Wizard's Eye

Wizard's Eye (Divination, Cost, Permanent, Requires one other Divination spell):  A common casting on worlds that still have a natural environment, Wizard's Eye reshapes the matter of a living creature, creating an ocular organ 2" in diameter. This spell may be cast on any plant, fungus, or animal with sufficient mass to support an eye of that size. To cast the spell, the caster rolls WIS + 2 vs. the target's CON.

As long as the caster remains within 10 km of the ocular organ, the caster receives a continuous visual feed from the Wizard's Eye. If cast on a sessile organism, Wizard's Eye caster receives a feed from a particular location. At the caster's will, the eye can move within its socket to observe the local environment from different perspectives. If cast on a mobile organism, the caster receives a roving view of any areas through which the host organism passes.

This spell can be cast multiple times, allowing a multi-perspective view of a single location, or a series of feeds from different locations. Of course this can become very confusing and distracting for the caster, leading to all manner of interesting Compels. The feed from even one Wizard's Eye is also enough to prevent the caster from sleeping.

Variants of this spell exist that create ocular organs in non-living matter such as plastic, steel, or concrete. The Nexialists claim to have generated a massive Wizard's Eye in the photosphere of a star. Their assertion has provoked considerable paranoia, as well as a great deal of skepticism, since the costs of such as casting would be daunting to say the least.

The Bamboo General

"The Bamboo General" didn't make an appearance in Kausao City until The Miners Rebellion of SF 65. In the clashes that followed the brutal repression of the miners' march, a small group of workers broke off from the multitude and invaded one of the exclusive gardens belonging to one of the Council of Nine. They chopped down a number of bamboos and used them to fashion deadly weapons based on an ancient Tuyang model.

A hand cannon, the Bamboo General is stuffed with stones, broken pottery shards, broken glass or shards of obsidian. The weapon is charged with an explosive powder derived from red jade. The weapons used in The Miners Rebellion were one-shot affairs, as the bamboo is rarely sturdy enough to withstand more than one explosive discharge. However, bamboo grown in proximity to green jade deposits is of particular value. When used to build hand cannons, green jade infused bamboo retains its utility indefinitely.

***

The Bamboo General (Device)
Function Aspect: Red Jade Hand Cannon

Features:

• Exceptional - Attack prevents target from checking a stress box to reduce a hit
• Harmful 1

Flaws:

• Limited - One shot weapon; then you need a scene to make a new one
• Situational - Only effective on a target in the same or an adjacent zone

The Happy Warriors

House Centipede Closeup by Kevincollins123

The Happy Warriors is a Glissendo-speaking species found throughout the Empire and far beyond the Imperial Extents. Members of this species are 2-3 meters in length, with dozens to hundreds of legs. The head of a Happy Warrior has two compound eyes, and several specialized mouthparts for biting prey, speaking Glissendo, and manipulating control systems. Happy Warriors have a second and very recent communication structure on their abdomens, which allows them to converse using human and near-human languages.

Happy Warriors can move with blinding speed. Their legs are also terrible piercing weapons. Many of their species can expectorate poisonous or hallucinogenic venom, creating a toxic haze in their immediate environment. The Happy Warriors are well-adapted for combat in a variety of environments - although they freely admit to feeling most in their element when fighting in jungles and other rough terrain, as well as underground.

The species fight in units of 100-1,000 members called Armed Multitudes. But make no mistake; the Happy Warriors are not a hive mind. Every member of the species is an individual, and every one strives for personal excellence in all of their affairs. Each individual is also mild projective empath. Legionaries who have fought at their side report that the affect is exhilarating and joyful, like being carried forward on a bouyant wave of death.

Many of the Legions of the Imperial Sovereign have incorporated one or more Armed Multitudes of the Happy Warriors into their organization. Each Armed Multitude bonds with a particular human commander. This bond is unbreakable; each commander has been repeatedly showered by a cloud of the Happy Warriors' loyalty pheromones. (This can become an issue in the case of a defection or demotion of a commander, but is never an issue in the case of a commander's death: in that case an Armed Multitude will bond to a new commander.)

One other important feature of the Happy Warriors is that they never leave their fallen human comrades behind.  The Happy Warriors always go to extreme lengths to recover the bodies of human comrades-in-arms. They use these bodies to lay the eggs of their young.

OGL MECHANICS

The Happy Warriors
Intelligent Myriapods (friendly)

ASPECTS:

• High Concept: Joyful member of an Armed Multitude
• Trouble: Loyal to one person
• Aspect: Strive for excellence in all things
• Aspect: Jungle and underground fighter
• Aspect: Never leave fallen humans behind

APPROACHES

• Careful: +1
• Clever: +1
• Flashy: 0
• Forceful: +2
• Quick: +3
• Sneaky: +2

STUNTS:

• Every Leg A Weapon: Take +2 to Forcefully Attack an opponent in the same or an adjacent Zone, using multiple legs as piercing weapons.
• Exoskeleton: Take +2 to Forcefully Defend against physical attacks from piercing weapons.
• Joyous Empaths: Take +2 to Flashy Approach to Create an Advantage in battle, psychically boosting the morale of comrades and allies.
• Spit Poisons: Take +2 to Flashy Approach to Create an Advantage in immediate or an adjacent Zone by creating a Poison Cloud or Hallucinogenic Cloud.

REFRESH: 2

The Sa Amulet

Sa Amulet

The Sa Amulet is a sign of the shepherd and therefore a powerful protective device. Whether worn by itself or featured as a detail in figurines depicting the dwarf-god Bes, or the monstrous and chimeric protector goddess Taweret, this hieroglyph provides its bearer with a defense against threats to life and rebirth.

The Sa Amulet is often used to protect the bodies of those who have cast the spell Transmigration. While the mind of the caster visits another star, the amulet provides passive protection against all threats to the life of the caster's body.

To use the amulet, the bearer recites a short prayer to the protective deity of their choice. The PC's player spends 1 Fate Point. The amulet then protects the caster's body with a mystical force field, providing a passive +2 to Defend against attacks that do physical stress. If the caster's body is attacked, the PC will be aware of the danger and may Attack or Defend by casting spells remotely using the amulet as a channel of force.

Physical stress that makes it past the Sa Amulet (and any other defensive spells cast to defend the traveler's body) are incurred by the traveler's body. However, attacks directed against the mind actually pass through the Sa Amulet and directly Attack the mind of the traveler.

Once activated, the amulet's protective effect is Permanent until it is dispelled, the traveler is Taken Out (through Physical and/or Mental Consequences), or the traveler offers a Concession which is accepted by the attacker.

Protection Of The Body In Transmigration

Taweret amulet of protection

It is imperative to protect of the body of a caster who is using a Transmigration spell. While the mind travels to another star, it leaves a defenseless body behind it. More than one caster of Transmigration has suffered the misfortune of having their body riddled with arrows or consumed by hyena, marooning their spirit on another world or - still worse - lost forever wandering the enumerations of hyperspace.

Several different means have been devised to protect the body from physical and psychic harm. Some measures provide only partial and/or short-term protection, such as the physical protection of a body by a sentry device. Others provide long-term protection, extending life and preserving the body through either medical or mystical means.

Techniques of protection include:

• Spindles granted as signs of office to important commanders or emissaries are self-aware and very capable of keeping a protective watch over their masters for at least several days.
• A variety of mystical amulets such as the one depicted above can provide physical and spiritual protection to the body of the travelling soul. The best of such amulets were devised by the Anapa in ancient times. Many have been recovered from the long-abandoned sanctuaries of that dreaded race. These objects are often heirlooms passed from one sorcerer to another. Some are genuinely sorcerous in character; others are based on the advanced nanotechnology of the Anapa.
• An autodoc or portable surgical suite can be used to sustain the body of a traveler indefinitely.
• A variety of sarcophagi and mausolea have been devised by the Anapa to magically encapsulate and preserve the life force of a Sleeper. The trick with these device-locations is to ensure that the specific wards set on them allow the return of a travelling soul. A secondary risk is that the Anapa will return and harvest the body prematurely, while the mind of the traveler is still away. Such bodysnatching occurs from time to time because the bodies of travelers are excellent raw material for the creation of new golems and autonoma. 

Transmigration

Zina Deretsky's photo of fast spinning Altair

Transmigration (Planar, Cost, Per Scenario, Permanent, Requires three other Planar spells): A favorite spell of Imperial Messengers, special retainers, and emissaries, this casting is also known as the Magpie Bridge. Transmigration hurls the caster's mind across the stars to a willing fleshy receptacle on Altair III, the Imperial Throneworld. Many variants of this spell exist, each specifying a particular stellar destination. In this case, the star of Altair must be visible to the caster's naked eye at the time the spell is cast.

The caster's mind rises into space as if borne on the wings of an eagle. From orbit, the soul transitions into hyperspace. The mind rises through the positive enumerations of hyperspace, finally reaching its crowning enumeration. The soul then travels for an indeterminate period, and often endures a series of tests* until finally reaching its point of arrival, Altair III.

The mind then descends to the Golden Sphere. It inhabits a willing and waiting Receptor, one of the psychically receptive special members of Legio XII Golden Eagle of Amarna, the legion of personal bodyguards who attend the Imperial Sovereign at all times. Receptors are shirtless; at the moment of Arrival, one will drop to their knees. The Golden Eagle tattoo on the legionary's back and shoulders will begin to glow and flutter, as if its wings are flapping. As the glow subsides, the Receptor may begin speaking in tongues, as the mind makes its way through the language centers of the Receptor's brain. Shortly thereafter, the mind takes complete control of the Receptor's body, until the spell is lifted.

See also Protection Of The Body In Transmigration, and The Sa Amulet as an example of a protective device.

*The GM may draw cards from the Deck of Fate to determine the nature of these tests, which may then be roleplayed with the involvement of the other players as various kinds of allies and adversaries.

Deck Of Fridays 20: Top Of The World

Welcome to the 20th episode of DECK OF FRIDAYS, our weekly feature here at FATE SF! Each week since the release of the print edition of the Deck of Fate*, we have made a draw from the Deck of Fate, RPG Inspiration Cards, or another Aspect-generative randomizer. Then we do something interesting with it, using the Aspect as inspiration for a campaign or scenario seed, a situation, scene, location, NPC, thingie, etc.

This week's draw from the Deck of Fate is a card with the Aspect: Top of the World, a card with a +3 value. This seems appropriate for celebrating our 20th post in the series!

Top of the World makes me think of space elevators which are often colloquially referred to in SF as beanstalks. So today we have a table on Beanstalks that you can use to flesh out one or more details of a setting which includes one.

***
Jack's Table

Roll 4DF and consult the corresponding result below.

• -4: Monsters (Horta, Dholes, deviant Morlocks, rogue 'bots, etc.) are gnawing at the beanstalk's roots

• -3: The beanstalk is ruined and abandoned, and has fallen into a tangle planetside

• -2: A literal Tower of Babel, the beanstalk's populations are culturally and linguistically balkanized and frequently in conflict with each other 

• -1: Jim Crow to the stars - the beanstalk's amenities (transport tubes, hotel and dining spaces, etc.) are segregated according to some discriminatory scheme (humans vs. uplifts and robots, for example)

•  0: The beanstalk is ruined and abandoned, but still upright - and ready for exploration and plunder

• +1: A typical beanstalk: a spaceport at the apex, a commercial-industrial city at the base

• +2: The beanstalk is the hub of a thriving interplanetary or interstellar civilization 

• +3: The beanstalk has numerous zones/rings of habitation, baroquely stratified with ascending tech levels (low at the base, astonishingly high at the apex)**

• +4: Gods (Vorlonic aliens, transhumans, etc.) live at the apex, and lord over all below

*With some exceptions.

**As in Alastair Reynolds' Terminal City.