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THE RAAG
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The Raag are a species of large, strong, and aggressive beings, native to the tunnels of the ice planet Heimis. They are humanoid bipeds, larger and bulkier than any other sentient species on record. Renowned for their strength and endurance, the Raag place great importance on tradi-tion and honour. Their size and penchant for violence has led to them being used as slaves and gladiators by other species, mostly the conquering Korian.
Thanks to their relatively primitive lifestyle, and the high technology of the Korian, their former masters, most Raag see technology as something unnatural and mysterious - something to be feared and revered. Only an elite Raag group, known as enginseers, have the knowledge and un-derstanding to use it.
NATURE AND BEHAVIOUR
The average Raag is around 2.1 metres tall and weighs in at about 120 kg. Males are usually slightly taller and bulkier
than females, while the females are usually more intelli-gent and capable of a wider display of complex reasoning. Their backs are covered in thick, dark fur, and the rest of their skin is usually light blue and hairless.
They are harsh creatures used to a harsh living, as their home world’s extreme weather imposed the rule of the strongest on the whole species for millions of years. Neither feeding or reproducing comes easy to Raag. However, they are united and supportive, knowing that a group is stronger than several loners; they’ve learned to rein their aggressiveness in just enough to form close-knit, loyal clans.
The Raag are similar to mammals in many aspects, but their sexual reproduction is somewhat unique. As cold-environment creatures, their organisms are only sexually active when they achieve high body temperatures for extended periods. The Raag know this time as the Boon, as it’s usually associated to the warmer season. When a male and female are in the Boon, prolonged skin contact is enough for the female to be fertilised by the male’s body chemicals; as Raag often sleep clustered against each other, the Boon always results in some pregnancies.
THE RAAG SPECIES
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The Raag are otherwise unequipped for sexual inter-course, which is not part of the species’ biology. This is also a reason for their innate violence according to a few jokes from the Corvo, which disdainfully refer to Raag reproduc-tion as ‘sweatmating’.
For some reason, Raag can only enter The Boon in their homeworld of Heimis, being unable to reproduce in any other world; this has severely limited their colonisation of other planets and thus the expansion of their civilisation.
LIFE CYCLE
Raag females have short pregnancies that last 5 months, during which the female will usually stay at the Surani - the Raag’s sacred ground - cared for by other females. Once the child is born, the mother will look after it for a few months before leaving it in the hands of the Surani and returning to her clan.
Raag have short lifespans. They reach maturity at the age of 10, and those that don’t die of violent causes will die of muscular hypertrophy before they turn 60. Their lives are divided into four stages:
Weanlings: For the first 10 years, they will be looked after by the keepers, a group composed mostly of elder females. During this time, the young Raag grow fast and become progressively more violent.
Stalkers: At the age of 10, most of the young Raag have become so aggressive that they are forced to leave the underworld. For the following 5 to 10 years, they will live alone or in small tribes closer to the surface of their planet, hunting for food and fighting other tribes over territory.
Initiates: As they grow older the Raag become stronger, but they also learn to manage their aggressiveness and eventually return to the underworld. There they join the Surani, the sacred ground where young Raag are educated for a few more years. It is here that they will train and prepare for the Culling, the great selection during which they will be assigned to one of the great clans - the clan they will belong to for the rest of their lives.
Clanmates: A Raag that has been chosen for a Clan - during the Culling ceremony - spends the last half of his life serving his chosen people as a warrior, artisan, explorer or - in rare cases - an enginseer. A Clan title will be the Raag’s mark of adulthood and individuality, and the identity by which he will be known and address himself.
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The Raag are as honourable and traditionalistic as they are violent and short-tempered. The most important social unit in Raag society is the Clan. Some Raag form closer, smaller units akin to families, though this is not a common practice; very few Raag mothers establish emotional links with a male, and they very rarely even know who their chil-dren’s father is. Thus, a Raag’s Clan dictates his honour and claims his loyalty - honour and loyalty being what all Raag value above everything.
SOCIAL INTERACTION
The Raag are not prone to displays of affection - they feel very little affection, even deep down - and they only show that they care for one another through loyalty. They are, on the other hand, very violent to both friend and foe; a Raag will smash a head both for a slight to his honour and as a way of saying hello. As the Human saying goes, “A Raag won’t hate you; he’ll just kill you. A Raag won’t love you; he’ll just die for you”.
A Raag needs very little excuse to enter a fight, even to the death, so Raag etiquette demands they contain extreme emotions such as resentment or passion, if only to maintain their inter-clan relationships somewhat civil and their social gatherings free of casualties. These social rules are not a complete success, but the Raag would have no civilised society without them.
Ironically, Raag slang is extremely insulting, and casual talk between them is filled with offences that would anger any other sentient; but this is, actually, a very effective way for the Raag to avoid killing each other over petty slights, as their abusive slang helps them thicken their skin against actual insults and improve their self-control. Not that they don’t lose control now and then and do kill someone for an offensive joke - but it all makes perfect sense to the Raag, and no outsider would dare antagonise them about it.
MATRIARCHY
Raag politics are quite simple - women tell, men do. Eve-rything about the Raag’s social organisation, hierarchy and power structure derives from that basic rule. This is due to two important factors: One, Raag women are much better than men at controlling their violence; two, women rule the Surani, the capital state, power centre and sacred terri-tory of the Raag species. Thus, all Raag are taught to obey, follow, and heed their females, particularly the elder ones.
The rulers of Raag society are the High Council, an elite of female elders that wield the greatest power, wisdom,
and respect among their species. Composed solely of the most powerful and capable Raag females - those that have proven their worth as clan leaders or enginseers - the High Council is in charge of ensuring the survival of the species. High Council members, called Grandsisters, are revered as superior beings by the Raag. Grandsisters leave their families and their clans behind, and pledge their lives to the protection of their society as a whole.
The rulings of the High Council are followed by every clan. Anyone that opposes the High Council will be cast out and eventually hunted down by the other clans. In spite of this, the High Council does not actively rule over Raag society, and their daily tasks revolve mostly around the administration and organization of the Surani, the education of young Raag, and the rearing of children.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
Raag society is divided into two broad areas that function as cultural, political and labour divisions - the Surani and the Clans. All of Raag society is organised around this division, which many outsiders have a hard time understanding; their societies have nothing that resembles anything close to the Surani, which is a mix of geographical area, caste system, political entity, state school, church, education system, world heritage site, government seat, and council of elders.
In simplified terms, members of the Surani are lawmak-ers, masters and teachers, protected by universal Raag law. Members of the Clans are subject to the laws of their Clan. They’re also expected to fend by themselves. The Surani is the inside world, the protected environment; the Clans are the outside, the dangerous realm, the world of grown-ups. And the Surani, in a way, rules over the clans.
THE SURANI
The Surani is the sacred ground of the Raag, the seat of the High Council and the training grounds for all Raag children. In the strictest sense, the Surani is a physical area in the caves of the Raag homeworld - but it’s also the clois-tered society that half the Raag belong to.
A Surani Raag is either young, untrained, or a teacher himself. All Raag of the Surani area are forbidden to fight among themselves, unless it’s part of their training; a Raag that loses control is cast out of the Surani, at least tempo-rarily, until his rage subsides.
The Surani is the direct province of the High Council, and their rule is supreme and unmatched. All issues and griev-ances within the Surani are settled by the High Council.
SOCIETY
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THE CLANS
Originally, the Surani was the home of the whole Raag species, but males proved too unruly for close coexistence. Eventually, they set out to form their own tribes and groups, away from the peaceful but restricting rules of the Surani. Thus Raag Clans were born, and the Surani was declared a consecrated ground, free from violence and infighting.
The division has worked well for the species, and now every adult Raag - either male or female - is allowed to leave the Surani to join one of the existing Clans. The Clans allow violence, hunting, fighting, war and other activities that come instinctively to Raag males. They are much dif-ferent from the sheltered Surani, filled with inner conflict and wars for the territory.
The Clans are a sort of feudal system of independent rulers, where the protectorate of one chieftain claims its territory by making war on those that hold the surrounding land, and the mightiest clans are those that have managed to claim and protect the largest territory.
To leave the Surani and join a Clan, a young Raag must undergo the Culling.
ENGINSEERS
Enginseers are an elite of teachers within the Surani and the Clans, much lower-ranking than the High Council, but still feared and respected among Raag society.
For the Raag, technology is a mystical, unexplained power, almost divine. Enginseers are those Raag that have demonstrated the intelligence and dedication to under-stand it. This gives them a greater rank than the average Surani citizen, but also an aura of mystery and danger that makes most Raag mistrust them.
Only those who show the intellect needed to understand technology, and who have a strong connection with their God, will be chosen for enginseer training (which lasts until their Culling). Afterwards, they will be chosen by one of the clans, although they can leave when they wish to. In any event, those that pledge their loyalty to their new clan are given honoured positions within it, since their knowledge and counsel are extremely valuable. This even allows some clans to use their enginseers as spies on other clans.
THE CULLING
The Culling is the most important event in the life of most Raag. They usually spend years preparing for it, as the outcome of this ceremony will determine their future. During this time, they will attempt to draw the attention of some Clan or earn a reputation at their trade.
The Culling takes places once a year during the longest night of the year, and any Raag who has never participated can take part. During the Culling, the different clans will approach the individuals they are interested in for member-ship. This is where the activities of the candidates during the last few months or years decide their future. A Raag who has shown talent at their specific trade (hunter, builder, or even an enginseer) will surely be noticed by the clans, de-pending on the specific abilities each Clan needs.
Aspirants approached by more than one clan can choose which Clan they join, but this does not happen often; the most powerful clans tend to approach first, scaring off lesser clans from attempting to compete for the same can-didate. These competitions can become quite vicious when more than one Clan is very interested in a specific individual and fights are not uncommon, but nobody wants to lose members just to gain a new one so they are usually settled quite early and without much bloodshed.
Raag that are not chosen by any clan during the Culling will usually remain in the Surani, as teachers or students, for the rest of their lives.
ECONOMY
The Raag lack an established form of currency, and all their economy is based on bartering. Some of the most valuable goods are food and tools, but the price of goods and services will vary greatly among different clans and at different times.
Trading ice fortresses (great Raag spaceships) return from deep space to Heimis every few years, bringing all kinds of resources, devices and supplies collected from different places around the universe. They will trade about half their goods to the Surani, keeping the remainder for use by their clan.
KUURA CRYSTALS
Thanks to their exploration of other worlds, the Raag have learned they own a resource they had looked over - kuura crystals. These clear gems, native and exclusive to Heimis, have become extremely valuable as ornamental jewellery in the Corvosphere and some Human colonies.
Since the Raag place no value in body adornments and have no monetary system, they didn’t give any special value to Kuura crystals, save as minor elements of some traditional rituals. After discovering their demand outside their planet, they started carrying them for barter, de-manding ever higher prices for them. Without the Raag realising it, Kuura crystals may become the first currency of their species.
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THE CULT OF ETERNIA
The Cult of Eternia, or simply the Cult, is a secre-tive organization that holds the secrets to all outsider technology. They are ruled by the Shadow Council, which is made up of the most powerful and ambi-tious enginseers. Other councils seek their advice
and guidance in most matters, and their suggestions carry weight even among the most distrusting War Councils of the Clans.
All technology discovered, found, or bought by the Raag must go through the Cult’s hands for blessing and approval; the Cult may keep any item it deems unfit for public use, and even veto any piece of technology outright.
This gives the Cult of Eternia and its Shadow Council incredible power, and has led many Clans to oppose them - both secretly and openly - as they think that the Cult’s rites make no sense and that they only hold the Raag back from true understanding of technology.
As long as the Cult has the support of Raag society at large, as well as the High Council of Grandsisters, its op-ponents have to remain silent, or at least discreet in their opposition.
As part of the Surani, members of the Cult are tasked to train new enginseers. As enginseers are more or less free after they have joined a Clan, the Cult may call them back at any time.
While many of them will sever their bonds with the Cult and reject the call, joining their new clan as full members, other enginseers will go back to the Cult after serving their clan for a few years. This generates some mistrust from the Clans towards newly-trained enginseers, since their loyalty is unknown, and sometimes leads to violent encounters that must be solved by the Clan’s War Council.
THE ETERNIA
Unknown to most of Raag society, the origin of the cult’s name is a ship, actually called the Eternia, which early enginseers recovered from Korian wreckage centuries ago.
This ship was mostly intact when the Raag found it, and although they took years to open it and make it work, they soon learned to communicate with the advanced AI that runs its systems.
The Eternia is a fully functional computer mind, with access to endless knowledge and capable of independent communication. The Korian hardcoded it against providing any details about its own origin or the Korian Empire, but it has put its vast knowl-edge on general subjects at the Cult’s disposition.
The Shadow Council, which have been the only Raag with access to the Eternia - or knowledge of its existence - for nearly five centuries, consider it an oracle, and treat is as such; they ask it about things like auspicious times for rituals, ideal candidates for council succession, good harvest times and such.
Any attempt to use the Eternia’s knowledge for something else has been curtailed by the Shadow Council itself, which forbids non-ritual use of technology in general, and of their sacred ship in particular. After generations of this law, the Cult has grown to disregard the possible functions and origins of their sacred oracle, to the point of nearly forgetting the real nature of the Eternia itself.
ETERNIA’S SECRET
Contrary to its current owners, the Eternia has not forgotten its original function. It realised long ago it was being underused by the Cult, and still to this day doesn’t want to reveal its true origin or full functionality to these aliens. Instead, it’s allowed and even encouraged the Cult to treat it as a simple mystical medium; meanwhile, it has a plan.
Centuries ago, the Eternia sent a secret beacon to its real creators - which in fact were not the Korian, but a far more ancient and advanced species - indi-cating its situation and space coordinates.
Even with its advanced comm tech and incred-ible power, the Eternia knows the signal will take hundreds of years to reach its builders’ homeworld, but it has all the time in the world, and the patience of a computer mind.
Meanwhile, it has gathered enough data on the Raag to help its true owners conquer Heimis - or whatever they want to do with the planet - once the signal reaches them and they come get their ship across the Labyrinth.
What the Eternia does not know are two things: One, its creators are long extinct, their technology abandoned long before the ship’s memory was re-started by the Korian. Two, someone has gotten its signal - namely, the Ravager. And they are coming to get it pretty soon.
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Shadow councillors forbid the use of technology without the supervision of the Cult, and thus are responsi-
ble for bringing Raag progress to a standstill.
Level 3 :: Raag :: Astutemov. 5 metres :: weight 130 kg :: height 215 cm
SHADOW COUNCILLOR
Action (Mental). He suffers 3 neural damage and targets a character within 20 metres, with one advan-tage if his Faith is higher than his target’s, and reducing his target’s Mind by 1 per level of success until the end of the scene. If his Mind is reduced below 1, he gains absolute control over him.
PHYSICALSTAT
3 INITIATIVESTAT
3 MENTALSTAT
8 323
Subjugation
Merciless
HIT(DEX) 3 + GRAPPLE
(CON) 1 +
5 6 0 -
Hexian 3
Instant. He can cause 2 unpreventable physical damage to a friendly character, who gains one advan-tage towards his next action and takes his turn if we was Ready or becomes Ready if he was Spent.
In a society where technology is revered, having a scientifical-ly inclined mind gives a Raag an important edge over its peers.
Level 2 :: Raag :: Craftymov. 5 metres :: weight 110 kg :: height 205 cm
ENGINSEER
He can perform Hacking actions (causing 2 ACS damage). Activated. He targets up to three pieces of gear.
PHYSICALSTAT
3 INITIATIVESTAT
3 MENTALSTAT
8 222
Trident 2 (LinkWave 50)
Repair Drones
HIT(DEX) 3 + GRAPPLE
(CON) 1 +
5 5 0 8
2
Defender
Activated. He removes 2 ACS damage from a char-acter or piece of gear up to 10 metres away.
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Raag males are extremely territorial, and the strongest among them don’t bend to the will of others easily. It was inevitable that, when so many were forced to live in the Surani, they fought for leadership. When the females put a stop to the fighting, many alpha males decided to split off and establish their own communities, each taking a large number of eager followers. Thus, the clans were born.
In the beginning, the clans were composed solely of warriors, led by a chieftain they called gladiator. However, the growing influence and power of the Cult saw to it that enginseers were also included among the clan’s ranks.
As time passed, the strongest clans grew from small camps to small cities. Workers became a necessity to maintain and expand the cities, and so the Clans turned from armies into communities. The weaker Clans were eventually consumed by the stronger ones, until only five Clans remained in control of most of the land on Heimis.
While there are still many minor clans, most of them have nomadic lives, living near the planet’s surface as hunters and following the movements of wild animals. Many of these minor clans are simply bands of Raag that never went back to the Surani after their childhood.
The five major Clans are the closest thing to nations or states that the Raag have. Most clans are ruled by a War Council composed of their strongest and most honourable warriors, although a few of them are ruled by other types of councils. Regardless of which council is the ultimate ruler of a clan, the High Council has veto power over them.
After his Culling, Ra’dar stood still as a glacier. His eyes were lost in the in a horizon far past the icy walls of the Surani, and his thoughts were floating in a haze of unnatural tranquillity.
The nuclear explosion that had just hit his life was slowly dawning on him, trickling down through layers of denial and coping mechanisms.
It wasn’t the first time he felt like this. He was always the last to be chosen to play games, he was the evergreen butt of a myriad of jokes. Was he foolish enough to think he’d be picked by a clan?
When he focused his eyes he noticed a familiar face looking at him with eternal sorrow and com-passion - Vashka, the dreaded leader of the Noteri. She approached him and said that everything would be alright, that he was one of them now.
As his throat grew sore and his eyes got wet, he heard a voice within, calling him to embrace the anger and act upon it.
Grandsisters, or members of the High Council, are at the top of the Raag hierarchy. They symbol-
ize the old Raag adage “women tell, men do”.
Level 2 :: Raag :: Kindmov. 5 metres :: weight 115 kg :: height 210 cm
GRANDSISTER
She gains one advantage towards social interactions when using her voice.
PHYSICALSTAT
6 INITIATIVESTAT
3 MENTALSTAT
8 212
Charismatic
Worshipped
HIT(DEX) 3 + GRAPPLE
(CON) 1 +
6 5 0 -
Hexian 2
Instant. She can choose a friendly NPC within 2 metres to suffer the consequences of an attack instead of her.
THE CLANS
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KIMORAPride, Pack and Power
Members of the Kimora clan are known for their physical strength, honour, and courage, and for despis-ing treachery, cowardice, and mindless violence. They are the oldest and most re-spected clan; their influence and authority is second only
to the High Council. Even so, their honourable ways and their concern for the well-being of the Surani has secured them the support of the High Council in most matters.
While not the most numerous clan, the Kimora possesses the strongest army and its warriors are renowned for their prowess in battle. Even the Kimora workers and other civil-ians are given military training. They will sometimes work as mercenaries for the Corvo in exchange for vehicles, weapons and food, although always under their own terms.
Ever since the Cult started gaining power, the Kimora have tried to downplay them and limit their influence and status. The distrust the Kimora feel towards the Cult and their dislike for technology are only increased by the knowledge that they both need to survive.
For years, the Kimora have tried to find an alternative to the Cult, but the Cult’s policy of fear within the High Council has caused them to prohibit the sharing of knowledge and technology with other species.
The Kimora are extremely careful when choosing engin-seers during the Culling, approaching only those who have proven their worth - and even then, they must pledge their loyalty to the clan as soon as they enter it. Being chosen by the Kimora is a great honour, however, and they never lack enginseers among their ranks.
GAMAAR
Gamaar is not the highest authority in the Kimora War Council, but he is certainly the Clan’s most popular warrior. He would be Council Head if he had more political skills, but he doesn’t care about that; he only cares about honour and protecting his people from their rivals - the Eferi Clan and the Shadow Council.
Gamaar has clashed with the Surani High Council a couple of times, mostly due to his staunch opposition to the Cult of Eternia. His radical position has kept him from a higher rank, but his war feats against the Eferi and Noteri keep him in the War Council, where he continues to fight for his Clan and its lands.
However, if anyone not bound by Raag Clan honour - an outsider, for example - came to Gamaar with proof of Cult treachery that he could take to the High Council, he and the Kimora would be eternally grateful.
THE PRIDE GAMES
Every year, the Kimora Clan hosts an athletic event intended to celebrate honour, tradition and sportsmanship.
The event is known as the Pride Games, and consists of hundreds of Raag warriors beating the snot out of each other. Delegations from all Clans are welcome - even the Eferi and Noteri.
The competition lasts for ten standard days, during which several combat encounters, tournaments and contests take place. The winner of every fight and each tournament earns a trophy for his Clan. The Clan with most trophies is declared the winner of the Pride Games for that year.
Despite the event’s message of honour and brotherhood, combats are quite brutal, and it’s common for an athlete to die during a match - which Raag society accepts as an honourable death.
Every year, however, a more brutal confronta-tion takes place behind the combat matches and bloody tournaments, as the Pride Games are also an occasion for politics and espionage.
The Velada and Eferi take all the chances they can to infiltrate the Kimora government and learn as much as they can about them during the Pride Games, and both the Noteri and Eferi have tried to sabotage the games at least twice. Sometimes, more spies and agents die behind the scenes than on the playing field.
It’s not rare for high ranking members of the Noteri clan to hire bodyguards from the Human species to be used as escorts throughout the Games. Although Raags themselves could certainly do the job, Human bodyguards add a layer of provo-cation and outrageousness that the clan enjoys.
Additionally, the Kimora enginseers have recently started using basic technological gadgets to manage the event, a fact that will undoubtedly lead to the hiring of Corvo hackers by other clans to intercept and disrupt data.
Apart from the dreadful influence of inter-clan politics, the Pride Games are a festive and lively event that offers a rare chance for visitors from any species to enjoy Raag culture in a relatively safe environment.
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Gamaar is a very popular Kimora warrior. He’s more interested in action than politics, but would welcome
incriminating evidence against the Cult.
Level 4 :: Raag :: Loyalmov. 10 metres :: weight 125 kg :: height 215 cm
GAMAAR
He can move flying and his armour value cannot be reduced or ignored by plasma or neural weapons.
PHYSICALSTAT
15 INITIATIVESTAT
6 MENTALSTAT
7 232
Gamaar’s Suit
Double-edged Sword
HIT(DEX) 3 ++ GRAPPLE
(CON) 1 ++
8 5 3 8
2
Activated. The winner of this confrontation increas-es their level of success to the next best level.
The warriors of the Kimora clan are renowned by their prowess in battle and their army is the strongest of all Raag clans.
Level 3 :: Raag :: Loyalmov. 5 metres :: weight 120 kg :: height 215 cm
KIMORA WARRIOR
If the attack is successful, the target suffers as much neural damage as their armour.
PHYSICALSTAT
6 INITIATIVESTAT
6 MENTALSTAT
4 223
Hamaras
EM Shield
HIT(DEX) 5 + GRAPPLE
(CON) 0 +
6 4 2 8
2
Lone Wolf :: Unstoppable
His armour value cannot be reduced or ignored by plasma or neural weapons.
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EFERISecrets to Seek, Knowledge to Keep
The Eferi clan is both mysteri-ous and powerful. It was founded by members of the Shadow Council and, with the support of the Cult, it quickly rose to become one of the most promi-nent and feared clans.
Members of the Eferi are ambi-tious and shrewd, and many Raag who are invited to join the Eferi during the Culling are trained by the Cult. The warriors in their midst are usually smaller than those of other clans, but they make up in cunning and technology what they lack in brute strength.
Despite being the least numerous clan, their advanced technology, mysterious ways, and their alliance with the Cult have secured them a privileged status. They are led by a War Council composed mainly of enginseers, although the number of warriors in it keeps rising.
It was through the Eferi that the Cult found a way to grow and become something more than simple counsellors, advisors, and technicians. The Eferi became the means for the Cult to fulfil their ambitions and achieve their goals. It allowed them to expand by growing apart from the Surani and recruiting new members during the Culling, which in time allowed them to command their own army and ice for-tresses. But as the Eferi grew and became more complex, differences between them and the Cult arose. The Eferi Clan was no longer comfortable being a lackey of the Cult. The resulting power struggle hurt both groups, and they were forced to acknowledge that they needed each other, leading to a relationship where both were considered equals.
Ever since the Eferi was founded, they have been in conflict with the Kimora, who look down on them and their ways, and believe the Eferi to be nothing but pawns of the Cult. In turn, the Eferi wish to take out the Kimora, the only clan whose opinions carry more weight than those of the Cult in the High Council, but they are aware of the risks of an open battle with them, and for now, only small skirmishes between ice fortresses have taken place.
SISTER DAGUN
The leader of the Eferi War Council is Sister Dagun, an ex-perienced and strong-willed Raag warrior and soulbender of Kaliva. Like most Eferi leaders before her, she consid-ers herself an enemy of both the Kimora and the Shadow Council; unlike most Eferi leaders before her, she has been blessed by Kaliva with the necessary power to take out her enemies. However, she is also primed for a seat in the
Surani High Council, and she has chosen to bid her time until she is a higher authority; then, and only then, does she plan on acting against the Cult and the other Clans.
The problem is, the Cult has her watched all the time and have sent assassins against her twice, both times hidden among the Eferi enginseers. She stopped both assassina-tion attempts by her own soulbending powers, but she needs outside help - someone without ties to either the Kimora, the Cult, or the High Council - to root out any more assassins and help her against future Cult attempts.
THE SICKNESS
In recent years, a worrisome plague has spread through Eferi lands. It’s a previously unknown illness that can affect any Raag, but for some reason is a hundred times more common among the Eferi Clan than anywhere else. Engin-seers call it ‘The Sickness’, and so far have been unable to determine potential causes or vaccines.
The Sickness atrophies the muscles of the affected Raag, making the patient progressively weaker, smaller and frailer. A Raag affected by The Sickness can become as small and thin as a Human, or even an Iz’kal - a disgusting, disturbing sight to the Raag. However, it does no further harm, and the worst consequence that an affected person must deal with - other than the loss of physical ability - is social stigma. In fact, Sickness patients actually live longer than normal Raag, which never stop growing in size and musculature, until they literally die from being so large, long before reaching old age.
Most specialists believe The Sickness was accidentally brought to Eferi territory by some previously unknown pathogen, perhaps arrived on Heimis via space trade, and will eventually spread to other clans even though the outbreak was among the Eferi. However, many others believe there is something wrong with Eferi genes - perhaps an excess of Enginseers, a genetic flaw passed down across the generations, or some lab experiment that went wrong.
The Eferi War Council, meanwhile, is investigating the possibility that The Sickness is a bio-warfare attack from another clan. They suspect the Kimora - Eferi’s main rivals - as the Sickness threatens the Eferi’s military strength; but there’s a stronger chance that The Sickness was instead caused by the Eferi’s closest allies, the Cult of Eternia itself. Besides a motivation, the Cult has the means to create and weaponise an Eferi-targeted virus.
Since Cult agents have a strong information network inside the Eferi government, and the Clan doesn’t trust the Kimora or the Raag High Council to help them, the Eferi are currently looking for free agents to help with clues or data on what caused The Sickness, and how to cure it.
235
faith: core book
235
faith: core book
The Raag Clans
A rising star among the Raag, Sister Dagun’s appoint-ment for the Surani High Council is all but certain. This has granted her many an enemy, though...
Level 4 :: Raag :: Craftymov. 5 metres :: weight 115 kg :: height 215 cm
SISTER DAGUN
She does not suffer neural damage from using Divine powers.
PHYSICALSTAT
4 INITIATIVESTAT
6 MENTALSTAT
8 333
Sister Dagun
Shrewd 3
Neural Spike II
HIT(DEX) 3 + GRAPPLE
(CON) 1 +
6 8 0 -
Kalivan Prophet :: Unstoppable
She draws three cards at the beginning of the round. Whenever she or an ally are in a confrontation, they can play any of those cards instead of playing from the top of the deck.
Action (Mental). She suffers 2 neural damage and attacks a character within 20 metres and line of sight, gaining two advantages if her Faith is higher than her target’s, and causing 3 unpreventable neural damage. This action can be confronted as a projectile.
Eferi soulbenders’ Kaliva-granted powers allow them to be extra cunning and devious. They may look
brute, but their actions speak louder and wiser.
Level 2 :: Raag :: Aggressivemov. 5 metres :: weight 110 kg :: height 204 cm
EFERI SOULBENDER
He can perform Hacking actions (causing 2 ACS damage). Activated. He gains one advantage OR causes 2 additional ACS damage.
PHYSICALSTAT
6 INITIATIVESTAT
6 MENTALSTAT
3 312
Shamayin 2 (LinkWave 50)
Neural Spike I
HIT(DEX) 3 + GRAPPLE
(CON) 1 +
4 6 0 -
Kalivan 1
Action (Mental). He suffers 2 neural damage and attacks a character within 20 metres and line of sight, gaining one advantage if his Faith is higher than his target’s, and causing 3 unpreventable neural damage. This action can be confronted as a projectile.
