Deiyeh

A Glimpse of Life

Nowhere in Chaesharin is the war between order and chaos so fervently or consistently fought as it is in Deiyeh. The Deiyen people have turned every area of their lives into a spiritual battlefield. In some areas it is by necessity. Deiyeh's soil is arid and difficult to work and the carefully constructed highland terraces that try to save as much rainfall as possible require constant back breaking maintenance in order to function. What is more, powerful beasts, ravenous and dire, hunt Deiyeh's flocks by night and retreat into cave mazes or underground tunnels by day to feast on their prizes. Order is required in fields and pastures to bring bread and milk to the table. Chaos is the name of adversarial weather and shadowed predators. Deiyeh is the smallest of the five great kingdoms, both in wealth and in population, and with aspiring empires on every side, only an unbreakable will and an impassioned imagination keeps cultural identity alive and thriving, and only constant martial training and elite soldiering classes keep Deiyen's safe. Order is required to raise children in the ways of their ancestors and preserve precious traditions handed down through generations. Chaos is the name of foreign ideas and foreign encroachment. While each of the five great kingdoms has a royal cult, Deiyeh alone has a second caste of priests stationed in almost every village, who serve the spiritual and cultic needs of the commonfolk and instruct and enforce Veye's kaidir with every word from their lips. Order is required to keep minds and bodies pure and holy. Chaos is the name of temptation, and of every other god in existence.

It was Deiyeh's second priestly caste, the koh, who can be credited with the survival of Deiyeh when it split from Lisraii two centuries ago. The koh are not only stalwart defenders of Veye's kaidir, but also itinerant story-tellers and scribes, with masterful theological imaginations. The koh's tendency toward endlessly writing, editing, and systematizing volumes of religious narratives and doctrines is what preserved Deiyeh in its fragile infant state when Koveyah first broke down. The koh reinvented Deiyen identity out of the ashes of Koveyah, and with it, invented for the first time the dalaihal Veye and Haj. So striking was their invention, and so prolific was the spreading of their stories, that within a single generation, no one in Chaesharin remembered that Veye and Haj had not always been. The commonfolk of Deiyeh have inherited the koh's tendency toward theology. While every kind in the Shadow Crescent is religious and ever reliant on the supernal aspects of their lives, only the Deiyen's can be said to be truly theological. For them, religion is a matter of carefully constructed and carefully reasoned systems. Like a grand machine, Deiyeh's religious imagination functions with a clean and powerful efficiency. Other kinds celebrate and feast, lose themselves in ecstatic fervor, and mark calendars with astrological signs and oracular musings. In Deiyeh, religion is a precise science, and the Deiyen mind is a proud receptacle of that perspective. To them, Veye is true, and everything else is illogical shadows and immoral falsehoods.

But hard labor and pride are not enough to keep a kingdom alive. With strained resources, a small army, and no trade relations to speak of, most thought that the candle of Deiyeh's light would have gone out long ago, even many Deiyens. But Deiyeh has one thing that no other kingdom has, and they proved it one hundred years ago when Ashre went on the war path. Sweeping down from the north, the military might of Ashre smashed itself against Lock and Lisraii, and in a few months time both bent the knee to Ashre's king and cult. Deiyeh was next, but Deiyeh did not fall. In the depths of the night Veye's guardian messengers, the kaimal, took flight from the capital temple. By dawn, two hundred thousand Ashrean soldiers lie dead in the fields, Ashre's capital lie in ruins, and Ashre's king and cult lay spread out in bloody pieces on every hill top between. Chaesharin learned to fear Deiyeh then, and Deiyeh became even more zealous in their god than they had been before. Deiyeh's royal cult is known throughout the Shadow Crescent as wielders of immense power. Whatever Deiyeh lacks in other things it makes up for in the strength of its cult, and the strength of its people who know, rather than merely trust, that their dalaihal is watching over them.

Common Kaidir

Deiyen's perform their thrice daily daipelah twice each, in case an error is made on the first performance.

Deiyen's ritually bathe once a week, first in sand, then in water, and then shave their entire bodies beneath the neck. Deiyen's otherwise never shave nor cut their hair.

Deiyen men exclusively wear white javi and Deiyen women exclusively wear black javi. Deiyen women are not allowed outside the home without a male guardian, through whom they speak all conversations in public.

Deiyen's abstain from pork, shellfish, meat and dairy mixtures, strong drink and drugs, and consider it taboo to eat with the other kinds.

Bodies and Genders

Deiyens are just below average in size, five to five and a half feet in height, with strong backs, wide, circular hips, and powerful thighs. Deiyen skin is the many colors of the sand, light to dark brown, and their eyes are soft honey shades. Deiyens have thick curly black hair that grows mane-like around their faces, and which the Deiyen do not cut or style, though men and women both may bind it for labor. Deiyens have a long articulated tail, darker than the color of their skin and as thick as two fingers, which they wrap around their waists like a belt beneath their clothes. It is considered shameful to see another's tail outside of intimate contexts or battle, where Deiyens free their tails and use them from extra balance on the field. Gender relations in Deiyeh are rigid and segregated, with each gender occupying set places, set professions, and set religious rituals. A Deiyen man never speaks to a woman who is not his family or his spouse, and a Deiyen woman never sees the outside world without a male guardian. These social rules are most strictly enforced among the urban nobility, and only partially and sporadically enforced among the most rural villages. Deiyeh's royal cult admits both men and women, but Deiyeh's koh and their culthouses are male only. Women have no place in Deiyeh's military but every Deiyeh woman is trained in the basics of aladai, the god hand, a martial arts style that women can use to defend themselves against foreign invaders or improper advances. Noble women especially, who have the most leisure time to practice, are known throughout Chaesharin as capable, and, whether earned or not, icy and asexual.

Common Names

Deiyen names commonly feature theophoric elements of their dalaihal, including "ve," "vey," and "yeh," as well as the older elements "la" and "ae." Deiyen names also incorporate simplified versions of virtues that are praised in Deiyen scriptures, including "emet" (truth), "esed" (fidelity), "kova" (duty), and "koma" (wisdom). Male names begin with hard consonants and female names begin with A. Slaves, converted foreigners, and people of other genders are given names that begin with T, the last letter in the Deiyen alphabet. Deiyen names tend toward three syllables in length.

Examples: Keveh, Avey, Taliyeh, Dalaman, Aemana, Veiemet, Aesedah, Tokova, Kekoma

Views of the Vaishineph

When Koveyah split into Deiyeh and Lisrai, the koh who would go on to lead Deiyeh rewrote wide swaths of Deiyen history. The other four kingdoms all recognize Samisa as the first vaishineph, and the conquering of the Nacaanit city-states as the work of her hands that gave birth to Koveyah. But Deiyen history now records that Samisa was a man named Masis, and not the first vaishineph at all but the first koh. A hundred other changes, large and small, have written the vaishineph out of Deiyeh's histories, because for Deiyeh's royal cult, there is only Veye and shaed of various sizes. Any story where vaishineph appeared before the Koveyan royal court, of which there are many examples, has been transformed into a story of a wandering messanger of Veye preaching repentance and a return to Veye's kaidir. Every story of vaishineph that cannot be converted into a story of righteous koh, is either deleted or attributed to shaed.

Even as the vaishineph are eliminated from the histories and imaginations of Deiyeh's people, the Deiyen royal cult was the first to create a contingent of Jade Men, soldiers specifically trained and equipped to hunt and execute vaishineph. It was these first Jade Men who learned how to use the Ayinals to strip vaishineph of their manna and to annihilate once and for all the aihalan who give vaishineph life. There is no great kingdom more ruthlessly and yet more silently opposed to the vaishineph than Deiyeh, and so there is no common folk more suspicious of the vaishineph and their motivations as a result.

Views of the Other Kingdoms

Atri: "They say they are wise, but none but Veye is wise. What wisdom is there in enslaving millions and then being overthrown by slaves? What wisdom is there in a reckless use of magick only to have the shaed throw magick back in your face? What wisdom is there in foreign alliances that crack when armies arrive? Everything Atri touches turns against them, as we have, and we will bear their touch no more."

Isstiliph: "They say they are strong, but none but Veye is strong. Their strength has bought them a day or two in the sun, but it will not preserve them in the long night to come, because only what is ordered will endure. The paikusi look differently, speak differently, breed differently, and think differently, but all die the same before Veye's strength.

Lisrai: "They say they are glorious, but none but Veye is glorious. We bear Veye's broken heart in our bosom over what they did to us. They did not enslave us like Atri or spear us like Isstiliph, but what they did was worse, for they were us and yet became something else. They had the light of Veye's truth and exchanged it for darkness. We grieve for them, but we will not save them. It will be to Veye's glory on the day they are gone."

Lock: "In times past, we looked to Lock to serve us on the seas, and our friendship built great wonders in our lands and theirs. But in these times we can no longer afford any alliance with those who flout Veye's power. Others think them insane, but we know the truth. They are of the world and the world is broken. If only they would turn toward Veye, then we could fix their broken minds."

Kind Trait

Strength of the Sands: Chaesharin is a harsh region, and the Deiyen people live at the blistering center of it. Simply passing through life in Deiyen land is a trial in and of itself. But rather than shrink from the region's brutality, the Deiyen people call the land a benevolent gift from their god, and call their lives a righteous privilege to endure it. Nowhere else in Chaesharin can a people be found that is so content to face suffering. Whether it is an indomitable will, a blazing faith, or a species of insanity, only the Deiyen themselves know.

Strenth of the Sands grants a starting character +1 Strength and +1 Initiative.

Advancement Traits

Ascetic Will: In Deiyeh, there is nothing that is not connected to the worship of Veye. Every meal taken or missed, every life birthed or killed, every seed planted or harvested, everything is a ritual in service to Veye. The Deiyen mind learns to read the world through religious eyes and to practice self-denial in all things. This gives the Deiyen people an enormous reservoir of will and a natural attunement to the supernal that other kinds cannot match.

Base: Grants +1 Poise
Rank 1/2: Grants +1 Manna

Heart of Song: While Deiyen women have their physical freedom constrained by kaidir, Deiyen men have their emotional freedom similarly bound. It is taboo for Deiyen men to express emotions beyond anger and zealotry. The one emotional outlet permitted to Deiyen men is song, which Deiyen men frequently indulge in together with wine as an added excuse for frivolity and levity. Deiyen men learn to express their strongest urges and passions through musical composition and performance.

Requires Male
Base: Grants +1 Poise
Rank 1/2: Grants +1 test for musical performance

Lion Eye: The Koveyan kind originally had a degree of kinship with the giant cave lions that stalk the jagged cliffs in southern Deiyeh. The large beasts have perfect eyesight in the dark of their caves and the black of night and the Deiyen people continue to possess this characteristic even after their splitting from Lisrai. Deiyen eyes glow gold in the dark and allow them to see even better than in the light, though this ability fades as the Deiyen age.

Requires age 30 and under
Base: Grants +1 Valor
Rank 1/2: Removes low light penalty / +1 saves in low light

Pilgrim: Three times a year, every year, the noble houses of Deiyeh take pilgrimages to Deiyeh's capital temple, to deliver huge offerings that supply the koh and royal cult for the months ahead. Commoners caravan with the nobility to provide services and mercantile, and koh journey as well to preach to and to educate pilgrims in Veye's word and will. Undertaking these journeys is an opportunity for Deiyen's to learn about the world and to study their own culture, literature, and key religious texts.

Base: Grants +1 Wisdom
Rank 1/2: Grants +1 Education

The God Hand: Every Deiyen mother passes down the martial art of Aladai to their daughters as they come of age. Aladai utilizes Deiyen women's powerful hips and low centers of gravity to perform brutal kicking attacks and mass defying throws and sweeps. Though short and compact, Deiyen women trained in Aladai can effortlessly flip a grown Isstiliphi man to the ground and kill him with a heel before he can stand. Aladai is an inheritance and a sacred rite, and a symbol of every Deiyen woman's untouchability.

Requires Female
Base: Grants +1 Strength
Rank 1/2: Grants unarmed proficiency / +1 unarmed attacks

Toughened Skin: Deiyen skin is dried and cracked and turned to beaten leather by the time a child reaches adulthood, and it only grows in toughness from there. By the time Deiyen people reach their latter years, their skin is as tough as the armor of other peoples, simply by virtue of fending off Deiyen heat and wind and sand.

Requires age 30 and up
Base: Grants +1 Strength
Rank 1/2: Grants +1 protection vs. bashing damage

Court Musician

Deiyen scriptures feature pages and pages of polemical writing against the evils of unrestrained passions, and it it the Deiyen belief that too much feeling, improperly expressed, can literally break the world by driving the elemental jinn who maintain nature's laws insane. This leads the Deiyen people to be reserved and analytic, especially the men, who are burdened with the brunt of the emotional responsibility. But music and poetry, if written ostensibly in worship of Veye, is permitted, and so musicians who can express in song what the people are not allowed to in word and deed are precious commodities in Deiyeh. Every noble house has a musician who plays and sings the emotions of their patrons. These musicians are the loud voices of their people's quiet hearts and their skill in turning feeling to melody is unparalleled in Chaesharin.

As vaishineph, court musicians find that their skills allow them casual access to places that others cannot enter. Music performers are appreciated throughout Chaesharin, and a travelling musician is a regular enough sight that few questions are asked when they show up to perform. While a vaishineph court musician may have performed for the rich and the privileged in the past, they find it easy to transition into giving voice to the needs and the desires of the common people as well.

In a group, a court musician can easily fulfill the role of social liaison for the rest of the rebel cult, using their wit and charisma to easily win social conflicts of all kinds. But as a vaishineph court musician continues to develop their abilities, they will find that they are also of use against other kinds of opponents, able to use their music of choice to disable and disorientate opponents, or drive back supernal foes who seek to do their allies harm.

Attribute Increases: +1 Beauty +1 Culture

Starting Willpower and Resolve: 2/0

Starting Gear and Garb: Common musical instrument, traveling pack, common javi

Starting Thread: Old Ashre

Script: Honeyed Lips

Skill: Soothing Performance

Court musician's are experts at carrying their audiences along in emotional journeys of music. But when necessary, the musician can play relaxing melodies for hours on end, soothing away stress and despair, and replacing it with calm and levity.

During a break in which the player character's undertake hard travel, the court musician can opt to use this skill. If they do, the travel is considered casual for all characters who listen to the musician's music for the purposes of healing, except for the musician themselves, who must work to play their music.

Lyrical Voice (lvl 1)

The musician's voice is carefully trained and tuned to provide the maximum affect on those that hear them. The musician gains +1 to all social attacks using a refined script and whenever they impose a condition with that script, they impose one extra condition of the same damage type.

Noble Appearance (lvl 1)

Court musicians spend much of their professional lives adorning the halls and throne rooms of the rich and the powerful, and must learn to become as striking in appearance as the wealthiest of decors. The musician gains +1 resistance to social attacks when equipped with a costume of any kind and a +1 to social defenses so long as they are not in a critical state.

Delicate Hands (lvl 3)

Court musicians train with a variety of instruments, giving them precise and dexterous hands. The court musician cannot be disarmed if they have a weapon with the light edge readied and they earn an innocent success on a martial attack, they disarm their target.

Move with the Rhythm (lvl 3)

The expectation among the highest tiers of musicians is that they are able to sing, dance, and play an instrument, all in beautiful harmony with one another. Court musician's develop an incredible sense of rhythmic thinking in order to aid in this endeavor. When the court musician earns an innocent success on a defense, they impose the weakened condition on their target.

Discordant Strike (lvl 5)

The musician combines perfect, rhythmic timing, and a startling battle cry, to strike an opponent at just the right moment to steal away their momentum. The court musician can spend one risk and make a martial attack against a target. If the attack is successful, the target has a -2 penalty applied to its next two actions.

Still the Supernal (lvl 5)

Music has a strange and stifling effect on some supernal beings that some court musicians have the genius to understand and to make use of. The court musician can spend one risk and make a social attack against a supernal being with an readied instrument. If the attack is successful, the being cannot undertake another action until it spends one whole action doing nothing at all but recovering. The being also recovers if it suffers a condition.

Captive Audience (lvl 7)

The court musician's presence is nearly hypnotic in its power to seize and hold the attention of onlookers. When the court musician imposes a social strike mark or check on an opponent, all nearby opponents are weakened.

Spoken Word (lvl 7)

The musician's voice is so clear and pristine, that it seems to be the voice of the gods themselves. All those who hear it are compelled to give it deference. When the court musician imposes a social strike mark or check on an opponent, they may immediately make a second social attack roll against a nearby target. The Truth result on the second attack determines where the call is passed.

Judge

Deiyeh employs judges as governors and overseers of its many villages and outlying districts. Though similar to the administrators and politicians in other kingdoms, the Deiyen judge's primary job is to settle disputes and hand down sentences by interpreting the kingdom's large corpus of legal and religious material. But beyond this role, the Deiyen judge is also a general in waiting. While Deiyeh's High Prince commands the professional army, it is local Deiyen judges who command regional militias and inspire their people to fight. As a result, judges must be fiercely charismatic, well-liked, brave, and be perceived as willing to sacrifice for great causes even as they call up men to fight and die under their command.

As vaishineph, judges maintain many of their qualities that they used in their former lives. Charisma is worth more than gold when it comes to the beliefs of the common people, as everyone wants to feel as if their lives are meaningful, and their deaths, if they must come, serve a higher purpose. Judges can impart that feeling to others, including their allies. And judges also have the skills necessary to lead, so that when those battles come and when that great cause presents itself, they stand a reasonable chance of leading a charge to victory rather than defeat.

In a group, the judge is one of the few professions in the game that has some explicit capabilities for epic conflicts. The judge can make the glories of themselves and their allies all the more effective and their strategic brilliance can give them insights into enemy forces that they can exploit as a commander of warriors. But the judge does not lack in social abilities, and can fulfill a leadership role both on and off the battlefield.

Attribute Increases: +1 Wisdom +1 Education

Starting Willpower and Resolve: 1/1

Starting Gear and Garb: Common mount, mounted pack, common javi

Starting Thread: Dawning Path

Script: Noble Command

Skill: Reform Army

Just as a judge must pass sentences on matters of civil or legal significance, so too must every judge stand ready to pass sentences on foreign armies and invaders. A judge embodies the fighting spirit of an entire region. When a judge proclaims death and destruction for another people or army, the people invest their zeal in the judge and follow along in a charismatic legion, eager to fulfill the judge's decree. Nothing short of complete annihilation can turn a people led by a judge away from their charge.

Given a few minutes time, and a rousing speech, a judge can reform an epic unit that they are attached to which has suffered a check. Give a few more minutes, the epic unit is reset to its default attributes, healed of all of its conditions, and ready to undertake actions again. Reform army can only be used once per session.

Ancient of Days (lvl 1)

Judges are looked to for their wisdom and experience in a wide variety of matters. Judges must be wise beyond their years and highly adaptable in order to fulfill the responsibilities of their office.Judges receive +1 to martial attacks while equipped with a costume and +1 to social attacks while equipped with an armor or a shield. Moreover, when a judge reaches their critical state, they can immediately shrug off one condition of their choosing.

True Strike (lvl 1)

A judge must be of an analytic mind, able to carefully weight the cost and benefit of every action, even in combat. When imposing conditions on opponents in a martial conflict, the judge can choose whether to use their Truth die or Light die to decide the condition.

Rallying Cry (lvl 3)

A vital spirit can keep a body going long past its breaking point, and the judge's charisma and leadership revitalizes like no other. When the judge earns an innocent success on an attack, all nearby allies have their risk reduced by one.

Read Soul (lvl 3)

A judge's sharply developed intuition allows them to perceive hints of a person's deepest motivations, which the judge can then use to predict their actions. When the judge earns an innocent success on an attack, the target's next attack against the judge has a -2 penalty applied to it.

Bear Witness (lvl 5)

When the judge speaks, its as if their words are carved into the very fabric of reality. The judge can spend one risk when imposing a flush condition on an opponent in order to impose the same flush condition on the opponent a second time, keeping in mind the rules for upgrading/downgrading conditions.

Charge Into Fire (lvl 5)

Anyone can lead an army to certain victory, but only a skilled and impassioned commander can lead an army straight into death but triumph nonetheless. The judge can spend one risk when making a successful command action save against a ranged attack, in order to immediately maneuver into melee range of the attacker and counter attack.

Proclaim Sentence (lvl 7)

The judge's words and deeds seem to be more real than those of any other person, as though they themselves set the standard of all things. When the judge imposes a strike mark on an opponent, they can also impose the force take on all nearby opponents.

Spirit of the Nation (lvl 7)

When the judge leads people into battle, they are swept up in an unbreakable sense of righteous purpose, rendering them immune to harm that would break other units. When the judge imposes a mark on an opponent as a command action attack, the judge may also shrug off one of their epic unit's own conditions.

Keeper of the Flock

The Deiyen wilderness is filled to the brim with dire predators eager to feast on precious flocks. Those who stand watch over the flocks as they live and graze must be more cunning and more dangerous than the beasts they guard against. The Deiyen keeper of the flock is one such individual, possessing razor sharp senses, expert tracking abilities, and a treasure trove of killing techniques handed down from one generation to the next. Even as they cultivate these violent abilities, the keepers of the flock maintain a deep reservoir of empathy for the animals they guard, being greatly concerned about their well being and able to communicate with them far more than others might think possible.

As vaishineph, the keepers of the flock often find themselves far away from the fields and pastures that occupied their mortal lives, and driven toward urban areas where mortals congregate. Despite being somewhat out of their element, the keeper's unique skills and abilities are useful in a vaishineph's life of infiltration and assassination. Keepers fight like the animals they once defended against, full of ferocity and power, and few can stand against them in a direct confrontation.

In a group, a keeper of the flock makes a natural guard of their allies in the rebel cult. Taking the leading position in a group, the keeper is a vicious and effective front line defender, able to wound or dispatch opponents before they ever get to the rest of the group. The keeper's abilities make them extremely flexible and efficient, able to respond to practically any aggressor with deftness.

Attribute Increases: +1 Strength +1 Discipline

Starting Willpower and Resolve: 1/1

Starting Gear and Garb: Two common simple weapons, common javi

Starting Thread: River Warrens

Skill: Animal Handling

Half a keeper's job is fending off vile predators, and the other half is keeping their animal charges calm and in good order. Keepers of the Flock learn a variety of soothing vocal tones, postures, and gestures designed over there course of centuries to quickly ingratiate themselves with the beasts of the field.

Given a few minutes time, the keeper can increase an animal's disposition toward them by two categories.

Left Handed Style (lvl 1)

Deiyeh's Keepers of the Flock have handed down a unique fighting style from their clan's ancestral folk heroes, which uses an aggressive left hand dominate guard and two weapons to strike and block from unconventional angles. The keeper can dual wield a full size melee weapon in their left hand and a light weapon in their right hand at no penalty.

Predator Bane (lvl 1)

Keepers can mimic the bestial movements of their foes in order to gain a defensive advantage over them. The keeper can dual wield two light weapons at no penalty. Moreover, they receive +1 to saves against martial attacks made by beasts and demons.

Aggressive Block (lvl 3)

The keeper's animal enemies know that the best defense is an unending offense, and the keeper learns to take this wisdom to heart. When the keeper earns an innocent success on a martial defense, and the keeper is eligible to counter attack, they can impose a mark on the attacker regardless of the save's degree of success or the attacker's risk.

Combination Strike (lvl 3)

The keeper is a whirlwind of attacks, striking from everywhere at once in an unbroken flow of lethality. When the keeper earns an innocent success on a martial attack while dual wielding, they impose a lethal condition on their target appropriate to their Truth roll.

Secret Sling (lvl 5)

The keeper always has several weapons tucked away, saved for when they are needed most. When there is distance between themselves and a target, the keeper can quickly juggle their weapons around to draw a sling and put them down. The keeper can spend one risk upon a successful defense against a ranged attack in order to counter attack, even if they have melee weapons readied during the defense. After the counter attack, the keeper is still considered to have whatever weapons they had before the counter attack readied. The counter attack uses the sling's characteristics and edges. The keeper must be equipped in order to use Secret Sling.

Overwatch (lvl 5)

The keeper is especially comfortable with enemies ahead and allies in need of protection behind. The keeper can become a mobile wall of whirling weapons to stop any hostile advance. The keeper can spend one risk while Holding Ground to save against a second incoming attack that targets an ally in the area the keeper is holding.

Parry Rage (lvl 7)

When fighting beasts the size of homes, no asset is more valuable than an iron constitution and a cool head. The keeper can gain strength and confidence with every successful defense. The keeper can reduce their own risk by two each time they roll a successful defense in a conflict.

Headhunter (lvl 7)

When it comes to putting down the world's fiercest predators, accuracy is king. The keeper can choose any condition of the appropriate damage type to impose on an opponent when they make a successful attack and choose the strike mark.

Strongman

The Deiyen strongmen are the pride of the kingdom and a symbol of Veye's strength in the minds of many of the nation's common people. Raised from birth to follow strict religious diets and exercise regimes, a strongman is a living embodiment of Deiyeh's purity and what a person can achieve when they live up to Veye's most exacting standards. Strongmen are mountains of rippling muscle. Though Deiyens will never be the tallest of kinds, the strongmen are surely the widest and the most dense, with carefully worked physiques and flawless physical features that attest to Veye's wisdom as an artist and a creator. The strongmen travel far and wide, performing theatrical feats of strength and demonstrations of physical perfection for gathered crowds of awed people, and, all too often, bedding curious and aroused nobles who pay for the unique opportunity of taming a strongman in the bedroom.

As vaishineph, a strongman's physical aptitude is certainly a great blessing in their many conflicts and trials, though many find their diets and exercise regimes to be too tainted by their mortal lives to be worth continuing in full. As a vaishineph strongman transfers their feelings of devotion from Veye to their aihalan, they become increasingly confident, and increasingly able to parlay their skills in performance and theatricality to their new lives. Feats of strength still inspire, but now a vaishineph attempts to inspire the common people to resist the tyranny and abuses of the royal cults.

In a group, a strongman is capable of handling themselves ably in fights, and tearing into enemy lines with bare hands and brute force. But the strongman's most unique abilities are his powers of seduction and performance. While the strongman themselves might be coming to new understandings of what it means to be potent, as the manna stirs in their veins, they can exploit other people's ideas of virility and sexuality in order to become extremely attractive to eyes with the right inclinations.

Requires male gender

Attribute Increases: +1 Strength +1 Education

Starting Willpower and Resolve: 0/2

Starting Gear and Garb: Traveling pack, coin pouch, common javi

Starting Thread: Iron Bend

Script: Crimson Smile

Skill: Hard Labor

The Deiyen strongmen are performers of wondrous labors first and foremost, displaying their gift of strength to gathered crowds to inspire their faith. Beneath the magnificent muscle lies the strongman's greatest power, their inexhaustible endurance. Some in Chaesharin may grow as mighty as a Deiyen strongman, but none will ever grow as immune to fatigue.

Given a few minutes time, the strongman can accomplish the same amount of hard labor that a dozen people could accomplish in the same amount of time.

Flawless Body (lvl 1)

Strongmen are not just physically powerful, they are also exquisitely featured, and they know how to use their bodies and to foster desirability in onlookers. When the strongman first takes the flawless body fear, they must choose one of the following abilities. Either 1) the strongman can use their strength in place of their beauty and their poise for social attacks and defenses or, 2) the strong can use their beauty in place of their strength and their valor for martial attacks and defenses.

Shield of Faith (lvl 1)

The strongmen trust in Veye to protect them and their bodies, and the combination of their intense physical focus and piety manifests as resilience in the face of harm. So long as the strongman is unarmed and has no armor or shield equipped, the strongman gains +1 resistance against martial attacks and +1 to martial defenses. They gain a second +1 to martial defenses if their strength or beauty rank is ever 5 or greater.

Raw Attraction (lvl 3)

Strongmen know how to carefully position and posture themselves to maximize the effect their bodies have on those around. When the strongman earns an innocent success on a social attack, they impose the entangle effect on their target, and gain +1 to attacks and defenses against entangled targets.

Overpower (lvl 3)

Sometimes, the simplest solution is apply the maximum amount of force possible to an opponent and see what happens. When the strongman earns an innocent success on a martial attack, they can choose to impose an overpowering force take instead of the normal take, mark, or check options. Overpowering force causes the strongman to lift and throw the target a short distance, imposing a bashing condition on them if they contact something in the environment, disarming them, and weakening them. If the target is thrown over or through an obstacle, they might have to spend their next call maneuvering back into striking range before they are able to attack again,

Fierce Strike (lvl 5)

The strongman's might has become so well developed and so precise in its use that they can kill opponents with their bare hands. The strongman can spend on risk to change an unarmed attack or unarmed entangle from the bashing damage type to the elemental damage type.

Essence of Might (lvl 5)

In Chaesharin, masculinity, virility, and physical power are all tied together in the hearts of minds of many. With enough charisma and creativity, one can easily transform one into another. The strongman can spend one risk before a roll to interact with a non-player character who could potentially be attracted to the strongman in order to raise the non-player character's disposition towards the strongman by one category.

Breaker of Chains (lvl 7)

The strongman can draw upon vast reserves of inner strength to become an unstoppable threat to their enemies. When the strongman imposes a check on an opponent, they shrug off one conditions and gain +2 on their next test or save.

Stand Tall (lvl 7)

The strongman's massive size and equally massive appeal allows them to utterly dominate a crowd and demand the attention of everyone who looks on. Anyone who hears the strongman feels silenced by their presence. Anytime the strongman makes a successful social attack, they may immediately make a second. The Truth roll on the first social attack becomes irrelevant. The Truth roll on the second social attack determines where the call is next passed. A third social attack in a row cannot be made in this fashion.