Each person in your party must be connected to you in some manner. A party member can only be paired with specific Relationship options. You can make a party member your Ally, Family, Friend, or Lover for point instead of the normal cost of that choice. The party member in question must reciprocate by taking the same Connection towards you. You can also take a party member as a Retainer, Contact, or Favor for the normal point cost. This will actually create the obligation implied in that relationship (i.e. if you take someone as a retainer, you must pay them for their services). To represent this, they put the inverse of the cost you paid on their character sheet (your retainer would get -5 points for her connection to you, and call you their Patron).
• All party member connections MUST be agreed to by all involved players. You cannot force anyone into a relationship with you that they do not want.
• If a new party member enters the game after it has started, they can come in as any of the above relationships as long as it is logical, agreed upon by all players, and supported by the GM.
Rebel:
A Rebel is someone who is opposed to the established political order in which they live. This may be a guerilla hiding in the jungle, a foriegn spy, runaway slaves, or any other type of person who would be arrested by an agent of the law if they were
detected. As a result, they are problematic to reach and tend to be of limited utility to you. Locating this connection should require some substantial time and energy, such as hiking deep in the jungle or meeting at odd hours in an unusual place.
• Can have almost any skill on the skill list, but they should only have one.
• Should not be a Retainer or Ally unless they are in a position to easily evade the law. For example, a runaway slave could be posing as your slave while travelling inside a slave-owning area.
Outcast:
An Outcast is someone who is looked down upon by their society. They are generally tolerated, but they may be subjected to abusive harassment occasionally. This might be a member of an ethnic minority, a foreign worker, a new immigrant, a drug addict, a mentally ill person, or any other type of person with whom an average member of society would not want to associate strongly. A character with a Rejection value of 5 or higher cannot take this kind of connection.
• An outcast can have almost any skill on the skill list, but they should only have one.
• Can be paired with any relationship option.
Type Party Member 0 Rebel Outcast Soother Transporter Entertainer Investigator Elite Clergy Healer Merchant Mechanic 4 Technician 4 Producer 4 Criminal 5 Military 5 Linguist 5 Intellectual 5
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Soother:
A Soother is someone who can help you relax. They could help your relax through manipulation of your body or through reaching out to your mind. This might be a psychiatrist, massage therapist, prostitute, acupuncture specialist, or any other person who would have the ability to relax you by practicing their craft. Alternatively, it might be someone with access to a mechanized way of relaxing, such as the owner of a hot tub, pool, sauna, spa, mud-bath, or similar contrivance. Finally, it might be someone who controls access to an environmental relaxation location; such as the guardsman at the gate into the imperial gardens where you like to secretly stroll in the early morning hours.
• Cannot be paired with the relationship options of Patron, Ally, Rival, Enemy, or Debt.
Transporter:
A Transporter is someone who can move people or things. Depending on the nature of what is being transported, this may make them an illicit or legitimate individual. An illicit transporter could be a slave trader, human trafficker, drug trafficker, smuggler, or similar. A legitimate transporter could be a ship captain, stagecoach driver, freighter, truck driver, charter pilot, bus driver, or similar. Illicit connections are inherently more difficult to contact than legitimate ones due to the secret nature of their lifestyle, unless they live in a society rife with corruption.
• Cannot be paired with the relationship options of Patron or Debt unless they are illicit.
Entertainer:
An Entertainer is someone who is involved in public entertainment. This could be an actual entertainer like a dancer, singer, musician, comedian, poet, writer, magician, or similar performer. Alternatively, it could be someone who supports such people like their makeup artist, choreographer, composer, lyricist, magician’s assistant, bouncer, etc. Finally, it might be someone who owns or works in an entertainment venue like a dance club, theater, opera house, comedy club, or speak-easy.
• Can be paired with any relationship option.
Investigator:
An Investigator is someone who is an expert at acquiring information. Depending on the nature of the information being acquired, this may make them an illicit or legitimate individual. An illicit investigator could be a spy, informant, undercover operative, traitor, or similar. A legitimate investigator could be a private investigator, reporter, researcher, criminologist, detective, or profession. Illicit connections are inherently more difficult to contact than legitimate ones due to the secret nature of their lifestyle, unless they live in a society rife with corruption.
• Can be paired with any relationship option.
Elite:
An Elite is someone who is passively or actively involved in governmental decision-making. A passively involved individual might be a minor noble, wealthy businessman, corporate lobbyist, or similar individual who is limited to only partially influencing actual decision-makers. An actively involved individual would be a major noble, police chief, mayor, sheriff, senator, president, prime minister, king, or similar person with actual political power. In societies with high levels of corruption, the elite could be a leader of organized crime or a manipulative shadow government.
Clergy:
A member of the Clergy is someone who is involved in the actual administration of a religious institution. This could be someone as minor as a parish priest, imam, rabbi, medicine man, witch doctor, or similar person involved in direct contact with believers. Alternatively, it could be someone who serves a purely administrative or symbolic function such as a cardinal, religious scholar, mullah, or similar person who does not have much contact with the believers of their religion on a day-to-day basis.
• Can be paired with any relationship option.
Healer:
A Healer is someone who is believed to be able to heal the body from physical damage. The actual success of their treatments may vary. Most pre-modern societies rely heavily on magical, supernatural, or religious ideas about the healing of the body. These methods are, except in the case of actually magical worlds, effectively only as placebos. However, healers should be treated with seriousness and respect if your culture actually believes their healing methods work. In a modern or futuristic world, this may be an actual physician or a supporting staff member like a nurse or medical technician. If cybernetics are used, this could be someone who designs or repairs the cybernetic technology.
• Can be paired with any relationship option except Debt.
Merchant:
A Merchant is someone who is involved in legitimate mercantile transactions. This could be someone doing the purchasing or logistical functions for a large organization such as a corporation or consortium. This could be someone involved in retailing like a store clerk or shop owner. Alternatively, it could be a solo operator such as a caravan merchant like Marco Polo.
• Can be paired with any relationship option.
Mechanic:
A Mechanic is someone involved in the repair or maintenance of technology based on the application of principles from physics and materials science. This might be an engine, vehicle, aircraft, spacecraft, watercraft, heavy industry, robotics, structures, or practical engineering related to these fields. A mechanic’s primary usefulness to the character is usually her practical knowledge related to fixing or finding useful equipment.
• Cannot be paired with the relationship options of Patron, Ally, Rival, Enemy, or Debt.
Technician:
A Technician is someone involved in the repair or maintenance of non-mechanical technology. This could be electronics, appliances, diagnostic equipment, medical equipment, or similar technology. A technician’s primary usefulness to the character is usually her practical knowledge related to fixing or finding useful equipment.
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Producer:
A Producer is someone who actually creates something for a living. This could be a sculptor, carpenter, mason, blacksmith, factory worker, or craftsman of any sort. A producer’s primary usefulness to the character is usually her practical knowledge related to fixing or finding useful equipment.
• Can only have skills or possessions related to their usefulness in this manner.
• Cannot be paired with the relationship options of Patron, Ally, Rival, Enemy, or Debt.
Criminal:
A Criminal is someone currently or formerly involved in criminal activity other than transportation or
investigation (see descriptions for these Types for details). A criminal might be a pickpocket, robber, burgular, kidnapper, forger, assassin, bomber, or someone coordinating such activity. Illicit connections are inherently more difficult to contact than legitimate one’s due to the secret nature of their lifestyle , unless they live in a society rife with corruption. You can take a criminal relationship with an ex-criminal if you wish, making them easier to contact but leaving them with fewer ties to the current state of the underworld.
• Can be paired with any relationship option. Retainers must be ex-criminals.
Military:
A Military individual is someone actively or formerly involved in military operations. This could be someone who is a lowly infantryman or it could be a powerful general. Her abilities may be useful to characters because of practical value (i.e. actual combat skills) or due to connections with individuals involved in military operations (such as knowing the coast guard’s current patrol pattern). Military connections are inherently more difficult to contact than regular one’s due to the cloistered nature of their lifestyle. You can take a military relationship with an ex-military individual if you wish, making them easier to contact but leaving them with fewer ties to the current state of the military.
• Can be paired with any relationship option. Retainers must be ex-military.
Linguist:
A Linguist is someone who knows or has access to a large number of languages. For practical purposes, these individuals should know at least twice the number of languages than an average person in their culture would know. This might be an international businessperson who has learned many languages to perform their business operations more efficiently, a professional translator, or someone who works in a university as an actual linguistics professor. A linguist’s primary usefulness to the character is usually her practical value related to the translation of languages unknown to the party.
• Can only have language Skills.
• Cannot be paired with the relationship options of Patron, Ally, Rival, Enemy, or Debt.
Intellectual:
An Intellectual is someone who is involved in theoretical, analytical, or philosophical endeavors. This could be an academic, sage, wise-man, philosopher, mathematician, or similar individual who devotes their life to ideas. An intellectual’s primary usefulness to the character is usually her practical value related to obscure information unknown to the party.