An Introduction to Yaggo's Boat

Bubbles in Oblivion

The Maelstrom is the universe. It is creative and destructive, formless and ordered, everything and nothing. The scattered worlds of gods and mortals float in this cosmic sea like froth in the surf. Maelstrom walkers flit from world to world, braving destruction in the chaos, free to journey while profane beings are tied only to worlds they can reach through bridges, and the gods are unable to even leave their own world.

Yaggo's Boat is unique in the universe. Yaggo was a student of the extraordinary Yierdo, and from her he learned the way to pronounce a different type of world. Yaggo's Boat moves. Yaggo has gained the powers and status of godhood without sacrificing the freedom of walking the Maelstrom.

Below Decks in the Boat

The boat is a huge place, though on the scale of most worlds it is still tiny. Much of its belowdecks lives in constant twilight, far away from the bright lights and comforts of the Great Galleries and the Garden. Though the writings passed down from generation to generation by the archivists of the Venturers list out the lengths and widths of the boat with great precision, even space and distance lose meaning in some areas. A traveler walking along the deck from Yaggo's citadel of Gennoh to the great forecastle of Arakoth would pass no more than twenty kilometers; the same distance carries a traveler only a small fraction of the way through the Garden. Nobody really knows how large the Bilges actually are.

The inhabited parts of Yaggo's Boat are bright and livable, decorated by the shouts of people and the smells of cooking, washing and decay. The less-hospitable parts are darker, and often colder. Low down in the bilges the dim glow of phosphor on the damp walls is the only light. The furtive residents make only the faintest of splashings in the icy water.

Beyond the mortal area of Yaggo's Boat lie the places where only Yaggo and his Created are willing to travel. The huge ranges of the Rigging above the decks are the domain of the t!osq!tam folk, Created with no fear of the Maelstrom and little concern for the doings of others. The great ziggurat of Gennoh where Yaggo holds court is reputed to be the home of Yaggo's Navigators, terrible creatures responsible for calculating the angles of the rigging necessary to bring the boat to it's next destination. Only the eldest priests of the Gaurgast are able to enter Gennoh, and none of them return from the trip.

The Great Galleries

The two Great Galleries are the center of civilized life upon Yaggo's Boat. There are three wide-open boulevards down each gallery, with balconied decks ("Stacks") rising ten levels up along the sides. The boulevards are brightly lit by arrays of lux gems set into the underside of the deck (stealing the gems is a popular avocation among the young and foolhardy; it is fortunate that they regrow after they are removed). The boulevards are five hundred meters wide, as are the Stacks. The Forward Gallery stretches some five kilometers long, while the smaller Aft Gallery is "only" four kilometers long. Each Stack reaches up to the underside of the deck, and down to the upper reaches of the Bilges. It is easily possible to find both hatchways up and down all through them.

The Aft Gallery is the home of the Gaurgast, the most powerful nation aboard the boat and the owners of the only two known Clavar Mills on board. The Forward Gallery is larger and less-ordered, featuring the territories of the Venturers, the Suugarti Smoke-Eaters and several smaller factions.

The Galleries hold a central place in Yaggo's Boat not only because they represent a central habitable region, but also because they are the only known places where the uru flows. There are eight Bountiful Springs in the Forward Gallery, and another seven in the Aft Gallery. Each produces a constant flow of uru (also called the "Bounty of Yaggo"), a nourishing liquid with the consistency of syrup and the flavor of a weak meat broth. uru is the basic dietary staple of most of the inhabitants of Yaggo's Boat, as it is the only consistent food source available anywhere outside of the Garden (and at times is much more consistent than anything produced by the Garden). Though access to uru is almost a trivial blessing when Yaggo's Boat is docked against a world and outside foodstuffs can be brought in, it becomes the difference between starvation and plenty when Yaggo's Boat is far distant from it's next stop and all other stores of food have long since been exhausted.

The Garden

The Garden occupies the center of Yaggo's Boat. It is a huge open area, measuring hundreds of kilometers on a side. The interior looks almost exactly like a more typical world, including forests, hills, rivers and a small freshwater sea. The whole area is lit from above by Yaggo's Eye, the largest lux gem in the boat, for twenty hours out of every thirty.

The Garden is divided into two uneven halves by the Yierdogiven Sea. The aftmost half is a verdant paradise of tall forests broken by ranges of craggy hills and sporadic valleys. The foremost half is a ruined wasteland of barren rivers and scraggly bushes. The old histories of the boat suggest that the wasted part of the Garden was once even more beautiful than the part that remains green, until it was ravaged by the hungers of mortal races. If these stories are true, Yaggo has clearly learned from the experience: the verdant half of the Garden is inhabited by an array of savage Created predators that preferentially destroy mortals and their works.

The largest city in the Garden is Lin Vu Quo, predictably located on the blighted side of the Yierdogiven Sea. It comes nowhere close to matching the glories of the great cities of Abbatine, Padachee or Mardaka. Most of the buildings are made of adobe bricks only barely stabilized with dry grasses. Strong rainstorms send muddy washes running off from the city, and usually see at least one or two of the more unstable buildings collapsing. The city is ruled by a triumvirate of three Tyrants, elected for life from among the ranks of the aristocratic Mun Xi class. Though the policies of the Tyrants change from year to year, their normal social policies are nothing short of draconian, in recognition of the fact that the city is only nominally self-supporting thanks to it's fields of whipgrass and it's herds of graylings.

The Church of Yaggo the Redeemer is very popular in Lin Vu Quo. The central tenet of the church is that the current miseries of the place were created by the foolishness of the city's ancestors, who stripped the Garden bare out of greed. Yaggo's blessings will return to Lin Vu Quo when the people have atoned for their ancestors' sins by restoring the Garden to its former beauty. The church spends significant time and money sending foresters out to restore sections of the Garden, with the official backing of the Tyrants.

The Warrens

"Warrens" is a general term for any part of the belowdecks that is neither Bilge nor Gallery. Most of the Warrens are close to the outer hull of the ship, and tend to be cold, damp or both (depending upon how far they are from the Bilge proper, and how close they are to the hull). They are generally subdivided into smallish decks and corridors, often in dizzying geometries that leave incautious travelers lost beyond all hope.

Few folk live out in the Warrens. Those who do are usually looked upon as hermits or outlaws, with some accuracy. The only sources of food in the Warrens are the smaller animals that migrate up from the Bilges or out from the Garden, often leaving Warren-dwellers with little choice but to prey upon the better-fed inhabitants of the Galleries.

The two sections of Warrens that are worth additional attention lie alongside the Garden, linking the Forward Gallery to the Aft Gallery. Because traveling through the Warrens is much easier than traveling through the Garden (particularly the aftward sections) or through the Bilges, these regions are extremely important to the nations and factions of Yaggo's Boat. The Gaurgast controls a safe route through the Port route, while the Outer Warrens warlord Greenfang sends patrols through the Starboard route. Both of them try to make the way safer for travelers in exchange for a toll, but even the narrowest Warrens are difficult to seal off with any assurance.

The Warrens are also a prime destination for fools and adventurers interested in finding their fortune. Clavar-sealed doors block off large sections of Warrens. Well-funded expeditions from the Galleries often attempt to open these areas, hoping that the seals protect treasures and valuables left by the ancients. Sometimes they find amazing things. Sometimes they find unspeakable horrors. More often they find empty chambers, occupied by nothing more than dried skeletons and wisps of cloth.

The Bilge

Head straight down from any part of Yaggo's Boat and you will eventually reach the Bilge. While the upper ranges of the belowdecks feature reassuringly straight corridors and level floors, the Bilge resembles a long series of twisted caverns. The lowermost reaches are submerged in the depths of the Sunless Sea, a body of water that (as far as anyone has ever been able to tell) is far larger than the much more hospitable Yierdosgift Sea in the Garden. No mortal has ever managed to reach down far enough into the Bilge to find the Keel.

The problem in much of the belowdecks is finding a consistent source of food. This is not the problem faced by Bilge-dwellers. There are dozens of small sources of uru in the deep Bilge, most of them overgrown in huge mats of pale lichen. The lichen in turn feeds an entire ecosystem of aquatic and amphibian creatures, including those few mortal races that find the environment to their liking.

But the Bilge is not a paradise without troubles for its residents. In place of food, they must fear the cold. Close to the hull the temperature drops sharply (strangely, this is not a problem for the denizens of the Rigging). Even the central portions of the Sunless Sea are uncomfortably cold, enough to cause humans swimming unprotected to suffer hypothermia within hours.

Above Deck

The decks of Yaggo's Boat are somewhat similar to those of a mortal ship, but only in theme. Six great masts ascend from the edges of the deck at a wide angle, swiftly branching into a weblike maze of filaments and gossamer sails. The sails themselves are almost substantial enough to block out the sight of the Maelstrom, but they do not cover nearly enough of the view: any mortal creature standing upon the deck and gazing up is in immediate danger of losing its sanity to the whirling formlessness above.

Gennoh

Towards the stern of the boat, the incredible ziggurat shape of Gennoh rises up to challenge the Maelstrom. It is widely believed that Gennoh is Yaggo's citadel, and home to at least one Created race never seen by any other denizen of the boat, but there are no known stories of anyone ever managing to see the interior of Gennoh and return.

Arakoth

The fortress of Arakoth dominates the prow, providing a suitable match for the grandeur of Yaggo's citadel. Unlike its cousin, mortals do have some understanding of what lies inside. Unfortunately, the stories are not consistent. Some say that Arakoth houses a huge army of Maelstrom Walkers frozen into rank upon rank of statues, awaiting the day when Yaggo will have need of them. The priests of Lin Vu Quo's church of Yaggo the Redeemer say that Arakoth is a paradise for the faithful, and that any who have sacrificed all for the rebirth of the Garden will reawaken there after they die. Some hermits who brave the Maelstrom to prove their purity claim that Arakoth is a prison, a place where Yaggo can confine and torture hostile Maelstrom Walkers for his own unknowable purposes.

The Rigging

Even the most knowledgeable of mortal theologians are unable to explain why Yaggo's Boat needs sails and rigging to travel through the Maelstrom. The blind, deaf and mute t!osq!tam Rigger folk may know, but they certainly haven't volunteered anything.

Whatever the reason, Yaggo's Boat sails underneath an almost incomprehensible cloud of filament-like sails affixed to an unending forest of Rigging. All of it is supported by the six masts, and by most measures it occupies a volume so huge that populations of t!osq!tam living on different masts speak different languages.

The environment of the Rigging, surrounded as it is by Maelstrom, is almost uninhabitable to profane creatures. However, the very inhospitability of a home in the depths of the Maelstrom is actually quite attractive to some mortals unable to live in the rest of the boat. Scattered communities of outlaws, rebels and mystics find tiny islands of safety amid the Rigging. Some of them are short-lived, but others manage to survive for years. Most have a high loss rate, as their inhabitants fall afoul of either the t!osq!tam or the Maelstrom itself.

Calendar

The dominant calendar of Yaggo's boat is the Audurian Calendar, innovated by a scholar of the now-vanished Orumbrian Order. It does not feature a year of constant length, instead dividing time up into Voyages and Stays of varying length. A Voyage starts when the forward ramps close up, and lasts until the beginning of the next Stay. A Stay starts when the forward ramps open up again. Both Voyages and Stays are subdivided into six-day weeks, based upon the thirty-hour Garden day. Audurus placed the beginning of the First Voyage after the destruction of Yierdo, with the First Stay immediately following it.

Within both Voyages and Stays, days are recorded consecutively. Thus, the 100th day of the 3rd Voyage would be recorded as 3V100. Weeks are carried through from Voyage to Stay and Stay to Voyage. In principle, the first day of the First Voyage was a Seersday and weeks have continued to be carried through sequentially from there. In practice, calendar reform efforts have repositioned the days and changed the length of the week several times (Audurus himself used an eighteen-day week, with days deliberately named after various former rulers and heroes of the Orumbrian Order).

Almost every week system reflects the fact that certain days appear to be particularly beneficial to specific types of magic. The effects recur on a six-day cycle, lending some credence to the idea that six days is the "natural" length of a week. The current days of the week, and their corresponding bonuses, are:

Yaggo's recent visit to Abbatine was the 3084th Stay, and lasted 82 days.3084

The Peoples of Yaggo's Boat

Rare among creators, Yaggo has not seen fit to scatter his own created races throughout his world. His own Created are uncommon, and confined mostly to isolated corners of the Boat. There are some archivists and theologians who suggest that there were once many more of Yaggo's Created on the boat, and that they vanished at the hands of one or more terrible misfortunes. Instead, the boulevards and stacks are populated with a dizzying variety of Outsiders.

Yaggo's Created include the enigmatic t!osq!tam, blind and deaf creatures who live in the high rigging following the commands of Yaggo and his navigators; the Clockworks, fragile and ancient things that remember the forgotten times; the saufling Bilge-dwellers; the bauskers, small and snaggle-toothed creatures with a love for machinery (especially Clockworks); and the Yaggo humans, orange-skinned and proud of their heritage. Most of Yaggo's Created, particularly the t!osq!tam and the sauflings, live far away from the Galleries and the Garden. Their ways are mysterious even to others am Yaggo's Created.

Several pure and half-breed types of human are the most numerous profane beings on the boat. There are a half-dozen common varieties, some hailing from recent stops and some whose ancestors have been aboard the boat longer than they lived upon their parent world. Yierdo dwarfs are almost as common, no surprise given Yaggo's origins as a student of Yierdo. Several other races are even less common, though they are still able to maintain significant communities within the context of human society

Bauskers are smallish, hairy things that scuttle through the Stacks and Warrens. They have febrile yellow eyes, snaggly and uneven teeth and patchy fur all over their bodies. They love mechanical devices, and show surprising strength of character in a pinch. Bausker females give birth to litters of four to five pups. The pups mature within eight years to take their places in society as adults. Bausker society is strongly matriarchal: bauskers of both genders give almost limitless loyalty to their mothers. Larger bausker social groups are led by elder females and are largely comprised of those females' younger descendants.

Bauskers have -1 ST (-8 points), -1 IQ (-10 points), +5 Strong Will (20 points), +2 Manual Dexterity (6 points), Early Maturation (5 points), Compulsion: mechanical things (-5 points), Sense of Duty: matriarch (-10 points), and the skill Mechanic (clockwork) at IQ+1 (4 points). It costs 2 points to be a bausker.

Few inhabitants of Yaggo's Boat realize that the bauskers are intimately linked to the clockworks. Bauskers are fascinated by mechanical things, and are the actual source for almost all clockwork parts. They repair damaged clockworks, they manufacture parts for new clockworks, and they help existing clockworks assemble their children. And they do it all hidden in the shadows of the Warrens.

Clockworks are not common, but they are normally extremely old. Most living clockworks are tens of thousands of days old. They are incredibly conservative by nature, a habit that only grows deeper as they age. Because clockworks can only be repaired with great difficulty, older clockworks often retain the scars of injuries suffered long ago in their impetuous youth.

The original clockworks are reputed to have been created by Yaggo himself, but they are long dead. More recent generations of clockworks are manufactured from the original model by the bausker folk. Clockworks are also dependent upon the bausker folk for rewinding and maintenance. They normally use an extract of Yaggo's bounty as a lubricant, in quantities only slightly less than what a living creature would consume as food.

Clockworks have +1 ST (8 points), -1 DX (-10 points), +15 Extra Hit Points (75 points), two levels of Body of Metal (always on, 14 points), Immunity to Disease (10 points), Immunity to Poison (10 points), Unaging (15 points), Injury Tolerance (no blood; double damage from crushing and impaling attacks, but no extra damage from cutting attacks; 5 points), Hidebound (-5 points), Obdurate (-10 points), Unliving (-50 points) and Unhealing (-30 points). It costs 32 points to be a clockwork.

Clockworks gain PD 1 and DR 3 from their metal construction, but lose 20% of their Move. They also gain +2 damage to punches and kicks. They never heal on their own, but they can be repaired if suitable parts can be manufactured with the Mechanic (clockwork) skill. A clockwork reduced to 0 hit points normally falls inactive very rapidly (as soon as it fails a consciousness roll) but may still be repaired. A clockwork reduced to –1 hit points or below is destroyed.

Gaurmen are thugs. They are heavy-set, with lumpen faces offset by thick tusks, and walk with a bestial lope. They are very tough, and value that trait in other races as well.

Gaurmen have +2 ST (16 points), -1 HT (-10 points), -1 IQ (-10 points), +2 Extra Hit Points (10 points), Toughness (DR 1; 10 points), High Pain Threshold (10 points), Callous (-6 points), Intolerance: weakling races (-5 points), and the Brawling skill @ DX+1 (2 points). It costs 17 points to be a gaurman.

Holy City humans are newcomers on Yaggo's Boat. They originally derive from the world of Mardaka, where they inhabited the ruins of the Holy City around Mardaka's great Citadel at the center of the world. Most Holy City humans are Folk, completely without hope or ambition beyond their next meal, a side effect of the desolate environment of their upbringing. They depend entirely upon the gargantuan Food-Makers to manufacture sustenance, and upon the fanatic Living Weapons to protect them. They are all capable of Magery and could be tremendously magical, but only Food-Makers and Living Weapons normally learn any magic at all. Folk, Food-Makers and Living Weapons normally gather into tribal groups ("Plazas") named after their leader (e.g., "Chugen's Plaza"). Plaza leaders may be either Food-Makers or Living Weapons.

Tale-tellers are something of an exception to the rule: they are self-motivated and interested in bringing news from one Plaza to another. Outsiders normally find them easier to deal with than other types of Holy City human, but their own brethren generally treat them with some suspicion.

Holy City humans have -1 DX (-10 points), Magery (15 points) and Poverty (poor; -15 points). Total cost to be Folk is -10 points. Food-Makers also have +4 Extra Fatigue Points (20 points), Magery 2 (10 points), +2 Reputation: Food-Maker (10 points) and Fat (-20 points). It costs 10 points to be a Food-Maker. Living Weapons also have Combat Reflexes (15 points), Toughness (10 points) and Sense of Duty: Folk (-10 points). It costs 5 points to be a Living Weapon.

The inothkuk are outsiders from an obscure world. They are distinguished by a lifecycle that most other races find appalling. The inothkuk, of course, consider it to be completely natural. Many of them are just as appalled at the life cycles of their erstwhile critics.

Inothkuk are eight-limbed, and hold a distinct resemblance to five-foot diameter spiders. They have no visible eyes, only a pair of shiny sensory patches on their forward body. Four of their limbs are commonly used as hands, with the remaining four serving as legs.

The one thing that sets the inothkuk apart from all other profane species on Yaggo's Boat is their reproductive style. Inothkuk are born pregnant. They carry hundreds of growing larvae in their bodies. These larvae form a significant part of the inothkuk's nervous system, and in the process absorb a great part of their parent's personality and memory. After about 18,000 days, the larvae become active. A flood of hormones immobilizes the parent, and the larvae eat their way out. Within moments after they emerge, they mate with each other and sow the seeds of both their own destruction and the next generation. Those that survive reach maturity within a year, helped by the fact that they retain many memories from their parents.

Inothkuk have -1 ST (-8 points), +1 DX (10 points), Injury Tolerance (no impaling bonus; 20 points), Infravision (15 points), Early Maturation (3 levels; 15 points), Racial Memory (15 points), two Extra Arms (20 points), two Extra Legs (5 points), Thick Shell (DR 2; 6 points), Claws (15 points), Enhanced Move (10 points), Fragile (-20 points), Blind (-50 points), and Self-Destruct (-20 points). It costs 33 points to be inothkuk.

Oorthoi are a scavenger race, able to eat practically anything. They have pallid skin that continually peels away from their bodies. Their eyes are huge, lambent orbs that work poorly in bright light but very well in darkness. They are about the same size as humans, but tend towards a shapelessness of form that repulses most other races. They tend to wear flowing robes in drab colors. Most oorthoi smell faintly of rotting flesh. Their teeth are flat and stubby, intended to grind and chew.

Oorthoi live on the fringes of other races' societies. Due to their resistance to disease and their willingness to endure conditions other races find intolerable, they can often find work as undertakers and leatherworkers. On Yaggo's Boat, the oorthoi are predominantly Bilge-dwellers. They are not as fond of the colds as the Created sauflings, and thus tend to remain in the upper reaches of the Bilges. There are several organized groups of oorthoi who provide a ferry service between the Forward and Aft Galleries through the waterways of the Bilge.

Oorthoi have +2 HT (20 points), Night Vision (10 points), Cast Iron Stomach (15 points), Immune to Disease (10 points), Limited Vision: -3 to vision-based rolls in sunlight (-15 points), Ugly (-10 points), -2 Reputation: unpleasant creatures (-10 points). Typical advantages include Acute Hearing, Alertness and Toughness. Typical disadvantages include Social Stigma: outcast (-10 points) or Phobias of sunlight and fire.

There is a wide variety of outsider human races living on Yaggo's Boat, but a half-dozen of them are particularly common and are summarized below.

Of these groups, the Faian and Sangorn are the most common, while the Zatulph and Paturki are the rarest (less common even than Yaggo humans). Mixed-breeds are also fairly common, especially mixed breeds involving human variants that have either been on board for centuries, or that have long since vanished in their "pure" form (normal stats, but with very variable appearance).

Paurkend are big creatures with stony, crudely-formed bodies. They are normally about two meters tall, and almost half that wide. Surprisingly, they tend rather strongly towards intellectual pursuits, displaying little interest in more physical pursuits.

Paurkend have +3 ST (24 points), -2 DX (-20 points), +2 IQ (20 points), +1 HT (10 points), DR 2 (6 points), and -2 Reduced Manual Dexterity (-6 points). Total cost to be a paurkend is 34 points.

The rushufarr are an old race long exiled from their homeworld of Tua-Thrux. They show a wide variation in appearance, particularly among those who are members of a pure heartline. Most common rushufarr have thick fur and facial features that are a mix of human and wolf. They live in large family groups, generally led by one or more members of a pure heartline. They are a savage people given to uncontrolled rages and a bestial, killing fury. In most cases, they follow a pastoral culture. It is rare that the rushufarr will be the dominant species in a region.

The rushufarr are unified in their hatred of the thrux race. This hatred is inborn, doubtless a legacy left them by their Creator. They are normally a savage race, but faced with their preferred foes their rage becomes uncontrollable. Unfortunately, the victors in this battle were settled long ago: the rushufarr have long since been exterminated on the world of Tua-Thrux.

The rushufarr were once divided into several pure species called heartlines. Though all rushufarr associate themselves with a specific heartline, most members of the species have long since interbred, suppressing the heartline characteristics of their ancestors, but a minority have managed to retain (or regain) pure blood. Several heartlines are known to have survived the diaspora. Representatives of the pure heartlines are normally found in leadership positions in rushufarr Packs. The characteristics of the known heartlines are listed below. Note that any member of a pure heartline gains +1 Status.

Rushufarr have +1 DX (10 points), -1 IQ (-10 points), +2 Extra Hit Points (10 points), DR 1 (3 points), Animal Empathy (5 points), +3 Alertness (15 points), Sharp Teeth (5 points), Stress Atavism (-16 points), and Intolerance (Thrux; -10 points). They have the racial skill of Brawling @ DX+2 (4 points). It costs 16 points to be rushufarr.

The sauflings are an enigmatic race. They are most comfortable in the depths of the Bilges, only rarely rising up to the Galleries or the Garden. Sauflings look like a strange mix of frog torso and snake body. They have the rounded, bulging eyes and wide, lipless mouth of a frog (though not the tongue), but the sinuous body of a snake. Their arms are short and fleshy. Their fingers are wide and webbed. They are untroubled by all but the bitterest chill.

Saufling society is based around small family groups called sauf, centered around siblings spawned from the same egg creche. These groups tend to be self-perpetuating, as all sauflings in a sauf will spawn at the same time. Sauflings will sometimes move from one sauf to another, though the reasons why are usually obscure to outsiders.

Sauflings have -1 ST (-8 points), +1 DX (10 points), Amphibious (10 points), Gills (10 points), Night Vision (10 points), Temperature Tolerance (comfort zone from -20° F to 80° F, 10 points), Reduced Move (-5 points). It costs 37 points to be a saufling.

The t!osq!tam Rigger folk are an oddity even on Yaggo's Boat. They live high in the Rigging, constantly exposed to the sights and sounds of the Maelstrom, working to adjust the sails of Yaggo's Boat. Most creatures would be driven insane by the constant pressure of the Maelstrom, but the t!osq!tam are blind, deaf and mute. They cannot see the hypnotizing colors of the Maelstrom, and they cannot hear its seductive whispers. They live in tribal groups ranging in size from a few dozen to thousands of individuals, scattered widely across the vast territory of the rigging. They are lizardlike, though with no visible sensory organs upon their heads. Their limbs are vastly elongated compared to their bodies. Their fingers and toes are equally long, and end in wide, fleshy pads. Their sense of touch (their only primary sense remaining) is incredibly well-developed, compensating for their lack of sight and hearing. They are able to detect motion across the rigging with great precision. They communicate with each other through touch, either directly or by tapping against the rigging to talk at range.

T!osq!tam have two long (+1 hex) arms (20 points), two long (+1 hex) legs (20 points), Flexibility (15 points), Secret Communication (touch/vibration; 20 points), Sensitive Touch (10 points), Vibration Sense (as Faz Sense, but cannot detect anything not in touch with the ground; 10 points), Blindness (-50 points), Mute (-25 points), and Deafness (-20 points). Total cost to be a t!osq!tam is 0 points.

Their long arms give them +2 swing damage, +4 to grapple attempts and the ability to strike at a range of 2 hexes. Their long legs give them the ability to kick at a range of 2 hexes. Their flexible bodies allow them to bend in any direction, and give them a +5 bonus to Climbing, Escape and Mechanic rolls.

Tieblings are a slender, fleshy humanoids. They have long, pointed ears and three round, featureless eyes in a close-spaced triangle in the center of their faces. They are oviparous. A mated pair will typically produce a single egg once every several years. They are not a dominant race, and usually fill fairly menial roles within human society.

Tieblings have +1 DX (10 points), -2 Hit Points (-10 points), +2 Acute Vision (4 points), and Extended Lifespan (1 level; 5 points). It costs 9 points to be a tiebling.

Yaggo humans are not particularly common, especially compared to the teeming masses of outsider humans that inhabit the Galleries. Yaggo humans have orange skin and no hair except for a few wispy traces over their ears.

Yaggo humans have normal human stats, and two levels of Metabolism Control (10 points). They require about 20% less food and water than other humans, and can safely go without food or water for about four times as long. More important, Yaggo humans are able to place themselves into a deathlike trance for a predetermined amount of time (or until they suffer damage). This trait has allowed Yaggo humans to survive through times of famine and disaster while other races suffer and perish.

It costs 10 points to be a Yaggo human.

Yierdo dwarfs are (obviously) short and squat, with abundant facial hair. Though they have generally human body characteristics, their feet look like duck's feet. They usually keep their feet hidden in heavy boots to make this less apparent. Their base height is 18" shorter than that of a human of the same ST.

Yierdo dwarfs were first among the Created of Yierdo. They were forced to flee onto Yaggo's Boat about 4000 years ago when Yierdo was destroyed. Though Yierdo dwarfs on most worlds are decadent, dispirited folk surviving as subsistence farmers, thieves and hooligans, those upon Yaggo's Boat have substantially higher morale.

Many Yierdo dwarfs retain some measure of spiritual attachment to Yierdo, even to the extent of continuing to worship her. There have also been persistent rumors that the destruction of Yierdo did not destroy Yierdo herself, and that she has Created another world. Those Yierdo dwarfs who believe this story often attempt to search for Yierdo's Second.

Yierdo dwarfs have +1 ST (8 points), +1 HT (10 points), +2 Musical Aptitude (2 points), -1 Weak Will (-8 points) and Compulsive Behaviour: live to excess (-10 points). Most Yierdo dwarfs should have at least one social disadvantage to reflect the nature of their excess; Gluttony, Alcoholism and Addiction are particularly appropriate. Yierdo dwarfs from worlds other than Yaggo's Boat will have -2 Weak Will (-8 additional points).

Recent History

The recent history of Yaggo's Boat starts twenty-four Voyages ago with the Shult Fevers. Yaggo had arrived at the world of Firesky for the first time in almost thirty-five Voyages, an arrival that had been widely anticipated by the seers. Many of the Forward Gallery merchants anticipated trading with the locals for Inferno Bird plumes, making a tidy profit in the process. But things had changed in Firesky during Yaggo's absence. The docking point came out near the city of Shult, which previous records had described as a provincial trading center. Explorers discovered that Shult had been devastated by a combination of plague and violence, then swiftly found that the plagues were still around. The devastation on board Yaggo' Boat was terrible. The Dockman's Order tried to defend the boarding ramps, but so many of them fell ill that they couldn't prevent all manner of desperate and vicious locals from coming on board. By the end of the chaos, the Dockman's Order was gone, along with several other large institutions of Forward Gallery society.

Fall of the Dockman's Order

The disaster at Firesky broke the power of the Dockman's Order and the Four Tribes of Kupri humans who controlled it. The traditional Kupri distrust of outsiders had not endeared them to other ethnic groups, and did not stand them in good stead when their numbers were weakened by disease. A coalition of Sangorn humans and bausker tribes from the settlement at Venda's Fount defied the standing Dockman's Order prohibition against standing military forces and attacked the Dockman's Order Guildhall at Sayoch Bounty. Their victory was more an indication of the damage the plagues had inflicted on the Kupri than the prowess of their forces.

The Sangorn mercenary troops became the Red Pikes, who in turn grew to become the military core of the Venturer group. The Sangorn-led Venda's Fount nation used them to gain control over a wide range of uru fountains, but found itself under renewed pressure three Voyages after it's victory when Yaggo's Boat docked upon Kupri. Kinsmen of the original Four Tribes learned of what had happened and moved to attack Yaggo's Boat in force. The new insurgence of Kupri humans was enough to overrun the Sangorn governors at Sayoch Bounty, but not enough to restore the Kupri to their dominant position.

Tua-Thrux

By the time Yaggo arrived at Tua-Thrux in the 3072nd Voyage, power in the Forward Gallery was divided among the Sangorn at Venda's Fount, the Electors of Doorway City, the Kupri Chungon ("big man") at Sayoch Bounty, and Strategos Pieros Gilo of the Red Pikes. The first three factions controlled most of the uru fountains of the Forward Gallery. The Red Pikes controlled none, but had the support of an informal alliance of paurkend and human merchants who dealt in turn with Usshugin's Boys and the Gaurgast to ensure a relatively stable food supply.

Yaggo's arrival at Tua-Thrux was greeted with concern. Yaggo's last stop there had been in the 2969th Voyage, over 48,000 days before. Many records had been lost in the devastation of the Shult Fevers, leaving old Clockworks as the most reliable source of information. When the hatchways finally did open, most of the Forward Gallery's fears proved illusory. The thrux natives were fanatic militants, but their ruling aristocrats had little interest in causing trouble for Yaggo's Boat. Things changed when the Gua Far, a coalition of Garden aristocrats and heretical priests, arranged to hire a large band of exiled thrux in an effort to take control of Lin Vu Quo. The rulers of the Forward Gallery thought little of this plan, but did nothing to stop it.

The Gua Far offensive was successful, though the Gua Far themselves gained little from it. Thrux mercenary officers assumed power in Lin Vu Quo, sparking several waves of Faian and tiebling refugees. Large numbers of Yaggo humans vanished, possibly into deep refuges and hibernation, but possibly into unmarked mass graves a the hands of the thrux. The Gua Far leaders retreated to the edges of the Garden, to the cities of Bao Am and Bao Lat. They spent the next five Voyages engaged in sporadic warfare with the thrux.

Augurn Plain

The powers of the Forward Gallery were concerned about the possible ambitions of the thrux, but were generally content to provide the Electors of Doorway City with money and resources for fortifications. The Gaurgast initially had little interest in the situation in the Garden, until the thrux found a pathway down into the Bilges and started raiding Gaurgast shipping. The key to dislodging the thrux came in the 3077th Voyage, when Yaggo stopped at Moge. Several priests of the Church of Yaggo the Redeemer had remained on Moge when Yaggo stopped there in the 3073rd Voyage. They had spent the 1000 days between visits telling their story of betrayal and massacre, looking for help. They discovered a Created race of Moge called the rushufarr ("beastmen") who had declared a vendetta against the thrux. The priests enlisted four rushufarr heartlines to their cause. The priests and their rushufarr allies were waiting for Yaggo's Boat, and surged on board before the Red Pikes could stop them. The rushufarr met the thrux shieldmen at the Augurn Plain in a battle memorialized in the Redemption Song, an epic that has taken its place beside the Book of Yulls in the repertoires of Faian storytellers all through the Boat. The rushufarr Hur-Galant Churfa of the Stalking Wind heartline was slain in the act of killing the thrux Imperator, an act that broke the last of the thrux line.

After Augurn Plain, the rushufarr were feted as heroes by the newly-elected Tyrants. They ordered a statue of Churfa to be raised in the center of the Tyrant Square, and gave the surviving rushufarr land grants along the shores of the Yierdogiven Sea. The surviving thrux were driven from the city. Though thrux Virators still hold power in the small towns on the port edge of the Garden, the Imperator they revere is nothing more than a memory. Their Faian and tiebling subjects make no secret of their hatred for their rulers.

Bilogath's Pride

The 3081st Voyage brought unrest to the Aft Gallery. The Gauen Avatar called the inauguration of the Great Games according to custom. The victor of the games was Bilogath, a priest of the Tulgeth line, and it was expected that the election would subsequently confirm that power would pass to the Tulgeth Avatar in Bilogath's person. The priesthood (particularly the Tulgeth line) were shocked when the election results indicated that the Gauen Avatar would rule instead. Na-Avatar Bilogath broke with all tradition and publicly announced that he would not allow Gauen to assume his shape. With his pleas to Tulgeth were unanswered, Bilogath drew a blade and stabbed himself through the heart.

Gaurgast citizenry and priesthood were both shocked. Though a na-Avatar had died before assuming office on two previous occasions, the most recent had been almost 500 Voyages in the past. Never in the history of the Gaurgast had a na-Avatar refused to carry out his duties in such an extreme manner. The reigning Gauen Avatar was unable to avoid ascending to Gennoh, and with Bilogath dead it had no ready host available to it. It's last act was to declare the 3081st Voyage a time of mourning. A new Great Game was to be called for the 3082nd Voyage, and a new Avatar would be chosen at that time. No Avatar would reign over the Gaurgast for the 3082nd Voyage.

Without a reigning Avatar, Gaurgast society ground to a halt. The 3081st Voyage was a time of lawlessness and petty unrest, as Gaurgast law requires the Avatar to approve all judicial decisions. Criminals both Gaurgast and foreigner ran amok, confident that the Legarchs could not hold them and that the Magistrates could not judge them. When Yaggo arrived at Aeldrine and Chunadin of the Gauen line won the Great Game the relief of the Gaurgast citizenry was a palpable thing. Since that time, the priests of the Tulgeth line have been forced to bide their time. Priests of the Auagun and Gauen lines won the 3083rd and 3084th Great Games, respectively, with the elections of Auagun and Gauen proceeding as expected. Many Gaurgast still live in fear of the day when a Tulgeth priest wins the Great Game.

Today

The campaign starts midway through the 3085th Voyage of Yaggo. Yaggo's most recent Stay was at the world of Abbatine, where an ocean of Mardakan Holy City humans swarmed on board, to the distress of the Voyager Red Pikes. The Galleries are currently desperately overburdened, a situation that is only barely mitigated by the fact that the Holy City human Food-Makers are able to convert dirt (and many other things) into food with their magical powers. Most long-term residents are eager to see these newcomers either eliminated or tossed off the Boat at the next Stay.

The Factions

The inconsistent nature of life on board Yaggo's Boat makes it difficult for a static power structure to survive over any length of time. Those that have endured normally control an important resource that allows them to stand in the face of would-be competitors (as the Gaurgast hold the Aft Gallery food supply and the basis for the Boat's economy), or maintain an organization flexible enough to adapt to harsh conditions and aggressive newcomers. The Venturers are a prime example of this latter approach.

The four most important political organizations in the Galleries are currently the Gaurgast, the Venturers, Doorway City and the warlord Prince Gufteng. Of the four, most observers expect that Prince Gufteng will be the first to vanish from the scene. Both the Gaurgast and Doorway City have a long history, and most folk expect that they have the resources and stability to survive far into the future. The Venturers have a much shorter history as a single organization, though similar groups have had a long tradition.

Doorway City

Doorway City is the section of the central Forward Gallery closest to the Garden. The area has a long history of human and bausker habitation, and an equally long history of political independence. Though the city controls only two uru wells, past generations of city Electors have fortified the Boulevards and Stacks to give them reasonable control over access to the Garden. A more recent development is a patrolled passage down from the central Boulevard to the Bilges, where Usshugin's Boys maintain an extensive set of docks and a Doorway City factor charges travelers a passage tax.

Doorway City is governed by three Electors chosen from among the city's aristocratic class, as represented by the Voices. The Electors normally govern until either two of the Electors or three-quarters of the Voices make a formal declaration of no confidence, at which point a new election is scheduled. The city's population can vary wildly depending upon the state of the boat, but it rarely drops below a limit of about 10,000 folk, predominantly humans and bauskers.

Gaurgast

The Aft Gallery is dominated by Gaurgast, a powerful nation-state ruled by the priesthoods of the three Created spirits Gauen, Auagun, and Tulgeth. Every year, the priesthoods hold a contest to determine which of their number shall become the Avatar of the Gaurgast. Once the winner has been determined, the Gaurgast citizens choose from among the Three to determine which one will possess the Avatar and rule their nation for the next year. Typically, the patron of the contest victor will also win the citizens' election, but exceptions have been known to occur.

Ex-Avatars depart to Yaggo's citadel of Gennoh when their term ends. Most Gaurgast believe that former Avatars are taught to become Maelstrom Walkers.

Gaurgast is important because it controls all of the uru sources in the Aft Gallery. The social contract between the Gaurgast priests and their citizens is clear: in times of trouble, Gaurgast citizens will be assured food even when others are denied. Holding Gaurgast citizenship is a 5-point advantage. Clerical Investment in the Gaurgast priesthood requires citizenship, and is a 15-point advantage. Gaurgast Clerical Investment provides a free level of Status.

The Gaurgast also control both of the two known Clavar Mills on board Yaggo's Boat. The specialist priests run the mills and have the same function in Yaggo's Boat as central bankers have in a more "normal" economy.

The Venturers

The Venturers are an exploratory group based out of their Guildhall in the Forward Gallery. They control only one uru source, and are organized more as an association of independent contractors than an actual political group. Venturer merchants pay regular dues and usage fees to the Guildhall. In return, the Guildhall provides logistic support for merchants' expeditions out to worlds visited by Yaggo's Boat.

Two of the better-known groups supported by the Venturers Guildhall are the Archivists and the Red Pikes. The Archivists have been affiliated with several different organizations through their history (they have been under the Venturers' umbrella for about 50,000 days), but through that time they have maintained the most complete record of the history of Yaggo's Boat available to profane beings. The Red Pikes are a much more recent organization. They are a mercenary company that acts to protect the Venturers' interests. On board Yaggo's Boat they guard the Guildhall and the Venturer's uru source. When Yaggo's Boat docks upon a world, they act to secure a route through the Warrens to one of the landing ramps, and then escort Venturer merchants in their expeditions onto the world (for an appropriate usage fee).

Membership in the Venturers carries no explicit cost, but most Venturer merchants have at least two or three levels of Wealth. Merchants claiming membership in the Venturers are expected to provide regular tithes to the Guildhall amounting to approximately 10% of their income, plus additional fees if they require the services of the Archivists, Red Pikes, or other Venturer affiliates.

Usshugin's Boys

Usshugin's Boys are a society of oorthoi boatsmen named after a legendary oorthoi hero reputed to have taken his kayak through every corner of the Bilges . They gain most of their influence by providing ferry services through the Bilges between the Forward and Aft Galleries. They also engage in a significant quantity of fishing and aquaculture, placing them in the unique position of not needing to negotiate with the Gallery powers for food.

Some sauflings also claim membership in Usshugin's Boys, though they are relatively few in number and normally do not deal with outsiders.

Zullkreftsskul

The Zullkreftsskul is a magicians' guild with outposts in both the Forward and Aft Galleries. Their specialty is the production of magically-enhanced Unbreakable Rope, a crucial element in the construction of elevated structures crossing the Boulevards. They are secretive, and try to use intermediaries to deal with outsiders whenever they can. Sadly, their numbers are not great enough for them to be able to retain control of any uru sources, so they are quite dependent upon the goodwill of other, larger organizations. Most of their membership specialize in Making & Breaking magics, and they have access to several unique spells beyond their Unbreakable Rope enchantment.

Prince Gufteng

Prince Gufteng is the currently-undisputed ruler of a section of Forward Gallery containing two uru wells. He is a gaurman warlord who fought his way up from a Warrrens outcast to the head of a nation over the last 3000 days. Many suspect that his power will not last, as conflict and expansion have diluted his initial core of loyal gaurmen warriors. He has been forced to make alliances with other warlords, and with the remnants of his predecessors. Archivist and Gaurgast philosophers suspect that his empire will fragment the next time food supplies become tight.

Taugulskeng

The Taugulskeng are one of many large bausker tribes. They live in the Aft Gallery, and are loyal to the Gaurgast. They are unique for their longevity: unlike most bausker tribes, they have maintained a cohesive identity for at least 50,000 days. The key to their endurance has been the willingness of succeeding generations of their eldest females to cooperate. Others note that Taugulskeng matriarchs have a strong affinity for magery, and that many of the most powerful females are also magicians. The core of the tribe is the council of Dru-Hannan ("great-grandmothers").

Sorcery Schools

Rao Anga Order

The Rao Anga Order is a secretive gang of thieves and assassins operating in the Forward Gallery. They trace their origins back to a small group of political exiles that arrived on Yaggo's Boat over fifty Voyages ago. Since that time, their fortunes have risen and fallen several times. They are currently at a low ebb, with a single surviving temple in the Central Stack of the Forward Gallery. They survive by working for whatever warlord or government has need of their skills. Their talents include the Gaffugo martial art (described above) and the secrets to manufacturing a variety of unusual potions. Most members of the Rao Anga Order have at least some skill at Gaffugo, though not all are Alchemists worth the name.

The current Grandmaster of the Order is Thauso, a Sangorn human who attained his current status through careful political maneuvering and a sagacious decision to throw the Order's weight behind Prince Gufteng at a crucial moment in that worthy's rise to power.

Rao Anga alchemists know how to manufacture the following elixirs from the standard list: [Combat] Achilles, Ares, Atalanta, Heracles, Hermes, [Hostile] Eris, Juno, Phobos, Philoctetes, Sisyphus, Tantalus, Thanatos, [Magical] Tyche, [Medical] Chiron, Epimenides, Hydra, Janus, Pluto, [Skills] Argus, Syrinx.

The Rao Anga Order also knows special techniques allowing them to manufacture Hermes and Phobos elixirs in half the normal time. The techniques are not simple, and learning each is a 5-point Unusual Background advantage (10 points for both potions).

Zullkreftsskul

The Zullkreftsskul are a large professional organization of magicians based largely around their control of one key enchantment. They are able to enchant Unbreakable Rope, without which construction across the Boulevards would be impossible. They have trade representatives all through the Forward and Aft Galleries, though most of their membership resides in one of their three strongholds: Zefferen in the Forward Gallery, Tanfong and Iallfeng in the Aft Gallery.

All Zullkreftsskul magicians gain a +1 bonus to learn Making and Breaking spells (6 points) and the Merchant skill at IQ level (2 points). If they have the prerequisites, they can also learn the Unbreakable Rope spell. Many Zullkreftsskul magicians also know the Enchant spell.

Xorofo (Gardeners)

The Xorofo are an order of magicians associated with the Church of Yaggo the Redeemer. Their Great Temple is on the Tyrant Square in Lin Vu Quo, and they maintain several plantations outside the city. They predominantly specialize in the Food and Plant Colleges, and are noted as naturalists. Their order is funded and supported by the Tyrants, who charge them with overseeing the reclamation of the Garden. This is a painstaking task for them even with their plant magics, as the soil of the Garden is too fragile to support the strain of the Create Plant and Plant Growth spells.

All Xorofo magicians must know at least one spell from each of the Food and Plant colleges. They also know Theology (Yaggo) at IQ (4 points) and Naturalist at IQ (4 points). Most also possess a Sense of Duty (Make the Garden Green), worth -10 points.

The Red Tower

The Red Tower are an isolated group of about twenty magicians who occupy a fortified stone stronghold just outside Doorway City in the Forward Gallery. They know all Healing spells except for Youth and Resurrection (several of the Red Tower are rumored to be of colossal age, having made repeated use of Halt Aging). However, their reputation is darkened by the fact that they have just as great an interest in Necromantic spells, particularly those that cause sickness and decay. Thanks to their studies they have learned how to make a creature totally resistant to disease, albeit at horrible cost. Though these talents have proven extremely useful in times of plague, the folk of the Forward Gallery still prefer to keep the Red Tower at arm's length.

Red Tower magicians all have Immunity to Disease (10 points), Ugly (-10 points), Unfit (-5 points), and a -2 Reputation (revolting magicians).

Vachtuff

The Vachtuff are a small group of no more than ten magicians based in Doorway City. They have made a significant business for themselves by manufacturing magical objects. Though they are reputed to know some very unusual enchantments, they normally produce only a small subset of minor objects for sale. They are affiliated with several families of craftsmen, including the Lungurskeng (a bausker clan), who manufacture the physical hosts the Vachtuff use for their work.

The Vachtuff can provide any of the following items for sale:

They will produce other items (particularly more expensive items) on commission, declining to keep expensive and potentially hard to sell inventory around if they don't have to.

Ausendkauvureng

The Ausendkauvureng is a mysterious group composed entirely of Clockworks and bauskers, based out in the Warrens. They refrain from dealing with the inhabitants of the Galleries any more than they have to, making many folk suspect that they have close relations with some of the Bilge denizens. Most folk who know of them know that they are able to repair damaged Clockworks, though typically at a tremendous cost. Anything else they do remains largely unknown.

Coinage

The dominant currency on Yaggo's Boat is the clavar, abbreviated C. Clavars are magical, and available in a variety of denominations. A clavar looks like a small black rectangle about half the size of a playing card and the thickness of a quarter with a bright-colored stripe down the center. A clavar can be subdivided into four fragments, each of which has the value of the next-lower rung. Thus, an orange is worth four reds. A fragment bears the stripe color of its parent, but is only one-quarter the size. One minute and a successful Theology (Yaggo) roll will convert a fragment into a full-sized clavar of the appropriate color (thus, an orange fragment becomes a full red), or can convert four low-value clavar into one clavar of the next-highest value (thus, four orange clavar can become one yellow clavar). Fragments cannot be converted directly back into higher-value full clavar.

Base wealth for a character in Yaggo's Boat is 1000 clavars, modified normally per the wealth rules. A character may also increase his available wealth at character creation at a rate of 1 character point per 500 clavars.

Clavar have another value beyond money. Many partitions and chambers within Yaggo's Boat can be sealed or opened using clavar. Only full clavar may be used, but any value will work. The procedure is simple: a single clavar is placed into the clavar lock, a small depression next to the doorway. The clavar vanishes into the lock, and the lock glows faintly with the appropriate color. The doorway may only be unsealed with another full clavar of equal or greater color (value). Both sealing and unsealing a clavar lock require the sacrifice of the clavar involved. Most folk, recognizing that locking chamber doors can only be done with money, refrain from frivolous use of clavar in this manner.

Clavars are produced by the two Clavar Mills owned by the Gaurgast priests. Using a Clavar Mill requires Enchant-15+ and Theology (Yaggo)-15+. The ritual takes one hour and costs 100 Energy, and produces a single black clavar. The priests are savvy enough to understand that releasing an unlimited number of clavar into circulation would create an economic disaster, and hold a position similar to that of a central banker in a market economy.

Languages

The peoples of Yaggo's Boat speak a wide variety of languages, many of them related to none of the other languages spoken on the boat. As always, True Speech is a universal means of communication, but a very small fraction of the Boat's population understands how to speak it. The most common languages of the Galleries are summarized in the table below.

Martial Arts

There is a dizzying history of martial disciplines and schools on board Yaggo's Boat, though most of that history is long dead and gone. New schools rise up like weeds when teachers and masters arrive from the worlds that Yaggo visits, and then die out just as fast when they fail to gain converts or are wiped out by their competitors.

Amid all this chaos, some schools have shown significant staying power. Some of these are home-grown, and heavily supported by one or another of the larger societies on board the boat.

This fighting art was brought to Yaggo's Boat by the gaurmen, and is very common among the soldiers of Prince Gufteng's army (both gaurman and otherwise). It is quite demanding, and difficult for humans to practice effectively. The dominant weapons are the axe or spiked club and a huge shield used both for defense and to overwhelm an opponent with a rush. Most Agurmog practitioners also train in the use of the knife and fist for close-in fighting.

• Primary Skills: Ax/Mace, Shield, Boxing
  
• Secondary Skills: Knife, Wrestling
  
• Optional Skills: Axe Throwing
  
• Maneuvers: Close Combat (Ax/Mace), Hit Location (Ax/Mace), Retain Weapon (Ax/Mace)
  
• Cinematic Skills: Immovable Stance, Power Blow
  

The name of this art translates to "Truthful Fighting Art" in Quir Ap. It represents a blend of several Garden fighting styles, and is used by the monks and soldiers of the Church of Yaggo the Redeemer. The style is a fluid skirmisher's style, and includes a significant emphasis upon fluid motion and endurance. The dominant weapon is the short spear, used both one-handed and thrown, often with a baton as a secondary weapon.

• Primary Skills: Shortsword, Spear, Spear Throwing, Theology (Yaggo)
  
• Secondary Skills: Acrobatics, Judo, Stealth, Survival (tundra)
  
• Optional Skills: Meditation
  
• Maneuvers: Feint (Shortsword), Feint (Spear), Off-Hand Weapon (Shortsword), Riposte (Spear)
  
• Cinematic Skills: Blind Fighting, Body Control
  

The martial arts of the Holy City's Living Weapons cover a wide variety of styles and philosophies, but all of them share a reliance upon barehanded fighting. This is a practical matter, as few weapons can be constructed in the wasteland that is all that remains of the Holy City. Many of them also incorporate a variety of magical knowledge. The Danlun style is typical. It is a direct style with a heavy emphasis upon punches, and only a minimum of grabs and holds. Many Danlun practitioners have Extra Hit Points.

• Primary Skills: Boxing, Karate, Theology (Mardaka)
  
• Secondary Skills: Judo, Jumping, Stealth
  
• Optional Skills: Acrobatics, Meditation
  
• Maneuvers: Aggressive Parry, Elbow Strike, Feint (Boxing), Jab [2], Riposte (Boxing), Slip
  
• Associated Magic: Body Control (Itch, Spasm, Clumsiness, Dexterity, Might, Vigor), Healing (Lend ST, Lend HT)
  

The Rao Anga Order is a secretive gang of thieves and assassins operating in the Forward Gallery. They trace their origins back to a small group of political exiles that arrived on Yaggo's Boat over fifty Voyages ago. One of the secrets they brought with them was the Gaffugo fighting style. It includes alchemical skills and the secrets necessary to produce several potions often consumed by Rao Anga fanatics prior to combat.

• Primary Skills: Holdout, Knife, Shadowing, Stealth, Wrestling
  
• Secondary Skills: Alchemy, Broadsword, Brawling, Disguise, Knife Throwing, Poisons
  
• Optional Skills: Riding (horse), Shield, Spear
  
• Maneuvers: Feint (Knife) [2 points]
  

The origins of the purauat style have long been lost in the chaos of immigration, but it has gained longevity by becoming the favored ("official") fighting style of the Gaurgast priesthood. It's emphasis upon locks and holds makes it popular among bausker as well, as they lack the strength to fight directly with larger races.

• Primary Skills: Judo, Karate
  
• Secondary Skills: Theology (Yaggo)
  
• Optional Skills: Breath Control, First Aid, Language (Gauat)
  
• Maneuvers: Arm Lock [2 points], Choke Hold, Finger Lock, Head Lock, Hit Location (Karate) [2 points], Neck Snap, Spinning Punch
  
• Cinematic Skills: Breaking Blow, Hand of Death, Power Blow, Pressure Points, Pressure Secrets
  

A human discipline brought onto Yaggo's Boat by the Sangorn people, Latlat is a sword-based style featuring the use of a short blade called a lat (saber stats). Normal practice requires the use of two such weapons. Lat feature large hilts with

• Primary Skills: Fencing, Boxing
  
• Secondary Skills: Knife, Shortsword
  
• Optional Skills: Acrobatics, Jumping
  
• Maneuvers: Close Combat (Fencing), Corps-a-Corps, Feint (Fencing), Fleche, Ground Fighting (Fencing), Jab, Off-Hand Fighting (Fencing)
  
• Cinematic Maneuvers: Dual-Weapon Attack (Fencing), Whirlwind Attack (Fencing)
  

The Vodost Dangun style is a specialized style intended for fighting against the beasts of Dost. Though it is fairly widely-known among Dost humans on Dost, it is uncommon among Dost humans on Yaggo's Boat. Practitioners of the art are taught to take every advantage possible, for their foes are merciless and possessed of superhuman strength and vigor. They learn to prepare a battlefield with pitfalls and traps and to strike with self-sacrificing savagery if the need should arise.

• Primary Skills: Spear, Boxing, Judo, Traps
  
• Secondary Skills: Acrobatics, Fast Draw (Change Spear Grip), Fast Draw (Spear to Staff), Jumping, Spear Thrower, Staff, Running
  
• Optional Skills: Tactics
  
• Maneuvers: Escape, Feint (Spear) [2 points], Feint (Boxing), Floor Lunge (Spear), Ground Fighting (Spear), Hit Location (Spear), Jab, Lunge (Spear) [1 point], Retain Weapon, Slip
  
• Cinematic Skills: Acrobatic Kick, Flying Leap, Roll With Blow
  

New Spells

This spell must be cast upon some type of rope or cord. The spell must be strong enough to affect the entire length, or it will have no effect. For the duration of the spell, the rope will have infinite tensile strength: it will be able to support any weight, provided that it is being stretched along its normal axis. It is still vulnerable to cutting, and is no more resistant to such attacks than it would be normally. If the rope is cut, the spell is broken. If two lengths of Unbreakable Rope are tied together, the combination will still be unbreakable, though only if the knot is properly tied.

• Duration: 1 hour
  
• Cost: 2 to cast; 2 to maintain for every meter of rope.
  
• Time to Cast: 2 seconds per meter of length
  
• Prerequisite: Shatterproof
  
• Item: A length of rope may be enchanted to be permanently unbreakable at a cost of 20 energy per meter of rope.
  

New Maneuvers

This maneuver works like Slip, but in reverse. It is a dodge that carries the fighter out of close combat range. It may be used instead of a dodge against any natural or weapon attack aimed above the defender's waist. If the Escape is successful, the attack is dodged and the defender can step backwards one hex, out of close combat with the attacker. Escape may not be used if the defender has been grappled or pinned.