Runner: Diederik de Jaager
Totem: Toastelhond Home
Realm: Techstaad
The towers of Techstaad reach far higher than mere physics should allow. The people of the great world-city long ago mastered the secrets of voltage, silicon, and chrome steel, but it wasn’t until the discovery of potentia that their development really took off. Invisible and omnipresent, potentia is what bridges the gap between the impossible and the merely difficult… and, with enough thaumaturges running enough runic algorithms, anything difficult can eventually be accomplished. Diederik de Jaager is in many ways a typical Techstaadian aether-jockey - not quite a full thaumaturge, but too full of big ideas to be called an apprentice. Diederik tinkers ceaselessly, and from his laboratory sprang not only his aetherstave (handy in fending off both wild thaumovores and claim-jumpers) and his maglev boots (an explorer’s best friend) but also his companion, Toastelhond, a canidroid that shows just a bit more initiative than Diederik expected. But that’s the joy of inventing. In Techstaad, potentia flows freely, and the young are encouraged to channel it into creative pursuits. There is no need to worry about failures - after all, mistakes are how we learn, and it’s not as though Techstaad could ever run out of potentia. Right?
The flow of aether has been slowing for years, at first so gradually that it could be chalked up as natural variation, but accelerating in recent months. Everyone knows it, but nobody will admit it, and the Kamer’s official line is that everything is fine. Diederik is atypical in one specific way: he decided to take matters into his own hands. Who knows how long the greybeards would debate before they decided something had to be done? Diederik’s homemade thaumoscope led him right to the heart of the problem: an anomaly high in the mountains. He didn’t expect to be sucked through. Not that he’s too sorry about it. The Realms have more “mana” (he can’t get anyone else to call it by its proper name, potentia) than he’s ever seen in one place, and more different types of mana-users, too. He’s learned more in a few months here than years at home. He figures eventually he’ll gather enough mana to get back home (and, of course, save his dimension), but he’d like to do a bit more sight-seeing first.
Diederik is a jack-of-all-trades who takes advantage of his long range to control the battlefield. He is nothing exceptional as a fighter, but he can generate mana like nobody’s business, and store it in a battery for later use. When his battery is charged up, he’s surprisingly durable and dangerous. His totem, Toastelhond, is extremely mobile, and helps Diederik gather mana. Take advantage of Diederik’s Presence and Toastelhond’s mobility to claim wells and charge up their mana batteries, and then unleash your stored power to crush your enemies.
Runner: Glonaxx
Totem: Goo Blobs Home
Realm: Antares 54g
Glonaxx never wanted much out of life. A little plorkweed, a few cans of spray pigment, and he was one happy gleef. The other Antareans didn’t get him, but that was ok, man. That was just their loss. They were so busy “exploring the galaxy” and “cataloguing exoplanetary life forms” that they usually forgot to stop and smell the kniffs. Glonaxx did his time in the Antarean Expeditionary Academy, but his professors knew he was a hopeless case pretty much from Cycle One. The act of, uh, impromptu public art that ended his academic career was just the punctuation mark on a long, long history of skipping class, smoking illicit narcotics, and most of all, vandalism. Glonaxx took it in stride, and when he received an official encouragement to make himself scarce, he took that in stride, too. He was as good a pilot as he was an artist - the only talent that had kept him in the Academy for even this long - and it was easy to “borrow” a little skiff and a dimensional pocket full of pigment dispensers.
The irony is that Glonaxx has fulfilled the Expedition Force’s mission to a degree unmatched in Antarean history. He tagged the methane glaciers of Zeta Reticuli, left his name on the obsidian spires of Fomalhaut 22a, and inspired primitive lifeforms halfway across the Orion Arm to pick up their own tools of choice and start slapping pigment on stone. Glonaxx never stays in one place longer than it takes to lay down a tag and take some sweet four-D pics. He’s a rambler at heart. When his ship breaks down, he either trades for, builds, or steals a new one - including, most recently, a mint-condition Cosmicruiser 858NX that some backwards apemen had found somewhere. And, while he’s not much of a team player, he has picked up companions on his trip: the primitive life forms he calls hukklupps, translated roughly as “Goo Blobs.”
The Blobs appear to be intelligent, or at least semi-sentient, but they resist any attempt to communicate with them. They just sort of follow Glonaxx around, appearing from whatever dimensional oubliette they occupy at (in)convenient moments. Maybe they’re art appreciators; Glonaxx doesn’t care. They’ve proven handy in a tight spot, and their apparent protective instincts - not to mention their extreme viscosity - has gotten him out of a tight scrape or two. Glonaxx is a lover, not a fighter. He excels at controlling enemy movement, not least by littering the board with Goo Blobs. These Blobs can be spent in place of mana, block enemy movement, and generally gunk things up, slowing enemies down and locking them in place. That leaves Glonaxx and his other helpers free to dart around the board seizing objectives. Get goo’d!
Runner: Lokfried the Destroyer
Totem: Wood Nymph Melinthia
Home Dimension: The Schattenwald
The Schattenwald is vast and dark, and strange things dwell within it. Some of the worst of those things were once human.
Lokfried was a dark soul when he was alive, and death did not make him kinder. His people buried him so deep, and with so much tribute, because they wanted to be absolutely sure they never saw him again. But “never” is a long time, especially in the Schattenwald. Melinthia the wood nymph is one of the less dangerous inhabitants of the forest, at least to human travelers (who remember their manners and keep some cold iron on their belt). But she is well aware of the greater threats beneath the dark canopy, and so she decided to raise herself a protector.
But “never” is a long time, especially in the Schattenwald. Melinthia the wood nymph is one of the less dangerous inhabitants of the forest, at least to human travelers (who remember their manners and keep some cold iron on their belt). But she is well aware of the greater threats beneath the dark canopy, and so she decided to raise herself a protector. Lokfried is bound to Melinthia now. It is hard to tell what he is thinking, or even if he is thinking; he never speaks, although his swordplay speaks well enough for him. He follows Melinthia’s orders, but whether that is out of loyalty or compulsion, nobody can say for sure. If the pink-heart motif Melinthia chose for her champion bothers him, he has never shown it. Sometimes he seems to be brooding on something, but how can you tell if he’s deep in thought or just waiting for the next order to show up?
Fortunately, Melinthia speaks enough for both of them. She’s chatty - downright loquacious, really - and she seems friendly, although her comments are as barbed as her thorny whip. Her small size and disarming demeanor have led more than one unscrupulous runner to take a swing at her, especially when her taunts get to be too much to bear, but this is always a mistake: Lokfried is deadly protective of his mistress, and seems to appear from nowhere when she’s threatened. On the table, Lokfried and Melinthia are an inseparable duo. He is massive, immovable, and deadly; she is small, quick, and comparatively fragile. Melinthia can cause Lokfried to attack multiple times per turn by hitting an enemy, summoning Lokfried, and directing him to strike. Even without her, Lokfried can appear from the shadows, as long as you have a minion for him to jump to. With Presence 1, he needs to get up close to do his thing, but as one of the few runners able to put out three damage in a single attack, he can cleave right through all but the most defensive helpers in a single action.
Runner: Pulcinella Gang
Totem: None (or, you could say, each other)
Realm: Citta Corda
Life is tough for a puppet. Your mother is a tree and your father is, if you’re lucky, a kindly toymaker - not exactly the lap of luxury. And many of the Fantocci aren’t that lucky. The art of making living puppets isn’t exactly difficult, after all, as long as you can get your hands on some Heartwood. The stuff is officially illegal, but everything is for sale in Citta Corda if you know where to look. The Pulcinella Gang awoke on a workbench, after dark, in a building that had clearly been long-abandoned. Someone had cared enough to leave them three tiny sets of clothes, some money, and critically, three puppet-sized knives… but of their mysterious creator, there was no sign. Whoever it was must have been either truly rich or obscenely lucky: they had carved three puppets out of a single massive piece of Heartwood. That made the Pulcinellas brothers in a very real sense. What one saw or heard, they all knew. And they instinctively stuck together.
Every gang has a hierarchy. At the top sits Thresher, who can think his way to the end of a sentence without forgetting how it started. In the middle is Hardcase, who makes up in brawn what he lacks in brain. And at the bottom is Moe, who is, well, Moe. The Pulcinellas stole what they could and scrounged the rest, dreaming of joining the Thieves’ Guild that ruled Citta Corda’s underworld. The brothers were experts in burglary, with a graduate degree in mugging and a postdoc in grievous bodily harm. But the arrogant old thiefmasters wouldn’t let puppets into their fraternity. Go figure.
Small though they are, the puppets have one advantage: they can see mana, the invisible force that empowers the strega and magi of Citta Corda. They need a steady supply to remain animate, but that’s easy enough; mana tends to attach itself to random objects, apparently worthless junk to anyone who lacks the sight. Their vision also showed them that something was happening to the city’s mana: it was swirling away like water down a drain. Their investigation led them deep into the ancient catacombs beneath Citta Corda and, eventually, through an archway that opened into a different city altogether. Simulacre feels like home. There’s mana everywhere, enough to keep them going indefinitely. There are all kinds of fascinating people to meet (preferably in a dark alley) and amazing treasure to pilfer. Home? Why would they want to go back there? Well, maybe to teach those old thiefmasters a lesson. Nobody disrespects the Pulcinella Gang.
The Pulcinella Gang is unique: three runners, but no totems. They’re more slippery tricksters than killers, but if you let them gang up on you, they’ll steal the mana right out of your pocket. None of them are particularly hard to Stun, but with three of them you’ll always outnumber your opponents. They can spend mana as though it were any color, giving them incredible flexibility. Though their damage isn’t great, they’re extremely slippery and hard to pin down - giving them plenty of time to rifle through your pockets, shove you into a trash can and abscond with your valuables. Without mana, you’ll have a hard time hitting back.
Runner: Ihawu Inhliziyo Yetshe
Totem: Inkemba Uzipho Lwensimbi
Realm: Izwe Ingonyama
Ihawu hails from the vast velds of Izwe Ingonyama, a land ruled by those strongest in tooth and claw. As an umondli, or guardian, Ihawu had stewardship over a massive swath of grassland, foothill, and forest. He spent weeks at a time patrolling his domain, tracking criminals, mediating disputes, delivering messages, and of course, hunting down and destroying the uqalekisiwe - those unfortunates hexed by an umthakathi woods-witch and reduced to mindless brutes. For the past two seasons, Ihawu’s lonely patrol has been livened by the presence of his son, Inkemba, an umondli-in-training (or so he claims). Where Ihawu is patient, Inkemba is impetuous; where Ihawu is reserved, Inkemba is brash; where Ihawu is fearless, Inkemba is… well, still fearless, but in his case because he does not think for long enough to realize he should be afraid. Ihawu is a harsh teacher, but a proud father. He is sure that Inkemba will make a great umondli one day, if he can learn to look before he leaps.
The two of them were on the trail of a strange phenomenon: a spreading blight in the world, a shadow that overtook village after village and left their inhabitants sick, mad, or entirely vanished. At the heart of the corruption they found a hole in the world, and before Ihawu could stop him, Inkemba leapt through. Now they do battle in the Realms, seeking to preserve the precious umoya of their home - the spirit of the savannah, the soul of their world. Ihawu is filled with worry, for this is a strange place, and he wonders how much worse things will have gotten if he ever makes it home. Inkemba is having the time of his life, of course - and at least, his father thinks, if they ever do make it out, the young one will be ready to take up the mantle of umondli once and for all. Ihawu is a brawler who excels at controlling space.
He is a dangerous fighter who can lock down an area of the board, threatening anyone who enters his zone of control. In combat, he can easily remain mobile and push his enemies around while maintaining a steady flow of blue mana that makes attacking him exceedingly dangerous. Inkemba, by contrast, is fragile but highly mobile. When the two are close together, Inkemba can take advantage of his father’s strength to become a deadly combatant, and hide behind his father’s shield for protection. When they are far apart, Inkemba can switch places with his father, suddenly delivering five hundred pounds of furious armored lion right where you don’t want to see it.
Runner: Athanasia “Wendy” Macabreaux
Totem: Pumpkin Amp Home
Realm: Hallowsburg
Teenagers are teenagers the multiverse over. You give them a nice respectable name like “Athanasia” and then one day they come home from school and tell you that they want to be called “Wendy” now. And their friend Amarantha is “Felicia,” and they’re going to wear bright colors and make an infernal racket in the garage while you’re trying to mix potions. Hallowsburg is a fairly conservative, traditional place. People know what to expect: an endless late-autumn twilight, ghosts and spectres haunting the living, a candy-based diet, and sinister witches cackling as they brew mysterious elixirs by moonlight. But Wendy found that all incredibly boring. She didn’t want to learn hexes and curses, she wanted to practice jams and verses. She didn’t want pale and wan, she wanted to look cool and tan. And while she would never ditch her beloved pointy hat, she at least wanted to accessorize with some fishnets and fingerless gloves (maybe).
Of course, all her dreams might have come to nothing if she hadn’t picked the exactly right night to run away… or maybe the wrong one. Fleeing an argument with her mother, who just didn’t get it and probably never would, Wendy flew straight into the Gamemaster’s portal before she could even see it was there.
At first, she was having a blast. Simulacre was everything Hallowsburg wasn’t, and Wendy got to sling spells and carve some tasty licks on her guitar. But this isn’t her home, and now Wendy knows that Hallowsburg is in terrible danger. As square as they are, the ghouls, goblins and witches of her home dimension are Wendy’s family, and she can’t let Hallowsburg slip away. She’s a determined young woman, and her musical and magical skills are both growing by leaps and bounds. Who knows what she could accomplish? Wendy and her Pumpkin Amp are the masters of controlling magic. They hand out buffs and debuffs freely, weaving Wendy’s potent magic into every chorus. Once enemies are wrapped up in Wendy’s curses, she can pluck the strings to make them dance to her tune - or just burn out their eardrums with a killer solo. Enemies will struggle to fight back under the avalanche of negative tokens she hands out, while her own forces sail to victory buffed by the positive tokens she can generate.