Because I’m
playing fast and loose with some Cypher System concepts, some notes
for players.
Adepts.
Adepts tend not to use this term to describe themselves at all. The
best one can be considered is adept at convincing others not to kill
you out of a fear of magic. (Note: the same can apply to some
Speakers, whose abilities can overlap a lot with the adept.) Hedge
wizard, learned one, wise one etc. and such terms tend to be used
instead, and the general idea is that this person has some scrap of
magic to them but it shouldn’t be held against them – that they
will be better than others at helping destroy sorcerers and wizards,
and if they die in the process it’s less of a loss. In-game, what
separates Adepts from others is that they know more about how magic
really works and how one becomes a sorcerer or wizard. Not that many
of them would ever want to, but know thy enemy and all of that.
They can leverage
the fear of magic in their favour – as can anyone with a foci that
has a more magic feel to it – but this is generally quite risky as
fear can lead people down many different avenues and there always
comes a time where fear is a luxury that can’t be afforded any
longer.
Sorcerer.
Sorcerers, in game terms, have the ability to make a cypher function
for them as an artifact. So they can not only use more but also get
more bang for their buck – using them as spells they cast rather
than physical items. This does mean they get a bit squirrelly over
people just casually using and wasting cyphers they could get more
use from and the resulting hoarding of cyphers does little for their
sanity. Most noble families have one in-house or on retainer to try
and get an edge over their enemies but also keep them on very tight
leashes and have no compunction with throwing them to the wolves if
needed.
This does little to
help the sorcerer feel safe. Or sane. How one advances to a sorcerer
is a secret, but it often take years of effort and always requires
obsessive focus that tends to push away everything else in the
eventual sorcerer’s life.
Wizard. In
game terms, they are sorcerers but with power-shifts. In story terms,
they tend to be quite thin, older and driven by desires that aren’t
sane or healthy at all. Wizards are driven by a desire for alien
knowledges and powers that have nothing to do with nobility or
material gains. They have all paid a deep price for their power and
often are trying to find ways around it that sorcerers or old had
while also avoiding the attentions of any gods. Very few people have
met a genuine sorcerer. Fewer still have lived to tell about it.
Items
Cyphers and
Artifacts work as normal. (One-shot or many-shot things that do Weird
Stuff). But there are also tools.
Tools are
items like the Light Globes uses underground along with the
water-powered motorized rudder on skiffs. These items are not used as
weapons and most are based on designs from dwarves and the like from
previous ages as well as human crafting from the last age. These
items can be used for a set amount of time before needing a recharge
– so the Light Globe supplies light until it is drained and then
needs to sit a few days in sunlight to recharge. Tools tend to be
items used by specialized trades, guilds and the like and are not in
common usage. While technically magical, they are not considered
magical and attempts to weaponize them etc. is immediate dismissal
from a guild and the like, often via death.
Generally, the
group supplying them also knows how to make more, or repair existing
onces, so trade in them between varied groups is relatively common.
More specialized ones – like Boots of Silence so no one hears you –
are not traded at all and their existence a secret known only to
high-end thieves and likely made available to PCs only at higher
tiers.
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