Revision as of 22:24, 19 August 2015

Just some stuff, don't mind me.

Time

Color: Yellow

Gemstone: Topaz

Time deals primarily with time and space, and distortions of them. The Trinity of Remembrance interacts primarily with the "mechanics" of the universe; whereas Reality interacts directly with physics, Remembrance is more concerned with the underlying framework that physics takes place in. Time's goal is to take command of these forces to gain power: through manipulating time and space, the fabric of reality itself can be manipulated, and total power can be achieved, able to manipulate the threads of fate to one's advantage in all situations. This is in direct opposition to the Blue, which demands that causality be respected and the timeline remain static, and Chaos, which subverts Time's command over existence by refusing to acknowledge that time exists to begin with.

To achieve their ends, those who would pursue the power of Time must come to understand time as it truly is: not as a linear arrow, but a nebulous web of existential freedom. All moments exist at all times, even those moments that have not come to pass; as the student of Time's knowledge grows, their understanding of their own personal timeline increases, and they learn to manipulate themselves first and foremost, borrowing power from their past and lending it to their future, stealing it from themselves and gifting it to an alternate version in a parallel timeline. Once the trainee accepts that she herself is immortal through the infinite lives across infinite parallel times she lives, she can tap into her fullest potential: for infinite parallel times means an infinite power source that can never truly be exhausted.

Once a chronist - as students of Time are known - has determined how to manipulate time and space, she can then learn how to modify them. This gives her incredible power, both over information and the battlefield: she can learn secrets that only her future self knows, and she can turn the very laws of physics on their head, by manipulating objects in time. Of these things, she gives no outward sign: the source of this power is not external or internal, but existential in nature, and the pulling of power from the threads of time requires only concentration and the knowledge of how to do so, nothing more.

Time interacts well with both Magic and the Divine. In Magic, Time finds a common interest in seeking ways to command the universe to one's bidding; mages make comparisons between the leylines they use and the timelines that chronists use, and while they are wholly different in the powers they grant, they are alike in that both leylines and timestreams criss-cross reality, just out of mortal sight. In the Divine, chronists find an ally that understands that their gifts ultimately come from a higher power, and that those powers must be respected; for petitioners, that external power is their patron, who can bequeath or withdraw their gifts as they see fit, while the chronist is at times bound by the constraints of the timeline itself, forced into action or inaction by the actions of the chronist herself in a distant future or far-flung past.

Game Mechanics

Chronists universally have two pools of points: universal jikuu points (uJP) and personal jikuu points (pJP). They expend these points to activate jikuu, specific manipulations of the timestream that incur specific effects. Each jikuu costs a set number of points, which can be spent from either pool, in any combination.

A chronist's pJP represents her personal timeline; as her knowledge of time grows, so does her understanding of her many threads, and thus she accrues more power. The chronist's pJP always has a set rate of regeneration, and continues to do so even in combat.

A chronist's uJP represents her ability to pull power from the timeline of the world itself. This pool of power grows slowly, and also serves to limit the most powerful jikuu she can muster: in effect, the more she pulls from the world, the more resistant the world becomes. The chronist's uJP only returns after a long rest.

Some specific memeticist classes use some of these abilities in unusual ways. Remember to fully read a class's description for explanations of how its specific mechanics may differ from the general.

Races and Classes

The following races and classes are either Blue-aligned or have strong ties to the Blue in some fashion.

Races

Thran 

The adu'ja have a long and storied Blue tradition, and they use this in combination with their strong ties to Nature to study the purpose of their existence.

Gnomes 

Gnomes have a strong historical bent, and can innately access the world memory. As a culture, they seek a fusion of the study of the past with the study of the future, and thus combine the Blue with Technology.

Vesuvans 

Vesuvans are innately Blue-aligned, and draw sustenance from learning new information. A secretive lot, they are capable of manipulating the Blue in various ways, specifically the ability to alter their shape.

Classes

Akashic 

Akashics are pure memeticists, investigating the mysteries of the Blue to the fullest extent. Akashics excel at information-gathering tasks, and are an indispensable source of knowledge to an adventuring group. Their ability to pull from the world memory at a moment's notice allows each akashic to have an incredibly varied skill set.

Learner 

Learners are adepts, combining study of the Blue with the arts martial. Whereas akashics delve into the world memory to improve their skills, learners instead acquire new abilities by directly observing creatures' abilities in action, accessing the pointers in world memory to these abilities and changing them slightly as to be usable by the adept.

Trainer 

Trainers specialize in the use of mementos, small creatures bred typically bred specifically for combat, but that can also fill other roles. While they learn memes, they do so as to be able to train their minions; they use their belief-space explicitly to assist them in maintaining control over their pets.

Blue

Color: Blue

Gemstone: Sapphire

The Blue deals with memory, knowledge, recollection, and causality. The Trinity of Remembrance interacts primarily with the "mechanics" of the universe; whereas Reality interacts directly with physics, Remembrance is more concerned with the underlying framework that physics takes place in. The Blue's first and foremost goal is maintaining memory: events that have occurred have occurred, and should not be meddled with. This is in direct opposition to Time, which reorganizes the timeline as it sees fit, and Chaos, which has no concern for proper order and pointedly ignores the notion of causality.

Pursuit of this goal is achieved through accessing the akashic record, which is - essentially - the world's memory. Every event that occurs, every piece of knowledge attained, every fact that exists also exists within the record. Accessing the record is not an easy feat, and requires a certain degree of reorientation of how one looks at the world. To assist in this process, those who study the Blue prepackage concepts and ideas from the world memory into "memes," packets of information that assist budding memeticists - as students of the Blue are called - in utilizing the Blue to the extent of their abilities.

Because of their interaction and concern with memory, memeticists are also - to some degree - students of the mind. Though largely incidental to their primary skills, memeticists have abilities that seem on the surface to be quite similar to telepathy, though in fact memeticists are reading the information from the world memory and not accessing minds directly. That said, memeticists can "implant" ideas into creatures' minds, by manipulating pointers and other more technical aspects of the world memory, allowing them to interfere with physical reality through manipulating the framework on which reality operates.

The Blue interacts well with both Technology and Nature. In Technology, Blue finds an ally who understands the importance of causality and structure; some technologists compare the Blue to an incredibly large and impossibly complex computing engine, a comparison that memeticists find difficult to deny. In Nature, memeticists find individuals who share their belief that the natural order must be upheld, that there is a certain way things work and that such structure shouldn't be meddled with. Naturalists appreciate the Blue's focus on the world and its memory, and share in common their ability to look "past" the obvious physicality of the world and interact with what lies beneath the facade.

Game Mechanics

Memeticists universally use a pool of points referred to as memory; this represents the individual's ability to provide power to memes, which require the memeticist's mind as a place in which to function. When a memeticist uses a meme, he can invest any amount of memory into it, even 0; the more memory allocated into a meme, the more powerful it is.

While a meme is running, any memory allocated into a meme is locked into it; that memory cannot be used for any purpose while the meme is active. Locked memory can become unlocked, available for usage for other memes or other purposes, by some abilities. Memory that is unlocked but not freed allows a meme that is currently running to continue to function as though that memory were still allocated to it, while memory that is freed is no longer being used by a meme and does not improve the function of the meme.

Once a meme's duration ends, the meme must be recharged; as the arrow of time moves forward, the memeticist must realign the meme's parameters to match the new state of the world, which requires a small window of time, and until a meme is recharged, the memeticist cannot use it again. Each meme has a recharge value between 1 and 6. At the beginning of a memeticist's turn, roll 1d6; any meme whose recharge value is equal to or below the rolled number is recharged and any memory allocated to them is freed.

Until a meme recharges, memory allocated to it remains locked. Some abilities may allow a meme to be recharged without also unlocking allocated memory; such abilities indicate the recharge value of the locked memory, where recharging the locked memory unlocks it.

In addition, a memeticist can sometimes put a meme into his belief-space, integrating it into his personality. Doing so gives the meme significantly more power with which to function, as well as giving the memeticist a stronger understanding of the function of the meme. Putting a meme into belief-space is difficult, and requires a well-rested mind; as such, a memeticist can only alter what memes are in his belief-space after a long rest.

Some specific memeticist classes use some of these abilities in unusual ways. Remember to fully read a class's description for explanations of how its specific mechanics may differ from the general.

Races and Classes

The following races and classes are either Blue-aligned or have strong ties to the Blue in some fashion.

Races

Adu'ja 

The adu'ja have a long and storied Blue tradition, and they use this in combination with their strong ties to Nature to study the purpose of their existence.

Gnomes 

Gnomes have a strong historical bent, and can innately access the world memory. As a culture, they seek a fusion of the study of the past with the study of the future, and thus combine the Blue with Technology.

Vesuvans 

Vesuvans are innately Blue-aligned, and draw sustenance from learning new information. A secretive lot, they are capable of manipulating the Blue in various ways, specifically the ability to alter their shape.

Classes

Akashic 

Akashics are pure memeticists, investigating the mysteries of the Blue to the fullest extent. Akashics excel at information-gathering tasks, and are an indispensable source of knowledge to an adventuring group. Their ability to pull from the world memory at a moment's notice allows each akashic to have an incredibly varied skill set.

Learner 

Learners are adepts, combining study of the Blue with the arts martial. Whereas akashics delve into the world memory to improve their skills, learners instead acquire new abilities by directly observing creatures' abilities in action, accessing the pointers in world memory to these abilities and changing them slightly as to be usable by the adept.

Trainer 

Trainers specialize in the use of mementos, small creatures bred typically bred specifically for combat, but that can also fill other roles. While they learn memes, they do so as to be able to train their minions; they use their belief-space explicitly to assist them in maintaining control over their pets.

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