Overview

Arkai are natural leaders of the Ninth World, using wit, rhetoric, and the strength of working together to overcome problems. Heralds, nobles, and pioneers could be Arkai. Sometimes warlords, generals, and even guardians are Arkai. “Arkus” is common vernacular used by humans in the Steadfast and the Beyond for any person skilled in governing others, but in truth, the word applies only to those who are specially gifted in leadership. Arkai have the potential to spearhead armies, cities, or even entire regions, because their abilities surpass those who are merely good at running a long confidence game. Arkai are usually quite intelligent, but being able to survive physical challenges is important for anyone exploring or establishing new communities in the Ninth World. As a result, many Arkai have a high Intellect and either Might or Speed as a high secondary statistic, depending on whether they like to come in strong or to get out of the way of threats. When forced to fight, Arkai prefer ranged weapons, though they’d rather get someone else to fight on their behalf if they can’t defuse the situation another way.

Arkai in Society

People who don’t have a talent for leadership or who haven’t trained long and hard to lead sometimes discount an Arkus’s abilities. Without personal experience in being an effective leader, it’s easy to assume that anyone can do it. In terms of public perception, Arkai are at the opposite end of the continuum from Nanos. Nanos are viewed with suspicion and fear because what they do is unknown, but anyone can tell someone else what to do. Of course, the secret is that it’s incredibly hard to convince people to listen, let alone tell someone else the best thing to do and not inadvertently lead followers into some kind of disaster. Tales of both mighty and disastrous leaders are common in the Ninth World, with anecdotes of the disastrous (or at least the mediocre and bad) ones outnumbering the positive by ten to one. That’s because true Arkai are relatively rare. Anyone can say they’re a leader, and many people do have experience in ordering others around. But that experience doesn’t necessarily equate to quality.
Arkai are almost always found with others—peers, at least, if not followers. An Arkus is at their best when surrounded by those who can help them develop their ideas, turn their goals into reality, and improve society in a way that the Arkus most values. Some Arkai claim power by showing their competence and winning over others. Other Arkai rely on their legacy of a noble birth, an inheritance, or even claims that they are representatives of a god, some ancient and dead species, or one that no longer exists in the world. These latter claims are appeals to authority and can be effective in the short term, but only if an Arkus can back up those claims with the actual ability to make good decisions on behalf of a larger community.

Arkai in the Group

Typically, an Arkus is the party member who leads from the rear, as their abilities are not directly aggressive. Compared to the Glaive or Delve, the Arkus isn’t nearly as robust. However, an Arkus is never too far away to verbally intercede on the party’s behalf. Many of their abilities require that they be able to talk to other creatures. This is especially true when an Arkus is operating within an allied community or horde. When the party needs to negotiate with enemies, calm a community, or take charge, the Arkus is the one they want.

Arkai and the Numenera

When it comes to the numenera, most Arkai are interested in items that allow communication across large distances or to many people at once, in objects that will extend their influence with others, and even in items that allow them to know what others think and believe. With such knowledge, an Arkus can better lead them or at least figure out how to gain their allegiance. Arkai understand that changing a creature’s mind against its will or otherwise compromising consent is not the way to build a following over time, because reputations are hard to shed once tainted by bad behavior.

Advanced Arkai

An Arkus might begin as a wide-eyed idealist interested in leading people to a better tomorrow, but as they advance, they might use their skills to become one of the leaders in an allied or newly founded community. Their presence helps a community be more robust and better able to survive hard times. They can rule effectively, because they know how other creatures think.

Arkus Tiers

FIRST-TIER ARKUS

First-tier Arkai have the following abilities. Add them to the appropriate place on your character sheet, under Effort, Edge (in the appropriate stat Pool), equipment, and potentially skills and special abilities:
Effort: Your Effort is 1.
Leader: You have an Intellect Edge of 1, a Might Edge of 0, and a Speed Edge of 0.
Cypher Use: You can bear two cyphers at a time.
Weapons: You can use light weapons without penalty. You have an inability with medium and heavy weapons; your attacks with medium and heavy weapons are hindered.
Skills: You are trained in persuasion. In addition, you are trained in another interaction skill in which you are not already trained. Choose one of the following: negotiation, deceiving, public speaking,
intimidation, or seeing through deception. You have an inability in crafting numenera, salvaging numenera, and understanding numenera. Enabler.
Community Leader: While you are present within a community, and actively and personally working on behalf of that community, the community’s rank is +1 for all purposes except damage inflicted. Enabler.
Demeanor of Command (2 Intellect points): You emote confidence, knowledge, and charisma to all who see you for the next hour. Your demeanor is such that those who see you automatically understand that you are someone important, accomplished, and with authority. When you speak, strangers that are not already attacking give you at least a round to have your say. If speaking to a group that can understand you, you can attempt to have them produce their leader or ask that they take you to their leader. You gain a free level of Effort that can be applied to one persuasion task you attempt during this period. Action to initiate.
Starting Equipment: You start with stylish clothing and a light weapon of your choice, two cyphers (chosen by the GM), one oddity, and 9 shins. If you start with a ranged weapon that requires ammunition (arrows, for example), you start with 12 of that type of ammunition. Before choosing your weapon and other gear, you might want to wait until after you’ve chosen your precepts, descriptor, and focus.
Default Starting Cyphers and Oddity: Your GM may provide you with starting cyphers and an oddity. Otherwise, you begin with the following.

• Cyphers: farspeaker, harmony lamp
• Oddity: Feathered hat that occasionally makes bird noises

Precepts: You have a wide range of abilities that give you an edge over other people. Some of these precepts are similar to esoteries in that you call upon a strange ability, use a device, and so on. Others are more mundane, relying on skill. Almost all require that you can speak to use them. Unless otherwise described, if they affect another creature, that creature must be able to perceive and understand you. Some precepts are constant, ongoing effects; others are specific actions that usually cost points from one of your stat Pools. Choose two of the precepts described below. You can’t choose the same precept more than once unless its description says otherwise. You can keep track of these in the Special Abilities section of your character sheet.

• Anecdote (2 Intellect points): You can lift the spirits of a group of creatures and help them bond together by entertaining them with an uplifting or pointed anecdote. For the next hour, those who pay attention to your story are trained in a task you choose that’s related to the anecdote, as long as it’s not an attack or defense task. Action to initiate, one minute to complete.
• Babel (3 Intellect points): Once each day, choose one language that you’ve encountered on which you will concentrate. For the rest of that day, you can speak that language with reasonable facility. You don’t lose the use of any other languages you know normally during this period. Action to initiate, ten minutes to complete.
• Connection With an Organization: You have a general connection with an important organization, such as the Order of Truth, the Angulan Knights, the aristocracy of a region, a merchant guild, and so on. Tasks related to interacting with members of that group gain an asset. Further, you can use this connection to learn about events related to that organization’s focus. For instance, if you have a connection with the Angulan Knights, you may learn of events related to mutants in the area. You and the GM should work out the details together. You can choose this ability more than once and choose a new organization each time. Enabler.
• Goad (1 Intellect point): You can attempt to goad a target into a belligerent—and probably foolish—reaction that requires the target to try to close the distance between you and attempt to physically strike you on its next turn. They attempt this action even if this would cause them to break formation or to give up cover or a tactically superior position. Whether the target strikes you or fails to do so, they come to their senses immediately afterward, after which further tasks attempting to goad the target again are hindered. Action to initiate.
• Powerful Rhetoric (1 Intellect point): After engaging a creature in conversation for at least a minute, you can attempt to influence how that creature is perceived, promoting it as a friend, dismissing it as a fool, or denouncing it as an enemy. Your words are so well chosen that even you and it are affected, because your conviction and its doubt are paramount. The accuracy of your assessment isn’t important as long as you keep up the rhetoric. From then on (or until you change your rhetoric or the creature offers a convincing defense to those who’ve heard your label), the friend’s social interactions gain an asset, the fool’s social interactions are hindered, or the enemy’s defenses are hindered. Action to initiate, one minute to complete.
• Trained Without Armor: You are trained in Speed defense actions when not wearing armor. Enabler.
• Understanding (1 Intellect point): You observe or study a creature or object. Your next interaction with that creature or object gains one asset. Action.

SECOND-TIER ARKUS

Second-tier Arkai have the following abilities:
Precepts: Choose one of the following Arkus precepts (or a precept from a lower tier) to add to your repertoire. In addition, you can replace one of your first-tier precepts with a different first-tier precept.

• Calm Stranger (2+ Intellect points): You can cause one intelligent creature to remain calm as you speak. The creature doesn’t need to speak your language, but it must be able to see you. It remains calm as long as you focus all your attention on it and it is not attacked or otherwise threatened. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can also choose to use Effort to calm additional creatures allied with your initial target, one additional creature per level of Effort applied. Action.
• Cloud Personal Memories (3 Intellect points): If you interact with or study a target for at least a round, you gain a sense of how its mind works, which you can use against it in the most blunt fashion possible. You can attempt to confuse it and make it forget what’s just happened. On a success, you erase up to the last five minutes of its memory. Action to prepare; action to initiate.
• Disincentivize (1 Intellect point): You hinder all actions attempted by any number of targets within short range who can understand you. You choose which targets are affected. Affected targets’ actions are hindered for one round. Enabler.
• Follower: You gain a level 2 follower. One of their modifications must be persuasion. You can take this ability multiple times, each time gaining another level 2 follower. Enabler.
• Gather Intelligence (2 Intellect points): When in a group of people (a caravan, a palace, a village, a city, etc.) you can ask around about any topic you choose and come away with useful information. You can ask a specific question, or you can simply obtain general facts. You also get a good idea of the general layout of the location involved, note the presence of all major sites, and perhaps even notice obscure details. For example, not only do you find out if anyone in the palace has seen the missing boy, but you also get a working knowledge of the layout of the palace itself, note all the entrances and which are used more often than others, and take notice that everyone seems to avoid the well in the eastern courtyard for some reason. This ability takes about an hour to use.
• Inspire Action (4 Intellect points): If one ally can see and easily understand you, you can instruct that ally to take an action. If the ally chooses to take that exact action, they can do so as an additional action immediately. Doing so doesn’t interfere with the ally taking a normal action on their turn. Action.
• Skill With Defense: Choose one type of defense task in which you are not already trained: Might, Speed, or Intellect. You are trained in defense tasks of that type. You can select this precept up to three times. Each time you select it, you must choose a different type of defense task. Enabler.

THIRD-TIER ARKUS

Third-tier Arkai have the following abilities:
Expert Cypher Use: You can bear three cyphers at a time.
Improved Community Leader: A community continues to modify its effective rank by +1 for any task except for attack and defense. However, you do not need to be constantly present in and actively working on behalf of the community for it to gain this benefit; it gains it merely because of your past work in the community. Enabler.
Precepts: Choose one of the following Arkus precepts (or a precept from a lower tier) to add to your repertoire. In addition, you can replace one of your lower-tier precepts with a different precept from the same lower tier.

• Break the Line (4 Intellect points): You have an eye for group discipline and hierarchy, even among your foes. If a group of foes is gaining any kind of benefit from working together, you can attempt to disrupt that benefit by pointing out the weak point in the enemy’s line, formation, or swarm attack. This effect lasts for up to a minute or until all the affected foes spend a round assessing and resetting themselves to regain their normal advantage. Action to initiate.
• Improved Follower: You gain a level 3 follower. They are not restricted on their modifications. Alternatively, you can choose to advance a level 2 follower you already have to level 3 and then gain a new level 2 follower. Enabler.
• Informer: You gain an informer within an allied community. They act as your secret (or known) informer. If something of note happens in your informer’s location, they will use whatever means they have available to tell you what’s happened. Enabler.
• Lead by Inquiry: You keep your allies on their toes with occasional questions, jokes, and even mock drills for those who care to join in. After spending 28 hours with you, your allies are treated as if trained in tasks related to perception. This benefit is ongoing while you remain in your allies’ company. It ends if you leave, but it resumes if you return to the allies’ company within 28 hours. If you leave the allies’ company for more than 28 hours, you must spend another 28 hours together to reactivate the benefit. Enabler.
• Oratory (4 Intellect points): When speaking with a group of intelligent creatures that can understand you and aren’t hostile, you convince them to take one reasonable action in the next round. A reasonable action should not put the creature or its allies in obvious danger or be wildly out of character. Action.
• Perfect Stranger (3 Intellect points): You alter your posture and way of speaking and make a small but real alteration to an outfit (such as putting on or taking off a hat, reversing a cloak, and so on). For the next hour (or as long as you keep up the alteration), even creatures that know you well don’t recognize you. All tasks related to hiding your true identity during this period gain one free level of Effort. Action to initiate.
• Quick Wits: When performing a task that would normally require spending points from your Intellect Pool, you can spend points from your Speed Pool instead. Enabler.

FOURTH-TIER ARKUS

Fourth-tier Arkai have the following abilities:
Precepts: Choose one of the following Arkus precepts (or a precept from a lower tier) to add to your repertoire. In addition, you can replace one of your lower-tier precepts with a different precept from the same lower tier.

• Crowd Protection (5 Intellect points): While in an allied community or horde, members who are near you press close in a protective formation to keep you safe for about a minute. This crowd moves with you during this period, keeping an eye out for anything that might hurt you. When it ends, the crowd disperses and individuals go on about their business. The protective crowd makes it harder for other creatures to attack you, giving you an asset on Speed defense tasks. In addition, while the crowd is around you, you can use an action to exhort them to attack all enemies within short range, dealing 1 point of damage to each creature and object in the area. Action to initiate.
• Envoy (4 Intellect points): If you interact with or study a target that lives within a community you’re allied with for at least a round, you can attempt to convince it to become your envoy for a specific period or to deliver a specific message or object to another location. Distance does not matter as long as the location is somewhere your envoy can reach, either through their own means or means you provide. The envoy delivers your message or physical parcel to the desired location, and then reports back on whether they succeeded or failed. Action to initiate; hours, days, weeks, or months to get a report back.
• Exile From Community (4 Intellect points): If you are in a community you are allied with and you study a target for at least a round, you can attempt to convince them to leave the community, either permanently or for a specified period of time. The task is eased if a majority in the community believes that the target is a bad seed, troublemaker, criminal, or otherwise someone that makes things difficult for the community. Action to prepare; action to initiate.
• Spur Effort (5 Intellect points): You select an ally within immediate range. If that character applies Effort to a task on their next turn, they can apply a free level of Effort on that task. Enabler.
• Strategize (6 Intellect points): Having an action plan in place before facing a challenge improves the odds of success, even if that plan is eventually changed or discarded once it’s put into play. If you and your allies spend at least ten minutes going over a plan of action, all of you gain one free level of Effort that can be applied to one task you attempt during the execution of that plan within the next 28 hours. The plan of action must be something concrete and executable in order to gain this benefit. Action to initiate, ten minutes to complete.
• Unseen Among the People (4+ Intellect points): You become effectively unseen for ten hours while you are within an allied community. During this time, the residents help you move from place to place in a variety of ways that makes it appear that you are no one of importance. While moving unseen in a community, you are specialized in stealth and Speed defense tasks. This effect ends if you do something to reveal who you really are—attacking, using an ability, commanding someone in the community within earshot of an enemy, and so on. If this occurs, you can regain the remaining unseen effect by taking an action to focus on going into hiding. You can attempt to move about unseen within an unallied community or horde; however, doing so requires that you apply one additional level of Effort per rank of the community or horde you wish to hide within. Action to prepare; action to initiate or reinitiate.

FIFTH-TIER ARKUS

Fifth-tier Arkai have the following abilities:
Adept Cypher Use: You can bear four cyphers at a time.
Precepts: Choose one of the following Arkus precepts (or a precept from a lower tier) to add to your repertoire. In addition, you can replace one of your lower-tier precepts with a different precept from the same lower tier.

• Discipline of Watchfulness (7 Intellect points): You keep your allies on their toes with occasional questions, jokes, and even mock drills for those who care to join in. After spending 28 hours with you, your allies can apply a free level of Effort to any initiative tasks they attempt. This benefit is ongoing while you remain in the allies’ company. It ends if you leave, but it resumes if you return to the allies’ company within 28 hours. If you leave the allies’ company for more than 28 hours, you must spend another 28 hours together to reactivate the benefit. You must spend the Intellect point cost each 28 hours you wish to keep the benefit active. Enabler.
• Divide and Conquer (7 Intellect points): If you brief and prep one of your followers or deputies for at least a round, they can act on your behalf within an allied community or horde so well that you can effectively take on two tasks simultaneously, whether they’re regular actions or community tasks. If taking regular actions, you can take two actions on each of your turns for up to one minute, including using special abilities of up to tier 3, even in two different parts of the community or horde. Special abilities used by your follower or deputy are subtracted from your Pools because they are acting on your direct authority and are relying on your influence. Alternatively, you can take normal actions while your prepped follower attempts a community task, or you can both attempt community tasks. Action to prepare; action to initiate.
• Healing Power of Words (6 Intellect points): If you interact with or study a target for at least a round, you can attempt to restore points to the target’s Might Pool or Speed Pool in one of two ways: either the chosen Pool regains up to 6 points or it is restored to a total value of 12 (you choose when you initiate this ability). The attempt is a level 3 task. Points are restored at a rate of 1 point each round. You must continue speaking with the target the whole time. In no case can this ability raise a Pool higher than its normal maximum. Action to prepare; action to initiate. If the target spends points from their Pool during the ongoing healing, the healing ends.
• Infer Thoughts (4 Intellect points): If you interact with or study a target for at least a round, you can attempt to read its surface thoughts, even if the subject doesn’t want you to. You must be able to see the target. Once you have gained a sense of what it’s thinking—through its body language, its speech, and what it does and doesn’t say—you can continue to infer the target’s surface thoughts for up to one minute as long as you can still see and hear the target. Action to prepare; action to initiate.
• Knowing the Unknown (6 Intellect points): While in an allied community or horde, you can spend an action tapping into a source of information beyond yourself. You can ask the GM one question and get a general answer. The GM assigns a level to the question, so the more obscure the answer, the more difficult the task. Generally, knowledge that you could find by looking somewhere other than your current location is level 1, and obscure knowledge of the past is level 7. Gaining knowledge of the future is impossible. Action to prepare; action to initiate.
• Raise a Champion (7 Intellect points): While in an allied community or horde, you can spend a minute rousing the community to put forth a champion—a level 5 NPC or creature that could conceivably live in and be part of the community. The champion appears for one minute then returns home. While present, the champion acts as you direct, requiring no additional actions on your part. One minute to prepare; action to initiate.
• Rouse to Violence (6+ Intellect points): While in an allied community or horde, you can spend an action rousing the ire of residents to a killing frenzy and then point out a target that the crowd can see. If you succeed and the target is a creature of level 3 or lower, the crowd kills it. If the target is a PC, they move down one step on the damage track. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to increase the maximum level of the target (each level of Effort used this way increases the target’s maximum level by 1). Action to prepare, action to initiate.
• Suggestion (5+ Intellect points): You suggest an action to a creature within immediate range. If the action is something that the target might normally do anyway, it follows your suggestion. If the suggestion is something that is outside of the target’s nature or express duty (such as asking a guard to let an intruder pass), the suggestion fails. The creature must be level 2 or lower. The effect of your suggestion lasts for up to a minute. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can also choose to use Effort to increase the maximum level of the target you can affect by 1. If its level is higher than 2, you can immediately apply levels of Effort to increase the maximum level allowed up to that creature’s level. When the effects of the ability end, the creature remembers following the suggestion but can be persuaded to believe that it chose to do so willingly. Action to initiate.

SIXTH-TIER ARKUS

Sixth-tier Arkai have the following abilities:
Recruit Deputy: You gain a level 4 follower. They are not restricted on their modifications. Enabler. Alternatively, you can choose to advance a level 3 follower you already have to level 4 and then gain a new level 3 follower. Enabler.
Precepts: Choose one of the following Arkus precepts (or a precept from a lower tier) to add to your repertoire. In addition, you can replace one of your lower-tier precepts with a different precept from the same lower tier.

• Assume Control (6+ Intellect points): You control the actions of another creature you have interacted with or studied for at least a round. This effect lasts for ten minutes. The target must be level 2 or lower. Once you have assumed control, the target acts as if it wants to accomplish your desire to the best of its ability, freely using its own best judgment unless you use an action to give it a specific instruction on an issue-by-issue basis. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can also choose to use Effort to increase the maximum level of the target. Thus, to attempt to command a level 5 target (three levels above the normal limit), you must apply three levels of effort. When the effect ends, the target remembers everything that happened and reacts according to its nature and your relationship to it; assuming control might have soured that relationship if it was previously a positive one. Action to initiate.
• Coax the Crowd (7 Intellect points): You convince a large number of people—all within long range—to change a belief and take a long-term action or set of actions. For example, you might convince them to identify the location of a local criminal that no one has previously been brave enough to act against, or you might convince them to welcome a group of visitants as friends in the community. This takes ten minutes to accomplish, during which time you can’t be seriously interrupted or the attempt automatically fails.
• Extra Community Action (9 Intellect points): During the course of a conflict between communities, you can fire up one community so much that it can take two community actions in the same amount of time it could normally take only one. This means the community could inflict damage twice, inflict damage while another segment of the community tries to persuade some other neutral community or horde to become allied, or something else. This is considered a community task. Action to initiate, one hour to complete.
• Inspiration (6 Intellect points): You speak words of encouragement and inspiration. All allies within short range who can hear you immediately gain a recovery roll, gain an immediate free action, and have an asset for that free action. The recovery roll does not count as one of their normal recovery rolls. Action.
• Sway Horde (12+ Intellect points): You can attempt to sway a horde of up to rank 2 to disperse or attack a community other than the one it is currently targeting, or you can try to raise a horde from a village or larger community that contains enough able bodied adults. If you succeed at raising a horde, its level is equal to the rank of the community it comes from, and the horde remains cohesive for up to three days or until it is destroyed. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can also choose to use Effort to increase the rank of the horde you sway by 1 for each level of Effort applied. Action to initiate, one hour to complete.
• Take Command (3 Intellect points): You issue a specific command to another character. If that character chooses to listen, any attack they attempt on their next turn is eased, and a hit deals 3 additional points of damage. If your command is to perform a task other than an attack, the task is eased as if it benefited from a free level of Effort. Action.
• Will of a Leader (9 Intellect points): You harden your allies’ dedication and capabilities. Each ally within immediate range gains +1 Edge to one stat of their choice for one hour. You also gain this benefit to one stat of your choice. Action.

ARKUS BACKGROUND

As an Arkus, you have the capacity to influence other people and, on a larger scale, communities, hordes, and even society itself. Something in your background explains these unique talents, whether it is genetics, enhancements, training, or something else. Choose one of those three options described below as the source of your skills, knowledge, and abilities, or create your own background. This choice will provide the foundation of your character and give you an idea of how you can improve. The game master (GM) can use this information to develop adventures and quests that are specific to your character and play a role in your advancement.

ARKUS CONNECTION

Roll a d20 or choose from the list below to determine a specific fact about your background that provides a connection to the rest of the world. You can also create your own fact.

ARKUS PLAYER INTRUSIONS

When playing a Arkus, you can spend 1 XP to use one of the following player intrusions, provided the situation is appropriate and the GM agrees.
Friendly NPC: An NPC you don’t know, someone you don’t know that well, or someone you know but who hasn’t been particularly friendly in the past chooses to help you, though doesn’t necessarily explain why. Maybe they’ll ask you for a favor in return afterward, depending on how much trouble they go to.
Perfect Suggestion: A follower or other already-friendly NPC suggests a course of action with regard to an urgent question, problem, or obstacle you’re facing.
Unexpected Gift: An NPC hands you a physical gift you were not expecting, one that helps put the situation at ease if things seem strained, or provides you with a new insight for understanding the context of the situation if there’s something you’re failing to understand or grasp.

ARKUS EXAMPLE

Darcy wants to create an Arkus. She puts 4 of her additional points into her Intellect Pool and 2 into her Speed Pool; her stat Pools are now Might 8, Speed 11, and Intellect 15. She’s smart and charismatic, somewhat graceful, but not particularly tough. As a first-tier character, her Effort is 1, her Intellect Edge is 1, and her Might Edge and Speed Edge are 0. Darcy chooses the precept Goad to help to aid her friends when dealing with dangerous or annoying creatures and Anecdote to help them in most other situations. As her skills, she is automatically trained in persuasion, and chooses negotiation for her second skill—she really wants to be able to influence people to get them to do what she wants. Finally, she gains the Community Leader ability, which provides a benefit to any allied community or horde that she is part of An Arkus starts with two cyphers. For her character, the GM chooses an injector that will ease any tasks she makes to deceive for one hour as well as a cypher that unfolds like a suitcase to create a level 5 installation that persists for 28 hours, providing water and food to anyone who triggers it during that time.
Darcy carries a long knife, a decorative light weapon that she decides was a gift given to her by a relative. The knife is both a weapon and an impressive implement of office, should she choose to use it that way. As a light weapon, attacks are eased and it inflicts 2 points of damage. Darcy chooses Serene for her descriptor, as a way to both increase her Intellect Pool—which increases to 17—and provide training in Intellect defense tasks. Serene also provides training in tasks related to having grace under pressure, which is something she knows that anyone trying to step into a position of leadership must acquire. Serene provides options for an initial link to the starting adventure, which Darcy decides is related to remaining calm during a difficult situation involving an attack of strange alien creatures that rained from the sky like hail. For her focus, Darcy chooses Descends From Nobility, but only after spending some time deciding what kind of character she wants to play: a somewhat privileged and naive character who, for reasons that might not be immediately obvious, has left the place where she would’ve had everything and moved into a much wilder region and way of life. She hopes to prove to herself that she isn’t defined by the choices of those who’ve gone before her.