FrivYeti/WyldspanMountain
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Contents
The Mountain Folk
In the dying days of the Second Age, a Solar Exalt named Tomasi Atrus journeyed among the Mountain Folk, learning humbly from them and not taking advantage of his innate advantages over them. Atrus realized that the Great Geas, as it was defined, was crippling the Mountain Folk when they most needed to fight, and set his mind to the task of restoring them. Through a combination of powerful Solar medicine Charms and Solar Circle Sorcery that he devised for the purpose, Atrus began the laborious task of repairing and restricting the Great Geas, turning its dictates from serving the Exalted to serving themselves. Under his care, the Geas faded, though he could not banish it completely. The newly revitalized Mountain Folk redoubled their efforts as the enemies of Creation closed around them, marching out to combat the Yozi and their minions. Though millions of Mountain Folk died, much like the rest of the world, their actions were instrumental in the ultimate victory of the Exalted.
However, that victory led to a terrible defeat when the Wyld closed in around the world. As Creation’s Manses scattered, the Mountain Folk were trapped, with entire battalions lost to the Wyld, trapped away from the safety of their Manses and surrounded by the remnants of their enemies. Entire colonies of workers were stranded without any warriors or artisans to protect them from the ravages of their enemies, and though they were stronger than they had once been, they were not strong enough.
Worst of all, the jade souls of the Jadeborn were drawn along the Dragon Lines, damaged by the Wyld, until they could find a suitable place to rest. The souls of the Mountain Folk were pushed down in on themselves, scattered across the worlds, and the tattered remnants of their species was forced to take stock.
The Regrowth
The remaining Enlightened of the Mountain Folk set to work finding a way to protect themselves from the Wyld, something they knew would be needed soon. Some of their work found its way to Meru, where it was instrumental in the development of human Wyldfarers. In return, the Mountain Folk were given the finished technology by the Sidereals, and they expanded upon and improved the designs, creating their own fleet of Wyldfarers with which to travel the Span.
The Mountain Folk at this time numbered under a million, their patterns weakened forever – though they found themselves more capable than they had once been. With their newfound power, they chose a new path, similar to that which they were used to – protect Creation from its enemies, and uncover all of their lost patterns, rebuilding their nation.
In modern days, more than a few Wyldfarers can tell stories of being saved from incursion of the fae or the Darkbrood by a strange ships, whose inhabitants tow the rescued humans to a safe harbour before vanishing into the depths of the Span. The ships of the Mountain Folk rarely, if ever, use the trade routes of the rest of Creation, and while the busier ports are not unused to seeing a Mountain Folk Journeyer set into port, they almost never travel to the heart of any great nation.
In their homelands, the Mountain Folk have created special caverns, to which their bodies are returned upon their deaths for rebirth. Those that cannot reach the Jade Heart when they die are kept careful track of, that the Jadeborn can seek out their souls to return to their homes. The Mountain Folk have recovered a total of six million souls, and continue to seek the rest. Whenever their lost brothers are found, it is a cause for celebration. Of these souls, about three million are workers, two million are warriors, and a million are scouts or one of the other new specialized castes.
One of the greatest enemies of the Mountain Folk in the modern day are the Chaos Seers, and the Jadeborn are engaged in a constant struggle to reach souls before their twisted counterparts do. For more information on these twisted abominations, see their entry in the Enemies Of The Wyldspan section.
Playing The Mountain Folk
Mountain Folk characters are not created quite identically to their Second Age counterparts. First, the number of Mountain Folk that become Enlightened is higher than it once was; while the number of Mountain Folk remains balanced more or less evenly between Workers and Warriors, with a small number of Artisans, the number of Enlightened Workers and Warriors is now 1 for every 1,000 Jadeborn – not 1 in 100,000 as it once was. That number will not likely increase, as the Geas has weakened as much as it will, but it is vast, enough to fill the souls of the Jadeborn with hope, and to give their nature a much stronger voice in Conclave politics. There are 6,000 Artisans left in the Conclave, along with 6,000 Enlightened members of the Undercastes. Thousands of Enlightened lead the society of the Mountain Folk.
In addition, Mountain Folk who are Unenlightened are slightly less strictured than they once were. Unenlightened Mountain limit Intelligence to 3 and Willpower to 7.
The Great Geas has been both weakened and redirected, focusing on the heart of the Mountain Folk. The following Divergence rules from page 235 retain their force:
- Breaking one’s sworn word
- Giving aid to the enemies of Creation
- Associating with the enemies of Creation
All other Divergence triggers from the Fair Folk book have been removed, and do not apply.
In addition, the following two new patterns exist:
- Acting contrary to one’s Motivation: One point.
- Living without any attempt to improve anything – either through training, construction, or working to improve a society, and so on. Two points per week.
Going a full month without gaining Divergence allows a Mountain Folk to lose one. Otherwise, the rules for Divergence break are identical.
Unenlightened Mountain Folk pay 12 XP per Charm, and do not gain the no-commitment benefit of Enchantment-type Charms.They also pay (Current Rating x12) to raise their Essence. This is not meant to be a change from the Second Age.
Mountain Folk who master three of the four primary Patterns (Worker, Warrior, Artisan, and Enlightened) may freely learn Transcendant Pattern Mastery. This remains a rare event, but at least six such Mountain Folk exist.
The Specialized Castes
The Mountain Folk discovered an additional benefit to their newly discovered natures. By carefully mixing their capabilities, they are able to create new Castes when quarrying. Creating a member of a new Caste requires the character to have Artisan Pattern Mastery and Transcendant Pattern Mastery. Such characters must be based on either Workers or Warriors, and will draw many of their Charms from the cascades of these people.
The most common specialized Caste is the Scout, which is actually numerous in the current atmosphere of the Wyldspan – currently, close to a million Scouts exist. Scouts build their Patterns using the Worker Charm Cascades that build out of the Pillar of Conviction and Pillar of Valor, and the Warrior Charm Cascades that build out of the Compassion-Bolstering Meditation and Temperance-Bolstering Meditation. Their fifth and final Pattern is the Scout Pattern. Full information on the Scouts can be found here.
New Castes must be built using an existing primary Caste as a base. Futhermore, it must be either the caste of Worker or Warrior. Two of the four primary Patterns remain, while two can be replaced by other Patterns. These other Patterns are collections of either four or five Charms, which base themselves on the Caste’s other two Virtues. (For example, a character might create a caste that uses the Pillar of Compassion and the Pillar of Conviction, and then create two new Charm trees based on Temperance and Valor.) A fifth Pattern is then developed, made up of three or four Charms, which uses the four Virtue Charms as its prerequisites. Finally, the character must have already developed the extra Charm trees himself, using the rules written in Transcendant Pattern Mastery.
As a rule, such new castes must serve a purpose and be approved by the Conclave. Because of this, these specialized castes are few and far between when compared . While there are two and a half million of each of the primary castes, and 750,000 Scouts, there are only another 250,000 Jadeborn divided between all the other castes combined (including the Artisans.) Generally, there should be between four and ten minor castes, at the Storyteller’s discretion. Any Enlightened can learn the Charms of minor Castes.
An example of the specialized castes is the Scholar Caste, whose purpose is to keep the wisdom of the Second Age intact in the Third. They are a modification of the Worker Caste.
