Toiminnot
Sivusto
Influence is gained and lost through membership in factions and cabals. The character’s actions are evaluated based on how they serve the groups goals and ideals. Once the character’s influence increases, more dramatic actions are needed to raise it further.
Minor accomplishments can increase influence up to six ranks, major accomplishments up to twelve ranks and decisive accomplishments up to the faction maximum. If the character has multiple influences stemming from the same source, these ranks are counted together for this purpose.
Committing greater deeds than required gives more influence. For example, reaching a decisive accomplishment while having four ranks of influence grants +3 ranks, while a major accomplishment would grant +2 ranks.
Transgressions destroy the character’s reputation among his peers. Minor transgression freezes influence gain until the character reaches at least a minor accomplishment. Major transgression freezes gain and halves the character’s applicable influences until a major accomplishment. Decisive transgression makes the character unable to use applicable influences until a decisive accomplishment is reached.
Advantage Points can be spent to negate transgressions. Spending an Advantage Point negates a single transgression, requiring the player to share a short narrative on how it happens.
Expulsion faces a character who commits a total of four transgressions. Minor transgressions count as one, major ones as two and decisive ones as three. The count is reset once a character negates his highest transgression as stated above.
Accomplishments and transgressions are usually tracked after each trial. If an investigation drags on for a long time, consider tracking accomplishments and transgressions once per month. In general, transgressions and accomplishments of same level negate each other. Only the highest level deeds count. Thus, a character who gets a decisive accomplishment will be forgiven for major transgressions committed during its pursuit. Take note that same actions are valued and tracked by possible factions and cabals independently of the Shepherds. Thus an action that is a major accomplishment for one group could be a decisive transgression for another.
Very long plans should be tracked in parts and possibly rewarded with multiple decisive accomplishment as the plan advances.
Influences: Religious (20), Spycraft (10)
Expulsion: arrested, thoroughly investigated and put on a trial.
Minor accomplishments:
Succesfull conviction for crimes of morality or higher, causing harm to the enemies of the Church, destroying suspicious knowledge and illegal Techmancery, acquiring considerable (500+ omns) wealth for the Church, personal injury and sacrifice while facing enemies of the Church, maintaining social order.
Major accomplishments:
Succesfull conviction of a notable person (Influence 7+) for higher crimes, uncovering heresy within the Church, converting many enemies of the Church, destroying Forbidden Knowledge and Techmancery, acquiring major (5000+ omns) wealth for the Church, maintaining unity within the Church.
Decisive accomplishments:
Succesfull conviction of a fallen Shepherd or a high ranking priest, succesfull conviction of a powerful person (Influence 15+) of higher crimes, breaking up a cult, uncovering a coven of warlocks, gaining leverage over secular rulers for the Church, inflicting serious damage upon a cabal.
Minor transgressions:
Engaging in minor secular crimes, causing public ire, engaging in decadent pleasures, taking bribes, dabbling in Techmancery, letting personal bias affect trials.
Major transgressions:
Causing great destruction, killing bystanders, failing to convict a notable (Influence 7+) person, using Forbidden Knowledge and Techmancery, showing a Major Sign of Blight, consorting with enemies of the faith.
Decisive transgressions:
Causing spectacular destruction, turning people away from the true faith, failing to convict a powerful (Influence 15+) person, fabricating evidence, belonging to a cabal, revealing Pre-Burning secrets.
Factions are informal parties working within the Church. Their existence is tolerated by the Shepherds as long as they only debate the application of doctrines without questioning the doctrines themselves. Most factions operate through informal meetings and correspondence. They have no formal hierarchy or strict goals; rather, they are cooperative clubs for likeminded people. Members come and go, their activity increasing and waning. Most priests and monks do not belong to any factions; rather they are content with the status quo or uninterested in politics.
Major factions have tens of thousands of members spread across the world. Their influence can be used in most settlements. Minor factions have a few thousand members and are mostly found in major cities.
Special resources are boons granted to members of the faction or cabal. Using Influence for the said resources is always one token cheaper.
Influences list the influences that can be gained from the membership. The number following is the maximum available. Factions grant overt influence, cabals covert influence. Great events and epic feats may rise the maximum Influence of the faction/cabal at GM’s discretion.
Joining factions can be done in two ways. A player can choose to belong to a faction during character creation if the character gains influence that the faction provides. Alternatively, a character can seek to join a faction during the game. At least a minor accomplishment is required as a proof of dedication to the cause. A character can belong to several factions, though this put him at a risk of opposing demands.
Accomplishments and transgressions apply mostly only to members of factions. A character performing decisive deeds will, however, be noticed. Several accomplishments can gain the character friendship of the faction, while several transgressions will make the faction hostile.
Expulsion effects happen only once, but an expulsed character is forevermore barred from the faction.
Major faction
The Caretakers think the Church must, above anything else, protect the common people. This extends further than just their souls; they must be protected from the predatory nobility. The Caretakers focus heavily on charity, pushing more funding for schools and orphanages. In the pulpit they are keen to judge greedy merchants and decadent nobles, reminding them of their obligations.
Priests should lead by example and not distance them from the lower classes. While the Caretakers allow luxuries in moderation, they abhor pursuit of wealth and power. If such are received, they should be put into good use, not hoarded or used for personal gain.
Membership
Special resources: Mobs of supporters
Influences: Rabblerousing (20), Techmancery (10), Government (5)
Notable members:
Expulsion: Shamed in public
Minor accomplishments:
Performing considerable charity (500+ omns), punishing corrupt officials, supporting schools, hospitals and orphanages, bringing hope to the common people, protecting common livelihoods, saving lives.
Major accomplishments:
Performing major charity (5000+ omns), punishing oppressive nobility, repairing damage of the old wars, breaking down exploitative merchants, improving health and sanitation, protecting masses from cults and monsters.
Decisive accomplishments:
Bringing down corrupt merchant house, saving thousands from a famine or an epidemic, sharing great wealth with the people, cleansing ancient ruins, recruiting powerful people for the cause, affecting local politics for the betterment of the people.
Minor transgressions:
Hoarding personal wealth (500+ omns), seeking personal power, requiring money for services, damaging livelihoods, convicting helpers of the poor, associating with merchant princes.
Major transgressions:
Hoarding great riches (5000+ omns), exploiting ordinary people, associating with tyrants, damaging critical infrastructure, causing great destruction, using crisis for personal gain.
Decisive transgressions:
Stealing money from charity, causing harm to thousands of people, destroying a charitable institution, spreading Blight or disease, destroying reputation of the Church among the people, supporting tyranny and oppression.
Major faction
The Lamenters are an ascetic faction that wants the Church to return to its roots. They see the opulence and splendor of great palaces and temples as a distraction from the holy truths. In their view the Church should give up on building great cathedrals and holding elaborate rituals. People should instead be encouraged to fast and pray while leading simple lives.
For priesthood itself, the Lamenters take the austerity even further. They admire suffering and the ability to endure it, seeing it as a way to reach closer to Arius. Those trying to reach holiness should give up on all ordinary comforts, instead putting themselves through tribulations of mind and body.
In the Church politics, the Lamenters oppose all economical entanglements. For them even charity is needless obstruction before the main goal of holy revelations. They despise Techmancers as envoys of materialism, whose gadgets distract people from the transcendent truths.
Membership
Special resources: Ascetic hiding places everywhere
Influences: Religious (15), Rabblerousing (10), Criminal (5)
Notable members:
'Expulsion: Stranded in a wasteland to starve
Minor accomplishments:
Denouncing luxuries and comfort, speaking publicly against material entanglements, refusing monetary rewards, enduring extreme discomfort, destroying wealth (500+ omns), experiencing starvation and illness.
Major accomplishments:
Destroying luxuries, convicting the decadent, destroying great wealth (5000+ omns), defacing art and idols, imposing ascetism upon thousands, disrupting decadent trades.
Decisive accomplishments:
Destroying luxury production, convicting powerful (influence 15+) and decadent priests, disrupting economy on a large scale, imposing ascetism upon high nobility, changing holy practices towards ascetism.
Minor transgressions:
Accepting money for services, wearing luxurious clothing, having romantic relations, living in comfort, owning expensive things (500+ omns), owning property.
Major transgressions:
Taking part in decadent pleasures, not accusing the decadent when given the chance, owning art or other luxuries, owning exquisite things (5000+ omns), doing charity, creating material goods.
Decisive transgressions:
Supporting art, holding decadent parties, taking rejuvenation treatments, protecting materialistic trade and production, using prosthetics, improving material lives of the masses.
Minor faction
There are still portions of the world where the word of Arius does not reach. Other places have forsaken the right teachings. The Missionaries want to fix these problems at any cost. The Church should concentrate on reaching even the most distant Freeport and convert the people to the cause. Unlike the Supremacists, the Missionaries want to reach and convince the people, not the rulers.
The Missionaries train and fund priests on roaming the world in search of converts. They are open to almost any method of conversion as long as it is effective. Reaching those who are nominally faithful and lighting their faith into true flame is another worthy goal.
Membership
Special resources: Maps and guides
Influences: Religious (10), Mercantile (5), Rabblerousing (5)
Notable members:
Expulsion: Branded as a hypocrite and a fraud among all missionaries
Minor accomplishments:
Holding public trials, bringing lapsed people back to the faith, supporting missionary expeditions, giving public punishments, instigating mob justice, gaining public favor.
Major accomplishments:
Holding public spectacles, converting many heretics and pagans, building churches and shrines, donating relics to the cause, destroying blasphemous temples, funding missionary expedition (5000+ omns).
Decisive accomplishments:
Converting thousands of people, taking down false prophets, spreading holy word to great masses, convicting fraudulent missionaries, forming missions in forsaken places, contacting lost tribes and settlements.
Minor transgressions:
Convicting missionaries, damaging spreading of the word, hampering missionary expeditions, holding secret trials, convicting popular preachers, damaging popularity of the Church.
Major transgressions:
Destroying churches and shrines, stopping missionary expeditions, convicting firebrand preachers, destroying missions, killing misled commoners instead of converting them.
Decisive transgressions:
Causing outrage among population, foiling contact with lost tribes and settlements, destroying lost tribes and settlements, massacring thousands of misled commoners, making the Church seem malevolent to the common people, destroying local centers of worship.
Minor faction
The Mystics believe that the world is filled with wonders if one just knows where to look. Arius and the Seventeen Saints constantly answer to prayers through visions and miracles. The Mystics think Church should actively seek, document and celebrate these events as the cornerstone of faith.
While closely tied to the monks of St. Dantalion, the Mystics have adherents from everywhere within the Church. They actively seek, celebrate and document miracles. Some of them are morbidly interested in the opposite, seeking out possessions and other demonic activity.
Membership
Special resources: Occult knowledge
Influences: Religious (15), Techmancery (5)
Notable members:
Expulsion: Rumored to be possessed or an atheist
Minor accomplishments:
Sharing mystic experiences, recording local legends, encouraging saintly mysteries, using visions as evidence in trials, encouraging local superstitions, accusing people of witchcraft.
Major accomplishments:
Convicting necromancers and sorcerers, confirming saintly miracles and visions, documenting supernatural events, confirming supernatural crimes, defeating monsters.
Decisive accomplishments:
Performing a miracle, destroying a Gloom Devil, finding saintly relics, performing pilgrimage to the cathedrals of all Seventeen Saints, starting a new local legend, finding a saintly chosen.
Minor transgressions:
Refuting superstitious rumors, suppressing local legends, accusing people for religious mysteries, disrespecting saintly visions, spoiling mysteries, coming up with natural reasons for supernatural events.
Major transgressions:
Convicting mystics and visionaries, discouraging belief in the supernatural, destroying occult writings and artifacts, damaging mystic locations, disproving monsters, failing to convict necromancers and sorcerers.
Decisive transgressions:
Convicting prophets and miracleworkers, destroying mystic locations, suppressing saintly parables, destroying holy artifacts, desecrating saintly mysteries, disproving miracles.
Major faction
The Prosperous emphasize wealth and high birth as signs of divine favor. Pure souls are rewarded with birth into high positions; naturally this means they are better people spiritually. This means the Church has a divine duty to maintain the secular order of the world. Good relations with the high-born mean good relations with Arius.
As a faction, the Prosperous put great weight on maintaining social order. They are happy to remind the high-born of donating to the Church in return. For them luxurious life and opulent temples are a physical proof of holiness.
Membership
Special resources: Loads of money
Influences: Mercantile (20), Government (15)
Notable members:
Expulsion: Driven into bankruptcy
Minor accomplishments:
Associating with nobility, maintaining social order, showing lenience in exchange for “donations”, collecting tithes for the Church, convicting troublemakers, showing great taste in clothing and class.
Major accomplishments:
Convicting rebels, showing great lenience to the highborn, supporting opulent temples and rituals, taking down social upstarts, supporting slave trade, removing obstacles for trade.
Decisive accomplishments:
Making very powerful friends, releasing merchant princes with a slap on the wrist, destroying rebellious movements, ingraining the Church in very prosperous business, building a luxurious temple or monastery, gaining a part in the Omnium trade.
Minor transgressions:
Accusing nobility, not accepting donations, shaking social order, harassing traders, upsetting government officials, disrupting business.
Major transgressions:
Emboldening slaves and the lowborn, convicting the wealthy, shaking the establishment, disrupting donations and other church income, destroying expensive property, freeing slaves.
Decisive transgressions:
Convicting powerful nobility, causing great destruction to the economy, giving away expensive property, ruining relations with the merchant princes, convicting priests for corruption, forcing austerity on high-ranking priests.
Minor faction
The Rebuilders want to fix the world. The wars of old and present have damaged what Arius left to the Church to maintain. Surely good stewardship means rebuilding back to the old glories as a better, holier version? Uniquely to the Church factions, the Rebuilders value knowledge and support new things.
As a faction, the Rebuilders want the Church to invest more in education and pressure the secular rulers to more responsible rulership. Some of the members even advocate protecting the environment and trying to fix the damage caused by the Burning. The Rebuilders have an ambivalent relationship with the Techmancers; their skills are needed for restoration but on the other hand they are part of the problem by preventing progress.
Membership
Special resources: Techmantic workshops and laboratories
Influences: Techmancery (10), Government (5), Mercantile (5)
Notable members:
Expulsion: Discredited among the Techmantic Order
Minor accomplishments:
Saving knowledge from destruction, educating common people, documenting new findings, showing lenience to well-meaning Techdabblers, spreading hope for the future, supporting repair projects.
Major accomplishments:
Cleansing Blight, restoring useful infrastructure, convicting charlatans and Blighters, recovering useful Techmancery, releasing well-meaning Techdabblers, reclaiming ruins and wastelands for use.
Decisive accomplishments:
Repairing critical infrastructure, spreading useful inventions, disabling ancient threats, preventing the destruction of critical infrastructure, recruiting powerful people for the cause, securing support from the Techmancers.
Minor transgressions:
Causing collateral damage, spreading despair, promoting ignorance, hiding knowledge, suppressing innovation, damaging schools and libraries.
Major transgressions:
Convicting well-meaning Techdabblers harshly, destroying knowledge, discouraging resettlement, alienating Techmancers from the cause, destroying universities and libraries, damaging critical infrastructure.
Decisive transgressions:
Destroying critical infrastructure, spreading Blight, rousing masses against progress, turning powerful people against the cause, activating ancient threats, destroying world-changing Techmancery.
Major faction
The Supremacists are a block of political priesthood who want the Church to put a leash on all the secular rulers. All the ills in the world fall back to the foolishness of ordinary men. They must be made to grovel before the Lord Steward and made vassals of the Church. The Techmancers are the same; their place is back in the Church, under proper spiritual guidance.
Among priesthood, the Supremacists encourage them to meddle in local politics. Guiding and counseling nobility is a worthy goal while moving towards a firmer grip. Gaining influence over noble families through religious sacraments is not a problem, but a holy duty.
Membership
Special resources: Official permits and documents
Influences: Government (20), Military (15)
Notable members:
Expulsion: Rumored to be a rebel troublemaker among nobility
Minor accomplishments:
Having connections in the high places, holding political speeches, gaining leverage over civil servants, convicting unfriendly goverment officials, showing lenience to friendly nobles, exchanging religious rites for political favors.
Major accomplishments:
Convicting nobility unfriendly to the cause, letting go friendly nobles, manipulating local politics to favor the Church, maneuvering Church scions into secular positions, placing advisors and tutors in powerful courts.
Decisive accomplishments:
Changing laws to favor the Church, arranging high-profile trials for political purposes, gaining leverage over rulers, forcing powerful persons admit the Church supremacy, manipulating successions, gaining personal vows of obedience.
Minor transgressions:
Annoying government officials, harassing nobility, causing political problems, not showing understanding towards the nobility, empowering people over the Church, supporting secular authorities.
Major transgressions:
Convicting nobles controlled by the Church, failing to convict nobles unwelcoming towards the Church, causing political unstability, losing leverage over powerful people, driving powerful people away from the Church, allowing heretics and pagans gain power.
Decisive transgressions:
Convicting politically powerful priests, allowing secular law trump the holy laws, supporting powerful people hostile to the cause, failing to use high-profile trials for political gain, losing control over rulers, exposing political schemes of the Church.
Cabals are secretive cults and conspiracies working inside the Church. Unlike factions, cabals are organized, hierarchical and extremely secretive, keeping most things even from members. They require absolute loyalty to their causes. Most cabals are considered treasonous or heretical and membership in one is against the holy laws. They sometimes try to manipulate the Shepherds as their tools. Major cabals have a few thousand members, while minor ones have a few hundred at most.
Joining a cabal can be done during character creation if the character gains Covert Influence. Alternatively, a character can be approached during the game if he does a major or decisive accomplishment by the cabal’s standards.
Cabals grant Covert Influence and unlike factions, their expulsion effects are permanent, continuing to affect the character on a regular basis.
Minor Cabal
Flesh is weak and fallible, always yearning unholy things. In the Pre-Burning times, it was flesh that fell and became corrupt. In order to purify the world, we must first purify ourselves. Deny the flesh to earn the divinity!
The Deniers are a sect of extremists who go beyond asceticism in their pursuit of spirituality. In their interpretation, the human form itself is tainted by the Darkness. The Blighted and the Pre-Burning horrors are proof of this. People must be taught how to fight and win their own bodies. Unlike the Lamenters, the Deniers do not value suffering in itself. Suffering is a tool, nothing more. Death is not to be feared, but to tempt and seek it is prideful foolishness. Curiously, the Deniers look up to Techmancers as successful Deniers. They revere the Solus Mekanimus as a spirit without weakness of the flesh.
As a cabal, the Deniers want to push the freedom from flesh upon all, fervently believing that the end result is spiritual enlightenment. Tools such as famines and epidemics can teach the masses how to rise above their flesh; but only as controlled, limited education. High-born individuals insulated from hardships must be taught individually, usually against their will.
The Deniers have no coherent long-term plans. However, they see the recent troubles in Aresia and Ventharn as an opportunity for large scale “education”. Some members have been drawn lately towards Ascensionist Eserhaus.
Membership
Special resources: Access to skilled (if morbid!) alchemists and surgeons, access to poisons and diseases, hidden “learning” (torture) chambers.
Covert Influences: Techmancery (15), Criminal (5), Spycraft (5)
Expulsion: infected with exotic diseases and/or abducted, then left to a wasteland to “enlighten”.
Minor accomplishments:
Self-mortification (starvation and injuries), hampering medical care and hospitals, sabotaging charitable institutions, convicting doctors, convicting sexual escapades, destroying places of physical enjoyment.
Major accomplishments:
Self-mortification (amputations and other crippling measures), spreading diseases and causing hunger, tampering with water supplies, convicting powerful people into educating experiences, causing educating hardships among notable individuals, causing hardships among senior priesthood.
Decisive accomplishments:
Causing a massive famine or an epidemic, destroying important medical knowledge or infrastructure, destroying luxury production on a large scale, exposing large populations to the elements, causing extreme hardships upon powerful people, turning powerful priests to the cause.
Minor transgressions:
Seeking medical care, performing charity, alleviating suffering of others, failing to convict the decadent, administering no physical punishment upon the convicted, engaging in physical pleasures.
Major transgressions:
Using pain medication, convicting members of the cabal, living in luxury, spreading medical knowledge, preventing famines or epidemics, easing the daily lives of ordinary people.
Decisive transgressions:
Using a Miracle Injection, fighting famines or epidemics, supporting medical knowledge and infrastructure, foiling plots of the cabal, restoring helpful infrastructure, saving powerful people from educational hardships.
Major cabal
The world is filthy and must be purged! The heretics and warlocks, the false prophets are the first to burn. Then we shall purge the Blighted and the traitors, the fake believers and the hypocrites. Only then shall Arius return to us, smiling upon our triumph.
The Brotherhood is a militant, genocidal cabal bent on setting the world on fire – again. They advocate war and conflict against all the realms no longer controlled by the Church. This main goal is sometimes sidetracked by general desire for “pure” world, including a wholesale slaughter of the Blighted. Ironically their beliefs are quite close to the Lothians, who they want utterly destroyed.
The cabal preaches violence to nobles and commoners alike. Their other actions are blunt – lynchings, murders and military attacks. Imperial involvement in the War of Aresian Succession was both their greatest success and failure in the recent history. The Golden Lord was faced on the battlefield and Ventharn cast free of his control. Unfortunately the war ended before escalating into an apocalyptic conflict fought on the Old World.
Their ultimate goal is nothing short of a new Burning. The cabal wishes to seize the control of remaining Hellfire weapons and unleash them on to the world. Currently the cabal is busy advocating sectarian conflicts on Aresia and Ventharn.
Membership
Special resources: Fanatical killers, weapons, Wrath of Arius
Covert Influences: Military (20), Rabblerousing (5), Techmancery (5)
Expulsion: Hunted by zealous assassins
Minor accomplishments:
Violence against the impure, instigating lynchings, executing the convicted, preaching hate and violence, convicting traitorous priests preaching peace, supporting zealots.
Major accomplishments:
Destroying heretical temples, slaughtering thousands of heretics, showing great lenience towards violent zealots, instigating major riots against the impure, donating large amounts of weapons to the cause, convicting the impure en masse.
Decisive accomplishments:
Starting a war, acquiring weapons of mass destruction, massacring a whole city of the impure, recruiting an army of zealots, turning important leaders to the cause, committing huge acts of terror against the infidels.
Minor transgressions:
Stopping lynchings and mob justice, not convicting heretics to death, showing lenience to peace-loving priests, accusing instigators of holy war, having peaceful contact with the impure, not using an opportunity to cause mayhem.
Major transgressions:
Convicting members of the cabal, preventing killing of the impure, preventing acts of holy terror, delivering weapons of mass destruction to other hands, killing other members of the cabal, promoting peace.
Decisive transgressions:
Stopping a righteous use of weapons of mass destruction, destroying weapons of mass destruction, saving the impure from a righteous punishment, showing charity to the infidels, revealing plans of the cabal to outsiders, having close relations with the impure.
Major cabal
As the holy word says, Arius blesses the righteous with prosperity. Is it not thus that doing things for the prosperity of yourself and your family is then holy work? By arranging our lives on an upward curve we ensure the purity of our souls.
The Gilded Circle are a network of corruption with ties to the merchant princes. They seek to use the Church as a way to enrichen themselves and their relatives. Many are from noble families; others seek to become nobility. Some of the cabal genuinely believe seeking money and power is holy. For most of them it is but an empty phrase and their religious convictions are weak.
Despite their secular aims, the cabal organizes as a religious conspiracy. Lower ranking members work to ensure the economic success of others. In return, they are given opportunities to enrichen themselves. Rising in the Church hierarchy and abusing those positions for monetary gain are expected. Hampering any investigations in these activities are paramount.
Long-term goal of the Circle is placing members among the top Church hierarchy and/or gaining access to secular rulers. During the recent years they have been busy war profiteering. Now the attention is turning towards the Imperial succession.
Membership
Special resources: Money, blackmail materials, Omnium
Covert Influences: Mercantile (20), Government (10), Criminal (5)
Expulsion: character assassination and economic ruin
Minor accomplishments:
Acquiring business contacts, sharing useful news with the cabal, paying a tithe from a profit made, showing lenience in exchange for pay, acquiring useful property, befriending nobility.
Major accomplishments:
Rising high in the Church hierarchy (Influence 7+), recruiting wealthy or well-connected people into the cabal, acquiring a cut in the major commodity trades, aiding another member to make a fortune (5000+ omns), gaining leverage over powerful people, foiling investigation into the cabal.
Decisive accomplishments:
Sharing extremely profitable news, acquiring a cut in the Omnium trade, raising very high in the Church hierarchy (Influence 15+), lobbying profitable holy or secular policies, gaining power over a significant dynasty, acquiring very profitable property for the cabal.
Minor transgressions:
Not sharing useful news, prosecuting corruption within the Church, not making money when the opportunity arises, convicting the wealthy, disruping trade, stirring up workers and slaves.
Major transgressions:
Investigating activities of the cabal, causing major disruption to the economy, damaging property of the cabal, supporting abolitionists and other riffraff, not sharing great opportunities for profit, alienating powerful people.
Decisive transgressions:
Losing important position in the Church hierarchy, losing cut in a profitable trade, convicting a member of the cabal, exposing plots of the cabal, causing the implementation of unprofitable policies, losing very profitable property.
Minor cabal
The touch of Darkness reaches deep, even inside the Church. In these dark times, dark acts must be taken. We will cut off the infected hand before it spreads.
The Hounds are essentially an anti-cabal working to dispose of the various divisions within the Church. While they prefer to deplore the factions of resources through blackmail and political maneuvering, they are not above assassinations. The Hound leadership claim to their members that they act on the direct orders of the Lord Steward. Whether this is true or not is not known.
Even for a cabal, the Hounds demand absolute obedience and blind trust. The members receive cryptic orders that must be carried out to a letter. Tests of loyalty are common. In return those found noteworthy will enjoy privileges inside the Church.
The Hounds actively work to disrupt the activity of other cabals and factions. This includes sabotaging their plans and bleeding them of resources. They have seemingly no other goals.
Membership
Special resources: Skilled agents, intelligence archives, friends in high places
Covert Influences: Spycraft (20), Criminal (10 ) Expulsion: framed for vile crimes
Minor accomplishments:
Carrying out cryptic tasks without a question, convicting tarnished priests, investigating powerful people, refusing significant bribery and prosecuting the attempt, investigating conspiracies within the Church, ceasing or refocusing investigations when told so.
Major accomplishments:
Convicting powerful priests, ruining a cabal plot, failing a high-profile trial on command, getting a targeted person killed without a question, delivering evidence of cabal activity, exposing large-scale corruption within the Church.
Decisive accomplishments:
Destroying a cabal cell, framing and convicting a powerful person on command, causing great destruction on command, finding traitors among the Hounds, confessing a serious crime on command, destroying what one holds most dear for the Hounds.
Minor transgressions:
Showing leniency in convictions, asking questions, complicating tasks due to self-preservation, continuing investigations despite told otherwise, pursuing personal goals, showing interest in the Pre-Burning past.
Major transgressions:
Revealing secrets of the Church, showing leniency to corrupt priests, using religious authority for personal gain, investigating the Hounds, consorting with other cabals, failing in an important mission.
Decisive transgressions:
Refusing to follow orders, showing mercy to cabals, revealing anything about the Hounds, failing a test of loyalty, convicting a Hound without the orders to do so, revealing information gained from the Hounds.
Minor cabal
Arius liberated us from the tyranny of the Apostates. We should follow his example in liberating the people from tyrants and what tyranny is worse than slavery? Even those born with darkened souls deserve a chance to redeem themselves through their own choices.
The Liberators are a radical cabal close to equalist heresies of yore. While they follow the official teachings of Arius, their interpretation see slavery as an abomination. Slaves are seen as property; thus they are not held responsible for their actions. This gives them no chance to redeem their souls and could even damn their masters, if they are responsible for wicked slaves.
Some of the cabal see slavery as an economical process and concentrate resisting slave trade and the involved merchant princes. Others take more direct action, liberating slaves and assisting escapees. Sabotaging slave catchers and clearing debts that would be used for enslaving the poor are seen as high virtues. The more philosophically inclined speculate if golems, being inhabited by Mekanima, are actually slaves as well. Others point out that many women are functionally enslaved to their homes.
The Liberators aim to abolish slavery in the entire world. Currently they have great hopes in the revolutionaries of Ventharn.
Membership
Special resources: False identities, hideouts, smuggling routes
Covert Influences: Criminal (15), Rabblerousing (10)
Expulsion: Branded as an escaped slave and betrayed to slave-catchers
Minor accomplishments:
Spreading public distaste for slavery, convicting slaveowners, investigating corrupt judges, assisting liberated slaves, building a new hideout, disrupting slave trade.
Major accomplishments:
Convicting slave traders, liberating slaves, causing harm to the merchant princes, transporting escaped slaves to Eurasia or Lunarus, pushing limitations upon slavery, causing great economic damage on slavers.
Decisive accomplishments:
Convicting merchant princes, exposing institutional corruption in slavery, convicting corrupt judges, causing a mass escape of slaves, building an underground railway, recruiting powerful people to the cause.
Minor transgressions:
Associating with slave traders, showing lenience to slave traders, investigating escaped slaves, upholding slavery as an institution, revealing a hideout, preaching obedience and servience.
Major transgressions:
Associating with merchant princes, failing to convict slave traders, convicting liberators, showing lenience to merchant princes, revealing smuggling routes, catching escaped slaves.
Decisive transgressions:
Taking or selling slaves, convicting a person into slavery, betraying a settlement of former slaves, convicting members of the cabal, supporting slave trade, buying slaves.
Minor cabal
The world is rotten and we are the cure. The rot is all around us in the machines and contraptions that lord over us. We were never meant to traverse the Gloom in hulking metal beasts. Humanity must return to the Old World and destroy the foul taint of Techmancery for good.
The Puresouls are a splitter group of the Brotherhood of New Fire, divided by the stance on Techmancery. While the Brotherhood seek to burn the world with ancient weapons, the Puresouls seek the destruction of all Techmancery. All of it is evil and must be destroyed; though it can be used temporarily in this goal. Solus Mekanimus is incarnation of the Darkness and the Techmancers are its vile priesthood.
In a twisted way, the cabal has clearer understanding than most on how the world is withering. They see this as a good process that needs to be advanced. Every decaying infrastructure, every destroyed Gloomship is a victory for Arius and ordinary people.
The cabal aims to ultimately destroy the Arx Machinus, bring down the Ladders of Arius and disable all Gloomships. Currently they are looking into ways to use the split among Techmancers to their advantage.
Membership
Special resources: Blueprints, explosives, skilled saboteurs
Covert Influences: Military (10), Rabblerousing (10), Spycraft (5)
Expulsion: marooned in the Gloom or left in a Blighted wasteland
Minor accomplishments:
Spoiling Omnium with impurities, destroying Techmantic equipment (worth 500+ omns), spreading fear of Techmancery and Gloom, convicting scholars, destroying knowledge, convicting Techdabblers.
Major accomplishments:
Destroying Techmantic equipment (worth 5000+ omns), instigating riots against Techmancery , destroying important infrastructure, sabotaging a Gloomship, killing a Techmancer, hampering Omnium trade.
Decisive accomplishments:
Causing great damage to the Techmancers, destroying critical infrastructure, destroying Gloomships, causing great damage to Omnium trade, destroying Omnium mines, destroying unique records and blueprints.
Minor transgressions:
Showing lenience to Techdabblers, using Techmancery for other than cabal’s goals, buying Techmantic goods, saving knowledge from destruction, buying Omnium, failing to convict scholars.
Major transgressions:
Associating with Techmancers, building Techmantic equipment, protecting infrastructure from destruction, supporting Gloom travel, donating or selling Techmancery, using golems.
Decisive transgressions:
Aiding Techmancers, restoring Techmantic infrastructure, installing clockwork prosthetics, owning a golem, taking rejuvenation treatments, making people believe in Techmancery.
Minor cabal
There is something wrong in the world. It is like there was something huge obstructing our view, casting a shadow on us which we can’t see. There are things amongst us, looking human but something else inside. We will dissect the truth out of them. We must pierce through this veil of ignorance in order to best serve Arius in this shadowed world.
The Shadowseekers are a loose network of worried investigators, paranoid scholars and unhinged occultists. All have their personal suspicions and theories about grand conspiracies, demonic influences and bizarre secrets. All have come across something that makes them suspect the big picture of the world, past and present.
Members of the cabal deal mainly in information, sharing observations and findings on bizarre matters. They have no interest in mundane matters, although some of them see the marks of a hidden hand in politics. Many of them find the Pre-Burning writings very interesting, although naturally dangerous in the wrong hands.
Recently, the Shadowseekers are partially excited and partially horrified by the split of the Techmancers. Are the Followers of Eserhaus an opportunity to gain access into secrets of the Order – or a sign that something wicked is about to happen?
Membership
Special resources: Access to eldritch knowledge, rare translators, unhinged scholars
Covert Influences: Spycraft (10), Techmancery (10)
Expulsion: used as an expendable bait or puppet in some bizarre experiment
Minor accomplishments:
Carefully documenting any strange cases, sharing any found secrets with the cabal, guiding investigations towards bizarre possibilities, copying any texts to be destroyed, sending remnants of strange Techmancery or creatures for analysis, guiding scholars towards strange possibilities.
Major accomplishments:
Recovering Pre-Burning writings, showing lenience to scholars of the bizarre, recovering forbidden Techmancery, gaining leverage over Techmancers, recovering strange artifacts, performing autopsy on a Gloom Devil.
Decisive accomplishments:
Recording evidence of a conspiracy, recovering a mystic artifact, gaining access to the Forbidden Archives, capturing and delivering a Gloom Devil (or similar creature) alive, uncovering ancient secrets, capturing and delivering a skinwalker.
Minor transgressions:
Holding secrets, convicting scholars of the bizarre, not copying evidence of trials for the cabal, guiding investigations away from strange things, killing monsters without recovering samples, destroying strange knowledge.
Major transgressions:
Destroying occult archives, destroying strange artefacts, holding dark secrets, not recording extraordinary encounters, letting suspected skinwalkers go, stopping any investigations.
Decisive transgressions:
Revealing cabal secrets to outsiders, convicting Shadowseekers, consorting with skinwalkers, holding secrets for personal gain, convicting occultists without recording all their knowledge, possessing artifacts without experimenting with them.
Minor cabal
The Burning came from the Fall of Man into wickedness – and it is no surprise the holy word says Man, not Man and Woman. The Church has forgotten this simple truth. Men have had their run of the world. Now it is our turn.
The Sisters of Arius are a network of women within the Church hierarchy, including nuns and wives of priests. Their heretical interpretation of the holy word reverses the gender roles; men are flawed and women holy. Arius was noteworthy because He and the Seventeen Saints were the last flawless, holy men. In order to save the world, it must be wrangled away from males.
As a cabal, the Sisters often work in a surprisingly selfless way. Rather than chasing personal power they support and safeguard other high-ranking women. Perhaps one day the Church can be taken over from within; but for now change is easier in the secular world. Many of the aided aren’t even aware of the assistance received.
Ultimately, the Sisters want to rewrite the holy word. Currently they are focused on supporting and perhaps recruiting the Imperial Grand Princess and the new ruler of the Golden Dome.
Membership
Special resources: Disguises,rumors, spies
Covert Influences: Religious (10), Government (10)
Expulsion: expulsed and shunned by most women in power
Minor accomplishments:
Showing lenience to convicted females, helping little girls, liberating female slaves, allowing divorces, showing lenience to equalists, supporting nunneries.
Major accomplishments:
Failing to convict women, convicting traditional priests, convicting powerful people for abusing women, assisting powerful women, spending a lot of wealth (5000+ omns) on female charities, shutting down brothels.
Decisive accomplishments:
Failing to convict powerful women, arranging female heirs to be educated by the cabal, destroying leverage others have on powerful women, helping high-born girls gain inheritance, pushing changes into secular laws, starting new nunneries.
Minor transgressions:
Showing lenience to convicted males, ignoring the plight of female slaves, pushing hard sentences on women, convicting women for extramarital children, convicting women to slavery, associating with known abusive males.
Major transgressions:
Convicting nuns, convicting influential women, not convicting abusive males, making women suffer for the crimes of their spouses, making girls suffer for the crimes of their parents, convicting members of the cabal.
Decisive transgressions:
Convicting powerful women, associating with abusive males, supporting oppressive laws and doctrines, supporting plots against women, exposing secrets of the cabal, personally harming members of the cabal.
St. Gadarel
Honor Ameracho and her rulers, bring order to chaos, break no vow given, support rulers of faithful realms, resist rebels and subversives.
St. Kasadya
Do not flinch from danger, honor an honorable foe, show no mercy to followers of Darkness, show no fear, leave no ally behind.
St. Pineme
Eschew material comforts, improve the lot of the downtrodden, be a friend to serfs and slaves, find solace in suffering, give generously and take little.
St. Dantalion
Trust divine guidance over reason, seek and interpret revelations, allow no doubt to fester, reinforce the faith of those who waver, seek and spread miracles.
St. Pruflas
Uphold laws and ordnances, maintain social order, expose lies and deceit, do not mix emotion with judgement, break no laws.
St. Furcas
Aid travelers and pilgrims on their journeys, spread learning and wisdom, destroy Forbidden Knowledge and false teachings, do not run into conclusions hastily, value truth above deceit.
St. Yeqon
Maintain chastity and decency, protect virgins and maidens, look after children above all else, shame and expose immorality, test yourself through temptations.
St. Seere
Respect the nobility for their holy birthright, protect all that is beautiful, uphold the respect for authorities, guide those who are led astray, allow no rebellions to take root.
St. Sabnock
Treat every building as a minor shrine for all buildings reflect creation, do not damage any dwelling needlessly, respect the engineer, the architect and the builder, be a friend to Eurasians and Lunarusians, create something new as your prayers.
St. Oriax
Oppose and defeat slaves of the Golden Lord everywhere you go, revere Gloomships as tools of faith, be a friend to Gloomsailors, destroy those who commune with Gloom Devils, help all who resist the Golden Lord.
St. Cacrinolas
Let no transgression go unavenged, seek retribution for crimes otherwise forgotten, aid those who seek justice, reward those who endure virtuously, accept no deflection of justice.
St. Andras
Seek to right all wrongs you have done, bring penitence over punishment to the wrongdoers, hate crimes but not the criminal, expose charlatans and false prophets, be a friend to the Aresians and their struggles.
St. Eligos
Turn away none seeking aid and solace, do penance for sins past and future, grant all a second chance, take no payment for your service, value not your life above those of others.
St. Barbas
Give comfort and aid to the sick and the wounded, cause no avoidable harm, value craftsmen and artists and their creations, treat all regardless of their birth, do not use sickness or poison as weapons.
St. Decarabia
Honor those working the land, aid the common folk in their struggles, protect musicians and storytellers, respect the work of others, partake in physical labor.
St. Leraje
Respect local traditions, break no oath given, forgive no oath broken, bear no false witness, maintain peace among the faithful.
St. Valefar
Cause no harm to animals needlessly, treat all dead with respect, allow no graves or corpses to be desecrated, take from nature only what you need, treat your animals as your friends.
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