When several lines of haze claw across the sky, lines that persist for hours, a flight of scavrows may have passed overhead. Those who notice are wise to get under cover because scavrows hunt for oddments that catch their interest with eyes so sensitive they can spot the glint of a shiny object deep inside a pocket.
If a scavrow flight wings low enough, the tiny spots spewing their dark wakes resolve as half-living, half-synth creatures with 30-foot (9.1 m) wingspans, a patchwork of white synth, black feathers, and dozens of piercing sapphire eyes.
What catches the interest of a scavrow is never the same and difficult to predict. Sometimes they’re drawn to living creatures with a particular hair color, to carrion that’s rotted a certain number of hours or days, or to children with blue eyes. Other times they target lone structures, singers, or shiny things. Whatever snags a scavrow’s notice, a scavrow eventually collects—even if it’s a different scavrow that finally gathers it months or even years later.
Motive: Unpredictable
Environment: The dark lines left by flights of up to four scavrows can be seen anywhere the sky is visible.
Health: 18
Damage Inflicted: 6 points Armor: 2
Movement: Long (flying), immediate (on land)
Modifications: Perception as level 9; Speed defense as level 5 due to size.
Combat: A scavrow can make two attacks as a single action with its talons. It can also attack a single creature with an electrified beak as its action. Damage from a beak attack ignores Armor, and the victim must succeed on a Might defense roll or become paralyzed for one minute. Each round as his action, he can attempt another Might defense roll to shake it off.
If a limp victim of a beak attack is what caught the scavrow flight’s interest in the first place, another scavrow from the flight picks up the paralyzed trophy in its talons, and on the flock’s next turn, they jet off toward their aerie.
Interaction: If one scavrow sees something of interest, every member of the flight in the area simultaneously learns of it. Thus, if an initial scavrow flight is killed, another flight could find the object (or person) of interest later and mount a collection attempt as a surprise night raid.
Use: A parent seeks to reclaim a child who was collected by a flight of scavrows because of her beautiful singing. The aerie is visible in the night sky as a blinking white light passing overhead.
Loot: The remains of a flock of scavrows can be salvaged for 1d6 + 2 cyphers.
Scavrows take oddments they collect to floating aeries high above the ground. Different flocks of scavrows maintain different aeries. Some are low enough that living creatures deposited in them might survive, and others circle the world above the atmosphere.
GM Intrusion: A scavrow
makes a “snatch and drop” attack against a character who is not the object or person of interest. This entails making both talon attacks against the PC. If both hit, they inflict regular damage, and the victim is snatched up into the air and dropped from a height of 1d10 × 10 feet (3 m to
30 m).
SCRIVENER
4 (12)
In the city of Qi lies the Cathedral of Form, where devout priests of Nomothet, God of the Flesh, attempt ancient techniques to shape and reshape slaves into specific configurations for specific purposes. Many are the horror stories of the flesh priests’ failures, but the greatest of their successes, so far, are the scriveners. These strange beings have four legs, repositioned arms, and a number of synth and metal tendril-tails that sprout from their back. Scriveners are designed to write with extreme quickness and accuracy, even while walking or running, holding a writing desk on the lap created by folding two of their legs. Their saliva serves as a brilliant black ink that drips from a long tongue. One of their implanted tendrils holds a small cage with a biomechanical mogigraphis bird, able to remember and mimic all the sounds it heard in the past eight hours. The scrivener uses its feathered comrade to double-check its writing.
Like all creations of the Cathedral of Form, scriveners bear the tattooed markings of Nomothet, the upside-down eye.
Motive: Loyalty to their master
Environment: Civilized, populated areas Health: 12
Damage Inflicted: 4 points Armor: 1
Movement: Short
Modifications: Remembering details as level 9; stealth as level 6; Speed defense as level 5.
Combat: Most of the time, a scrivener flees from combat. If it must defend itself, it does so with thin synth tails that end in metal barbs. It can make an attack with one tail while using the others to block blows and distract foes.
Interaction: Scriveners cannot speak. Their loyalty has been conditioned into them, and memories of their lives before their transformation into scriveners have been erased. Most are devoted worshippers of Nomothet and believe themselves to be doing his will through service. Use: Scrivener slaves are used by
nobles, rulers, barristers, Aeon Priests, technicians, and others to record conversations and speeches, maintain financial records, and transcribe and record important details. Sometimes this requires a scrivener to go into a dangerous situation or use subterfuge (such as sneaking into an enemy castle and lingering outside a window to record what’s said within). The PCs might get involved when
they are hired by a noble to take important documents away from the scrivener of her enemy. Loot: A scrivener might carry 1d10
shins, and its internal workings might yield an oddity or a cypher. The mogigraphis bird alone is worth 100 shins. But the greatest
GM Intrusion: The
scrivener produces a cypher that creates a cloud of choking smoke (to which it is immune) that fills the area within short range and lasts for one minute if wind conditions allow. While those within the cloud cough and choke (Might defense roll each round to avoid losing one’s turn), the scrivener slips away.
CREATURES: SCRIVENER - SHANU
SHANU
2 (6)
Shanu are tiny, meek, and innocuous herbivores that tend to live in trees and amid rocks—anywhere they can hide or quickly climb out of harm’s way. However, they are also found in the company of humans and other creatures because they make excellent companions and pets.
“As lucky as a shanu” is a common phrase, but it’s a misappropriation. Many people believe that shanu manipulate probability. This isn’t the case, but shanu can help chosen allies that they hope will defend them against aggressors.
Motive: Protection Environment: Anywhere Health: 8
Damage Inflicted: 1 point Movement: Short
Modifications: Climb and stealth as level 5; perception as level 4; Speed defense as level 4 due to size and speed.
Combat: Shanu flee rather than fight. They can nip, but beyond that, they have little means of inflicting damage. Their real talent is enhancing the abilities of other creatures. Their primary means of defense is finding an ally and making her more powerful. At the cost of 1 point of health, a shanu can decrease the difficulty of its ally’s next action by one step. The creature accomplishes this through an unconscious use of telepathy, enhancing the skill and knowledge of the ally. Shanu are incredibly resilient, regenerating 1 point of health per hour. Even the most injured or
exhausted shanu is up and fully functional after a night’s rest.
Interaction: Shanu are extremely clever little creatures. They do not speak, but they can learn to understand an extensive vocabulary of words. They are always on the lookout for a powerful ally to protect them, and when they find one, they remain fiercely loyal to it. The ally’s behavior doesn’t matter as long as it protects them, so a shanu might be the companion of a noble knight, a horrible abhuman chieftain, a callerail, or even an accelerator.
Use: Shanu can be trained to follow a variety of commands. Their front paws are almost human and can grip small objects. They are excellent climbers and have particularly sharp senses. It’s not uncommon to see them perched on the shoulder of another creature.
GM Intrusion: The shanu
scurries away, and suddenly crashing through the trees toward the character is its large and dangerous defender!
Accelerator, page 20 Callerail, page 234
Illumination (darkness) rules, page 96