Character Creation
Determine an ancestry for your character. Your ancestry affects the physrep bonus you have access to, but more than that, it can affect your culture, habits, fashion sense, and relationships with other characters.
Think of a backstory, motivations, personality traits, personal style; the amount of time you put into creating your character's personality and history can be a little or a lot. How much do you remember of your life before realizing you were a Timeskipper? How long have you been a Timeskipper? When did you first hear The Call? What region are you from? You can reach out to other players about forming character ties with their PCs ahead of time or do all of that in game.
You may be a member of a faction. All PCs are Timeskippers, and in addition to that, you may optionally be a member of one (and only one) other faction. Being part of a faction gives you access to mechanics like faction banners, influences NPCs' opinions of you, gives you a more personal interest in some faction-related plots, and likely will affect whether certain PCs will be initially friendly or hostile to you. You don't need to start out as part of a faction; you can join a faction later via roleplaying.
Mechanically, you must:
* Select two spells that you start the game knowing and a flavor for each spell.
* Select one of those two spells to be your signature spell.
* Select a skill that you will start the game knowing. (Listed Below)
* Note that you begin with a starting pool of 6 Essence.
* Optionally, determine if you qualify for any physrep bonuses and if so, which one you will select. (Listed Below)
* Optionally, figure out if any Weapon Powers apply to the weapon(s) you plan to wield.
* Optionally, decide if you want to start out knowing any Rituals.
That's it!
Skills
Skills are abilities that you can use without spending Essence. When creating your character, you may select one skill. You may buy more skills later with Boons; see Progression, below.
Mundane Skills
Mundane skills represent non-magical things you are especially good at. You may take at most three mundane skills, total. You may not take the same skill twice. You may take the Improved version of a skill only after taking the standard version of the skill; you have the effects of both. Improved versions of skills count towards your skill cap just as standard versions of skills do.
Centered: You are anchored in your inner self in a way that most people are not. You may treat major leyline influence as minor for roleplay purposes and may ignore the roleplay effects of minor leyline influence.
Immovable (Improved Centered): You may also ignore the roleplay effects of major leyline influence.
Connected: You are much more socially connected than the average person. Each game, you may choose up to two different things from the following list and do each thing once:
* “Remind” an NPC that you have met them before and had a minor positive or negative interaction. If it makes sense for the incident to have occurred, the NPC will agree that it happened and react accordingly.
* Ask the plot team for rumors or lore that you could reasonably find out about from your far-reaching social contacts. You may not get the exact information you ask for.
* At the plot team’s discretion, seed one rumor. This is a rumor that your character is seeding IC using their connections; anyone can go to the plot team OOC about potentially seeding a rumor they as a player find interesting.
Inspiring: You are good at boosting your comrades’ mood. Twice per game, you may give a speech, sing a song, tell a story, pass out snacks, or do something else invigorating. Everyone who witnesses/participates in this activity gains 1 Essence. You are not affected by your own use of this skill.
Invigorating (improved Inspiring): You may boost your comrades' mood as described above an additional once per game. You are now also affected by your use of the skill and gain Essence each time you inspire your comerades.
Pacifist: Whether willingly or by some compulsion, you abjure direct violence. Increase your max Essence by 1. You gain Slow Heal as a spell; it does not count as one of your two starting spells known but can be chosen as your signature. If you intentionally touch a weapon or shield you may not spend or recover Essence until you spend five minutes atoning, ritually cleansing yourself, or whatever your rededication to pacifism looks like to you.
Protected: Whether it's quick reflexes, divine blessing, or something else, something is keeping you safe on the battlefield. Once per combat, immediately after being the target of a Heal effect, you gain a Shield effect for ten seconds as if you were targeted by the Invoke Shield spell. You do not have to make an effect call; the effect begins immediately as soon as you are healed and costs zero essence.
Stealthy: You can blend into the shadows even when you shouldn’t be able to. Once per scene, you may go out of character and move for five seconds; this represents you sneaking around masterfully.
Assassin (Improved Stealthy): Once per combat, immediately after striking an enemy from behind, you may go out of character and move for up to five seconds. This is separate from your standard use of Stealthy.
Sturdy: You’re tougher than you look. It takes twice as long for an enemy to finish you off as it normally would. If any enemy has finished counting down without being interrupted, inform them, “I’m sturdy; restart your count.” If they complete the count again, only then are you dead. You automatically stabilize as soon as you enter the dropped state and cannot bleed out.
Possum (Improved Sturdy): You can play dead very convincingly. Rather than informing an enemy that you are sturdy and they must restart their count, you can remain silent. If they do not complete the additional count, you are not dead. If anyone takes the time to carefully examine you, you must inform them that you are dropped but alive. A fully completed double-length count will still kill you as it would with the standard Sturdy.
In addition, after spending five minutes in the stabilized state, you recover and are fully conscious and mobile with as many working limbs as you had before being dropped.
Leyline Skills
Leyline skills represent your ability to sense or manipulate the energy from the leylines that permeates reality. You may not take the same leyline skill more than once in order to gain access to new leyline energies. Read about Ley Influences for more information. Leyline skills are not mundane skills and do not count towards your mundane skill cap.
For a significantly less efficient but freely available way of sensing or manipulating leyline influence, see Rituals.
Sense Ley Influence: At the time that you gain this skill, pick three leylines. You may spend thirty seconds observing or interacting with someone and, at the end of that time, go out of game and ask if they are currently being influenced by one specific leyline, which must be one of the three leylines you picked (e.g., Death) and if this influence is minor or major. They must answer honestly, whether they are aware in-character of the influence or not.
You may observe or interact with a group of people at the cost of an additional ten seconds for each person beyond the first. For example, you may observe a group of four people for a full minute (thirty seconds plus ten seconds times three) and then ask all four of them if they are being influenced by a specific leyline.
Alter Ley Influence: At the time that you gain this skill, pick three leylines. You may spend five minutes performing a ritual themed around one of your three leylines targeting a willing or incapacitated subject who must be present at the ritual space. At the end of the five minutes, they are now minorly influenced by the leyline chosen for the ritual themeing. If they were already minorly influenced, they are majorly influenced. If they were previously influenced by the leyline’s opposite leyline, rather than gaining a new influence, that influence is now one level lower (minor if it was major; gone entirely if it was minor).
You may target multiple subjects with this ritual but you must have a helper who is also performing the ritual for each additional subject. The helper does not have to be independently capable of performing the ritual.
Physrep Bonuses
Going above and beyond with your costuming gives you small but real rewards. You may only benefit from one of the below options at any one time. However, if you qualify for multiple bonuses, you may choose every game which bonus is active. That bonus stays active for the duration of the game.
Universal Bonuses
Magical Ambiance: If you have clothing, make-up, and accessories that appear magical in nature, gain +2 maximum Essence.
Noble Standing: If you have clothing, accessories, etc., that mark you as being a member of the nobility or extremely wealthy, once per game you may "remind" an NPC that you have met them, as with the Connected skill. If the NPC is from your region of origin, you may remind them that they owe you extra deference due to some specific past interaction. This does not count towards your usage limit if you also have the Connected skill.
Practical Perseverance: If you have clothing and gear that is extremely practical in nature, such as durable weather-appropriate fabric, spacious pouches, etc., once per scene, you may Push Through an effect targeting you without spending Essence.
Protective Armor: If you have armor that looks protective, you may ignore the first hit that strikes you in every combat. It doesn't matter where this hit lands. Call "armor!" when this hit lands so others know you aren't ignoring it.
Rugged Survival: If you have clothing and other gear that appears worn, lived-in, patched, ragged, and the like, once per scene, you may patch up one of your injured limbs instantly without spending Essence. This patched up limb is functional until the end of the scene at which point it will return to being injured and require healing. If your patched up limb is struck again before the end of the scene it becomes injured as normal.
Ancestry-Specific Bonuses
Celestus Insight: If you have prosthetics, costuming, etc., that clearly marks you as a Celestus with ties to a specific leyline, you may Sense Ley Influence and Alter Ley Influence for that leyline as if you had the relevant skills even if you do not. If you do acquire those skills, you may pick three additional leylines (for a total of four instead of a total of three).
Human Resilience: If you are a human and have clothing or accessories that show your affiliation to your country, faction, or organization, three times per game when dropped, you may immediately get back up with all of your limbs functional and without any negative spell effects you were suffering (e.g., Ground). You should make a big show of this.
Keegan Heart: If you have prosthetics, costuming, etc., that clearly marks you as Keegan, once per game, witnessing a member of your community perform a feat of Social Drama or Combat Drama (as described under Essence) causes you to regain all of your Essence, up to your maximum.
Obsidai Cunning: If you have prosthetics, costuming, etc., that clearly marks you as Obsidai, you begin with one extra mundane skill known and your maximum number of mundane skills known is four, not three.
Predatory Instinct: If you have prosthetics, costuming, etc., that clearly marks you as a Wildkin linked to a predatory animal, once per combat, you may regain an Essence by chasing or stalking an enemy.
Prey Instinct: If you have prosthetics, costuming, etc., that clearly marks you as a Wildkin linked to a prey animal, once per combat, you may regain an Essence by retreating or hiding from an enemy.
Teer Wisdom: If you have prosthetics, costuming, etc., that clearly marks you as Teer, you begin with one extra spell known.
Progression
Progression resets at the end of every cycle. However, during the cycle, your character can grow in power.
Boons
After every game session, you gain one Boon. Boons accrue to the player, not the character; if you switch characters for any reason mid-cycle (e.g., because your character died or because you aren't having fun playing your character), your new character starts with all of the Boons you have earned this cycle. Boons may be spent as follows:
One Boon
* Increase your max Essence by 1, to a max of 10 (12 with physrep bonus).
* Learn a second instance of a spell you already know with different flavor. (This also lets you choose a different command for Invoke Lesser Command.)
* Learn a new skill.
* You may gain the benefit of both an Ancestry physrep bonus and a Universal physrep bonus simultaneously if you qualify for both. If you are a Celestus, you may instead gain the benefit of both Celestus Insight and your base ancestry's physrep bonus. If you qualify for more physrep bonuses than this, you must still choose which pair is active each game. You may only select this option once.
Two Boons
* Learn a new spell.
* Use a "sound of voice" call one additional time per game (for a total of twice). You may only select this option once.
* Pick a thematic category, like fear, poison, necromancy, pain, or fire. You may Push Through effects in that thematic category (use your best judgment) without spending Essence. You may only select this option once.
* As long as you keep both feet planted and one hand free (or holding a focus) to make gestures, your cooldown between spells is 10 seconds, not 30 seconds.
Capstones
During the very last game of the season, each PC who has participated at least a minimum amount is eligible for a single Capstone.
Arcane Turret: Once per game during a combat, you may plant your feet firmly and deliver as many spells as you can otherwise cast without waiting for the customary thirty second cooldown in between. You must not have any weapons or shields in either hand while doing this. This lasts only as long as you move neither of your feet; as soon as you move, the effect ends and cannot be resumed. The effect also ends if you are dropped but not if you are otherwise injured or targeted with a spell.
Beyond Essence: You may push through all effects for free. You may not be the target of a Shield call. Any call to Heal you is free (inform the caster). You can no longer use any spells you know or otherwise spend or transfer any essence. You may not be brought back as an undead. You may still use weapon abilities. Once per game, you may call, "All allies within the sound of my voice, push through this effect!"
Enchanter: Once per game during a combat or non-combat scene, for the duration of the combat or scene, any Command call you make to influence a target's emotions - but not take a specific action- costs zero essence. For example, "By the power of Nature I Command you to regret the damage you have done to this place" or "Dark shadows whirl around me as I Command you to feel terrified of me" are valid but "I Command you to regret the harm you have done to Nature and stop causing more" and "I Command you to flee from me in terror" are not because they specify an action. Repeated calls against the same target do not have a cooldown unless Pushed Through (enabling you to perpetually enchant one person), but switching to a new target has the same cooldown between calls as normal and a target Pushing Through the effect also triggers a cooldown.
Font of Wisdom: Once per game during a combat or non-combat scene, you may grant other characters the use of any spells you know for the duration of the scene. You may only grant one spell to each character but aside from this there is no limit to how many times you can grant each spell or how many characters can receive spells from you. The cost to cast this spell is the same for them as it is for you (i.e., they benefit from the cost reduction if it is your signature spell).
Fountain of Power: Once per game, you may use the voice call, "All allies within the sound of my voice, gain six essence."
Living Shield Wall: Once per game during a combat, whether or not you normally have the Shield spell, you may call Shield with a target of "All allies within my shield wall" at a cost of zero Essence, where your shield wall is one ally within sword's reach to your left and one ally within sword's reach to your right, one ally within sword's reach of each of them on the opposite side, and so forth, with no limit, so long as each person is within sword's reach of the next in a line. Anyone who moves out of reach immediately loses the protection of the Shield, as does anyone who is no longer in the formation due to a gap created by that person leaving. If at least three people including you remain in formation at the end of the duration of the Shield, you may renew the group Shield call at the cost of one Essence. You may continue renewing the call in this way until you run out of Essence or no longer have at least three people in formation. This will likely require pre-battle coordination to explain how this ability works; this is intended.
Reaper of Souls: Once per game during a combat, you gain one temporary essence every time you drop an enemy during that combat. This temporary essence can exceed your maximum essence but must be spent in that combat or the non-combat scene immediately following the combat.
Spell Master: Once per game during a combat or a non-combat scene, any time during that scene when you cast a spell, you may immediately duplicate the same spell against up to two additional targets. You must repeat the call. You only need to pay the essence cost and (if a slow spell) time cost once.
Thief of Vitality: Once per game during a combat, for the duration of the combat you may heal yourself by striking an enemy in the same target location where you were just hit. For example, if you are hit in the right arm, striking an enemy in the right arm restores your arm. If you were hit in the torso, striking an enemy in the torso stops you from being dropped. You have roughly one minute to do this before the wound takes effect; after that, you suffer the effects of the hit as normal.
True Necromancer: If a PC dies, you may (with that player's permission) raise them as an undead under your power. You and your undead may freely transfer essence between one another while adjacent. You and your undead may also freely transfer injuries between one another (e.g., your arm is healed but your undead's arm is now wounded or vice versa, you would drop but your undead takes the damage and drops instead, etc.) at voice range. There is no limit to how many undead you can have. The extent to which your undead retain their own personalities or have to obey your commands is a conversation between you and those players. Undead retain access to all abilities they had while alive.
Changing Your Build
You can freely change your build in between sessions (e.g., switching known spells or skills) as long as you can explain it in the game and are acting in good faith. This is intended to give you the freedom to change elements of your build that aren't working out the way you hoped or to reflect dramatic character changes, such as a plot-driven shift in ley alignment.
It is not intended to let you game the system by, e.g., spending one boon on something that costs a single boon, earning another boon, and immediately refunding the spent boon and purchasing something that costs two boons. It is not intended to let you gear your build to whatever plot you expect to be happening, for example by swapping out Leyline Skills if you expect that next session the PCs will need to deal with the Death Leyline so you're going to pick up the relvant skills and drop other elements of your build. If it appears that you are frequently changing your build for these reasons, staff may lock your build and not allow you to change without explicit permission.
You can only change your build during a session with staff permission. For example, if you are playing a new character and realize halfway through Saturday that you haven't used one of your spells at all yet, you can talk to staff about swapping it out immediately rather than suffer with it for the rest of the session.
Alternate Characters
Aeternia allows each player to play a single character during a given cycle.
If your PC dies during a cycle, you may play a different PC for the remainder of the cycle. If you are not enjoying playing your PC, you are welcome to retire that character and start playing a new PC at any time.
If you have multiple PCs you have played in the past (due to character death or other reasons), you may choose each new cycle which PC you will be playing for that cycle. For example, if you play Klay the Keegan for two events until she dies heroically in battle and then begin playing Oberon the Obsidai, at the start of the next cycle you may choose to keep playing Oberon or resume playing Klay for the duration of that cycle.
You may not switch back and forth between two active PCs during the same cycle. Exceptions exist in cases of extraordinary events such as resurrection or necromancy of a PC who died earlier during the cycle.
Your Story
Your story is entirely your own! We suggest reading through the wiki for anything that might be appealing and give you some ideas. Coming in with a massive fleshed out backstory is not required, but is definitely something many people do and enjoy. That said, there is one commonality to all PCs and that is "The Call." You have a lot of freedom around how The Call worked for you and what motivates your character, but the dreams are a constant that every PC (and every Timeskipper) has.
The Call
Dreams are strange. You used to remember them no more or less than anyone else, but lately they've been so distinct and vivid and it's become hard to distinguish them from reality. You see people you know in your waking hours, some with slight differences, but always recognizable. Maybe you talk to your friends about these dreams, but they always deny these events happening. Then why are they so real? Why do they evoke emotions and sometimes physical reminders of the events that happened in them. Some magical types claim that dreams are views into other planes of existence, or other timelines. Maybe you have strong opinions on this, maybe not. The dreams have gotten stronger lately though and you can't shake the idea that they're trying to tell you something.
Somewhere along the way, either in a dream, divination, or just communing with nature, you received a sign. Something so strong that you can't deny it. Out of curiosity for answers, determination to prove you're not crazy, or something else entirely, you've followed this sign. It's lead you to Wolfsbane, the westernmost island of Aeternia. Individual travel isn't terribly difficult on Aeternia, just for larger groups. Smaller airships exist to take you between the islands, as well as leyline transit. Not all trust the leylines, but it's definitely the quickest... if a bit taxing on your own essence. Not that airships are much better. Even the small ones are expensive to operate and require a huge amount of essence to fly. It wasn't always like this. Tales tell of massive oceans and great plains between the islands of Aeternia, back before the world split. No void storms, no airships... and much easier communication. The world is what it is now though and you've made it to Wolfsbane one way or another.
What you have seen has shown you a compound, just on the edge of the northern forest of Wolfsbane. You'll find it somehow... you don't have much to go by. Perhaps the locals have some ideas. Perhaps you will run into others with similar strange dreams, drawn to the same place. Once you get there, you'll figure out what this place and if it means anything for your future. Answers, community, or maybe just some coin -- there's lots of reasons to stay wherever this place is when you arrive. For now though, you just need to get there.
Character Approval
When you're all done with your character build and story sketch (it's okay if it's not perfect and totally fleshed out!), create an approvals request post on the Discord or email [email protected].