Peel Fantasy

The region of Alta sits at the Southern end of the World. It is a fertile region of forests, hills and grassland, occupied by many petty and not-so-petty republics, kingdoms and theocracies.

To the North, the great River Zagras marks the commonly agreed boundary of Alta. Beyond it the land parches into desert. To the West the hills sprout rocks and grow taller until they form the fearsome Scarlet Range of mountains. To the South is a scattering of mountainous islands. To the East is the wall of the Sengatan Peninsula, and then ocean.

Gunpowder does not exist, but general development is entering the Renaissance.

The game will be set in the port city of Lacan, in the Northeast. It has many canals and is an oligarchic republic.

Totems

Alta's culture and politics have been greatly shaped by the presence of 6 gigantic semi-abstract statues, each hundreds of feet tall and utterly indestructible. These are the totems, variously thought god or idol or ancient golem. By taking the mark of a totem, paying its price, and following its laws, humans can access their power through the appropriate forms. Each one has gathered an organisation that controls it.

Casus, the Black

• Casus is a cave system of pitch black stone on a Southern island. It has never been successfully mapped, to public knowledge.
• Portfolio: Cave, darkness, concealment, ignorance, clouded/dreaming mind
• Organisation: The Onyx Association is a criminal organisation that deals in smuggling, information and assassination.
• Mark: On the left palm.
• Price: Cannot sleep at night.
• Laws: The laws of Casus typically centre around lies and darkness.

Kabah, the Raptor

• Kabah floats above a hilly region, motionless and unmovable. It reminds of a cloud, a bird or a celestial sphere.
• Portfolio: Sky, distance, wind, void, empty force, empty mind
• Organisation: The Wayfarers are a disparate group that act as messengers and couriers within Alta, and explorers of the world beyond.
• Mark: On the back.
• Price/Laws: Good question. They won't be featuring in the oneshot though.

Oia, the Crier

• Oia rises out of the water between the tip of the Sengatan Peninsula and the mainland. It reminds of a weeping woman, an armada, or a water current.
• Portfolio: Ocean, water, travel, fluidity and abstraction, emotional mind
• Organisation: The Lady's Union is an organisation of captains and traders that does commerce throughout Alta and also travels to the lands beyond.
• Mark: On the right leg.
• Price: Stillness (sacrificed, not gained).
• Laws: The laws of Oia typically centre around water, regular travel, or not denying emotions.

Roche, the Watcher

• Roche is set in a mountain face. It reminds of a wall or an elderly man.
• Portfolio: Mountain, stasis, solidity, resilience, denial, stoic mind
• Organisation: The Rochean Archivists keep records of events, and have sidelines in architecture and medicine. They also have their own dedicated order of warriors, the Wardens of Knowledge.
• Mark: On the chest.
• Price: Fertility.
• Laws: The laws of Roche typically centre around abstinence.

Tan, the Breath

• Tan is an overgrown mass in a forest. It reminds of a flower, a fungus or a child.
• Portfolio: Forests, birth, death, circle of life, organic change, growing mind
• Organisation: The Green has agents throughout the world who act as apothecaries, doctors, farmers and funerary workers.
• Mark: On the stomach.
• Price/Laws: Good question. They won't be featuring in the oneshot though.

Ydans, the Tower

• Ydans rises from the middle of the Northern plain, and has attracted the city of Sembra. It reminds of an anvil, a field of wheat, and the Sun.
• Portfolio: Sun, fire, agriculture, clarity, knowledge, tools, rational mind
• Organisation: The Order of the Tower is based out of Sembra and maintains authority and civilisation throughout the North. Magic Knights.
• Mark: On the forehead.
• Price: The ability to lie.
• Laws: The laws of Ydans typically centre around control of emotional impulses and criminal behaviour.

The Keepers of the Wheel

When a person is born they receive a soul from the Wellspring. When they die their soul returns there. This is the Wheel of Life. It is studied and meditated on by the Keepers of the Wheel, who provide spiritual guidance (and political backing) throughout Alta and the World. The Keepers profess to be a unified worldwide organisation, but communications with distant lands is far from trivial, so this is generally regarded as an exaggeration at best.

Magic

Most magic is done by being totem bound, but even this is rare. Even Ydans, the most used totem, has only a few thousand followers. The rarity is due not just to elitism from the organisations, but also the inherent unpleasantness of the prices and laws that the totems require you to follow.

Totemic magic requires the invocation of symbols, in the form of words and gestures. So long as the symbols can be assembled correctly, the spell can be used without limit, as it draws power from the seemingly inexhaustible Totems. However, spellcasting is not trivial, and in stressful situations (or even outside) the caster can easily fail. Each totemic caster can only cast spells he has programmed into himself by having a subdesign added to his mark.

The laws of the totems are conditions that impose themselves upon the bound caster. Whenever a new subdesign is added, the recipient discovers himself restricted in a new way, such as 'cannot eat meat', or 'cannot actively break the law'.

People who do not want to bind themselves to a totem have few options for supernatural power. If they are not lucky enough to have a supernatural ancestor whose power they can tap they can content themselves with alchemy, which uses inherently supernatural reagents to create effects. All such reagents are rare however, so alchemy is a pasttime restricted to the rich and ruthless. Rumours persist of regimes of physical and mental purification in far-off lands that let normal humans use magic without some external source, but if such powers exist they are not known of in Alta.

Or you can sell your soul to the demons imprisoned beneath the earth. That couldn't possibly go wrong.

Creating a Character

You have 10 points to distribute.

Abilities

Abilities are rated on the WW system from 1 to 5. A level in an ability costs 1 point.

• Force: Your physical strength and ability to fight.
• Subtlety: Your ability to lie, dissemble and sneak.
• Smarts: Your intelligence and education.

Specialities

You may also spend a point to gain a speciality, a thing at which your character is particularly skilled. Alternatively you may take a disability to gain a speciality, for example a knight who is a master of the sword may have eschewed the bow. The disability and the speciality must be of comparable use and scope.

Magic

If you want to be totem bound (or persuade the GM to let you have some other magic), you can then buy thematic spells for half a point each. Each totem spell adds another Law your character must follow if they wish to retain access to their magic. You can make the spell and law up yourself and then run it past the GM. If you are using some other magic the cost will be something else.

Advantages

If you want something not listed here talk to me and I'll give it a cost. Eventually.