Cultures

OVERVIEW

Your Character’s Culture, unlike their Species, doesn’t determine what they look like or what they’re capable of, but gives them a cultural background, which provides several additional important elements of play - Perks, Quirks, and Backgrounds.

PERKS & QUIRKS

Activating a cultural Perk or Quirk is as easy as fulfilling the requirement for the Perk or Quirk as noted in the Requirements for that Park or Quirk on the cultural chart - e.g., a character with the GENEROUS Perk would only have to give something valuable to someone in need, and the Perk would then be activated.

Activating a Cultural Quirk or Perk always results in the same benefit:

The Player can choose to make any one future Ability roll as though their Talent for that Ability were Supernal.

Cultural Perk and Quirk activations do not stack, so there are no additional benefits to meeting the requirement for more Cultural Perks or Quirks once one has become active.

BACKGROUNDS

BACKGROUNDS are a shorthand way to build a character including four specific details: Social Standing, Faith, Profession, and Faction Alignment. Advanced players can build their own Backgrounds from those four components, but following are common Backgrounds for each Culture to facilitate quick play for new players.

EXAMPLE

Though most Kâlindival grow up on Betril Isle, Sneeky Peet has had it rough, Brett decides, and he wants his Kâlindival alter-ego to have grown up in a more difficult environment - something that will make him a bit more hardened and cynical than his bretheren.

Though the ice-caverns of Thurgar are tempting, eventually Brett settles on a Hengian culture for Peet, as he’s finding the image of a crusty old salt of a gnome appealing.

• Building a backstory where Peet stows away on a ship bound for Henge during his youth, Brett chooses [BOLD] as a Cultural Perk, and [WANDERLUST] as a Cultural Quirk.
• Conveniently, there’s already a pre-built BACKGROUND for a Sailor in the Hengian Culture. A quick scan reveals it’s everything he wants, so Brett picks Sailor for Peet’s background, which gives him:
  • Peasant for his SOCIAL STANDING,
  • Dawn for his FAITH,
  • Sailor as his PROFESSION, and
  • The Unquiet for his FACTION ALIGNMENT.