Acolytes of the PrismLocated deep in the very centre of the city, beneath the great rotating shard of crystal that caused the Cleansing, the Acolytes of the Prism attempt to research that crystal. Law forbids most of their activities, including their myriad attempts to reawaken the crystal, so they have been driven far underground. Their small tent village deep in the catacombs has become a neutral-ground black market, the peace kept by the acolytes themselves.
If you were taught directly by the acolytes, you have a book of prism-inspired teachings, a glass prism, and probably a dagger with a cut-glass “gem” on the pommel. If you were taught by a runaway acolyte, you have a faceted glass wand. Spell List:
Forlorn ElementalistsNot everyone who gains magical abilities controls them well. Those who don't are sent to the trolls. This is for two reasons. First, the Trolls know the most primitive of magics, and some say they can see magic weaves. The second reason is that trolls can usually regenerate anything less than a missing head, so accidents aren't as serious.
The rare trainee that makes it through their year of training are free to go where they will, with the blessings of the Elementalists. If you served your time in the Forlorn Elementalists, you start play with battered armor, or a uniform that marks you as such. If you are a deserter then you probably got rid of any identifying clothing as quickly as you could. Either way, you have a leather-and-chain undershirt (light armor) that saved your life more than once, a dagger that has seen battle, and a pair of sturdy boots. Spell List:
Free Cantons' LodgeMembers of the Free Cantons' Lodge are a tough and hardy bunch, better known for their prowess in battle than their ability to cast spells. And often help defend the city against external threats, though things have been quiet recently.
In times of emergency, they're quite willing to help out, but any other time, they want to be left alone, and will fight even the Inquisition to be so. Members of the Lodge start play with a sturdy set of dwarven boots, an axe or hammer (probably both), a bag of silver nuggets or low-quality uncut gems worth 10 GP, and a bar of solid gold worth 20 GP that you keep safely hidden for an emergency. Spell List:
InklingsComposed of scholars and practitioners of forbidden ink magic, this secretive group meets in rooms above taverns and in private homes to compare notes. The inner circle of the group postulate the existence of an ink-based realm of pure thought, but a breakaway group known as the Cult of Ink have recently started worshiping what they supposed to be a squid god. Surprisingly, the two groups are still on good terms and meet regularly to drink together.
As an Inkling you have someplace you call home, with a modest library. You also have a hidden room in your house. That’s where you keep your real library, the one the authorities would arrest you for if they knew about. You carry a sword-cane, because you don’t see why you can’t combine self-defense with style. Spell List:
Scholars of DustUsing uncovered texts found in the city, these magical dabblers seek nothing less than immortality. Those in the group all wear masks, and each scholar knows only the identity of the one who invited them to join and of members that they have invited to join the secret organization. For this reason only a few of the highest-ranking members know that their group is led by a cabal of immortal undead who seek a way to rend the veil of death and return long-lost companions to true life once more.
Each of the Scholars of Dust has a collection of writings related to immortality, some canopic jars, ritual knives, and masks. If you’ve left the cult you probably got rid of the mask. Spell List:
VindicatorsThis band of adventurers numbers nearly one hundred members, most of whom are squires, cooks, camp guards, or families of the adventurers. Half mercenary company, half gang, the Vindicators move from place to place looking for work. Sometimes they hire themselves out as true mercenaries. Sometimes they happen upon a tomb and decide to rob it, and sometimes a town will just pay the Vindicators to leave before they attract (or start) trouble.
The Vindicators have picked up a few wizards and other casters during their travels, and they are willing to teach useful battle-magics to those that have the ability to cast it. If you are or were a Vindicator, your equipment is eclectic. You probably have a knife tucked into your boot, a crossbow, and a club or shortsword. Many Vindicators travel with the group for a year or so and then leave, often to set up their own smaller adventuring group. If that is the case, you start with an extra 35 GP. Spell List:
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Arbonesse AcademyThis military school focuses on enhancing the prowess of archers through training, and magic. Though sometimes known as the Arrowwood Academy, the magic is actually passed down by the Sylvari, its secrets taught one-on-one.
If you are a member of the Arbonesse Academy, you start play with a Sylvari bow of ancient Arbonesse design, travelling clothes, and a longsword. If you were taught by a renegade Arbonesse exile, you probably have a Shade longbow with razors along its upper edge, so you can use it in a pinch as a shortsword. Spell List:
Children of StoneThese granok exiles have forsworn the path of violence. After the destruction of their homelands they have taken up a nomadic existence outside the city walls, braving the monsters in return for freedom. The Children of the Stones’ message of nonviolence attracts many to join them, and both Shade and Sylvari can be found among them. Of course, there will always be those who are unwilling to follow the path of peace, so some members of the Children of the Stones learn magic to deal with trouble when it comes looking for them.
As a member of this extended family you have 20 GP with you, most of it in the form of silver coins sewn into your clothing to stymie pickpockets. You wear eclectic clothing from a dozen regions, but wear them with panache. You keep a knife hidden up your sleeve, and wear a thin metal club or wooden truncheon on your belt to show others that while you are peaceful, you can defend yourself. Spell List:
Hammer of the NorthThese northern warriors blend magical prowess with martial might. Despite the name, not all members of the Hammer of the North are Granok any more, but all have taken a vow to defend the city from monstrous threats.
You start play with a hammer pendant, a shield, and a trusty sword. You probably have other weapons beside the sword, depending on your preferred fighting style — but everybody gets a sword when they join. If you are a current member of the Hammer of the North, you receive 1 gp each week that you are in the field. If you’ve broken ties with the Hammer of Valhalla then you’ll still be given lodging in local chapter houses, unless you did something so bad that they kicked you out. Spell List:
Osteomancers' GuildBone wizards are often mistaken for necromancers, but where necromancers seek to create and control unlife, an osteomancer is only concerned with bones.
The Osteomancers’ Guild has made a name for itself not only as providers of communications between neighborhoods by use of the scrawl bones spell, but also as healers, and most armies keep at least one osteomancer on their staff as a way to communicate semi-directly with their troops and to speed up the healing process from broken bones. For this reason they are tolerated, although most creatures that have bones still view them with suspicion. As an osteomancer you have a collection of bones in a pouch, a bone dagger, and maybe bone armor. Lots of bones. If you have a sword, its grip and pommel are probably made of bone. If you’re lucky you have a staff made of bone, too. The good thing about being an adventurer as well as an osteomancer is that you have plenty of opportunities to acquire more bones. Spell List:
Shadow DancersNo group is more secretive than the Shadow Dancers, and rumors swirl around this group and its members. Some say that under their deep hoods, some of the Shadow Dancers are now just shadow themselves. The Shadow Dancers are not a cohesive group, but the magic they teach represents a distinctive tradition.
As a shadowy practitioner of this style of magic you have whatever your class would normally have… and a deep, concealing hood and cloak. Spell List:
Zobeck SchoolDowntrodden, poverty-stricken individuals are often drawn to the Zobeck School of Adaptability, founded by Illemak, a skaven rogue. Students of the school are known for their adaptability, resourcefulness, adaptability, capacity for treachery, adaptability, and tomfoolery.
The school teaches street-smarts, adaptability, survival, adaptability, trap-building and disarming, and authority avoidance, and bit of adaptability. As a Scoundrel you have a hidden knife in a spring-loaded wrist sheath, a short sword, a hat with a blade hidden in the brim (counts as a throwing dagger), a copper chain undershirt (counts as light armor), and a copy of the book The Rules of Gamesmanship and Lifesmanship which purports to have been written by Illemak but almost definitely wasn’t. Spell List:
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AkyishigaliWhen the Skaven came to the city, they brought with them their belief in Akyishigal, the Horned Rat, the rat-demon of filth, who offered them survival in exchange for being reshaped in his image, so it was only natural that when it came to appointing a group over the waste-collection and cleaning of the city, that it be given to the Akyishigali. Indeed, they seem to almost love hauling it off for their own unknown uses.
As one of the Akyishigali, you probably don’t have a lot, and what you do have is scavenged from garbage heaps, but, you’ve managed to accumulate a decent set of weapons or implements and some scavenged armor. You definitely have taken the time to carve a representation of your patron, Akyishigal. Spell List:
Cult of Dragons RebornThis secretive cult worships the vanished dragon, taking magical instruction from long-dead nagas and other scaled tutors. Their eventual goal is to achieve apotheosis and transform themselves into mighty dragons, a dream that their naga masters encourage. They also claim to have found a living dragon egg, and are now watchign over it, waiting for their new master to hatch.
If you are a member of the cult you have a wavy dagger, a snake tattoo, and snakeskin robe. If you’ve left the cult you get to keep the tattoo, but you should probably trade in the wavy dagger for something a little less cult-ish. Spell List:
Faceless LeagueCombination judge and assassin, the Faceless are given by each race as a tithe, at birth, to be raised apart from any racial or cultural identity. Lack of identity is essential to their being able to mete out judgment without corruption, so they magically disguise themselves, often having multiple spells ready at a moment’s notice to throw off pursuit.
If you are currently a member of the Faceless League, you start with Quick Change in place of a Religion/Heritage power. You also start play with a good disguise kit (wigs, makeup, etc.), a selection of clothes for different personas, a small but sharp dagger, and whatever travelling clothes your day-to-day persona requires. If you think you were trained by a renegade member who left the League, then you haven’t yet learned how this group really operates. Every member of the League was trained by a “renegade” who was actually a member in good standing. Because nobody ever leaves the League. Do you think you’ve left the League? Maybe you should check with them on that. Quick Change: Once per day, as long as you have access to your disguise kit or a change of clothes, you can completely disguise yourself in just a few seconds. If you're being followed, this enables you to step around a corner and be someone else before those following you can get there. This improves to 2/day at 5th and 3/day at 8th. Spell List:
Red InquisitionRoyally commissioned truth-finders, the Red Inquisition are the people to turn to when you want a mystery solved, heretics uncovered, or a murderer found. They don’t much care who gets hurt, provided they get their man. The silver-masked and red-robed inquisitors can be found in most neighborhoods, and they are always careful to work closely with neighborhood leaders before
taking on any case. Despite their fearsome reputation, most of their cases involve mundane matters such as uncovering marital infidelity, conducting background investigations, and tracking down missing persons. As an inquisitor you have a red robe and silver mask (actually just silver-painted wood), a scary looking dagger, a heavy iron-shod staff, and a satchel with torture implements. You also have everyday clothes for when you are under cover. When not in uniform you carry a dagger (hidden up each sleeve), and a shortsword in a hidden sheath down the back of your shirt. You carry a notebook and pencil, and probably have some form of official documentation for the section of the city that you live in if questioned by guards. If you have parted ways with the Red Inquisition then you handed in your robe and mask when you left. Spell List:
Treasure KeepersThe Treasure-Keepers’ Guild evolved out of the sudden need to both control the combined wealth of the armies, and to prevent in-fighting. The Treasure-Keepers were selected for their ability to handle money, and watched over by a group with impartiality and steadfastness. A group of skaven became the bankers, and a contingent of granok watch over them as guardians of the city’s economy.
This secretive group also hires itself out to safeguard the treasures of others, recovering stolen treasure and securing it in impenetrable vaults so it will not be taken again. If you are currently a Guild member, you start play with a set of keys to a treasure vault that you’re responsible for (and which is being guarded by a fellow guild member while you’re out tracking down lost treasure), a pair of sturdy walking boots, and a staff. If you are a renegade who steals the treasures that you vowed to guard, you start play with an extra 3d20 GP, a dagger, and a price on your head. Spell List:
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Champions of LightThe Champions of Light, originally composed of draenei paladins and clerics, but now open to most races (Skaven aren't aren't exactly welcome, for obvious reasons, though there have been exceptions), seek to oppose and destroy evil wherever they find it. They are a loose-knit group, tending to their own affairs until the call goes out that they are to gather once again and face the forces of darkness.
The Champions of Light don’t serve any one specific god or cause, since as far as they know, their gods are dead, but they serve in memory of Light. Once initiated, if you refuse to answer the call to duty often enough, you are no longer a member. As a current or former member of the Champions of Light you probably have a holy symbol, and maybe even a back-up holy symbol. You likely dress in light colors, and have gear for adventuring in the wilderness on the back of a mule that refuses to let itself be ridden. Spell List:
The Doom TollersLed by the hag Red Annabelle, this group of witches operates as a protection racket: if you pay them money, your neighborhood will not suffer unexpected doom. As part of the arrangement, of course, the Doom Tollers have to keep unscheduled doom and disaster away from the settlements that they protect.
As a Doom Toller you should work with the GM to detail the neighborhood that you “protect.” You receive free food and lodging there, and never lack for goat’s cheese (or whatever the villagers make). You also get a modest, yet regular, income from the village—maybe 50 copper pieces every couple of weeks or so. If your village grows and thrives thanks to your efforts, that income increases. Spell List:
Hidden PhoenixWhen the Ninemage Council banned non-approved alchemy, the Order of the Black Phoenix, a group of elderly alchemists keen to safeguard their knowledge, managed to teleport their entire laboratory outside the city. Unfortunately, they also landed it upside down, with its foundation sticking out of the ground, and the top floor about three hundred feet down. The group, now known as Hidden Phoenix (never let it be said that alchemists missed a chance for rebranding) has recently begun taking on apprentices, but all who would join the Hidden Phoenix must first fake their deaths. Fortunately, the Hidden Masters have a potion for that…
If you know the secrets of the Inverted Tower you have lots of potion-making paraphernalia, herbs, and strange substances. You probably also have some wicked sharp knives for obtaining those really hard-to-get components. Spell List:
OutsidersThis group of thieves prides itself on its ability to steal almost anything and get away with it. They specialize in teleportation magic, often disturbing the forces that underpin reality in search of a quick getaway. The group consists of young wizrds and thieves with an older inner circle who no longer actively practice dimensional magic.
If you are a current member of the Outsiders then you start play with a set of lock picks, a silk rope with a folding grapple, a set of dark clothing, and a quick disguise kit (probably a cloak and a wig for you to throw on when you run into a crowd). If you are a former member who has retired then you start play with 30 GP, a dagger, and a flask with a stiff drink in it to steady your nerves when your memories flash back to the things you’ve seen in the in-between-spaces. Spell List:
ShieldkinShieldkin are the main military force in the city, standing perpetual guard in the city while the other groups watch the walls.
As one of these warriors, you start play with extra armor and weapons suitable to your class, the tools to maintain them, and mementos of fallen comrades. Spell List:
Vril SeekersThis group of Asura (and other related associates) wandered the city in search of treasure... but instead, found strange new powers.
Now they have banded together into a nascent group, exposing themselves to eldritch and alien artifacts they’ve uncovered in order to gain new mutations and strange abilities. As a Vril Seeker you have a hidden mutation (an extra toe, scales on one leg, that sort of thing) and at least one obvious mutation that you can hide with the right clothing. If you want to describe your magic as a mutation, with your body spraying mucus and slime from mutant orifices and sprouting tentacles from unusual places, go for it. Spell List:
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