We said we were done with character creation. We lied. But you see, what we speak of now is secret. We speak of the character’s soul, and there are aspects to each vislae’s soul that they do not reveal, even to their close friends. At least, not at first.
The fourth step of character creation is your soul. Sometimes, people call it the “secret soul.” You can use either term. “Secret soul” stresses the secretive nature of it, but implies that there are parts of your soul, or another soul, that are not secret, and that’s not actually the case.
Your soul is personal, with its own (secret) name. Thus, each vislae has not only a conventional name but also a secret name—the name of their soul. Each soul has a connection, however, to certain souls of other people. Thirteen different soul “allegiances” are thought to exist. As the soul is something unique to mortals, 13 is the number of mortality. Collectively, the thirteen soul allegiances are called the Magisterium. They are the Silver Star, the Watcher, the Child, the Lady, the Flame, the Doctor, the Old Man, the Eye, the Blade, the Abyss, the Hammer, the Whisper, and the Dancer.
Each has its own positive and negative aspects. For example, the Old Man exemplifies wisdom and respect, but also weakness and forgetfulness. The secret soul known as the Child is innocence and purity, but also naïveté and ignorance. The positive aspect of the Lady is luck, and the negative aspect is . . . luck. These aspects speak to your inner nature in ways that you decide, and you can reveal this nature or not, as you choose. It’s yet another building block you can use to shape and develop your character.
Your secret soul association provides a special connection to others with the same secret soul, but only if that knowledge is revealed—and it’s best to keep it secret, as it can also be used against you. The more someone knows about your soul, the easier it is to use spells and other magic to affect you. For those who want to pursue it, however, each of the secret souls in the Magisterium has a hidden meeting place in Satyrine, and has a hierarchy like a secret society. Each holds spells of which only they have knowledge. But looking for them is difficult and puts your own soul identity at risk, so be wary.
Wardens and leaders oversee each of the conceptual thirteen soul allegiances. These beings, collectively, are also called the Magisterium. So the Magisterium oversees the Magisterium. They dwell, each in secret, in Satyrine, although rumor has it that they meet in a sort of council to discuss topics of great import. Each has a network of agents allied to them and to each other. In other words, the choice of a soul leads to potential membership in a secret society. However, to find the Magisterium and your soul’s brethren, you have to reveal your secret soul, and most people are loath to do so. So the vast majority of vislae never seek out the Magisterium or the organization that they technically belong to.
Your soul grants you special advantages (and potential disadvantages). However, most of them only rarely come into play.
Each soul has a Soul Guardian. The Soul Guardian is a spiritual entity—a conceptualized force rather than a simple entity. Closer to a god (or perhaps demigod) than a being. The Soul Guardians are different than the Magisterium, and yet they are also not. That is to say, the Magisterium is made up of mortals. However, each member of the Magisterium may host the spirit of the Guardian of the soul it represents. Thus, each representative of a soul in the Magisterium is in part also the Guardian, until they are not. When a representative dies or is somehow displaced, the Guardian joins with the new representative in a manner not fully explained or understood by most—and the very existence of each representative, let alone their identity, is already one of the best-kept secrets in Satyrine.
Soul Guardian: Characters can call upon their Soul Guardian when they are in their time of greatest need. If they do, they gain the Soul Guardian’s gift. The cost for invoking this power is 1 Crux. It also reveals to all nearby the character’s secret soul allegiance.
Death Curse: Upon their death, a vislae can speak a death curse, powered by their secret soul. This is an open-ended curse, detailed by the vislae at the moment of death, with an effect equal to the highest-level spell or effect they have access to. For example, a level 5 death curse might be, “I curse he who put the poison in my wine to burn with Hell’s own flames.” The culprit who poisoned the vislae suffers 5 points of damage as flames burst around them.
Speaking a death curse can loose parts of the character’s soul into the world, which can be dangerous. If a vislae uses their death curse, an interested party might learn their secret soul allegiance. The vislae gains 1 Despair. If the interested party already knows the allegiance, they learn the vislae’s secret name.
Secret Name: Each vislae’s soul has an individual name. Many think of their soul’s name as their truename, but others simply call it their soul name or their magical name. Regardless, knowledge of your soul’s name is dangerous, and it can be used against you. However, if someone knows your secret soul name, that fact also grants you a bit of power over them. You always gain a +1 bonus to any magical action (forte ability, spell, ritual, and so on) made against someone who you have revealed your name to, or who has discovered it on their own. There is, then, a delicate and dangerous aspect to revealing your secret soul name as well as to discovering those of your enemies.
Extremely powerful vislae have learned how to make it so that people speaking their soul’s name grants them even greater power and abilities.
Each Soul Guardian has a personality, a symbol, and a gift.
The thirteen soul allegiances are:
✦✦ The Silver Star
✦✦ The Watcher
✦✦ The Child
✦✦ The Lady
✦✦ The Flame
✦✦ The Doctor
✦✦ The Old Man
✦✦ The Eye
✦✦ The Blade
✦✦ The Abyss
✦✦ The Hammer
✦✦ The Whisper
✦✦ The Dancer
Sometimes called the Shining Star, this soul offers protection, but also focuses on mystery and the unknown. It is the solace of isolation, quiet, and calm.
Symbol/Image: The Silver Star is represented with seven points.
Gift: The character’s defenses all gain +3 until the sun next sets, and they are instantly transported home if they wish it.
Distant and aloof, the Watcher possesses vast knowledge and clear logic, and values little else.
Symbol/Image: A tower with a single window atop a distant hill represents the Watcher.
Gift: The character’s Intellect pool is refreshed and gains 3 bene, and the character knows the answer to any one question.
The Child represents purity and yet also naiveté. The Child respects play and joy, but struggles with—or ignores—responsibility.
Symbol/Image: The Child is depicted at different ages, but almost always with a toy or a small dog.
Gift: The character’s pools are all refreshed and they gain 1 Joy.
Neither young nor old, beautiful nor ugly, kind nor cruel, the Lady is capricious and embraces change, bestowing blessings one day and calamity the next.
Symbol/Image: The Lady is often depicted faceless, holding or standing next to a wheel.
Gift: The character gains +3 on all actions until the sun next sets, but suffers −1 on all actions the following day.
The Flame grants life-giving warmth, but it also destroys. It must be wielded carefully, but with skill its use is limitless.
Symbol/Image: It is typically represented by a solitary lit candle.
Gift: The character is shrouded in flames that inflict 5 points of damage to any close foe and reset one pool of any close ally. The flames last until the sun next sets, but any one character can be affected by them only once.
Knowledge—and more important, the application of that knowledge—is the purview of the Doctor. The Doctor has many secrets but is unafraid to reveal them when the time is right.
Symbol/Image: A masked androgynous figure, usually in a cloak with a black valise, represents the Doctor.
Gift: The character gains +2 on all actions until the sun next sets.
Cantankerous and set in his ways, the Old Man trods the well-worn path. The Old Man rejects change and chance.
Symbol/Image: A wooden cane is the Old Man’s symbol.
Gift: Any challenge for the character that is reduced to 3 or less becomes 0. This lasts until the sun next sets.
Often confused with the Watcher, the Eye sees what it sees unintentionally. In Shadow, the saying goes that the eye is the window to the soul, and that applies here. The Eye is more about the thoughts, impressions, and sensations of the soul than what is actually seen. It is the impact on the viewer rather than what is viewed. Rather than being interested in knowledge for its own sake, the Eye values experience and understanding. Introspective, it sees inward as well as out.
Symbol/Image: The Eye is often stylized in many forms.
Gift: The character vanishes until the sun next sets, having retreated into their own soul. When they reappear, it is wherever they wish.
The Blade is swift and full of action and initiative. It acts with precision, skill, and sometimes even intuition. The Blade is so sharp and so precise that it can cut to heal as well as harm. It never inflicts unintentional harm.
Symbol/Image: The Blade is depicted in silver, its keen edge glistening.
Gift: The character gains +3 to attacks and deals +3 damage until the sun next sets.
The Abyss knows no bounds. Its depths are limitless and ultimately beyond understanding.
Symbol/Image: Its symbol is a swirling hole of utter darkness.
Gift: One NPC that the character touches is consumed utterly and forever.
The Hammer is strong, stalwart, and powerful, but entirely without subtlety. It is mightier than the Blade, but also messier, more brutal, and far less precise.
Symbol/Image: The Hammer is a stout, often bloody, weapon.
Gift: The character makes a single attack against all close foes that is automatically successful and inflicts 3 Wounds.
The Whisper is soft and quiet, but persuasive. It speaks directly into one’s heart. One’s soul. Whatever it says becomes truth.
Symbol/Image: The Whisper is often shown as a set of stylized lips.
Gift: The character’s Interaction pool is refreshed and gains 3 bene, and the next thing the character says is believed by one person they are speaking to, no matter what.
The Dancer is grace and movement. It is the creation of beauty and art, and the appreciation of the same.
Symbol/Image: The Dancer is depicted as a perfectly formed androgynous figure of grace and beauty.
Gift: The character becomes untouchable until the sun next sets. They cannot be harmed or affected by anything, nor can they affect anything. They can, however, move at incredible speeds, moving 100 miles (160 km) in the blink of an eye, or almost anywhere in the world before the effect ends.