starter backgrounds #
These backgrounds are rough outlines that prompt you to fill in the gaps and flesh out full characters from them.
Describe your starter Burdens as you see fit, or leave them open until they come into play.
the witch #
The word Witch has meant a title of respect and wisdom, a warning to the fearful, a slur to the bigoted, and a mystery to the ignorant.
The knowledge of healing, medicine and natural magic has been passed down among all that sought understanding of the Old Powers and communion with natures mysterious to the mundane senses in traditional communities for countless generations.
Unique Trait (choose one or roll 1d6): reserved, cryptic, parental, joyous, respectful, rebellious.
Burdens: a CONDUIT for your practice; a SOURCE OF WISDOM; a PAINFUL LESSON; two other things.
the contender #
There’s nothing simpler than direct confrontation. It is your element.
Whether to guard and protect, to seize and overcome, or to resist and rebel, all you need to do is figure out the boundary between you and them. Now things come into sharp focus and you know exactly what to do.
Unique trait (pick one or roll 1d6): disciplined, nimble, tough, cunning, callous, indomitable.
Burdens: a WEAPON or your BARE HANDS; something you think is UNBREAKABLE; something VULNERABLE; two other things.
the privileged #
Protected by class, status, wealth, or otherwise people and institutions of power that functionally alienated you from the daily struggles of others, now you seek the outside world for sport, yearning or by being driven out from comfort.
Unique Trait (pick one or roll 1d6): Haughty, Gullible, Proud, Innocent, Extravagant, Spoiled.
Burdens: a PURSE OF VALUABLES; FAVOURS TO COLLECT; INSIDER KNOWLEDGE; two other things.
the marginal #
Your conversation with the laws and common customs in most places is one-way only. you carve out a living through means that are frowned upon at best places you at the fringes of social acceptance, if you ever had any to begin with. It might be how you ended up here in the first place.
Unique Trait (pick one or roll 1d6): Alert, Irreverent, Cunning, Sardonic, Ambitious, Optimistic.
Burdens: an ILLEGAL TOOL; a HIDDEN WEAPON; a CLEVER ESCAPE; two other things.
the boundless #
The body is only another boundary to be pushed, shaped, transitioned into and out of.
Your physical form is just a frame that allows you to change skins, as malleable as your soul. Some forms are easier or more accessible than others, but ultimately, you are who you choose to be, at all times.
the elder #
The young bring the future with them, but the elders bring memory.
You have lived and survived through skill, mastery, and experience, and your scars, injuries, and callouses are both witnesses and badges.
You’re an ancestor to those who have come later than you, and while your flame may burn less brightly than theirs, it endures through wind and rain without wavering.