TLDunn213

The most common spellcasters are Wizards and Sorcerers who use Arcane magic. Maguses, Shamans, and some Warlocks also use Arcane magic. But more on them in a bit. Arcane magic works by subtlety adjusting the balance between Order and Chaos that underlies our reality. The primary difference between Wizards and Sorcerers is in how they learn and cast their spells. Which most of you are likely already familiar with. But, for completeness and those who may not know. Wizards load spells into their minds with the mana attached and once the spell is cast it vanishes from their mind leaving room for a new spell. Sorcerers on the other hand learn spells permanently (well simi-permanently. more on this in a bit) With the mana as a pool to be taped and channeled through the spell as needed. Wizards can take a Feat called Spell mastery that allows them to permanently learn a spell the way a Sorcerer does. And likewise Sorcerers can take a Feat called Spell Flexibility which allows them to temporarily learn a spell as Wizards do. Seeing the advantages of being able to do both some adventurers tried training both ways. This proved to be quite difficult as the two ways of learning spells are almost opposites. Which puts quite a bit of strain on the mind of the student. Which eventually lead to the development of the Magus class. Which is designed specifically to address that problem. Progress is somewhat slower than for students who follow just Wizard or Sorcerer paths. But those who choose Magus say that it worth it. Anyway moving on. The next most common type of spellcaster is the Cleric or Priest. Priest are typically those who stay in Towns and Cities taking care of their congregations. While the Cleric is out with groups of adventurers keeping evil beings away from civilized lands. These spellcasters use Holy Magic provided by the Gods. Or Infernal magic provided by Demons or Devils in the case of Evil Clerics and Priests. Typically their handling of spells is much the same as Wizards. With the spells they are likely to need being provided by the Being they serve. Healing spells being a notable exception in most cases. These tend to be installed Sorcerer style and can be cast extra times by sacrificing other spells for the mana needed to do so. The difference between Good and Evil Healing spells is a side topic that I'll expound on more fully another time. Just as I will cover Warlocks, Shamans and the rest a bit later in this series.

Well, Good luck with finding any Demosidhe, Demosidhe Essence, or Demosidhe Hunters. As one might expect. Things that are from a time refered to as "The Forgotten Age" tend to be rather hard to find. Slightly easier to find are spellbooks than contain Arcane spells that reproduce Dreamwalking abilities. Well, most of the spells are Arcane, there are at least a few variations of these spells in Divine and Infernal formats. But as those spells are rarely written down in the first place I don't expect that you will find any of those. Then again; Given Your "Talent" for getting yourself in to trouble...

There are forms of essence magic that would allow someone to drain Demosidhe essence and either consume it or embue an object with it so as to gain Dreamwalking abilities. Of course this would come with it's own risk. Those who hunt Demosidhe might mistake you for one or assume you are bonded to one depending on the type of magic that they are using for tracking them down. And on the other hand Demosidhe and those willing to bond with them would probably be able to tell what you had done as soon as they see you using your powers. And they would probably not be happy about it. And given their ability to create very realistic dreams... Would you want to risk finding out just how creative they might be about expressing their displeasure over your having eaten one ? So while I don't have any accounts of this being tried. I expect that at some point someone did; and it probably didn't end well for them. Essence Magic is an interesting topic in its own right and I'll try to cover it in more detail somewhere else; assuming I haven't already.

I finally gained access to the restricted section of the Archives at The Library of Ling, and after allowing for author bias, "glorious victory" vs "appalling massacre". The relating of the events themselves is quite accurate. And by having both sides recored it is possible to gain an understanding of each side's view and motivation. One of the more important things to note is that Demosidhe vary widely in their views on the beings they feed on. Some seeing us as little more than food and playthings. While others were seeking some form of symbiosis. With some middle ground leaning in the food direction of treating those they feed upon much the way a wise farmer treats his cows and sheep well. So, basically two camps prey/food animals vs beings we can partner with. The symbiosis group are the ones who lead to the development of dreamwalking and subsistence magic. Interestingly most surviving research into this branch of magic is in the reverse direction. That is to say finding ways to take lifeforce and convert it into magical energy rather than finding ways to feed on magic. Although there are some creatures that are known to do this. I'll have to look into any connections between magic feed creatures and the Demosidhe later. In any event, because of Demosidhe that were willing to make a deal, there were people who were hiding the Demosidhe they were partnered with from those seeking to exterminate them. As you can easily imagine the arguments on both sides were quite heated. "They are just trying to survive. And they give us powers." On one side, and "They are draining your life force while giving you corrupting selfindulgent dreams." On the other. With a dash of "Power to invade people's minds and dreams. By joining with them you become as vile as they are." Just to round things out. And while there have certainly been Dreamwalkers who abused their powers. There are easily just as many stories of Dreamwalkers rescuing people from dangerous situations or delivering vital information and so on.

Now that we've covered basic protection, let's talk about what it is that we are protecting ourselves from. The first signs of Demosidhe activity is very vivid yet mundane dreams. Which is the beginning of breaking down your ability to tell the difference between dreams and reality. After a few weeks of this you will begin to notice that inspite of spending increasing amounts of time sleeping you are feeling less and less rested. With all your the usual effects of being tired all the time. This is when the dreams start getting odd. Nothing major, at first, just small things. Pictures of people you don't know on the wall among the ones that belong there. Looking in the mirror and seeing your reflection blink. People you know acting in ways that are totally out of character. Not too long after the dreams start getting odd, the hallucinations start. The same out of place stuff that was happening in the dreams. Along with people that you can only see when you're not looking at them. Now the Demosidhe aren't trying to kill you. At least not right away. They are draining your life energy, that's why you are feeling tired all the time. But it is your emotions that they are savoring. Lust, Anger, Fear, Confusion, ect. Individual Demosidhe have their preferred emotions. And typically act alone or in small groups. Once the hallucinations have started the Demosidhe are using your mind as a way into the waking world. Being shapeshifters they will use their abilities to create more confusion and mistrust between their chosen victim and the people around them. Thankfully the Demosidhe aren't able to remain in the real world for long. A few hours at most. It is unclear as to what it is about the real world that limits the time they are willing? able? to stay. Now what I've described above is their normal and preferred mode of operations. Near the end of the Forgotten Age as they were being hunted down in the Dream World, they changed their methods and started attacking in groups. Dragging victims into the Dream World and ritualisticly sacrificing them so as to quickly harvest and store the life energy and emotions for later consumption. There have also been reports of trapped tomes that if opened and read resulted in Demosidhe appearing and attacking the reader and anyone else nearby. With the apparent goal of simply feeding on their victim's life energy right there. Which would tend to indicate that a) the attempt to eradicate them at the end of the Forgotten Age was not entirely successful. And b) The surviving Demosidhe have not found a suitable or reliable replacement for US as a food source. Which means the ones that are left are Hungry and Desperate.

Demosidhe Basic protections Most of these are really pretty obvious once you think about it a bit. First and generally easiest is to drink a glass of holy water before studying about the Demosidhe and especially just before sleeping. Also keep a flask of holy water within easy reach at all times and take a mouthful when you first wake up and anytime you notice Demosidhe activity. I'll explain more about what that looks like in just a bit. Some other protective measures you can take include wearing a headband made of an alloy of iron and silver. (Ferogentum) Having protective runes and symbols engraved on it is a good thing to add but the headband will offer a fair bit of protection even without them. A protective magic circle and pentagram combo carved into the floor of your sleeping room and painted with a paste made from equal parts salt silver and iron added to just enough holy water to make a paste works very well. Top it off with a good clear coat sealant and place your bed in the middle. And you are protected from a wide assortment of supernatural dangers.

Other metals of note. Titiansteel a bit of a misnomer as it is actually an alloy of titanium and tungsten. Nonmagnetic very durable and corrosion resistant. Not typically enchanted which is not really all that surprising as it is made almost exclusively by Morlocks who tend to be technological and psyonic rather than magical. Ferogentum, (a lesser form of Myrthriem, being an alloy of silver and iron), is more often used for protective amulets and the like than actual weapons, mostly because it just doesn't hold high level enchantments as well as actual Myrthriem. Which is typically enchanted up +4 or even +5 as well as being both blessed and Ghosttouched. Myrthriem is an alloy of Mithril and Darksteel. Only a few hundred of these weapons are known to exist. As they were made for the singular purpose of driving out the Demosidhe. A Demon Fae hybrid that came into being during the Great Fae Migration of the Forgotten Age. The Forgotten Age is forgotten on purpose and for good reason. For the Demosidhe can enter the dreams of those who know about them and can then use those dreams as a way to enter our world. I will say no more about them here least you become an unwitting doorway for their return. If you are determined to learn about them, there are spells and other protections to secure your mind and dreams against them. Make sure those are in place before continuing your studies of this subject.

Feromantic iron is very magnetic. Such blades tend to become magnetic during forging. As to the effects of magnetic fields on enchantments. No one has really looked into it. There are no reports of enchanted blades made from other metals showing any magnetic properties. The exact effects of magnetic fields on enchantments would depend greatly on the type of enchantment and the purpose of the object and the reason for magnetising it. Brasium is non magnetic. In fact its non magnetic nature is a reason for its use in place of iron or steel in some cases. Brasium weapons are not typically enchanted but there are no reports on it being any harder to enchant than other metals. Darksteel takes powerful magic to enchant but once enchanted it will stay that way unless even more powerful magic is used specifically to disenchant it. There are no reports of anyone trying to magnetise darksteel but most likely it would take a powerful magnetic field to do so but once accomplished it would be practically impossible to demagnetise it.

This a quick overview of metals unique to the Shardscape. Or mostly unique; as some of them, Brasium for example, do have real world equivalents. And given that I just mentioned it I'll start off with Brasium. Brasium is an alloy of brass and bronze; which is to say copper, tin, and zinc; with chrome and nickel occasionally added for extra strength and croesion resistance. Brasium is commonly found in places where such resistance is especially needed; and in places where iron is less available. Next we have feromantic iron. This form of iron is mined in the Underworld along the banks of the Styx and is therefore much more able to retain certain enchantments. Which is the primary reason for bothering with the stuff, as it is otherwise no better than iron minded from anywhere else. However the ability to incorporate magical properties makes Feromantic iron highly valued for the creation of Darksteel. Which is formed by adding a relatively small amount of finely powered dark fire crystal. The resulting material is not only able to store highly powerful magical energies it is also nearly indestructible. There are a few other items I will be adding to this list later. When I can find my notes on them.

After some further research I believe I have found something of a pattern for predicting the probably of breeding true. The factors to consider are the compatibility of the magic involved in the creation of the founding members of the bloodlines involved. There were three different types of magic that were used to make Wyldings and Lyncanthropes. Divine and Arcane for Wyldings and Eldritch for the Lyncanthropes. With a few Lycans being created by Arcane magic. Oddly there are no known cases of Infernal or Demonic magics being used. But given how rare the use of Arcane magic was by the Yun-Xi it does make a certain amount of sense. And Yuuxath is not going to want his followers turning to other beings, Divine, Demonic, or Infernal. Which brings us back to the first point. Eldritch magic just doesn't mix well with other types. So, that seems to be the biggest factor in play. With the animal forms being the next factor to consider. And finally there is the matter of contamination from other magics that anyone in a given bloodline might have been exposed to. All of which is useful as a starting point. But beyond revealing how likely devation is, it doesn't really do much to help with predicting what form the devation will take. Moon phase, and other astronomical factors have been suggested, along with the local environment. And it is possible that these things are contributing factors. So far no one has kept accurate enough records for any reliable conclusions to be drawn. And with the majority of Ka-Jeen settlements being located on the lower slopes of the Dragonspine mountains western end. Otherwise known as the Fading Lands. Ruling out the effects of random wildmagic surges becomes practically impossible. As for Ka-Jeen living in other places where wildmagic is not a significant factor. There just aren't enough of them in any one place to be able to establish any sort of reliable baseline. So given that most Ka-Jeen A: Just want to be left alone. and B: Don't seem to care about what their children will be. I consider it best to simply leave them be. Of course if anyone does find a group of Ka-Jeen that want to be studied so as to have the option of trying to control the form their children will have; Please let me know. I would dearly love to understand what forces are at play and to be able to give the Ka-Jeen the opportunity to choose to influence the form their children will have.

Are the Ka-Jeen a race? And, if so, what boundaries do we use for inclusion and exclusion? These questions pose a problem that is arguably even harder to sort out than the question of inclusion surrounding half elves and their fractional offspring. After all half elves and their kin can be placed in order based on how they look relative to their bloodlines with fairly good accuracy. Ka-Jeen, with the shape shifting nature of the bloodlines they spring from... It has been something of a struggle among scholars to come to the agreement that Ka-Jeen are a single racial type. After all having Grandpa dire wolf, cousin fox girl, and aunt house cat all in the same family is something that requires very good birth records and some verification by skilled bio-mancers before most people are going to believe it. Ok, for completeness, and the benefit of those of you who may not know what Ka-Jeen are or how they came to be. I will try to cover those details. Now keep in mind that there is no real evidence for any significant amount of iintermixing by dracons, fay, doppelgangers, and such like other shape-shifting types. And we are left with the generally accepted origin of wyldings and lyncanthropes interbreeding, with a dash of Wyrdlings thrown in. And it is worth noting that Wyrdlings as a distinct group are practically impossible to find anymore. As for those who raise objections about the intermixing of wyldings and lycanthropes due to their being on opposing sides during the war. Remember that the wyldings volunteered while the lycanthropes were victims of a curse. Well, most of them anyway. So many wyldings, after the war, devoted quite a bit of effort tword efforts to help the lycans bring their bestial side under control. Given the amount of close personal interaction required for such an effort it's not really surprising that many of them paired up. And of course the Druids and Shamans were in favor of this. Both because of the ability of the Wyldings to help the Lycans stay in control of themselves and because any offspring they might have would be much better off with both parents being able to understand how to raise such a child. Now as to the wide range of non shape-shifting animal forms that can be found among the Ka-Jeen; that is something that many mages, sages, and bio-mancers are still trying to figure out. Wildmagic is definitely involved to some degree, but beyond that rather obvious fact, there is little progress in sorting out the details of what form or forms a given Ka-Jeen child will have. Seers and deviners are sometimes able to foresee the child's form in advance but as to what forces are at play in determining that form...

Wait...was that an arrow!? Pointing back the other way? Is this a sign that perhaps I've lost my way? And yet the road before me goes on as plain as day. But now there is this nagging doubt that I have somehow lost my way. Was that another arrow pointing to some hidden way ? The way is clear beforeme; yet I feel ever more astray . Wait... was that an arrow, pointing to a better way? ........ Next line: Have I lost my way ?

Well that is what the tophat is for Beyond that I'm not sure how much resemblance you can get with just a skull. I'm trying for a pirate flag that looks like what the Monopoly Man would fly if he was a pirate.

Thanks The logo I wanted was a skull with a tophat, and an eyepatch with a dollar sign on it and a pair of fancy walking sticks crossed under it. At some point I'm going to hand write out the cards on index cards and play test it assuming I can find both the time and people. If I have to I'll try playing it against myself or three player Me, Myself, and I 😁 And by all means feel free to make your own copy and play test it . I'm debating a couple of tweaks to what I have here but want to test this version before trying the other ideas. So I don't forget them. I'm thinking about adding a black market and having the Noping be a dice roll thing rather than automatic. Anyway if you do play test it let me know how it goes and any ideas you think might make it better.

Stranger Things is one I hadn't heard of before. Not surprised it exist, just hadn't seen it. I think we have a make your own oply around here somewhere. So, yeah that could be a way to make the cards and stuff. As to play testing it I'm in the same boat as you with trying to find people to play with. As to selling and all that, I want to play it and debug it first. Anyway good luck finding players and let me know how it goes when/if you get the chance. And I'll post what I learn from playing Whenever that happens