king. Then he raised it high above his head, without a word, and the audience shivered in fear. But he lowered his hand, and offered the weapon to the Peacekeeper. The queen took it, and declared she was the new queen of the Endless Sea.
The audience left in grave silence.

The group traveled the Endless Sea in a huge raft, drawn by killer whales.
The Zealot was overjoyed about the Peacekeeper’s new conquest, even if a bit disappointed he couldn’t be of any help; he had mixed feelings about being a champion of a lowblood, though, so he wasn’t sure he was supposed to volunteer for the role. He kept congratulating with the queen until the lieutenant of the general told him to fall silent; then he began to argue whether her could actually give him orders.
The Feral Peacekeeper was silent and detached most of the time; she couldn’t come to terms with the Culler’s plan. She knew the king wasn’t going to accept any result that left her free to reach the Primeval lands, but still she wished there was a way to continue the quest without using trickery and death.
The Hero of Blood tried to console her with antics he learned from the court jester, with little result. The Zealot was scandalized by his unbecoming behavior, but this time was silenced by the queen herself before he could chastise the young men who simply cared for her.
The Hero of Darkness at first acted cheerfully towards the queen, believing that his victory earned him her affection, but her coldness made him silent.
The Hero of Sword kept an eye on the general, worried by his silence; the general usually had an angry outburst when he was particularly frustrated, and now he was as frustrated as he could ever be.
The Hero of Mind knew that his plan would have made her beloved angry and contrite, but he knew she understood that was the only way, and hoped that was only a matter of time before her peaceful and lively personality would come out again.
They approached the land of Primevals during the night. They found an island similar to any other known one; it had streams of unknown magical energy, but beside that, there was nothing unexpected in plants and animals.

Their camp was made of four tents; one was shared by the Zealot and the son of the heresiarch, one was occupied by the lieutenant and the Culler, and the general and the queen had their own tents.
The Hero of Mind sneaked into the queen’s tent, because he understood from her gaze she wanted to meet him alone.
It is unknown the reason that brought the general to enter the queen’s tent, or what was the scene he found before him. Some say that he was already awake, or was woken up by noises coming from the tent of the Hero of Nature, being them muffled sighs of a crying queen or moans of lust of the two lovers. Others affirm that he was oblivious to what was happening in the tent: he was burning both with desire of the queen’s embrace and anger for the rejection he suffered.
When he discovered the communion between the Heroes of Mind and Nature he was completely consumed by rage. He drew his sword and teared the eyes of the Culler before he could react. The advisor screamed in pain while the queen began to transform, but the general was fast, and drove the sword through her heart, using the power of Darkness to suck the soul of the queen away from her body. He kept on desecrating the body, spilling royal blood on the whole tent while he torn the womb of the queen open with his sword. The killing of the two members of royal blood earned him the title of Evisceration Aristocrat.
Only after several minutes he noticed is lieutenant behind him, with an expression of shock unusual for her. He turned to face her, but she had already unsheathed her sword. A single swing powered by magic cut the general’s body in two. Her just revenge earned her the title of Killer’s Maul.
Seconds later, she dragged the Hero of Mind outside the tent, under the light of the full moon. She tried to heal the Culler’s wound, but to no avail. She bandaged him at the best of her abilities; she was not able to heal him, but maybe some Blood Mage could.
Then she realized the fact that neither the Zealot nor the other heir were woken up by the Culler’s scream. When she entered their tent, she found the corpse of the Early Zealot, with the string of his own broken bow around his neck. On the tent there was some words written in blood, but she couldn’t read them because of the dimness of the light. The son of the heresiarch was nowhere to be found.

The Culler mourned on the desecrated body of her beloved, seeing her wounds with his powers and with his shaking hands, while the Maul started planning what to do next, having already recovered her usual controlled behavior. The Culler lashed out at her while choking down tears, but the Maul remained unfazed. She took care of the preparations to leave, and when the Culler stopped fighting back tears and seemed less distressed she said he was to wrap the body of the queen in her tent, as she already did with the other two corpses, and throw the three of them them in the sea with his powers. The Culler insulted her, outraged by the mere thought of leaving her lover’s body. The Maul waited for the advisor’s rage to wear out, patiently. Then she used her inspiring skills she honed with hundreds of speech addressed to thousands of exhausted, wounded, and desperate soldiers. She talked for such a long time she started to lose the grasp on her words, but she knew she couldn’t give up. Her will was the only thing between an epic failure and the last shimmer of hope.
When she finished, he looked at her with empty eyes, and without a word, he ran for the last time his hand on the cheek of his lover and he began to wrap her in her own tent.
Most versions of this story end with the two Heroes of Mind and Sword that, betrayed by the Hero of Blood, headed to the cities of the Primevals with the a certain fate of defeat. Others, on the other hand, add details to this final part of the story.
These other versions talk about the Primeval who first spotted them, [JH], who appeared out of nowhere to stop and hinder them at every step, and the mellifluous [RL], who seemed to take a liking in the forms of the Maul. During the last part of their quest they were also tormented by nightmares, in which they was the Mocker laughing, killing the Zealot or simply staring at them with a devilish grin.
The two Heroes fought and meddled, killed and destroyed, but to no avail. [JH] eventually bested the intelligence of the Secrets Culler thanks to [RL] supernatural knowledge and led them into a trap. It is said that the Culler was immediately slain, while the Killer’s Maul was kept as a slave by [RL].


Second Quest: Rustless Fall
After the Peacekeeper’s death and the disappearance of the heirs, the glorious Kingdom of the Mages began to crumble. After decades of uncertain rule eventually many noble houses claimed independence from the crown and immediately started to clash. Many generations of Mages came and passed during this age of chaos, and many talents died way before their time because of the constant state of war.

But the will of the Mages was still strong and devoid of the modern dust and webs, and eventually a great Mage rose.
It was a bastard son of the dynasty holding the crown of the Kingdom, albeit only in name. He had to live a youth of fear and humiliation, which he much suffered. However, he had friends. Among them you could find pages and peasants, thieves and hunters. No matter how hard he was humiliated and mocked, he still managed to protect his friends and keep the friendship alive.
One day his whole family died after a heinous massacre by a powerful family who wished the crown for itself, to start the reconstruction of the Kingdom. And the Kingdom began to rebuild that day, albeit not as the murderers wished. Aided by his most beloved friend, a young blind diplomat with extraordinaire talent in both magic and trickery, he managed to avoid death and to unite a group of houses that were hostile to the one who tried to get the crown, making the two factions clash. When his faction won, he claimed the crown for himself. His friend tricked the allied families that he would be a puppet, and it was easy since he was still young to be a strong-willed ruler. But he was.
After his crowning some began to call him The Greyblood, since in his veins coursed both noble’s and peasant’s blood, a sobriquet that he held for years, eventually becoming a reason of pride.
He used both his friends and the diplomat’s skills to form a united faction to rebuild, at last, the Kingdom of the Mages.
He had a number of very useful allies, all very talented in magic, whose alliance was kept secret.
An incredibly and beautiful precocious conqueror that seemed to be loved by Fate itself; a humble hunter who travelled great lengths far and wide that knew all the paths and the grounds in the Kingdom; a warlord able to inspire his armies with his mere presence; a noblewoman who seemed to be able to get any information, no matter how obscure and hidden; and the diplomat, who in time became his lover and most trusted advisor.
The Greyblood almost never showed himself in battle. His advisor, keeping their deep bond hidden, manipulated many houses of the usurpers of the Kingdom’s lands into being defeated by the conqueror’s or the warlord’s army, while the king himself made treaties and vows to gain the support of other houses without bloodshed. The noblewoman was useful for tricking other nobles using secrets as the hunter was able to reveal hidden path and traps to make the armies of the two generals travel safely and swiftly.
When the Greyblood, the conqueror and the warlord held a third of the Kingdom each and the noble houses began to fear a great and terrible civil war among the three factions, the king revealed their alliance, giving the conqueror the title of First General and the warlord the title of Lord of Knights, causing great commotion within the Kingdom.
In a few years they were able to unite the Kingdom under the old crown, healing the damage done by centuries of chaos in a matter of years. Some noble family tried to ignite a rebellion, but they couldn’t escape being detected by the noblewoman and thus being wiped out by the combined action of the General and the Lord.
The general used to mock the lord for his pity and empathy, while she was able to crush her opponents without delaying nor remorse; but after his successes, she began to desire him. During this period of repression she declared her feelings, but was rejected by the lord, who couldn’t understand her sudden change of heart.

This is the point where the two versions diverge. The first is the most common, shared by the vast majority of the Mages. The second story is the take of the Mages of the Void, rarely shared to other Mages but readable in some ancient tome, albeit usually with missing excerpts.

The common version is that this rejection made the conqueror grow as an individual.
The Greyblood earned another sobriquet with the unification of the Kingdom under his rule, the title that is still used to address him: the King of Vows.
But after a decade, when the Kingdom found a peaceful balance under a just rule, the King was burning with ambition. He felt that his incredible accomplishment wasn’t enough. He thought he could give more to his people.
He wanted to find and bring the Graal to the Kingdom.
Maybe he wished to make up for the Grim Mocker’s betrayal, being a Mage of Blood. Nevertheless, his will was adamant. The noblewoman approached him, knowing about his wish without anyone telling her. She said he was fated to put together a new group of heroes, succeeding where the First Heroes had failed: bringing the Graal within the borders of the Kingdom.
The King was overjoyed to hear this prophecy, and asked her the identities of the heroes who would have joined his quest, and she answered without hesitation.
The King would have been the Hero of Blood; he wouldn’t have accepted another response.
The wise conqueror would have been the Hero of Darkness.
The trusted diplomat would have been the Hero of Mind.
The skilled warlord would have been the Hero of Sword.
The noblewoman herself would have been the Hero of Void.
The humble hunter would have been the Hero of Nature.
The King was surprised that the hunter was chosen by Fate as the last Hero, since she was a skilled scout and a cheerful person, but naïve and simple of mind, but he didn’t opposed his oracle.
The diplomat, on the other hand, worried about other Heroes.
She had known the conqueror since they were young, and it was easy for her to see that her strong and determined personality would cause friction in the group, especially between the conqueror herself and the heroes of Void and Sword, with whom she had clashes before. She was sure that they were going to face dire times during the quest if they didn’t change the identities of the two Heroes.
She explained her worries to the king, but with no avail. The King was adamant in following what the hero of Void said, and was not willing to listen any objection, even when the woman threatened to leave the group. The diplomat eventually accepted the King’s decision and left with them, albeit with heavy heart. She wished her foresight was wrong, but deep down she knew it wasn’t.
And so she earned her title, the Torn Prophet.

The group left, leaving a trusted advisor as regent.
The hunter was bursting with joy while she led the Heroes towards the Endless Sea, avoiding dangers and closed paths. She always loved the King and thought that he chose her because he loved her too. She didn’t know about the relationship of the King and the Prophet, and picked every chance to stay close to him, hoping he would confess his feelings for her, but he didn’t. He treated her with affection, nothing more, but she kept thinking they were to be lovers.
When they reached the Endless Sea, the merfolk were wary since the last time a Mage entered their domain. A new queen was on the throne, and she forbid their entry. The hunter, however, also knew about the tale of the First Quest. She told the other Heroes to wait and, days after, sneaked into the merfolk’s domain as one of them. She started healing the sick children and feeding the poor with the money the people gave her; she stopped eating to save every life she could. The merfolk gave her the title the Hero of Nature is still known as, the Nexus of Life.
When the queen of the merfolk summoned her she was weak and starving; the queen thought she would have had to restrain her, but she was barely able to move.
The queen gave her food, which the hunter refused saying that it had to be given to the poor. The queen was stunned by this answer, and asked what she was planning to do. The Nexus replied she sneaked in her kingdom to find some way to safely ravel through it, but when she saw the grace of the little merfolk she decided to do whatever she could to save them. The queen didn’t know how to reply, since she could see the honesty in the eyes of the stranger Mage who broke their law sneaking in the kingdom.
The following day the queen accepted to have an audience with the King. They knew about him, so they made him swear that no member of the group would have raised a hand against a merfolk if not to protect herself. He agreed, and so a Hero could enter the merfolk’s capital again.

The Nexus thought she could remain forever there as a healer, but the King ordered her to follow him; he didn’t requested or asked as a friend, he ordered like a lord would to his guard. He was annoyed because of the long wait and worried for her. She felt humiliated and obeyed humbly. Seeing the response of the Nexus, the King knew he had been unfairly harsh to her friend and apologized. He proposed they could slow their intended pace to heal the sick children they found on their way through the merfolk’s kingdom. She smiled to the King, while she felt a creeping feeling of distance between them.
During the travel the conqueror was sorry she couldn’t help them, but she remained silent, certain that she would made herself relevant in the future.

They eventually reached the Primeval’s lands. There the conqueror finally had the chance to shine, using her superb power to defeat a whole army of Primevals almost singlehandedly. During the battle with the primevals, the King named her the Arcane Goddess. They arrived in the palace in which the Graal was kept. The keeper of the relic, called [JE], protected it with all his might, but he knew he couldn’t defeat the Goddess. He tried to threaten her, then he tried wheedling her, but to no avail. His ally, called [DS], fled seeing the demise of his companion.
And there, in the vast hall that hosted the Graal, happened the Betrayal.

The Goddess went for the relic, but the warlord stopped her. He couldn’t accept that the woman who he rejected deserved to touch the relic. He was foul and hurt in his pride. She asked him to move aside, and he leveled his weapon at her.
The Goddess avoided the first lunge and disarmed him, injuring his legs to prevent him from attacking again. But as she turned to face the Graal, the Hero of Void attacked her. The noblewoman managed to sever her left arm before the Goddess could react, severely wounding the Hero of Void.
The Goddess then asked her to repent and live on, but the noblewoman used her powers to pluck her left eye. The Goddess beheaded the Hero of Void, which thus earned the title of Adamant Antagonist.
The Goddess made the same offer to the first traitor, and he accepted understanding the evil in his actions and fearing for his life. However, the Prophet said that the warlord couldn’t be trusted. Hearing this words from a friendly voice convinced the Goddess to slay him. He will be remembered as the Apologetic Traitor.
Then she took the Graal and gave it to the King, who was still shocked by the Betrayal.
The four of them fought the Primevals off, retreating towards the Endless Sea with the sacred relic.
When they visited the capital of the merfolk’s kingdom for the second time and the Nexus asked the King to allow to stay there, the King understood that the Hero of Void already knew that the group was fated to divide and fall.

When the three of them returned to the capital of the kingdom, the King was overwhelmed by a sense of dismay. He wanted to be a successful hero who managed to protect all the people he cared for and he failed, and spectacularly at so. The Prophet tried to comfort him, but with no result. He knew she had foreseen that outcome, and he ignored her advice. He felt a fool. He refused to sit on the throne again, disappearing one night with the Prophet.
The Goddess was chosen by the Graal to ascend next to the Muse, where she fondly regards creation.

The Mages of Void remember a different tale:
The Hero of Darkness didn’t grow at all when she was rejected by the warlord, which real title is The Tormented Noble. She was rejected for she was cruel and heartless.
Many remember the blindness of the Prophet, but few know that the Hero of Darkness herself blinded her in a fit of rage. The Prophet herself rarely revealed it, and used this secret to manipulate her.
The Prophet knew that her was vicious, and asked the King to choose another Mage of Darkness to join the quest. The future Hero had an unparalleled power, but was dangerous as useful. The King, however, didn’t listen her.
She almost broke the King’s oath to the queen of the merfolk, and the word of the Greyblood was kept only thanks to the Prophet, who knew she had to keep her former friend in check.

When the group reached the Primeval’s lands the “conqueror” charged headlong the Primevals, putting everyone else in danger. She was powerful, but not enough to defeat a whole army of Primevals alone. She eventually listened to the Prophet and absconded, looking for another chance to shine.
Two primevals were guarding the palace of the Graal, and they were called [JE] and [DS]. Against every advice the Prophet told her, the Hero of Darkness approached one of them, who was tricked into thinking she was in love with him. He was flattered and stupid, and invited her in the palace, ready to give her the Graal without a second thought. He also told his ally, [DS], to leave them alone.
[JE] was beheaded in the exact moment the group entered the palace. She went straight for the Graal, planning to keep it for herself. The Noble stood against her, refusing to let her stole it. His legs were shaking, since he knew he couldn’t be a true opponent to the terrible power she had.
She cut him down without a second thought. Then The Hero of Void earned her true title, Avenger of the Meek, attacking the Hero of Darkness and severing her eye and arm. But the Avenger already knew that her attack wasn’t enough to stop her. She ripped the Avenger’s very soul from her body and devoured it, while the King and the Nexus watched in dismay.
The Prophet waited patiently: once more, a single enemy couldn’t outmatch her until she let the guard down. The blind woman walked until her former friend was between her and the Graal, and made a gesture of challenge.
The Prophet hoped that her threat was enough to make her falter, but she knew it was useless.
The vicious Mage of Darkness would never attack the Prophet without provocation, and she thought the Prophet couldn’t muster up the determination to kill her. So she turned her back on her and took the Grail, starting to drink from it. But she was wrong.
The Prophet lunged and drove her weapon into the exposed back, hitting the heart.
The Hero of Darkness fell down, and the Graal in her hands hit the ground without pouring a single drop.
The Prophet started to cry for the death of two dear friends and the murder her former friend, for whom she still felt a deep bond, forced her to commit. The King comforted her with the concern of a lover, and at that sight the Nexus saw his hopes of love shatter. She turned silent and never spoke another word.
The Prophet took the relic and poured some drops in the Noble’s and the Avenger’s lifeless mouths, then the three surviving Heroes drank from it. The foul woman hoped to deprive the Avenger, and thus all the Void mages, of the gift of the Second Life, but she granted us the power of the Graal when she drank with the soul of the Avenger within hers.

They sneaked past the Primevals back to the merfolk’s kingdom. The Nexus remained there, and the King condemned himself to a life of exile. But the tale of the Hero of Darkness is not over yet.
The Graal and her just death, granted by her former friend, gave her the chance to revive as a demigod.
She then used the soul of the Avenged, that she devoured, to form a link with the Vault of the Secrets, and used said link to steal the entire Vault. Now Black Mages call it the Hidden Library and claim its propriety, but the Vault was created from the Void, and to the Void it shall return.
With this infamous act she earned her true title, the Vault Stealer. She never ascended at the Muse’s side. She died surrounded by hated and pity, and came back to keep haunting this world with her foul presence.