Hearth Actions

Hearth Activity

Your Hearth may take one Action per season. This is equivalent to a Downtime for a single character.

  • As characters, you may freely quarrel and disagree about the future of your Hearth
  • As players, you must find consensus on what Hearth Activity to take. In the case of argument, the Hearth takes no Action this season.

Hearth Defenses

Like you, your Hearth can roll Defend. For a Hearth, this represents community efforts to detect invaders, defend against threats, and apply influence to surrounding regions.

  • The structures you choose

These Challenges usually represent sustained effort over time.

  • For example, a Defense against wild animals might represent regular patrols, animal control, and ecological manipulation

Actions

All Hearth Actions require Power.

  • You may only use excess Power not consumed by existing structures
  • You may never go below 0 Power

Survey

Power Cost: X

You survey to keep an eye on your Hearth and the surrounding regions of your Overworld. You repair any wards, contact the locals, and otherwise inform yourself about the target regions.

When you Survey, pick X regions within the Overworld to explore and preserve.

  • For each region, spend 1 Power
  • These regions will not fall into the Mists under normal circumstances (such as storms) for the next decade

The Overworld may grow until there are far more regions than you can reasonably Survey; pick your favorites to preserve!

Till

Power Cost: 0

Tilling is the opposite of Survey. When you Till, you intentionally remove the stabilizing influence of wards so that the region falls back to the Mists.

  • You may not Till a region without permission of its inhabitants
  • The storyteller controls the Mists; you do not know the exact time when the region returns to the Mists

The Mists are both dangerous and vital to geomancy. Mists act as the sink for elemental energy, providing a channel where storms can safely dissipate.

Shape Ley Lines

Power Cost: 5

When you Shape the Ley Lines, you use large-scale geomancy to alter the flow of the river of elements.

  • You may only shape an existing ley line; this power cannot create a new one
  • You may only shape ley lines within known regions; the Mists must first be explored

Choose one ley line within your Hearth; shift it by one element

Shape Land

Power Cost: 20

An expensive and impressive Action, Shape Land allows you to slowly alter the very landscape to fit your needs through careful control of the ley lines and storms.

  • You can sculpt rivers; raise hills and eventually mountains; and eventually tailor the land to suit your needs

Each time you take this Hearth Action, you may make one adjustment to one region in your Hearth. Generally, you will need several steps to fully alter the landscape; each step shifts the biome one step closer to your desired end state.

Examples:

  • Creek -> river -> large river
  • Plains -> Hills -> Mountains -> Peaks
  • Scrub brush -> Forests -> Jungle

Shaping the land is expected to take decades.