Elias’ Thoughts – Running a bit behind this week as life, uhhh, found a way… To pile up all sorts of responsibilities in a very short time. Anyway! I feel like I tapped my creative well in the Regional Reconnaissance this week, where I did a deep dive of Atha, the Arts District of Peccatu. Go thumb through that if you haven’t yet, as this week’s Lore24 is almost completely cleanup for the region, for me.
I did leave quite a bit unsaid, and below is my addressing some of the gaps. Namely, some stat blocks for the fun little beasties kept at Atha Alnage and some of the items relevant to Knights of the Order of Lost Innocence. Enjoy!
Monday 4/22
Crystal Moths: Exceptionally large, stark white moths. The cocoons they produce are invaluable, with the fibers used to create textiled wallhangings, pieces of art that fractalate any light that passes through them. While beautiful and very useful to keep, the creatures are exceptionally sensitive to sound, picking up vibrations in the air with their large, feathered antennae.
Stats
HP: 2
NP: 3
Armor: 0
Attributes
Grit – 2
Finesse – 2
Logic – 2
Moxie – 4
Special: Agile, Crystal Moths never provoke a melee attack when moving out of Engaged range with an attacker.
Attacks:
Drone: The Crystal Moth lets out a loud droning hum, make an attack with 6 Base Dice and Damage 2 against all targets within Long range, this attack targets NP and cannot be reduced with Armor. Other Crystal Moths within range of this attack are immune.
Deafen: If already in the midst of a Drone, the Crystal Moth can let out a blasting pulse of lowered frequency. Make an attack with 8 Base Dice and Damage 2 against all targets within Short range. This attack targets HP, cannot be reduced with Armor, and a successful attack causes the target to experience Deafness for 4 Watches (a successful Triage check reduces the remaining Watches by 1 per success).
Tactics: The creatures are normally docile and reserved, but will begin to Drone if exposed to any sound that does not come from another Crystal Moth. Once they begin to Drone, they will attempt to Deafen anyone that comes within close enough range. Since it is normally quite difficult to restore full quiet in order to calm them. They are best dispatched quickly and from a distance in order to prevent ruptured eardrums.
Tuesday 4/23
Striking Crayfish: Large, bottom feeding crayfish collected from the deep, fast flowing water of Lacrim River. Their carapaces are semi-flexible and have found use in both lightweight and bullet resistant applications for military use. Their claws are extremely strong and they can lash out in a “punch” with enough force to break through stone.
Stats
HP: 3
NP: 1
Armor: 6 (Carapace)
Attributes
Grit – 4
Finesse – 2
Logic – 1
Moxie – 2
Attacks:
Strike: The crayfish extends its smaller claw in a rapid punching strike, make an attack with 5 Base Dice and Weapon Damage 2. The claw itself can strike within Engaged-Short range, doing physical damage. This attack can also be used to target a creature at Medium range, where it does no damage but the air displaced by the rapidity of the attack knocks the target Prone if the attack is successful.
Slam: The crayfish uses its larger claw to sweep at all targets within Engaged range, make an attack with 6 Base Dice and Weapon Damage 3.
Tactics: Striking Crayfish will attempt to knock targets Prone using the extended distance attack of Strike before moving closer and using Slam to pulverize their foes. Because of this, Striking Crayfish are best engaged at long distances and with ranged weapons.
Wednesday 4/24
Rock Sea Bats: Giant bats native to the Great Rock Sea, in their natural habitat they are little more than scavengers, following predators from kill to kill and using their elongated, barbed tongues, to clean splashed blood off the rocks. However, when removed from their territory and left to fend for themselves, they’ve learned that they can spill blood as easily as scavenge it. This has caused issues elsewhere, as the coarse fur of Rock Sea Bats has become a valued commodity, with the fibers spun into sound dampening wool.
Stats
HP: 4
NP: 2
Armor: 3 (Coarse fur)
Attributes
Grit – 3
Finesse – 6
Logic – 2
Moxie – 2
Special: Quick, Rock Sea Bats can move up to two zones with a single Fast Action.
Attacks:
Rake: Rakes a target in Engaged range with claws on their back feet, make the attack with 5 Base Dice and Weapon Damage 1. The target of a successful attack gains a 1d4 Bleeding usage die, causing them to lose 1 HP of damage and roll the usage die at the beginning of each of their turns until the usage die is expended.
Feeding Frenzy: If any target within Extreme range has a Bleeding usage die, the Rock Sea Bat can use a Fast Action to enter a feeding frenzy. Beginning on the creature’s next turn, the Rock Sea Bat gains an additional Fast Action per turn. The additional action lasts until combat ends, the creature dies, or there are no longer Bleeding usage dice within Extreme range.
Sup: The target of this attack must have a Bleeding usage die. The bat licks at a target in Short-Engaged range, extracting blood from one of their wounds. Make the attack with 6 Base Dice and Weapon Damage 2. For each point of damage done with this attack, the bat gains 1 HP up to its HP maximum.
Tactics: While encountered in the Great Rock Sea, the Rock Sea Bats act primarily as scavengers and will not attack unless defending themselves or cornered, but even then they will prefer to escape via flying away. If encountered elsewhere in the Trench, Rock Sea Bats will not hesitate to attack any target on sight, and will rapidly close distance with their targets before Rake’ing them with their claws. Once their target is bleeding, they will enter a Feeding Frenzy and begin to Sup on the blood of the bleeding creature. Their thirst for blood is so great that any bats in the area will immediately focus on a target that is suffering from a Bleeding usage die.
Quick, aggressive, and difficult to escape, these creatures are best destroyed rapidly before they can enter a Feeding Frenzy. They are susceptible to loud noises and the percussion of explosions will drive Rock Sea Bats away unless a target within Extreme range has a Bleeding usage die or the bats are already in a Feeding Frenzy.
Thursday 4/25
Sapient Fungus: Denizens of the Fungal Jungle, these mindless behemoths have been observed seemingly nurturing young mushrooms, coaxing them to grow with a rapidity previously thought impossible. The Sapient Fungi have a peculiarly stringy texture to their chitin, which can be needled off the living creatures and drawn into long, fibrous strands that are woven together like hemp. This material has gained recent and widespread use throughout the textile mills of Peccatu, despite the fabric occasionally growing into the upper layer of skin of the wearer. While gentle giants by nature, it has been determined that Sapient Fungi can grow angry and violent when subjected to long term torment in enclosed spaces.
Attributes
HP: 4
NP: 1
Armor: 4 (Chitin)
Stats
Grit – 6
Finesse – 2
Logic – 1
Moxie – 2
Special: Colonizer, for every round that a creature is within Short range of a Sapient Fungus, they must make an Endurance roll or be infected with Rattling Walk Toxicity 1.
Attacks:
Smack: The Sapient Fungus clubs a target in Engaged with their arm, make the attack with 4 Base Dice and Weapon Damage 1.
Hug: Try to engulf a target within Engaged range, prompting an Agility check from the target. Upon failure, the target is drawn into the Sapient Fungus where they take 1 HP damage and are infected with Rattling Walk Toxicity 1 per turn that they remain engulfed (Toxicity +1 per turn). An engulfed target can use Assault to force their way out or can be cut out of a deceased Sapient Fungus.
Tactics: While slow and clumsy, a Sapient Fungus should not be discounted as a threat. When in combat, they will Smack anyone that comes within range and will Hug any target that survives the initial barrage. They are naturally afraid of fire and will flee if confronted with it.
Friday 4/26
Steelsbane Weaponry
Magic Item
Any Melee Weapon (Dur. Varies, Dam. Varies)
Variable Slots
The weaponry of the Knights of the Order of Lost Innocence, Steelsbane weapons are deeply steeped in anti-technological Mechanurgy magics. The weapon of choice varies from knight to knight, but the layered Mechanurgical rituals mark the weapons indelibly, turning them instantly recognizable by their pockmarked metal surfaces and how they constantly weep flakes of rust.
Any melee weapon that becomes a Steelsbane weapon immediately gains +1 Durability. A Steelsbane weapon can be sacrificed to immediately destroy a metallic item that it is in contact with, even if it is being wielded or worn. Small items can be destroyed over the course of 1 turn with larger items, such as motorcycles (3 turns) or tanks (5 turns), requiring a commensurate amount of turns. The Steelsbane weapon must remain in contact for the entire duration. To equip this item, a character must have taken the first step on the Order of Lost Innocence dehumanization track.
“And lo, they shall behold thine advent and cower, as thine smote with rust and fury. -Excerpt from Treatise of Lehdyte, vol. 7, no. 29”
Saturday 4/27
Slagplate Mail
Magic Item
Platemail (Armor 6)
3 Slots
A suit of armor seemingly constructed from many other pieces of armor and weaponry. A motley assortment of different types of metal have aged at different rates causing prominent streaks of rust to adorn the breastplate and pauldrons.
The Armor rating of Slagplate Mail can be increased indefinitely through the addition of armor or weapons taken from a vanquished foe. For every 2 Armor added in this way, the amount of Slots the armor takes up increases by 1 (ex. Armor 8 becomes 4 Slots). To equip this item, a character must have taken the first step on the Order of Lost Innocence dehumanization track.
“The Lord Seekers of the Order must be massive to move in armor that heavy… Still seems like a walking lockjaw infection, to me.”
Sunday 4/28
(Talent) Lucky SOB: Gain 2d6 dice that can be added to a roll that your character makes, even after seeing the results of the roll. Any dice added in this manner can’t be rerolled as part of a push. However, if they are added to an already pushed roll and result in a 1, they do not count as a Bane. The two “luck dice” can be used once per Day and the pool refreshes at the beginning of the first Watch of the new Day.
Evan’s Thoughts – Better late than never, this week I finally concluded the Starling Legion’s Ideologue Assembly. Six ideological groups and their leaders all laid out and ready for conflict both amongst themselves and with other factions. A Supplemental Communique will follow later this week to consolidate them all into a single post. I’m happy with the branching connectivity to other factions, but I think there remains room for improvement on specific reasons and ways to interact with these groups, even if they have been placed and have agendas. Otherwise just filling out a few more Artifacts associated with the currently written Judges, who will also hopefully be wrapped up in the near future.
Monday 4/22
Communalist Sect: One of the philosophical schools of leadership within the Ideologue Assembly of the Starling Legion. The members of this bloc believe humanity is strengthened by the unification of individuals across the economic spectrum. Communalists see the weaknesses of society emerging from a wealth disparity and an inability for all to survive at a level of relative comfort and security. These discrepancies are the fracture lines that divide humanity and spark the violence they are so prone to slouching toward. To stymie this font of strife the scales of material equality must be forcibly balanced, redistributing the excesses of those who have to the hungry mouths of those who don’t. The Communalists envision an oversight council to preside over this redistribution and eventually Peccatu as a whole, guiding humanity forward with an elevated eye focused on the absolute equality of all.
The Communalists are supported by the Alienists, who seek to seed the ideas of their absolute human unification goals into the population of Peccatu, preparing them for the eventual paradigm shift the Alienists intend to enact. The Alienists provide information, disguise, and protection for the Communalists, feeding them sensitive intelligence gathered from the cast off flesh of their clientele in Atha and Herena, reshaping Communalist forms for free, and allowing their Alien Replications to be used for dangerous Communalist activities. In exchange, the Alienists gain a legitimate front for their ideals, slowly pushing the bounds of the Communalist rhetoric to insinuate a deeper eventual interconnection between humanity as the Alienists prepare to introduce the Preservation Plague.
Tuesday 4/23
Valentina Cleaver
Forceful, direct, coercive
“You always have a choice. You can give what we’ve asked or we can take it. Either suits me just fine, but you must choose.”
The speaker of the Communalist Sect. A woman of true, but flexible, convictions. Lacking subtlety in both word and action, she always approaches situations in a frank and unapologetic manner. Never leading with violence, she continually leverages its allusion, preferring to coerce cooperation but never fearing to follow through on her threats.While she believes deeply in the righteousness of her cause, she also has a tendency to reap the rewards of her activities, retaining some of the fineries she acquires as privileges of her station. Is aware of the Alienist rhetoric, but doesn’t believe they can or would follow through.
Wants: To see the Stalactite Manses of Plunu struck from their haughty reaches. To enjoy the lavish excesses of wealth, if even just for a moment.
Knows: A secret method into Plunu. The location of an Alienist Cystone in Peccatu.
Wednesday 4/24
Anarchist Sect: One of the philosophical schools of leadership within the Idealogue Assembly of the Starling Legion. The members of this loose affiliation believe the central issue with governance is government itself. The weight of artificial restriction upon humanity is a stifling force of oppression which suppresses the natural liberty inherent to each individual. Anarchists work to throw off this yoke and grant each individual absolute control of their destiny. Thus freed from the synthetic guides of civilization, humanity can thrive and progress unfettered upon its natural trajectory.
The Anarchists are secretly supported by the Reclaimers, who seek to fragment the exploitative cancer that is human society from within so it can better be prevented from continuing its abuses of the natural world. Through various intermediaries the Reclaimers provide explosives, anti-magic weaponry, and convenient operational cover to the Anarchists. By distracting authorities and acting as an obvious scapegoat for terrorist activities within the city, the Reclaimers allow the Anarchists to covertly perpetrate their acts of anti-governmental violence and undermine the fragmented structures of Peccatu. Regardless of which prong of their pincer succeeds, the Reclaimers believe they come closer to achieving their ultimate goals.
Thursday 4/25
Emma Galleani
Ornery, intemperate, audacious
“Let’s stir things up and see where they land, shall we?”
The dominant force of the Anarchist Sect. An unpredictable and mercurial woman. A failed Protectorate conscript. Perpetually whiskey stained breath with a penchant for capriciously violent outbursts. Rarely taking the time to plan, she is most in her element in the fray of chaos. Has an affection for a conspicuous entrance, preferring to be highly visible in her Starling Legion activities. Never met an explosion she didn’t love, doubly so if it ends in a building collapse. Ignorant of her benefactors and wouldn’t care even if she knew. Has a particular affection for burning, but prefers not to waste unnecessarily.
Wants: To see the Colonels slain and displayed for their sins. To watch the Formicary burn.
Knows: Every Bar Tender and Cabaret owner in the city, every one owing her a favor. Where the Ceruleans make and hide their drugs in Nosi. The best insults.
Friday 4/26
Didactic Rosary
Artifact
Object
1 Slot
The prayer beads of Ehud, the Second Judge. The beads worn smooth by extended use, the divots of his habitual movements discernable on each face. The rosary reflects the bearer, gleaming alabaster or impenetrable obsidian.
Purity 3 2 1 Neutral 1 2 3 Profanity
The Didactic Rosary grants a positive and negative modifier to the bearer’s healing and damage depending upon their actions. For each successful action used to heal, the Rosary moves 1 step towards Purity. Each level of Purity grants a +1 modifier to all healing checks made by or on the bearer and a -1 modifier to all attack checks made by the bearer. For each successful action used to attack, the Rosary moves 1 step towards Profanity. Each level of Profanity grants a +1 modifier to all attack checks made by the bearer and a -1 modifier to all healing checks made by or on the bearer. At Neutral there are no modifiers applied to any actions.
“Balance may be beautiful, but an excess of virtue or vice has a power all its own.”
Saturday 4/27
Eye of the Watcher
Artifact
Object
1 Slot
One of the eyes of Abdon, the Eleventh Judge. Covered in a viscous fluid that stings bitter in the nose. Its line of sight hangs perpetually in the bearer’s line of sight, like bifocals to another place.
The bearer of the Eye of the Watcher may place it on any solid surface they can reach. While placed the Eye consumes a Mental Inventory slot of the bearer in order to maintain a connection. While placed the Eye has a number of effects:
- The bearer can see anything the Eye sees, regardless of distance.
- The bearer may make attacks and cast spells through the Eye as if they were in the Eye’s location, regardless of distance. Attack and spell ranges still apply and use the Eye’s location as their origination point.
- Any damage sustained by the Eye is inflicted on the bearer. The bearer may sever their connection to the Eye at any time as a Fast Action to stop this damage by discarding it from their Mental Inventory, however the connection can’t be reestablished until the Eye is physically retrieved.
“You may lie to yourself, but you can’t hide your sins from me.”
Sunday 4/28
Corralling Talisman
Artifact
Object
1 Slot
A small amulet made from the cilice barbs and tanned hide of Shamgar, the Third Judge. The pronged metal weaves through and rings the leathered skin, a wreath of iron and flesh.
The bearer of the amulet may erect an arena of twisted metal around themselves and an enemy they successfully attack within Engaged Range as a Fast Action. The arena occupies one zone and displaces any other beings from the zone it is conjured in. While the arena is active, neither the bearer nor the target may leave, and no one from outside the arena may influence anything happening within. The arena falls when one of the two individuals within the arena are Broken, killed, or incapacitated.
“Let us settle our dispute in the old ways, by blood and conviction one shall prevail.”
Another set of Lore 24 written and accounted for. This coming week we will have the aforementioned Supplemental Communique for the Starling Legion Ideologue Assembly, a Faction Dossier on the flesh monk-wizard Alienists, and another volley of Lore 24.
If you’re finding this sometime in the future, please check out the Lore 24 Post Repository to see a roundup of all the posts in this series.
We actively encourage comments, questions, and feedback; we’re excited to be sharing our work and would love to chat about it with anyone who’s interested!
Retreat to the Trench 
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