Ailee Sundish
The Angel

Agenda: Heroic Duty
Dive into danger when an innocent is threatened
Seeking Fame

Look: Compact, cute, bookish - anyone who looked at her would correctly identify this Rodine as an apprentice of the Celestial College. Ordinary and nonthreatening, the kind of demure apprentice that clusters around more experienced magi. But as she comes into focus there’s a defiant sharpness to her gaze, a sense of fierceness not normally seen in one as low ranked as her.

But then she takes off her travelling cape, revealing the green binding patterns dyed into her fur - her entire body carries the complex alchemical notation of a binding circle. And now those lines of energy ignite in veridian flames and terrible shadows swim into being around her, dragged into a world they have no rightful reason to be in.

STATS
Blood +1
Courage +1
Grace +2
Sense +0
Wisdom -1
Pride INFINITE

Holy Command
You can speak the language of all things. You can always be understood by anyone you speak to, and can Talk Sense to anything that listens.

While this divine language lets you speak to all things, it does not let you understand all things. You can command the natural world to obey you, but you cannot hear what they have to say about it. You cannot Speak Softly with them unless they have the ability to speak back to you.

Sky's Limit
You can fly. When you fly with a passenger or a heavy load, you have the Clumsy tag. Clumsy gives a -1 penalty to Get Away, Keep Them Busy, and Finish Them.

Words of Power

- Pride - Sword, Melee Piercing 1/1
- Impatience - Pistol, Ranged Burning 1/1
- Judgement - Hammer, Melee Necrotic 1/1
- Waste - Artillery, Ranged Dangerous 1/1
- Curiosity - Spear, Melee Burning 1/1

You know three power words. You do not need to decide what these words are until you use them. As you declare the words you know, write them down. A Word can be any verb or improper noun.
Example power words: Burn, Chains, Echo, Fear, Fly, Frost, Gate, Mirror, Open, Rage, Restore, Run, Shield, Sorrow, Storms, Truth, Tunnel, Wall, Wind.
You can use a power word to command any natural object or animal to follow that word. For example, you may speak Power Word: Burn to set an animal on fire, or to burn down a door, or to light a campfire.
Unnatural things, Threats to the World, and those that mean you harm resist your words of power. You cannot speak a word directly to such a thing - it can only delay them, and it takes power to do so.
When you speak a word of power to a threat before you, tell us this word and the threat you speak it to, then take damage. Your word will delay the threat in a way you describe, but it will break free before long.
When you Share this Move, the person you share it with knows only one word of power. They can write their own word, and do not need to use one of your words.

Worldly Detachment
You can never hold more than 6 Bonds total. When you would write your seventh Bond, erase one of your existing Bonds first. This Move cannot be Shared.

What is an Angel?
Messengers from Beyond
Your people are strange and alien messengers whose magnificence is beyond understanding. You know two additional power words, and you gain one extra stat: Pride.
Pride is not used for any rolls, and does not have a modifier. It can be damaged and healed just like normal stats. When your Pride becomes damaged, you gain Hope for your next roll.

Angel's Custom:
Mightier Than The Sword
Give each of your power words one option from each list:
X Melee or Ranged.
X Burning, Dangerous, Necrotic, or Piercing.
X Ax, Bow, Gun, Hammer, Spear, Sword, or Whip.
Each of your Power Words can be used as a weapon with the chosen tags, in the shape of a weapon from the final list. You can only have one of your Power Words in weapon form at a time, and can only use the tags of your current Power Word weapon.

Language Barrier
Your power words gain the tags Useful and Armor. Each word has 1 Use. When you Use a power word, describe the magical way it provides armor or help for you. When you Fill Your Belly, you may restore the Use of one of your words.

Smite Evil
Evil suffers in your presence. When facing a Threat to the World, you do not need to pay a price simply to act against them.
Damage you deal to a Threat to the World is Necrotic.

Angelic Gear
Light Rations (Food, 3/3 uses)
A Holy Symbol and a Prayer (Armour 1/1)
Kroan (Fickle Flier, Power Word: Heroism)
Ancient dictionary (Slow). You can understand the language of anything, translate any text or Speak Softly with foreigners and animals, as long as you have the time to consult this dictionary.

The Celestial College

The Bransmuth is the brain of Great Jelt, the university town that produces the arcane scholars that inform every aspect of Empire. Within the schools for administration, duelling, etiquette, and the lesser forms of sorcery exists a dark and rotting place: The Celestial College, Their Majesty’s chosen investigators into that which exists beyond even the imaginations of the Monarch.

It’s a place of deep caution, of paranoia, madness and backbiting. Academia is a vicious place at the best of times, and with the College’s resources and funding many ambitious souls are drawn to it - but the College’s duty is to interact with secrets that shake the eternal understanding of Great Jelt’s imperial destiny. As a result it has become bound intimately with red tape, royal commissars, constant tests of loyalty and endless watchfulness for signs of weakness. The magic of the College can upend the earth and throw entire cities down into the Heart, and so Their Majesty does not allow it far from Their grip.

Ailee Sundish (Aye-lee Sund-ish) is a third year apprentice to the College. She dreamed when young of exploring the depths of the Heart and dragging the truth back to the surface that it might please Their Majesty. Instead she found herself facing a career path that would keep her behind a desk for forty years. She was a prodigy of the art and yet she was told to waste her talents in idleness, ritual and routine.

So she performed that classic wizarding move: She broke into the Tower of Penitents, opened up every forbidden grimoire she could find, and started summoning cosmic horrors from the depths of the Heart and soul-binding them to herself. The elders of the College had claimed that binding even a single Angel was the culmination of a lifetime of exhaustive research. Though they had scoffed at her methods, she had bound six by the time the night was done.

In her escape she wielded powers comparable to the Archmages; none could bar her passage as she spoke from the midst of a symphony of terrible vocabulary. And then she was gone into the dark of the Heart before the Royal Commissars could get their boots on, swearing that she would learn more in a single voyage than all the ancient masters had learned in all their lifetimes.

So armed, so determined, the fierce mouse-girl set off into the deep and nightmares lit her way.

Bonds

I am Lucien Roue's guardian
Lucien is an excellent person but he wouldn't survive a day down here without me looking after him.
Jackdaw and I studied at the College together
Not everyone needs to be pushed out of their comfort zone, but her comfort zone is the contents of a cup of coffee
I trust Coleman to get us to the depths of the Heart safely
Coleman told me of his journey
I did research into the other train knights and frankly he's the only sane one

Lucien Roue; The “Squire”
“I prefer ‘tourist’”



Circumstances:
Recently forced out of his comfy foreign office posting by an Act of Parliament.

Appearance:
Tall. Broad-shouldered, athletic. Black hair receded behind his ears, with a widow’s peak out over his eyebrows, and silver streaks over each ear.

A silk shirt with sleeves rolled up over his biceps, matching suit pants. A hole in the world. It ripples like dusk and deja vu. Like dreaming. The effect is diminished by how it sags; It was made for a heavier man.
“Let me tell you the tale about how I got tailed to a tailor. It’s a story with a lot of Heart, and not in the good way. Wish I could remember how I found it, myself...”

Agenda: Friendship is Magic: Make friends, whoever and however you can.
They say it costs nothing to be kind. Implies you should only be kind if it costs nothing, doesn’t it? Hey, now; I say, friendship is priceless.

Stats:
Blood +0
Courage -1
Grace +1
Sense +2
Wisdom +2

Purpose: To See the World

Equipment: Pistol (Ranged, Piercing, Reload)
(Hidden in the bulges of the shirt)
A bottle of brandy - 2 uses (Drunk, then Vigor)
“Brandying or brandishing, either way, I know how to take my shots. ”

Luck of the Devil: One-use Get Out of Danger button

“Someone once told me, you start out life with an empty bag of experience and a full bag of luck. And the trick to it is, fill the bag of experience before you run out of luck.

I think I still got enough saved away for a rainy day.”

Initial bonds:
Squire Bonds:
I've bailed Ailee out of trouble more times than I can count.
"Never a dull moment."

Jackdaw is always willing to listen to me, even when no one else has time - I have a very strong idea of Lucien holding one sided conversations at Jackdaw using the pauses where they try to think of what to say to answer their own questions.
"Surely they can't mean-?"
"-"
"No. You're right, of course. They would. But the real question is, is it to their advantage, or to ours?"
"-"
"Mm. Of course, never assume you have the advantage - Try to be certain, and never be certain of your certainty...
"-"
"Jackdaw, I have no idea what I'd do without you. This could have been a disaster."

And, in the true fashion of a human diplomat in a fantasy setting, I'd like to take one bond from the Elf and one from the Dwarf playbooks;

Jackdaw defeated me in a game of Scrabble and I still cannot believe it.
It wasn't even close, honestly.

Ailee is my drinking buddy.
"I'd like to let you in on a little secret to these formal events. Always ask for your glass to be topped up every three sips, make sure you always have something to nibble on with it, and nobody can tell how much you're really having. Well. For a while, anyway."

Squire's Core:

Fast Friends
When you spend a scene by someone's side or Speak Softly with them, you may gain a Bond with them immediately.
You can have an unlimited number of Bonds with anybody. People who you have Bonds with do not become Companions. You do not have enough pull with the fellowship to just recruit people. Anyone you have Bonds with will think well of you and will not try to harm you if they can help it, regardless of their feelings for the rest of the fellowship. You can Command Lore about anyone you have any Bonds with, except for your Bonds with other players. You can Command Lore about Companions, friends, and minions of the Overlord who you have Bonds with, but you cannot Command Lore about the other heroes of the fellowship or about the Overlord. This Move cannot be Shared.

Please, Just Listen
When you Talk Sense to someone, you may erase a Bond with them instead of owing them a favor. When you Speak Softly with someone, you may erase a Bond with them to make them answer a question they refuse to answer.

It's Dangerous to Go Alone
When you watch someone's back and keep your eyes peeled, you can roll to Overcome any harm against them with Sense instead of +Blood

Squire’s Custom:

I've Got a Bad Feeling About This
When you're certain something's wrong here, you may ask the Overlord to tell you the safest way out, and also the quickest way out. They will answer truthfully.

Voice of Reason
You alone are the voice of reason in this insane world. When you offer advice to another player and they ignore it, you are filled with Hope during any attempts to bail them out of whatever mess they got themselves into.
Basically, if you could say “I told you so” after your action, you have Hope to do it

Further Bonds:
The Professor - I found a bright mind in a dark place
Jackdaw - I helped her to remember herself

Coleman, The Tinker
riding
Codename: Sasha, The Train

"I'm an Engineer. That means I solve problems. Not problems like 'what is beauty,' because that would fall within the purview of your conundrums of philosophy. No, I solve practical problems."



Stats:
Iron: 3. (When in suit, roll Iron for Get Away, Keep Them Busy, and Overcome)
Wisdom: 2. (Speak Softly, Talk Sense when appealing to emotions)
Sense: 1. (Look Closely, Talk Sense by explaining a plan)
Grace: 0. (Talk Sense through trickery, Get Away when outside Codename Sasha)
Blood: -1. (Overcome when out of Codename Sasha)
Courage: -1. (Keep Them Busy when out of Codename Sasha)

Agendas:
-Don't Scratch The Paint: Punish anyone who disrupts technological advancement or damagesvaluable technology, especially yours.
-Improve the World Around You
-Tell Us Of Your People
-Be Brave, Take Risks

Moves:
Iron Shell: Your people may be small and weak, but their battle suits are not. You have a sixth stat, Iron, and you have an additional -1 to assign between your other stats. Iron represents the strength of your inventions, including your Battle Suit and anything you Jury Rig together.
-When you Finish Them by outlasting them in a contest of power or endurance, roll +Iron. On a 10+, they pass out.
-When you share this Move with another, their Iron stat is +1.
-When someone who does not have an Iron stat uses a Move that rolls +Iron, they roll at +0.
-Your Iron stat can only be healed by items with the Repair or Fuel tags, instead of Healing or Food. When you Fill Your Belly, you may spend 1 Fuel to heal your Iron stat, either instead of or in addition to spending Food.

Battle Suit: You have a battle suit, unique to you, which is a machine bigger than you that multiplies your strength and power while you ride it. Many of your people use technology to empower themselves, but none are quite like yours. This battle suit is a train egg, and once taken to the Terminus Station, will hatch into a newborn Train.
-When operating your Battle Suit, you roll with +Iron to Get Away, Keep Them Busy, and Overcome.
Only you can operate your battle suit smoothly. In the hands of anyone else, it is Clumsy, Slow, and Dangerous.
-Your suit's abilities are listed in your Gear. When you have time and safety, you can spend 1 Fuel to change one Gear option for another option from the same list.
-This Move, and the Gear associated with it, cannot be Shared, except through the Tinker Advance option.


Jury Rig: When you fabricate a new device out of existing materials, tell us what you want it to do, spend 1 Use of something, and roll +Iron.
-On a 7+, it works! It does what you wanted it to do, more or less.
-On a 9-, it has some problems. Choose one:
 Unstable: It will fall apart quickly. The device has only 1 Use, and it breaks at the end of this scene.
 Defective: The device has a weird quirk or limitation that requires you to use it only under specific circumstances. The Horizon will describe these circumstances to you.

Clear the Path: When your Battle Suit charges through something standing in its way, roll +Iron.
-On a 7+, you charge through and leave a path for your allies to follow.
-On a 9-, your reckless charge causes problems. You have to go alone, or leave yourself open to danger, or damage something important, your choice.

Free Ride: You can carry all of the fellowship inside of or on top of your Battle Suit.
-When you Get Away using your Battle Suit, you may bring along as many allies as you'd like.

Tinker's Gear:
-Toolbox of various wrenches and ratchets (Repair, Slow, 2 Uses)
-The Dining Car's finest jerky (Food, 3 uses)
-Spare parts donated by the Mighty Natascha herself, lovingly wrapped in the cleanest cloth Coleman has (Fuel, Useful, 3 uses)
-Granpappy's Wrench: Once merely a simple pipe wrench, albeit one half as tall as Coleman, this ancient tool has been scrimshawed, engraved, gilded, and lovingly polished by generations of Mighty Natascha's mechanics before Coleman. A workman, after all, is only as good as his tools.

What is the Tinker?
The Mighty Natascha (blessed be her lineage) is a 3-piston 0-4-4-0 Shay locomotive. She is agile, quick, and powerful, capable of navigating turns, tunnels, and tortured passageways that would surely mire other, lesser locomotives. And she's crewed entirely by a small crew of dedicted, loving, expert mechanics that are eager to jump to repair every minor, nigh-nonexistent issue as it arises, and spend no small amount of time polishing her glowing windows until she gleams.
-Your people have never been at the top of the world, and constantly must make do with less. You do not need to spend anything to use Jury Rig. In addition, the Spare Parts in your Gear gain the Useful tag

Initial Bonds:

I am helping Lucien to overcome his fear of Trains, whether he likes it or not.
Ailee is a brilliant example of leadership, and I hate it.
Jackdaw is capable of great things, if she can ever decide what to do.

Jackdaw
The Collector

Agenda: It Belongs In a Museum
Preserve and protect things of lasting historic value.
Seeking Peace

Appearance: Lanky, bespectacled, and possessed by an ever-anxious energy. At a glance, you might think this Vulpine crawled out of the nearest alley. She wears a patchwork cloak over a patchwork coat, pockets and pack bulging with borrowed books. Her eyes are never still, constantly darting about, desperately trying to take in everything that could possibly be happening around her.

STATS
Blood: +0
Courage: +1
Grace: +2
Sense: +2
Wisdom: -1

Collector Core

Curious Curios: You collect strange and bizarre things, from all over the world. Your collection has some kind of theme to it, such as small dinosaurs, mechanical replicas of insects, things made of glass, fanciful masks, or something else. Rather than Command Lore about your people, you Command Lore about your collection and those who care about it - other collectors, the value of your work and your goods, what purpose they serve and who made them, etc.

Theme: Words
Look: Historical, Surreal

Your collection has mysterious and powerful properties. When you Use a weapon or an item, you may choose a spell from below, then mark it.
You cannot use a spell while it is marked.
When you spend Food, remove a mark from one spell.
When you Recover, remove all marks on your spells.
[] Autonomous: The item acts on its own, following a simple command.
[] Fast: You can use the item as if it didn't have Reload, Clumsy, Trap, or Slow.
[] Overcharge: Either add the Area tag to the item, or double its normal effect.
[] Trickery: Add one of these tags to this item for the rest of the scene: Ranged, Dangerous, Piercing, or Trap.

Workaholic: When you are between scenes, you may spend 1 Food to choose one:
• Restore 2 Uses to a single item that doesn't have the Food tag. This can't restore uses to your crown jewel.
• Replace one of your Gear options with any other option from its category. The new Gear comes with all its Uses.
• Heal a stat, belonging to you or one of your Companions.
This replaces the Fill Your Belly Basic Move. When you would Fill Your Belly, use this move instead.

What is your Collection?
Internal
Your collection is inside of you, like cyborg modifications, special tattoos, or dreams made real. You cannot have anything taken from you, you will never drop anything accidentally, and you retrieve anything you need from your collection instantly. In addition, you may choose one more Gear option from anyone's Gear list. You can only pick from a playbook currently being used by the fellowship, and you cannot pick an option someone else picked. When you use Workaholic to replace this Gear option with another, you can choose any Gear option within the above limitations.

Current gear option: Holy words, cribbed from Ailee (Ranged, Reload)

Collector Custom

Let Me See That: When you take a few moments to handle or examine an interesting item, vehicle, or architecture, ask two of the following questions. The Horizon must answer truthfully.
• Who made it and why should I care about them?
• What was this made to do, and how do I use it or break it?
• What's wrong with this, and how might I fix it?

Modifications: Choose one item you own for each of your Curious Curio spells. The chosen items are always modified by the chosen spell, without you needing to mark that spell. For example, Fast Spare Parts never have the Slow tag.
When you Recover, you may re-assign which items are automatically boosted by which spells.

Current modifications:
Fast: Medical supplies, removes the Slow tag
Trickery: Holy words, can add one of Dangerous, Piercing, or Trap for a scene
Autonomous: Her staff, it can act on its own, following a simple command
Overcharged: Books and catalogues, gives her two questions off the Look Closely list per use

Collector’s Gear

Many snacks (Food, 5/6 Uses)
Strange Curios (Useful, 3/4 Uses)
A staff that remembers (Melee, Dwarf-made, Armor, 1/1 Uses, can act Autonomously)
Holy words, poorly cribbed from Ailee (Ranged, Reload)
Healing powders, salves, or devices (Healing, Slow, 2/2 Uses)
Books and catalogues (2/2 Uses). You can spend 1 Use to ask a TWO questions from the Look Closely list about any valuable item you want to know about.
The Crown Jewel of her collection: A mysterious, marvelous book, never opened. (1/1 Use). You don't know what it does yet, but you'll find out. When you are in dire need, you may spend 1 Use to tell us what it does, and it will do exactly that thing, exactly how you described it.

Bonds
(1 bond with each of the Fellowship)
I brought Wolf back from the brink of mindless starvation. I'm trying to make sure she keeps getting better.

Whoops!