Not everyone looks to a religion for guidance. Some look to tradition. The three largest cultural groups are the Daughters of Freya, who teach young women - and young men, now - to comport themselves elegantly, the Lorekeepres, who preserve the knowledge from before the Cleansing, and the Scions of Leoflyn, the descendants of Leoflyn, the Eternally Dying.
Daughters of FreyjaThe Daughters of Freyja claim that their tradition was founded by the goddess of beauty herself, taught to her mortal offspring to protect them in a harsh and often ugly world. The Daughters maintain a tower somewhere in the far north, far from the eyes of most mortals. Despite their name the Daughters of Freyja contain a number of men, and even some living rocks.
If you were taught magic by the Daughters of Freyja you have a travelling dress, a fancy dress for society functions, a fur-lined cloak and boots, a dagger to keep yourself safe on the road, and a hair brush with a sharp blade concealed in the handle. (When casting princess’ tresses or mane of glory your hair tends to grow quickly, so a brush and a way to cut it is vital or you’ll end up tangled.) |
LorekeepersThis organization consists mostly of Sylvari doing what the Sylvari have always done - guard ancient, labyrinthine libraries, full of both pre-Cleansing knowledge and unknown tomes of power. True, they used to be in trees, but they've made do with what they have. The huge towering eddifices of the city aren't that different from trees anyway. Serious minded-sages who befriend the librarians are sometimes admitted to their ancient order.
If you are a Lorekeeper in good standing, you start play with 30 GP, a short sword or mace, and three or four books. If you are a renegade Lorekeeper who has been kicked out, you start without any books but with 50 GP. Which you’ll probably spend on books. |
Scions of LeoflynNobody knows quite who Leoflyn is, except that casting summon Leoflyn (the corpsepile epic feat variant) produces a lot of him. Occasionally the hapless eternal bard finds himself alive long enough to produce offspring. The Scions of Leoflyn are descendants of summoned Leoflyns who have banded together to try to solve the mystery of their progenitor. They are all born with an innate talent for magic and most of them have taken up the profession of bard.
You have a resemblance to Leoflyn, a musical instrument (lute and mandolin are popular), and a dagger or small folding crossbow hidden under your traveling cloak. You probably have a hat with a feather in it. |
Game Mechanics
Daughters of Freyja choose either Charming or Beguiling.
Charming: You gain a +3 background of Charming, a la the Rogue's Thievery talent. Beguiling: Once per day, you may draw every enemy's attention to yourself. True, you might get attacked, but the enemies will take a -2 penalty to their next attack, and your entire team will gain +4 initiative and can spend a quick action immediately. If you choose Daughters of Freyja as your faction, you gain access to the following spell list:
Scions of Leoflyn choose either Never Fear! or I'm Going to Die!
Wanna tune my mandolin?: Once per day, you may thoroughly distract and remove yourself and an NPC from a scene. It's up to you what happens while they're distracted, but you can't kill or injure the NPC, and you discover gain one piece of true information involving that NPC, or gain a permanent +1 bonus to any further dealings with that NPC. This bonus doesn't stack. I'm Going to Die!: Once per level during a combat, when you have at least one recovery left, you can choose to take no actions. If you do, remove yourself from the battlefield until the end of the encounter. You can only fight in spirit until the end of the encounter, and when the encounter ends, you reappear, unconscious, with 1 HP. The next time you would take damage that would take you to 0 HP or less, a copy of you jumps in front the attack, and is apparently slain. If you choose Scions of Leoflyn as your faction, you gain access to the following spell list:
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Lorekeepers choose either Hidden Knowledge or Repository of Wisdom.
Hidden Knowledge: Once per day, (twice per day at 5th, thrice at 8th) you can draw upon your expansive knowledge when facing a creature. Make a Normal check of a type appropriate to the creature faced (e.g. arcana for magical beasts, dungeon ecologies for aberrations, religion for undead, planar cosmology for elementals or outsiders). You and your allies gain a +1 (+2 at 5th, +3 at 8th) bonus to attack rolls made against them. When you succeed on your check by 10 or more (and every 5 thereafter), this bonus increases by +1.
If you choose the Lorekeepers as your faction, you gain access to the following spell list:
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