The Giants of Empyrean
As you know, I have been trying to come up with the ancestries that populate the Skies of Mor-ladron (SoM). I shared a few in the past, and today, I want to share one I’ve been noodling on for a while: the primary ancestry and current rulers of the great city of Empyrean. This ancestry has caused me some issues! I wanted these people to meet specific requirements. First and most importantly, I wanted you to look at them and understand instantly that powerful magi of this ancestry ruled the city. Sure, not every person in this ancestry is a magic user, but I wanted that arcane feel right off the bat.
For the longest time, I thought I’d use high elves. But as I set out to reinvent this world, I wanted only one type of elf, and the wode elves were just that much cooler than the stereotypical high elves. So, I needed to come up with something else.
The ancestry also needed to fit another requirement—they either needed to fly or be large. I want ancestries that fit each of these types, and all the other ancestries already have cities where they are the majority or the flight/size category wouldn't make sense. In the end, I decided to go with a large ancestry, primarily because I had written the blog article about Empyrean creating hippogriffs. A flying ancestry would have less need for such creatures. Granted, that does mean these hippogriffs probably got larger so they could carry these sizeable folk. That would also mean they could easily carry smaller-sized folk. (Maybe these large rulers used a smaller race to scout and explore—I’m not sure, but it’s something to think about.)
So, a large ancestry with a magical flavor. Well, we are in luck! Draw Steel has the Hakaan! Sweet! I’m done, nothing else to say or do; just port them in. Right?
Well… maybe not. The Hakaan inspired what I came up with, but there were some things I didn’t care for. In a vacuum, they are really cool, but they were too similar to some of the other ancestries in Draw Steel that I plan on using in SoM. They stepped on some toes, so to speak.
Here are the benefits of the Hakaan ancestry (as of this post; the content could always change).
As a hakaan character, your size is 1L, and you have the following benefits.
Doomsight
Working with your Director, you can predetermine an encounter in which you will die. When that encounter begins, you become doomed. While doomed, you lose the Undaunted benefit from this ancestry, you automatically get tier 3 results on tests and resistance rolls, and you don’t die no matter how low your Stamina falls. You then die immediately at the end of the encounter.
If you don’t predetermine your death encounter, you can choose to become doomed while you are dying with the director’s approval (no action required). Doing so should be reserved for encounters in which you are dying as a result of suitable heroism, such as making a last stand against a boss or saving civilians, or when the consequences of your actions have finally caught up to you—not because you’re playing a one-shot and have nothing to lose, Hacaarl.
Hakaan Might
When you force move a creature or object, you can increase the distance moved by 1.
Undaunted
You can’t be weakened. Additionally, when your Stamina equals the negative of your winded value, you turn to rubble instead of dying. You are unaware of your surroundings in this state. After 12 hours, you regain Stamina equal to your recovery value.
Really fun stuff, right? So, what are my problems with it? One is (literally) surface-level: these large folk are based on stone giants and, as you can see from the Undaunted ability, they turn to rubble instead of dying if it’s not yet their time. They seem to be made from stone—and the dwarves are also stone-like in Draw Steel. I wasn’t sure I liked the idea of having two stone-based ancestries in my world, especially since it’s set far above the earth.
Now, I could change the ability's description, but that leads to my other issue with this ancestry. Doomsight—knowing when you will die—is intriguing and evocative. Still, in the end, it mostly leads to the same effect the revenant or undead get with their benefit, Tough but Withered, where they become inert instead of dying and can’t be killed unless with fire.
The question I was left with was how to take some of the ideas I liked and work them so that I wasn’t overlapping with any of the other ancestries. I started thinking about the different giant types and looking through D&D and Pathfinder bestiaries for inspiration. For a while, I thought maybe I would take the orc stat block with the bloodfyre veins and make them large, but that wasn’t really what I was looking for either. “Oh look, a large ancestry that gets tougher, neat.”
Then I came across cyclops, and that idea intrigued me. A cyclops differs from a standard giant; some fantasy lore depicts them as oracles and seers. I was like, “Hmm. Maybe this could work.” But I still wasn't hooked. All the cyclops-related art I could find showed them looking like hill giants. I wanted something that exuded power and a certain magnificence. One day, I was bored and messing around creating images on ChatGPT, trying to get some inspiration, and this one came out of the mess.
Is this what cyclops look like in Skies? No, I don't think so. But the image was different enough from the hill giant imagery to spark ideas for the ancestry I was imagining.
Here’s my current thinking for the Skies of Mor-ladron cyclops. Their eye is magical. It might even glow a bit or look like a jewel. Their veins pulse with magic as well. All of this leads to the kit-bashed cyclops benefits I put together. I say kit-bashed because, as you will see, most of the abilities come from other Draw Steel ancestries that I'm not currently using.
As a cyclops character, your size is 1L, and you have the following benefits.
All-Seeing Eye (This is the time raider’s foresight benefit)
Your senses extend past mundane obscuration and the veil of the future alike. You instinctively know the location of any concealed creatures who aren’t hidden from you, negating the usual bane on attacks against them. Additionally, you can use a triggered action to impose a bane on the power roll whenever you are attacked.
Cyclopian Might (Hakaan might)
When you force move a creature or object, you can increase the distance moved by 1.
Arcane Blood
Unknown
It's not complete, but it's getting there. I still need to come up with either a generally useful kick-ass option for their Arcane Blood or a couple more specific options players can choose from.
Let me know what you think! Do you have ideas for the cyclops’ arcane blood? Is there a more compelling option you think should take its place? I am also looking for ideas for what to call this ancestry, so if you have any, leave a comment!
Member discussion