Monster: Scrawler

Ecology

Small, inky, masked gremlins summoned by wizards. Range in size from an ant to a house cat. Neither demons, nor angels, nor elemental spirits. Common superstition believes they are a manifestation of pure magic, and that they can occur naturally when objects are placed in certain ways. 

Wizard summoned scrawlers have masks marked with mystic symbols that gradually fade. As they fade, they lose whatever imperative the wizard summoned them for, and turn instead to marking every available surface with magic symbols which, when decoded, can be read to understand the properties of whatever they are written on. This work continues in a meticulous spiral around where they lost the last bit of pigment on their mask. These symbols are often found anywhere that is or once was inhabited by a wizard. 

They can be set back to work by repainting the symbols on their masks. Knowledge of magic circles is required for this task (general magic when no distinction exists). They can also be set to some other task if the painter is skilled.

Summon Scrawler can be learned as a first level spell, which can produce up to three scrawlers which cannot attack or carry anything larger than a large marble, or one scrawler which cannot lift anything larger than a dictionary. The larger one stays under your control for up to a day (concentration applies), while the smaller runs off in about a minute. The smaller scrawls for up to a day before perishing, covering almost every surface in a house, while the larger scrawls for up to a week and can cover almost a block. They can be killed before their time is up.

Symbols drawn by a scrawler can be read using comprehend languages or identify, but once decoded can be read fluently within that area. Each scrawler's pattern is unique and different uses of identify must be used for different scrawled areas.

Stats as house cat for large ones

Sigil-Scrawler

Also known as Scrawler-Scrawlers, a Critical Sigilluminary, or "You Dense Conjurer!". Child-sized, with many arms, dripping ink. Has one or more splattered masks. Their origin is unclear, with theories varying from Scrawlers consuming one another to a Scrawler copying the ritual to make a scrawler. Whatever it is, these pests copy the ritual to make Scrawlers over every surface. Expect wizard towers filled with cat- or child-sized humanoids and forests with ink-stained trees and leaves. 

Some wizards believe these little buggers to be the secret to complete omniscience, much to the chagrin of everyone.

Appear when the spell above is miscast.

Stats as Goblins with two or three extra attacks. 

More Ghosts, and maybe Other Things

Happy All Souls Day!

Ghost Stats

Specter

I Swear to God, if my Players keep reading I'll Kill Them

A type of half-corporeal undead, possessing of a divine soul tenuously attached to an animal/instinctual soul by sheer spite.

HD: 3-5*

Intelligence: Animal and Cruel

Armor: As Chain**

Resistances: Weak to Radiant, resistant to mundane**

Attack: +3, 1d6+3+1d4 unseen on a save. 1d2 unseen gaze attack (max 4).

Number appearing: 1d4 exploding. Gather to increase their spite sympathetically. Large flocks can sometimes be found.

*Instantly dissapate if they let go of their spite. Difficult to do because they have the personality of a defensive mongoose.

**Armor turns to cloth and loses resistance if attacker has more than 5 unseen damage.

Pyre Ghost

Pyres do not commonly produce ghosts. It is well known that pyres usually burn away every soul except the divine, and exceptions usually wither without any connection to the physical or the divine. However, when a great many people are burned, these exceptions can form a gestalt being of unending flame. At different times, it will speak with different voices with varying levels of intelligence (think No-Face from spirited away).

HD: 5-7

Intelligence: 2 in 6 Animal, 2 in 6 Human, 2 in 6 Zombie. Roll each turn.

Armor: As chain

Resistances: Immune to Fire and Acid, Resistant to mundane*

Attacks: +3, 1d8 flame+1d4 unseen (claw attack). 1d6 flame/thunder+1d4 unseen (shriek attack). Unseen save or take 1d10 flame (AoE attack)

Number appearing: One. If two meet, they devour each other in a bestial display of ash and gore.

Special: takes 1d6 per 4 gallons of water, and 1d12 per vial of holy water.

*no resistance if  attacker has 5 or more unseen damage

Ghost

A collection of souls with no physical components. Roll a d6.

1. Ghost has a personality, but no goals or memories. Acts a bit like its old self, but devoid of why it does. Makes inside jokes, has speech affectations, and experiences emotions with no knowledge of reasons.
2. The Ghost has goals, mostly in the form of "escape the unseen world," but if the ghost had strong convictions in life, it keeps them in death.
3. The Ghost has memories, but no goals or personality. Basically a free "speak with dead," spell.
4. Ghost has Personality and Goals, but no memories. Classically interpreted as "help me remember how I died," but maybe the ghost just hates you or something.
5. Ghost has Memories and Goals, but no personality. Often represents a poltergeist-like impersonal force.
6. Ghost has Personality and Memories, but no Goals. A ghost of irrelevance and passiveness, but almost a full person. Just a really boring one.

HD: 1
Intelligence: Human.
Armor: Cloth.
Resistances: Resistant to radiant. Immune to mundane. Warded off by the smoke of certain plants.
Attack: Special.
Number appearing: 2d10 drop highest. When ghosts congregate in numbers higher than 5, they tend to only appear to onlookers as one very powerful ghost.
Special: Ghosts can perform spooky actions and influence the environment around them. Unseen damage dealt to player characters is based off the expression of the players (1d4 for confused/joking, 1d6 for concerned, if you can get them to fear then that's 1d12). They can also deal damage with an unseen gaze attack (1 every dungeon turn). If players are concerned by the unseen damage, increase the spooky action die by one size.
Killing all the ghosts while a player is unconcious/untethered from the visible will cause death to appear.

Fairies and Fae

Fairies are beings which dwell in the Unseen world. They do not possess souls, but they do have two soul-like halves: The Form and The Name. Human scholars who research fairies (of which there are Very Few) have discovered two things about the fae:

1. They are Obtuse
2. The Name and The Form each dwell either in the Seen or the Unseen world, much like our souls, except without any natural inclination towards either one.

A Fairy with it's Form in the Seen world is often called a Seelie fairy, and vice versa. The names of the Seelie are in the unseen world, and are thus inherently unpronounceable and/or unknowable. Meanwhile, Unseelie fairies have names in the Seen world. It is often held that to pronounce the name of an Unseelie fairy is to call it to oneself, where it will wreak it's unseen destruction.

Scholars are dumb, though.

The Unseen World

Little is known of the unseen world. Current hypothesis state both that the unseen world is inherently unknowable and that it is highly metamorphic. It may be possible that different people experience it differently. A few things are known though

Firstly, there is an underworld and an overworld. The underworld appears as a (near literal) mirror to the overworld, reflected vertically. Everyone who has experienced it and lived recalls a distinct and unsettling feeling of being upside-down over an abyss, but never falling down. Muldagha, the home of Holy Death, is generally held to be an entrance to this place. Consequently, there are a lot of souls down there. Whether everyone in the underworld is going to The Lower Sphere is a matter of fierce theological debate and Extreme Concern (at least among the New Aeon Cult).

Second, The Five Towers (which ghosts must ascend to reincarnate) are located in the Unseen world. This is simple reasoning: ghosts dwell in the unseen world. Ghosts traverse the Five Towers. Ergo, the Five Towers must be in the Unseen world. Plus, it's not like we can see any physical towers to heaven around the great sea.

Ghosts & Ghost Damage

This, but like, more see-through

Common Knowledge

Ghosts, and spirits in general, are the souls of the dead. They, for the most part, cannot effect the world and, in turn, cannot be effected by the world. They are frightening, but not in the way that, say, a tiger is frightening. They are frightening, perhaps, because they are judging you. To see, or, more accurately, feel their presence is to know that someone is watching what you are doing, and may pass that information along. That's how it generally starts at least. 

How Ghosts Affect You

The reason that ghosts sometimes start by inflicting a feeling of being watched is to draw their target's attention to the unseen world. The more you are focused on the unseen world, the more that ghosts can affect you, for they are its denizens. This isn't exactly a cognitohazardous effect. It's actually less like becoming aware and more like being drawn in, and they have many ways of doing that. Most ghostly attacks draw you further into the unseen world in addition to any other effects.

Ghosts can also attack your souls directly, in a similar manner to Death. This makes you easier to fight, both in the visible and unseen world.

How this Works

1. Ghost attacks. They deal an amount of normal damage (maybe a d6 or something) that is capped based on the amount of Unseen damage that character has (they can only do unseen damage+1 max). Then, regardless of the cap, they might do some amount of Unseen damage (which acts like another hp or sanity bar or something).
2. Then, the player rolls a d20. If they roll under their Unseen damage value, they make a death save. If they fail that death save, mark it on their character sheet. The more death saves marked, the less visible the material world becomes to them. 1 and the world becomes lightly obscured; 2 and it is heavily obscured; 3 and the character becomes blind, or maybe unconscious. When they fall unconscious, their death saves are removed at DM's discretion. 
3. If the character is still conscious after this, the unseen damage makes it easier for them to see the unseen world. 5 damage and spirits are only lightly obscured instead of heavily. 10 and spirits are completely visible. 

Spirits can also do unseen damage by their mere presence. They can choose to deal 1 damage per 10 minutes, but this damage does not provoke the check. Cap that out at ~5 damage total. Tell the players whenever they take damage this way, and they'll probably roleplay that fear of the unseen pretty well.

Side note: Death Combat (see link above) does not occur when fighting a ghost (unless you want it to). 

Example

Frodo was pursued by ring-wraiths for a long time, which drew him into the unseen world badly enough that they were able to stab him, which both brought him further into the unseen world and severed one of his souls. He had ~10 Unseen Damage and had suffered 2 failed death saves (I.E. he could see the unseen world clearly and could hardly see the material world) by the time he was brought to Elrond, who gave him a soul made from the spell [light]. The morgul-blade gave him some permanent unseen damage, though, which only grew over time.

Why Ghosts are Like This

Humans have seven souls (maximum, some have less). They are: mineral, vegetable, animal, memory, personality, reason, and divine.  Three of these souls are entirely in the material world. Depending on who you ask, one or two of these are entirely in the unseen world. This makes people somewhere around one seventh in the unseen world already. This is why ghosts are able to affect them at all, and why people can dimly see/sense ghosts. 

Note, however, that these souls are just generally found in the seen/unseen world. Certain rituals can make more physical the memory, personality, etc.. In the same way, ghosts make less physical the various souls (except the mineral, which is literally all physical with no spirit bits. same with making physical the divine soul). Like death, they work their way down. Depending on who you ask, they work first on either the reason or the personality, which is why people act weird around ghosts (some people say that it depends on the person, because some people have very lofty goals which make them already a part of the unseen world. This is why some good people can act afraid but still be courageous).

While humans have 6-7 souls, ghosts can only have 4 max. The souls below the divine soul but above the physical soul can't (normally) exist on their own. Thus, most ghosts have a divine soul at least, but other than that can have any non-physical soul regardless of order, giving rise to non-person memory ghosts, classic amnesiac ghosts, and others. Ghosts that have animal souls don't generally have any other souls, and they are called Specters (though this can be used as a general word). Most people don't have enough cohesion to form their own ghost after death, but if there is a great enough number of other free floating souls (I.E. lots of death) around, they can form a collective ghost which can almost function. These collective ghosts might have every soul above vegetable at the same time, but have a difficult and tortured existence due to their terrible death and the predations of lesser ghosts who long to be whole.

Physical forms can be made for spirits who have proved themselves to their goddess either in death or in life. This is where Angels, Demons, Powers, Archons, and Elementals come from. Most ghosts don't achieve this, however, and the whole Great Sea has only 99 Archons and 3 Powers. You can also force a ghost into a physical form with a ritual in so they may be more easily defeated.

When killed, the souls of a ghost are scattered like any other being. This generally results in reincarnation

Happy Spooktober

More Angels, I guess

Average the above three pictures

Selenite Angels

Stats: as a powerful skeleton or weak nymph. Weakness to bludgeoning and slashing, but treat slashing as though it had +3 AC. Resistance to radiant (see below) Attacks: Glowing Beauty

These are the nobles of the heavens. They are physically weak, but they are beautiful. They can only see what they are actively touching. They often carry a light source, not to see, but to glow for others. If you can get them to make a deal with the devil (you), they make excellent lantern bearers and are knowledgeable in many things. They live in both the silver sands and the forest of the night

• Fiber-optics: radiant damage deals half damage to them. They can redirect the other half towards whoever, but do so as though blind, unless they are touching the target.
• Glowing Beauty: As long as they hold or are near a light source, they are filled with light. Creatures who appreciate light, like most humans, will think twice about attacking them, and may fall under their metaphorical spell.

Tactics: Befriend players (and backstab them if the reaction roll went poorly), Stockpile pyrotechnic angel bodyguards, live in beautiful slug-gardens or silver castles.

Sand Angels

but with more sand and silver

Stats: as water weirds or water elementals. Weakness to thunder, lightning, and piercing weapons with reach. Resistance to bludgeoning. Attacks: special

These don't serve as much of a purpose in heaven. They can serve as leaders to communities of human souls in the absence of other angels, and they are the main inhabitants of the solar reach, the area on the lunar sphere closest to the sun. They are shape-shifters with a literal heart of silver, which contains their soul, and it is what must break in order to kill them. Reducing them to 0 hp means they have lost the energy to continue fighting.

• Silver Sand: While sand angels are touching sand, they can change size at will. Most only get up to large, while the most powerful can become huge. When in a humanoid form, they can make 2 weapon attacks each round. A less humanoid form can perform 1 weapon attack and one Sand-Swipe attack (see below). A huge form can use three sand swipes, but must use flip a coin when they land the attack. If it lands tails, they must use the second effect of the sand-swipe
• Sand-Swipe: The Sand angel uses it's sand to attack, rather than an object. On contact, it deals damage equal to a club. If the sand angel has dealt more than twenty of this damage in total, the target must save or fall asleep (If the character already had damage from the blissed, this attack counts towards that instead. The physical damage is still preserved). Alternatively, the sand angel can make a sandy grab, immobilizing the opponent and preventing the sand angel from making another attack next round. This is the secondary effect listed above, and the character must make a strength/breath save or fall asleep before they can escape. If the Sand angel cannot make 2 sand attacks next round, it reverts back to medium size. If the Sand Angel cannot make any sand attacks, it reverts back to it's humanoid form.

Tactics: be a revered presence (even among these filthy devils), grow enormous if you're not taken seriously, only fight in the silvery sands.

Abyss Angels

Stats: as Giant, Sea serpent, Whale, Kraken, or Solar Angel (basically, whatever is big fuck-off powerful). Weaknesses: Harpoons, sometimes. Resistance: Bludgeoning, Slashing, Fire, Acid.

These are akin to the gods of the heavens. If you want to fight something near to Selene herself, fight one of these. Composed almost entirely of the water of life, They can produce amazing magical effects (Not gonna put a spell list here, because they are basically miracles). They have control over the seas, and can call forth tidal waves and create amazing things from water.

Like Sand Angels, they are shapeshifters. In their core is a sphere of semi-solid sand, silver, and glass containing 4 sand angel cores and the soul of the abyss angel encased in solid palladium. This space exists almost independently of the angel itself. It can be as large or as small as the angel wishes, regardless of the outside size of the angel. Some Abyss angel choose to create multiple manifestations of the same core. These manifestations appear in a more medium sized, humanoid form (solar angel).

I will now stop talking about all the things it can do and instead talk about the things it will probably do. If it creates multiple manifestations, it will probably house an entire dungeon at it's core as a defense. At the center of the dungeon will likely be the 4 sand angels. As the sand angels are defeated, the angel loses it's ability to control it's external form. This results in the forms of the angel becoming larger and larger, but also more erratic.

I won't discuss it's actual stats because it is unlikely to ever be fought, at least in it's larger forms. It's basically an aquatic tarrasque. It's more of a hazard than anything.

Does this all even make any sense?

Star-Speaker Angels

from angelarium

From Rupted on Tumble

These guys aren't so much angels as they are generic spirits. All the spheres have them, but they don't actually appear on their home sphere. They only manifest corporeally when in other spheres. When Star-speakers from the lunar sphere come to earth, they appear as blindingly white figures shrouded almost entirely with cloud and night. This shroud is basically their hazmat/space/fire suit. Like the lower spheres are caustic, boiling, suffocating places to humans, such is earth to the dwellers of the heavens. Thus, this bubble protects the angel's soul from the spirit-meltingly awful fumes and heat of earth. They mainly serve as messengers (in this sense, they are more angelic than all the other angels I have listed), and they parley with the powers and principalities of the earth. They vary greatly in terms of power. When you cast the spells Message or Contact Other Plane, you are summoning one of these, except you summon it from your own plane. Summon Star-Speaker is also probably a spell.
No stats, it's basically just a talking cloud.

If this is bad, tell me.

The Fates of Men

What path has been set for your souls? Roll below:

1. Destined to die. Roll on the deaths table
2. Destined to do. Roll on the quest table
3. Undestined. Fateless. Any high, any low, anything may befall you. Tread carefully.

Death shall come for you:

1. By the Sword
2. From the Sky
3. In the Cold
4. On the Water
5. By your Child
6. On a Flame

Disadvantage on death saving throws made when under the rolled circumstances. Cannot die otherwise. The disadvantage only counts if you are actively avoiding your rolled circumstances. A pirate with a waterborne death won't incur any disadvantage. If you have done something drastic to avoid this death (e.g. tried kill your kid), when the circumstances arrive, it's instant death.

Let it be known that this child shall:

1. build a great kingdom/marry a beautiful prince(ss)/gain fame and glory in the land of ____
2. find secrets lost to time/learn an undeniable truth/have great wisdom and understanding
3. wage war and win/fight the enemy of his time/bring honor to his family 
4. bring peace that shall last until the end of time
5. achieve greatness if they sacrifice/honor/do ____. roll a d4 on this table to see what greatness they will achieve.
6. Fail when most needed. Roll a d4 on this table to see what they shall fail to do.

This character cannot die before their fate is completed. They automatically succeed at rolls that advance their fate, though this is at the DM's discretion. If their fate is ignored for a year, a great personal tragedy befalls them. If no tragedy can befall them, they take disadvantage on all rolls that clearly don't advance their fate, And they die as soon as possible after their fate is completed. Also, if 6 is rolled, treat it as if they had rolled 1-4 except at the end they fail. This means you have to Try to fulfill a destiny you know you will fail on. Sucks for you, but if you do well you might live.

Application

Players get to choose if they have a destiny, or it can be rolled randomly with a d4 (treat results of 4 as a 3). Beyond the choice of if they have a destiny, they have no control over what their destiny is. Think of it as a choice of going to the oracle or not. The DM may roll for their destiny, or may choose it at their discretion. Also, the DM may make it as specific or vague as they want. 

I would recommend 0-2 fated characters if you have 3 or more people in you party. At three people, 1-2. At 2 people, both of them probably should be fated. A 1 person party should definitely be fated. The reason for this is that beyond three fates, it gets hard to juggle all the quests, and with a smaller number of people, fates keep those people important and makes for a better story (can I say that and still be OSR? Am I a Heretic? Yes). If you play with one or two people, and one of them gets killed, then you basically/literally have a whole new party. Fating those characters keeps the story moving and gives more reason that they keep adventuring if one of the two of them dies.  Though, in those cases, you should probably allow the players to roll or decide their fates.

Also, if you want to use this with that death fight system I made a while back (which, fyi, I just read for the first time in a year and it's actually really good? Like, the writing sounds like English is my second language, but over all it might be one of my best works. I don't know, analyzing yourself is a bit hard), Death is aware of the fates of the characters and will react accordingly (e.g. he won't actually attack if the fate has yet to be accomplished, he reminds the characters to get on with their quests, etc.). Death is twice as strong when the death fate is upon you (with the exception stated above). If you trigger an insta-kill, death is twice as strong, uses can rend body and soul as a multi-attack, and probably has a sick fucking sword.

Also, if you use something that changes the soul (besides replacing a soul lost to death), truename, or use some fate destruction thing like fate-fire (have I written about this yet? it's in my drafts), your fate is changed or destroyed accordingly.

Note

Somehow I have different rule systems for Fates, Horoscopes, and Prophecies? Ask me about those if you want. I'm super open to requests.

What did I promise a dark god for unlimited power?

When simple exchanges of wealth, blood, or favors are not enough for the power you seek, and a higher cost is required, roll here.

What does the dark god want? (2d6)

2.Your Eyes. Perhaps the god thought they were beautiful, or perhaps he could not himself see. Now, you cannot see, whether in light or through deception.

3.Your Memory. Information is always important to a god. Now, you cannot remember the past, even events that just happened. In addition, no one remembers you.

4.Your Dreams. They have always amazed the gods, or perhaps disgusted them. The night is a black void, the day is empty and purposeless.

5.Your Freedom. You have been deemed to useful to let roam unbound. Your actions are only those sanctioned by them, and you must follow their commands.

6.Your Sanity. You weren't worth the effort, or perhaps you were, and they allowed you to view them in their glory. Now you serve them freely.

7.Your Soul. Nothing has happened. Yet.

8.Your Life. A gift for another, or for themselves. You are doomed to die early, and so is everything you touch

9.Your Love. Fascinating, disgusting love. Perhaps they even wanted it. They left none for any others.

10.Your Hopes. They revealed something all to real. Your future is empty, and you are far too afraid to change that.

11.Your Voice. Soothing and silver-tongued, or knowing of an ancient secret that must not be spoken. Now, no one listens, and your words are empty noise when they come out at all.

12.Your Face. They envied your identity and influence, and gave it to another. You are blank and featureless, completely anonymous, while another acts as though they were you.

Not all gods can provide what they promise, and especially kind gods won't accept so high a cost.

What the fuck is the Sun?

THE SUN

Officially, there are no sun cults on the great sea. The sun is not a god, certainly. It must be something, though.

Roll until sufficiently weird (d10)

1. It is the Spouse of one of the three goddesses, or maybe all of them.
2. It is the last Couatl Egg, and when it hatches it will bring peace to the world (or destroy it).
3. It's the Fifth Tower.
4. It's the invention of a wizard (whether invention means lie or creation is up for interpretation).
5. It travels deep into the earth every day.
6. It is the eternal battle of two archons of the earth.
7. It is the embodiment of the concept of truth.
8. It's what happens if you break one hundred oaths at once.
9. It's a ball of fusing hydrogen. What's hydrogen? Nobody knows, but it's in the Sun.
10. It's a god.

Excerpts from The Five Towers Codex*, as compiled by Sophos the Stylite

One of my players, I think. He probably read this book.

1. "Between the three souls of body and the four souls of spirit lies a sinew of considerable strength. This being the appendage which death, with sickle or sword, cuts. By gode or evil, this sinew may be made strong to refuse release even as the body decayes. As the bodey, the sinew must be fattened to keep strength, but the gall of bodey cannot flow. Thys being the reason few of gode faith live in rot, while many of evil eat men and souls."
2. A Symbol of Rite is known, which may lock the towers to the spirit. On [missing]... living man, this may lock the fifth tower. It is said that it is made out of herbs and gild when paint'd on the man or corpse.
3. Men claime two of towers are truly oubillets, but men have not seen the [missing]... truly towers which reach to helle. Of the fifth some say it spans sidelong, while others say it goes heartwise.
4. On the fourth floor of the fourth tower [missing]... great trysure and witchery.
5. Of gostly and bone frights, little thought is to be given. Many weak souls can not bring forth a bodey. They are of nature as shep or rams, much the same as the least being of elyments. They remain as souls who are weak to climb.

*It should be understood that The Five Towers Codex is not the Gaian holy text The Five Towers, but rather a commentary on it studied mostly by wizards, poets, and weird priests. The Five Towers simply details burial rites and prayers, and surprisingly says little of it's titular towers. The most it says goes along the lines of Take five keys and enter five towers, or lay here longer as long as the sun shines (When a copy of the text is found, I shall add this line in the original high gaian). It is generally accepted that two towers go to heaven, and two go to hell. Great theological debate surrounds the fifth tower, along with its destination.

All magicians are logicians

Hyper Incomplete High Concept

All the players are wizards. The setting is modern day. Each wizard has one axiom, of the form All Subject is Predicate or No Subject is Predicate. Subject and Predicate can be anything the player wants. Players can do anything a normal human can. Players can also Conclude and Justify their axioms. Concluding an axiom allows you to enforce the consequences of that axiom. Justifying an axiom allows you to enforce the cause of that axiom. An example: John has the axiom All Cats are Hairless Felines. John, if he encounters a cat (which is, of course, hairless), can Conclude from his axiom that cats would die in the winter of a  temperate location, and thus cannot exist here, at his home on the east coast, during January (the high formal logic version is All cats are Hairless Felines. No Hairless Felines are Winter Winter Adapted Felines. Therefore,  No Cats are Winter Adapted Felines). Alternatively, by expending far more power, John can Justify his axiom, backtracking along a foreign line of logic. Perhaps Cats are Hairless because a Cat (and, by association, all felines) is a kind of octopus (formally: All Octopeople are Hairless. All Cats are Octopeople. Therefore, all Cats are Hairless). How much power is expended whenever you use either ability depends on how many formal logic steps it takes to get to the final result.

Memes? In MY blogposts? Its more likely than you think.

Variations

• Mother Necessity: Wizards only have one part of their axiom (S or P) until they decide to use their axiom, after which it becomes unchangeable. 
• Nobilis Rip-off: No limit on how much axioms can be used.
• Define Subject: Each wizard has the same subject for their axiom. No contradictions.
• Informally: Power expended depends on how long it takes to convince the DM
• Principle Explosion: Wizards can take two axioms. Contradictory axioms are encouraged.
• Modernity: Wizards can use imaginary things as part of their axiom.
• Fuck Plato: All of the above

Fairies

They say (2d6):

2. They are Cruel. Child-Thieves and men killers. There is nothing good among them.
3. They are Tricky. Life is a game, or maybe a joke. You are the punchline.
4. They are Magic. Nothing truly makes much sense when they put their minds to things.
5. They are Old. They were around before you, and they'll be around after.
6. They are Lies. They don't exist. Don't listen to everyone else.
7. They are Complicated. Roll Twice.
8. They are Real. They exist. Don't listen to everyone else.
9. They are Young. Younger than a newborn, younger than the morning.
10. They are Mad. Everything makes so much sense when they put their mind to it.
11. They are Haughty. You are beneath them. They won't even acknowledge you killing them
12. They are Kind. Friends of orphans and widows. Good things flow from them like wine.
Evidently, they say a lot of things.

A Vernal World

Unrelated?

Design Philosophy

Lot's of OSR bloggers talk about the feel of most RPGs in a certain way. They call it An Aesthetic of Ruin or something and use words like autumnal, entropic, and bygone. Everything in their worlds is winding down. The empires are destroyed, technology has been lost, something, something, ravages of time. It's where all their dungeons and treasure and monsters come from. It's all very elegant.

Unrelated??

I, however, favor a vernal world. My worlds are new, or at the start of a cycle. The world is growing, and is growing kind. Before there was dark times, but now there is a season where people are working to make the ground soft and the rain warm.

Related????

I shall stop waxing poetic and tell you now how I try to run worlds striving towards the sun.

Let the players Make Things

The seeds the players sow should grow, even when unattended. When the players help an npc, that help will help the NPC in the future as well. If the players help a town, that town grows from their assistance. If they build a stronghold, that stronghold shouldn't devolve into chaos when they leave. Things should grow, not wither. These will be the great cities of summer.

Make the World Open Up

The snow melts and reveals things from another age. The flowers open to be enjoyed. It may take time, and it may take work. A prophecy might come to light, or a lost land might be found. Maybe it is smaller than that, like on a village scale. It's a season of discovery.

It may start Dark as Autumn

The end of autumn and the start of spring have the same sunlight. Make the players work for the dawn, sometimes, or maybe wait for it. Things can start hostile. Things can start hopeless. Maybe you choose to start in the middle of spring too. That's fine if you just want to see things grow already.

Here is Found Great Struggles

What is spring if not thunderous? The mythic battles of later ages will be fought now and will nourish the heroes of summer.

Closing thoughts

I lied when I said I would stop waxing poetic. Here's this: The world can grow and that can be just as interesting as the world dying. Let your players grow empires, learn, and strive sometimes. To fight a losing battle against darkness and decay in a world of evil and greed sometimes just isn't fun. To write a bit pretentiously one more time: Things run in a cycle, and when it has been autumn and winter so long, it must run to spring.

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