POWERS
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POWERS |
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This page is divided into the following sections:
Click on the section names to return to the top of the page. History | People | Geography | Society | Other Things THE MAZE OF TREESCost : up to 100 points The Maze of Trees is the Muscovite equivalent to the Pattern of Amber. In a walled garden in a hidden and secret part of the Moscow Kremlin is the Maze. It is a deep and overgrown wood that seems much larger than the space that contains it. Successfully navigating it, which can be a long, slow process of days, gives one the understanding to likewise navigate the Forest and seek through it for things one desires. Only those with the blood of Ivan I can successfully navigate the Maze; that link to his life, which imbues the Forest, gives them, like him, the potential understanding necessary to comprehend the Forest and travel through it. Entering the Maze through the well-guarded door out of the Kremlin is a one-way process; as soon as one steps through it, one is in the Maze, which goes off in all directions around one. People entering the Maze together will find themselves separated at this point. If one cannot figure out how to navigate the Forest one will starve and die in the Maze, and no-one will find you while you live. If one does, then one will eventually make one's way through the Maze and emerge on the other side, where a second door leads one back into the Kremlin. If one succeeds in this, one can then navigate the Forest. Each person navigates the Maze in a different way, and also by a different route each time, should they do so more than once. One's experiences in doing so are of no use to others. One can lead others through the Forest, though stragglers will inevitably get lost in the woods. Thus it is safer to lead people towards a destination through clearings as much as possible rather than entirely through the Forest. Ones understanding of the Forest can be used to find desired things within it. However, these are never things that could not conceivably be found there. With more advanced understanding the same effect can be achieved in areas of plants that are not part of the Forest itself. This is the only equivalent of Probability Manipulation that can be achieved with the power of the Maze of Trees. One can assist others through the Forest by leaving marks and so on, like Patterans, on the trees. These are coded configurations of leaves, sticks and stones left in the Forest to communicate a route to anyone who comes past. They fade in time, so they are not quite a permanent trail, but are certainly useful. With sufficient skill one can also use Patterans to mis-direct and mislead people. Or at higher levels simply make it so that people must go a certain way through the Forest, to either avoid or end up in a specific place. One can use the Maze the cut paths through the Forest, creating artificial 'shadow paths'; however, these are less safe than natural routes between clearings. Likewise it allows one to find good spots for the creation of new clearings. Both of these require the use of special skills to prevent the Forest from quickly re-growing back over the cleared path or area. Advanced understanding of the power allows people to go into and out of the Forest via any sufficiently large group of plants. If they do not have this understanding, people must travel to the actual edge of the Forest and enter and leave clearings from there. This can take time, as most clearings are some two days ride across. One can learn how to find shortcuts within the Forest too, allowing one to move through it more quickly, and to hide ones traces through the Forest, so that one cannot be tracked. There is no equivalent of Pattern teleportation, even from within the centre of the Maze. However, from the Maze one can move out into the Forest as a whole without having to travel out through Moscow first. It is possible for one to find creatures to perform tasks for one within the Forest (or, with advanced abilities, in similar areas outside the Forest proper). However, to get an animal to do what one desires one has to speak the appropriate animal tongue, and have some way to persuade the creature to do your bidding, by threats, bribery or offers of favours. Those who can navigate the Maze cannot perform Blood Curses. However, the Forest seems to dislike those who kill relatives. One cannot rewrite Clearings in the Forest, or find places where time flows at a different rate to that in Moscow. There is also no equivalent of Pattern Defence with the power of the Maze of Trees. It is also not possible to find shadows of people. However, they can be made by other means, such as Magic or Miracles. Also with both an understanding of the Maze and of Miracles or Magic one can animate and control the plants within the Forest. This is one of the few instances where such powers work in the Forest itself.
As a blood-related ability, this power cannot be Gifted. MIRACLESCost : up to 60 points In the Rus this is a power that is available to members of the Church of the Firebird and devout believers in the Firebird, but not to those outside of the Church. It has become a significantly rarer and harder to use power since Ivan I was overthrown. The power for Miracles comes from an entity outside the Miracle-worker, to whom they have pledged themselves. For a Muscovite this is most likely the Firebird, although it is possible that Baba Yaga or Grandfather Frost might perform the same role, although in a less powerful way, or with a more limited scope. Miracles are very much like Magic, but are somewhat faster, work anywhere, and are stronger, so that Miracles will affect the greater powers, and always overcome Magic. A Miracle-Worker can use their power to do pretty much anything they can think of, subject only to the level of power they have been granted. However, Miracles cannot be racked or hung like Amber spells, and the more powerful and complex the miracle, the longer it takes and the more effort and concentration are required by the Miracle-Worker. Knowing higher levels of the power does not make using the lowers levels of the power faster or easier; it simply allows one to, with the appropriate effort, use things at a higher level. However, the more powerful the mind of the Miracle-Worker, the shorter the time taken to create Miracles of a given power. Because they are the result of an external power running through a person, Miracles are less tiring to perform than Magic. They are beyond Magic, and allow the true changing of things, and true transmutation (rather than the illusory forms that Magic allows). They do allow things like teleportation and firebolts. Even so they still cannot fundamentally change things on a large scale, certainly not beyond the level of part of a Clearing. Miracles will work into the Forest as far as one can see, but no further; they do not work between Clearings, but will work within the Forest. Miracles cannot be used to read the mind of a person, or to directly meddle with the workings of a mind. They can be used to paralyse a person, lock them in place, put them to sleep, cast illusions into their minds, impose emotions or (at very high levels) steal control of their body from them. Miracles do allow indirect meddling with the mind of a person, but no more than might be done by non-Miraculous means of (for example) interrogation or brainwashing. Miracles come in three levels:
The time taken to create a Miracle reflects the time it takes for the initiate to put themselves into the correct state of mind to be able to channel a given level of the power of the Firebird. The more powerful the mind of the Miracle-Worker, the shorter this time is. Miracle-workers can combine their powers together for greater effect. This does not speed things up, but does make their efforts more powerful. Once an initiate has begun to create a Miracle, they cannot stop without all of the effort put into it being wasted. However, there are never any side effects resulting from their stopping. It is rumoured that those with Miraculous powers can find them to be boosted by the Firebird when the situation really demands it. Although they give similar results, Magic and Miracles are not compatible powers. If one wants both one has to learn and pay points for them both. Miracles do not sub-divide into different areas of expertise as Magic does; at each level the whole power has to be bought. As a granted ability, this power cannot be Gifted. ICONSCost : up to 75 points These are the Muscovite equivalent of Trumps. The power to create them is a gift from the Firebird itself. As such they are a specialised form of the power of Miracle-Working. It is not unknown for sufficiently talented Icon painters to simply find themselves able to produce empowered Icons, having been blessed with the power by the Firebird without their knowledge. As such, empowered Icons can sometimes turn up in the oddest and least expected places. Icons are, in their basic form, life-sized images of the subject, in not just paint, but gold leaf and precious metals too. At the very least they must have a gold-leaf background. Gold is the colour of the Firebird. When used as the background of an icon it is not flat, but is instead intended to be of infinite depth. Icons are drawn in a flat, non-perspective style. This is intentional, not just a reflection on the skills of the icon painters. The flat style of the painting allows the icon to be viewed equally by all, regardless of position. Some Russian Icons can be seen here. The golden background of an Icon recedes to infinite depth when the Icon is active. A background of where each person in the link is can never be seen through the Icon. Icons are not cold and do not become so when used. They have no signs that they are any different to a 'normal' Icon until they are used. Basic Icons only allow mental communication. A higher level of skill is required to create ones that allow travel. Icons of places are very much harder to make than those of people, and require an even higher level of skill. They have a golden special effect when someone travels through an Icon [rather than the purple of Trumps]. Icons are quite fragile, although, again, those with a higher level of skill can make tougher ones. Smaller, card-sized Icons are possible, again at higher levels of Icon Painting skill. There are nothing like Trump Sketches with this power. All Icons must be made with due effort and reverence. There are also no equivalents of Trump Defence, Trump Memory, Trump Gates, Trump Trap, Trump Jamming (the Firebird wishes people who can make Icons to make them) or Trump Powered (this last is covered by Miracles). Icons also cannot be used to perform Tarot-like readings of the future. When creating an Icon of a person the subject must sit for it for some hours while the artist paints, otherwise the Icon will be a normal, un-powered one. Likewise the artist must paint in the location where the Icon is to link to for some hours if creating an Icon of a place. Thus Icons cannot be created from memory, and a person cannot covertly observe a subject and later make a functioning Icon of them. Likewise functioning Icons cannot be copied or otherwise duplicated. Icons of the dead simply do not work. Only sometimes, very rarely and unpredictably, they do, linking to the dead person in Peklo. There are a number of documented instances of this, though only for communication, not travel. This seems to be at the whim of the Firebird, and such events are generally not repeatable. A person can attempt to resist being contacted via an Icon of themselves. How successful this will be depends on the relative powers of the minds of the caller and callee. If a contact is made (whether willingly or unwillingly) then it is possible, with a sufficient advantage in mental power, to hold the person of lesser mind locked in place, force communication with them, and travel through the Icon link without their help or permission. Icons cannot be used to read the mind of a person, or to tinker with the workings of their mind in any way.
As a granted ability, this power cannot be Gifted. LYCANTHROPY AND SHAPESHIFTINGCost : up to 75 points An ability gained though Magic, Miracles or a Gifting of power. At its basic level it is Lycanthropy, with the person having a single animal form into which they can change and gain its abilities. At higher levels the power can be expanded into multiple animal forms, and beyond that even into the imitation of inanimate objects or landscapes, and the splitting of oneself into multiple parts. In all cases ones clothing shifts with one. This power only allows the person with it to shapeshift themselves; it cannot be used to affect others. Parts of this power acquired by one means are not a basis for gaining other parts via another route. It is possible to expand a Gifted power beyond the level to which it was Gifted. Magically-based Shapeshifting is limited by the way Magic works in different parts of the Forest. Miracle-based shapeshifting is not. All shapeshifting does work in the Forest, unlike most Magics. Various entities of the Forest are also known to be powerful shapeshifters. These include Baba Yaga and the Grey Wolf (the Wolf Tsar). The other Beast Tsars may be too. Learning from the Beast Tsars may be easier than learning from Baba Yaga, but still hardly a trivial task. Anyone learning the power from any of these entities should explain how they persuaded them to do so.
This power can be Gifted. However, unlike the other powers which can be Gifted, it takes time for a person to fully learn to use Lycanthropy and Shapeshifting if it is gifted to them. This includes both learning how to use the power itself to change their shape, and also, once one has changed shape, how to move and function in any new form one may take. How long this takes depends on the willpower of the person and how much time and effort they put into learning the power. MAGICCost : up to 10 points for a single type of Magic; can be brought multiple times Magic is the manipulation, channelling and control of the natural magical forces and spirits that there are in a given place, such as weather, air, earth, fire and so on. Precisely how this works varies between the Clearings of the Forest. It takes from hours to days of study (depending on the power of the mind of the Mage) to adapt ones Magic to the rules in a given clearing if one has not visited it before, or been taught its laws by someone who has. Once one knows how Magic works in a given location it only takes minutes to adapt ones Magic on visiting again. Magic will work into the Forest as far as one can see, but no further; it does not work between Clearings. It also does not generally work in the Forest itself. The more powerful the mind of the Mage, the shorter the time taken to cast spells of a given level. As the manipulation of natural forces, Magic also allows the reinforcement of such things against the manipulations of others. The dead and spirits are natural things, so their manipulation also falls within the purview of magic. Emotions, potions and telekinesis likewise. Divination magic exists, and can be quite reliable to those skilled in its use. In the Muscovite Rus it is illegal - and usually a capital offence - to use it regarding the Tsar. Exorcism and wardings against the likes of the Unhallowed Dead also exists, as does Healing magic. Ritual Magics exist in most places, but active 'whiz-bang' magic is much rarer. Magic is useless in hand-to-hand combat as it is too slow. There is nothing like teleportation, firebolts or whatever, nor magic that can affect time in any way. Spirits can be annoyed if magic is used on them too much. Magic cannot, in general, be stored other than by creating enchanted items, though items to enhance a persons Magic are possible. Knowing higher levels of the power does not make using the lower levels of the power faster or easier; it simply allows one to, with the appropriate effort, use things at a higher level. Magic cannot be used to read the mind of a person, or to directly meddle with the workings of a mind. Certain types of Magic can be used to paralyse a person, lock them in place, put them to sleep, cast illusions into their minds, impose emotions or (at very high levels) steal control of their body from them. Magic does allow indirect meddling with the mind of a person, but no more than might be done by non-Magical means of (for example) interrogation or brainwashing. There are three levels to the power of Magic:
Because the more major Magics are passed from Master to Apprentice, each 'line' of mages tend to know only specific skills and areas of specialisation. Thus magic-users tend to like craft guilds in how they guard their various secrets. Thus the costs shown above are for Magic within a given area of skill, such as Healing, or Exorcism, or Warding. One has to buy Magic multiple times to know Magic relating to multiple things, and if one has multiple Magics at more than the level of Zagovori, explain how one came to know the secrets of the different schools of Magic involved. Most schools do not like their secrets being shared! Magicians with the same skills and knowledge can combine their powers together for greater effect. This does not speed things up, but does make their efforts more powerful. Once the casting of magic has begun, it cannot be stopped without all of the effort put into it being wasted. Depending on how carefully it is stopped there may also be side effects arising from the uncontrolled release of magical forces. Magic can generally not affect Miracles, the power of the Maze of Trees, Icons and so on. Although they give similar results, Magic and Miracles are not compatible powers. If one wants both one has to learn and pay points for them both. As a learned skill, this power cannot be Gifted.
SURVIVE UNDERWATERCost : 5 points As its name implies, this power allows the person with it to survive underwater without assistance. This is a power Giftable by the Water Tsarina or certain of her minions. This power can be Gifted. SURVIVE THE WINTERCost : 5 points As its name implies, this power allows the person with it to survive the cold of winter, no matter how harsh, without assistance. However, it only works against natural cold and provides no protection against direct cold-based attacks (though it will protect against indirect ones, such as weather-control Magics used to make winter colder than it might naturally be). This is a power Giftable by Grandfather Frost or the Snow Maiden. This power can be Gifted. IMMORTALITYCost : 10 points Immortality is possible via the hiding of ones life somewhere secure, where age and death cannot affect it. This is often inside an egg at the centre of a nested sequence of objects and animals (which all try to flee if revealed) kept somewhere very remote and secure. Ability in Great Magics or Great Miracles is required to be able to do this, and it cannot be done for other people, though it can be taught to others, and the ability to hide ones life can be gifted. Of course, if someone gets hold of a persons life, then they can kill the person instantly, by breaking it. They can also, by doing things to the life, do the same things to the person. For example, juggling it throws the person around.
Ivan I 'hid' his life in the entire Forest. However, because the Forest now exists, no-one else could do the same without utterly destroying the Forest and creating a new one. As such the rest of the inhabitants of Moscow have to suffice with hiding their life in a single location in the old-fashioned manner. A person whose life has been hidden always feels a slight but noticeable emptiness within them. They will always know if someone touches their life (though not necessarily that the guardians of it have been interfered with). However, if their life is hidden far away, this may not be of a great deal of use to them... It is possible that the link between a person and their life could be used as a channel of communication. It is entirely possible for the life of a person to be put back into their body if they so desire, using the same skills as those required to hide it in the first place. They then become mortal again. This power can be Gifted by someone with Great Magic or Great Miracles. Anyone with this power should explain how they came to gain it. They should also describe where they have hidden their life, and what precautions they have taken to prevent others getting their hands on it. GRANTING OF LIVESCost : 10 points to Grant Lives; 3 points per extra Life to have extra lives A specialised form of Great Magic or Great Miracles, the person with this power can grant a person extra lives, so that if they are in a situation where they would be killed, they are not. In general they will not even be injured. But when the life is gone, it is gone, and the points spent on it are lost. Both parts of this power can be Gifted by someone with Great Magic or Great Miracles. More lives cannot be gained without the person having to be granted them. If a person can grant extra lives, they still have to pay to have extra lives. Anyone with this power should explain how they came to be granted it.
SPEAK TO ANIMALSCost : up to 5 points An ability granted by one or more of the Beast Tsars, and which cannot be obtained otherwise. Anyone with this power should explain how they came to be granted it. It can be the ability to speak to a single type of animal, or to all animals. This power can be Gifted. It is not something that can be advanced from a lower to a higher level of the power without being granted that higher level of the power.
GIFT POWERCost : up to 10 points A power that allows the person with it to gift any power that they have been gifted with (including this one) to others. However, this does not include learned, externally-powered or blood-related powers such as Magic, Miracles, Icons or the Maze of Trees. Anyone with this power should explain how they came to be granted it. Most powers that can be Gifted are useable with no further effort once acquired. This includes Speaking to Animals, Immortality, Surviving Underwater and so on. The only power which requires further effort to master once it has been gifted is Lycanthropy and Shapeshifting. If frivolously used the person with the power may find that they have given away their own power, and have lost it. With Gift Power, the person with the power can choose to not just gift a power to someone, but in fact entirely transfer the power from themselves to the other person so that they no longer possess it. This power can be Gifted.
CREATURES AND ITEMSBased on rules used by Iain Walker in his Argentium game. Magic and Miracles can be used to make creatures and items that are not intimately linked to a specific person. Likewise, one can find things one desires in the Forest if one has navigated the Maze of Trees. However, some creatures and things are intimately linked to a given person. These are always initially found only while navigating the Maze of Trees for the first time, but can, after that, be found in the Forest if lost or destroyed. New creatures or items that are linked to a member of the Muscovite Royal Family can only be found in the Maze of Trees, by navigating it again. Likewise, existing creatures and items can only be modified by re-finding them in their new form within the Maze. There are limits to the finding and changing of things that can be done within the Maze. These seem somewhat arbitrary, and no-one claims to understand precisely how they work. [That is, if one has the Advancement Points to obtain or change something, then it will happen. If one does not, it will not.] Items and creatures are not built from separately costed Qualities and Powers, but are bought outright, on a sliding scale of costs reflecting the power and utility of the item/creature. When one pays points for an item or a creature, it is then bound to you as part of your self. This means that even if it is lost or destroyed, you can always find it again in the Forest, although not in Clearings. One should negotiate with the GM as to the cost of a particular thing. Creatures and artefacts must be bought individually. There are no Quantity Multipliers as in the Amber DRPG rules. The exception to this is an item that is made up of a number of separate parts, but which can only really be used together. A pair of matching swords would have to be bought separately, but a set of stones used for scrying could be bought as a single item.
More than one power can be bought for each creature or item; each one must be paid for separately. PERSONAL REALMSIt is possible for people to have Clearings in the Forest that are their own personal realms. Although there is no variation in Reality through the Forest, and the power of Icons cannot be blocked, there is still variation in the realms that are available. The fundamental nature of Clearings cannot be changed or rewritten by any power, but they can, of course, be changed and destroyed by the actions of people, or, sometimes, of nature.
The rarer a Realm is [that is, the more points it costs], the harder it is to find a Realm of that kind. Even the most common type of Realm can take days to find, if one is looking for something specific. STATISTICSThere are four statistics, Psyche, Strength, Endurance and Warfare, as for the Amber game. Rankings in statistics go up from Muscovite at 0 [Amber equivalent], and down to Forest, at -10 [Chaos equivalent]. There is no equivalent of Human ranked. Thus descendants of Ivan I are more powerful than the general run of people, but not that much more so. LUCKLuck is as you make it for yourselves. There is no such thing as Stuff. Back to the Top |