Timeline, factions and NPCs

- 235 years ago -
Lady Greyrose, the youngest child of the Rookwood family was born
- 225 years ago -
Lady Greyrose was married to a 30 years older noble to seal an alliance as the minor Rookwood family tried to navigate the last days of a crumbling empire. This was a traumatic event she did not recover from of ever forgave,
- 220 years ago -
Lady Greyrose starts an affair with her maid.
- 200 years ago -
A three night lunar eclipse, eclipsing all three of Urth’s moons. During the first two nights, The Lord of Ashes came to Lady Greyrose first in dreams, and finally in the third night Lord of Ashes rose in the cemetery over which the Rookwood estate now sits. He offered Lady Greyrose prominence and money if she promised to care for the dead, grow its kingdom and to never speak of him to those outside her family. In return, she would be made head of the family, and all members would gain powers over the dead. That same night, she offered her husband has sacrifice to the Lord of Ashes. Lady Greyrose's plotting lead to the empire's demise, the Rookhood coming on top from the ruins of the old order.
- 195 years ago -
A sudden religious fervor takes over the land. Lady Greyrose's maid is tried for heresy and decapitated. The old gods and spirits were progressively rebranded as evil though some of their cults managed to survive.

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Over time, the world shifted, magic is still prevalent and gallant knights roam the lands searching for those tainted with evil. Large cities have sprung up and with them the beginning of industry. Kings have become emperors, and the poor suffer more and more.

Meanwhile, the townsfolk in the city below were spared as the Lord of Ashes slipped away in the cover of darkness to begin his eventual rule over the world. 200 years have passed, the world moves on, forgetting the three nights of complete darkness with other concerns filling their lives. The Rookwood family remembers, and awaits the return of their patron and his army.

In 50 years the next complete eclipse is due and the family expects great things to happen. There is much to plan.

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- 50 years ago -
Lady Greyrose, an immortal vampire, slaughters most of her descendants. Raising them as undead servants to prepare for the ceremony to welcome the Lord of Ashes. Dr_B probably remembers this. But it also marks the beginning of the dark plague and the succession war that eroded for decades.

- 30 years ago -
A new divine king ascends to the throne and the Puritan rule is enforced by the newly formed Knights of Savoy. Stability restores by restraining the noble's powers.

- 10 years ago -
A Rookwood generation goes missing maybe?

- 1 month ago -
Feeling the day when the progenitor is at her weakest, the Politician turns his back on the family and forms a cult and tries to usurp the Rookwood power (missing books from the occult library). His cult manages to brake the chains, which initially goes unnoticed. The revenant sorceror's power is unsealed.
- 3 weeks ago -
Rumors of dead walking at night begin to spread. Inspired by the rumours, the surgeon starts to pay grave robbers for corpses for the Physicians' Guild experiments on distilling life forces. The volva move in to investigate and put the dead to rest, but are distracted by the Physicians' Guild activity, though they sense the dark disturbances.
- 2 weeks ago -
Confirmed reports of undead get the attention of The Knights of Savoy. Their involvement prevents the volva from acting openly. Having caught attention of the Triskelions, who who connect them to their holy trinity, attracts the attention of The Knights of Savoy to possible witches involvement.
- 1 week ago -
The increase of dark powers awakens the bog creature who calls out. The Ceennites hear and respond to the calling. Starting to kidnap children for sacrifice, becoming bolder with time. Fear and paranoia spread and the Triskelions become more active in selling charms and protective spells.

- 4 days ago -
There's rumors of a big wolf in the wood. The Politician, not wanting to have the disapperances connected tot he undead he thinks he is responsible for and lost control of, blames the creature and hires werewolf hunters. A group of fright hounds smells the ground fear and move into area, attacking travelers.

- The players arrive - (plot)

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1st night
There are noises outside Rookwood Manor from the undead wondering about. The Knights of Savoy raid a few houses and arrest two Triskelions as they start a which hunt.

2nd night
Marks of wolf claws are found in a house of a family of from where the wife and children disappears. The footprints in the mud point towards the forest and the man comes under suspicion by the hunters.

3rd night
Strange symbols drawn in blood appear on the walls of some buildings but the corpse are not found. The cult is trying out their summoning ritual and the Cennites found the corpses and feed them to the bog.

4th night
- One of the Triskelions gives away the volva and they are taken and trialed by the Knights. Their runes against undead weaken, and they can start to venture furtehr from the graveyard

-- 3 nights of eclipse --
As the first full moon rises, Hunters hired by the Politician, are ambushed by the cult and sacrificed as they step up their actions. The Progenitor returns to sacrifice the incarnate and recruit the other players.
As the second full moon rises, with the weakened protections, the dead start to walk freely even during the day and preying on the living.
As the third full moon eclipses, he bog legion (the sublime!) rises and all unread and integrated into the spirit's hive mind.

-- Aftermath --

The progenitor continues living but can't control the sublime. The Knights fight the horde of undead, the town is run over, with the dark creature spreading its influence across the land.

Mad cultists are a classic antagonist that comes in a variety of flavors: hedonistic revelers, power-hungry sociopaths, philosophical assholes, true believers in "the old gods", nihilists who just want to watch the world burn and think the old gods will light the best fire, bankers, etc. If you want to use a cult in your chronicle, consider the following questions as you fill out the details.

- What is it called? Does the cult have a name based on their object of worship like "The Way/Path/Temple of ___", "___ism", or "___ology"? Maybe they have an ironic twist name like "The Temple of Light" but they actually serve a daemon of darkness that wants to be the only source of (figurative) illumination.
Maybe they have a mysterious name that not even their members understand until they reach the higher rankings of the inner mysteries, such as "The Seal of Raltiel", "MKHT", or "Varia".

Probably, the cult, going with the theme of named everything. Technically, The way of the ashes would fit.

- Who are they? Studious academics delving into ancient secrets best left buried? The poor and downtrodden seeking comfort, protection, and food? People with no self-esteem being dominated by a charismatic leader? Losers buying into a lie that they are secretly big winners who will one day rise up and show them all?
People with a strong need to belong and submit to a higher power but with an iconoclastic streak that keeps them from joining a more traditional group?

Losers buying into a lie that they are secretly big winners who will one day rise up and show them all sounds about right. Probably a group of minor nobles being tempted and just hangging about to see where this will take them, but no really commitment to the cause (so as to keep their rebellious heads in their place)

- What do they do? This could vary from level to level within the cult. Perhaps they have a public face that operates a soup kitchen, but the soup kitchen is just a recruiting ground for a prayer group, which is just an indoctrination tool for an organized crime ring that deals in drugs and assassination, which is really
just a means to prepare the way for the great summoning ritual that will bring their dark god to Earth. Or maybe it’s just a big Ponzi scheme dressed up in sinister robes. Maybe the cult throws big parties to attract impressionable young people or jaded old libertines then uses hard-partying as a slippery slope into more extreme thrills and eventually summoning daemons.

They sit around drinking whiskey, reading mostly useless tomes of fake knowledge and brag about raising the dead and the new era to come. They have no clue.

- Who is in charge? Is the cult leader just another cultist with a fancier robe or are they something more? A vampire using the cultists’ self-cutting and ritual bloodletting as a food supply. A necromancer using the cult’s sacrificial victims as raw materials for a zombie legion. An alchemist drugging up the cult to trade
"religious ecstasy" for free labor and an income stream to finance other projects. Or maybe the cult leader is a true believer and really worships the cult’s deity (which doesn’t preclude the possibility that the daemon is duping the cult leader for secret purposes).

The cult leader is the Politician. He is a Rookwood who is into the secret and thinks it's time for the progenitor to step aside, with him, clearly being the best alternative. He has gained the curse of animation, which makes the cult's claims even more believable.

- Is there anything to it? Do the cultists actually get any power or other benefits (other than "a sense of belonging") from their membership in the cult? If the cult offers them magic powers, do they really work or are they always just out of reach ("You are almost ready for the deeper mysteries, but you must prove your devotion before learning the True Power")?

No real power and they are not really sure about it anyway, but play along. Though they have messed up pretty bad already (woke up the sorcerer, triggering the entire thing) and will get bolder as time moves on. Blood symbols painted in wall, ritually sacrificed corpses on the streets up to open rebellion (they are useless but still minor nobles)

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As a Cult Deacon with 5 Trait Dice or use another type of antagonist (vampire, sorcerer, werewolf rabble-rouser, etc.). Has the Curse of Animation: The bodies of the dead are but empty husks that you know how to reanimate. These husks are mindless and will follow your orders to the letter. You are also able to have some measure of control over other undead raised by someone else.

* Animating the bodies of the dead to serve your bidding.
* Merge dead bodies together to form new, chimeric shapes.
* Bond dead flesh to your own to gain extra appendages or organs.


Marks of the Animated:
* Your flesh pales ✅
* Extra limbs
* You have an aura of unease around you and Folks do not tend to trust you ✅
* Animals hate you ✅

One Trait die (Brawn for "jocks" and "criminals", Guile for "preps" or "nerds", and Weird for "creepy outcast weirdos"), "lemmings for the cause". A handful of novices can work together to make exceptional 2 dice efforts. Treat them as one character with all their combined Traits. When there are only two left (or if they are sufficiently frightened), they scatter as individuals again.

3 Trait dice, "dog among the sheep", "concealed weapon", and either "true believer" or "in on the scam".

The vörð nafjarðar -- guardians of the grave-fjord -- are Scandinavian necromancers that police the barrier between the mortal world and the spirit world. They call themselves "völva" but others call them "witches". Regardless of their gender or age, they appear keen, feminine, and in their 40s, and carry some form of cane or walking stick. They use their sticks to beat down the restless dead as well as any living people who interfere. They can also alter a person’s memory by striking them with their sticks (albeit with more magical subtlety than the usual method of skull bashing). They are also quite skilled at manipulation and seduction (advanced practitioners are magically adept at it). Sometimes they can be allies of the Rookwoods who want to help put undead to rest or remove curses. Sometimes they just want to snuff out the blighted line of Rookwood.

They moved in to investigate the rumors of walking dead and put them to rest sealing the gate to the afterlife. They distrust the Rookwoods as the manor is at the center of the disturbance. Being three and the way they call themselves (they live between light and darkness) makes they quasi-goddesses to Les Damoiselles De La Triskèle. They are actual witches, which means they need to stay away from the Knights of Savoy and will be caught in their witch hunt if this is not prevented.

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Saga Kjalarsdóttir, an experienced Icelandic völva: Brawn 2, Guile 2, Weird 3, "Ironshod Cane", "Sly Words", "Fears no man living or dead", Knows All the Ways: can make a 3 dice supernatural effort for sorcery, prophecy, and beguilement.



Typical vörð nafjarðar ("VERTH NAH-fyar-thar"): Brawn 1, Guile 2, Weird 2, "Ironshod Cane", "Sly Words", "Fears no man", Speak spells: can make a 3 dice supernatural effort for necromantic sorcery.



Typical vörð nafjarðar ("VERTH NAH-fyar-thar"): Brawn 1, Guile 2, Weird 2, "Ironshod Cane", "Sly Words", "Fears no man", Speak spells: can make a 3 dice supernatural effort for necromantic sorcery.

The Knights of Savoy are like the Universal Inquisition, but without the winning smile and cheerful disposition. They are a dour, humorless, Calvinist sect that split from Puritanism. Their style and methods are both spartan and puritanical (figuratively and literally, respectively). During the Interregnum, they operate openly in the Commonwealth. After the Restoration, they continue underground. In some eras, they threaten the monarchy as terrorists. They are usually mistaken as republicans who want to eliminate the monarchy, but their actual disagreement is with the British monarch’s role as Defender of the Faith. The Knights of Savoy think the faith is not being adequately defended: they want the Anglican church to be purified of any trace of its catholic roots. Outside of theology and politics, their main focus is usually on making Cotton Mather look like a weekend hobbyist.

They were called in (against the Politician's will) by the local duke or so to put an end to the rumors and reestablish the order. There's probably some trouble brewing the the kingdom and things are tense.

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Brawn 2, Guile 2, Weird 2, "Stoic Zealot", "Slayer of the Invisible World", "Blade against the Shadows", "Dog-eared copies of the Geneva bible and ‘Gangraena’".

A group of scientists have begun to try and unravel the secrets of the mortal body. They steal in and take bodies of various decay levels to try and measure it as well as to figure out what causes what. Lead by the Surgeon, a wanna-be Frankenstein genius, they have recently turned to trying to figure out the science behind the walking dead. They are paying a bunch of grave robbers to get them some corpses from the Rookwood cemetery, which is both worrying the Gravekeeped and turning the völva's attention towards the family.



Doctor’s Guild - Brown 1, Guile 4, "Secrecy", "Brilliance", and "Out of touch".





"Rival Family". Touched at a distance by the Lord of Ashes, this unknown family has been tasked with taking over the Yard, and quickly, for the
Lord does not accept failure. For assets, assign them as if this were a family being built by PCs.

Head of Family: Brawn 2, Guile 2, Weird 3.
Warrior: Brawn 3, Guile 1, Weird 1.
Researcher: Guile 4, Weird 2.

The People of the Mound, also known as "Children of Crom" or the "Circle of Cenn", are another sorcerous sect in the British isles that calls themselves "druids". Where La Triskèle are dangerously destructive but not always intentionally malevolent, the People of the Mound are fully aware of the costs to be paid for their power and they pay it willingly, even gladly. The Cennites are much like a communal, working class version of the Second Circle. The Second Circle are a group of wealthy aristocrats and gentlemen seeking their own private successes, but the Circle of Cenn focuses on the success of their cult as a whole, usually through agriculture.

A remarkable number of their plans boil down to "trade blood sacrifices for more sheep and barley" (or "cattle and corn" among their American brethren).

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Brawn 2, Guile 2, Weird 1. "zealous cultist", "agriculture enthusiast", "not even slightly bothered by the smell of blood and offal". A circle of Mound druids can work together to perform rituals with a collective 3 dice supernatural effort to produce a bumper crop, enhance livestock, or summon protec-tion for their sanctums.

Brawn 1, Guile 2, Weird 2. "zealous cult leader", "heavily invested in crop and livestock futures", "ritual dagger and noose". Sworn to the Crooked One: can make a 3 dice supernatural effort to animate plants; grant Assets such as "warped muscles", "hardened hide", "ram’s horns" or other physical enhancements to allies; and reanimate bog mummies or other sacrificial offerings as Hungry Husks

Brawn 2, Guile 2, Weird 3. "zealous blood priest", "frightening appearance: no skin!", "hideous but mighty body", "standing between Life and Death". Chosen by the Crooked One: can make a 3 dice supernatural effort as a High Druid and can also generate bonus reserves by encasing their bodies in peat or other decaying matter to resist damage, regenerate lost Traits, or inflict a curse.

Les Damoiselles de la Triskèle, or simply Triskelions, are a group of sorcerers most prominent in France but scattered covens can be found in the British Isles as well, especially in Ireland and on the Isle of Man. They are often women who call themselves witches or druidesses, but there are male coven members who claim the title of warlock.

La Triskèle is a divine trinity worshipped by the sorcerers, but it seems that each coven has its own ideas about what La Triskèle is. Some say that Triskèle is a trio of goddesses following the "Maid, Mother, and Crone" model. Other common options are "Sea, Earth, and Sky", "Creation, Destruction, and Rebirth", or "Sun, Earth, and Moon". Even when two covens agree on the nature of the trinity, they usually call the three deities by different names. For this reason, Triskelions tend to speak about their tradition in very vague terms even with each other.

They claim to be the builders of Stonehenge and the true heirs of the ancient druids, but there is no evidence of them existing prior to the 18th century. Their powers are quite real, however, even if their history is false. Their powers include "vulgar" displays such as levitation or flight (brooms are a classic), but the bulk of their powers are blessings and curses that involve an exchange through sympathetic magic. For example, a witch might make herself appear younger and more beautiful by causing another woman to sicken and wither by making a doll of her; a man could be given the strength of an ox by slaughtering an actual ox and feeding him its heart.

Triskelions are dark, alluring, and destructively wild. If the first hints of their wildness excite you rather than frighten you away, you will soon find yourself mired in a terrible situation and it will be too late by the time you realize your mistake in judgment. New lovers, friends, apprentices, junior members of the coven: they all begin fascinated by the unfettered darkness of their Triskelion leaders but soon find themselves bled dry emotionally, financially--sometimes even literally.

Their claim as true druids clashes with the Cennites, probably newcomers who took over as religious leaders of various nearby farmer communities. Their obsession with the tripartite divinity makes them see Dusk, Dawn, and Twilight (the völva) as goddesses (they are also far more powerful!).

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Brawn 1, Guile 1, Weird 3. "arresting stare", "panoply of occult jewelry", "mad artiste". Curse of Two Hands: Can make a 3 dice supernatural effort for either white or black magic, including their signature ability to ensorcel a companion and afflict them with the Desire "help my Triskelion mistress". Marks of their curse include "maniacal laugh", "obsession with the number three", "inappropriate outbursts", and other signs of their growing disregard for societal norms. However, if they roll doubles or triples on a roll to use their magic and need to lose Traits or gain a mark, "they could force their ensorceled companion to pay the price for them."



Just the random farmer that got involved with witchcraft because his wife is a werewolf.

There are three varieties of werewolves. The first is a kind of sorcerer who uses a magical herbal salve and a wolf pelt to transform into a wolf. They usually do this for nefarious purposes such as murder with plausible deniability. The very rare sorcerer transforms into a wolf for philosophical reasons. Those types tend to ramble on about "the thrill of swift pursuit", "the purity of hunger", "love without doubt", and other such vigorous aliveness. The more common types of werewolf are infected with a curse that gives them the form and ravenous appetites of a beast by moonlight. These infected lycanthropes are divided into two camps: solitary individuals who fight against their curse until they lose control and run wild; and, those who gather in packs to celebrate the moon, willingly surrender their human will to the beast within, and run wild.

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Brawn 1, Guile 2, Weird 2, "Wolf pelt of shape-changing", "Book of black magic", and either "Scheming serial killer" or "nihilistic romantic anarchist".
While in their animal form, they can choose to treat their Weird dice as Brawn or Guile dice as needed (typically for combat or tracking).

basically, a Cennite assassin



Brawn 2, Guile 2, Weird 1, "Lupine sense and sensibility" and 2 Assets based on their human life.
Curse of the Wolf: these lycanthropes do not have a dark gift, but they are marked by their curse with "involuntary wolf form" and "lunacy".

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Hunters are people who track down and destroy the supernatural predators that prey on humanity. Some use supernatural means of their own to "fight fire with fire" while others use a potent combination of bravery, brute force, ignorace, careful study, and technical skill to bump back against the things that go bump in the night. In addition to a wide variety of unaffiliated and independent vigilante ghostbusters, vampire slayers, and zombie stompers, the Rookwoods may also run into more organized hunters with a great depth of knowledge and/or the backing of powerful patrons (like the volva and the knights)


Will die before the moon is up

Ghosts: There are probably more types of ghosts than there are living people in the world. Libraries of volumes have been written in an attempt to categorize them: poltergeists, angry echos, specters, class IV full torso free floating apparitions, bleeding walls and screaming, etc. If you want to include ghosts in your Rookwood chronicle, there are really only two categories that matter: ghosts that are characters and ghosts that are environmental hazards.

Ghosts as characters have Traits and Assets just like anyone else. A ghost could have 1 to 7 Trait dice and a similar number of Assets. At the weakest end, these ghosts may be fully insubstantial "presences" that can only be vaguely sensed and communicated with by a character with an appropriate mystical Asset or Dark
Gift. They cannot interfere much with mortals and only serve as a source of vague information. As they grow in power, they gain more Trait dice to represent their physical influence, awareness, and presence. By default, ghosts are insubstantial but can materialize themselves by use of a 3 dice supernatural effort (if they have enough Trait dice to do so). If they don’t materialize themselves, affecting them by physical means requires special assets or gifts to either make the ghost susceptible or to enhance a weapon or tool to affect them.

A ghost’s default abilities-the things it can do with a 1 or 2 dice effort-are based on its Trait dice:
Brawn 1: Gentle, weak actions (blow out candles, make lights flicker, push papers off a desk), tangible manifestation has the resistance of a stream of air.
Brawn 2: Normal actions that a living person could do with one hand (pick up a book, write with a pen, open and close doors),manifestation has the resistance of jelly.
Brawn 3+: Strong actions that a living person could do with both hands or violent actions (strike someone, throw objects), manifestation appears solid (but not necessarily sturdy or hard).
Guile 1: Know they are dead, know when living people are around, see or hear very emotional or gifted living people.
Guile 2: See and hear the mortal world, but dimly.
Guile 3+: See and hear the mortal world as clearly as the living do.
Weird 1: Appear indistinctly to the living (reflections in mirrors, shadows on the wall, sounds of footsteps).
Weird 2: Appear to the living in an obvious but insubstantial way, such as a transparent apparition.
Weird 3+: Manifest as a normal fully living person (although still insubstantial without Brawn dice).

Ghosts as environmental hazards are no longer truly present as sentient entities. They are psychic after-images or echos that continue to resonate in a particular place. They can be observed and perhaps empathized with, but they cannot communicate any more than a book or video recording could. This kind of ghost is
not a "person" but only a remnant of a person like a fingerprint, signature, or lingering odor. At the weakest level, they are simply feelings or images or strange sounds. At stronger degrees, dangerous echos can harm the living in an indiscriminate and passive way: more toxic waste than deadly predator. A rage-filled spirit
of an arsonist (or burning victim) might burn or scald any living being who enters their haunt, for example. Both types of ghost can generally be exorcised or banished in the same ways, but sentient ghosts are either much easier or much harder because they are aware of--and either aid or resist--attempts to lay them to rest.

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Poltergeist: Brawn 1. "bump", "push", "spill".

Lingering spirit: Guile 1, Weird 1. "remember life", "whisper and moan", "strong emotion: rage, sorrow, etc."

Fettered spirit: Brawn 1+, Guile 1+, Weird 1+. "can’t let go of life", "fetter: an object, person, or place that anchors the spirit to the physical world", "regret: an unfinished task from life". Apparition: Can make a 3 dice supernatural effort to become visible, manifest physically, possess a sensitive person, or affect the material world.

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Zombies: Although the word "zombie" doesn’t appear in English until the 19th century (and doesn’t reach popular use until the 20th), the returned, hungry dead have always plagued the living. There are many varieties of revenant corpse that may appear in a Rookwood chronicle. They can be reanimated by sorcerers, possessed by evil spirits, or brought back by their own restless will.

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Hungry Husk: These shambling corpses are unnerving but only truly dangerous in groups. Brawn 1, "Rotting Flesh", "Hunger for life". Horde: A handful of hungry husks can act together (simultaneously, not cooperatively) to make a 2 dice exceptional effort and a crowd of a dozen can make a 3 dice effort. You can treat a mob of husks as one large creature with 1 Brawn for each husk in the mob.

Possessed Corpse: These corpses have an evil mind controlling them (but they aren’t terribly bright: their bodies do have brain damage). They can talk in a limited way, but mostly use their powers of speech to issue short threats or make angry exclamations such as "You will all die!" and "I hunger for your souls!" Brawn
1, Guile 1, "Hates Life", "Soul Hunger", "Frightening Visage".

Legionnaire: These are like possessed corpses but they are possessed by a legion of evil spirits. They first appear with Brawn 1, Guile 1, Weird 1, "Hates Life", "Soul Hunger", "Frightening Visage". If they aren’t destroyed completely, they can make a 3 dice supernatural effort to regenerate Trait dice, gain more Trait dice (up to a maximum of 7), or transfer some of their Trait dice into nearby dead bodies (or severed parts of their own body, trees, inanimate objects with moving parts, etc.) to animate them as more possessed corpses.

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Revenant: These are powerful restless corpses animated by their own powerful will or by magic. Some sorcerers raise themselves from the dead by preparing spells in advance of their deaths or they raise others through similar means. Some revenants are just cursed for their own misdeeds. A rare few are riven from death as a curse on the living: they are brought back by mysterious forces to punish wrongdoers.

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Brawn 1, Guile 3, Weird 3, "Will to Power", "Thirst for Knowledge", "Focus object (cuneiform tablet, book of shadows, runic staff, etc.)"
Curse of the Open Lichgate: can make a 3 dice supernatural effort for effects fitting the theme of their magical tradition with an added necromantic twist.
Marked by "mania", "wasteful cruelty", "disproportionate overreaction to setbacks".

These blackened and bloated corpses hunger for the flesh and blood of the living and corrupt the area around their graves with their foul miasma. Birds fall from the sky around them; animals go mad and kill themselves in a frenzied panic. Brawn 4, Guile 2, Weird 2, "Massive Body", "Aura of Decay", "Fists
like battering rams", Trollskap magic: can make a 3 dice supernatural effort to change their size and weight (from toddler to elephant size) or shapeshift into unnatural animals (skinless bull, inside-out horse, giant tentacled cat, raven with human hands for wings, etc.).



Brawn 3, Guile 2, Weird 3, "Driven by Vengeance", "Incredible Resilience", "Wistful Melancholy", "Psychopomp Familiar" (a small animal that acts as its guide from the other side and its link to the mortal coil: crows, cats, hummingbirds, owls, and moths are all common psychopomps).
Curse of Dead Memories: can make a 3 dice supernatural effort to connect the mortal world with the other side. For example, they can see and hear memories imprinted on an object or place by someone who is now on the other side; they can heal their own body by restoring it to the form they remember it having in life; they can share the senses of their psychopomp familiar and understand its intentions on a visceral non-verbal level. Marked by "painful memories" of their own lives: if they trigger a painful memory and can’t shut it out, they suffer a bout of deep depression or a fit of explosive rage.

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There are a wide variety of vampires hiding in the shadows of the world, but they can generally be sorted into two types: intelligent super predators and mindless savage beasts. The bestial variety are usually visually indistinguishable from the "hungry husk" variety of zombie--a corpse that continues to move and tries to feed on the living--but they are faster, stronger, and tougher. These savage vampires usually arise spontaneously when another supernaturally evil being dies and is not properly consecrated and destroyed: witches, werewolves, other practitioners of black magic, and particularly awful people can all rise from the dead to feed on the living. The more intelligent variety of vampire includes a broad range of creatures ranging from those who still appear to be normal humans to those who have monstrous inhuman forms. They have been known to possess a great variety of powers and vulnerabilities. Dealing with any given vampire may take some trial and error to find out what works and what doesn’t. Vampire powers may include, but are not limited to, the following:
• Superhuman strength, speed, or toughness.
• Hypnosis, charm, or mind control.
• Command of nocturnal animals.
• Shapeshifting into animal forms, growing claws, or changing appearance to mimic other people.
• Weather control or transforming into mist.
• Flying or clinging to surfaces like a spider.
• Creating illusions or hallucinations.
• Clairvoyance or prognostication.

Vampire weaknesses may include, but are not limited to, the following:
• Made powerless or destroyed by sunlight.
• Made powerless or destroyed by impalement, decapitation, or a nail through the forehead.
• Repelled by certain plants such as garlic, rice, barley, wolfsbane, lilies, amaranth, or lotuses.
• Unable to cross or step on running water, chalk lines, spilled salt, rice grains, consecrated ground, curved bridges, torii gates, or prayer rugs.
• Repelled or harmed by religious paraphernalia: crucifixes, holy water/oil, scriptures, phylacteries, eucharist, mjolnir, rune stones, pentacles, etc.
• Repelled or harmed by fire (but who isn’t?).Human Familiar: normal people tainted, controlled, and enhanced by a vampire’s blood. Brawn 2, Guile 1, Weird 1, "Eager Servant", "Day Job", "Gift from Master (a minor version of a vampire power)".

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Fledgling Vampire: Brawn 2, Guile 2, Weird 1, "Keen Senses", "Bloodthirst", "Immortal", Curse of the Vampire: can make a 3 dice supernatural effort for 1 to 3 vampire powers and Marked by an equal number of vampire weaknesses.




Master Vampire: Brawn 2, Guile 3, Weird 2, "Long View", "Sanguis Vita Est", "Secret Haven", "Herd of Familiars", "Undying",
Curse of the Vampire: can make a 3 dice supernatural effort for several vampire powers.
Marked by 3 vampire weaknesses: one deadly and two inconveniences.

Her human form is like Cettish's.

Strigoi Mort: These evil creatures have lost all trace of humanity other than their body and their hunger. They rise from their graves each night to feed on the living until they are destroyed or they are permanently sealed into their tombs or pinned in their graves to prevent them from rising again. Brawn 6, Guile 1, "Blood!", "Ravenous", "The Grave".

a tall, shambling, lugubrious clean-shaven butler wich a sickly pale look.


The person assigned the task of trying to keep the bog at bay.

The trolls that give the Troll Smithy its name are a faerie people of consummate strength and technical skill. Humans have called them "dwarves" or "dark elves" but they call themselves "trolls". They claim to be strictly neutral arms dealers who sell to anyone, but their prices are on a sliding scale that gives a large discount to underdogs. If a potential customer has the upperhand in a conflict, the prices go up and become exorbitant when they are close to a final victory. The deepest discounts go to "agents of chaos" such as mercenaries or terrorists who only serve to aggravate a situation.

Under daylight or artificial light, trolls are disguised by an illusion that they call their "seeming". Their seemings make them appear to be muscular humans who are far from average: they are always at the extremes of height, weight, and skin color. If a troll is tall, it is towering and rail thin. If a troll is short, it is very squat and broad. Light skinned trolls are pasty, nearly albino; dark skinned trolls are "so black, they’re blue". Under indirect sunlight such as twilight or moonlight (or to magical illusion-piercing sight), their true visage can be seen. A troll’s true appearance is like its human seeming pushed to an unnatural extreme. Dark skin is pitch black; light skin is snowy white. Tall, thin trolls are like humanoid stick insects. Short, thickset trolls are so broad, they are almost square. Their human seemings appear exquisitely handsome with fine, chiseled features. Their true faces have a bland loveliness that makes them all appear to be wearing the same porcelain mask. The troll smiths produce weapons of exceptional quality, from the archaic to the cutting edge.

For a hefty cash payment, they provide customers with top-of-the-line custom (but mundane) weaponry. For a more intimate fee, they provide magical arms and armor. In exchange for an item with a mystical Asset, they will take payment in the form of one of the customer’s personal Assets. For example, they would exchange a "smallsword that cuts ghosts" or a "gate-breaching flintlock" for a personal skill or memory such as "fashionable dandy", "witty socialite", or "physics professor". More than one Rookwood has surrendered their dreams for a powerful armament: the troll smithy also takes Desires as payment. Sometimes, instead of taking an Asset, they exact an oath that inflicts a ban on the customer’s behavior. A ban is a supernaturally enforced limitation that the customer cannot break willingly. This functions like a Curse Mark (adding additional Risks to affected actions) but doesn’t add to a character’s Curse. For example, a character might be forbidden to touch leather or cross bridges.

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Troll Smith: Brawn 3, Guile 3, Weird 3. "Weaponsmith Extraordinaire", "Canny Merchant", "Standing between two worlds". Håndverket: can make a 3 dice supernatural effort to create or modify magical arms, armor, or devices.

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There are a wide variety of bogeymen around the world but Britain is literally crawling with them. Every village has its own particular menace threatening the populace. They are vile supernatural creatures; they seem to be some sort of faerie beings although many resemble the undead in appearance. As a rule,
they all feed on fear, but many of them also have a taste for flesh. They are wild, chaotic, untameable creatures that ironically seem to respect order and virtue--or perhaps they are repulsed by it. The fact that they mostly prey upon the less virtuous may be the reason that there are few hunters dedicated to wiping them out,
unlike vampires and other creatures of the night that feed on the innocent. Fright-hounds are monsters that attack lone travelers at night. They bite and claw at their victims, chase them, and terrorize them to feed on their fear. They usually don’t kill directly while feeding, but panicked victims can die from injuries sustained
while fighting or fleeing or from an infected wound after their encounter.

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Brawn 3, Guile 1, Weird 1. "jaws that bite", "claws that catch", "relentless pursuit predator", Feed on Fear: if a victim blocks their damage with anything other than Brawn dice or bonus reserves, the Fright-hound gains a Trait die. They usually leave a victim to collapse and recover after gaining 2 or 3 Traits.

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Some priests or even laity of a religion who delve into the esoteric mysteries of their faiths can unlock magical powers they call "miracles". These include Abrahamic faithful engaging in angelology/demonology, djinn summoning, and Kabbalah. This also includes some Hindu ascetic gurus and Buddhist bodhisattvas. Miracles vary greatly, but common powers include healing, immunity to physical harm, perception of the hidden or immaterial, and commanding or banishing spirits. The Abrahamic faiths have a rare but significant tradition of giving life to the lifeless: resurrecting dead people, turning sticks into snakes, turning sculptures into living people, etc. Dharmic miracles usually feature extraordinary senses more prominently: seeing through physical obstacles (i.e. "x-ray vision"), hearing unspoken thoughts, being aware of (and physically present in) more than one location simultaneously, etc.


Sinister Minister, "one mean mm-hm servant of god": Brawn2, Guile 2, Weird 1. "trying real hard to be the shepherd", "if there is a hell that these things came from, then there’s gotta be a heaven", "Bible in one hand and a shotgun in the other". Walking the Path of the Righteous: can make a 3 dice supernatural effort to generate bonus reserves to defend self or others, inflict extra damage against evil creatures by blessing weapons against them, or ward an area against evil influence.