Revision as of 12:48, 6 October 2017

Just some stuff, don't mind me.

Overview

The nine Forces are an intrinsic and essential part of the worlds of Trinity. They are at the core of almost every conflict the worlds have ever known.

Unlike in other settings, nearly every sentient being in Trinity is aware of the Forces and their basic interactions. Commoners may not be well-versed in how the Forces work, but they typically know of them and are not confused or awed by typical displays of power.

The Trinities

The Forces are divided into three Trinities. These are the Trinity of Reality, in which Magic, Psionics, and Technology reside; the Trinity of Philosophy, in which Divine, the Void, and Nature lie; and the Trinity of Remembrance, in which Time, Chaos, and the Blue dwell.

Each Force in a Trinity opposes the other two Forces in the same Trinity.

Force Alignment

An individual who studies a given Force is said to have a force alignment to that Force.

Individuals with a force alignment are naturally resistant to the other Forces in that Trinity.

When Forces of the same Trinity interact or are otherwise near each other, visible sparks appear in the vicinity between them. These sparks are harmless, but indicate that there is an interaction occurring between opposing Forces, each seeking to be dominant. Generally, the amount of sparks generated is related to the relative strengths of the Forces involved, and can be a useful gauge for how weak or powerful a given Force-aligned person, item, or place is. The coloration of the sparks is based upon the Forces involved: for instance, magic and technology interacting will produce red and silver sparks.

Magic

Psionics

Technology

Color: Silver

Gemstone: Zircon

Virtue: Diligence

Divine

Color: White

Gemstone: Pearl

Virtue: Compassion

One of the primordial Forces that shaped the universe, Divine concerns itself with all aspects of creation - it is for this reason that some claim that it is the most powerful of the Nine. The Trinity of Philosophy concerns itself primarily with the metaphysics of the universe, each of its member Forces existing both within and outside of the concept of reality. The Divine's goal is to know every aspect of creation intimately, to remake all things in its own image, that all might serve a common goal. In this, it is directly opposed to Nature, which insists that all things follow their natural course and forge their own paths; and is directly opposed to the Void, which seeks to unmake all things and return all of existence to an eternal unending abyss of nothingness.

Opening oneself to the Divine is a monumental task, as the origin of the Force has been forcibly sealed away into a distant metaphysical realm, from whence it cannot escape. However, over the many eons since that occurred, the Divine has found it is able to carve channels of communication between it's prison and reality. It is through these channels that the Divine entities - saints and lucavi - gain access to Divine power, which is then filtered to their petitioners. Alternately, some mortals' souls have been accidentally imbued with a tiny fraction of the essence of a slain deity, giving them direct access to the Divine itself. Regardless of the means, all petitioners ultimately draw their power from the Divine, and in exchange for faith, they receive the power to rename - and thus remake - aspects of creation.

The aspects of creation that a learned petitioner can bend to her will are as varied as the elements of creation itself. However, as mortals, petitioners are rarely able to modify all of reality - they slowly gain access to more domains over which the Divine holds sway, the truth within their souls and the powers of the patron dictating what parts of reality respond to their prayers.

Divine interacts well with both Magic and Time. In Magic, the Divine finds an ally who understands the need to take control of the world and put it towards one's own ends, who is familiar with the idea of accessing power outside of oneself and learning to use it to gain leverage over existence. In Time, the Divine finds common ground in the restraints placed upon those who call upon a higher power - for the petitioner, this is their patron, while for the chronist, it is the timeline itself that restricts or enforces their actions.

Game Mechanics

Petitioners expend blessings to utter their prayers, specific words and phrases in the original tongue of the Divine that bend reality to their whim. Each prayer requires the expenditure of a blessing of a specific grade.

To acqure blessings, petitioners must petition either their patron or the Divine itself for it, spending 1 round in contemplation and supplication. However, patrons - and the Divine - cannot answer all prayers at once, and so the number of blessings gained varies upon the result of a petition check. If the petitioner does not like the result, they can instead only spend a move action, aborting the petition attempt early and gaining no blessings.

If a petitioner attempts to acquire blessings while she still has some remaining, she suffers a penalty to her petition check.

All petitioners gain innate nature inhibition (NI) and void inhibition (VI). These oppositions indicate that petitioners are naturally resistant to Natural and Void effects, even those that are beneficial in nature.

Some specific petitioner 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

Draenei 

Refugees from another world, the draenei have an inherent connection to the Divine, a gift bestowed upon them to combat their mortal enemies that lie somewhere beyond the worlds of Trinity.

Classes

Incarnate 

Incarnates are those born with a fraction of a slain deity's power infused into their soul. Their direct connection to the Divine gives them versatility in the domains they can access, and can condense their Divine power into a few moments to become almost akin to the deities themselves.

Paladin 

Paragons of a particular patron, paladins are warriors who seek to defend the members of their faith from harm. Channeling the Divine powers of their patron in combination with strict martial discipline, paladins are powerful combatants.

Priest 

Followers of a particular patron, priests uphold the virtues of their faith, gaining access to all of the domains over which their patron has influence.

Void

Color: Black

Gemstone: Jet

Virtue: Fortitude

Nature

Color: Green

Gemstone: Emerald

Virtue: Wisdom

Into the fabric of existence are woven threads of elemental energy, shaping the worlds and lives of all those who dwell in reality, and it is these with which Nature concerns itself. While the Void claims to be the first amongst the Forces, some believe it would be more accurate to say that Nature holds that place, as without Gaia, the Void would never have recognized itself to begin with. The Trinity of Philosophy concerns itself primarily with the metaphysics of the universe, each of its member Forces existing both within and outside of the concept of reality. Nature's goal is to allow all things to take their course, to let events play out as they will. In this, it is directly opposed to the Divine, which seeks to control reality and subvert free will; and is directly opposed to the Void, which seeks to reduce reality to nothingness and thereby destroy the notion of choice.

Gaining the attention of Nature is somewhat difficult, as Gaia is uninterested in interceding in reality. Those who would wield the powers of Nature must learn to calm their minds and listen to the song of the universe with their souls. Those that can attain this level of supernatural calm in their meditations gain the ability to tap into the threads woven into reality, calling bits of raw elements into existence that they can manipulate as they require. However, there are limits to what Gaia is willing to allow in terms of upsetting the natural balance, and elementalists can only call upon so much power before the universe closes off that element to them. Those elementalists who learn to study a pair of elements - specifically, a pair that fundamentally oppose one another - can maintain the balance themselves by calling upon the elements in tandem.

The elemental threads woven into reality are ten in number. Most mortals, however, are unable to tap into all of them, and often choose to study those elements that most speak to them - indeed, most often, elementalists choose to study elements that are reflections of the threads woven into their own souls.

Nature interacts well with both Technology and the Blue. In Technology, Nature finds an ally who understands the importance of studying the natural order, and that working with it - rather than against it - often yields greater results. In the Blue, Nature finds common ground in respecting the natural order of things and an insistence that the rules be followed above all else, lest everything fall into disarray and meaninglessness.

Game Mechanics

Elementalists expend flux to bend their gifts, specific applications of raw elemental energy. Each gift requires the expenditure of a certain amount of flux, dependent upon its grade.

Elementalists must tap into their elements, which allows them to generate flux, the fuel they need to harness raw elemental energy and bend it into gifts. As they do so, however, they also accrue stress against that element, and once they have reached their stress limit for a given element, they cannot gather flux until their stress passes.

To gain flux, elementalists must tap an element, spending a move action to gain a certain amount of flux, dependent upon their level. At the same time, the elementalist accrues stress towards that element, and once her stress limit is reached for a given element, she can no longer tap that element. If she taps an element that opposes an element for which she has stress, the opposed element's stress is reduced. Flux and stress both dissipate naturally over time.

All elementalists gain innate divine inhibition (DI) and void inhibition (VI). These oppositions indicate that elementalists are naturally resistant to Divine and Void effects, even those that are beneficial in nature.

Some specific elementalist 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 Nature-aligned or have strong ties to Nature in some fashion.

Races

Adu'ja 

After the partial destruction of Arcturas, gradually new life found a way. Always at harmony with nature and memories of those who came before, the adu'ja led a relatively simple lifestyle until the arrival of the Arcturas. Exposure to the Adnezians has led many of their people to wander the worlds of Trinity.

Elf 

Arrogant and typically ancient, the elven race has seen much of Trinity history. Well-versed in the ways of Magic and Nature, elves often find themselves tangled up in the affairs of younger races, where they - typically - try to take charge and ensure that disasters are averted. Elves are known for their ability to hold a grudge.

Moogle 

Descended from rabbits, moogles - also called mogri - hail from Distarin, where they were found by clavats and introduced to the notions of civilization. With an intrinsic tie to the rhythms of elemental energy in the world, but a curiosity that immediately led to them seeking to understand technology, moogles often move, speak, and think at a frenetic pace.

Viera 

Strange fey creatures borne of trees, the viera are an ancient race that has dwelled quietly in the forests of the world since antiquity, their culture almost unchanged from its inception. Few of their number venture out of their forests, and those that do are considered outcasts.

Vulpine 

Natives to the forests of Chaliraz, the vulpines are a small race of fox-folk, and have strong cultural attachments to nature. Strongly curious with a trickster streak, vulpines often come across as whimsical to other peoples, with a reputation for flighty and eccentric behavior. Their culture is naturally strongly divided along gender lines.

Zzithrani 

Originally simple insects, the zzithrani have mutated greatly over time, primarily due to the nature of their homeworld, but also due to the interference from the Tyranids. While they have attained sentience, they have done so as a hivemind, and as such come off as incredibly alien.

Classes

Caller 

Binding her soul to the ancient Primals, the caller learns to channel their essences into the real world, allowing the literal manifestations of the elements to take physical form on the field.

Shaman 

A disciple of the ways of Nature, the shaman puts her faith in Gaia, the life-force of the universe itself, and learns to manipulate the energy that flows through the world.

Zodiac 

Warriors whose reincarnation has caused them to take on significant elemental energy within their souls, zodiacs can shapeshift, and rely on the discipline and calm instilled in them by their studies to maintain control of themselves.

Time

Color: Yellow

Gemstone: Topaz

Virtue: Foresight

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 expend quanta to shape their jikuu, specific manipulations of time or space that incur specific effects. Each jikuu costs a set number of points.

To acquire quanta, chronists must gather it, spending an action on their turn to generate a random amount of quanta dependent upon the action spent to gather. As chronists grow in power, the amount of quanta they gather - and the maximum amount of quanta they can hold at any given time - increase.

At the beginning of each turn, if a chronist has any quanta remaining, he suffers a point of paradox. Each point of paradox incurs a penalty to rolls made to gather quanta. In addition, if the chronist has too much paradox, he also suffers a penalty to temporal attacks equal to his amount of paradox.

All chronists gain innate blue opposition (UO) and chaos opposition (CO). These oppositions indicate that chronists are naturally resistant to Blue and Chaotic effects, even those that are beneficial in nature.

Some specific chronist 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 

Refugees from the far future of an alternate timeline, the thran spent millenia unbinding themselves from causality in a bid to save their world. Unsuccessful, their attempt instead led them to this timeline.

Classes

Epochent 

Epochents are pure chronists, dedicating themselves to the study of time and how to manipulate it. Their temporal abilities yield many strange and varied results, and their ability to literally go back in time is powerful in skilled hands.

Harrier 

Adepts, harriers combine study of the temporal with study of the arts martial. They focus on speed and agility, using their knowledge of time to give them an incredible edge in combat that allows them to strike between moments, faster than most can follow.

Oracle 

While epochents focus on time in a general sense, oracles choose to look forward, attempting to find the best path through the myriad timelines that branch from the current moment. They are able to manipulate the fate of other creatures, bringing weal to friend and woe to foe.

Chaos

Color: Brown

Gemstone: Citrine

Virtue: Courage

Chaos is chaotic, and its willfulness is sometimes hard to describe given that it has purview over a disharmonious set of concepts. 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. Chaos, then, seeks to subvert and upend those rules, or disrupt existence in a general sense, desiring the ability to make choices for itself without constraint. This is in direct opposition to Time, which seeks to control and harness causality, the strictest of rules, and Blue, which demands the causal chain be respected and all things be put in order.

Of the nine Forces, Chaos is the least-understood, and it is uncertain how it is that anarchists gain their power. The strangest claim is the idea that the world is actually an illusion, and all that happens in it is governed by strange rules in another universe: anarchists who are proponents of this claim that their powers come from cheating in that other world, which translates into effects in this one. Claims such as this are why many are content to not question how it is that anarchists do what they do.

Exactly how an individual becomes an anarchist is similarly unclear. Due to their nature, anarchists rarely seek to train others in their ways, and some even deem intentional learning of how to access Chaos as impossible. However, there are also those that claim that they intentionally sought out these powers and stumbled upon them. It seems that any claim one makes about Chaos can be refuted by at least one counter-example.

Chaos interacts well with Psionics and the Void. In Psionics, Chaos finds a similar sense of self-reliance and a fellow free spirit, in the sense that both Chaos and Psionics seek mastery over the self, just in different realms. In the Void, Chaos shares the same sense of rebellion that gave rise to the Void in the first place, and the Void's sense of destruction matches Chaos' understanding of entropy almost perfectly, albeit applied to the whole of reality instead of just the rules of reality.

Game Mechanics

Anarchists build a deck out of their whims. A deck can only have so many copies of a given whim, and the size of the deck is limited based on the anarchist's class and level.

Anarchists select a set of triggers, which are events chosen from a list. When a trigger occurs, the anarchist can draw a number of whims from his deck, dependent upon the trigger. The anarchist has a max hand size, which is the maximum number of whims he can hold at once. At the end of his turn, if he has more whims than his max, he must discard until he has no more than his max.

When he effects a whim, he discards it.

When the deck is empty, the discard pile is shuffled and returned to the deck.

All anarchists gain innate blue opposition (UO) and time opposition (IO). These oppositions indicate that anarchists are naturally resistant to Blue and Temporal effects, even those that are beneficial in nature.

Some specific anarchist 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 Chaos-aligned or have strong ties to Chaos in some fashion.

Races

Coure 

Words.

Vulpine 

Words.

Classes

Anarch 

Main caster.

Discordant 

Adept.

Gambler 

Alt caster.

Blue

Color: Blue

Gemstone: Sapphire

Virtue: Reflection

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 load their memes into a cache, and can use them at will. When she readies a meme, a memeticist can also allocate that meme into memory, if she has free memory. Memes allocated into memory are significantly stronger, or have other effects.

After processing a meme, it becomes locked, and is not available for use until it recharges. At the beginning of your turn, you roll a recharge die, which is 1d6, and all memes with a recharge value of the result or lower become unlocked and available for use again. The recharge value of a meme changes dependent upon the highest grade of meme you can access.

All memeticists gain innate chaos opposition (CO) and time opposition (IO). These oppositions indicate that memeticists are naturally resistant to Chaotic and Temporal effects, even those that are beneficial in nature.

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 memory explicitly to assist them in maintaining control over their pets.

Ability Grade Equivalencies

Race Listing