“One finds the beginning of the path to understanding when one realizes it has no end.”
—The Book of Nhagil
Character development is the key that drives all play in Invisible Sun. So much so, in fact, that it’s best to think of character creation as an ongoing process. Even with one’s character tome all filled out and ready, you’re never actually done. Events occur, secrets are discovered, and lore is mastered that alter characters in both personality and abilities. Just like characters in your favorite stories. Just like real people. Each character has their own character arcs, many determined by the choices they’ve made (the order they belong to; their patron, if any; their background; their enemies; and so on), that key into the actions they take in the game. For example, a character might have a character arc that says that, because of their allegiance with King Nine, they want to find any information they can about something called the Fatigue Bible. Now any action they take based on that goal might earn them points called Acumen. Obviously, if they change their allegiance, they might lose this arc. In that case, they will get another. The point is that characters are ever-changing, and these changes are story based, not simply game mechanics.
Advancement is like tinkering. You might tinker with the choices of various abilities, spells, or secrets to deal more damage with your attacks, or you might tinker as you decide whether to align yourself with the current leader of your order or the upstart secessionist who wants to break away and start a new group. You tinker with the designs your new face will have once you’ve earned enough money to pay the changery. You tinker with whether it fits your character better to pursue the secret of talking to red shadows or another that allows you to persuade locks to open.
There are three currencies involved in advancing your character.
You gain Acumen by just experiencing life. You earn it as a part of your character arc, or as general rewards from the GM based on experiences you have. In this way, it’s not wrong to think of Acumen as “experience points.” You spend Acumen to get new skills, spells, secrets, and so on. Acumen comes and goes, but you only need to keep track of your current total.
You gain Joy by doing the things you love. Happiness, inspiration, support, and fulfillment allow you to hone your strengths and expand your horizons. You’ll earn Joy by concluding character arcs successfully or accomplishing other deeds. You’ll also get Joy directly from the GM, who will sometimes insert a twist in the tale that makes things better for you. This direct, positive “intrusion” into the narrative earns you 1 Joy.
You combine Joy with Despair to form another sort of “experience point” called Crux that you use to gain an ability in your forte or advance in your items and objects, as well as activate other specific abilities. Unlike Acumen, you should keep track of your total earned Joy, even after you spend it, so you can track the increasing power of your Testament of Suns or vertula kada.
You gain Despair when things go poorly for you. Angst, defeat, anxiety, loss, and stress motivate change. You’ll earn Despair by concluding character arcs but with unsatisfying conclusions. In other words, you tried and failed. You’ll also get Despair directly from the GM, who will sometimes insert a twist in the tale that makes things more complicated. This direct, negative “intrusion” into the narrative earns you 1 Despair. Like Joy, you should keep track of your total earned Despair, even after you spend it, so you can track the increasing power of your Testament of Suns or vertula kada.
Many things related to character advancement depend on spending Acumen. These include knowledge to use most magical practices, such as spells, minor magic (cantrips, charms, signs, and hexes), and long-form magic (conjurations, invocations, enchantments, and rituals). You also spend Acumen to gain secrets, which can give your character new capabilities or your house new features. These cost varying amounts of Acumen, usually 1 per level.
Basically, anything you want to do to advance your character that isn’t part of your order or your forte is done with Acumen.
Joy leads to enlightenment. Despair makes us human.
You can spend Joy only along with the same amount of Despair. If you want to spend 2 Joy, for example, you must also spend 2 Despair. This is because you spend Joy and Despair together as “Crux.” A Crux is 1 Joy and 1 Despair. Crux are used to advance in your order (although there are always narrative requirements as well) and your forte.
Joy has no relationship with Acumen. However, you can spend 1 Despair to gain 2 Acumen. You cannot use Acumen to buy Despair.
Your character might have access to spells or other powers that arise from their order or forte. You will have special objects or incantations that you gain as ephemera. But there’s more. As you advance in knowledge and power, you will gain access to secrets that allow you to use magic in strange and interesting ways. You will gain new spells in all different forms. You might find the instructions for a ritual, although you’ll need at least one other person to help perform it. You might find an object of power, like a powerful weapon or a ring imbued with its own magical ability. Along the way you might also learn a few very minor magical powers in the form of cantrips, charms, signs, or hexes.
The point is, characters are extremely customizable and flexible. You can spend your time and energy on advancing in your order, or you can ignore that altogether and advance through other means.
Spells, secrets, and skills might require something from the character in the narrative. If you want to learn painting as a skill, you’ve got to find a teacher, read a book, or at least get out an easel and practice. If you want to learn the secret of wielding two weapons effectively at once, you might need to find a trainer who knows that secret. If you want to learn a new invocation, you might have to find a gramayre that relates the steps and intonements involved.
Advancing in your order always has a story requirement (performance of a specific ritual, sponsorship of another member, and so on) as well as a game mechanic requirement. Advancing to a new degree requires Crux equal to the degree. So advancing from 1st to 2nd degree requires 2 Crux.
Advancing in your forte is more esoteric. Fortes are very specific to the vislae, so advancing is more about inner exploration and practice than interacting with anyone else. The cost of gaining a new ability depends on its level. An ability of level 1–4 requires 1 Crux, level 5–6 requires 2 Crux, and level 7 and above requires 3 Crux.
Gaining a new forte ability also grants you 2 points to add to your stats.
As you advance with your Testament of Suns or vertula kada in your possession, some of your increasing power is passed into the item. You can draw on this power when you hold it. The level of this power depends on the overall total of Crux that you have earned and spent.
The GM should choose the power, but it should be suited to the vislae.
Crux Object Power
0–4 No additional power
5–8 Level 2 effect
9–12 Level 3 effect
13–16 Level 4 effect
17–24 Level 6 effect
25–34 Level 8 effect
35–46 Level 9 effect
47+ Level 10 effect
Vislae are a bookish lot and spend a lot of time studying new spells, secrets, and so forth. That means it takes time to learn new capabilities, but the game assumes that characters spend a great deal of time between significant events or missions. Lots of time to study, research, teach, and learn should be baked into every narrative.
Advancing to the next degree in your order always requires interacting in some way with other members of your order (unless you’re an Apostate). Thus, this is always flexible—some characters will complete all the necessary requirements before they earn enough Crux. But if you have the Crux to advance, the process usually takes somewhere between two weeks and two months, with higher degrees requiring more time. Sometimes a particular order will specify the length of time needed.
Advancing in your forte takes little time. New abilities gained spring forth organically as you use the abilities you already have.
Learning a brand-new skill generally requires at least six weeks of study. However, this is usually accomplished while taking part in other studies and activities. If a vislae “crams” for a skill and does nothing but study and practice, a new skill at level 1 can be gained in just two weeks.
Improving an existing skill is easier than learning a new one. Either a week of concentrated study or two weeks of more casual study are probably enough.
Social connections and contacts take time and vary greatly based on circumstances. In general, though, connections are the opposite of skills in that gaining a new connection is easier and takes about a week, whereas improving a connection is harder and requires about a week per new level (so improving a level 2 connection so that it becomes a level 3 connection takes three weeks). As with skills, a vislae can do other things during this time. Unlike skills, this process cannot be rushed.
Learning a new spell, long-form magic, or secret takes about three days per level of the new ability, but this is just a guideline. This assumes concentrated study, not working on anything else at the time.
All characters should take real rests from time to time. A day or a week here or there wherein they don’t study, don’t go off into dangerous situations, don’t make new connections, and so on. Where they literally do nothing but relax. The GM should gently “require” such breaks at a rate of one day a week, although this can accumulate, so after a month a character relaxes for four days, or after seven weeks they take a whole week off.