Backgrounds

Every character starts with ranks in Resources and a certain set of Skills based on his Background.

Each character may choose two Backgrounds. Some Backgrounds are mutually exclusive, and some require another Background (filling both choices), so choose carefully. Resources and Skills earned with backgrounds stack; if you have the same skill in both backgrounds, you will earn a +1 modifier on rolls involving that skill, representing your depth of education.

## Special Backgrounds

**Nobility**: Born into the nobility of Karimas, you have received the best education that can be arranged and have also been schooled in the arts proper for every nobleman to know in the courts of Kariman politics: the art of the sword, the art of the horse, and the art of the knife. You have many duties and responsibilities that more than balance the privileges your birth brings, and there are many eyes upon you to ensure that you live up to them…or die trying.

* Ability Modifiers: None
* Resources Gained: +3 Status, +2 Wealth
* Skills: Academics: Espionage, Mounted Combat, any other combat skill

**Sundowner**: Hailing from the Sundown Archipelago far out to sea to the west of Karimas, you come from a plutocratic culture where profit, trade, and wealth are the highest of gods. Karimas has a rocky relationship with these islander pirates, sometimes trading and even taking wives among them, sometimes warring with them. Sundowners tend to be olive-skinned, dark-haired, and wiry, and favor tattoos and piercings. More will be posted on the Sundowner culture elsewhere.

* Ability Modifiers: None
* Resources Gained: +2 Wealth, +1 Contacts/Allies
* Skills: Academics: Espionage, Appraisal, Academics: Sealore, Haggle, Language: Sundowner

**Stormlander**: From across the mountains east of Karimas, the newly-opened trade with the Stormlands has led to immigration in both directions. The Stormlanders follow different gods, and are primarily a martial culture with a heavy emphasis on tradition, honor, and duty. High Queen Ailenne is a Stormlander by birth, and rules there by proxy, planning to bring the Stormlands under the Compact that unites Karimas's four regencies. Stormlanders are generally tall and fair, and tend to be robust due to their constant training.

* Ability Modifiers: None
* Resources Gained: +1 Equipment, +1 Wealth
* Skills: Academics: Martial, Academics: Military, any two Combat Skills, Language: Stormlands

## Organizational Backgrounds

**The Riverman's Guild**: Plying the river trade and piloting ferries barges, and other craft, the Rivermen of Landsdown are the lifeblood of Karimas. All Rivermen are trained in Landsdown, and it's rare that anyone outside of Landsdown cares to become a Riverman, but it has been known to happen. Almost all Rivermen are Drakesmen (Landsdown is on the Drakes side of the border with Oaks, if only barely). Rivermen are treated with respect everywhere they go, and earn a fair wage, though few become rich on it.

* Ability Modifiers: +1 Endurance
* Resources Gained: +1 Status, +1 Wealth, +1 Contacts/Allies
* Skills: Athletics, Academics: Geography, Academics: Navigation

**The Brotherhood of the Warrior's Way**: Somewhere between warrior monks and mercenary soldiers, the Brotherhood (sometimes called the Eightfold Path) is an order of men and women dedicated to perfecting the art of combat and the self. The Brotherhood takes in orphans and strays from all over the lands, and teach them how to fight and how to master themselves. While not strictly monks, most Brothers consider the monastery their home. Brothers take jobs for money, and tithe part of their earnings back to the monastery – they are very well paid, however, and a Brother can earn a good living without a great deal of effort.

* Ability Modifiers: +1 to any one Ability
* Resources Gained: +2 Equipment, +1 Wealth
* Skills Learned: Any two Combat skills, Academics: Martial

**Order of the Eclipse**: A nonaligned military force trained to combat rogue elementals and mages, the Order trains its members in all forms of combat (including mounted, being possibly the only organized cavalry unit in Karimas) as well as ways to resist the power of the beings they fight. While they are tolerated, the Order has a bit of a reputation for ruthlessness and zeal, and even in its home base in Drakes, they are treated with wary respect. There are two ranks to the Order, Enlisted and Officer. If you decide to be an Officer, your other background must be Enlisted.

* *Enlisted*:
	+ Ability Modifiers: +1 Endurance
	+ Skills Learned: Academics (Martial), Lore (Magic), Athletics
	+ Resources: +2 Equipment, +1 Wealth
* *Officer*:
	+ Ability Modifiers: +1 Strength
	+ Resources: +1 Equipment, +1 Wealth, +1 Status
	+ Skills Learned: Mounted Combat, any one other combat skill

## Religious Orders

The Religious Orders of Karimas are loose organizations of Devotees. The Devotees of a faith are those not sworn to holy vows, but who dedicate their lives to furthering the cause of the one they serve. The four Orders wok together, just as the four Gods do, to maintain order and balance, although being mortal, they occasionally come into conflict with each other. All those in the Religious Orders gain the Lore: The Four skill free.

**Order of Sky**: Scholars, teachers, explorers, scouts, anyone concerned with the gaining and spreading of knowledge can be a Devotee of Sky. Sky's Devotees always carry a journal of some kind, and wear a pendant in the shape of a bird on the wing.

* Ability Modifiers: +1 Will
* Skills Learned: Any three Academic or Lore skills
* Resources: +1 Status, +1 Contacts/Allies

**Order of Sun**: Soldiers, mercenaries, guardsmen, and police, anyone who makes their life in defense of others or martial pursuits can wear the sun-in-glory pendant. Devotees of Sun pursue justice and personal physical perfection, striving to be the best they can possibly be.

* Ability Modifiers: +1 Strength
* Skills Learned: Academics (Law), Academics (Martial),
* Resources: +1 Equipment, +1 Wealth, +1 Contacts/Allies, +1 Status

**Order of Earth**: Healers, farmers, ranchers, anyone who tends to the land and its people fall under the aegis of the Order of Earth. All devotees of Earth wear a copper band somewhere on their person, and tend to be rather no-nonsense, straightforward type people. While primarily concerned with life, the Devotees of Earth are under no charge to restrain from violence, and will protect their charges with any and all means at their disposal.

* Ability Modifiers: +1 Endurance
* Skills Learned: Academics (Healing), Academics (Herbalism), Academics (Animal Husbandry)
* Resources: +2 Status, +2 Contacts/Allies

**Order of Moon**: Spies, whores, sailors, and thieves, just about anyone might be a Devotee of Moon; all that's required is a desire for other people's secrets and an ability to keep your mouth shut. Moon's children wear a small charm in the shape of a crescent moon somewhere on their person, but it could be….anywhere.

* Ability Modifiers: +1 Agility
* Skills Learned: Academics (Espionage), Performance: Acting, Stealth, Academics: Magic
* Resources: +1 Wealth, +1 Contacts/Allies

## Professional Backgrounds

**Merchant**: Merchants provide the backbone of the Kariman kingdom. In this context, merchants aren't merely anyone who sells something, but professional traders who oversee shipping and form the economic basis of the world. In some places called freetraders, merchants may buy or sell anything, even information or gossip, and are usually concerned with profit.

* Ability Modifiers: None
* Skills Learned: Appraise, Haggle
* Resources: +1 Wealth, +1 Status, +3 Contacts/Allies

**Innkeeper**: The hospitaller, the host, the landlord; Innkeepers are experienced at creating and tending havens where a traveller can rest in comfort. Much of the specifics of this profession can also be applied to any kind of shopkeeper or hosteler. While mostly invisible, innkeepers are the sources of gossip and nexi of information, and no one looking for something is so foolish as to pass an inn on his route without a stop to talk to the keeper.

* Ability Modifiers: None
* Skills Learned: Haggle, Hospitality, Cooking
* Resources: +1 Wealth, +1 Status, +2 Contacts/Allies

**Guardsman:** Mercenaries, sellswords, and warriors for hire, Guardsman are those who have taken up the tedium of protecting others from getting hurt, robbed, or otherwise mistreated. Most of this work is incredibly boring, with a few brief spots of complete and violent mayhem. While not lucrative work, it's easy to get into. Guardsmen are not necessarily associated with the Order of Sun, though the two can certainly overlap. The Guardsman background can also be used for brigands and highwaymen.

* Ability Modifiers: +1 Endurance
* Skills Learned: Academics: Martial, Athletics, any one combat skill
* Resources: +1 Equipment, +1 Wealth, +1 Contacts/Allies

**Performer**: Street buskers and travelling storytellers, singers, jugglers, or thespians, performers offer their wit, humor, skill and charm in ways less material, but no less importantly, than those applied to other crafts. A performer should focus on one or two specific skills, so as to hone them more fully; many performers begin as apprentices and spend years in training. Anyone taking Performer as a background must choose a specialty; it is possible to take Performer twice and have two specialties, but your skills will be of a necessity somewhat hampered. Many Performers revere either Grandfather Sky or Lady Moon.

* Ability Modifier: EITHER +1 Agility OR +1 Endurance
* Skills Learned: Any two Performance skills related to the specialty chosen
* Resources: +1 Wealth, +1 Status, +2 Contacts/Allies

**Rogue**: The Rogue covers all those who, perhaps, work on skills that are…less than legitimate. Pickpockets, roofmen, cutpurses, bullyboys, harlots, sneaks, and spies, Rogues are the underside. Rarely working alone, and often pursued, Rogues rely on subtlety and stealth, and usually are much less effective when caught out on their own.

* Ability Modifiers: +1 Agility
* Skills Learned: Academics: Espionage, Stealth, Sleight of Hand, Performance: Acting
* Resources: +2 Contacts/Allies

**Craftsman**: The Craftsman is the man who makes things. Like the Performer, a specialty must be chosen, and a lengthy apprenticeship assumed. Craftsmen are absolutely necessary to the livelihood of Karimas; they make all kinds of goods, from swords and armor to glass windows and goblets. Many Craftsmen revere either Lord Sun or Mother Earth.

* Ability Modifier: EITHER +1 Strength OR +1 Endurance
* Skills Learned: Appraise, Craft specialty
* Resources: +2 Wealth, +2 Status

## Regional Professions

**Woodsman (Oaks Regency)**: This heading covers all of Oaks's lumber industry – woodcutters, shapers, craftsmen, and loggers, all relating to the regulation and harvesting of the vast forests that give Oaks its name. Woodsmen also covers Rangers, those curious members of Oaks' Regency militia. They tend to be direct, rather serious, very much in tune with their surroundings, and knowledgeable of forestry and related matters.

* Ability Modifiers: +1 Strength, +1 Endurance
* Skills Learned: Survival (Forest), Academics: Woodlore, Athletics
* Resources: +1 Wealth, +1 Status

**Stonemason (Stone Regency)**: This heading covers those who work with stone, both raw and shaped. Gemcutters fall under Crafts specialties; Stonemasons include true masons, sculptors, miners, and quarrymen. Stone Regency treats men of these professions with the utmost respect: it is dirty, unpleasant, and difficult work.

* Ability Modifiers: +1 Strength, +1 Endurance
* Skills Learned: Academics: Stonelore, Athletics
* Resources: +1 Wealth, +2 Status

**Seaman (Coastal Regency)**: The sailors and seamen of Coastal are a rough and rowdy lot, active and energetic. Including sailors, dockworkers, fishermen, and others for who the seas spawn their livelihood (including pirates!). While conferring no particular status, seamen make up most of Coastal Regency's population, are usually fairly well-travelled, and may have friends in very unusual places.

* Ability Modifiers: +1 Agility, +1 Endurance
* Skills Learned: Academics: Sealore, Athletics
* Resources: +1 Wealth, +1 Status, +1 Contacts/Allies

**Academic (Drakes)**: While most scholars and academics fall under the aegis of the Order of Sky, not all do; the unaligned academic is common to Drakes, and it must be stated that these are not idle men in stuffy libraries. The Drakes Academic is an adventurer of the mind, and might more accurately be called a scientist (or a madman). As apt to experiment as to study, the Academic envelops the engineer, the alchemist, the historian, and the economist. Also common among Academics is the curious profession of the *magister*, men who study magic and those who possess it. A character with the Academic background should choose a speciality.

* Ability Modifiers: +1 Will
* Skills learned: Any two Academics related to the speciality, any one other.
* Resources: +1 Wealth, +2 Status, +1 Contacts/Allies