A NEW SELF

In the vestige, you are tasked simply with living. You will live in a world of rapid change with unfamiliar people in strange places. Who are you in this world? Your identity will be just as fluid as the space around you as you discover more about yourself, your convictions, and your relationships with others. You determine your own goals, but do you have enough resolve to achieve them?

ONE: THE CHARACTER SHEETS

Your character sheets are your record of your place in the vestige. This will help you keep track of your possessions, your property, and your personal attributes. For this first step, you will have to print off two “core” sheets for yourself. You can find a collection of all the character sheets here.

After you have it printed off, why not give yourself a name and show us what you look like? At the left of the sheet, there is a large white rectangle with a space for your name at the bottom. This is the portrait box. You can draw an image of yourself or paste one there. There are four sapient species on the vestige. Which of them are you?:

Humans: Well known and populous people. They are responsible for much of the changes brought forth by the harnessed vestigial energy.
Harathi: Subterranean peoples from a lineage that diverged from humanity, choosing to live closer to the wells of energy in hopes of bearing stronger descendants. They come in many colours and many shapes.
Revenants: When a deceased human or harathi is recalled to life, a revenant is born. Often missing much of their memories, the revenants are a lost people. The threat of feral revenants incites persecution against the innocent among them.
Arlam: The unexpected answer to the nomadic Coronan monk’s record-keeping. The arlam are archival units that developed sapience in recent years. They do not quite grasp social subtleties, but many choose to lead independent lives anyways.

For more information on the four species, you can read more here.

Give yourself some way to imagine who you are in the vestige, then, at the bottom of the box, sign your name, whatever you choose it to be. You’ll also want to add 500 lux to the circle at the lower-right side of the portrait box. Lux is the most common currency in the vestige, so this will be your primary means of acquiring goods and services.

Familiarize yourself with the layout of your character sheet — you will be making use of it frequently.

TWO: BEGINNINGS

Just to the right of the portrait box, near the top of the page, make a note of the circle that says “specialized discipline.” What is something that you might be good at? Something that you want to specialize in? Currently in Vestige there are 7 disciplines, each of which allows you to perform special actions in the world. Typically, if you are not trained in a discipline, you can not perform those actions (though there are a few exceptions), so choose wisely.

The available disciplines are as follows:

Analysis: allows you to ask questions and get answers. Document the world in whatever way you wish, pick your focus topics, and decide which information you will gather.
Athletics: allows you to perform physical feats. Interact with your environment through strength or acrobatics in various, death-defying ways.
Deceit: allows you to perform all manner of shady activities. Pick pockets, lie to others, sneak through the streets, and even kill with deadly precision.
Engineering: allows you to craft a multitude of objects. You can choose to craft arms and armour, architecture, or even attempt to invent new things on your own.
Navigation: allows you to travel with ease with any vehicle. Learn the art of travelling, cartography, and choose one or many types of vehicles to master.
Nursing: allows you to care for yourself and others. Treat wounds, prepare medication, cook food, farm ingredients, and become a skilled homemaker.
Persuasion: allows you to influence others you interact with. You can shift emotions, form a reputation, intimidate or charm others, run a business, and become a leader.

At the beginning of the game, you start out with 1 level in your chosen specialized discipline. Write down your discipline and mark your level in the circle just below. When you gain a level in a discipline, you will get to put 1 point into the corresponding skill tree. Each point can be used to either unlock a new skill or increase the rank of a skill you already know.

Why don’t you try that now with your first level?

Go to this page and find the discipline you chose to specialize in. In each discipline, there is a list of skills you can acquire as part of that discipline. Most skills have some sort of prerequisite skill or level to learn them. The skills are generally listed in the order in which you can obtain them, so look to the top of the list for your first skill. Once you have your first skill picked, you may mark the change by printing your discipline’s sheet off and filling in the circles in the skill tree at the bottom left. You never know when you might need it.

THREE: GROWTH

At the top of the page, you will see a 20 segment morale bar. This is your primary means of progression in the vestige. When good things happen to you, you gain morale. When bad things happen, you lose morale. Try to play to your likes and you will fill up more of these segments, which can then be spent on a few different kinds of bonuses. For instance, once you have 20 morale (a full bar), you can train and gain a new level. You can gain up to 10 levels in your specialized discipline and another 10 in your second skillset.

When you gain your second level, you can choose to give it to your specialized discipline or put it into a second skillset. If you choose the first option, you can spend another point in your discipline’s skill tree. If the skill you took at level 1 has “ranks” in its description, you can choose to improve that skill instead of getting a new one. Whatever you choose, be sure to mark your changes.

If you instead would like to learn a new skillset, when leveling up you can choose to put your level into either a second discipline or a combat class. If you choose to take a second discipline, you will increase the breadth of your abilities, but won’t learn how to fight. If you encounter danger, you might need to ask others to fight for you, but perhaps you will be able to help them in other ways. When taking a second discipline, follow the same steps that you did for your first discipline, but write the name and level 1 in the circles immediately to the right of the first discipline on your character sheet.

Choosing to take a combat class instead of a second discipline will prompt you with a different set of opportunities. Combat classes will allow you to fight efficiently and grow in strength at the cost of professional skill. What do you fight for? Why have you taken up a weapon? There is a gravity to warfare that is often misunderstood until you take up arms yourself. If you choose a combat class, you should be ready to fight for your ideals and bring danger to everyone around you. Will you lay your life down for your cause?

If you would still take up your weapon, there are 8 combat classes you can choose from in the vestige:

Augur: a channeler of potent, primal powers. These arts are the oldest and most simple practices of channeling vestigial energy through a person.They put energy to devastating effect. Bears almost no martial skill and wears light armour.
Ranger: a wandering combatant. Rangers use mobility to their benefit, taking control of the field of battle. A ranger might learn to take on a bestial form and wears medium armour.
Rogue: a lethal, subversive fighter. The rogue can make multiple, deadly attacks and react to any situation. May learn a few energy tricks and wears medium armour.
Sentinel: a strictly martial fighter. The sentinel may act as field marshal or take to the front lines themselves as a berserker or protector. The sentinel has no channeling abilities and wears heavy armour.
Sibyl: a manipulator of energy and health. The sibyl is a bringer of life and death, capable of powerful abilities at great costs to both allies and enemies. They may even choose to make their energy manifest. They can cast with martial weapons and wear light armour.
Technologist: a wielder of advanced arms. A technologist is able to employ their weapons in intriguing ways and can even use energy to replicate their opponent’s weapons. Technologist use energy for transmutation and may wear medium armour.
Thaumaturge: a miracle worker. The thaumaturge is the most recent channeler among the combat classes and bears the greatest potential. By fluctuating the flow of light, the thaumaturge bends the fabric of reality itself for short moments. They have some martial skill and wear light armour.
Valkyrie: a marriage of martial and mystic prowess. Valkyries use energy to augment fierce skill with their weapons. They are versatile, equally capable of supporting allies and crushing their adversaries. They wear heavy armour.

Unlike disciplines, each level in a combat class grants two bonuses. For each acquired level in your class, you will be able to select a new combat skill or an “alter” associated with a skill you already have, as well as increase one of your attributes (more on this in the next step.) Why don’t you select your first skill now? Start by printing off the combat class sheet so you can keep track of your progression.

On this page, you will find a complete list of the available skills at the top row. Note that each skill has an associated weapon requirement and an “ep cost” (more on this in the next step). If you are not wielding the weapon associated with your skill, you can not use that skill. Even if your class is untrained in a weapon you are hoping to use, you can still wield it for the purposes of making basic attacks, but it won’t work for activating your skills.

Each skill described in the class pages contains 4 “alters,” which are abilities that modify the skill above them. As you take more levels in your combat class, you will have to choose between learning new skills or learning new ways to modify your current skills. There are 30 different places to spend points in each class but only 10 points to spend, so choose your skills wisely. That being said, it is easy to retrain old skills. Whenever you would gain a level past level 10, you can instead choose to retrain one of the skills or alters you previously learned, choosing another from the same class in its stead. Your choices are important, but they are not permanent.

FOUR: MEAR

Your MEAR attributes determine how well you will do in combat, and are a place that needs particular attention for combat classes. There are four main attributes, each of which significantly affects how well things may go for you:

Might: affects how much damage you deal and how potent your abilities are.
Energy: affects your total energy pool (ep). Ep is used to activate abilities and perform other special functions.
Agility: affects how well you can dodge or block incoming attacks. When attacking in combat, opponents will have to beat your agility score on their attack roll to hit you.
Resilience: affects your total health pool. When an attack deals damage to you, you subtract it from your health. After you reach 0 health, you are in danger of being seriously injured with future attacks.

To find your MEAR attribute scores and to learn more about each attribute, consult this page. As you scroll down, the first chart you find will have a number of MEAR arrays that you can choose as your starting scores if you do not have a combat class.

If you do have a combat class (or when you gain one), you should choose an array in the second, longer chart. To select an array, just pick any one row. From left to right, you will find your might, energy, agility, and resilience. If you have a combat class, whenever you level up (including at level 1), you will also get to choose one of the four MEAR attributes to improve. For every level, increase your might by 1, energy by 1, agility by 1, or resilience by 3.

You can write down these values on your character sheet. To the right of your portrait box, you will see four rows of circles with the name of one of the MEAR attributes on each one. At the end of those rows, there is one circle with an M for your might score, one with an E for your energy, one with an A for your agility, and one with an R for your resilience. Fill in your MEAR values there.

To the right of each of your attributes, there is a circle with the word “temp” in it. This is short for temporary. If you ever experience temporary reductions or increases to any of your abilities, you can keep track of these here. Farther to the right, at the bottom of the box labelled “armour,” you will see a circle titled “health pool” For now, this value should equal your resilience value, but as you take damage it will decrease.

Should you suffer something more severe (or more complicated) than a minor attribute adjustment, you may write it in the box just below your morale bar labelled “conditions.” Here you may keep track of the effects and the duration of your condition, whether it is a broken leg or mental illness. The similar-looking box just to the right of the conditions box is used specifically for effects that are short lived during the heat of combat. Many abilities will last over many turns, so the bar next to each effect will help you keep track of the turns remaining until each effect desists.

Finally, to the left of your MEAR scores you will see a series of four circles for each attribute. If you follow the lines trailing down, you will notice that each column corresponds to a section detailing your equipment in the lower right. We will look at in the next step to get you acquainted with your character sheet.

FIVE: GEAR

By now you may have noticed that the gear you will use throughout your play time will play an important part in your survival, particularly for combat characters. What sort of weapon will you wield, if any? If you are a combat character, you can select your first weapon from the list of available weapons here.

Recall from the last step that the four sections in the lower right can be used to keep track of your weapons. Beginning at the left of the boxes in the lower right corner, start by giving your weapon a name. What type of weapon is it, according the weapon categories? Write that down just below the name. At the very right hand side of the gear box in the large circle, record the range of your weapon according to the chart. If you ever need to reload your weapon, fill in the small circle immediately to the left of your range to keep track of your ammunition. If your weapon has a might or agility modifier, you can follow the line at the left of the gear box up to the circles in the rows of attributes and write down the modifiers there in the first and third rows respectively. At the top of that column, just above the attributes, you will find that each column of MEAR modifiers associated with a weapon also has an “equipped” circle above it. Fill this circle in when you are using a weapon to remind yourself which abilities you can use at any moment. Finally, everything else can be written in the empty space in the gear box labelled “properties.”

Do you recall what kind of armour your class wears? Armour is divided up into three different “weights.” Each weight, like each weapon, has a different effect on your performance. Unlike weapons, however, you can only wear armour you are proficient in (which means that non-combat characters wear no armour whatsoever).

Each armour weight has the following effects:

If you are a valkyrie or sentinel, you wear heavy armour. This is usually made of plates, mail, or thick leathers. Heavy armour grants +2 protection when worn.
If you are a rogue, ranger, or technologist, you wear medium armour. This is usually made of leather, hide, padding, or other lightweight but protective gear. Medium armour grants +1 protection and +2 accuracy when worn.
If you are a sibyl, augur, or thaumaturge, you wear light armour. This is usually made of imbued cloth and jewellery. Light armour grants no protection but increases ep regeneration by 1.

To the very right of the sheet, in the box labelled “armour”, you can give your armour a name and write down its weight according to the categories above. Write down any properties in the empty space, and write down the protection value in the circle next to your resilience. This value will be subtracted from incoming damage when determining how much damage you take.

If you are a non combat character, however, you may want to pick something else to carry instead of a weapon or armour. If you would prefer, instead of choosing a weapon, you may pick a belt pouch to put in its place, and instead of choosing armour, you may pick a backpack. Belt pouches and backpacks are bags, which serve as a means to manage your inventory. You can have up to four weapons or belt pouches in any combination, and one set of armour or a backpack equipped at a time. As you take fewer weapons and more bags, your offensive potential decreases but your carrying capacity increases, allowing you to carry more goods. On the second page of the character sheet, you will see sections for each possible equipped belt pouch or backpack. Use these sections to keep track of your personal inventory.

A list of all available inventory management items can be found here, including containers that are not worn, but can be stored in a base or vehicle.

SIX: A BEING IN FLUX

The world of the vestige is constantly changing. Cultures rise on waves of wealth and trade, and then fall into years of poverty and fade into the footnotes of history books. Children marry and their families merge in union and community, only to watch their relatives turn to enemies when the time comes to divorce. Traditions are remembered and revived in festivals and celebrations, then just as quickly are forgotten by the same people who practiced them. Even the person you are is subject to change.

Now that we understand what you do, it is time to discover who you are. Though much of this will be revealed as you play, you should take some time to consider what your affinities and your aversions are. Relationships in Vestige are defined by your affinities and are broken by your aversions, but after every session of play, some part of you will change.

Your affinities come in three different flavours based on the type of relationship you are looking to form and each type of relationship has its own benefits:

Intimacy: love-based relationships are formed by affinities in this category. When you have an intimate bond with somebody, you gain morale whenever they would (excluding morale gained through items).
Solidarity: friendship-based relationships are formed by affinities in this category. When you are bonded in solidarity with somebody, you share your morale bar with them. (Shared morale can be spent on any morale-based bonuses except training).
Rivalry: relationships based on competition, whether hostile or not, are formed by affinities in this category. When you are bonded in solidarity with somebody, you gain the ability to spend 2 morale to add +2 to any roll when you are trying to overcome or “show-up” your rival.

A list of affinities can be found on this page. Select three, in any combination, from the list.

As you have probably noticed, aversions are set apart from the affinities in a fourth category. Contrary to affinities, aversions describe your personal boundaries — a boundary that, if someone crossed, would damage your relationship gravely, sometimes irreparably. Everyone has boundaries, so select one of these aversions to suit your character.

Below your inventory, you will see a section to record your affinities and aversions. Once you have selected your affinities and aversions, record them here.

Remember, your affinities and aversions will change, and you will not be the same person at the end of your adventures. For now, at least, you know who you are. It is time to make your place in the world.

Your New Self