Dials

Lifespan

Does Harmony grant extended life to the folk?

Regardless of your choice below, the relative aging of the Lineages remains stable:

Mousefolk < Centauri < Wehran < Floran = Izuno < Aloran < Siren

Longer lifespan means that more history is in living memory; more secrets might be learned from living masters. In the extreme case, you have a civilization that slows to glacial pace. Why rush when you can expect to live centuries more?

Civilian norms:

  • Human norm – Wehrans live 60 to 80 years; Florans and Izuno about a century; Alorans close to 150 years
  • Improved vigor – As human norm, but you remain vigorous and healthy until your very last years
  • (Default) Moderate extension – Floran and Izuno live about 200 years; Alorans to about 300. Wehrans currently live about 80 years, but this is increasing over time.
  • High extension - Floran and Izuno live 400 to 500 years; Alorans can reach 1000. Wehrans currently live about 100 years, but this is increasing over time.
  • Millenial – Floran and Izuno live a 1000 years; Alorans can reach 2000. Wehrans currently live about 100 years, but this is increasingly rapidly
    • The memory of the Kingdom is fresh for some Alorans from the first hand accounts of their grandparents

Effect of cultivation:

  • None – Enjoy the cultivation while you live, for your days are numbered the same
  • (Default) Moderate increase – Much like a healthy life style, cultivation grants about 1.5 times your normal span and increased vigor even until your last years.
  • Scaling increase – Each Path or Grace increase grants more life (double values for Alorans)
    • Students – each step grants 10 years
    • Warriors – each step grants 20 years
    • Masters – each step grants 50 years; these masters often retreat from society to meditate in deep wilds.
  • Indefinite – Continual cultivation allows you to extend your life indefinitely…as long as you continue to advance on your path.
    • The oldest masters remember the early Kingdom, though they share their wisdom only with those they deem worthy

Aging

Next, a question related to lifespan: if the folk live longer, how do they age? Do they spend the same proportion of their life as children regardless of their total lifespan, or do they mature at our normal speed and enjoy a longer young adulthood?

Let’s break life up into some rough stages. The percentages are the percent of total life.

  • Infancy (2.5%)
  • Childhood (10%)
  • Adolescence (10%)
  • Adulthood (50%)
  • Golden years (20%)
  • Elderly (7.5%)

Now some choices:

  • (Default) Quickened infancy, then proportional
    • Infancy lasts for about two years, same as in our world. By 2.5 to 3 years old, children can walk, talk, and mostly take care of their basic needs.
    • Afterwards, aging slowly immensely, such that each stage of life lasts proportionately. (The extra percentage from a quick infancy applies to childhood instead)
    • Default because it makes aging a non-issue; you can more or less ignore all implications!
  • True Proportional
    • The folk age proportionally to their lifespan.
    • Infancy and toddlerhood last for about 2.5% of the life, however many years that may be; childhood another 10%, etc.
    • Simple and easy, if painful for Aloran mothers changing diapers for 25 years! No wonder they hire mousefolk nannies.
  • Extended adulthood
    • Childhood and adolescence lasts about 20 years. At age 20, aging drastically slows, and the rest of their life is proportional
  • By Lineage
    • Flora, Whistler, and Izu use quickened infancy into proportional
    • Alora uses true proportional
    • Wehr use extended adulthood
    • This approach emphasizes the differences in the Lineages. Imagine graduating college and meeting your old Aloran playmate just now starting Graces!
  • Harmonious aging
    • The folk age according to their spiritual health and devotion to Harmony
    • Those who cultivate joy and compassion remain youthful for long years while those with callous hearts wizen swiftly
    • This form of aging adds a moral implication to one’s appearance. The cackling old crone is so old, there’s no way she’s not evil! (Laughs in Emperor Palpatine)
  • Alchemical extension
    • Secret concoctions made from the most rare of ingredients can halt or even reverse aging!
    • Pioneered by either a genius or a madman by the name of Xu Fu; Xu Fu is either immortal or died of mercury poisoning many years ago…
    • The competition for these immortality elixirs is intense and deadly!
    • Provides an excellent source of conflict; however, contributes to the image of cultivators as drug-addled madmen…

One recommendation: Physical, mental, and emotional development should proceed together. If childhood is longer, the character should maintain the mindset of a child for that period. Otherwise things just get weird.

Any ages given in this book or supplemental material uses the defaults highlighted above. You may need to adjust for different choices.

Corruption

How much corruption is there in the Kingdom?

  • Minimal
    • Despite the vast distances of the Kingdom, the folk are mostly united in Harmony.
    • There are bad magistrates and corrupt sheriffs, of course, but these are an exception to the norm
    • This approach emphasizes civilization as safe harbor
  • (Default) Minimal in the inner wards, worse in the outer wards
    • Within the inner wards, law and order usually prevail
    • In the outer wards, magistrates and officials have enough leeway to act as they want, and many take advantage of this to live the high life at other’s expense
    • You can still rely on the royal inspectors and petition the crown for help
    • This approach focuses on your characters making a difference in the Kingdom
  • Corrupt fiefdoms
    • Corruption is based on individual clans and cadres of magistrates that have solidified control in domains
    • These domains are corrupt to the point that you cannot rely on law and order
    • The domains are powerful enough or far enough away from the Crown that a lone royal inspector cannot solve the issue
    • This approach creates villains that will require heroics and sacrifice for you to overcome
  • Blinded Crown
    • The Crown is tied up in the great works of Harmony, the wards, and the Teacher program
    • It has little resources to spare to address blight and corruption among the administrative classes
    • You will likely have to destroy existing power structures and rebuild to find justice

We do not recommend making the Crown evil (either secretly or overtly). The Crown wields such extreme power that an evil Queen forces the entire campaign to revolve around dethroning her. Since Harmony is so deeply intertwined with the Kingdom and its leaders, this is a recipe for disaster. To put it another way, if the Crown was evil, the Kingdom was screwed three thousand years ago!

Cultivator numbers

How common is cultivation? Is a daily sight? Is it a profession? Or is cultivation the madness of martial-arts-obsessed fools that skip out on real jobs?

  • (Default) Many dally, few devote
    • A good chunk of adolescents dally in a Path, gaining the rank of student
    • Only a handful of those go on to be “professional” cultivators (warrior and onward); and only a small fragment of those make it to mastery
    • Minimizes the difference in power between young cultivators and the Kingdom while allowing masters to shine
    • Provides lots of cultivators to spar and fight against
    • Diminishes the mystery when so many people have tried out your sacred Path
  • Professional and known
    • The Paths are a form of profession. You can declare yourself as a Tranquil Serpent in town and receive job requests from the locals
    • Paths are respected, and you can take pride in your accomplishments
    • Cultivation may feel less special when it’s a “job”
  • Rare and secret
    • To call yourself a cultivator implies that you are a wanderer, a bum, and probably trouble
    • You are a member of a secret society, and you walk in the shadows
    • Begs the question: how do such obvious displays of Path power avoid drawing more attention? Who is working in the shadows to obscure the truth?
  • Battle royale
    • Oops. Turns out cultivation is a limited resource!
    • If you want to cultivate, you have to beat others to the punch
    • In the end, there can only be a small handful of the most powerful tier of cultivation, and the only way to gain entry is battle…to the death!
    • Forces the game into conflict; tosses the core conceits of Harmony right out the window
    • Great premise for a one-shot game

Civilization level

This game system cannot hope to encompass all applications of Harmony and elemental manipulation.

Consider Seln Alora. Is the capital of the Kingdom a towering city fueled by elementally purified rivers and sewers? Or is it primitive by our standards, reliant on manure carts and manual labor for its hygiene?

After a storm, do the folk clear boulders from the road with pickaxe and mule? Or do they call for cultivators to smash the boulders with heavy strikes?

These levels are in order from least to most complex. Whatever you choose here is for Seln Alora and the inner wards. The outer wards are always one step down from the inner wards, and the free cities are two steps down.

  • Stone age primitive
    • The folk live with stone and bone. Metal orchards are rare and marvelous creations, guarded with alarming prejudice
    • In the inner wards, early agriculture provides subsistence living; in the outer wards, you make your own way or starve
    • How does the Kingdom maintain the wards when under such stress? Does the Teacher program still exist at all?
  • Classical age primitive
    • Stone, porcelain, marble all in use; most structures are single level
    • Metal orchards can produce marvellous metals, but only a handful of secret smiths know how to work the results
    • Food is still somewhat unstable; famines occur when storms disrupt the land
    • Reading and writing are exclusive to the administrative class; records are kept on wax or clay
    • The stars are a mystery of the gods
  • Early advancement
    • Ward-based agriculture has stabilized, providing reliable food in most circumstances
    • Experimentation with mechanical processes like water wheels and windmills have reduced the labor required for agriculture
    • Reading and writing are largely a tool of the bureaucratic class; most writing is done on scrolls
  • (Default) Rising advancement
    • The Kingdom has mastered non-combustion mechanical devices such as water wheels and windmills. These are harnessed in many creative ways to surmount obstacles and speed work
    • The printing press has recently come into use, and literature is about to explode in popularity
    • Mathematics can chart the (normal) stars in the sky
    • Geomancers have decent accuracy with predicting ley lines and storms
  • Beginnings of magitech
    • The elements are increasingly tamed; the wards are reliable in all but the most dire circumstances
    • Widespread cultivation allows folk to make their elemental prowess into a profession
    • Crystal chits and mystical reagents are increasingly commodified; cultivated equipment is actually available on the open market!
    • A new danger rises: elemental pollution!

Memory and lore

How much does the Kingdom remember of old mysteries, its neighbors, and the first days?

  • (Default) Little
    • Through neglect and malfeasance, the Kingdom has lost the greater part of its wisdom from ancient days
    • Even the High languages waver; older records are almost incomprehensible and require comprehensive investigation to parse
    • You will need to explore ancient ruins, consult the last seers of dying clans, and otherwise seek out this information to restore the Kingdom
  • Records await in deep libraries
    • The Kingdom has forgotten its lore, but the information still exists in the libraries and monasteries of Seln
    • Someone must realize the need and delve into the lore!
    • Excellent for researchers, gatherers, and other non-combative parties
  • Royal archives
    • The King and Queen have written down much of what they know
    • They dole it out in tiny portions among the folk, letting the knowledge seep slowly back into public awareness
    • The information is known; you must prove yourself worthy of it

What of the Grand Fae? Those creatures that most certainly do not exist; and if they did exist, were defeated; and certainly do not whisper temptation into unguarded ears…

  • Myth and legend
    • The Grand Fae’s whispers have all but eradicated the proof of their presence
    • Only the wisest among the Kingdom still remember the truth; most consider the Grand Fae to be a fairy tale
    • Deeds of the Grand Fae are misattributed to storms, beasts, and scoundrels; the folk do not want to believe
  • (Default) Real once but defeated
    • The Grand Fae were enemies of the first days. The King and Queen defeated them conclusively
    • Some smaller Fae may remain, but these are mere shadows of that ancient power
    • Accounts of the Fae have been systematically destroyed by shadowy forces, leaving precious little information on their names, their goals, and their weaknesses
  • Real, but only a shadow beyond the wards
    • The folk know the Grand Fae are real, but they are a distant threat
    • The wards offer protection, and the folk avoid the Far Reaches for their threat
    • A few scholars and inspectors have noticed their influence and actively seek help to weed out their plots
  • Real and active
    • Perhaps one among the Grand Fae tipped their hand too soon; the Kingdom knows of their threat
    • Scholars seek to create safeguards against their whispers, and inspectors hunt for signs of the Claim
    • This is the Kingdom at its most proactive, bending its resources to countering the Fae threat

Sexuality and gender roles

The perfect topic for your online flame wars! How does the Kingdom approach sexuality and gender?

  • (Default) Variable by Lineage
    • The Izu are strict on gender roles: both immutable and required.
      • Both men and women are expected to find heterosexual relationships that bear children
    • The Wehrans are practical on gender roles but strict on sexuality.
      • Women are allowed into any role due to manpower shortages since the Long Winter, but this is with much grumbling
      • Divergent sexualities are censured
    • Most Alorans are practical on both sexuality and gender roles.
      • Typical gender roles have men in outward roles and women for inward roles. However, one’s gender role is less important than one’s comport. A woman can do a man’s job and vice versa, but you had best look your best doing it!
      • You have a responsibility to have children for your clan, but no one will question what you do with the reminder of your time
      • The petite nobility, ever-preening, place particular emphasis on the ideal of “the man rules the outside world” and “the woman rules the internal world”.
    • Whistlers take the flexible approach
      • Every port is its own story! What you do in each port is your own business…
    • Florans are libertine
      • You should define yourself as you see fit and act to match
      • Get bored with the old you? Take a new name and move on!
  • We are going to ignore it
    • It never comes up. Play men or women with no worry that it will impact the story at all. Love who you want to love.
  • Prejudice and resistance
    • The Kingdom still carries the parochial norms inherited from its early days. While Whistlers and Florans dislike this, they are forced to tolerate matters

This is a sensitive area. Make sure to discuss with the other players and the storytellers like adults. If you are okay with a game of overcoming bigotry and finding yourself, say so! If you want to drop this entire subject and play without touching on it, make sure the others know!

System World Percent

A System World refers to a genre of Japanese media where the world (usually isekai fantasy) explicitly operates on gamist terms. Characters openly refer to their HP, MP, level, and other gaming constructs. They join adventuring guilds for the explicit purpose of leveling up.

You must decide what balance between narrative and game terms best suits your sense of immersion.

  • No system concepts
    • The various Paths and Graces all speak independent languages of cultivation.
    • There is no unified terminology; you would not refer to yourself as a “cultivator” but as a member of your Path or Grace
    • Offers a better sense of mystery, but players need to commit to maintaining the barrier between narrative and game terms
  • (Default) Cultivation is known
    • “Cultivation” is a known concept
    • You speak openly of seeking for Essences and Reagents
    • Aura, Chakra, and Circle are game terms; you would speak of attuning to an item or of your heroic resolve to keep fighting
    • This is the most convenient choice; it unifies player and character knowledge. You give up the sense of mystery for ease of communication
  • Explicit
    • Just read off your character sheet!
    • Cultivation, Essence, Reagent, Circle, etc. All are fair game
    • When a friend asks how you’re feeling, tell them you’re Wounded and at half Aura
    • Speeds up the game by using explicit terms at the cost of narrative immersion