MORALE

Between intense bouts of political violence and the dangerous resurgence of subsurface phenomena, the vestige has become a tenebrous place to live. People wander around the dusty paths of the Hajani settlements, wondering what sort of machinations the warring continents have for their tiny hamlets. Citizens in Verune’s lower district work day after day, scraping together what little lux they can to take their families away from the growing well beneath their city. The people of Ren huddle together with drinks over the fire but stare into the darkness and wonder what sort of revenants might be skirting just beyond the edges of the light. It can be hard to stay hopeful in the face of all these uncertainties but it’s important to try.

Your morale will improve your chances of surviving in the vestige, so it is important to pay attention to your wants and needs. Your morale bar has twenty segments. You gain segments when you react positively to events and you lose segments when you react negatively. Your morale bar doesn’t reflect your overall mood though. You can be upset with someone and still have a very high morale score. Instead, your morale is a currency that can be spent on a variety of things that will help you achieve your goals in the vestige.

GAINING, LOSING, AND USING MORALE

Many things can impact your morale score. To gain morale:

  • Roll a critical success
  • Win a battle
  • Treat yourself to luxuries
  • Indulge in sexual desires
  • Receive a significant gift or award
  • Give generously
  • Consume items like desserts
  • Feed a hobby
  • Achieve a goal by the end of the session
  • (react positively to something in general)

To lose morale:

  • Roll a fumble
  • Suffer a critical hit
  • Suffer a defeat
  • Be denied necessities
  • Damage a relationship (lose 10 morale)
  • Have someone you know die (lose all morale)
  • (react negatively to something in general)

You can spend morale on a variety of boosts as well:

  • Use 1 morale to boost any roll by 1
  • Use 1 morale to increase outgoing damage by 1
  • Use 1 morale to reduce incoming damage by 1
  • Spend 5 morale to gain a second wind and restore your resilience to 1
  • Spend 2 morale to aid another’s roll by 1
  • Spend 10 morale to reroll and take the better result
  • Spend your full bar (20 morale) to train and level up a discipline or class of your choosing

Additionally, when you are around someone you have fully bonded with, you are able to take advantage of a special bonus depending on the type of relationship you have with your partner.

If you are in an intimate relationship with your partner, you will gain morale whenever they would gain morale. (This does not affect morale that is gained by both of you.)

If you are in a relationship of solidarity with your partner, you are able to share your morale bars. You may use their morale bar to absorb morale damage that you suffer, and spend it on any of the bonuses above (except training to level up).

If you are in a rivalling relationship with your partner, you are able to spend 2 morale points to boost any roll by 2.