✎ quirks [Firmament]

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====== Quirks ======

Quirks represent things about your character which are unusual or unique. These will be both positive and negative, and can be really useful to help flesh out your character, and give them fun things to do and react to.

  * Your character gets one free positive quirk at character creation.
  * You can then take up to three more positive quirks.
  * For each positive you must take a negative (a flaw) to balance it out.
  * You may take three more flaws after this point (up to six flaws), if you want to, but you will not receive any extra benefit.

As standard each quirk may only be taken once. Quirks which may be taken more than once have an asterisk next to them (*); these often have some restrictions in how they may be taken multiple times.

===== Playstyle Quirks =====

=== Hit Me Harder (0) ===

Taking this quirk indicates that you wish to play the game on hard mode. You wish your encounters with new dangers to be more dangerous, and possibly more dramatic; you accept that it is slightly easier for your character to have an epic death or to come away from a battle with more injuries.

===== Personal Quirks =====

=== Hidden Master (-) ===

If you take this quirk then there is someone out there who cares about you. Unfortunately for you, they care about you doing their dirty work for them, and they have more than a little leverage to ensure that happens. Maybe they have your elderly uncle held kidnapped, or maybe you're just //really// devoted to your family elders. Let us know who your Hidden Master is, and why you're listening to them.

=== Medically Dependent (-) ===

While there are many things that Esharian medicine cannot cure, a mix of natural medicine and the application of alchemy means that a number of symptoms can be severely lessened. Let us know what ails you, and at game's start you can be assumed to have reasonable access to consistent treatments for you. If that ever changes, however, things may go badly for you.

=== Mystery Quirk #2 (+) ===

There's just something about you. No we're not telling you anything about it. No, you haven't missed Mystery Quirk #1.

=== Tech-Intuitive (+) ===

You happen to be particularly good at figuring out how to use unfamiliar technology. You will have a much easier time becoming proficient in using strange items than your average person. Please note that this quirk does not affect your proficiency with technology you //are// familiar with - this falls under the Craft skill.

=== Vice (-) * ===

Whether it's gambling, booze, bar-fighting or wedding-crashing, you have a persistent craving for something that others may consider immoral. Expect it to make your life complicated. Tell us what it is!

=== What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (-) ===

At some point in the game, your character will have such confidence in their plans that they will wonder - what could possibly go wrong? They will very promptly discover the answer to this question, probably in quite spectacular fashion.

===== Social Quirks =====

=== Connections (+) * ===

It's always important to stay well-informed about the state of the country, and you have friends across it who are happy to keep you that way. Taking this quirk gives you access to an additional regional brief and regional news section of your choice (that's not your own).((Choose from Hashat, the Heights, Wetlands, Plains, or Client States.)) On top of this, your contacts may sometimes be able to find out a specific piece of information in a region, if you ask them. If you wish, you may detail precisely how you are getting this information.

//Note: Each time you take this quirk, please specify a different region.//

=== Dependents (-) ===

Almost everyone, except the most reclusive of hermits, have some people that we support. For you, however, this goes a step further. You have a person, or persons, who rely on you individually and directly. This may be because you are sheltering them from a wrathful family, or it may be because you need to get them out of the situations which their own overconfidence put them in. Either way, they are likely to make life more //interesting// for you. Let us know who they are.

=== Famous (+) ===

People know your name and are likely to look favourably upon you. You could be known for making an important discovery, or your dashing exploits, or for being embroiled in a particular scandal. Let us know!

=== Gossip Magnet (-) ===

For whatever reason, you have a tendency to set tongues wagging. People like to talk about you, and what they say is often exaggerated, inaccurate, or pure fiction.

=== Nemesis (-) ===

Whatever it is you've done, somebody doesn't like you. You have a longstanding rival or enemy who is particularly dedicated to seeing you fail. Tell us who they are and why they hate you.

=== Owed a Favour (+) * ===

You helped out an important NPC a while ago, and at some point you can call on them to return the favour. Tell us who you helped and why!

=== Patronage (+) * ===

You have given your favour to a promising young artist, writer, courtier, or otherwise. While they cannot be depended on as often as your retainers, they can occasionally be persuaded to produce something for you. Please specify what they're skilled in.

=== Rumourmonger (+) ===

When you want your voice to be heard you have a knack for it, you also have a knack for making your voice heard, without it sounding like it was your voice to begin with. You know the right people to talk to such that within a few weeks, people across the entire peninsula have heard what you had to say. Or, at least, close enough to what you had to say.

Mechanically, once per turn, you may provide a rumour to appear in the rumours section of the news. This may also be part of a plan you are having that turn, but the rumour //always// ends up in the news.

=== Scandalous Secret (-) ===

You have a secret that would cause a significant scandal if it ever saw the light of day. Let us know what the secret is and who, besides you, knows about it.

===== Standing Quirks =====

=== Disloyal Retainer (-) ===

One of your retainers seems to actively be out for your blood, you're sure of it - but you're not sure which one. Given that they are already out for you, firing them and releasing them from any obligations to you may be a... bad idea.

=== From a Client State (-) ===

Rather than being from a region of the Esharian Mainland, you originally hail from one of the client states that the crown controls. This may have an impact on your social standing. It also makes you more vulnerable to any external threats.

=== Great House Membership (+) ===

You can trace your lineage back to one of the founders of the Federation, and thus claim membership of one of the three Great Houses - Toqare, Morelli, and Diite. This gives you a bit more political clout and access to knowledge and resources guarded carefully by these institutions. Your chosen House does not necessarily have to correspond to the region that you hail from, but if not we would suggest you take the [[quirks#Connections|Connections]] quirk for your family's region.

=== Incompetent Retainer (-) * ===

Your retainer does //try,// but they seem to have a knack for utilising their skills in exactly the wrong way. When relying on their 'expertise,' you are in less skilled hands than you would like. Tell us which retainer needs to go back to vizier school.

//Note: Unless you have a **very good reason** you can't take this flaw more times than you have retainers.//

=== Old God (+) ===

The territory that you control is home to an exceptionally old and important deity.

Note that you need not be a priest to take advantage of this quirk, though obviously if you are the priest, or one of the priests, of this god then you will likely be afforded a certain amount of respect by other priests especially. It is an honoured position you hold.

=== Precarious Position (--) ===

**Note: This flaw is worth two negatives as it can be quite detrimental.**

Sometimes things are not quite as they seem. Sometimes that house member is actually a mere puppet for their steward, or sometimes that Restorer is actually a plant from the criminal underworld hoping no one will notice. For whatever reason, your power is not nearly as official it seems - be it power behind the throne, hostage to the whims of your family, or merely a retainer to a more important person.

This flaw has two major downsides. First of all you have **one fewer retainer slot**, as the number of people you can rely on to act in accordance with the full situation is reduced. This means that you have **one** retainer at game's start. What's more is you will have an obligation to the people keeping you in that position, and you had better make sure that you keep them happy. When you take this quirk please describe why your position is so //precarious//.

=== Resource-Rich Territory (+) ===

Wherever your Standing is based just seems to have more of what you need than other places. This may be metal-rich mines, a steady flow of pilgrims, or simply an area with a lot of taxable income. You will be able to get more out of your Standing, but beware the envious eyes that may seek to take what you have gained from it.

=== Troublesome Territory (-) ===

Rebellious serfs, inhospitable conditions, inconvenient location, overly prying court Restorers - there's plenty of ways a territory can cause trouble. And you happen to be in charge of a particularly difficult area.

===== Magical Quirks =====

=== Hedge Magic (-) ===

Your magic isn't the sort used in polite society. This may be out of choice, or because you received your instruction from one of the less... refined corners of Esharia. Your spells are no less powerful, but the manner in which you cast them is likely to earn you some raised eyebrows.

Please suggest a way your magic differs from standard, subject to GM approval. If you're unsure, the GMs will happily give you some suggestions.

=== Magic Resistant (+) ===

For some reason, magic sometimes seems to just slough off you. This will limit the effectiveness of **all** magic cast on you, whether or not it is harmful. Please note that while this limits magical efforts against you, it does not make you immune to them.

=== Magical Knack (+) * ===

There's this //thing// you can do. It's not always a hugely useful //thing//, but in certain cases it can come in handy. Perhaps you are able to increase the emotional responses of people around you, or inflict wounds that always, always scar. Expect the effects to be subtle. 

While this quirk does not require extensive magical knowledge, be aware that trying to use it with **Ineffectual** magical knowledge may have consequences.

=== Wellspring of Magic (+ OR -) ===

Magic just seems to emanate from you. This does not make you more talented with magic as such, but it does mean that the spells you cast tend to have more force behind them. If you take this as a positive quirk, you can control that force to cast more often and with more brute force. If you take it as a negative, then you are unable to adequately control it, and your spells sometimes have more power than intended. Sometimes you may even end up casting spells without quite intending to.

//Note: You may not take either version of this quirk if your Magic Knowledge skill is Ineffectual.//
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